SLL's All-Request Friday Night...on a Tuesday

Super Muneco, Robocop, & Gran Houdini vs. Los Thundercats (Monterrey, Late 1980's)
Requested by Tim Evans

Fuck Sting. We've got Robocop.

Primera caida is mostly mat-based. After only knowing them for their bloody apuestas match with Trio Fantasia for so long, it's pretty cool seeing more of the technical side of Los Thundercats here. Tygra starts off with Gran Houdini. Houdini should be escaping from a lot of complex submissions. He doesn't, but he doesn't really get put into any in the first place, so I'm not sure I can blame him for that. Whatever. That's not what you're here for. This is what you're here for: Panthro and Robocop are up next, and man, you haven't lived until you've seen Robocop go to the mat. Seriously, he's actually pretty slick, I liked his nifty armdrag takedown, and he'd probably be the star of the match even if he wasn't fucking Robocop, but the fact that he's Robocop just makes it all the sweeter. Then Muneco and Lion-O square off, and now things gets wild. Honestly, Muneco is kind of a bastard. Everyone else seemed like they wanted a nice clean fight, and here he comes lolling his head around as he does and starting shit with people. Lion-O with the mask ripping. What would Jaga say? Still, this mean streak seems to work out for the Thundercats, as they take the first fall. Presumably, in the second fall, they tried to find a drug dealer to make into Monterrey Robocop 2 and sic on our hero, but the technicos evened the score pretty quickly, so no dice.

And oh, holy shit, this third fall. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Robocop match falls down in it's third part. Muneco immediately starts fouling all three Thundercats in full view of the ref, and apparently, even in the 80's, the Monterrey officiating staff was composed entirely of match-ruining assholes, because this guy just lets it go for some reason. He gestures like he's thinking about giving the match to the Thundercats at one point, and he holds his arms out a lot as if to say, "Come on, Super Muneco, cut it out! You know I hate having to actually do my job!" For his part, Robocop does have the decency to be disgusted by his partner's behavior, and then there's a bit of decent brawling, but then it just turns into an orderly match again, and I really don't care about that. I want to see Robocop throw Super Muneco through a bunch of windows while reading him his Miranda rights.

In conclusion, despite the match having kind of a lame finish, Monterrey Robocop is awesome, and the perfect companion to Robert Cop.

NEXT TIME: A non-Meiko, non-Kana modern joshi match that doesn't suck? The gods must be crazy!

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Pro Wrestling Revolution 3/28/15 Workrate Report

The show starts with a really nice, well put together Perro Aguayo tribute video. Really nice stuff and I'm still just stunned by his passing. Like it just does not seem real. Really makes me extremely aware of how close to death any of us are at any given moment. It's humbling and frightening

1. El Mariachi vs. Derek Sanders (6/8/14)

Boy this feud is just dead in the water. I've seen them wrestle several times, and nothing about the matches ever feels different. I watched their hair vs. mask match and it was worked exactly the same as all of their other matches. And just like those matches this is an 8 minute match shown as the entirety of a 30 minute program. We get a long La Migra entrance and promo, which is just like all of the other ones with Derek Sanders telling the audience to SHUT UP for several minutes, and then saying that Mexicans are bad and the US is the best, really compelling stuff. Then commercials and Mariachi entrance and Mariachi tossing sombreros to whatever side is loudest, and then ANOTHER La Migra entrance and more commercials. Match started about 17 minutes into the program. I mean, we really needed to show Derek Sanders saying that he dislikes Mexicans, as many viewers could have misconstrued The Border Patrol's true intentions.

Match itself was actually the best match I've witnessed of theirs, with Mariachi actually showing presence and aggression that I haven't seen before. He came after Sanders right at the bell, and throughout the match kept going for his tornado DDT, almost trying to work it into being an "out of nowhere" finisher like the Diamond Cutter. First he tried to run up the corner with it, later the ropes, later on the floor tries to run up the apron and hit it. It lends an immediacy to things and I like it. He hits several nice armdrags that Sanders takes nicely. However, since I've seen their other matches I had a feeling which direction things were going, and sure enough it's only a matter of time before La Migra ref Sparky Ballard pulls up lame with a sore shoulder after a 2 count, and then hero ref Tom Castor runs out to deal with him. Out of all the things this fed can steal from real, actual lucha, their insistence on making referees stars that are paramount to their wrestlers is just maddening. I cannot think of a dumber reoccuring theme in all of the lucha I have watched. So of course that's a trademark that they have to lift, a tradition they have to carry on. So Tom Castor gets the biggest hero moment of the match, dispatching Ballard, but it's all for naught as Sanders punts Mariachi in the balls in all the referee chaos and that's that. I really cannot stand all the stuff with the refs, as it can never build to anything interesting, and it just seems so stupid to me to build all the biggest heat around one ref, and the big hero spot around another. So yes, match itself was fine and their best match-up together, but then end was a predictable crap pile. There is really nothing left in this feud and I really hope they stopped being booked against each other. 

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