MLJ: Year One Finale: Virus Spotlight 1: Rencor Latino, Último Guerrero, Virus vs Angel Azteca, Ninja De Fuego, Oriental

1998-06-19 @ Arena México
Rencor Latino, Último Guerrero, Virus vs Angel Azteca, Ninja De Fuego, Oriental

So, I've been doing this for a year. Three posts a week for an entire year. Over 150 matches watched and written up. It's a minor miracle I stayed on schedule for that long, but I did, and apparently we've done great as a site, so I'm happy for what I've made it through, for the lucha I've watched, and for what I've learned. I know I still have a lot left to learn and a lot left to see. Quick thanks and then I'll get on with it. Eric, Phil. Thanks for letting me be here. I know I spent a few weeks writing about Marco Corleone to begin. Your patience was kind. Thanks to CubsFan for the match database. That thing is a godsend. I can't even imagine doing this in the form I have otherwise. Thanks to everyone else who posts matches, certainly. Thanks to Kris, whose work is incredibly useful, to Mark, who would help me with anything he could, to Fredo who converted that comp for me, to OJ, who navigates his own journey for everyone to read, and for anyone who actually took the time to read or comment, even and especially if it was just to point out how wrong i was about something. We don't get many, so it's appreciated.

I've enjoyed this far more than I thought I would and part of that is definitely the community. Not a lot of English speaking people cover lucha, not compared to WWE or TNA or Japan. It could have been a closed shop in a lot of way but everyone has been helpful to me and I feel fortunate for that.

Alright, enough of that. If I make it another year or to three hundred posts, then I can linger a bit more. I'm sure I forgot people here but it's not like I won an award or anything. So, I'm turning the Monday spotlight onto Virus. This is in part because he just lost his title so I'm expecting the flood of awesome singles matches to dry up a bit. The plan is to watch a couple of his early matches in the gimmick from 1998 and the focus solely on singles matches and title defenses.

So he had started out as a mini (he's as tall as I am, pretty much, full disclosure), wrestling with the gimmick of Bird Boy and then a mini version for Pirata Morgan and Damien el Guerrero. According to Wiki, he got his break in CMLL (after being in UWA, including winning their Featherweight championship), when AAA was created, as all the minis had gone with Pena. He was the the mini-estrella champion for CMLL, won an elimination match to let him work with larger wrestlers in 97, and then got the boost full time with the gimmick change to Virus in 98. I got all of that from wiki so it's not like I'm doing great research or anything, but if you didn't ever look at his page, there you go.

For most of 98, into 99, he was paired up against Oriental. Virus had won the vacant Mexican National Lightweight title and Oriental had the DF version. Oriental had a pretty interesting career, travelling to Japan a lot, picking up the language, and being a go-between for the Mexican companies because of it, going through CMLL, AAA, and even being an Invasor deeper into 2010 than I got on my first pass through.

On the tecnico side, there was Angel Azteca and a Ninja de Fuego, who is probably better known as Super Kendo or Kendo Star and had a good ninja-look but sort of came off as a low rent Octagon, though from this match I can't say he WAS one. It was just sort of how it felt. The rudo side had the youngest Ultimo Guerrero I think I've ever seen and Rencor Latino who in my GdI watching is just about to become Averno. More on him on Wednesday. It made for a fairly interesting match though as there were a lot of key players fairly early in their careers.

This was the second match on a five match Friday card with a main event of Black Magic, Cien Caras, and Steel vs Rayo de Jalisco, Jr., Tineblas, Jr., and Vampiro. I'd love for us to have more Mexican Smiley online and I wouldn't mind doing a project on Steel (Val Venis) either but there aren't a lot of those matches online. The point is that it was a second match with a bunch of young talent with all the good and ill that comes from that. They were occasionally unfocused but also exciting and I actually think they got away with more than a second match on the card might today.

The primera was a solid feeling out/shine. It had some goofiness. UG tossed himself off of a pin once but for the most part, he kept up with Angel Azteca and what he lost in polish he compensated with in increased agility. Virus looked great already, with some crisp matwork and holds and more agility than he has now. The tecnicos held the advantage for most of the fall and won it after a couple of dives back in off the ropes and Azteca getting a paralleled double arm lock on Virus (who had done the same move to him earlier in the fall). I'm not one to post crazy spots for the sake of it, but this Oriental rana was pretty crazy:

The segunda started with a reset of sorts, with the tecnicos keeping the advantage. One of my favorite bits here was how UG decided to barely sell certain things. He's basically been trying to make himself look strong (though not afraid to clown) his entire career. It's something that's made him stand out over the years even if it doesn't always make for the smartest matches. This was fairly back and forth until the rudos managed to get a slight advantage on the number game. then they killed Oriental dead with this thing:

which set things up for them to take the fall. There were some crazy spots here but they were used as punctuation to the story they were telling which is always appreciated.

Tercera was an extended beatdown with the rudos really digging in on the numerical advantage as one of the tecnicos was always hurt. Virus was especially good at sliding in out of nowhere to catch a tecnico from behind after he entered the ring. Finally Oriental ducked a clothesline and things broke down as the tecnicos fought back. Everyone here had something to prove and it showed as the finishing stretch was pretty focused and heated for a second match on the card. It ended with the usual dives and a nice little exchange between Oriental and Virus, where it was obvious they knew each other well. Virus finally caught him in a rana counter powerbomb and locked in this great submission for the win:

I liked this quite a bit, especially when Virus was in the ring. He definitely had it over 15 years ago and I wish we had more of these trios, throw away or not, to take a look at, not to mention more of his feud with Oriental. I have every reason to believe the singles matches were good. We do have one other trios and I'll take a look at that next time.