MLJ: Guerreros del Infierno B-11: Infierno en el Ring [Cage]

2001-09-28 @ Arena México (68th Annivesario)
Nuevo Nuevo Infernales (Satanico, Averno, Mephisto) vs Nuevo Infernales (Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Tarzan Boy, Mascara Magica) [Cage]

http://youtu.be/qUj_ZEHXxvE

http://youtu.be/8yMbWjFPTr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eS4qtO1pPE

This one's obviously not on the comp since it's not a straight up tag match but it's such a key moment in the feud, really the blow off in a lot of ways, that I'm glad we have it online, albeit with slightly poor VQ. This was it, the battle over the name, with everyone's masks and hair on the line on the biggest stage of the year.

I don't know if this was a one match show because I don't have enough context but the match second to the top was an atomicos [Wagner, Fuerza, Juventud, and Universo vs Black Tiger III(Silver King), Lizmark, Jr., Casas, and Villano IV] which has a couple of interesting names but doesn't seem a huge draw to me. There was a Mexican Trios title match as well but everything seemed stacked for the main event. I don't see an easy to find attendance number for this so I have no idea how it drew, but my guess is "pretty well."

A few brief notes on Magica Mascara here, since he's the one who's going to end up losing this thing. He's the second guy to have the gimmick. The first, obviously, was Eddy, and him unmasking willingly on TV to claim his birthright was a coming of age for him. You'd think that would make the gimmick radioactive, but whatever. The guy playing it here was Talisman's kid, which you think would have been a good gimmick for him but he lost THAT mask relatively early in his career. He was in GdI to cover for Tarzan Boy when he was injured and he doesn't all that much longer in the stable after this match. He did keep using the name Magica Mascara, which was sort of ballsy on some level, given, you know, the lack of a mask. I have no idea if they promoted he was Talisman's son while wearing the mask.

So, this isn't your standard lucha cage match. I've only seen a few, mind you, but the general idea is that the "escape rules" actually mean something since those who don't make it out end up fighting for their life (well, their mask or hair, but those things MEAN something). One thing I stress again and again, even if not necessarily in these words, is that understanding lucha isn't about understanding the rules (that the last two in the ring have a one fall apuesta match or that they can only leave after X amount of minutes when the whistle blows, or that you only have to straddle the cage to get out, not get all the way to the floor) but the narrative elements, the stories being told, the way they tell them. Understanding wrestling isn't about knowing what a pile driver is called, but what a pile driver means in the context of the match. That to me, is the biggest mistake for people who introduce lucha to others.

So you have the extreme desire to escape here, but it's also combined with both the blood feud element of Infernales vs Infernales and the fact they're fighting over the name. It's not every man for himself. It's a four-on-three war and that gives it all a bit more substance than the average cage match. A little more focus too which was good because the VQ is kind of rough and there's a lot of chaos in the ring. They have a habit of switching camera angles at the worst times, too. Sometimes I'll get Mephisto and Averno confused, and I had to double back three times to figure out how Ultimo Guerrero got out at the end for instance.

That said, it was a really well put together cage match. By its nature, there couldn't just be guys brawling about. Maybe if it was 3 vs 3 they could have done that but this had to be more structured and the match lived and died not on its violence but on its transitions, on the momentum flows. I've seen tons of standard trios that were put together with less care and thought than this, despite its chaotic nature.

So, let's talk about the transitions. The story for the first part of the match was going to be the numbers game. I'm not sure why Satanico agreed to a four-on-three match with such high stakes, but it made his group the favorites for the Annivesario crowd. It also meant that GdI got off to an early advantage after just a bit of brawling. They hit a double kick on Satanico, the double choke drop on Averno and then a triple dropkick on Mephisto after a huge facebuster. Then we get transition #1. All of them tried to climb out at once, but it wasn't time yet so the explosions went off and they all fell off the cage. This let the Infernales take over, and they were awesome in this, outnumbered but using their momentary advantage to pick off GdI with shoulder blocks and nasty chops, really just stalking them. Then, they tried to climb out and got blown up as well. Everyone ended up on the ground (and Satanico laid in these great headbutts from that position, but that's neither here nor there).

Finally, the whistle went off so that's the end to the explosions. I'll admit I bought GdI's attempt to get out more than Los Infernales' attempt since they'd just seen what had happened to their opponents when they tried but it was the heat of the moment and that whistle might be easy to miss. The numbers game came back into play pretty quickly, and GdI took back over. This lasted for a minute or two before Tarzan Boy used it to basically kick and stomp his way over everyone's heads in the corner and get out. Thus came into play the endless problem of tag team cage matches with escape rules. By leaving, he theoretically "scored a point" for his team as now they only had to get three guys out instead of four, but he also sacrificed the numerical advantage for them. Since this match had additional stakes, it also had additional nuances. He left to protect his hair, and while he tried to encourage his partners on, the name was on the line too and they were more than a little furious at him. In fact, in the fit of them arguing from both sides of the cage, Los Infernales were able to recover and attack from behind, leading to another transition. GdI shrugged off headlocks into a triple charge, taking the momentum back but almost immediately thereafter, they did the alley oop body splash spot, with Rey landing on Mephisto but then immediately climbing over.

Now it was three on two and for the first time in the match, Los Infernales (very much due to how successful their opponents had been) had the numbers advantage. Ultimo Guerrero and Mascara Magica, realizing it, immediately rushed to get out of the cage but they were caught and pounded upon for a few minutes until UG was able to duck a double dropkick as Satanico was holding him, thus shifting the momentum again as GdI fought like hell against the odds. This was pretty brutal with heads going into cage, a tree of woe being utilized, and the senton de la muerte in the corner on Averno. When they tried to climb up and out, however, everyone ended on top of each other and Mephisto was the one to ultimately make it out.

That made it two on two and GdI immediately tried to swing the odds in their favor by rushing to the attack and tying Averno's mask to the top rope. Satanico took a bit of a beating but then came back in another momentum shift, with the crowd hugely behind him, hitting a slew of hangman's noose clotheslines and starting the process to untie Averno, who really played it up when he did get free. Satanico was really great here, punching and headbutting away. More than that, though, his character work was really solid. He had the most invested in the Infernales name and there was something almost fatherly in how he protected Averno, first by untying him but then, after he and Ultimo Guerrero hit big tandem moves (UG with a chokeslam on Averno and Satanico with a goardbuster on Magica), he let Ultimo Guerrero escape (this is where I had camera angle issues) but instead of escaping himself, rushed back in to make sure that Magica didn't make it out. He kept Magica contained so that Averno could make it out, leaving him in there vulnerable to losing his hair but in control of the fate of the Infernales name.

The match that followed was short but heated. Magica belonged in this match as much as Averno or Mephisto certainly. There was a real sense of stakes to this. Everything felt big and important and it was very much rudo vs rudo with Magica trying to win with his feet on the ropes multiple times. In the end, though, Satanico locked in the Satan's Knot, criss-crossing the arms and leaning forward to make a pin out of it, and he won the match, the name, and Mascara Magica's mask. He was elated. The fans were elated. The woman (his wife?) that he gave the mask to ultimately was elated. Magica removed his mask and stormed out of the ring, but tried to put on a strong face afterwards. It was a satisfying end to the feud and while gimmicky and lacking in blood, felt big enough to be the feud ender.