MLJ: Emilio Charles, Jr. Spotlight 3: El Hijo Del Santo, Misterioso, Último Dragón vs Emilio Charles Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, La Fiera

1991-11-22 @ Arena México
El Hijo Del Santo, Misterioso, Último Dragón vs Emilio Charles Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, La Fiera

The problem with a career like Charles' is that there's almost too much. We have bits and pieces online from a span of years and years and it's hard to know where to start. That's the problem with just about everything I do. The good news is that there's an easy solution: start anywhere. Just put your head down and charge; watch things and in doing so, you start to get oriented. You start to figure out what other directions you should be going.

I like to watch things that are close to one another chronologically because that gives a slightly better sense of what's going on. I also like to find things which have other wrestlers I really want to see. That's the case here as I have a two match series from 1991 with Hijo del Santo on one side and Charles, Fuerza, and Fiera on the other side. Since I wasn't sure what this was building to, I looked to the Wrestling Observer for the week. It was pretty fun, actually, noting:

1.) That this was Ultimo Dragon's debut on Galavision;
2.) that the tecnico side was "a team of a Japanese wrestler, a Mexican idol, and an American;
3.) That Santo, Dragon, Guerrera, and Charles were all excellent in the match (which was given ***1/2) and;
4.) that it was interesting due to the cross-promotional nature of Santo (UWA Welterweight champ) going up against Fuerza (NWA Welterweight champ).

Way more detail than we'd get a few years later, and I figured it out too: two weeks down the line Misterioso was going for Guerza's title. That made TV and I'll probably have to divert off to watch it. I'll talk more about Misterioso when I do.

Anyway, were I to give out star ratings, I might even go higher than that. This was one of those iconic, idealized trios matches that I often say I could watch all day in and all day out. First and foremost, Fiera's shirt was awesome.

The pairings here for the primera were Fiera vs Misterioso (which is weird considering they were building to Fuerza vs Misterioso, though that would play later in the match), Dragon vs Charles, and Fuerza vs Santo. For some reason, the first Santo vs Fuerza exchange is clipped out. It's the only thing clipped out in the match and that's a shame.

This has what I would say is the most basic trio structure. A-B-A, with a reset towards the end and a finish that focuses on the feuding players. Even exchanges to begin with an increasing tecnico shine, the rudos taking over in the middle of the segunda, taking the fall, and carrying it over into the tercera, a strong comeback which settles into the reset, the clearing of the ring, and the finish. There's such a purity to matches like these and when they're well worked, they're a joy.

This was. Dragon was there to show off and he did, especially showing off his ability to land on his feet out of snap mares or back body drops. I find him hit or miss in general, but here he was a useful cog in the machine. Fiera is very good at bumping and feeding as a rudo. Those same big back body drop bumps he can take to garner sympathy as a tecnico work just as well here. Charles, as we've seen, was hugely versatile, and he made for a surprisingly good foil for Dragon both with matwork and in quick rope running. Fuerza was Fuerza, working in the low blows and the rudo miscommunication spots, and even a few nice suplexes.

The rudos took over after a Charles foul on Misterioso

I find how unfocused (or at least "off-task") the match was interesting in that regard. Fiera started against him. Charles was the one that fouled him. Yet they were leading up to him facing Fuerza. It could have distracted from the match, but everything was good enough that it didn't really matter. In a lot of ways it felt more organic because of it.

Anyway, the comeback was more than solid, starting with a Misterioso quebradora on Charles (again, not Fuerza), and the tecnicos swarming. They reset a bit after that (and to Misterioso vs Fiera, not Fuerza), and it was the usual quick stuff with guys coming in and out and a great Santo dive out of nowhere after Fiera tried to run away to avoid a Dragon Dive. Dragon still got to hit his moonsault, though, just against Charles a moment later. That led to Misterioso vs Fuerza (finally) and a Reinera that put the tecnicos over and the upcoming challenger over the champ. Very fun trios.