On Brand Segunda Caida: Oz on the Warpath

 

by JR

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Mio Momono Marvelous 8/7/23

My child ran away from me in a small department store, laughing and screaming as we shopped for back-to-school outfits. She hid in a circular rack of dresses, and I walked steadily towards her, too tired to run. At that moment I thought of movie monsters, like Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers, and how perhaps they aren’t some mystical embodiment of evil destined to catch teenagers, but are instead middle-aged men who understand the geography of their surroundings and reflect that confidence in their lack of pace. Horror, after all, is a matter of perspective. For Leatherface, as he sat checking his watch and rocking himself back to serenity after seeing yet another stranger in his living room, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a story of home invasion. 

I wonder how a 52-year-old Mayumi Ozaki would watch horror films. Would she see herself reflected in those same villains? In her youth, she was Oz! The Bitchiest! with tildes and exclamation points following her name. She was cruel in a way that felt almost otherworldly. It was her purpose. Winning matches seemed like a side effect that only gave her satisfaction because it further frustrated others.

Now she fights Mio Momono, a tiny woman with a championship belt and clothing choices that make her look like a toddler who dresses herself. And Ozaki’s cruelty feels so patient today. She luxuriates in it. Is there such a thing as an economy of cruelty, like there is for movement? Ozaki creates it; she whips her with a chain and shuffles after her as Momono flies around. She drops the chain on Momono’s hand, an old favorite made more stunning by its now callous laziness.

Wrestling at its heart is made exceptional through contrast. Good versus evil, surely, but others too. Cunning pitted against earnestness. Speed against strength. Here we find Ozaki’s learnedness fighting Momono’s energy, both parties believing their supply is limitless until proven otherwise. Perhaps Ozaki should know better, and perhaps some of her charm is that she doesn’t. Wrestling has a long history of the former ace raging against their own physical limitations, holding on to their spot for dear life until someone, anyone, can put them down. Perhaps they think it will bring them some peace. For Ozaki, the thought seemingly never crosses her mind. She does not consider she might be on borrowed time. She is not awaiting someone to replace her, to give her some distance from her deeds to look back on her career with pride, knowing she has been replaced by someone with some of her same specific traits. She is simply here to hurt someone because she still can.

And she wins! As she does she inflicts one final indignity upon Momono, stomping on her title before picking a fight with someone her own age, the retired and stately Chigusa Nagayo at ringside. As the trainees enter the ring to keep them apart, Ozaki looks joyful. This–and not a simple title victory–is her purpose. This moment, being an eternal thorn in the side of the people she still believes in her heart slighted and wronged her, is her true victory. In these moments she is not some invading force from Oz Academy. She is a woman remembering her youth, confident in the comfortable geography of a wrestling ring. The aftermath, a bloody 25-year-old, crying and pleading forgiveness, doesn’t even register.

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Found Footage Friday: CASAS~! PANTERITA~! PIRATA~! ASTRO~! SMILEY~! CARAS~! ARANDU~! SCORPIOS~! DEMON~! VERDUGO~!

Black Magic/Panterita del Ring/Centurion Negro vs. Negro Casas/Cien Caras/Arandu CMLL 1991

MD: Back to another wild trios here, another exciting match in this feud. There's such energy and almost elasticity whenever Casas and Panterita are in there. No one else moves like Casas. The way he hits the ropes almost seems to stretch reality itself, like he's always threatening to tumble off screen at any moment, like the ring itself would give way to him. It was true throughout but most especially as they were careening towards the finish of the tercera (Casas going for a 'rana and getting power bombed). The primera started with Panterita going right after Casas. It looked like there would be an immediate rudo advantage as Casas turned it around but Black Magic was there to toss him off the top and they rolled into exchanges.

This had to be pretty early into Smiley's sojourn into Mexico (in the pre-match interview, he pronounced Panterita's name wrong and couldn't remember Centurion Negro's name, not that he did much in this match) and he has raw size and presence but is still trying to figure out how to fit into a match like this. That's my takeaway at least. He has Casas, Arandu, and Caras to help him along but there are moments where he's coming back way before he's supposed to and I think there are spots here where he ends up getting goozled for his own good. They still were able to get a lot of use out of him though, like Arandu leaping back off the second rope only to get caught or Caras trying it on Smiley later only to get rolled up (the segunda finish). There were little bits of clipping here and there, maybe around fouls, but the long stretches of the beatdown and comeback were still satisfying. Casas was all over Panterita, tossing him into collapsing chairs, ripping the mask, trying to force his head into the space already occupied by the turnbuckle. They started the final exchanges with Casas tossing something in the air to distract him for a punch and set up the finishing stretch with Casas feigning getting fouled so his team could swarm in. I'm not getting sick of this pairing yet, that's for sure.

Panterita del Ring/Asterisco/Centurion Negro vs. Megatron/Scorpio/Scorpio Jr CMLL 1991

MD: Unfortunately, this was pretty clipped. We got a clear mat exchange between Megatron and Centurion Negro to start, which looked perfectly fine, and then bits and pieces of the beatdown and comeback and then the complete finishing stretch in the tercera. Therefore, I don't have anything intelligent to say about Asterisco (who I don't think was the Asterisco who feuded with Santito) for instance. I do want to stress how over Panterita was with this arena though. He had a cheering section; last match they had pom poms and here they had little flags. He had all the fire you'd want out of a local hero when fighting from underneath or making his comeback. He was probably matched with Scorpio, Sr. here but we didn't get to see much of that. It's a shame because Scorpio, Sr. feels like such a perfect wrestler for this blog given his size and overall scumminess. His nickname is apparently "El Rey Feo" (the Ugly King). Whenever he pops up in footage, I'm glad to see him. Anyway, this ended with things breaking down, the rudos controlling until the Scorpios had a mishap, and then a foul that the refs missed letting them win it anyway. This probably would have been pretty good, if somewhat slight, if we had gotten the whole thing.

Blue Demon Jr./Super Astro/Panterita del Ring vs. Arandu/Pirata Morgan/Verdugo Monterrey 1991 

MD: This is not actually new, but this video is in way more watchable form since it was cut up and misnamed before so we're going to cover it again. Here's the last review: 

(https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2012/08/just-call-me-pirata-morgan-im-sure-to.html)

It was epic then and it's epic now. While Panterita is in almost every match that have popped up in this dump and while I think it probably helps Ephesto's case over all to see these, and while seeing Casas off the beaten trail here has only spoken well of him too, Arandu is a guy who wasn't on anyone's radar and that really looks great in these matches: wild offense, big bumping, a lot of presence, fits right in with Estrada or Angel Blanco, Jr., or whoever. And here, he makes a great third Bucanero with Morgan and his brother. The story of this one was Arandu vs Super Astro and while everyone else played their part, it was some great contrast. Astro was willing to be lawndarted into hard objects and have his mask (and forehead) torn and chewed upon by Arandu and Arandu was more than happy to get chased around the arena and play into all of Astro's signature spots, including bumping out of the ring on the taunt spin.

My favorite moment in this was probably Demon dodging a punch so that Morgan hit Verdugo and then, when Morgan was selling his fist by shaking his hand in the air repeatedly, reaching his hand out to shake Morgan's, causing our one-eyed friend to freak out. The second was definitely Super Astro's final comeback where he burst into the ring and hit a DDT on Arandu that felt just as appropriate as punching him in the face due to how explosive it was. Even Blue Demon looked good in there, flying into hard objects for the rudos and hitting a nice Northern Lights Suplex. And Panterita fit right in on the tecnico side, hitting some of the more complex armdrags and vaults. Just a very complete match with blood, violence, comedy, big spots, something for everyone really.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 9/18 - 9/24 Part 2

MD: AEW's producing a lot of content right now. We've got another PPV this weekend with Darby vs Christian (2/3 Falls), Kingston vs Shibata, and Danielson vs ZSJ. Even with Punk gone and Dustin used infrequently, I have to pick and choose a little. So no Sting tag, which was good but on a Rampage so full of tags that even I got a bit overwhelmed by faces-in-peril, and no Danielson vs Starks. I don't have a ton to say about the latter anyway; I think it achieved its goal of elevating Starks. I liked how he came in unfocused and violent, shifting from strategy to strategy and weapon to weapon while Danielson was centered and focus and thus victorious. I thought they flubbed the Texas Death Match rules just a little and cut off some of the drama because of that. The pinfall > count element is a feature, not a bug. Getting everyone, including the ref, on board is important. 

AEW Collision 9/23/23

Darby Allin vs. Christian vs. Luchasaurus

MD: This was one of the better triple threat matches I can remember, which says more about three ways than it does about the match itself. It was a bit of a cheat overall because it had an entirely different story engine powering it. Is a triple threat match really a triple threat match when it's just worked like a handicap match without tags and where anyone can get pinned? Technically yes. Usually a triple threat is an excuse to get someone else on a card and to just keep the spots constantly going. More often than not, unique possibilities created by having three characters in one match are tossed to the wayside along with, you know, the notion of selling and letting things breathe, to instead tap into the ability to always have something happening. In some ways it's the opposite of creativity because it's just the lowest common denominator. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Therefore, this being worked as it was gave it an unfair advantage over all other matches of its ilk. Even just the first minute of this was cleverly thought out: Darby came in with an immediate strategy for victory, throwing powder at Luchasaurus, taking out Christian (who had his own strategy by sending in Luchasaurus first and going to the floor for a chair) with a dive and then going for the immediate victory with the Code Red. From there Darby would get some swipes in or would be able to dodge out of the way and clear the ring of one of his opponents to try to score a quick victory, but he would get overwhelmed again and again. It was great inherent storytelling in that regard, feeling like a competition with set odds or even like actual sport in a way wrestling usually doesn't (and unless you're watching Steve Grey, probably shouldn't). They made sure to put in a couple of car crash spots that would be contrived in a match where you didn't have a third guy to set things up, most especially the gut-churning chairlocked German Suplex.

And yes, there were those character bits in there, not just in how Christian pressed advantages and how Darby worked to find openings and capitalize on them from underneath but Christian trying to steal the belt and Luchasaurus finally starting to value it. The last part opened the door for the finish and Christian at least temporarily getting his due for all the work he's put in lately. Speaking of that, Punk obviously has to be replaced for our fifth and I'm leaning Christian's way, though I do ultimately prefer him as a TV working babyface. I want to give RUSH a chance to come back and get a couple of matches under his belt though, so we'll see. 

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Espectáculos Promociones Panama: More Atila Jr. (Mystery Solved!) and His Pal Satanico! Panamanian Impacto! El hijo de Urracá!

Satanico/Atila Jr. vs Impacto/El hijo de Urracá - November/December(?) 1988

MD: Another pretty complete tag. I have a much better sense of the Satanico/Atila Jr. act after this one. They have matching jackets here and very much come off as an interchangeable unit. They still feel like the Gemelos to me, with a sense of being swarming nuisances, but they're a little more dangerous over all. For instance, when they have control of Impacto in the segunda, they really hone in on the leg with one rapid-fire stretch/pull/yank after the other. They had plenty of tandem kicks and knees. I wouldn't say that they were a completely well oiled machine as there were a couple of wonky bits where they didn't seem to know what they were trying to do. Overall, while Atila, Jr. looked better on the mat, this was more of a high-energy Satanico showcase overall.

Meanwhile, they were quick to stooge and feed and base and did mostly well in that role. Impacto was a little all over the place. He did a bound into the ring to start and immediately seemed to hurt his leg, to the point where his partner moved him to the corner. Then he was fine a couple of minutes later (though maybe that did explain the leg focus later in the match... but you wouldn't know it from the selling and what came before and after?). He had some nice flowing armdrags (primary credit to the rudos here) and these absolutely bonkers diving lawn dart headbutts towards the end where he hit a weird angle and just bounced off.

Said partner was El hijo de Urracá and this is our first look at him, named after a Panamanian folk hero. No idea if there was another Urracá and he was his son or if he's supposed to be the spiritual son of said folk hero, but I liked him here. He had some interesting stuff when facing a 1-on-2 scenario against the rudos, a few little finesse bits that they fed into and based for that I've never seen done quite that way and a nice, similar transition into a submission to win the primera. Solid fire overall too and a good connection with the crowd. I wouldn't mind seeing him again and I'm curious what Graham digs up, if anything, now or in the future.

GB: I’ve got a lot of diddly squat to offer here. Just a couple quick anecdotes and not much more, honestly.

Firstly, Atila/Exterminador reached out to me and through him we can confirm this Atila Jr is the real McCoy. They seemed rather pleased that this part of their history hasn’t been forgotten and were amazed we have videos and photos of their time in Guatemala and Panama. I had lamented before of how he joins fans in attendance at ringside with only the old wrestling guard recognizing who he is. I feel grateful that, if nothing else, Matt and I can restore some joy to a luchador whose career is paramount to the success of lucha libre in at least two countries.

Secondly, I believe El hijo de Urracá is the son of the 70s Panamanian luchador, Indio Urracá. They’re a semi-regular on the cards but not nearly as prominent as you’d assume they’d be based on the name. Not as high on the cards as say Indio Ibeorkun, for instance. Perhaps the gimmick didn’t fit his style, much like it doesn’t quite suit Hijo. The real Urracá was a leader of what is now modern-day Panama. A fierce protector, Urracá has become a legendary figure for his guerrilla warfare like resistance against Spanish colonization, leading the Ngäbe-Buglé people in multiple battles and thwarting Spanish conquest for years. He has since become a symbol of indigenous resistance and Panamanian pride; a symbol a little lost in translation between the ropes here. There are moments where things go right, as Matt alludes to but, for the most part, El hijo de Urracá feels more calm and hesitant than he should be. In these 2-on-1s he hits back with a headbutt or two to shift momentum but it takes him some time to move to the second move of his arsenal. Satanico/Atila try and make up for it by adding their own movements but it’s all a little jarring. If he had been any other name I’d probably have no quibble here but you have to play to your gimmick.

Less harshly, I’ve started to come around on Impacto. He’s not someone I think we can go to bat for, but he’s a lot more entertaining in this match. Not having to focus on the “history” of the match or trying to build canon has allowed me to come into this with the goggles of a fan again and I love the dumb fun he pumps out here. The lawn dart headbutt has to be seen to be believed. A completely buffoon thing to do but just so memorable. As a high-flyer babyface that had to get over in a territory with better flyers, this was the way to do it. Not that it was a great choice for career longevity, of course, but when Matt mentioned “a spot” I immediately knew what he was going to say next. If you thought he had to retire a few years later due to injuries, you’d be right! Cut down in his prime (I’m guessing a complete rookie here in 1988), Impacto seems to retire less than a decade into his career. In the grander scheme of things, his highest career accolade would most likely be in 1996 when he and his partner el Patriota won the mask (though I’d assume hair?) of Rosa Salvaje (Rey Demonio) and Adrian el Exotico (Andy Barrow). That’s where his trail runs cold and I believe he retired.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 9/18 - 9/24 Part 1

AEW Dynamite 9/20/23

Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli

MD: It seems silly to even write about this. You know. You all know. This goes up Monday night. The match was Wednesday. People tweeted and made podcasts and wrote their initial thoughts on other blogs and message boards and in discords. Everyone knows that Claudio wore green and Eddie wore yellow. You know what, though? I'm going to do it anyway, because the match and the moment deserves it. I'm going to remind everyone five days later what we all know, because by writing it, by reading it, by thinking about it, we memorialize it. And this match, this moment, this sheer impossibility that could only exist in pro wrestling, deserves it.

Eddie Kingston wears his heart on his sleeve. It's a big heart but don't tell him that. I don't have the right to tell him that. You probably don't either. We'll say it anyway because it's undeniable. The myth... and yeah, he gets to have a myth. You don't get a myth. I don't get a myth. He gets one though. The myth of him is that he had a hard road, a hard time of things, could have ended up as a lost life that fell through the cracks but he found Japanese wrestling. He found the pillars. He found Kawada. So he became a wrestler. That's the myth. Wrestling saved him. He found salvation in this thing we love so much. Not every wrestler gets a myth. Hogan gets a myth. Rock gets a myth. Dusty got a myth. Kingston gets a myth. Like Jimmy Valiant or Jackie Fargo or Sputnik Monroe or Wild Bull Curry.

There are lots of stories about Eddie Kingston the wrestler, stories about Chris Hero or Low Ki or Homicide or Ian Rotten. We have a Complete and Accurate full of those stories. This story is about Claudio, but most of all it's about Eddie. It's a story of betrayal and disrespect about missed opportunities and opportunities taken, of a life left behind and about a life never achieved, about an opportunity that ought to have been lost forever. I won't recount the specifics. You've seen Joseph's video. Even if you didn't live it, you know.

Years further down the road, Eddie's story had him hit bottom, had him run out of chances, not through any fault of his own, but through the simple, sad state of the world. Everything was hanging by a thread and when things are hanging by a thread, all it takes is one shock to make that thread snap. So Eddie, as he was want to do, let out one last primal scream into the void.

And someone heard. And a door was open. And that's all it took. And Eddie did what he did and what only he could do, all with no one to watch. They all had to watch at home. And they did. And they saw. And when the time came for them to be back, they were there for him, through an explosion that did not explode, through near-miss after near-miss, through fire that was not allowed to burn, through a whole bunch of Evolution tags where he lost his cool for no good reason.

But it was all worth it. See, the thing was that for the first time ever, Eddie was in a place that understood. The fans understood. The wrestlers understood. The owner understood. And there were resources. There were opportunities. Eddie was able to stand across the ring from, to battle, to best, the heir to the pillars himself, a wrestler one degree away from the world that he had dreamed of, Jun Akiyama.

And it was with that behind him that he, through the miracle of this company that should have never been, through being this wrestler that should never had made it this far, he was able to have Claudio in his sights once more. He had to fight beside him in the name of friendship and greater vengeance, but animosity was what it was and what was Eddie without his animosity? Claudio's life had become grand. He had lived as a king and stood tall as a champion. He didn't want Eddie and old grudges pulling him back down to Earth. But pull Eddie did. Challenge him Eddie did.

Yet even with as far as Eddie had come, it wasn't enough. Old wounds nagged at him. Claudio was simply too good. Eddie strove, he fought, he failed. He left in defeat, accepted a long-needed surgery. And then, instead of trying once more, he recentered himself, found himself where he truly belonged. He competed in the G1, the closest thing left to the world he had idolized. He took pilgrimage to the restaurant of the retired master. Kobashi bandies about with his smile and his pose. Kawada is an old dragon in his dusty lair, no longer part of the world he helped to make, a world that got away from them all. But he met with Kingston, heard his tale, imparted wisdom: The Power Bomb. Not the Northern Lights Bomb. No. The Power Bomb. One last sword forged, one last secret told, one last order given.

So, close to his home, with family nearby, with ten thousand people chanting his name, Eddie came out for one last definitive battle. Claudio may not adapt to every moment, but he understood this one, understood what his role was to be, met it with strength, fury, intensity. His arms were treetrunks as he cut Eddie off with strikes and blows. His head was a boulder able to stop Eddie's greatest weapon, the backfist. He could heave Eddie up at a moment's notice and drop him mercilessly to the mat. Eddie chipped away at him, found weakness in the leg, used that as a wedge to harm the body. Most of all, though, he didn't quit, he didn't stop, he didn't hold back. For every indignation, ever feeling of disrespect that gnawed at him, from Claudio and from himself, he struck out. Whenever it seemed like the tide was turning against him, he threw all of his power into his hand and struck without hesitation or doubt. Slaps and chops that could change an unfeeling world. He made it feel. He took everything Claudio had, all of his best offense, every bomb in his considerable arsenal (including the Ricola Bomb) and rose once again. But he couldn't put Claudio away either. The uraken didn't do it. The Northern Lights Bomb didn't do it.

Eddie had told Kawada but weeks before that the Power Bomb was beyond him. It was a technique simple and primal but it was never within his skillset. It required a power that in Eddie had manifested in other ways. Here though, in this moment, when all other options had been expended, at the end of his rope once again, Eddie let out yet another primal scream, one of the heart this time. The announcers had expected a pile driver. The fans didn't immediately understand the significance. But Eddie knew. He knew as he rotated Claudio up and he knew as he planted him down and he knew as he pressed forward into the pin. He knew. I knew. You knew. Not all of them in the crowd knew yet, but they would know soon enough as Eddie's old friend the referee counted three and they knew all the more as Claudio shook his hand and threw him the belt. Victory finally obtained. Respect finally given. In the post match interview, Eddie laughed at himself, at the world, for he knew that while his myth had reached its conclusion, this chapter of his story was just beginning, and there was nothing but struggle ahead of him. But if the referee was his friend and Claudio his now-respecting rival, struggle was his brother, and they were fated to walk this path together forevermore.

If you come to this blog, you knew every word of what I just told you. I couldn't give you an iota of analysis that would be new to you. I have no comparative advantage here, no great insight. Just this once, I told you what you already know and reminded you of what you just saw because it deserved one more telling, because we were all fortunate to be a part of it, because it was that special to us all. Most of us aren't lucky enough to have lived in the time of Bull Curry or Jackie Fargo or Johnny Valentine, but we live in the time of Eddie Kingston and we should all pause for a moment and remember how fortunate we are for that.

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Found Footage Friday: TERRY~! DORY~! ABBY~! KIMALA II~! KONAKA~! NORI DA FUNKY~! RUSHER~! EIGEN~!

Dory Funk Jr./Terry Funk vs. Abdullah the Butcher/Kimala II AJPW 12/7/90

MD: On paper, this played out pretty much how one would think it might. Actually, even on paper, it had a little more to it than a lot of the Funks' matches on these 1990-1991 tours and the Abby/Kimala ones around the 1990 RWTL. I like almost all of those matches but so many are handheld so you don't quite the full smack of Dory's uppercuts or the fully joy of Terry's antics and they usually have a bit of a ceiling to them. Still good, still full of mastery, but they don't push it quite over the top.

This goes over the top and we get to see it in jarringly crisp video quality. The first third of it was back and forth. Dory's uppercuts were brisk. Terry's punches were amazing. Even just seeing them do a spinning footwash onto Kimala 2 looked gnarly giving the sheer size of his head. They were even able to double slam him. Kimala always had just enough "stuff" too, coming off the top with a headbutt as Abby held on to a poor victim, that abrupt dropkick that could change the trajectory of a match. And then Abby's throat shots or clothesline drop looked great in this VQ. Amazing moment here to end that first third as they set things up for Terry vs Abby, only for Abby to give a maniacal smile and tag out to Kimala once again.

It was the prelude to blood and panic; Terry would almost immediately get the spinning toehold on Kimala only for Abby to rush in for the fork and go right after his ear. What followed was a beautifully symphony of Terry Funk, blood running down the side of his head, flailing, bumping, writhing, and menacing a poor cameraman as he convalesced around the ringside area. Also lots of crazy, wild punch combos that were pure Terry. This, of course, let Abby and Kimala have the advantage (including bloodying Dory up too) until we rolled into the third act with Terry getting the fork and the fans going nuts for the Funks' revenge. We've seen some of this act before: Abby with the fork, Abby getting comeuppance from it, he made a career partially out of it, but the Funks had a way of making it weightier and more visceral than anyone. At a time where they felt a little more like an attraction in their All Japan matches, they still do a match like this whenever they wanted.

PAS: Man I loved this! Chaotic Terry Funk is one of the true treats in pro-wrestling, he is the greatest wrestler ever and his true mastery is when things go off the rails. When he gets stabbed in the ear and everything goes pear shaped, we get some awesome out of control Terry including him roughing a poor innocent cameraman and bleeding all over his shirt. Terry and Abby is as great a match up in 1990 as it was in 1979, Abby isn't as mobile, but mobility isn't his calling card anyway. I am a low voter on Dory as a technical wrestler, but have always enjoyed him in brawls, and he was super fun here, throwing thumping uppercuts, bleeding, and even doing a spot where he propelled Kimala over the top rope with a legscissors. Kimala 2 is a guy with a lot of bounce and was fun as sort of a hyperactive brother to Abby's more slow moving menace.  Still this is special because of the GOAT, and anytime we get to see him add another page to his novel it is a blessing.

ER: Man I could watch exclusively All Japan matches to the very end of my days. I loved every man in this tag, all doing the exact things they do best. But of course, the most exciting thing to all of you is the fact that none of us have ever seen Terry Funk square off against Kimala II before. Kimala works a lot of this match and seemingly has zero issue getting the shit beaten out of him by Funk. It's hilarious that Terry appeared to be throwing worked punches at Abby - even after Abby started to slice the man's ear off with a fork - but appeared to actively hit Kimala as hard as possible. When Kimala misses an avalanche, Terry hits a BEAST of a standing lariat, making some of the hardest contact you can make from a flat footed swing, then drops the full weight of his knee on Kimala's face with a very much Not Worked kneedrop. When Kimala gets to his feet after that kneedrop, Terry shoot punches him in the face in the exact same spot he just dropped a knee. Later on when the square off again, I was shocked to see how excited Kimala looked when Terry tagged in, slapping his belly and running in place as if he couldn't wait to walk out with a shattered orbital bone. And sure enough, Funk almost instantly overwhelmed him with punches to knock him to his back, then threw more pounding fists from his side while Kimala lay motionless. 

But while Funk/Kimala was the unique unseen match-up, the Terry/Abby interactions were legendary. When Abby pulled out the fork for the first time on the apron he did it with the showmanship of a magician, turning to the crowd and wiggling his fingers and making lil' stinker faces. "You know what I'm getting out!" before just walking into the ring and stabbing Terry straight in the head. Abby stabs the fuck out of the Funks, and when he starts stabbing Terry in the ear Terry goes nuts at ringside, sprinting at and then getting tangled up in a camera guy, then falling over a table like only Terry Funk can fall over a table. Not one fucking person can ape Terry's body movement, and his falling glacier bump onto and over a table is Uncut Terry. I love the first full reveal we get of Terry's badly bleeding ear, that realization of "Oh yeah obviously Abby was just stabbing him as hard as possible in the ear with the fork" leading directly into him forking the hell out of Dory's bald head. 

Abdullah's fork work here was incredible. The reaction he gets pressing it into Dory's fucking eyeball was real, and I loved the sicko fucking way that Kimala kept tagging in and going mouth first after every fresh fork slicing that Abby opened up. Kimala and Abby were such a fun team, as aside from Kimala licking and chewing up all the Funk's blood we got two different moments of Abby running full speed into Kimala as he had a Funk pressed into a corner. One of the most special things in pro wrestling is seeing one of the fattest men you've ever seen, running as fast and hard as he can into another one of the fattest men you've ever seen, for the sole purpose of squishing a third man. Terry gets a Stone Cold level reaction when he finally wrests the fork away from Abby and starts stabbing and punching him around ringside, and Kimala takes a flat out instant bump tumbling headlong over the top to the floor from a Dory low bridge headscissors, and his screams as Dory locking in the spinning toe hold made that hold feel as dangerous as it ever looked. Men Kimala's size aren't built to fall that fast onto concrete, and him fucking up his leg should be almost expected from such a fall. Hearing him yelp while Dory pulled on his leg added realism I was not expecting from a match that already had a fake Sudanese man stabbing two men hard enough to get 8 years for assault, had he done it anywhere other than in a ring at Budokan. 

Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen AJPW 1/27/91

MD: This was the last show of the tour so they were in a singles match instead of a tag. It amazes me that these two would still be going at it ten years later in NOAH, but it really was a timeless act. In the months that preceded this, Baba was teamed with Andre in the RWTL. At this point, he was out with an injury I think, and wouldn't be back til June. That meant Rusher was captaining the comedy for AJPW and Eigen was a perfect foil for him, just a total shitheel. From around this period, we have a few tags with rough vq as they're HHs and an even tougher singles encounter that you can barely make out. With tags, they usually did a good job of delaying the gratification of Rusher getting his hands on Eigen. It was trickier with the singles match but still worked out pretty well here. It started with Rusher chasing him around the ring to get a handshake, Eigen shaking, and then Eigen immediately slapping Rusher to a big reaction. 

Following that were a few unclean breaks by Eigen and then some real advantage. He was even able to position Rusher on the apron, facing the crowd to hit the smack to the chest (like Sheamus') which were his own signature spot to take. Eventually, he started chopping the heck out of Rusher and Rusher went from wincing in agony to powering back, flooring Eigen with one shot and taking over, never to look back. He'd smack him on the apron twice; Eigen always spit into the crowd when taking this and we have two good shots, first of the crowd grossed out by it and then all of them running from the impending spit like they were at a Gallagher show. Post match, we even can translate a bit of what Kimura was saying (hopeless on old fancams). He ended the show and his part of the tour by reminding Eigen that it was cold out there and telling him not to catch a cold, cracking the crowd up. I love watching these guys do their thing.  

ER: I'm sure it's easy to see the names Haruka Eigen and Rusher Kimura and write this off as comedy, but you'd be missing out on one of the most savage Eigen matches you've ever seen. Haruka Eigen's All Japan/NOAH run is one of the best comedy runs of any wrestler ever, maybe the funniest comedy worker of my life not named Super Porky. And he is plenty funny in this match, he just decides to segue from comedy to outright ass kicking in a way that he rarely did once he hit his mid-40s. When Rusher offers him a handshake at the bell, he accepts it and then slaps Rusher, skipping away and running behind the referee, then slaps Rusher again when they finally lock up. I laughed hard, and was fully expecting a match filled with his cherubic face making pleading faces as Rusher softly punched and shuffled after him, but instead Eigen begins throwing stiffer and stiffer strikes until he is hitting Rusher harder than I've seen him hit anyone during any part of his 15 year King's Road career. Rusher chimes in with open hand chops directly to Eigen's throat (which Eigen sells with alarmed screams), but Eigen is the one throwing headlock punches, hard flat boot kicks into Rusher's ribs, and graduates to caving in Rusher's chest while turning his own legendary comedy spot on its ear. 

"You guys think it's funny to splay me out on the ropes and have me spit on the fine Korakuen attendees? Here's how it feels. You think I'm a joke? Am I a joke to you? Here's what it feels like you motherfucker." Eigen clubs Kimura in the chest as hard as I've ever seen him hit anyone, forcing the ref to hold him back by the shoulders as he kicks at Rusher from the apron. In a world where Eigen typically uses the referee as a shield, we have now seen the referee forced to hold him back from furthering a beating. I love him. And when it eventually all catches up to him and Rusher throws him to the floor, you know he turns the tables and makes Eigen spray spit into the 6th row. Haruka Eigen is a man who tried to break free from his comedy roles and make his way into action dramas, only to be dragged back into comedy. The finish is excellent, as both men start wailing on each other with punches and chops, and Eigen gets up steam to elbow Rusher right in the ear. Rusher's selling is excellent as Eigen hits the ropes to comeback with a killshot elbow, but Rusher hooks him with a clothesline hard enough to put down any man. I have waited far too long to start a Haruka Eigen Complete & Accurate.  

Konaka Pale One vs. Nori da Funky Shibiresasu Sportiva 10/3/18

MD: There will always be room for Japanese warehouse nightclub wrestling here on Segunda Caida. Sebastian tells us that Nori da Funky is a guy who was in a Japanese hip hop group that did the opening song of Naruto and who wrestles like a powerhouse. Konaka we've seen before with his white face paint and ghost look and awesome combo of tiny close-up adjustments to get in and out of holds and abruptness in putting things on. The video's 30 minutes but the match itself is more like 15. It's a war though.

Konaka has Nori da Funky's number early, able to twist him about in hold after hold. Nori's able to at least put up a fight and just power his way through and into certain things. They go into strike exchanges a couple of times and I appreciate the way they sell each and every shot. There's no standing and taking everything. It all has weight and consequence. Every hold, every shot, every suplex. Even the roll-ups and kickouts seem grueling. Konaka's abruptness plays into his mid-match strategy as he keeps locking in a sleeper hold out of nowhere with Nori having to use all of his strength and savvy to escape, never the same way twice. In a test of strength Nori's going to win. In a game of chess, Konaka has the advantage, and the finishing stretch roll-ups leans more towards chess, ending with a clever spot that Yuta should steal. There's stuff on the mic after and entrances to start so don't be daunted by the time on this one. It's well worth watching.

PAS: We are in the glory days of weird Japanese indy footage shaking loose. Mutoah is selling their stuff and other micro indies, guys are finding tapes over in Japan, and digging into weird archives like this. Pale One is pretty cool, he really wrestles like the ghost of Shu El Guerrero or something, and I love the fact that the Japanese version of Shaggy 2 Dope wrestles like a WAR trainee in 1995, and the strength versus technique part of this match was really nifty. Love the final roll up, such a cool way to get a pin when you are out matched physically. Really looking forward to digging in to this stuff further. 

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Bronco Boricua 1989

Week 2: Picture it! Puerto Rico. August 1989.

EB: It’s the first weekend of August in 1989 and Capitol Sports Promotions (today known as WWC), the main wrestling promotion in Puerto Rico, is preparing for its 16th anniversary show (or Aniversario ‘89) in about a month and half’s time (September 16 to be exact). Since the first official Aniversario show in 1983, it has been the promotion’s big show of the year. We’re at the point where feuds are underway or being set in motion to pay off at the Aniversario show, but we’re not there yet.

Before we drop in on who’s who and what’s going on, a quick primer on Capitol Sports Promotions (or CSP for short). Founded in September 1973 (with Victor Jovica, Carlos Colon and Gorilla Monsoon serving as owners), the promotion was able to eventually establish itself as the leading wrestling promotion in Puerto Rico, becoming successful enough to become an NWA member around 1979. The decade of the 1980s saw a huge surge in popularity for CSP and it’s viewed by many local fans today as the golden age of local wrestling. But like many surges and booms, eventually a downturn comes. As we’re finishing the 80s and 1990 looms ahead, things aren’t as they were just a couple of years ago. Still, locally things are moving along for CSP.

The top title in the promotion is the Universal title, which was established in 1983 when a series of matches (that started back in late summer of 1982) were held between the WWC and NWA World champions (mainly Carlos Colon vs either Harley Race or Ric Flair). This series of matches ended with Carlos Colon defeating Ric Flair in a cage match on Dec. 18 of 83 to determine ‘the undisputed champion of the universe’.

Besides the Universal title, there are several other secondary singles titles as well as two tag titles active in the promotion at this time. Due to the number of titles and the roster size, it’s not uncommon to sometimes see wrestlers hold more than one title concurrently, with the frequency with which the titles are actively defended varying based on emphasis given and which wrestler holds it (meaning if it’s a local who is regularly here week after week compared with a semiregular who comes in for the big shows every month or two). We’ll get into more detail about who holds these titles soon enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBAn3wBkrxQ

As we start our journey, we begin during Fan Appreciation weekend for CSP (around this time they traditionally would hold their Fan Appreciation Days during the first weekend in August just before the school year would start). Our first stop is a segment of the Chicky Starr’s Sport Shop airing Saturday Aug. 5. Chicky’s guests are heel (or rudo) manager El Profe (the masked man sitting to the left) and three of Profe’s charges: Abudda Dein, Kareem Muhammad and Kendo Nagasaki. In Puerto Rico, the bad guys are the rudos and the good guys are the tecnicos. One important detail, the tecnicos are known as El Ejercito de la Justicia (which means ‘The Army of Justice’ or ‘Justice Army’). As for the rudos, for the most part (not always but usually) they are aligned with one of the heel managers in the promotion. Currently there are two of them, Chicky Starr (his stable is named El Club Deportivo which means ‘The Sports Club’) and El Profe (his stable is La Real Academia which means ‘The Royal Academy’). Just to give you an idea on how they are presented, Chicky is more of a wrestler who also manages while El Profe is more of a manager who also wrestles. Chicky is usually the lead heel or involved with the lead heel, while El Profe typically handles the tag teams and an occasional top heel. In a bit of a departure, at this moment in time most of the rudos with a manager are aligned with El Profe. Chicky is focusing on wrestling and managing one client in particular (we’ll discuss this in more detail next time).

The topic of conversation for this Sports Shop segment is the Bronca Boricua match (which can be translated as Puerto Rican Brawl) that is taking place on that night’s card. The match features a $10,000 prize for the winner and is also for La Copa Medalla (the Medalla Cup), so named because it is sponsored by the national beer brand Medalla. Chicky welcomes the viewers to the Sports Shop and starts talking about the big match happening tonight, mentioning that El Profe has seven chances at winning (he has seven of his wrestlers in the match) and Chicky himself will be competing as well in order to win the money and the cup. Chicky says whether it’s Profe or him that wins the money, it’ll be in good hands, as long as it’s not El Ejercito de la Justicia that wins.

El Profe agrees with Chicky, saying it will be the Real Academia’s night, he has seven chances at winning the money and cup. He has three of his wrestlers here with him and also mentions the Battens who are not here but are in training. No matter if it’s him or Chicky (‘preferably me though’) the important thing is that the money will be coming to them. Profe also mentions the rematch for the TV title where TNT will defend against Kendo Nagasaki and that he feels it’s unfair that he is barred from being in Kendo’s corner (‘TNT accused me last week of ringing the bell’). Doesn’t matter where he is though, what matters is where Kendo is and that is in the ring against TNT. The people will finally have a TV champion they can be proud of representing them, they’ll stop feeling the embarrassment and shame of seeing TNT as their champion. Chicky agrees with Profe, calling the stipulations for the match cheap on the part of the WWC. He closes by repeating again that they’re going for the $10,000, he and El Profe (at the mention of his name Profe pops into camera view for a second and taps his chest), but naturally Chicky is rooting for himself.

The action takes place tonight at Hiram Bithorn Stadium as the card rundown starts.  Let’s take the opportunity as they roll call the participants to introduce them. There is a Universal title match featuring a beast vs a monster, as Sadistic Steve Strong defends the title against Abdullah the Butcher. We’ll talk more about these two next time. For the Bronca Boricua match we have the following participants:

Invader #1 – I’ll address this once. Yes, that Invader. This journey will focus on Puerto Rican wrestling and he’s going to be appearing a lot throughout our reviews. Has been back since mid-to-late February and is one of the top tecnicos in the promotion. Currently is in a feud with Ivan Koloff over the Puerto Rican title. Is also the reigning North American champion, although this title is rarely defended and will be retired before the year is out. In addition to competing in the Bronca Boricua tonight, he has a match vs Ivan Koloff for the Puerto Rico title.

Kamala – He has made sporadic appearances in CSP since the mid-80s as a monster heavy that is brought in by one of the managers when needed. One such example is taking on Kerry von Erich on tonight’s card. He will make a few more appearances on a couple of the big shows for the remainder of 1989.

Ivan Koloff – Although he made a couple of appearances back in 1985 when JCP and CSP were members of the NWA, this is Ivan’s first run as a regular in the territory. He is managed by El Profe and is the reigning Puerto Rican champion (won the title just a few weeks before), feuding with former champ Invader (including a match on tonight’s card).

TNT – The rising star on the tecnico side, you likely know him as Savio Vega. He is a face paint wearing karate ninja and the reigning TV champion. Has a title defense against Kendo Nagasaki also on tonight’s show, with El Profe banned from ringside due to bell ringing shenanigans in their match the previous week.

Kerry Von Erich – A name that way back in the late 70s/early 80s made a couple of appearances for CSP, has recently appeared on a few shows throughout the summer and is being brought in as a special attraction for the big monthly cards. Besides the Bronca Boricua tonight, Kerry is also scheduled to face Kamala in a singles match.  He doesn’t really make any more appearances for the promotion after this weekend.

The Junkyard Dog – Has also recently started a regular run in the territory during the summer, wrestling in the upper card and main events as needed. Unlike Kerry, JYD’s run will last a bit longer throughout the rest of the year.

Boogie Man Jimmy Valiant – Had previously made sporadic appearances for CSP in the mid to late 80’s, currently making a semi-regular run in the promotion from late summer into the fall.

Chicky Starr – Has been the lead heel since 1986 when he turned on Invader #1 (in a mentor / student angle similar to Sammartino and Zbyszko), serving as wrestler, manager and interview segment host. Currently focusing more on wrestling (including a recent World Junior Heavyweight title reign) but has one key client in the reigning Universal champion. The self-proclaimed inarguable king of wrestling according to him (as evidenced by the rope and crown he wears, a recent development in 1989 thanks to a feud with Rufus R. Jones).

Kendo Nagasaki – First appearing for CSP in mid-83, he has had several runs in the territory, most recently as part of the Ninja Express from late-87 to mid-88. Would continue to make sporadic appearances being brought in by a heel manager, in this case by El Profe. Is currently in for a few weeks and having a series challenging for TNT’s TV title (including the previously mentioned match on tonight’s card where el Profe is barred from ringside).

Rip Rogers – One of the key heels of 1989, having previously won the World tag titles (with Abudda Dein) and also is the reigning Caribbean champion. Has a no DQ match on tonight’s show teaming with Abudda Dein against the reigning World tag champs Miguelito Perez and Huracan Castillo Jr.

The White Angel – You may know him as Curtis Thompson or Firebreaker Chip. A masked wrestler brought in by Chicky Starr who, after a few weeks of unsatisfactory performance for Chicky’s liking, was booted from his stable. He unmasked and feuded with Chicky. Currently a tecnico.

Kareem Muhammad – First appearing in CSP in mid-82 and presented as Abdullah the Butcher’s cousin. Since then he has continued to make regular appearances throughout the years. Currently being managed by El Profe.

Abudda Dein – Managed by El Profe, has served as an upper midcard heel for most of 1989, challenging for the different singles titles (including a reign as Puerto Rico champion during the first part of the year) and also managing to have one reign as World tag champs with Rip Rogers. Has a World tag title match on tonight’s card.

Eric Embry – Responsible for one of the greatest heel runs in Puerto Rico from mid-85 to mid-86, a run that saw Embry have a feud of some sort with nearly every notable tecnico of the time (including announcer Hugo Savinovich). Has continued to make sporadic appearances since then, with this weekend being such an occasion.

Super Medico – A stalwart of CSP throughout the 80’s as both a tag and singles wrestler, initially serving as a rudo before turning tecnico. Returned in May to CSP after an almost two year absence (outside of a couple of one shot appearances). Is the reigning World Junior Heavyweight champion, having regained the title from Chicky Starr just one week before. You may know him as Jose Estrada or as one half of Los Conquistadores.

Miguelito Perez – Son of the legendary Miguel Perez. Made his debut in 1985 and has had different stretches of success as a singles and tag competitor. Currently teaming with Huracan Castillo Jr. and is co-holder of both the World and Caribbean tag titles.

Huracán Castillo Jr. – Son of the legendary Huracan Castillo (who served as commissioner and a manager after retirement up until he was paralyzed in a shooting), has been linked at times with Miguelito as a tag team across the past few years as well as competing in the junior heavyweight division. Currently holds both the World tag and Caribbean tag titles with Miguelito.

The Batten Twins – Bart and Brad are just about wrapping up a one year run on the island, with their most recent feud being against Perez and Castillo. Have held both sets of tag titles and even took Perez and Castillo’s hair a couple of months prior.

Carlos Colon – Making his return after suffering a shoulder injury in mid-to-late May, Carlos is the leader of El Ejercito de la Justicia and the top star of the territory for basically the past decade and half (yes, he’s a co-owner of CSP but the people still have to buy into what you’re selling). This is his comeback after being put on the shelf and he has his sights set on regaining the Universal title.

They also mention that an hour and a half before the show starts, wrestlers will be signing autographs and taking pictures with fans if they bring a camera (it is Fan Appreciation Day after all).  After the card rundown there is a brief tease about Aniversario 89, taking place on September 16 in Bayamon.

So, what exactly is a Bronca Boricua? It’s a battle royale where you can come dressed how you want and can bring one weapon of your choice to use in the ring. Eliminations occur when a wrestler is tossed over the top rope and to the floor. Last competitor remaining wins. Unfortunately, we do not have footage (outside of a small snippet in a recap video) of this Bronca Boricua match. According to the results available, Carlos Colon won the Medalla Cup in his return from injury. However, thanks to CSP typically running a similar card as the main San Juan Metro area card for the west region of the island on the other weekend day (usually Sunday), we do have

WWC: Bronca Boricua (1989) - YouTube

A Bronca Boricua from what appears to be the same weekend, most likely taking place on August 6. Our location is Mayaguez, the big town on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Unlike the Bronca Boricua advertised above, this one has 16 competitors instead of 20. From the advertised Bronca Boricua from the previous day we are missing Kamala, Kerry, Castillo, the Battens and Chicky. We have two new competitors serving as subs, El Profe and Victor Jovica (who as a wrestler in Puerto Rico is typically slotted as a lower card / JTTS).

Your commentary team is Hugo Savinovich, Carlos Colon and El Profe. As the Boogie Man makes his entrance (holding what appears to be a stake), Hugo says that you can bring whatever you want with you (belts, chains, wood, chairs, brass knuckles, etc.). Already out we have Super Medico (with 2x4), Rufus R. Jones, the White Angel, TNT (with kendo stick), JYD, Victor Jovica, the previously mentioned Jimmy Valiant, Rip Rogers, Abudda Dein (with what looks like a leather strap), Kareem Muhammad (with some weird looking piece of metal), Kendo Nagasaki (with a bigger kendo stick), Eric Embry and El Profe. Ivan Koloff comes out in his wrestling gear and with his chain. Invader #1 arrives with a large weight belt. Carlos Colon shows up in a blue tracksuit. On commentary, Carlos mentions that he likes to show up with a small weapon that he can use and not worry that it will be taken away easily. Miguelito Perez (with a stick) jogs out after Carlos and the match starts.

The first few minutes the commentators put over the danger of this match and that tempers get so high that you sometimes see tecnicos hit each other and likewise with the rudos. El Profe starts getting on Carlos over being on the apron attacking, saying he was hiding. Carlos says that he's not hiding, he's being careful since he has a big title match coming up and he wants to be smart in order to avoid injury. This leads to Carlos questioning how the heck El Profe ended up in this match:

Hugo (as El Profe starts hopping around in the ring): Look who's jumping around in there. El Profe going around in circles.

Profe: It's that damn Invader whipping me with that huge weight belt. That's all leather and all you feel is leather. It feels like it tears at your skin.

Hugo: There's Rip Rogers as well...

Carlos: Hugo, I don't know how El Profe had the guts to get in there.

Hugo: I don't know, but after those first few hits he took, he was probably thinking the same thing.

Carlos: I think one of his charges missed the match and the WWC forced him to fulfill the contract.

Profe: Are you insinuating that I'm not sufficiently brave to step into this match...

Hugo: I'm pretty sure that Carlos is right about what happened, because if I'm not mistaken, one of your Real Academia wrestlers was injured and couldn't compete. That meant you had to fulfill the contract, you were forced to enter the match.

Profe: No, no, no. I voluntarily entered because I'm afraid of no one. I know I can beat them all and finish them all off...

Hugo (in an incredulous tone): Wow.

The match continues for a few minutes with no eliminations. Carlos mentions that Nagasaki and Koloff have an advantage since they are so familiar with how to handle the weapons they have. El Profe brags that they are part of his Real Academia. At 5:50 we have our first elimination, Kareem Muhammad.
Hugo: There goes the first person. It's the giant from Sudan, Kareem Muhammad. And what is that thing he has in his hands Profe?

Profe: Well, that's a bicycle handlebar.

Hugo: Well, the bicycle just crashed Profe, because he is eliminated.

Rufus is next out, prompting the following comment from El Profe: "There goes Shaka Zulu's grandpa". Hugo proceeds to apologize and say that Profe's comments do not represent him or Carlos. Jimmy Valiant is the next one to go, as the commentators start talking about how anyone could win this match. We go to commercials as Jovica and JYD are eliminated.

We come back and Rip Rogers is circling the ring, apparently not eliminated but looking to pick his spot to get back in. Invader #1 has been busted open. Embry looks like he has a boot in his hand. Meanwhile, TNT eliminates El Profe and Hugo and Carlos get on Profe's case about that.

Carlos (somewhat condescending): What happened to you there Profe?

Hugo: Profe?

Profe: Hey, it took 5 guys to get me out, because one by himself couldn't!

Embry is eliminated by Carlos. White Angel is also tossed, as Profe says he's still in there in spirit since his guys are still in it. TNT and Nagasaki start exchanging blows with their sticks. Rogers eliminates Medico during this. We're down to 8 guys, four of El Profe's men and 4 Ejercito members. Dein and Rogers team up to attack Carlos, as Koloff starts going after Miguelito with the chain. Dein loads his boot, but Carlos blocks the kick. Carlos atomic drops Dein out, but Rogers comes up from behind and tries to toss Carlos. TNT tries to help Carlos, but Dein helps Rogers from outside and it results in all three men going out.

We're down to our final four: Miguelito, Invader (who's a bit out of it on the turnbuckle), Nagasaki and Koloff. On the outside, Carlos and TNT decide to stick around at ringside (Carlos: As the captain of El Ejercito de la Justicia, we stayed out there to ensure Profe would not do any of his tricks.; Profe: Hey, I left my guys alone out there). Miguelito and Invader stare down Koloff and Nagasaki as all four men ready their weapons. Invader goes after Koloff while Miguelito goes after Nagasaki with his stick. Koloff gets the better of Invader with the chain. Meanwhile, Miguelito is just teeing off rapid fire style on Nagasaki. Then Miguelito just goes nuts hitting the heels. Eventually, Koloff puts Invader in the tree of woe and the heels team up to get rid of Miguelito. Invader tries to go at it two on one, but eventually falls to the numbers game. Heel miscommunication leads to Nagasaki being eliminated and the final stretch of the match is Koloff vs. Invader.

MD: Just as a bit of disclaimer to start: I have a pretty good working knowledge of the 80s set. I didn't get all the way to the end but I'm filling in gaps as we go. That said, I have no idea what to expect in 90 and onward so I'm in Esteban's hands as much as you here. For instance, just in this one, Valiant, Koloff, and JYD are definitely guys I don't associate with Puerto Rico. When the ring was full, it had the sense of a match that was honestly dangerous but maybe didn't actually look so, when you ideally expect wrestling to be the opposite. It was just a lot of people and a lot of weapons and a lot of shots from behind.

Profe stood out as a Jimmy Hart-in-armor sort of out of place figure. He had some fun running around at one point. It's quite neat to see two of the best scummy heels of all time sharing a ring in Embry and Rip; they even team up on JYD at one point. People seemed fairly reluctant. Two guys that weren't were TNT and Nagasaki and there was a moment in the middle where they really started unloading on each other. This teased a match that I don't think we have, something to get used to with Puerto Rico. Colon wrestling in his tracksuit was a little offputting. They had a nice little cascading elimination sequence with Carlos eliminating Abudda Dein only for Rip to go after him and TNT to follow suit with all of them sailing over in the span of a few seconds.

That cleared the ring for Koloff and Nagasaki vs Invader 1 and Perez; again, I liked seeing Nagasaki and Koloff together as Cagematch (obviously no solid guide for PR stuff) only ever has them together in one other battle royal in 85. I know from Koloff's start-of-1990 AJPW tour that he still had some stuff in the tank at this point and it shows here. With the ring cleared, the four were really able to go at each other as the crowd went wild, with the heels able to work more as a unit and overpower Perez. You want every battle royal, even a bunkhouse style one like this, to have a compelling story at the end. A bloody and exhausted Invader having to fight his way back against two monsters brandishing trademark weapons pretty much fits the bill. He's able to duck Koloff's chain as Nagasaki is holding him to even the odds which leads to a three or four minute iconic battle between Invader and Koloff. The two of them slug it out, Koloff presses his power, and Invader both sells the agony and fires back with all he has, before he's able to find that extra bit of strength and savvy and duck at exactly the right moment to send Koloff out. It becomes a sea of elated rioting as El Ejercito de la Justicia celebrates with Invader. A great entry point to see who the usual suspects were at this time and to remind me just what the right mix of, let's say, Invader 1, a strong heel, and a hot crowd could provide in Puerto Rican footage.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, find out how Carlos Colon got injured in the first place and why Puerto Rican wrestling fans, when asked about 1989, will always mention these three words: Sadistic Steve Strong.

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones Master List

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Espectáculos Promociones Panama: The Mystery of Atila Jr.! Exterminador?! Not Satanico! A Halcon! Impacto (not that one)!

Impacto/Halcon Vs Atila Jr./El Satanico - November(?) 1988

MD: A palette cleanser straightforward tag with clear lines that got a lot of time and went back and forth for the most part. It had a pretty solid balance of exchanges, rudo beatdown, tecnico dominance, and sheer shtick. Impacto was pretty clunky at times, especially when he tried to do something particularly complicated. He was fine when he was just splashing someone in the corner, for instance. Halcon on the other hand really stood out; he was very smooth and able to hit some impressive spots with nothing feeling particularly forced.

I'll fully admit that I spent most of the match trying to figure out if Atila, Jr. was in fact our old friend Exterminador. And, I'm not entirely sure. If I was just looking at him selling, feeding, stooging, interacting with his opponent and the crowd, I'd lean towards yes. I was looking for some "signature offense" and didn't quite see it but there were bits in how he chose to double team with Satanico and how they had it backfire which was reminiscent of the Idolo tag. I liked him though, at least for what he was called upon to do in this match. I was disappointed when things didn't break down fully between him and Satanico. I have to admit that instead of feeling like some lightning strike generational rudos, these guys felt more like the Gemelo Infernales' buddies and stand-ins. Competent, down to their matching tights, but you're not going to go look for their entire career collection. I'd sure like to see some more Halcon though.

GB: Let’s get the obvious out of the way; this is not the Satanico we all cherish. Instead, we have a perennial lower carder that is passable enough to continue the match’s narrative forward, even if the gimmick doesn’t quite match the wrestling. Through the few matches we have of him, his offense is a little light and he plays to the crowd in more of a comedic way than you’d hope. Which, all things considered, isn’t necessarily the wrong thing to do in Panama as intention is more important than the realism, for the most part. Stuff like this usually gets over well enough, though it’s not going to elevate you beyond a certain level on the card. Naturally, young Satanico here would find out as his push didn’t last so long and he’d still be wrestling opening matches as late as 2014 while his contemporaries, such as Red Master and Los Gemelos would be headlining.

It’s fitting in a sense that Matt mentioned Gemelos in his appraisal of Satanico and Atila Jr. The only proof I have that this is our buddy Exterminador is a polaroid from a Satanico/Atila vs Gemelos II y III match that happened on December 28th 1988 at el Orlando Winter de San Migelito:

Even though the two Panamanian videos showcasing Atila Jr have him in a slightly different getup, we can notice the familiar skull stitched onto his mask in the picture above. With no doubt I suggest this is him. Much to Matt’s dismay, the central feud here appears to be Satanico/Impact, though I’m also rather clamoring for a little violence between Atila and Halcon to pop up someday. Halcon’s cool. It’s unfortunate that this match doesn’t really play to Atila/Exterminador’s strengths. He’s such a unique case of someone being lost to time that I wish we had just one slam-dunk match as the “Eureka!” moment to get his case over. Alas, he’s saddled with Satanico during his return to Panama.

Equally alas is the placement of Atila on the card. We know from the Kendo/Idolo feud that Atila/Satanico were curtain jerkers, opening the match with freshly debuting talent. We also know the Impacto/Satanico feud lasted at least 9 months as they appeared opposite each other on the Varela/Baby de California cards. However, with two major changes. Firstly, by this time, Atila had gone back to Monterrey and seemingly better things with Septiembre Negro Jr as his partner. Secondly, Satanico/Impacto was headlining above bigger stars and seemingly bigger programmes. I guess we can add another luminary to the list of stars Atila/Exterminador made. Though I’ll go out on a limb and say Satanico’s push was more sustained due to the booker and after-effects of Atila/Exterminador than anything else as he slips down just as fast as he crept up.

Though all of this begs a few questions. If Satanico on top was the end goal, why would they not have him be bumped up the card alongside Atila? It isn’t as if Atila was an unknown entity. Exterminador gimmick aside, Atila Sr (Jr’s uncle) was a massive player in the Panamanian scene in the mid 1970s. And, unlike Septiembre Negro Sr, Atila Sr was very much one of the boys:

Atila Sr and Cesar debuted in early May alongside Montunito, wrestling a bloodbath against the Ursus, Titan and Sergio Galvez that left the Panamanian tecnicos licking their wounds. A week later Cesar/Atila did the same again to Ursus and Titan. They were presented immediately as a strong force to be reckoned with.

Thanks to his violence, Atila Sr was the beater at the top of the card, wrestling against names such as Mano Negra (yes, that one), Ricardo Diaz, Emperador and Chamaco Castro. The Mano Negra programme was quite popular across Panama and the two would jostle between technical title matches and bloody brawls:

Further, with the launch of a new wrestling company in Panama, Atila Sr found himself in hot programme after hot programme. So much so, he was specifically chosen to headline the company in a feud opposite Rayo Chapin in the  Guatemalan legend’s second and penultimate tour of Panama:

This was a feud which lasted but a few months until the company shut its doors due to “mismanagement”. “Too many bosses and not enough wrestlers,” Don Samy de la Guardia commented about them.

Regardless of the corporate side, Atila continued his dominance. Him and Valentin were (and still very much are) seen as the “tag team of the decade” despite their relatively short time spent in Panama. Why was the same not done with Atila Jr and Satanico? What a waste of talent in Atila/Exterminador.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 9/11 - 9/17

AEW Collision 9/16/23

Bryan Danielson/Claudio Castagnoli vs. Ricky Starks/Big Bill

MD: I take no joy in writing this one, but come on. What was Claudio even doing here? I get the constraints. Punk is fired. Danielson is rushed into that spot. The BCC is an entity. Claudio makes sense as Danielson's partner. Yuta might be hurt (maybe? You wouldn't want him straying from heel either though) and Mox just wrestled Bill on Wednesday and Claudio makes a lot of thematic sense as a counterbalance to the big lug. Moreover, part of the appeal of the BCC is that they can fight anyone. That's part of the gimmick. Except for Claudio vs Kingston, a blood feud, even if one side wants blood more than another, is Wednesday and anchoring Grand Slam as much as anything else. 

Is this an insurmountable situation? No. In a match with Bryan Danielson in it, it really ought to be an opportunity, right? It's not an easy or painless opportunity. It's actually pretty hard. How do you, Claudio Castagnoli, wrestle a match in an appropriate way when your opponents are heels, are going over, need to look strong in the case of Bill and capable but vulnerable in the case of a Ricky Starks that will stooge to the point of hitting his pose in the midst of a giant swing. You have to keep heating up the feud for the Texas Death Match. You have to do all of this while continuing to further the Eddie feud, a feud already hampered by Eddie leaning too hard in the fact that Claudio "didn't do business," whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Everything would be better served here if Eddie just said that Claudio ran to New York instead of FIGHTING him one last time to see who was the best man. But he's not saying that because, one assumes, he's too focused on the real life issue that Claudio wouldn't lay down for him and give him his win back? Just a guess, but it's the best one I have, because this wording is definitely not the path of least resistance otherwise.

So so you're Claudio in that situation. Maybe you lean into the aloofness. This is a world you didn't make, in your mind, that you don't want to be in. You just want this over with. You play up being a tough guy babyface strongman and Danielson's partner and you pretend nothing's wrong. Good luck managing that when Kevin Kelly's going on about how you have Eddie on your mind. It doesn't matter. To do that you would have had to play things up even more. 

Maybe you're an absolute bastard in there instead. Maybe you take liberties. Maybe you're the heel who the babyface calls upon when things are dire, Colon teaming with Abdullah the Butcher in Puerto Rico or Lawler teaming with Jos LeDuc in Memphis. That sort of thing, just with a bit more actual bond between the partners. Starks is smaller than you. You bully him and he bumps and sells and stooges for you. He's good enough that he can still be the heel in that scenario. You get right in Big Bill's face. You don't care if he's got inches on you; you're the real monster out of the two. It's a headache overall, sure, but own it. Find a path that makes it work.

What did Claudio do? Not option A, not option B. He was just Claudio. He was present in the match. He wrestled the match. He was competent and capable and this match set up next week's Collision and didn't do a damn thing to help Grand Slam along. It wasn't that Claudio was worried about Kingston or not worried about Kingston or that he was pretending not to be worried about Kingston. It was just that Eddie didn't exist. Mad King's screaming into the night, is pouring out his heart in a promo, is picking at an ugly red scab over a decade old; you wouldn't know it from looking at his opponent. The best wrestlers in the world make the most of the most difficult opportunities. I wish Claudio had done so here.

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2023 Ongoing MOTY List: Ospreay vs. Naito, Just Another 6 Star Match

 

Will Ospreay vs. Tatsuya Naito NJPW 8/12/23

ER: I decided to spend 45 minutes of my Saturday listening to Kevin Kelly lackadaisically call the 2nd 6 star New Japan match of 2023.

Match starts with loose headlock transitions, lot of space between all the matwork, few can look as disinterested in matwork as Naito. Nothing looked deliberate until OSpreay starting cranking the wrist, and I liked the way Ospreay committed to the misses on his running back elbow and a slashing front kick. 

It always strikes me as odd that Ospreay commits so much to the impact of so many of moves but always prioritizes the landing on his pescados with minimal regard to impact. Road Dogg ass pescado. 

I can't believe how little two front row fans flinched when Ospreay was whipped into the guardrail, but vaults right it at high speed, coming one inch from curb stomping each of their kneecaps upon landing. I have had my face smashed by a guardrail at a wrestling show, and got my picture photographed with Misawa for use in Japanese newspapers. But I would have flinched had I actually seen the danger that was right before me. 

The apron forearms didn't do anything for me, but Ospreay took a neckbreaker off the turnbuckles to the apron and an even worse looking one from the apron to the floor. He's a guy who seems to say the type of things that somehow who takes a lot of shots to the back of the head would say, so I guess I appreciate his commitment. 

Naito's Gloria into a cool pluma blanca had good application in reasonable time, and Ospreay's fight to the bottom rope looked strong, his face and neck getting squeezed harder each time he pumped his legs closer towards the ropes

Naito's short arm back elbow to the neck is his first good strike of the match, and I like how the first one acted as a harbinger of how he'd go after Ospreay's neck down the home stretch. 

Ospreay sticking the landing on Naito's poison rana looked great, but it immediately turned into Red Shoes making one of his classically idiotic overreactions that never feels like he's actually reacting to what just happened. His arms held out in hooks, his hands clawed and his face pleading; he looked like a teen finding out his best friend drove drunk and as such won't be able to play in the big game Sunday, ruining the school's chances of going to State. It's always the dumbest fucking reactions from that guy. 

It's wild that Scoot Andrew's "making a guy hold himself on the ropes for 12+ seconds" is a move set up that has survived into 2023. We haven't found a better way to get there than this? Ospreay sets up Naito's balancing act with two hard knees to the face and hits a great shooting start press as the payoff, and while both of those are a much more violent set up for a much better payoff than what Scoot did, it's still a guy awkwardly holding himself in position for a really long time. I think most of the wrestlers that could have figured out the best way to look convincingly stuck in the ropes for that long had all stopped wrestling before Scoot Andrews innovated the set up. Finlay is the only one who comes to mind that I definitively remember being good at occupying time while balancing his body across the ropes. 

If I was impressed by Ospreay landing crown first on two neckbreakers earlier, I have to be excited about Ospreay landing on the top of his head for a great rope run tornado DDT and a smoothly followed up Valentia brainbuster.

I like Ospreay's desperate, opportunistic use of the Hidden Blade, after Naito missed the stardust press. It was a good point to set up a both-men-down situation, but the huffing melodramatic fight from their knees that they used to work back into the match was awful, and the stand and trade looked uninspired until Naito's short arm back elbows. It was a clunky way to ease into the big finishing stretch, but easily forgotten because of leading into such a hot finishing stretch. 

The back elbow to the neck that finally knocked Ospreay to his knees looked like something that would drop someone with lightning bolt nerve pain.

Ospreay hooks several kicks into Naito's left eye, easily the most WAR strikes of the match in terms of impact, great use of foot placement and thigh slap and Actually Kicking Face, Naito's falls looking really authentic. But naturally when Red Shoes prevents Ospreay from doing any kind of follow up ground and pound, he turns the entire focus of the match onto himself for the entire time he counts Naito down. This goof acts like the most important moment of the match is his humorless Frank Drebin routine, Naito down while doing Elvis That's the Way it Is kneeling finger point poses.

It's hilarious timing, because moments later, after Ospreay takes a rana reversal directly on his shoulders as fast as SUWA (just about the highest compliment I can give someone), Ospreay superkicks an off-balanced Naito fully in the mouth, Naito's bazoo resting on Ospreay's boot as if it was holding him upright for a brief moment, and once I realized Naito was clearly knocked out I understood why. Of all the times for Red Shoes to put the full spotlight on himself and make his dramatic count down the pivotal spot of the match, it does not happen when a man is actually knocked out.  

The knockout makes Naito's collapse on the follow up look that much better. It turns out that Naito becomes a really great seller when he gets knocked out and then forced to run at someone. 

You can clearly hear Ospreay calling the rest of the match, literally give Naito step by step directions to guide him through every movement, and what's insane...is that the movements were incredibly complicated AND lead to the best, most natural looking reversals of the match! Both of Naito's consecutive Destinos looked good, and neither felt expected or telegraphed. They looked like a guy who just knew how to use physics to his advantage, even though they were mostly being controlled by Ospreay. Ospreay was essentially working a lazy-eyed blow up doll and making the execution of his opponent's offense look the best it had looked all match. Ospreay's late kickout if the second Destino looked earned and burdensome, as if he was kicking out a blacked out man's heavy corpse off of him. 

On the third and final Destino he made sure to wallop the back of his head hard into the mat, and I love the insanity of not just calling for the finish to be the second Destino, which would have been a wholly valid finish. The fact he forced a kickout and then forced a corpse to do it one. more. time. is the kind of stupid wrestler brain I can really appreciate.  

This was not a 6 star match, whatever that is, or a 7 star match, or a 5 star match, or probably even a 4 star match. But the finishing stretch was good enough and unique enough because of the impressive literal carry job that I can see a scenario where you forget about the opening 15-20 minutes of mundanity. I remain unconvinced by Naito as a worker, and wish Ospreay could integrate more selling into his epics, but carry jobs always impress me and this one was him literally willing a dead body through a complicated finish, and that's cool. 

2023 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Found Footage Friday: CASAS~! PANTHER~! PANTERITA~! HAMADA~! ARANDU~!

Blue Panther vs. Panterita del Ring CMLL 1991

MD: Panterita took on the identity as tribute to Blue Panther and they worked this one with the level of effort and intensity you'd expect accordingly. It was chippy throughout and this was my favorite iteration of Blue Panther, that perfectly balanced rudo, able to work the mask, beg off when the time came, play to the crowd, be absolutely brutal with the outside guardrail, but really to overlay all of that over the things that Panther is known for: crispness, technical soundness, etc. It's the best of both worlds. This is a guy who could tie you in a knot but that's also going to win the second fall here with a foul just because he can, both endlessly credible and a total shitheel all at once.

Panterita was the local hero that you'd expect, meeting Panther halfway with violence in the primera, eating his beating after heel ref Guerrero held him back in the segunda, and then coming back big in the tercera leading to a series of exciting nearfalls from both wrestlers. There were no stakes here. This was a prelude to the title match and that was supposed to be prelude to an apuestas match, but between the hard shots, mask undoing, and nearfalls, they worked it like it was a bigger deal than it was, like it was a feud ender instead of a feud starter. And hey, Guerrero even got his by eating an errant Panterita dropkick which allowed another official to reluctantly come in and count for Panterita. That gave all of this the proper air of disruption and unfinished business to set up the next match. 

ER: Oh the foolish things I would do for the woman in giant hoop earrings and white bike shorts who accompanies Blue Panther to the ring. I really liked the pace of this, how quickly Panterita takes Panther out with a tope, and how fast and violent all of the strikes look. Panther throws short arm fast knife edge chops that really sting like hell, and it's one way he's able to outquick Panterita. Panterita gets a quick primera win and Panther pays him back by kneeing him in the balls in the segunda. I love how Panther is able to switch back and forth from technician to asshole, with some small elements of John Tatum panic. The fought-for sunset flips looked great, with Panterita really looking like he was trying to drag him over and Panther looking like he was constantly adjusting his weight to stop it, but it got even better when Panther was nearly screaming while holding the ropes, freaking out until Panterita got off him. And of course, whenever Panterita was separated from him, Panther would go back to being an asshole with a fresh start, ripping at his mask after Panterita was stopped from doing so before the segunda. Heel ref Guerrero takes the best bump of the match, a dropkick from Panterita sending him crashing fast to the floor with Fuerza-like speed. The nearfalls were all strong and all felt like they could actually end the match, and the Panterita huracanrana win was a legitimate surprise, with Panther throwing a fit on the house mic after. 

Negro Casas/Ponzona/Monje Negro vs. Panterita del Ring/Gran Hamada/Shibata

MD: I was super high on the two Casas vs Panterita trios from last week but this didn't quite rise to the same level. Some of that was the VQ being as rough as we've seen in this footage, but a lot of it was a lack of that single-minded focus. This was trying to have it both ways too much, threatening to boil over again and again only to settle back down to stilted exchanges. There wasn't a long beatdown or big comeback. The finish was a Casas dodging a kick and pretending to be fouled.

There was still a lot to like though. Whenever Casas and Panterita got into it, it was strong scuffling, no question. They had great chemistry. It makes me wonder if there's not some random Negro Casas vs Hombre Sin Nombre or Ephesto exchange worth tracking down. Monje Negro is a guy I want to see more of, just a hefty monk who is like a brick wall out there. We got a tease of Hamada vs Casas but just that; he carries himself with so much confidence and certainty though. And Shibata looked really good too; he's a local known for training people as varied as Hechicero and Latin Lover if I'm not mistaken. Just a competent pro. So this was fine but it I would have liked it to commit a little more either to set exchanges or the chaos of Casas vs Panterita.     

Arandu vs. Panterita del Ring CMLL 1991

MD: Again rough VQ here with some clipping of key moves, but not anything you can't look past. We didn't lose the overfall flow, just seconds here and there. Given that there were less people in the ring, it was easier to follow too. Arandu was quite the journeyman and this had the making of a provincial grudge match. We've seen enough now to know that Panterita could hold his own in the role of local hero. Arandu made a great foil for him.

Here he ambushed him from the get go, dropkicking him off the apron on his way in. He took a lot of this overall, which was good because had plenty of stuff, slams and suplexes, plenty of asserting himself and pressing his size advantage. He had Guerrero the ref to help hold Panterita's hand so he couldn't punch too (tecnicos have to act like tecnicos!), at least until an errant shot knocked the ref back and allowed for the comeback in the segunda. This led to a pretty hot tercera with a lot of dives (hit and missed) and drama, including a pretty spectacular asai moonsault from Panterita and Arundu's flip dive off the apron. Good, complete, satisfying match overall.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Introduction

EB: It’s interesting how our journeys as wrestling fans can be with regards to the things we share in common and the things we do not. We first come across this weird and amazing world of pro wrestling either by accident or by someone we know introducing us to it. Maybe it’s a family member or friend that watches and you happen to watch it along with them. Maybe you happened to be changing channels on the tv and happened across one of the wrestling programs you had access to (I fall into this group). No matter how your wrestling fan journey started, after that initial intro to pro wrestling, it’s usually shaped by two factors: interest in seeking more out and opportunity based on what you have access to. Regardless of when or where our wrestling fan journeys started, we all have that in common.
My wrestling fan journey started three and half decades ago when I would stumble every now and then upon wrestling on TV. Scattered moments and episodes from the mid to late 80s World Wrestling Federation. A random weeknight when I happened to come across a cool looking face painted wrestler from Japan in the ring, with someone running in and a failed fireball attack occurring, causing me to make a mental note of the channel and time, and then being disappointed when I checked the next week and wrestling wasn’t on (I didn’t know about the Clash of the Champions yet). Looking back, elementary school me wasn’t very good at remembering when or where the wrestling programs were on (I eventually did figure it out though). It was around 1990 that interest and opportunity came together for me, and I basically became an avid wrestling fan.

But while my wrestling fan journey shares that experience with many who watched the then WWF and WCW throughout the 90s, there is one key difference in my case. Growing up in Puerto Rico, I also would every now and then come across the local wrestling we had. While not a consistent viewer, I would become familiar with several of the local wrestling personalities, due to those sporadic viewings and also simply due to the local culture. I mean, when you have wrestlers in commercials, fast food promotional tie-ins (buy the Lucha Bucket from KFC and get a free wrestler poster!) and even as part of the local vernacular (‘Estas bregando a la Chicky Starr’), it’s hard not to be aware. I knew about Carlos Colon, the Invaders, Chicky Starr, Abdullah the Butcher and the voice of Hugo Savinovich doing the card rundowns.  Later, when I committed to being an avid wrestling watcher sometime in 1990, I also started regularly watching the local Puerto Rico wrestling and became familiar with even more names such as TNT, the Caribbean Express and others. From then on, I remained an avid watcher of the local wrestling heroes and villains all the way through college.

When I got online, my wrestling fan journey changed. It was during the middle of the Monday Night Wars, wrestling was in a peak period and there was this sense of finding other fans with similar interests to have a sort of kinship in enjoying (or being aggravated by) this world of pro wrestling. Initially one would gravitate to the news websites and message boards your web browser of choice would point you towards. But bit by bit, opportunity expanded as I kept discovering the different corners of wrestling related websites. Oh and what sights did I see. Different tape trader websites with listings of matches and angles that would boggle the mind since all I knew of certain wrestlers was what I had seen of them (“Wait, these two faced off where?”). You could spend a good chunk of your day just looking through John McAdam’s listings on his website. I’d see reports about wrestling from other countries such as Japan and Mexico and about the U.S. indie scene (thank you DVDVR). I’d find discussions about the current events in the major U.S. companies and even backstage rumors that made you feel like you were in on something. My interest met an increase in opportunity and a whole new world of discovery and discussion opened for me. Well, sort of.

You see, while I was excited about all of the wrestling areas I could discover, there was still interest on my part in talking about Puerto Rican wrestling and even learning about what had happened before I became a fan. But for various reasons, conversation about Puerto Rican wrestling was not exactly abundant. You had the footage accessibility issues (I could watch it on local TV, not the case for many of the other online fans), language issues (in Spanish), lack of familiarity with wrestlers or the style, and likely the biggest issue, all anyone really seemed to know or cared to know about Puerto Rican wrestling was the very unfortunate and tragic incident of Bruiser Brody being stabbed and killed in Puerto Rico. In the few places where the topic of Puerto Rico was brought up, the conversation would sooner or later circle back to Brody’s death and a vitriolic conversation would usually ensue. After seeing that dynamic play out a few times, I didn’t want to wade in. I was in no mood to feel and have to converse like I was being put on trial for liking Puerto Rican wrestling.

Because of that, I took to the idea of just being a lurker and not really getting into wrestling message board discussions because I felt (as weird as it may sound to you) that any conversations regarding Puerto Rican wrestling would sooner or later just circle back to that one topic. I just didn’t want to end up engaging in any heated, vitriolic discussion whenever the topic of Puerto Rican wrestling would come up. So I just didn’t engage. At all. For quite a few years, I just read and lurked.  Until about ten years ago when I saw a thread over at ProWrestlingOnly titled Puerto Rico Wrestling. I clicked on it and discovered that there were posters who were watching different matches from Puerto Rico and reviewing them based on whatever merits (if any) they found them to have. It was a case of people giving the wrestling I had grown up with a chance absent of whatever baggage it may carry and deciding if they liked it or not based on the wrestling itself. As I read the different posts, I started talking to myself about some background or context info that would help clear up some of the questions I was seeing. After about a week of this, I decided to sign up and started posting what I could offer for context and engaged in the discussion.  And my wrestling fan journey changed once more.

For the past decade I have been blessed by my decision to engage instead of lurking. I have learned a lot more about this pastime and hobby that is shared by many others. I have made connections and friends, had rewarding and sometimes annoying discussions, but have been enriched by the experience. It’s been a decade of providing context and background when possible about Puerto Rican wrestling, of helping out with footage projects and even appearing on a podcast or two.  And now, it is one such conversation about Puerto Rican wrestling that brings us here. A question about what my top matches from post 1990 Puerto Rico would be was thrown my way. It was a question I had some struggle finding a clear answer to, because it has been quite a while since I’ve really sat down and watched wrestling from that time. Memory can get fuzzy, certain details can be forgotten and mixed up, and there’s no abundant source of footage or reference to refresh the memory. But an idea evolved from that. It might be fun to go back and revisit the wrestling from that time I became a fan. And since I’m going to do that, why not document it? For the past decade I’ve enjoyed providing context when possible about Puerto Rican wrestling and just engaging with other fans. Time to take the next step in that regard.

So we welcome you to El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, where we are going to take a journey, one where hopefully we’ll learn and discover (or rediscover in my case) what exactly was happening in Puerto Rican wrestling. Our goal is to take a weekly look at the scene in Puerto Rico on a mostly chronological basis, with 1990 as our starting point. Our journey won’t be limited to just this time period though, at certain points we will also reach back to the 80s as well, since despite it being better documented there is still an opportunity to learn and discover there. But our overall goal is to give anyone with interest the opportunity at checking out Puerto Rican wrestling. If you end up liking it, great! And if you find that it’s not for you, that’s also okay, at least you gave it a chance. Our footage journey won’t be perfect, it won’t be complete since there’s still a lot of gaps in what’s available, but it will be an honest and hopefully engaging effort on our part. I have a great tag partner in Matt D for this journey and I hope you’ll enjoy coming along with us.

MD: My overall wrestling journey is not dissimilar to Esteban’s in that 1990 was my key year and that there was a similar sense of being introduced to a broader world. For me, on top of the wrestling itself, I had the WWF Superstars annual magazine with bios of all the wrestlers or the WCW Trading cards as well. Also, I was first exposed to Puerto Rican wrestling through that same thread on PWO, just from the other side. From there and the subsequent DVDVR 80s set, I learned to appreciate Invader 1’s selling, the Colon vs Hansen feud, or how a team like the Rock’n’Roll RPMs could really shine if just given the opportunity. Looking from the outside in and trying to make sense of it relative to the broader spectrum of pro wrestling, Puerto Rico was something of a Memphis even farther south mixed with a hint of lucha: big bloody brawls with riotous crowds, brutal beatdowns, huge comebacks, visceral stakes. At least in our circles, we developed a sort of ‘canon’ that was only further codified through the 80s set. 

For the most part, however, that canon doesn’t reach into the 90s and it certainly doesn’t reach into the years that follow. A lot of the elements I mentioned in the last paragraph are theoretically timeless; they draw upon primal emotions and are less reliant upon athleticism than other elements of wrestling. If you can throw a great working punch at 25, it’ll probably still look great at 55. If you’ve mastered how to move hearts and minds through your selling, getting older only gives you a deeper well of sympathy to draw upon. As Phil would be quick to remind all of us, blood is forever. Moreover, while some of the channels that footage was preserved and disseminated in the 80s didn’t make it into the next decade, technological advancements in recording probably counterbalanced that to a degree. Footage does exist. It’s just a matter of finding a guide through it, and we are very lucky to have Esteban as our guide here, and then doing the legwork of watching and talking about matches.

I’m hoping through this effort we can add to the canon, unveil new epic stories and matches, and light a path into years that are a little less traveled. While this isn’t the blind leap of faith that Graham and I have made with Panama, I know I’ll be building on what familiarity I do have and learning new things every week and I hope that everyone who reads this will as well.

EB: With all that said, next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we start our journey a few months before 1990 in order to set the scene. Get ready to meet many of the wrestlers and personalities we’ll be following throughout this journey and to learn a bit about Puerto Rico. So come as you are and bring one item of your choice as we head back to August 1989 and witness a match type that is a semi-regular occurrence in Puerto Rico.

El Deporte de las Mil Emociones Master List

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