New Footage Friday: Panamanian Lucha!!

El Celestial vs. El Taur

MD: 80s Panamanian lucha that popped up. This is one fall. It's announced as a super libre match and more or less plays out like one. The rudos and tecnicos come out of different sides of the gym. There are kids everywhere and they announce that the police will escort them away if they don't get away from the ring. This match is sponsored by a coffee shop apparently. They have a little thing they do to start where they put the back of each other's hand out up against each other before throwing the first strikes, sort of like a handshake. They work some fun spots to start, including a nice legtrap takedown by Celestial, but it really opens up when Celestial wipes out big on a dive and Taur starts to take over on him with shots to the post, mask ripping, and biting, and clubbering, including with some knuckle dusters. Celestial's got the wobbly, arms dangling, full body selling down. The crowd goes up for him when he finally starts to fire back, even if it's broken up a bit by him going after Taur's second. Eventually, the tide really turns with a big back body drop, Celestial getting the object and Taur getting opened up with extended revenge biting and some really big shots that Taur sells like death. After some back and forth, Celestial misses a senton off the second rope and Taur moves him up top to power slam him off the ropes for a pretty good finish. So, point being, there was more familiar here for a first look at Panamanian lucha than alien and the end result was actually pretty good and occasionally hard hitting, with some big bumps, some spectacle, some BS, and some blood.

PAS: This was a fun look at a scene we don't know anything about. I love the look of the Panamanian basketball gym with a wild crowd. The point Karate set up with the touched hands was cool too. This had a local lucha feel to it, neither of these guys had amazing athleticism or execution, but they were willing to hit hard and bleed and that covers a lot of sins. Taur's finishing almost jackhammer thing was cool too. Nothing that blows your mind, but feels like a main even which would be a great time out on the town.

Gemelos Infernales 1 y 2 vs. Gavilán de oro y La Cobra

MD: This was something. It was definitely imaginative. Some things familiar and some things not. They had a lot of stuff. That's what I'm trying to say. Body 'ranas, slingshot suplexes, all sorts of headbutts, a double pick up where they dropped a tecnico out of the ring, a kneeling bulldog, an armdrag out of a slingshot attempt. These French Catch style powerbomb flips. So many assisted butt drops where one guy would hold the other in position. Occasionally they'd do a more polished sequence and when they did, it looked good, but it was just as likely that they'd get up and go down off the top a couple of times before missing a flipping senton or something. I mean, they looked pretty good in there, they did, but occasionally, I'm not quite sure what they were going for. It was all pretty wild, from the rudo mauling before the match to the kids all running around as things spilled out to the floor towards the end. Overall, Gemelos Infernales I and II seemed to have a pretty solid rudo act, even if it's one that painted outside the lines we're used to at times.

Puma y Lobo Negro vs. Estrella Blanca y Antorcha II

MD: This went about ten minutes before getting kind of weird. It was more straightforward than the other tag at least. The rudos beat down. The tecnicos came back with slick moves. There was a unique bit at the beginning where one tecnico seemed to try to armdrag the other to give him more momentum and some of the reactions to body blocks were a little off, but in general it was what I was used to. Then towards the stretch, Estralla Blanca launched a bizarre step over into a neckbreaking cutter thing, followed up by this falling backwackwards headclap thing I've never seen only to eat a low blow. The finish had a pretty cool off the ropes German by Puma. I think what I've learned from this is that I'd be happy to watch more random decades old Panamanian tags. Pre-match, they begged the parents to stop their kids' insanity of swarming the ring. Post-match the rudos got a tiny trophy and gloated about it.

Chamaco Castro vs. Tiburon Negro

MD: This one had more of a Puerto Rico vibe to me. Castro was a Welterweight champ and Tiburon had a fun mask with sharks on either side where the mouths of the sharks were the eyeholes. The first few minutes were fairly well structured with Castro coming out with a blackjack in a towel and causing a lot of damage with that until Tiburon contained him and worked over the arm til he could get it, but as the match went on, more weapons kept getting introduced, that white knuckle duster, these crowd control sticks that the people guarding the ring used (?) and who knows what else. It all became fairly formless as they punished one another on the way to a ten minute draw. The post match where they just teed off on one another with punches was fun though.

Gemelo Infernal III vs., El Barón

MD: I can't say I'm entirely sure what to make of this one. These guys were smaller and went faster, to the point of that fine patina of sloppiness where you're not sure if something is a counter or just completely and wildly off. Baron had a mask with some Fantasma trappings and was the tecnico. Gemelo Infernal III came off as the lesser, younger brother Gemelo Infernal. Some of the specific takeovers were fairly tricked out and Gemelo Infernal III took some crazy bumps over the top, including one where he flipped over after hitting the floor to almost take two bumps. Gemelo Infernal II ends up interfering to cause the DQ and El Chino (another guy with a blue mask) comes in to show us that Gemelo Infernal II has pretty good headbutts, even though we can't quite say the same for III. This definitely had more spots, even if they weren't exactly pretty, and the post match brawl was short but wild with kids running around everywhere.