Espectáculos Promociones Panama: Solar! Antorcha! Galvez! JOE Panther!

Solar/Antorcha vs. Sergio Galvez/Joe Panther

MD: This was a very complete match, one that really stands on its own outside of any project, and one that feels like home for anyone familiar with classic lucha trios structure, albeit with a few wrinkles. Galvez was as wild as ever, the kind of guy who would stall and beg off but then will run up and knee you like it's nothing and that will even dash into an incoming chairshot to try to get under it and tackle you. Just a rudo's rudo. Panther was a game partner, looking unassuming as could be, like Panther just happened to be his last name, but he'd also bite you in the eye at a moment's notice. Maybe most importantly, they were up for taking all of Antorcha (black mask with a torch on it) and Solar's tecnico offense:  tricked out armdrags, dropkicks back into the corner or out of the ring, and these awesome labored piece-by-piece quebradoras.

This started with a rudo ambush prevented by Antorcha, leading to a quick tecnico fall. The exchanges that followed were enjoyable, including Galvez crashing again and again into his own partner as Solar ran circles around him. Solar flew a little too close to the sun with a celebratory back headspring after knocking Panther out and Galvez ambushed him, starting the beatdown. This was chaotic, with Galvez beating Solar around ringside, and lasted all the way through the segunda and into the tercera. The moment of comeback itself was as much about Antorcha recovering enough to turn it from 2 on 1 to 2 on 2, but the revenge that followed was enjoyable. These matches tend to be indoor track stadiums, giving loads of room to brawl all over the outside. Here it led to the image of Solar swinging a chair all over the place. While the quick primera might have felt a little out of place to contemporaneous matches in Mexico, the fact they settled in, even after the heat and carnage, into some fun mat exchanges and tandem spots is one of those eternal old lucha quirks.

Of course, this being Panama, they weren’t afraid to lean hard into the heat at the end, with Galvez and Panther switching a chain (or something along those lines) between one another and taking out first Antorcha and then, as he was searching the wrong rudo, Solar as well. But being Panama, it didn’t end there either. The last image we have of the match is the tecnicos fighting back after their loss and the wrestlers pairing off for swinging chair battles.  

GB: In some ways, this was the best possible entry point into this project. It’s very much a Mexican trios formula with the odd trope or two to give us a little glance into what Panama brings to the table. Also, while we have a familiar name in Solar, it’s a role for him in something we’re not quite accustomed to.

This would be Solar’s second visit to Panama and was in July 1986 (though I’m a little iffy on the year). Despite his youthful age, he had been mostly successful in his prior visit, taking local legend Chamaco Castro’s hair in 1979. However, if rumors are to be believed, he would also go on to lose his mask at some point during this stopover. If true, this would make him one of quite a few Mexican luchadores that would lose in an apuesta despite never doing so until much later in their home country (I know Sandokán claimed to have taken Fishman and one of the Villanos amongst others by this point). Regardless, this time, Solar was treated as a big deal. Not as an invader for the local hero to conquer but a foreign idol for attending locals to cross off their bucket list of must see stars.

Perhaps none better to play foil to Solar, then, was Sergio Gálvez. Having debuted in April 1972 as a tecnico under the mask/character of Penado 14, he was given an ultimatum, seemingly much to his chagrin, by promoter Sammy De La Guardia that he would be “Sergio Gálvez”, a rudo, “tómalo o tómalo” (take it or leave it). This would come as Sergio’s best career advice as he adapted to the role like a natural. Source upon source, memory upon memory, remembers Sergio most fondly as “el rudo del rudos” (or, more affectionately to the term than we’re used to, “the most badass of all badasses”). From what I’ve read (and pictures I’ve seen), Gálvez was a bloodthirsty psychopath not unwilling to maim and destroy his opponents with anything on hand.

We get a little taste of it in this match, but this is more a stooging, almost chickenshit Gálvez than the one I had grown accustomed to reading about. Though, I get it. This would be the catalyst to the Gálvez/Solar feud - a tag match that introduced the “best of” Solar to the crowd and whetted the appetite for more. A week after this tag was a “super libre sinárbitro” (no rules, no referee) singles match that I’m sure dialled the violence up. Here’s hoping that drops at some point.

As for the match, it’s more Solar playing dress-up in the “What Would Santo Do?” role. What I mean by that is this is Solar almost beyond what we really know him for. We have a mask match or two, but nothing quite with him playing so far from underneath as this endearing crowd favourite unafraid of getting his mask ripped and taking the fight to his enemy.  Gone are his graceful holds and intricate matwork. Here, Solar is the traveling hero técnico that, quite literally a week later, kissed babies and took care of the sick at the local hospital. Yet, all the while, he was ready to smash a head or two in with a chair after provocation. I was left a little underwhelmed by him in the hair match vs Gálvez but he was more than on point here.

Speaking of the rudos, Panther and Gálvez were long-time partners by now so everything was probably old hat for them. However, the quickness in setting up the opening comedy spots was quite surreal in how flawlessly it was executed. Just beautifully done and made Solar immediately look like a big deal. I’d prefer to avoid going into detail about the match intricacies as I think Matt handles that much better than I could, but I do want to also highlight how the cut offs and beatdowns were meticulously cunning and brutal. There really was a sense that this could have happened in El Toreo or Arena Mexico to much the same effect as it had on the fans here. If you’re a fan of Los Infernales, then you’re most likely going to be a fan of Panther/Gálvez. As the match rolled on, they really did look like the duo some would say terrorized Panama in the 80s and 90s.

The project on an almost daily basis continues to surprise me with novelty finds but I’m probably too far from hoping that there’s a lost Pirata Morgan vs Sergio Gálvez bloodbath hidden in the doldrums of TVC Deportes’ archives. No matter, we have plenty more Gálvez to comb through and a little more Solar to cover. We’ve been blessed enough.