MLJ: Recent Uploads: Pierroth vs Hector Garza [Hair vs Hair]

2005-08-19 @ Arena México
Héctor Garza vs Pierroth [hair]

~1:45 in

I haven't looked at recent uploads in a couple of weeks, so I figured I'd see what decadas80s90s2000 had put up. He's been posting a lot of 2005-2006 Perros del Mal CMLL matches and they're all interesting and worth looking at, but it feels too big to wrap my head around. they're just those big, heated, high impact trios and atomicos matches, the stuff that makes up for the basis of Perro, Jr. getting into the WON HOF this year.

I decided to stop in on this one, which was embedded in a bigger show that he posted. It's an apuestas match. It has Hector Garza, one of my favorites, and the angle leading up to it felt really heated to me. I'll embed that too. At the end of an atomicos match, Pierroth and a legion of goons in his masks came in, made the Perros eat dog food and berated and beat the crap out of Perro, Jr. and Hector. It was quite the scene.

This was obviously going to have a low cap since Pierroth was pretty limited by this point, but for what they tried to do, basically a lot of bullshit, it was executed well. It felt very iconic, simple but effective, and it had the crowd, especially for the finish.

Once again, Pierroth came down with a small army of masked followers. This gives a bit of a sense of the chaos:

In the midst of all of it, Pierroth was able to get the first blows, including a surprisingly painful looking dropkick, before overstretching himself and going for a rana. Garza powerbombed him and then did it again, and then hit the most beautiful corkscrew moonsault for the very brief primera. I love the way that he arched back before hitting it. It was the ultimate little Garza gesture, a bit of grace to go along with his incorriglbe nature. That's what makes Garza so great, not the fact that he could hit stuff and was athletic but the way that his athleticism was married with his charisma. Everything worked towards a total whole:

The segunda had Perro, Jr. get involved, trying to hold Pierroth only to get moonsaulted by Garza for his trouble. It led to all sorts of BS with a Pierroth pin in the ropes and the match getting delayed for complaining. Lots of disruption but it sort of worked in this context. This wasn't going to be a bloodbath or a workrate classic, but all of this felt character driven and there was a level of belief and commitment from the wresters that made the crowd buy into it all.

The tercera was well enough worked for what they were trying to do. Both wrestlers had good facial expressions in the holds even if nothing was particularly smooth. And yes, it all stayed consistent, ending with that same sort of bullshit. Garza went back to the top. Commandante came out. Perro, Jr. nailed her in the skull with a blunt object. Pierroth tried to take advantage. Garza fouled him and stole the win. The crowd went nuts and post match, Perros del Mal held him for a probably completely racist head-shaving and humiliating headshaving ceremony. Again, the crowd loved it.

Nothing classic here but a plan full of smoke and mirrors well-executed. It's interesting to see a match like that out of CMLL now and again.