2023 Ongoing MOTY List: Danielson & Mox Chop Fight Top Flight

Bryan Danielson/Jon Moxley vs. Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) AEW Rampage 1/6/23

ER: I am not really a "Top Flight" guy. They are the style of wrestler of which AEW already has Too Many. There are 50-70 guys on the AEW who wrestle exactly like this. The timing changes, the moves change, the backflips differ, but the beats are all the same. Any indy show I go to has a half a dozen Top Flights - at minimum. There are good versions of them and bad versions of them, but it is now the most commonplace style of wrestling for every young athletic man foolish enough to get into pro wrestling. I have never been moved by a Top Flight performance, while acknowledging that both brothers are creative and capable of doing athletic things and clever combos that probably puts them above their similarly complicatedly styled peers. But Top Flight vs. Top Flight Doppelgängers isn't a match that excites me, because odds are I have already seen two other Top Flight vs. Top Flight matches on whatever card I'm watching anyway. 

It turns out, the way to get maximum enjoyment out of Top Flight, is to pair them with a couple of dudes who have doing this for longer than any wrestler could sensibly hope to wrestle, who have gone through the dark tunnels of addiction or career ending injury and come through the other side with new zeal, ready to hit smooth athletes like Top Flight as hard as humanly possible. And Top Flight gets to successfully play the role of All Japan young boys who are being playing above slot, lasting longer than they were supposed to last, making it more of a match than the men with freshly washed balls expected it to be. Dante Martin makes the same teeth clenched fist-balled expressions in every match of his I've seen, but after watching him absorb kick after kick from Danielson I finally bought into his determination as if finally seeing it earned for the first time. Athletic wrestlers like Dante Martin act like they've been through A War in every match, and here that acting finally felt like it wasn't An Act. 

This also felt like the greatest Darius Martin performance. Dante is the younger, more consistent bother, and the one who has been tabbed as the breakout star of the two. Here he is actually given the chance to respond as the first born, sticking up for his brother after a major beating. Dante has some inspired moments of putting one over on the vets: taking out Moxley with a a blindside top con hilo over the ringpost during Moxley's entrance, flipping onto his own feet to stop a rana after Danielson had literally just been standing on the top rope potatoing him in the head, but a lot of this was Dante being punished. Stiff kicks, stiff chops, stiff punches, a Mox piledriver that stands him on the top of his head, a Mox clothesline that flips him inside out to a degree that his hang time lands him on top of Mox. It is a beating to be withstood, and it leads to a tremendous hot tag moment from his older and less acclaimed brother. 

I'm not sure I've ever loved a Top Flight moment more than when Danielson and Moxley kick each other in the shins because Dante collapses, and then Darius tags in to stand up for his little bro. The way Darius goads Danielson - who should know better - into kicking him harder and harder, catching the challenge kick and throwing by far the hardest elbows and chops I have ever seen him throw, that's fucking pro wrestling. I've seen hundreds of shitty moments in these matches where two guys challenge each other to hit harder, and it almost always feels rote and out of place, a moment you create because at a certain point it became expected to have this moment in half the matches on a card, but this was a rare example of this spot feeling right. I believe that Darius actually wanted to know how hard Danielson could kick. I believe that he wanted to know that he could take Danielson's hardest and survive, take his worst and learn more about himself in the process. It doesn't lead to a win, and nothing the brothers do ever makes it feel like a win was going to happen, but everyone hit their moments so perfectly that every part of this felt like a win. 

I loved a late match use of a save, something too under-utilized in wrestling, and one important thing that made this feel like a big Kings Road tag rather than the kind of AEW match where a few guys kick out of a few other guys poison ranas. Danielson's Busaiku knee to Darius face was the most match-finishing moment of this match, flipping him on top of his head and down hard on his face, and Dante's expert timing with the pinfall save extended the match without diminishing the impact of that vicious knee one bit. Dante is thrown from the ring, Danielson is clearly going to finish Darius, and Moxley is prompted to hit a completely unnecessary and fully passionate plancha to take Dante out on the floor for good, when he easily could have just watched the ropes to prevent another save. Danielson and Moxley were not ever in a real position of danger, and yet they were pushed beyond a point they expected to be pushed into, goaded into foolishness they shouldn't have been goaded into, two clear winners forced to show how Gotten To they were. 

2023 MOTY MASTER LIST

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 1/22- 1/28

AEW Collision 1/27/24

Eddie Kingston vs Willie Mack

MD: Collision was excellent. It was a balm. It was almost everything I want AEW to be and almost nothing I don't. I especially loved the linked Kingston and Danielson matches of course. Writing about Eddie is like virtually nothing else. Even for me, someone who is so doggedly and annoyingly analytical that I'll write paragraphs complaining about how Adam Page tries too hard to make his matches exciting too soon, can just relax and let go and write about the text as if it's real. Eddie will never see this, but I think back over the last few years about any other wrestling where I can just let go and lean into the mythos of the text itself as opposed to tearing at the structure and the execution and everything else, and there's not much. Jumbo vs Tenryu is comes to mind, with Tenryu trying to force Jumbo to come to grips with his own assumed hypocrisy and with Jumbo, unable to admit that he had been infected by the virus of violence that Choshu had brought a few years earlier, demanding the crowd cheer for his brutality like he was some sort of Roman emperor. That stuff is so primal and larger and life that you can just let go and write about the text for the sake of the text. 

You can do that with almost everything Eddie does. Where I struggle the hardest, actually, is when he's paired with a Japanese wrestler, because Eddie subsumes himself a bit too much in those waters. He's best when he's straddling worlds, undeniable in any but unwelcome in all. 

This was a Proving Ground match. A deserved opportunity. Ten minutes with the champ and you get a title shot. You're not just getting a title shot for the ROH title anymore either but for the Continental Crown. Mack did his homework. He wasn't about to let Kingston control the center and dictate the pace. He's size and power and speed and rushes in with a kick followed by one offensive shot after the next. So long as he can keep things moving, he has Kingston backpeddling. The second things slow down, Eddie pries his way back onto offense. Mack working from underneath doesn't lose his attributes (strength, size, speed) though and he's able to get back in it. He just learned a hard lesson that if you give Kingston a second, it's a second too much, though, and he tries to turn on the afterburners. In doing so, he takes out his own leg. From there, it's a matter of time. He puts up a valiant effort, but all it takes is to give Eddie half a breath, to let him recover just long enough to get his knees up, and the Uraken gets unleashed and for all the proof that Mack mustered, he simply didn't gain enough ground. 

Bryan Danielson vs Yuji Nagata

MD: People have rightfully gone high and hard for the finish here, with Nagata kicking at the damaged arm and Danielson kicking at the damaged leg, Nagata blocking/jamming Danielson, and Danielson having to readjust and throw a couple of fakes before going for the skull twice to set up the knee and get the win. It was a great sequence, one that felt adaptive and organic. It was counter-based and collaborative but not in a way that forced either wrestler to do anything that they normally wouldn't or that somehow broke any laws of wrestling physics. It didn't break the suspension of disbelief; it actually enhanced it. I often find that Nick Bockwinkel matches are full of things like that, of moments that subtly subvert expectations in exceptionally logical ways. You watch and it comes off as so simple and elementary and common sense that you wonder why it's just so uncommon in wrestling. Why aren't more people able to strive for such low lifts that create high emotional impact. Likewise, I watched that sequence and was left wondering why two thirds of the roster push for bigger and bolder and flashier and more devastating when they're leaving little bursts of brilliance on the table. 

The match itself was so phenomenally sound. It felt like a match that could have existed twenty years ago, and one that almost felt like a sampler, like something that touched upon so many individual elemental elements of wrestling, matwork, striking, limbwork, fighting spirit, brashness and bravery, stubbornness and prowess. If there was the occasional space in the execution of crossfaces, there wasn't any space to be found in the wrestlers' intent. They wore their hearts on their sleeves, Nagata the old man who had accomplished so much but that found something new to accomplish through the limitations of aging and Danielson who sees a finish line only partially of his making ahead of him and for all of his discipline, finds himself a glutton for sensation and opportunity and for every possible chance still remaining for him. And riding such emotions, the fans stayed with them the whole way. 

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2022 Ongoing MOTY List: Gunn Club vs. Jurassic Express

 

33. Austin Gunn/Colten Gunn vs. Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus AEW Rampage 2/11/22

ER: You would not believe the far-removed-from-relevant-discourse wrestling I have cluttering up my DVR. Sometimes I watch it, other times I don't. I've been mostly writing about 1997 WCW for my book over the past couple years, so haven't been watching much AEW or WWE. Happening across it, rarely making time for it, only vaguely aware of either promotions' storylines through my Twitter feed. Sometimes I'll have it on in the background, only passively paying attention, and that makes me automatically impressed by any match that ends up capturing my attention. This tag did, in a way that most Jurassic Express matches do not. I thought it showcased how good Jungle Boy can be as a face in peril, and showed how really good the Gunn Club are at cutting off a ring. It's a great heel team performance, a strong face in peril performance, and a great choice to keep Luchasaurus mostly on the apron. The structure does mean we build to an inevitable Luchasaurus hot tag, and that's the weakest part of the match, but things run so smoothly when he's not there that most of this match hums. 

Colten Gunn was getting really good at this point, two years ago. I don't know if he's made strides since, but he was getting real good then. I like how he doesn't go over for everything Jungle Boy does, stopping dead on a rope flip armdrag, and how it makes it mean more when Jungle Boy hits him with a bigger lariat to knock him down after; and how the next time he tags in the very first thing he does is turn Jungle Boy's ass upside down with his own bigger lariat, and later on scouts and avoids the same lariat that hit him the first time. It's a cool story in a face in peril tag match where they show that the babyface should have saved a couple of his tricks for when the match was winnable instead of early on as an overreaction. Colten has good timing - both Gunns do - and does things that really good wrestlers do, like throw punches from a standing position at an opponent who's on his knees. That's cool heel shit. Austin is a good guy to work the Picture in Picture stretch, because he's strong at holding Jungle Boy in place with convincing grounded headlocks that stay active, and I loved the stretch of him making a wild over-exaggerated tag out to his bro that makes him fly over the top to the floor, but then runs around the ring in time to pull Luchasaurus off the apron before he could tag in. Austin is very good at naturally blending planned theatricality into a match, and that's something that stands out in a promotion filled with guys trying to do that but doing it badly. 

I thought the hot tag was fine and liked the way they had Jungle Boy take out Luchasaurus with his tope, but I also am not sure I can name a larger wrestler with worse chops than Luchasaurus. The crowd is really really into the guy working a masked lizard TNA Lance Hoyt style. Hoyt was bad then, but imagine if he was doing standing moonsaults instead of learning how to throw a better chokeslam? The Gunns do a good job of feeding Luchasaurus but it's their chemistry with Jungle Boy and their timing that elevated this. But nobody in AEW actually listens to Fire of Love. 

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Found Footage Friday: DRAPP~! BUSHMAN~! LONDOS~! RASPUTIN~! FIGHTING DUSAKS~! BERRY~! TOGO~!

Andre Drapp vs. The Bushman NWA Los Angeles 1/29/51

MD: Our good friend Charles over at Wrestling Playlists unearthed another hundred or so old matches that weren't in ready circulation. We'll get through them all eventually. The plan was to start chronologically from the posting, as I've been doing with Roy's Monterrery uploads because otherwise it can get confusing, but since one of the matches had our other old friend from the French Catch footage, Andre Drapp, I had to give it a look first.

The French Catch footage started in 57 so this is a younger Drapp. A lot can change in wrestling styles in six years, even back then presumably, but here, I think, so much of the differences were due to the setting. Drapp was presented as a well touted newcomer, with the Bushman as a bushy haired character with a deadly finishing hold we never actually got to see. Drapp used some of the hits (not the up and over out of a top wristlock or his shrugging shoulder blow that I think of him for but a surfboard that popped the commentator and most especially the rolling leg nelson which is probably my favorite single hold from the Catch footage). Each one was presented as something novel and different and interesting and impressive. 

None spanned much time in the match however. In France, each hold would be its own segment, lasting a minute or three or more. Here, they were in and out and onto the next thing, giving the local and the TV crowd a lot of movement and action as opposed to lengthy grueling, in and outs and reversals. It all felt a little dumbed down, exciting but with less substance. The Bushman mainly took back over with hairpulls and inside moves and got heat for it. Unfortunately in the second fall, Drapp went for a flying bodyscissors and collided his heel with Bushman's face in an accidental leg lariat opening him up and ending the match. It was a great clear look at someone we hold in high regard, just a few years earlier and in a very different setting though.

Jim Londos vs. Ivan Rasputin Clark Sports (Chicago) 9/13/50 

MD: Look, since I'm already cheating anyway, I want to watch the Jim Londos match. We had very little footage previously in circulation. So let's see what we have here. This leads with an interview with Londos, where he comes off as easy spoken and basically talks about the difference between wrestling in 1925 and 1950 (two hour matches with a lot of laying around in holds in 1925 apparently; a lot more action now because the people have a way of getting what they want. I leave it there without comment). 

This is a small sample size but I thought Londos came off as excellent here. The first five minutes was just great as they fought over side headlock takeovers, jamming one another to prevent going over. Entertaining and full of struggle at the same time. I imagine it might have been a Londos trademark, the wide stance to jam the takeover, but it felt novel to me here. And of course, if it was a trademark, it could rise to the level of ritual and be something the fans anticipated and looked forward to. Rasputin made it a little more over the top, using his bulk instead of his stance to jam Londos. It meant that when Londos did start to take him over with sort of a half biel, it meant all the more. 

Londos balanced the technique with more theatricality than I was expecting. It was escaping a leglock attempt and then running around Rasputin or diving out of the way causing him to tumble into the corner or out of the ring. He was a guy who obviously had adapted and was able to exist in both words in the way that reminded me of Thesz and the like. Rasputin on the other hand had to rely on inside moves, cheap punches and hairpulls. He had his size and just enough technique but he went dirty and got responses from the crowd for his trouble. Finish of the first fall was that old WWWF standby of Rasputin tumbling out and grabbing on to Londos from the apron to get counted out. Second fall was abrupt with Londos winning with a toehold. This was a pretty great look at Londos and what made him special at this stage of his career.

Emil Dusek & Ernie Dusek vs. Wild Red Berry & Great Togo NWA Los Angeles 8/13/51

MD: Ok, now starting with the first post. Togo was Kazuo Okamura, who was born in the States to Japanese parents, and who debuted in 1938. He was one of the first Japanese themed heels in the post-war era. Obviously the stuff with Togo is "of its times" in the worst way, with the commentator taking on an accent during his salt and bowing ceremony and all you'd expect. Berry's pre-match routine is superb, as he has a fan club of three ne'er-do-wells give him a new jacket and they all sing as the fans boo.

I get the sense that both teams are heels to a degree but that the Duseks are de facto faces because the fans really want to see Togo and Berry get punched; I could be wrong there. Ernie is punching for the last row with big meaty shots. When he does a twisting headlock back and forth in the second fall, it's the biggest thing in the world. Emil's a little more technical and subdued. I almost had a Terry and Dory vibe from them.

Berry is just wonderful here. Togo stooges and has some good combinations and the sort of nerve holds that you'd expect, but Berry is just over the top the whole way through. Amazing character, slimy and smarmy and cowardly. When he was on the apron and they had Togo in a hammerlock, that alligator arm just somehow couldn't reach for the tag. He even slipped and fell down once. When their backs were turned he was quick to rush in and attack though. You could see him fitting right in as a character on the Jack Benny Show or something. This was overall chaotic given the people involved and even the two refs could barely keep up.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: La Batalla Final

Week 14: La Batalla Final

It has been nine months since Sadistic Steve Strong's arrival in CSP. We have followed his path of destruction and chaos throughout 1989, which included him winning the Universal title, injuring Carlos Colon’s shoulder, facing off against nearly every top tecnico in the territory, and main eventing Aniversario. The fallout from Aniversario has resulted in the Universal title being held up and now we have arrived at what has been named ‘La Batalla Final’ (The Final Battle). This encounter between Colon and Strong will decide the Universal champion. It will also result in one of the two men leaving the territory. The stakes are high for Thanksgiving Day.

This late 1989 period is one where results are more spotty compared to earlier in the year. As such, we don’t really have the full lineup for the Thanksgiving Day card but we do have some results and matches which we’ll talk about shortly. But before then, let’s check in on some of the wrestlers and how things are going as we head towards the end of November.

First, we’ll catch up feud wise with what’s been happening with Invader #1, TNT, Super Medico. Gary Albright and some others next time, but do know that they’ve been active and all of them were likely on the Thanksgiving Day card (I suspect Invader against either Abudda Dein or Gary Albright, Medico likely defended the World Junior title, and TNT likely faced off against one of Chicky’s guys). For some of these wrestlers whose roles on the Thanksgiving Day card aren’t clear, let’s check on how they’re performing on TV.

As we’ve seen previously, besides being the reigning World Junior champion, Super Medico has been taking on a few of the rudos in matches taped for tv. While he has made a good showing of himself, Medico ended up on the losing end vs Manny Fernandez and Leo Burke. Let’s see him in action once more, this time against Abudda Dein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1mgsQXi6I

As we saw earlier, Abudda has been back in singles competition since losing the World tag titles at Aniversario. He is coming off a series of matches with Invader #1 where he was unsuccessful in bringing back the Puerto Rico title to El Profe’s Real Academia stable. Also,  by this point the chatter around his suspected to be loaded boot has increased during his most recent series with Invader #1. Here Abudda is taking on Super Medico. They start with an exchange of various arm wringers, leading to Abudda going to the ropes to break the hold and going outside to regroup. Profe comes over to give Dein some advice and Dein takes control with a knee to the stomach once he gets back in the ring, Medico manages to regain control by countering out of a side headlock and works Dein’s arm. The commentators (Hector Moyano and Eliud Gonzalez) mention that Medico has the quickness advantage and can nearly match Dein in strength. Medico continues to maintain the upper hand in the hold exchanges and settles into a side headlock, one that Dein tries to get out of by grabbing onto Medico’s mask. The referee stops Dein each time he tries to grab the mask. Dein manages to send Medico into the ropes but Medico keeps countering Dein’s attempts at getting offense in. Back to the side headlock, which Dein once again counters by sending Medico into the ropes. A bodypress attempt by Medico is countered into a backbreaker, allowing Dein to grab control of the match. Dein drops Medico throat first on the top rope and continues to work Medico’s throat area with foot chokes. Eliud mentions that they have to work fast because there's only a 10 minute time limit for this match (it seems this is the standard tv match time limit in CSP). Medico manages to regain control by kicking Dein in the head coming off the ropes. Medico hits a flurry of punches and a sunset flip gets two. A dropkick sends Dein outside and the referee stops Medico from going after Dein. With the ref’s back turned, Dein takes the opportunity to load up his boot by stomping it against the mat three times. He kicks Medico in the gut and goes for a pin attempt, but referee El Vikingo has turned around earlier just as Dein was finishing ‘loading’ his boot by stomping it on the mat. It looks like the secret’s out regarding Abudda’s boot  as El Vikingo shakes his finger at Dein and calls for the bell. Dein is disqualified for using a loaded boot. The referee raises the downed Medico’s arm declaring him the winner while Dein leaves the ring celebrating like he had won the match.

MD: A little less than five minutes here. I was expecting Dein to win with the boot but the ref caught him. Before that, Medico had the advantage wrestling wise, but Dein was able to assert himself through his power and cheating, primarily targeting the throat. Medico looked good fighting from underneath here and Dein look sufficiently cruel and unyielding. For a guy who didn’t have too many big runs elsewhere, Dein was credible in this role.

EB: Somebody we need to keep our eyes on is Manny Fernandez. After Aniversario, Manny helped Chicky attack Carlos Colon as a result of Chicky feeling that Steve Strong had been robbed of the Universal title. Manny’s been on a bit of a winning streak on tv and he looks to continue his winning ways against Huracan Castillo Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65sWRi4tZU

Huracan has been recently immersed in a tag feud with Los Mercenarios since losing the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario. But with Miguelito Perez having won the Puerto Rico title, both Castillo and Perez have also taken a few more singles matches recently. Here is one such case as Castillo tries his luck against Manny Fernandez. As both men face off to start, Hector Moyano mentions that hurricanes in Puerto Rico bring bad memories but this one here (Castillo) is loved by the fans. A few lockups are exchanged and it becomes clear that Castillo is not backing down, shoving Manny when they broke one of the lock ups. A few exchanges early on see Castillo get the better of Manny, but Manny gets some words from Chicky and decides to go for Castillo’s leg when they lock up again. Chicky talks smack to the camera which is drowned out by some chanting fans. Manny continues to work on the leg while on the mat as Castillo tries to fight out of it. This is pretty much the middle portion of the match, with Manny working the leg in different holds on the mat. Castillo tries maneuvering Manny into a couple of pin attempts but Manny manages to kick out and continue with the hold. The end of the match comes when they take it off the mat. Castillo manages to come back on Manny after a kick of the ropes. Castillo hits a series of moves including a slam and an elbow drop, but Manny cuts him off with a punch to the stomach. Manny knocks Castillo down coming off the ropes and, when doing a criss cross, catches Castillo with a DDT for two.  Castillo tries to counter with a standing switch into a cradle, but Manny holds onto the rope and sends Castillo tumbling backwards on the mat. This sets up Manny’s standing elbow smash and Manny gets the win. We’ll have to see if this winning streak catapults Manny into a title opportunity against one of the territory's champions.

MD: There was a cute bit at the start as the commentary carefully links Castillo to the recent hurricane due to his nickname. Between some of the new footage and just delving into what’s out there, we have a bit more of this Manny/Chicky run than we initially thought, which is good as he fit in so well here. He was only 35 or so here, really a prime age to anchor a territory even if he probably had a lot of wear and tear on the wheels. They worked a chunk of this on the mat with Castillo going for a cross armbreaker and Manny trying to keep a leglock. It opened up after that with Manny beating Castillo down and Castillo trying to fire up before they went into the finish, with Manny catching Castillo out of nowhere with a DDT and then hitting a twisting back elbow off the ropes. This made me want to see Chicky and Manny go up against Castillo and Perez.

EB: Let’s talk about what we do know about the Thanksgiving Day show. On tv it was announced that the Youngbloods would be defending the World tag titles against Los Mercenarios. While we’ll talk a bit more about these two teams and any potential result from Thanksgiving Day next time, let's take this opportunity to further showcase both teams in action  (and take advantage that we have some rarely seen matches available).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTP_yQhPz0

Once again Los Mercenarios are facing Maelo Huertas and a tag partner on tv, with Herbert Gonzalez being Maelo’s partner this time. The tecnicos in these matches against Los Mercenarios have made a good showing of themselves, although Los Mercenarios have proven too wily and managed to remain victorious. This match is not that different from what we’ve previously seen. Maelo gets some shine when he’s in the ring to start, getting the better of Mercenario #1 (Acevedo) and then Mercenario #2 (Morrow) to start before tagging Herbert in. To his credit Herbert maintains control with a side headlock for  a few moments, before Mercenario #2 works out of the hold and tags in Mercenario #1. Herbert manages to reverse an armlock but gets trapped in the corner. An attempted double team fails when Herbert ducks out of the way. Herbert keeps up the pressure and tags Maelo in, who continues on the offensive attack. The tecnicos are giving a good fight to Los Mercenarios.  Mercenario #2 is tagged back in and the tide turns after a knee to the back of Maelo when he was coming off the ropes. Los Mercenarios continue to show that they'll rely on wily shortcuts to get and maintain their advantage. Los Mercenarios work over Maelo for a while but Maelo is able to counter with a clothesline and tags in Herbert. All four men end up in the ring and it looks like the tecnicos may be getting control of the match. However, as the referee is escorting Maelo out of the ring, Los Mercenarios sneak in and hit a double DDT on Herbert and steal the win. It’s very clear how Los Mercenarios are operating as Caribbean tag champions.

MD: Pretty complete for a five minute match, maybe too much so as I’m not sure the Mercenarios should be giving up so much, even if Cuban Assassin is a great bumping stooge. Morrow has a couple of bumps in him each match too. The more I see of Maelo the more sense I get that he excelled in his role at the top of the enhancement guys. He was always on, always fighting, had some dynamic, explosive offense, and bumped big. He took a great butterfly suplex from Morrow here. He rolled into a nice hot tag too. Morrow and the Assassin were just too good at working behind the ref’s back though and they hit a double DDT out of nowhere for the pin.

EB: Let’s also check in on the Youngbloods, who are taking on an odd couple team in Abudda Dein and El Exotico (although maybe not that odd if you remember that Dein has just teamed for a couple of months with Rip Rogers).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAxdeFch7ko

We have some interesting looks here as the combatants are arriving to the ring. Exotico has heart frame shades and a spray can that he is using to spray the ring. We heard Hector Moyano mention that Exotico did this in a previous match but here we get to see his pre-match method of dealing with stinky opponents. The Youngbloods arrive and we see that Chris is wearing his ceremonial skull mask. Moyano mentions that the ring is very fragrant after Exotico did his thing with the spray can. Everyone starts getting on Exotico’s case, with the crowd catcalling him ,the Youngbloods making gestures at him and even the commentators making a comment or two about how he goes about things (it’s 1989 after all). Exotico and Chris start off and Exotico has no luck in there against Chris. Dein tries to help by grabbing Chris at one point but the double team gets botched when Chris gets out of the way. Chris tags Mark in, who then dropkicks Exotico. After fleeing to his corner and hugging Dein for protection, Exotico complains about having his hair pulled. Dein starts complaining about that happening as well and, for some reason, grabs Exotico by the hair and starts shaking him around to show the referee what had supposedly happened. As Dein finishes doing this, Mark sneaks up behind Exotico and basically pinches his butt. Exotico is not happy about that but Mark continues with the advantage once they lock up again. El Profe goes over to the commentary table and defends Exotico by saying ‘he’s just a delicate young man, don’t be thinking what it’s not, he’s just delicate’. Over three minutes in Dein finally gets tagged in but doesn’t fare much better than Exotico. This match has been all Youngbloods so far. Dein makes the tag to Exotico and, surprisingly, Exotico goes on a successful offensive flurry (including an eye poke). It doesn’t last long as Mark counters a suplex attempt and tags Chris back in. After a brief moment where all four men end up in the ring, Exotico gets isolated and falls victim to a slingshot splash. The Youngbloods get a dominant win.

MD: I went back to isolate a version of this with the entrances too. Exotico had the glasses, was spraying Arrogance all over the place, and put his arm on Profe’s shoulder only for Profe to shrug him off. Thankfully, Dein helped him take off his robe so he could pose, though. Chris had the cool skull mask too so all was right with the wrestling world. Profe, to his infinite credit, expressed some concern for Exoitco as the Youngbloods were tossing him around. Very little heat here. Lots of begging off and stooging. Dein was sort of dragged down by his partner and felt more on his level than as the name guy teamed with the enhancement guy. The Youngbloods were pretty good at asserting themselves too, which maybe didn’t help. Still, it’s fun to see Exotico do his thing.

EB: With his winning record so far in CSP, Leo Burke is challenging for the Caribbean title on Thanksgiving. This will be a tough opponent for the reigning champion Miguel Perez Jr. Let’s go to that match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5IxwGKYK14

This match video is from a Campeones airing about two weeks after the Thanksgiving Day show, so the commentary does provide a bit of context about certain happenings. In this case, Carlos Colon is talking about a match he had with Leo Burke the previous week that went to a draw.  I mention this because this is a thread we’ll pick back up next time. As for this match, we are at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon. Burke has been presented as the master of the figure-four in his run so far and is looking to bring the Caribbean title to El Club Deportivo. Miguel tries to charge at Leo right at the bell but both Leo and Chicky are in the corner complaining to the ref that Burke has not taken his jacket off. The ref tells Chicky to get out of the ring as Burke goes to the apron and then to the floor. Chicky comes over to help Leo take off the jacket and the two share a hug as the crowd gives them static. Hugo on commentary starts asking Chicky about the nature of the hug,  which Chicky answers by saying that the hug means something that’s not Hugo’s or anyone else’s business. Carlos mentions that all of Leo’s complaining about the jacket is mind games by Burke and that an inexperienced wrestler might be taken in by these mind games if not careful. Carlos also credits Burke with being a great wrestler. Burke slows the pace of the match down by exiting the ring when Miguel tries to lock up. Eventually, Leo gets caught by Miguel and falls victim to an offensive flurry. Burke escapes to the outside and complains to Chicky about a blow to the eyes. Burke gets back in and Miguel takes control again on offense. Hugo mentions that Miguel is in control but Carlos responds that he seems to be anxious and aggressive and that you have to be careful against someone like Leo Burke. You have to be more calculated in your approach. Burkle continues stalling outside of the ring after once more escaping Miguelito’s attack. Leo finally gains control with a hairpull (something Chicky denies on commentary). We go to and come back from a commercial break with Burke working on Miguelito's arm. Hugo mentions that Burke is a very smart wrestler as he broke the hold when the ref caught him but quickly slapped it back on (so the break was no longer forced). Burke continues working on the arm. Miguelito gets some blows in but another hairpull allows Burke to continue in control and work the arm. The crowd tries to rally behind Miguelito, who after a while of being worked over, manages to rally and fire off some punches to knock Burke off him. Miguelito goes on the attack and gets a few pinfall attempts (including one off a bodyslam into a legdrop). But on another slam attempt, Burke grabs Miguelito’s leg and doesn’t let go, allowing Burke to trip Perez to the mat. Burke quickly puts Miguelito in the figure four, and although Perez tries to hold out, the referee calls for the bell .We have a new Caribbean champion! As Isaac Rosario motions for the title belt, Burke continues to keep the figure four locked in (something we’ve seen him do in his previous matches). But unlike those other instances where Burke broke the hold when the ref warned him, Burke refuses to break the hold despite several attempts by the ref to get Burke to break the hold. As a result, the referee reverses the decision and disqualifies Burke. Miguel remains the Caribbean champion but Burke has shown that he knows how to do damage with that figure four leglock of his. Burke finally breaks the hold when TNT and Super Medico run in to help Miguelito.

MD: Carlos is on commentary here and they’re talking about an hour long match he had with Burke the previous week that went to a draw and that sounds amazing. We obviously do not have it. Burke was excellent here, spending the first five minutes stooging and having his arm worked over and stalling again and again. He took over with hairpulls and they ratcheted up the heat with hope spots and perfectly timed cutoffs. When Perez finally came back, the place came unglued. Then out of nowhere after a slam, Burke snuck in a trip and locked in the figure four. Perez tried to fight but had to give up and the crowd was visibly upset. Burke kept the hold on, however, and the decision got reversed. It didn’t necessarily make anyone happy (maybe relieved) but it kept Burke elevated while keeping the belt on Perez and giving Chicky something to complain about.

EB: According to the Wrestling Observer both Koko B Ware and Harley Race worked the Thanksgiving Day show for CSP. And we actually have Koko’s match from this show, as he takes on El Profe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iYI05GxgvI

We get an interesting comment early on from Hugo where he mentions that Koko has been sent as a replacement for an injured Hillbilly Jim. So it looks like Hillbilly Jim may have been initially announced for this show. The crowd is hot for this as we start and it's definitely a treat to see Koko in this environment. El Profe jumps Koko at the bell but Koko counters with a backdrop and a couple of dropkicks that send Profe to the outside. The crowd goes wild as Koko flaps his arms and claps his hands in the ring. El Profe regains his composure on the outside and you can see that Frankie is with Koko, sitting on his perch on the left side of the ring. Profe is not happy with the corwd’s cheers for Koko and raises his arms to ask for the crowd to applaud him (which doesn’t happen). Profe gets back in the ring but immediately runs into a couple of armdrags and a dropkick that sends him flying through the ropes and back outside. El Profe is visibly annoyed and starts jawing with some fans on the outside. Profe gets near Frankie while pacing around the ring, which prompts Koko to head to the ring apron and back Profe off from getting close to Frankie. El Profe gets back in the ring as Koko again fires up the crowd. Profe then decides to get on the middle turnbuckle looking at the crowd and starts hitting some muscle poses (Hugo: El Profe showing off his muscles, unfortunately we don’t see it this way). Koko then starts motioning to the crowd if he should take Profe’s mask off, which gets loud cheers from the crowd. El Profe is not amused with this development. Profe jumps onto the middle turnbuckle to get away from Koko, but Koko catches Profe and slams him off. Koko immediately goes for the laces on Profe’s mask but Profe manages to slide out of the ring. Profe complains to the ref about Koko going after his mask. He gets back in the ring and tries to shake hands with Koko. The crowd yells no at Koko, who looks to consider it. However, when Profe gets closer Koko mocks Profe to the crowd’s delight. El Profe kicks the bottom rope in anger and gets into a boxing stance, which prompts someone from the crowd to yell their approval. El Profe, bewildered by this reaction, turns back to the crowd and starts making calm down gestures, stalling once again. Koko sneaks up behind Profe again and starts undoing the laces of Profe’s mask, but referee El Vikingo pulls Koko off Profe, allowing Profe to bail to the outside. El Profe complains again to the referee about Koko going after his mask and takes his time relacing it. Back in the ring, Koko sends Profe into the turnbuckle but misses a charge into the corner. El Profe finally is in control and proceeds to hit an illegal thrust to the throat. Profe chokes Koko on the bottom rope and starts shouting to the crowd that he is the master here. Koko struggles to get up but Profe is on him with several kicks. Profe places Koko on the middle rope and chokes Koko while taunting Frankie at ringside. Profe breaks and proceeds to choke Koko again while taunting Frankie once more. Profe raises his arms in victory, but Koko starts slapping the mat to get the crowd behind him. Koko lands a headbutt which seems to hurt him a bit (I’m guessing Profe may have his mask loaded) and Profe hits a knee that sends Koko outside. El Profe hits a few blows to keep Koko outside when Koko tries to get in the ring. Hugo on commentary mentions that although Profe is mainly a manager he is someone that is capable in the ring and to not forget that he was World Junior champion at one point as well. Koko finally gets back in the ring by stunning Profe and hitting a sunset flip into the ring. Profe kicks out and immediately drops an elbow on Koko to cut him off. El Profe maintains control but makes the mistake of missing a diving headbutt of the middle rope. Koko ’birds up’ (I mean, what else do you call it?) and proceeds to go on the attack. Koko rams Profe’s head ten times into the turnbuckle and fakes Profe out with a reverse crossbody attempt. This leads to a great dropkick off the top rope and a sunset flip to give Koko the win to the crowd’s delight. A fun match with a hot crowd and two wrestlers just masterfully playing to the crowd.

MD: This was during the period where Koko was fired after the Jim Troy altercation. Profe was in full stooging, stalling, and feeding mode too, but then that’s part of what makes Puerto Rico so great. Great spot early on where Koko teased taking off the mask and Profe hefted himself back to sit on the top turnbuckle in retreat only for Koko to toss him right off. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that done out quite like that. The fans loved the idea of Koko maybe getting Profe’s mask off, but he ended up taking out his own throat on a missed corner splash. That let Profe take over, first targeting the throat and then with a king of the mountain segment. Koko hulked up big with his birdman arm waves and absolutely took Profe’s head off with a missile dropkick. This was very fun for what it was.

EB: The big match for this Thanksgiving card is La Batalla Final for the held up Universal title. No time limit, no disqualification, there must be a winner, Chicky is banned from ringside and the loser must honor their required stipulation (Colon must retire, Strong must leave Puerto Rico).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsXaBb4DgA0

It’s definitely been quite the run for Steve Strong in Puerto Rico and he looks to keep it going by finally getting rid of Carlos Colon. Hugo is doing the ring announcing and runs down the stipulations for the crowd and presents the combatants (with a loud roar for Carlos Colon). This match video is from a 2000’s Carlos Colon dvd release, so we’re getting a years later commentary team that includes El Profe. Strong has cut his hair since the last time we saw him and it does change the vibe a bit on his look. The crowd is hot as the bell rings and Colon and Strong proceed to switch back and forth on being the aggressor, Strong with clubbing blows to Colon’s back and Carlos with focused kicks to Strong’s legs. It’s clear what each man’s strategy for victory is early on, but it is Carlos that in the first few minutes is able to execute his plan of attack more effectively by working on Strong’s leg.  Strong bails to the outside to regroup but is immediately caught in a small package attempt when he gets back in the ring. Carlos is focused and has been able to be ahead of Strong so far in this match. Strong hasn’t really been able to get an advantage so far, so he tries the approach of goading Carlos into a test of strength. Carlos doesn’t go for it, kicking Strong in the stomach and continuing on the offensive. A frustrated Strong once again goes outside and grabs one of the ringside crowd barriers in an attempt to threaten Carlos with it. Security runs over to get the barricade away from Strong. This is a different dynamic from previous encounters between Carlos and Strong, it almost seems like Strong has been thrown off by Carlos having an answer for Strong so far and Carlos is not afraid of Strong at all.

It looks like Strong may have finally found an opening by catching Carlos with some blows in the corner, but an irish whip results in Strong missing a high knee into the turnbuckle and Colon starts working the leg once more. Strong throws Colon off on the first figure four attempt of the match but Carlos goes right back to attacking Strong. We see a quick shot of some of Carlos’ family in the crowd, as it’s his wife Nancy and two of his children (Stacy and Carly). They’re there supporting Carlos. In the ring, Strong is not able to stay standing due to the attack on his leg and tries to roll outside. Carlos gives chase though, and continues to focus his attack on Strong’s leg. Carlos gets back in the ring as Strong just looks perplexed and lost outside as to how the match is going. Maybe not having Chicky out there is affecting his ability to find an answer to the dominant Colon so far. It looks like Strong has lost one of his most powerful weapons, the ability to inspire fear.

Carlos eventually gets the figure four on Strong but he is able to hold out and fight the hold. A reversal sees Colon suffer the effects of the hold but Carlos manages to reach the ropes to break. Both men struggle to stand but Strong collapses from the damage to his leg. Carlos is hobbling as well, which allows Strong to land a clothesline and a tackle. But Strong’s attacks are coming off as desperate and Carlos starts dodging several of Strong's tackle attempts. Strong is not used to being in this position against an opponent and it’s affecting his strategy. Colon goes back on the attack but Strong hits a DDT to cut Carlos off. This finally gives Strong a clear opening and he hits Colon with a few legdrops. Strong looks to the crowd and it seems he’s starting to regain some of his confidence now that he is in control. Strong adjusts ‘Damian’ on his arm but Carlos counters with a small package attempt for two. Strong goes back on the attack. He sends Carlos to the outside and goes out to attack Colon. It looks like Strong is thinking about trying to injure Carlos by ramming him into the ring apron and then the post. However, Carlos counters and Strong’s the one that gets rammed into the post. Carlos tosses Strong back in the ring, leaps over the top rope and does a cartwheel. Carlos is feeling it and proceeds to do a kick Strong low (the match is no dq after all) and even bites Strong in the face. Crowd starts amping up as it looks like Carlos has the match in hand.  However, Strong counters with a clothesline and covers Colon after a brief offensive flurry for two. Strong hits a piledriver but it gets two. A powerslam attempt gets two. Strong decides to set up his loaded forearm and is able to hit Carlos with it. For the first time all match, Strong starts doing his hand symbols calling upon the powers of his dark gods. Strong pins Carlos but they are too close to the ropes and Colon gets a leg on the rope to stop the pinfall count. Strong is not happy about this and picks Carlos back up. After a few blows Strong puts Carlos up in a back body vice.  Carlos shifts his weight and is able to counter into a bridge for the three count! Strong now has to leave Puerto Rico and Carlos has regained the Universal title once more.
The crowd rushes to celebrate with an exhausted Carlos outside of the ring as an upset Strong goes to grab a piece of the barricade. The crowd is mobbing Carlos and security has to intervene to get them away to allow Carlos to be presented with the title belt. The wave of fans is moving around the ring and headed in Strong’s direction, who wisely backs up and gets inside of the ring. Carlos, who is being helped by a security guard on the outside, decides to get in the ring and attacks Strong before he can get a hit in with the barricade. Strong is chased out of the ring as the crowd once again surrounds Colon to celebrate on the outside. The sadistic one has been vanquished.

MD: For much of this match, it seemed like Strong had lost his magic. He looked bloated, his hair floppy, almost resembling late Wahoo, his gimmicked armguard replaced for tape. He moved a half-step slow. He spent the first seventeen minutes backpeddling, trying to avoid Colon’s shots at his legs, diving and missing attacks, absolutely laden with desperation. This was not the same Steve Strong of a few months earlier. Colon had his number. He survived the figure four, even took over, but something remained missing. The crowd was electric at the start of this, but they only went up so much for Colon’s cartwheel and low blow driven comeback. Then something shifted. Strong took back over. He hit the pile driver. He adjusted something under his arm tape and laid Colon out. He made his devil symbol to the crowd. He was finding himself once again and that fear and dread from his imposing presence permeated through the arena. It was too little and too late, however. He went for the over the shoulder backbreaker and Colon turned it into a pin. It became, once again, a celebratory scene with people rushing Carlos and with Carlos fighting Strong (who had grabbed part of the guardrail) off to vanquish him one last time. I wouldn’t say it was an auspicious ending to Strong’s year of terror, but just enough of that magic came back at the very end to make Colon’s win feel special.

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, the clock is almost at midnight for 1989 as we head into December.

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2022 Ongoing MOTY List: Darby vs. Hardy

19. Darby Allin vs. Matt Hardy AEW Rampage 9/14 (Aired 9/16)

ER: A lot gets written about how broken down and immobile and even irrelevant the Hardy Boyz currently are, but I can't think of ever not having love for two completely chaotic fucked up backyarders who publicly thrive and fail and endure in constantly entertaining ways. We would be so lucky if pro wrestling had more disorder. I don't want to watch a ring full of gamers, I want to watch guys who have a real chance of wrestling great and suddenly dying in an accident tantamount to Billy Joe Travis in a tanning bed. The Hardy Boyz occupy this amazing pro wrestler spot far above Billy Joe Travis doing blow, more akin to the wealthy but physically broken and addiction-prone Jackass boys. I love those boys in Jackass enough that I unexpectedly cried during a theater viewing of Jackass Forever, watching these old bump freaks no longer able to take the same amount of crazy bumps, supplementing their legacy of falls by battering the absolute hell out of their dicks. They were smart enough to know to pivot away from the legdrop finisher until their hip and back were fucked beyond repair, but also too stupid to not fuck up their hip and back beyond repair anyway. And I love them for it. 

I love the Hardy Boyz in the same way. I almost always love every broken wrestler that way. 1990s Andre is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, an era of a man that fills me with passion every time I watch one of the 90s Andre matches I keep saved for rainy days. The Hardy Boyz are slower and broken and now Matt is getting publicly divorced and I saw someone compare their mobility to Rankin-Bass Christmas special characters. Brutal. But put modern broken Matt Hardy - who gets to his feet like Super Porky in his 50s - in a match with the greatest fusion of Jackass and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and it's everything I want in pro wrestling. 

Darby gets his spine worked over and does that think where he realistically horrifically injures his spine several different times. Hardy moves like a retired power forward but has a way of ending strings of broken movement with explosive impact. He takes a bump back of head first into the ring steps and seems to make it his mission to wreck Darby's spinal cartilage. Darby misses a coffin drop onto the apron and Hardy runs him into the ringpost with a powerbomb and the damage Hardy wreaks is righteous. Hardy playing his greatest hits louder and heavier plays so well to me. His splash mountain bomb, his side effect, pulling Darby out of the corner with a sitout powerbomb, it all hits heavy and negates any loss of speed. He really looks like he's destroying Darby and there's few wrestlers in history I have loved getting destroyed the way I love Darby. Matt Hardy's missed moonsault is a great piece of bravado, a too high risk by someone who can't be taking those kind of risks that he knows has never lead to a finish. Darby Allin is someone who knows how to utilize a successful backslide, and Matt Hardy is a tough guy who looks highly susceptible to backslides and leveraged pins. His Last Supper is a convincing pinfall hold against any wrestler, but against Matt Hardy I fully bought that it stretched his aged hamstrings tight enough that a kickout never crossed my, or his, mind. 

2022 MOTY MASTER LIST

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 1/15 - 1/21

MD: A lot to say this week, so I'll probably keep these relatively short. I could have just as easily written up Strong vs Sydal or Garcia vs Matthews or even Copeland vs Martin. Interesting selling all around. 

AEW Dynamite 1/17/24 

Samoa Joe vs HOOK

MD: If selling is the story of the week, then the second story is likely one of intent. Yes, pro wrestling is and always has to be about winning a simulated athletic competition. And yes, most of the time it should be about money. Why? Because that takes from professional sports and is always relatable. But having compelling characters with interesting motivations always helps. Let's take a look at Samoa Joe. Here was a guy who had been written off by his industry and by a huge chunk of the fanbase, but had never been written off by himself. Here's someone who had been misused, undervalued, not provided the opportunities that he would have rightfully deserved in a more meritocratic business. So he made his own opportunity. He's seen others come and go around him, wild and chaotic and undisciplined, and he is the calm center of gravity holding things together. 

Here, in his first defense, with two challengers chomping at his heels and a Wardlow (a man who he has quite a bit of history with) waiting in the wings, he wanted to bring understanding to a new generation. He wished to make HOOK see how the world worked, wished to bestow upon him all the harsh lessons that life had taught him, all of the lessons that HOOK's own father, blinded by pride and boundless, uncharacteristic optimism, refused to teach him. HOOK took the fight to Joe as if he could define his own destiny through skill and determination and bravery. Joe shut him down and beat him around the ring, around the ringside area, crushed him to dust. HOOK rose back up with youthful defiance, trying to snatch a second grasp at victory by denying the truth before him. Joe choked him out. Almost certainly, the lesson wasn't absorbed. It was, however, transferred. It took Joe an entire career to become the man that he is now, no matter how formidable or fearsome the man he was twenty years ago had been. One can extrapolate forward another twenty years and think of the lessons HOOK will want to bestow upon others in 2044. It might well look a lot like this.

Christian Cage vs Dustin Rhodes

MD: I am obligated to write about this match. There are, presumably, only so many Dustin matches left to write about. There are, presumably, only so many Christian Cage matches. I'm just not sure what needs to be said that isn't entirely evident, what comparative advantage I have here. Let me say this then. Everything here worked exactly how it was supposed to. We take so much of this for granted. We do not give the basic tenets of pro wrestling enough credit. It's because we've seen so much of it and we've seen it done so ineffectually. We anticipate. If you're reading this blog, I can almost assure you that if you watch a wrestler hit the ropes in context of a match, you almost certainly know what the end result of the spot will be. Our brains all work differently and we're all different people, but most of you are a half move ahead of what you're watching, sometimes more. Even if you aren't sure exactly how it'll go, you've got three or four possibilities mapped out ahead of time and it's just a matter of which path on the flow chart they decide to take. 

Generally that's ok. There's so much wrestling and a lot of it is all built similarly. The tiny nuances stand out. The massive spots and bumps stand out. The deviations stand out. A lot of times, for good or ill, the actual skeleton of the match is just there to provide us a means of delivery for the details. A match is rarely rewarded for the wrestlers doing the right things at the right times for the right reasons with the right results. It's more likely a match will get rewarded for coloring outside the lines, even if the coloring makes no sense. People flock towards innovation and sensation when there's still so much beauty to be found in the standard architecture of direct storytelling. Not here though. Here, it all worked. Here, the foundation was so strong that it moved in parallel with the details and was worth letting go and immersing yourself in. The babyface was cheered. The heel was booed. Everyone played their part. Dustin achieved multiple symbolic victories but Christian escaped with the victory and his belt once again. AEW is a big tent promotion. There will always be room for good, well executed, straightforward pro wrestling. It provides a baseline to be pressed against. There are very few 21st century wrestlers who can do it as well as these two.

AEW Collision 1/20/24

Bryan Danielson/Claudio Castagnoli vs Eddie Kingston/Ortiz

MD: Building off what I just said about Christian vs Dustin, part of the issue is that the crowd no longer wants to play its traditional role, but it wants to have more pivotal a role than ever. In a world of "Both These Guys" and "Fight Forever" chants, and in a company that (probably rightfully) embraces them, it takes someone really special to make pro wrestling in that environment special. It takes someone who can adapt to what is before him, who can lead the crowd despite the incentive of the day being to follow them, who can pause the script and lean into the moment. Enter Danielson and Kingston. The first minute or two of this was absolutely compelling. Danielson tried to get under Eddie's skin, tried to stall, tried to get the crowd to cheer for him. And he did. Eddie, on the other side of the Continental Classic and a win over Danielson, was annoyed that Bryan wouldn't just lock up with him, but confident enough to meet the moment. He looked to his imaginary watch (my current favorite pro wrestling object), and showed Danielson that it was literally impossible to get under his skin in a world where the crowd would go up for him just as much if not more. If selling is ultimately just reacting in order to give meaning to the physical actions within the ring, there is a sort of emotional selling which is reacting to both physical and non-physical stimulus. Here Danielson and Kingston are exceptional. You could spend the whole match just watching their facial reactions and it'd be more engrossing than 90% of the company's breathtaking highspots. I'm so glad that they've moved back into one another's orbit for at least one last go around.

AEW Rampage 1/19/24

Darby Allin vs Jeff Hardy

MD: This was the rare case where I don't think the commercial break helped the match. Darby is the exception that proves the rule. He's so good at generating impact and fabricating consequence that he could ground a trainwreck and make it into a narrative. Hardy was, in many ways, the Darby of two decades prior. This match was best in the early going when it was like two ships firing their cannons at one another, calibrating and recalibrating with each perilous shot. Except the cannonballs were human cannonballs. One wrestler would crash and burn on a near miss and the other would line up his next shot and fire away. I wouldn't want it every day for the wrestlers' sake and the sake of my own sanity, but once every year or two, it's nice to see these two ships pass in the night, guns blaring. 

 

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Loosely Formed Thoughts on WWF Unforgiven 4/26/98

 

1. The Rock/D-Lo Brown/Mark Henry vs. Faarooq/Ken Shamrock/Steve Blackman

The Nation team is billed at 950 lb, meaning they could have gotten this to 1,000 if they subbed in Kama for D-Lo, meaning they fucked up.  

Blackman and D-Lo have very little chemistry but D-Lo's snap suplex looks excellent and Blackman throws the fastest spinning chop I've seen. 

Blackman is too hesitant this entire match and leads to awkward timing whenever he's in. He even tags back into the match when Shamrock was clearly setting Faarooq for the tag and Shamrock forces him to go back to the apron. Holy moly. Blackman has really bad timing with everyone, like he totally forgot how to bump for anything. It's really odd. Fans are noticing it and it's a bizarre choice to have him work the bulk of the match as FIP. 

Everybody is taking everybody else's offense slightly wrong, it's not just Blackman. He's merely the worst offender. 

The Rock's punch when he tags in to a dazed Faarooq is the best part of the match up to this point, and his clothesline is hard. I love all three of Mark Henry's quick elbowdrops when he tags in. Faarooq is a much cooler face in peril that Blackman but they cannot wait to get Blackman back into this match. I don't know why Steve Blackman is in this match so much. 

Blackman wailing on D-Lo with chops is a Better Blackman, and his punch exchange with The Rock felt like it should have looked a lot worse, but the Blackman FIP stuff doesn't work. People really dislike the Rock still, but they feel nothing for Blackman. He is just not a guy who should be selling in long matches like this. Use him like fucking Ernest Miller, let him fly into the ring in the last third throwing improvised kicks, don't have one of the worst physical actors on the roster go in there and sell for the bulk of your opener. 

The Faarooq hot tag could have been fire but it was way too rushed. I loved how he threw his body into the back of Mark Henry's knees and Henry took a great bump for the double leg spinebuster. Henry took another cool fall on a big Blackman kick. Shit, earlier he set up a nice powerslam on Blackman by throwing him into the Rock's knee and I didn't even mention it. Another strong Henry performance, really exposing all of us for not being fully into this guy the moment he re-debuted after his ankle injury. 

Boy this match did not work at all and on paper it really looked like it should have. This was a complete and total failure from the babyface side. Everyone in the Nation looked great, all standout performances. Faarooq's side all wrestled like they had just met each other backstage before their entrance, and none of them looked good during their brief windows to shine. Shamrock barely got involved, Blackman was taken way out of his comfort zone for far too long, hardly any focus was placed on Faarooq getting revenge on the Nation, just a full three person bag fumble. The crowd was quiet most of the match and it was due entirely to the uninspiring babyface squad. 

2. Owen Hart vs. HHH

Chyna in a tiny cage suspended near the ring feels like one of the last times Cornette convinced Vince to do a silly territory gimmick that WWF had never done at any other time. For all the things about territory work that HHH clearly never understood but constantly pretended he was an expert student, he at minimum does understand that he needs to kick the tires on the cage and rigorously test its sturdiness. 

This starts off a lot better than the opener but the crowd is still quiet. HHH bumps around ringside and Owen throws a nice headbutt that he doesn't use enough. Owen runs hard into HHH's jumping knee and it's among the best that spot has looked - equal credit to both - and Owen gets dropped kind of disgustingly chin first on the top buckle when HHH takes the legs out of his 10 count punches. 

Owen takes a lot of hard bumps in this, a great string of them. He makes all of HHH's knee offense look good, bouncing less on impact and making them look more painful. He hits the buckles really hard, and takes a couple more chin first bumps into them. This was the most spirited Owen performance since the rest of his family left for WCW 5 months prior. 

Neither of them can make HHH's Dragon Sleeper I Guess look interesting but at least HHH tries it out three different times, just in case the first two disinterested crowd reactions were a fluke. I don't think I have seen him attempt this submission before or since, but he's also done plenty of things that looked worse, so...

Chyna dangling from the cage is a really great, tremendously performed stunt spot. I forgot sometimes just how much my friends and I were excited for Chyna's further involvement in matches, dying for her to start doing more than hit Owen Hart in the balls. I forget sometimes how much of a Chyna Fan I was at 17. This was one of her greatest physical performances and a spot that looked actually dangerous the entire time it was happening. When she broke free of the little shark cage she was suspended from, and attempted to climb down it? That woman was at least 12 feet in the air, possibly higher, and did a full "hanging by one arm" stunt. Chyna was old John Cliffhanger up there, working with no safety net, with the very real possibility of her falling hard onto concrete or the entrance ramp. She was great at milking the danger, kicking her legs, making the cage sway, making it look like a struggle, making it completely impossible to focus on anything but her. What could have even been happening in the ring, HHH trying out another submission he saw a Japanese guy do better? 

Much better than their WrestleMania match, elevated by a big bumping Owen performance and Chyna's legitimately cool stunt. 

3. New Midnight Express vs. Rock n Roll Express 

I actually think it's pretty cool that they put the Rock n Rolls on a 21,000 house Greensboro show, but every criticism at the time of this match being put out there to fail, is sadly accurate. 

Bob Holly takes an awesome backwards cannonball bump to the floor from a Gibson shoulderblock, and Cornette still draws Greensboro heat by hugging him. Bart Gunn takes a nice bump off the apron too, after Ricky dodges a punch from Holly, and then they work another spot where the Midnights bump each other off the apron. The crowd should be responding much better to these bumps. 

What does not help is when Bart Gunn goes to an abdominal stretch like 2 minutes into this thing, the first heat they got on Ricky. The man tagged in and went straight to the stretch. 

Cornette plays this whole thing way too desperately, which is probably much more entertaining to the people backstage who wanted this idea to fail. I've seen Cornette start dozens of fights with referees and this is one of his worst, a fight with Tim White using the worst exaggerated "Let's Fight" mannerisms he's ever used. 

Ricky gets to take his own cool bump through the ropes to the floor and Cornette does wind up throwing the best worked punch of the match.  

I liked Robert's hot tag, leaping in quick on an advancing Bart, throwing fast punches, working 10 count punches with Ricky, sizing up the double dropkick. All of it looked good, none of it got much reaction, which is a drag. 

This was exclusively talked about at the time as something intentionally set up to look sad instead of cool, and that self-serving missions was mostly accomplished. Rock n Rolls were set up to fail in their WWF run, and that sucks because they were still a better tag team than basically any 1998 WWF tag team other than the New Age Outlaws. Robert especially was going hard every chance he got, they just couldn't have ever worked hard enough to succeed. It wasn't allowed. 

4. Evening Gown Match: Sable vs. Luna

I wonder how long it took the 40-something adult man in the front row to make his Sable Free Tongue Bath sign. This man had to go buy a poster board and at least two markers and had to have the commitment to thinking it was a great idea every step of the way. 

This is the first real misstep of their use of Sable. The WrestleMania match was excellent, and the pull apart brawl at Mayhem in Manchester was so authentic and natural that it seriously ranks as one of the best wrestling pull apart of the year. But every part of this suuuuuucks. 

The fans are undeniably into it, and that means something, but they are nowhere near as into it as they were the WM tag or the Manchester brawl. 

Also, why was Sable out there in such a dowdy gown? Talk about terrible lines and no sense of style. I know the dress wasn't staying on for long, but let's get your star in something that actually fits so she looks good in clothes before she is out of clothes. 

This whole thing is only two minutes long, and the only good part was when Sable booted Luna in the neck and then flung herself onto her and punched her several times in that same part of the neck. 

Also, it's wild how Luna often comes off as less trained than Sable. She looks lost in a two minute match where they only goal is to tear fabric, and the more of this I revisit the more I remember how Luna got 100% of the credit for anything that worked in this feud but it is very clear that Sable is responsible for all of it. Nobody was giving Sable credit in 1998 for any of this. 

It's two minutes long, Sable gets her Mama's Family funeral dress ripped off, and the whole payoff is Sable's 1990s Elizabeth Berkley long butt. The fans love to see those long flat white butts. Butts just used to be different and we can't ever put that genie back in the bottle. In 1998 America still liked 'em long and low. 

5. New Age Outlaws vs. LOD 2000

JR is still talking about the Outlaws shaving off Hawk's bi hawk like half a year ago. This entire feud is based around Hawk getting a 3/8" strip of hair shaved off part of his head two seasons ago. 

You knew the damn fix was in man, because directly after a segment where Lawler and Greensboro wolf whistled and unrolled their tongues at Sable's Classic Kelly McGillis Ass, Sunny is out here in her far and away hottest era. Her LOD 2000 gear made her look like the most incredible lead Fred Olen Ray could have found for Deathstalker III & IV. Babes don't come this hot in the apocalypse, but JR is busy talking about Hawk's mohawk. There should have been a social uprising whenever Sunny appeared in her LOD 2000 gear. 

The New Age Outlaws have aged really well as a tag act, especially during this early part of their run. They felt like a real natural team from go despite each completely languishing separately for well over a year before they teamed. Huge portions of their act would have killed in Memphis, and they threw in a lot of nuance that I didn't give them credit for at the time. I loved Road Dogg adjusting Billy's trunks for him, getting them just right while Billy was waiting to lock up. 

I also actually like this old out of shape Road Warriors era, because Hawk is still a really good puncher. So you get him pulling his tights up over his belly like a 60 year old luchador. He has no power whatsoever, but he also still hits a great fistdrop and is a great puncher. I would have watched another several years of Hawk as a punch guy. It's weird seeing a 40 year old Road Warrior work matches like 70 year old Jimmy Valiant but also I sincerely love Hawk as Jimmy Valiant. He fires off punches as well as anyone on the roster. I also remember liking 2006 Wrestling in Jeans Animal so it's possible I either have total dogshit taste or more likely really refined taste. 

Every match on this card feels like it's being worked the exact opposite from how it should be worked. Animal tags in and holds Billy in a cravat and I have no idea why we're building up to Billy's comeback but the crowd doesn't know either and they are silent. 

There's a cool and dangerous spot where Billy Gunn chops blocks Animal during the first Doomsday attempt and Animal crumples while Road Dogg just drops down onto him. That could have gone badly but instead just looked cool. The Outlaws try to get heat by working over Animal's knee, and Animal does a really great job selling the knee damage. All of the work looks good, it's just not getting any kind of response and it's always eerie when a crowd with this many people are this quiet. 

But the finish was incredibly insulting, and that's not going to help the crowd noise. Hawk pinned Road Dogg with a German suplex, they won the belts, but of course Hawk's shoulders were counted down. Why the ref was only looking at Hawk's shoulders, I don't know, you'll have to ask the Gods of the Bad Finish, but it's one of those wrestling finishes that can get no other reaction from the crowd than an annoyed "Oh seriously? Fuck off." It's a finish designed to get no heat, just insult everyone who saw it. Throw a flat as hell German suplex, ref gets down to count right next to Road Dogg's shoulders, but looks right past them to Hawk's shoulders. Nonsense. Well, have fun feuding with DOA for the rest of the year.  

6. Inferno Match: Undertaker vs. Kane

I don't know what any of us were expecting from this match. They kept details intentionally vague and I guess we were all supposed to believe that we would witness a man being burned alive, and that we were supposed to be intrigued by the idea of a man being burned alive? This PPV was primarily sold on one of these men being burned to death, and also on the possibility of you seeing Sable's tits. The Austin/Dude Love title match basically got added as the main event the week of the show. This was a PPV built on Fake Tits and Fire Death. 

Now, it's been long enough that my internal timeline has blurred and I don't actually remember if I saw this match first or if I had already traded for a 6 hour Sabu comp tape in 8th Gen quality and saw Sabu and Sheik and Onita and Tarzan Goto almost die in an outdoor wrestling fire. I had no idea who Atsushi Onita or Tarzan Goto or The Sheik were when I got that tape but I knew that it looked like several people almost died from Fire. Which match was my first Fire Match experience? That memory is lost to time. But damn this must have looked so fucking cool from the upper deck of Greensboro. The Colosseum darkened, the literal danger of INDOOR FIRE. Can you imagine being inside a building with open, flaring flames? Not me, not since the Great White incident. Fuck no. I'm not going to be one of those bodies trampled in a doorway. 

Hey, is this match actually really fucking great? This is fucking fire and it's also 300 lb. men fighting near fire! Normal Kane/Undertaker spots look better with fire! The flames shooting up the ropes when Undertaker does Old School is the best that a jumping punch to the arm is going to look. Undertaker's flipping clothesline now becomes a riveting miss because it sends him tumbling to the edge of the ring next to The Fire! And yes, they probably should have saved all of the fire flare-ups for big shit like chokeslams and Undertaker's superplex instead of doing them for every bump or impact, but it is also Very Funny seeing flames shoot up 6 feet in the air after Undertaker does a side Russian legsweep. 

A note about Kane: you know how Kane threw great worked uppercuts but couldn't throw any other kind of punch that looked good? Here he threw great overhand rights but didn't use any uppercuts at all. What is considered the Best Kane Era? 

Kane takes the biggest over the top rope bump to the floor of his life when Undertaker has to throw him far enough to clear The Fire. And how about the fucking VADER chant when Vader In Sweatpants runs down to ringside and starts punching and headbutting Kane in the face!! I get Undertaker needing someone like Vader out there to provide more landing coverage for his tope suicida over the fire. Great spot. Undertaker does a suicide dive over Fire and the crowd is left chanting for Vader. That's huge. That means something. Fans either still believed in the big man in 1998, or those Vader/Flair matches left a long lasting impression on the people of North Carolina.  

Paul Bearer hits a big bladejob after Undertaker hits him square over the head with Star Search band Sawyer Brown's kick drum. A big sweaty fat guy hitting a huge blade job is one of the great disgusting visuals unique to wrestling. You couldn't just fire up the internet in 1998 and see a fat guy bleed in a suit after a kick drum was slammed over his head. It was only a pro wrestling visual then. A fat sweaty guy dressed for the finest Sunday Service potluck gets his head busted open by the same kick drum that was used earlier in the night to perform Sawyer Brown's smash hit #1 single (from 1992) Some Girls Do.   

So it turns out the Inferno Match is really good. Let's turn this one into the new King of the Road Match. This one is due some revisionist history I think. I had openly wondered what the best Undertaker/Kane singles match was, and this has to be one of the absolute top contenders. Great spectacle.  

6. Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 

The wrestling sections in this were so much fun, and I love how it evolved from a classic wrestling match into sick bumps and bullshit. Dude Love running the ropes all fast and sloppy and Austin rolling in with a perfect dropdown, catching Dude on the run with a Thesz press. That falling elbow Austin does is one of my favorite moves in wrestling. I'm a person who hates having my neck touched, hates shirts that are too tight and rub against my neck, hated playing night game baseball in high school because it meant turtlenecks under my uniform. So I can't really picture the kind of trust I would need to have to be okay with Steve Austin sending the point of his elbow down towards my Adam's apple only to stop a couple centimeters short. It's one of our purest pieces of worked pro wrestling offense. 

All of Austin's classic pro wrestling exchanges look great, but when he throws Dude off the stage we all know a guy splatting onto concrete so early in the match meant that there was a chance Foley might do something even more painful. 

Nobody had lower crotches on his tights than Foley. Dude's tights fit like old long johns.

Austin is a guy who knew how to capitalize on Foley as an opponent. I guess a lot of guys did that - he took some terrible beatings - but you can tell Austin is really sinking things in. He back elbows his way out of a body vice (a Dude Love body vice!) and runs clotheslines at him as hard as he can. 

This is the first time (of what would be many times) that they milked the Montreal Screwjob as a Vince Tactic. I don't know if anybody I knew in 97/98 actually knew what actually happened in Montreal at this point in our lives and probably just assumed that Vince stopping matches was just going to be a finish we'd get every few months. We had a party to watch Wrestling With Shadows when it aired on A&E, but that was several months after this match. I don't remember how effective this angle was to me and my friends as teenagers, how much we bought into the worked shoot that we wouldn't have known was a work or a shoot. 

Foley does save some really great bumps for the finishing stretch, bouncing off concrete, getting tossed over the guardrail and back, and getting suplex off several corners of the ring steps. I'm not sure you could have suplexed a man into a more painful part of the ring steps. All edges. 

Vince McMahon takes a chairshot right off the side of his fucking head, a completely insane thing for a man with real money to be willing to do. Vince was willing to take a harder chairshot than Foley took (*in this match) and Austin was a man being paid to hit a sociopath in the side of the head with a chair. No wonder we all loved the Austin/Vince stuff so much. 

Well, this was an overall underwhelming PPV, and it all started so promising with a direly serious Undertaker/Kane video package that's nothing but grim allusions to an afterlife spent in hell, broken up bouncily with a "1-800-COLLECT PRESENTS...." It's tough to top that. 

Best Matches:

1. Steve Austin vs. Dude Love

2. Undertaker vs. Kane

3. Owen Hart vs. HHH

Worst Matches: 

1. Sable vs. Luna

2. The Nation vs. Faarooq/Ken Shamrock/Steve Blackman

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Found Footage Friday: LA FAMILIA SCORPIO~! EDDY~! TEXANO~! SILVER KING~! SOLAR II~! LENADOR~!

Scorpio Jr y Sr/Tigre Blanco vs Matematicos I y IV/Angel Azteca (Monterrey 1991)

MD: In looking at all of this footage, you sometimes come across gems like Scorpio Jr. beating Batman down pre-match in the backstage area for no reason and then the commentators monologuing about how sad it'll be if the white tiger were to go extinct. Announcers seem to indicate that this as Matematico IV and not II. He actually looked pretty good int here paired with Scorpio Jr save for a wild but well recovered cazadora out of the ropes into a rowboat to end the segunda. Matematico I lost his mask in 89 so it made things a little bit even. Rudos ambused to start. Tecnicos came back at the start of the segunda. There was an underlying tension between Tigre Blanco and Scorpio Sr but it never went anywhere. I wouldn't say there were clear pairings either, especially a central one. Azteca chased Scorpio Sr around the ring at one point but at the end of the tercera it was Matematico and Scorpio Sr. paired off for the big foul/fake foul spot that the tecnicos got the best of. During the beatdown, Scorpio, Jr. successfully got a dropdown trip, which is always fun to see in the wild. In the comeback, Matematico had a crowd pleasing exchange with Tigre Blanco and Scorpio Sr. Overall, this was pretty standard stuff though. I thought it might go a few places but it never quite got to any of them. La Familia Scorpio had a pretty good act, which is good since I'm about to roll into another match with them.

El Texano/Silver King/Centurion Negro vs Mongol Chino/Scorpio Jr y Sr (Monterrey 1991)

MD: This had more of the heat I was looking for. The rudos ambushed at the start but the tecnicos fired back, including faceplanting Scorpio Sr which led to some color. That just incensed the rudos and they came back strong with an awesome primera beatdown around the ringside area with Centurion Negro hung upsidedown multiple times and Los Cowboys ending up tossed into the chairs. There were no fancy spots here just organic violence. The rudos looked at where the tecnicos were in the ring and figured out how to portray brutality in the moment. Great tecnico comeback at the start of the segunda too with Centurion Negro lifting the rudo ref up onto his shoulders almost in an Atlantida to get him out of the way so that they could charge the ring. That led to all the revenge you'd want, with Silver King lawn darting Scorpio Jr. into the seats and Texano gnawing upon Scorpio Sr's wound. That built to Mongol Chino losing his match and the big spots finally getting unleashed. Crowd-pleasing and blog-pleasing both. The tercera had all the exchanges but they had more oomph to them given that the heat had been ramped up. Silver King and Texano hit all of their big tandem stuff, but it felt like it was built to as opposed to cycled in after a reset. Finish had Centurion Negro and Mongol Chino paired after some Los Cowboys dives and they left me wanting a mask match. Basically everything worked with this one.

Eddy Guerrero/Centurion Negro/Solar II vs Lenador/Javier Cruz/Alarcan (Monterrey 1991)

MD: Pretty straightforward match bolstered by the Cruz vs Guerrero stuff. I had wanted Eddy to be matched with Lenador because Lenador is a great over the top character, but it made sense for Cruz to run him through his paces. While he might have been a tecnico in years prior, Cruz was a great "cruiserweight bully" sort of rudo at this point. I see that he feuded with Apolo Dantes a couple of years later and that makes a lot of sense too. So while Lenador got to make his faces against Centurion Negro and Solar and Alarcan took to the mat with solid stuff, this was mostly Cruz vs Guerrero, first with spirited chain wrestling, and then through a hugely sympathetic beatdown and fiery comeback. Eddy could play the part of the underdog tecnico with a big heart certainly. Finish in the tercera was a huge Guerrero springboard dropkick which I haven't seen in any of the other Monterrey footage as of yet. While we didn't get as much Lenador as i would have liked, this was a good look at young Eddy and a nice notch on the belt of Cruz.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Establishing New Arrivals

Week 13: Establishing New Arrivals

EB: Getting back into the swing of things after our holiday break, we have some news. We have actually accessed some footage we previously didn’t have from this time period. So for this installment, we’re going to stay in this post-Aniversario period just a bit longer and focus on how the new arrivals are doing in CSP.

MD: A brief note on said footage. Thanks to the world’s foremost AWA expert khawk in helping us get our hands on quite a bit of footage not already online from 89 onwards. We still have a bit that we’re waiting on so we may have to double back in the weeks to come, but it should really help us flesh out things as we bridge between the years that we have more complete TV. If you do have full TV from this period, do reach out. We’re pretty certain it exists for a lot of this to be clipped from, but not in any circles that we’re a part of, which is saying something.

EB: Thanks to this footage, we can now take a look at the team of Los Mercenarios, the duo of the Cuban Assassin (Angel Acevedo) and Gerry Morrow. This is not the first foray of a team named Los Mercenarios into Puerto Rico, the Cuban Assassin had previously been in CSP in late 82 and early 83 as part of the first version of Los Mercenarios. Due to the two Aniversario postponements because of Hurricane Hugo, Acevedo and Morrow ended up being the challengers for the Caribbean tag titles held by Miguelito Perez and Huracan Castillo, hijo. As mentioned previously, Los Mercenarios obtained the win and the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario 89 in Bayamon. However, the next day in Mayaguez, the two teams battled once more but this time in two singles matches. Let’s go the first match pitting Mercenario #1 vs Castillo,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b7roXjQriY

One thing you’ll notice going forward is that Acevedo and Morrow are referred to as Mercenario #1 and Mercenario #2 respectively. This match is from the Campeones episode airing the week after Aniversario 89, so we get Hugo Savinovich, Carlos Colon  and Chicky Starr on commentary. And the commentary gets a bit contentious as Colon and Chicky argue about what happened during the barbed wire match (Carlos arguing over Chicky spraying him in the face and Chicky arguing over Strong being cheated out of the win due to the match being restarted). Castillo starts off hot, as Carlos mentions that Huracan is angry over Los Mercenarios stealing the Caribbean tag titles the night before. This sets Chicky off (‘let me tell you about stealing titles’) which causes Hugo to remind Chicky that they had talked at the start of the program to try to not start the argument again. They replay the finish of the barbed wire match to show what Carlos and Chicky are arguing about as the match continues in the ring.The argument will continue on and off throughout the match.

Castillo manages to maintain control though the first part of the match, with Mercenario #1 rolling out of the ring a few times to try to gather himself. At this point you can see that he’s got not only El Profe at ringside with him, but also Mercenario #2. Meanwhile, Castillo is alone. We go to commercial as Mercenario #1 takes control of the match and we get a brief clip of that night’s card (and a quick look at how Chicky looks after the haircut he got at Aniversario). Back from commercial and Mercenario #1 remains in control. Carlos is commenting that he is not sure if Mercenario #1 actually has an object in his boot or if it’s a psychological ploy. Either way, Mercenario is in control. Carlos also mentions once more the previous talking point he’s had of wanting managers banned from ringside so they couldn’t cheat (something Chicky takes objection to). Mercenario #1 continues to control the match as Castillo is bleeding slightly from the forehead. After several minutes of Mercenario #1 being in control, Castillo manages to shift the momentum by whipping the Mercenario into the corner. As Castillo mounts his offensive flurry, Chicky says that he’s going to go to the commission and demand a rematch for Steve Strong based on what happened. Carlos says he accepts that challenge (which would be the Oct. 28 match we covered in our previous post). Castillo in the ring gets several pin attempts but cannot put Mercenario #1 away. The match ends when, after both wrestlers collide heads, Castillo manages to roll up Mercenario #1 but El Profe jumps on the ring apron to distract the referee. This allows Mercenario #2 to jump off the top rope onto Castillo and allow Mercenario #1 to steal the pin. Hugo comments this is  basically how they won the Caribbean tag titles the night before.

MD: This gets a ton of time and I liked the front and back third the most. Cuban Assassin, being Mercenario #1, bumps and sells and feeds really well for Castillo, who is seeking revenge for losing the belts, at first. It’s pretty entertaining stuff. Eventually, Castillo misses a second elbow drop and Assassin takes over. That means some longish holds, some hope spots and cutoffs. The fans are always behind Castillo and the overall beating is ok, but the holds aren’t quite as dynamic as they could be, even with Castillo getting just a bit of color. No worries though, as Assassin is more than willing to go head first like a lawn dart into the turnbuckles during the comeback. It’s a hot finishing stretch with Castillo going for any number of varied pin attempts before Profe asserts himself off the top rope as Mercenario #2 distracts the ref and it’s a cheap win on top of a cheap win to ratchet up the heat more for the next match. And of course, all throughout, on commentary, Colon and Chicky banter about what happened on Night 1 to build to the next match with Strong. It gave this a bit of a 97 Nitro feel with the commentators just wanting to talk about the main event scene despite perfectly good action in the ring.

EB: Later that night in Mayaguez, the other singles match between Perez and Mercenario #2 took place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AnwQUlY-TE

We start with Miguelito coming out of the locker room, as Hugo mentions that he had gone back to get Castillo to second him at ringside after what had happened earlier in the Mercenario #1 vs Castillo match. The rudos are not happy about this development. You may notice that for this match Hugo is alone on commentary even though it’s the same Campeones episode as the previous match. I’m guessing that the argument between Carlos and Chicky continued and it may have very well resulted in the attack we covered in the previous post where Manny and Chicky attacked Carlos (it would fit the time frame as well as the fact that both Carlos and Chicky were dressed in suits). As for the match, this one is a bit more methodical in pace as Mercenario #2 tries his best to control the tempo throughout the first half (including doing a strut). Every time Miguel starts to get some offense going, Mercenario #2 slows the tempo back down to regain control. Near the end of the match it looks like Miguelito is gaining control and Profe once again hops onto the ring apron. His interference backfires this time, as Mercenario #1 hits #2 when Miguelito gets out of the way. Perez gets the pin as the crowd cheers. Los Mercenarios attack Perez and Castillo after the match. Perez is bloodied and Castillo has to make the save by chasing off Los Mercenarios with a chair. It seems this rivalry has only just begun.

MD: This would be that next match. Morrow (being Mercenario #2) was pushing 40 at this point and didn’t have a ton left in the tank. He had solid size and presence and swagger though. He could take a few well-placed bumps when he needed to. Last I saw him, if I’m not mistaken, was in 1987 as a put upon scapegoat ref in NJPW of all places. This went half as long as the Castillo match but accomplished a lot of the same in a different way. Just a quick shine, a similar heat, and then a hot finish. Building off the last one, they had Profe try to interfere again but it backfired. Fans went crazy for it, of course, only for the Mercenarios to swarm and get all their heat back and then some with a post match mauling. Very solid booking, like we’ve seen through most of 89.

EB: We’ve seen the new Caribbean tag champs in singles action. But let’s observe them together as a team as they take on the team of Maelo Huertas and Armandito Salgado on Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33MlcHdi5wI

Our commentators are Hector Moyano and Rick St. James. The commentators talk about the controversial finish to the Caribbean tag title match at Aniversario but Los Mercenarios are now the new champs. Los Mercenarios try to cheat right off the start but it backfires, allowing Maelo to hit a succession of  dropkicks before tagging in Armandito. Los Mercenarios soon take control of the match and a pattern emerges where Los Mercenarios are in control when Armandito is in there but Maelo manages to hold his own against them (looks like Maelo is being positioned a bit higher than Armandito on the totem pole). Despite a surprisingly effective showing by the tecnico team, Los Mercenarios manage to get the win off a double DDT.

MD: For a five minute match, this was much more competitive than I was expecting. There was a bit of rudo miscommunication early that let Huertas hit a bunch of dropkicks but even after the Mercenarios shut them down, they kept coming back, including a Salgado bodyslam on Assassin and some double teaming. That said, it was apparent that Assassin and Morrow could shut them down at any moment. They teased Morrow’s big top rope splash at one point, but that just led to the last hot tag of the match, which happened even as he was climbing. Instead, they hit a double DDT out of nowhere to put Huertas and Salgado down. This was probably a little too competitive, all things considered.

EB: As expected, the issue between Los Mercenarios and the former Caribbean tag champs is far from settled. We’ll continue following how this issue develops but for now here is the finishing sequence of a tv match between Mercenario #1 and Huracan Castillo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYtKfCGSf9Y

We join the match in progress with Mercenario #1 having Castilo in a sleeperhold. It looks like Castillo is fading and the announcers mention that El Profe is telling Eliud Gonzalez to ring the bell (which they point out is not Profe’s call to make). Castillo manages to come back and break out of the sleeper. Castillo applies his own sleeperhold on Mercenario #1, As Castillo has the hold on, Mercenario #2 runs out and tries to jump off the top rope onto Castillo, but Castillo is ready and turns around, causing Mercenario #1 to be hit instead. Looks like Castillo has gotten wise to this tactic from Los Mercenarios. Huracan goes after Mercenario #2 but is eventually overwhelmed by both Mercenarios. A double team effort hits but before Mercenario # 2 can come off the top rope with another blow, Miguelito runs out and shoves Morrow off the top rope. Miguelito jumps into the ring and both teams start fighting, with Perez and Castillo fighting Los Mercenarios off. They stand tall in the ring as the ref signals Castillo is the winner by disqualification.

MD: Just the last couple of minutes of this and the post match, and it’s almost all sleeper holds. We come in with Assassin having Castillo in one; he gets out only to end up right back in. Then he reverses it and Profe sends Morrow in off the top to attack. Castillo gets out of the way at the last second and the rudos crash into each other, but the ref calls for the DQ. A beatdown ensues with Perez running out to even the odds. I imagine this was another good one but we only have the tail end.

EB: We’ve seen El Profe’s new tag team in action but in our last post we also learned that he has brought in a new wrestler, the powerhouse Gary Albright.  El Profe was offering $5,000 to anyone who could break Albright’s submission hold. Let’s see how that challenge continues and if anyone is able to cash in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvPwPyrgI5k

Here we have Gary Albright taking on Juan Rosado. Hugo on commentary is talking up Albright’s amateur credentials and how El Profe is very pleased with his new stable member. Rosado is trying but his blows are not really having any effect and Albright is just in control of this match. In the end, Rosado falls victim to the Albright Special and quickly gives up.  

MD: I’m not sure you exactly need a ton of presence when you can toss guys around and take their head off with hamhock clotheslines like Albright could. Rosado would get a punch or two in (to no effect) but this was a massacre.  

EB: No money for Rosado but maybe two on one might improve the odds in collecting the $5,000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WGcMTbc77k

It’s Albright versus Armando Fernandez and Herbert Gonzalez and, even though it’s 2 on 1 odds in favor of the tecnicos, they both fare as well as Rosado. Albright is smart enough to try to keep only one opponent in the ring as much as possible, but Fernadez and Gonzalez really are no match for Albright. The commentators mention that Albright and Profe have been challenging the fans to try to break the Albright Special and win $5,000. Albright makes quick work of both opponents, first winning by placing Gonzalez in the Albright Special (giving us a good look at what exactly the hold is) and then also putting Fernandez in the hold afterwards. I wonder if anyone will step up to Albright’s challenge? We’ll have to see how this continues to develop.

MD: They did their best to double team him, even if he could just move them around the ring effortlessly, but Albright had the obvious instincts to shove (or headbutt) or chuck one out of the ring to open up the other. We get the best look yet at the Albright Special, which is chicken wing with a half nelson instead of a crossface. This was effective at making him look like a monster.

EB: Continuing with our look at the new arrivals, let’s focus on a pair of junior heavyweights. Due to Jeff Jarrett not being able to appear at Aniversario, the direction of the World Junior title picture shifted. Gran Mendoza was Super Medico’s opponent at Aniversario and he is someone we’ll be seeing more of on and off during the next couple of years. Let’s watch him in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmo7qvjCxVE

This is a quick showcase for Mendoza vs Armando Fernandez. Mendoza doesn’t show too much in the time the bout lasts but we’ll get more chances to see him in action.

MD: This only went about two minutes and it was hard to get a sense of what Mendoza brought to the table. He attempted to put a dogged beatdown on Fernandez, including taking him corner to corner, but it was reversed. He came back with a headbutt to the gut from his knees, which was a nice cutoff. It seemed like he was going to come off the top but thought better of it and hit a flying clothesline off the ropes for the win. He came off as someone who maybe needed Chicky in his corner at first glance.

EB: In our last post we talked about how Brett Sawyer appeared as a rival for Super Medico’s World Junior title, including a controversial win for the title and subsequent forfeit loss due to not being able to appear. But let’s watch Brett Sawyer in action as a tecnico on TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyuU3JzJvvg&ab_channel=MattD

Sawyer’s opponent is El Exotico, who is someone who will also appear on and off throughout the next few years. Exotico has a very flamboyant act and it receives the response you would expect from a 1989 crowd and commentating team. El Exotico definitely brings personality to the proceedings. Sawyer does very well in playing off Exotico’s schtick and also shows off some nice wrestling in the process. An Alabama Jam gets the win for Sawyer.

MD: El Exotico is super entertaining. It’s 89 so he’d be the world’s best Scotty the Body partner. If Rick The Model Martel worked 20% more like this, he might have more memorable matches in his run. Sawyer is himself a perfectly adequate “straight man”, though he does kiss Exotico’s hand to call his bluff and throw him off his game. This just goes a couple of minutes but ends with a thudding Alabama Jam.

EB: The Youngbloods are the World tag champions after Anvviersario and as champions are now coming in a bit more regularly to the territory in order to defend the titles. Let’s watch them in action against the team of Gran Mendoza and El Exotico.

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

As the match starts the announcers make note that El Exotico had arrived with a spray can and was spraying perfume at the Youngbloods because they were stinky. This match starts off mainly with the Youngbloods in control. Exotico is playing it up on the ring apron and at one point gets tossed off the top rope onto Mendoza. Exotico tags in but has no luck either and proceeds to seek refuge in his team’s corner where a reluctant Mendoza tags back in (reluctant in dealing with Exotico). Mendoza gives it a go but the Youngbloods manage to keep control of the match. Mendoza manages to counter Mark Youngblood and tags in Exotico. Exotico manages to hit a nice clothesline and maintain offense on Mark (while taunting Chris) before tagging back out. The match remains relatively even, leading to Mendoza and Mark knocking heads and both falling down. The race to the tag sees both Exotico and Chris Youngblood come in, although Chris gets the better of that exchange. All four men end up in the ring, which leads to the Younbloods being able to hit a slingshot splash on Exotico for the win.

MD: This gave us another look at Mendoza and Exotico. Chris took the first half of the match which was all shine. He maybe had a bit too much fun in there with Exotico, and I don’t just mean with the wild big boots. There was a great spot early on where Exotico got tossed off the top rope and was thereby forced to hit a body press on his own partner. Heat was a couple of minutes on Mark and Mendoza looked solid here, with Mark good at always trying to fight back. Finish had the Youngbloods mow through their opponents, ending with a slingshot splash into the ring. This had a more appropriate balance than the Mercenarios squash we saw, maybe.

EB:Our final group of arrivals are the newest members of El Club Deportivo. After going most of the year with just Sadistic Steve Strong in his stable, Chicky has brought in Manny Fernandez and Leo Burke. We also saw that Chicky had brought in Angel of Death, but this stint was very short-lived. Still, we actually have a match featuring Angel of Death on tv.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RopmKc1GN4M

Hugo on commentary mentions that Angel of Death has been undefeated so far in Puerto Rico (that must have been a couple of matches taped for tv). This match is short and not much happens, but at least there’s visual proof that Angel of Death was here. Hugp talks about the Death Wish hold Angel of Death has, as this is basically Angel being in control before finishing with the Death Wish.  

MD: I’m not sure we missed much! Ok punches and he was good at keeping the pressure on but I can’t shake the idea I’m looking at a giant Gary Hart. The Claw probably would have been perfect against Colon or Invader, so he had that going for him, but not a whole lot else.

EB: Manny Fernandez is still around and being very effective for Chicky. Here he is taking on Che Rosario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBOItX8A4U

Hector Moyano on commentary mentions that Rosario has a very tough opponent in Manny Fernadez and that we are in Aguas Buenas for this tv taping. Che tries but this is the Manny Fernandez show. He moves around great and just stays on Che throughout. Decisive win for Manny.

MD: This was a much more effective use of three minutes. It’s just down to how Manny moves. He was engaged, energized, hitting from all angles. He’d absorb Che’s stuff and put him back down. At one point, Che hung out on the ropes to dodge a flying clotheslines from Manny and I thought he’d really pay for it, but everything stayed cool and calm and Manny but him away with a flying forearm shortly thereafter.

EB:  We’ll have to see what’s in store for Manny as 1989 winds down. Meanwhile, Leo Burke continues to establish himself on TV as the master of the figure four against different levels of competition. First let’s see him in action against the masked Estrella Roja.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxLnjw_0M0

Chicky helps Leo take his jacket off before the match and they hug it out, which causes some of the crowd to get on them for that. Estrella actually gets the better of Leo at the start with a couple of armdrag takedowns but Burke takes the match outside and throws Estrella around (including ramming him into the ringside table). Leo grabs a chair and hits Estrella with it before dragging him back to the ring. A couple of kneedrops and elbowdrops lead to the figure four leglock and Burke gets the submission win. Moyano on commentary again mentions how Burke is a master of the figure four leglock.

MD: If Manny did all the little things well, Burke had the big things covered. In this case, that was smashing Estrella Roja’s face into a table on the outside and crushing him with a chair before locking in the figure four. You have to enjoy how Chicky seems to be pals with all of his guys. Big hugs all around here, just like he did the stylized double high five with Manny.

EB: Let’s also see Leo Burke in action vs Super Medico.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRZWKBpZR-k

It’s joined in progress, which is a bit disappointing because I would imagine a match between these two should be good. Burke is trying to piledrive Medico, but Medico counters with a backdrop. However, Burke holds on and manages to catch Medico in a sunset flip for a two count. Burke goes for a front facelock on the downed Medico to keep control of the match. Burke sends Medico into the ropes but Medico counters with a knee. Medico hits a nice punch combination and a backdrop on Burke. Medico seems to have the match in hand but misses a double kneedrop off the top rope and it’s the opening Burke needs to put on the figure four and get the win (including delaying in breaking the hold after the bell rings).

MD: Just the last two minutes here. It’s mostly Burke feeding and bumping for Medico’s comeback. Finish was fitting as Medico missed a knee drop off the turnbuckles and Burke quickly capitalized with the figure-four. It protects Medico but gets Burke’s finisher over all the more.

EB: Still, with all of these new arrivals, the top issue in Puerto Rico is the vacant Universal title and the upcoming match between Carlos Colon and Steve Strong that has quite a few stipulations attached. As we saw last time, there is no time limit, no disqualification and there must be a winner. The winner gets the Universal title and the loser must hold to their specific stipulation. If Carlos loses he must retire. If Strong loses he must leave Puerto Rico. And because of all the outside interference that has happened in their previous encounters, Chicky Starr is banned from ringside. This match will take place on Thanksgiving Day. Might as well watch one more Steve Strong hype video before then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbF56fsT3_U

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: La Batalla Final is here.

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