Black Terry Boot Camp 6: Black Terry vs Rey Hechicero (11/23/2014)

2014-11-23 @ Coliseo Coacalco, Coacalco, Estado de México (Chilanga Mask)
Black Terry vs Rey Hechicero

Great match. Kind of terrible finish. That was the verdict from Phil and Eric when they saw this match back in 2014 (It was #29 on the 2014 SC list). Let's get the finish out of the way first. After gritty matwork, brawling around the ring twice, chairshots and escalating big moves, a masked man ran to ringside, pulled Terry off of Hechicero in his moment of probable victory (after the super backcracker). In the scuffle that followed, Terry pulled his black mask off to reveal that it was Guerrero Maya Jr. Chaos ensued after that with everyone brawling with everyone else and Terry sneaking out a pin the midst of it.

In retrospect, I'm more okay with that finish than they were back in 2014. Nothing makes a bullshit finish at the end of a great war of a match better than knowing what it leads to. I'm not saying it was some sort of great angle, but it's way better for the guy under the black mask to be Black Terry's "son" than Brutus Beefcake, especially when we know that this all lead to that awesome 2015 Guerrero Maya, Sr. vs Guerrero Maya, Jr. match and Jr. being just an awesome rudo. I'm glad that if we were robbed of a finish here, at least it was due to something hugely functional.

As for the match itself, it was a perfect follow up to the way the October match finished. They started out by pushing each other and they didn't look back. These two pair off so well, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a better Hechicero opponent, including Caifan, who I might have given that honor to before. There's only three or four minutes of matwork but they slipped in escalation, starting simple, using leverage moves and escapes, and advancing into the spinning and twisting, finishing with strikes within a hold that led smoothly into the brawling, in and out of the ring.

It's funny. I watch a lot of lucha these days but I'm sure that the crowd, being a Mexican indy crowd, was much more used to seeing weapon shots than I am, watching mostly CMLL like I do. So when Hechicero introduced a chair, it felt really striking to me (Though it probably didn't to them). I bet that Terry throwing a box of bottles right at Hechicero's face was striking to everyone though. This was grisly, with maybe the best part (past the bottles and Terry's headbutts) being Hechicero doing a post assisted standing chinlock that was nasty and that people should really steal.

The underlying story for the middle section was Hechicero being younger and stronger and Terry having to dodge or to focus on Hechicero's back in order to regain or keep an advantage. It wasn't in your face storytelling, but it was definitely there and that's the sort of thing that gives the stiffness meaning and purpose and sets it apart from two guys just trying to kill themselves. This is another one worth hitting Black Terry, Jr. for. Both wrestlers are just so versatile. Just bear in mind the finish and afterwards go to youtube and watch the GM, Jr. vs GM, Sr. match to wash the taste out and remind yourself it was worth it in the end.