MLJ: Misterioso/Volador 6: Misterioso, Solar I, Super Calo vs Ángel Azteca, Volador I, Winners

1994-03-05 @ Cuautla, Morelos
Misterioso, Solar I, Super Calo vs Ángel Azteca, Volador I, Winners

Occasionally, I go back too far on these little mini-projects. I wanted to get to the Volador vs Misterioso mask match. That was in part due to the fine folks at Between the Sheets talking it up on their podcast. It was in part due to the timeliness of Super Parka showing up in Arena Mexico. Then I got distracted, so now it's a half aborted project consisted of non-consecutive matches of Misterioso and Volador teaming, which is fine, because they're a good team that doesn't get talked up enough. Let's see if we can't finish this up though. Bear with me on this one though.

Here's a match where the schism happens. It's kind of cool in premise, too, serving as a sort of parejas increibles match. Winners (who became Abismo Negro later; he was super over with the kids, by the way) and Super Calo were partners (with mostly matching gear). Azteca and Solar teamed up a lot. Misterioso and Volador were obviously partners. This match split them, paired them, and pitted them against one another. The primera, which was the most straightforward part of the match was full of good stuff, like some fairly elaborate monkey flip spots, lots of sequence, and a really nice dodge of a kick by Solar turned into an armdrag:

And this was really about as fun as you'd expect a match with partners, very familiar with one another, pairing off. In fact, the one thing that dragged it down a bit as a standalone exhibition was the one thing that makes it interesting in the context of the other matches: Misterioso's bad attitude. It started early, with him the only person in the match who didn't seem to want to be there. He was very hesitant to tag in, really milking it. He did tag in and worked some really fast stuff with Volador. Later int he primera, however, Solar pushed Azteca in a moment of frustration (which didn't work anyway since Azteca just kipped up and clotheslined him). Misterioso feigned upsetness over it, though.

Solar took the first fall for his team on Azteca with a roll up. The segunda started with Misterioso vs Volador, with some effective scouting spots, ending with Volador's quebradora. Misterioso sold it big, rolling outside, seeming offended. They ended up shaking though. The cracks kept coming too with Azteca pushing Winners on the outside after taking a big bump and Winners responding by dropkicking him over the barricade. They made up, though and, shortly thereafter, Azteca would take the fall on Solar in a nice bit of symmetry.

The tercera had more of the same, good action and increasing complaining. It started early when Misterioso thought that a back body drop by Volador on Calo (really just the receipt on one just taken) was too harsh. Later on, the ref lazily pushed Volador over on a Misterioso sunset flip attempt and when Volador complained, the two started pushing one another again.

The action kept mounting, culminating with a dive train, with each luchador getting a tope in. Maybe it's something that happened more in AAA, and it's now the sort of thing WWE does in their multiman tag matches all the time, but I haven't seen that specific sort of train too much in lucha, so it really stood out. It also set up the finish, which was Solar locking la tapatia onto Azteca, Azteca sitting up out of it, and Misterioso, really in bad faith, walking in and punching him, causing a double pin and everyone to be all the more upset.

This was really good for what it was. It's interesting that Misterioso and Volador weren't the only heated partners here, especially because, as best as I can tell, this was part of a bigger turn for Misterioso that had been going on even prior to this match. I think it probably would have been better if it was a little more focused in that regard, but it felt more human and less forced as it was. This would lead to a rematch, which is where we are headed next.