Espectáculos Promociones Panama: Silver King! Mascara Negra! Sergio Galvez! Cirujano de le Muerte!

Silver King/Máscara Negra vs Sergio Gálvez/El Cirujano de la Muerte 5/15/87?

MD: This one had a lot going for it and a couple of things working against it. Galvez was, of course, an absolute bastard in all of the best ways. There is a category of scuzzy heel wrestlers from the annals of time that would make amazing terrible uncles to any kid. Mocha Cota is one, Chris Colt another, Bobby Bass a third, and so on and so forth. Inca Peruano was that guy on the French set. Sergio Galvez is here. He can stooge and beg off, can get in a slugfest, can base and feed, but he’s at his very best when he’s swarming an opponent, as he does with Silver King towards the end of the segunda, just forcing him out of the ring and following with a hundred mean shots. The good Cirujano is of the line of thematic Médico Asesino descendants, with white gear. He reminded me of Gran Markus, Jr. as much as anything. He hit hard enough, big hefty shots, but I have some, shall we say, concerns about his overall basing.

That made the primera a little dodgy. Silver King (who still had his mask and boundless energy) tried a few things like walking the ropes and none of it went quite as well as you’d have hoped. It came off as two guys who maybe knew what they were doing, but hadn’t drilled together? Mascara Negra worked with him a little better. I liked this guy a lot. He had a real sense of rhythm and a unique style, able to throw some interesting kicks but also hit a bound up leaping ‘rana off the turnbuckles (taken a bit askew by Cirujano). And when he was up against Galvez? Very quick to hit an awesome straight punch to the gut and follow it by tossing him around by the beard. He impressed.

You can’t fault the structure here, dubious basing aside. The tecnicos one-upped the rudos early, living through Galvez stalling and refusing to get in with Silver King at first, with the fall ending with a big quebradora and tiling slam by Silver King. He looked best there and with the work against both rudos at once that started the segunda. The rudos took over quickly thereafter, however, though the tecnicos got some hope, including Silver King handspringing into the ropes a little too exuberantly. It all led to the rudos playing the numbers game and Galvez’ swarming of Silver King and a really great caballo where the partner stood behind and yanked the poor victim’s arms back. I’d never seen that particular tandem submission variation before. The tercera kept the beatdown going, with Galvez ripping Silver King’s mask. It led to a rousing comeback, but one that quickly spiraled through Cirujano’s interference and the ref getting distracted, allowing for a Galvez low blow. Obviously this led to something more and we, and the fans, were left unsatisfied by the comeback on this night. You have to appreciate how well they ramped up the pressure for it though.

GB: It’s always a good day when we get to watch Sergio Gálvez, especially versus a foreign talent. There’s something more primal, almost xenophobic, in the way that he wrestles if his opponent isn’t Panamanian. With his trusty choice of plunder, he made sure that the only warmth foreigners felt on their way into Panama was the blood coagulating on their skin.

Silver King would be no exception here in what I presume to be his debut into Panama. I’m not entirely confident on the date but it does go somewhat according to how King described things in the sitdown interview alongside el Barón. Silver King was the clear fan favourite here, despite this being his first outing. He was most certainly coasting off his father’s coattails but you can’t really blame him for that. Papa Wagner was a beloved star across South America and saw numerous successes in apuestas wherever he went with his most notable feud culminating in him retiring the Guatemalan legend José Azzari in September 1976.

It’s interesting, then, that Silver King would make his first mark out in Panama, considering his father was less than a year removed from still taking names in Guatemala. Either way, Wagner was a household name and a surefire way to get yourself a nice little booking fee as his kid. Despite playing second fiddle to the bigger names in Anibal and Rene Guajardo, Dr Wagner Sr was a formidable opponent whose fight and technical skill won over the people of Panama throughout the 1970s, most especially in the Panama/Mexico tag tournament in mid to late 1977. His partner, Septiembre Negro would go on to much bigger things (and much bigger losses!) but the people of Panama still fondly post about their memories of the triumphing Dr Wagner.

It was undeniable thus. Wherever he went, Silver King had big shoes to fill and he couldn’t let a bully like Gálvez get the better of him. Perhaps a little too quick off the mark, Silver King would take this match as a personal insult to him and an attack on his pride. Though, as for the reasoning behind the feud, I’m unsure what Gálvez had against the young Silver King here. King’s father beating up Gálvez’ partner (Panther) a decade earlier would be a little too much detail even for Don Medina to book out so I’ll just point to exhibit A above that Sergio Gálvez is simply a psychopathic human being. Where this feud goes, well, we’ll find out if things get posted again. There’s rumour of a mask/hair match but that’s all I’ve found it to be so far. Rumour.

As for Silver King’s escapades throughout Latin America, he, along with Texano, would finally travel to Guatemala at the turn of the next decade. Considering how formidable his father was, Guatemala would see fit to not have the next lineage run rampant, too. With their hopes laid on the backs of two very unlikely allies in Astro de Oro and Skeletor, Los Cowboys would drop their WWA world tag titles to the Guatemalan heroes after a hard fought match on the 12th of December 1991.

Embarrassed by a “fluke”, Texano and Silver King anted up their hairs in exchange for a title shot, again losing to the would-be duo of Skeletor and Astro de Oro. The latter would go on to successfully defend against, in order, Los Villanos IV & V, Tony Arce y Vulcano, El Signo y El Negro Navarro, Scorpio Sr & Jr and Los Crazzy Boys I y II before losing the titles to La Ola Blanca; Doctor Wagner Jr and Rayo Láser (who substituted for an injured Angel Blanco Jr).

Speaking of mystery men in white, the El Cirujano de La Muerte gimmick is dime-a-dozen so you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s someone else. It most certainly could have been anyone under a mask here. Well, almost anyone. It definitely isn’t *that* El Cirujano de La Muerte from Guatemala, he’s too big a national star to be stuck in low-card matches working Mascara Negra whose better days were a decade earlier. Though, if it was, there’s an almost ironic twist to Matt comparing them to Gran Markus, considering he was expelled from Guatemala for “unpatriotic” comments about their people. I guess the Guatemalan government never got the memo that wrestling was fake. People give Tony a lot of grief for watching Punk nuke his money out the window but imagine the horror as a promoter after flying in someone from Mexico, giving them a mic, and watching them go scorched earth for heat only for the programme to be cut before it could ever begin.

In all seriousness, our Cirujano here is, in fact, Dominican so it’s almost surprising that there isn’t a note of them in the Dominican Republic groups I frequent. I assume they underwent a gimmick change or two along the way, with this pitstop to Panama falling into otherwise obscurity.