2025 Ongoing MOTY List: Satanico vs. Hechicero

Satanico vs. Hechicero CMLL 12/2/25

MD: We have seen matches with men in their 70s. Remember, even something like Black Terry vs Mr. Condor had Terry in his late 60s, maybe not quite the same. There is a certain expectation when you're watching a match with a 70+ year old, let alone someone who, like Satanico, is 76. You expect a maesteros match. You expect tricks on the mat, little bits of leverage, skill and technique and mastery. It can be a joy. Often times it is a joy because the sum of wrestling knowledge in the head of such a man, the number of things he knows that almost no one else alive can replicate, are multitudinous. You may see something that you would not see anywhere else in the world in the entirety of the year. 

But of course your expectations are tempered. Maybe it'll get a bit chippy. Maybe it'll boil over towards the end. Men that know how to punch that know how to take punches. But you have expectations for a reason.

And this started much the same, on the mat. Hechicero cinched in a tight headlock but Satanico was able to snatch a leg and take him down. Hechicero pointed to the skies as distraction and scored a takedown of his own. He worked to lock in a hold, twisting ankles, crossing legs, rough and aggressive, but Satanico knew every trick and scored yet another trip. Were they to do twelve minutes of this, it would be a refreshing, enjoyable time for all, something we would have been very glad to see but might have had very little to write about. 

But Hechicero, always skilled, underlooked for so, so long, was a man of pride. He was a worldwide star, and to have a 76 year old, even a 76 year old that was perhaps the greatest rudo of all time, turn things around on him and force him to fall to the mat, arms flailing, it was more than he could endure. 

He pressed Satanico back into the ropes, refusing to break. Satanico, in turn, knowing the value of every moment and having no time for this, pressed his fist up against Hechicero's face and pushed him back with it, a small but poignant gesture more full of more gravitas than a thousand elaborate spots. 

They locked up again. Satanico went for a drop down and Hechicero kicked him in the skull. Everything had changed. This was no longer a maestro match, no longer an exhibition. It became something darker, something more visceral and gripping. It became a mauling. 

Hechicero fired off shots in the corner. He got up onto the turnbuckles to rain down punches. Usually an opponent can withstand them, hold himself up, all the way to the count of ten. Satanico started to wither immediately though, started to wilt. There was nothing he could do as Hechicero whipped him into the corner. Every step felt like labored anguish, as if he was trudging through mud accumulated over decades with joints that had weathered more storms than would be expected from someone half his age. 

Hechicero gave him no respite, save for to shrug at the crowd. It wasn't him doing this to Satanico. It was life, just the natural order of things. How could you blame Hechicero, wizard that he was, for the simple passage of time? He pulled him to the outside, tossed him into the ramp, laid his head upon it and dropped a knee, followed it up with a kick. He was merely time's agent in all of this, a representative of a force bigger than us all. Why he even stopped to grab a sign professing love for him. None of this was his fault. He was an innocent bystander in the mauling of Satanico. It was fate tugging at his fists and heels, not any evil animus from Hechicero himself.

Maybe that's what pushed Satanico over the edge, what drove him to fight back far past the point of wisdom or reason. He'd spent a lifetime taking full responsibility for every twisted act, a rudo's rudo, a man who perhaps had regrets, but none of them were about embracing the wickedness in his heart. And at times, the crowd loved him for such confident honesty. They loved him now as he started firing back. It wouldn't be enough though. It took a sidestep that sent Hechicero careening into the ropes feet first, to truly get back into the fight. 

Once he was back in, however, well, he was Satanico after all, wasn't he? And that meant he could get down and dirty. He peppered Hechicero on the floor. He started to undo his mask back in the ring. When Hechicero refused to budge on his clotheslines, he drew him in, causing him to overcommit so he could topple the younger man. And then, finally having him down on the floor, he let the devil into his veins one last time and leaped without restraint or hesitation, a daring senton off the apron.

There seemed to be an aspect of futility in this defiance however. Hechicero was one of the best in the world. He recovered quickly, jamming a step-up knee in Satanico's face and dropping him with a power bomb. But futility did not always know sense. When you reach a certain age, the sheer act of getting up becomes a challenge, a complex act of physics where one leg helps to turn the other, propelling you back to your feet. Satanico utilized this exact technique here to escape the subsequent pin, the power of a simple lever that you're more apt to learn through aging than in wrestling school. Whether wise or not, he survived to keep fighting.

And keep fighting he did. Thrown off by the shock of Satanico's escape, Hechicero allowed himself to get jammed on a whip. Satanico pressed the matter, hitting a bulldog, a single arm driver, lifting Hechicero up and dropping him to lock on a submission. It wouldn't last. Hechicero was younger, stronger, more resilient and he was able to power Satanico up for an airplane spin. But he got cocky and missed the moonsault that followed and then couldn't get Satanico up into a Gory special, instead falling victim to a struggle-laden sunset flip, two skin of his teeth nearfalls that almost earned Satanico a last, unexpected taste of glory.

Perhaps drunk upon the taste of it, Satanico went for one more sunset flip only for Hechicero to turn it around and, his feet hanging off the side of the apron suspiciously, he forced Satanico down for a count of three. But when you're 76, when you're facing someone at the height of his power like Hechicero, perhaps glory isn't just to be found in victory. Satanico wasn't even supposed to be there that day. He was a substitution for Blue Panther. Even then, this was supposed to be a nice casual maestros match, the sort we've seen before. But instead, tempers flared and opportunity arose, a last ride for the old scoundrel, maybe not one that he had asked for, but one that he would embrace nonetheless, and in doing so, feel and inspire all of those old thrills one more time.

ER: It's crazy to think how close we came to having this match on D3AN. We had five guys confirmed for our llave trios and wanted a cool old man for the sixth spot. Getting Hechicero in there was already a dream, but with Blue Panther and Virus also involved it was a dream on top of a dream on top of a dream. But we wanted one more cool old guy. Solar had just had surgery, Negro Navarro wasn't available, and Satanico was someone we really wanted. We already had Blue Panther put on one of his best showings of an incredible year at DEAN~! 2, and we wanted a guy 10 years older to try and do the same. Alas, we couldn't get Satanico, so we had to "settle" for Pantera. Boo hoo, El Pantera rules and I loved him in our llave trios.  

So here, a couple months later, is the Satanico/Hechicero exchanges we wanted, and it's wonderful. A few months ago I took my dad, who is two years younger than Satanico, to a Giants game. We went on a mile walk before the game and at his speed, it took us over 45 minutes. Yes, my dad was moving a little bit faster than 1 MPH. Satanico is more athletic than my dad, but he is an old man and moves like an old man. That said, I hope I am this spry at 76, and I hope I have someone like Hechicero in my circle to make sure that I am protected this well. I love Satanico, and love that this old man is still rocking, but this match makes me wonder what kind of match Hechicero could have gotten out of Mae Young in her 80s, because he does all of his coolest stuff and never cracks an egg (or an old man's skull). It's a marvelous showing. 

There are great moments large and small, and every one of them looks vicious while being as gentle as can be. Hechicero wasn't a saint, there were several moments where he preyed on an old man's slowed reaction time, going high for a knuckle lock before dropping in quick with a single leg, or targeting this sweet devil of a saint's poor old knees and bending them over ropes while twisting joints. When he throws Satanico into the entrance ramp, he's kicking him in the back of the head and dropping knees on his draped neck, and while I'm sure Satanico didn't feel a thing I loved how snug Hechicero made it all look. He ran into some incredible crashes while working around Satanico's body, flying into a big upside down bump into the ropes as Satanico sidestepped him, running into a back elbow and flying into the air like he ran orbital bone first into a trailer hitch, or just taking an old man's full weight senton off the apron. Satanico's full weight might be just 140 lb., but it's still full weight.  

Satanico stepped up in cool ways. I loved when they were tangled up on the mat, Hechicero working a leg, and when Hechicero started throwing punches, Satanico started firing back elbows over his shoulder, responding harder than he was getting, forcing Hechicero to abandon his strategy. The man may be the oldest currently active wrestler, but he still throws a classic style bulldog that looks refreshing in 2025. And I don't know what it is about old dudes with great faces, but those faces always seem to be amplified to crazed delirium whenever an old man locks in a Fujiwara. 

But Hechicero is a god. After seeing how perfectly he worked his running knee in the corner, and the way he let Satanico dangle in the air on a powerbomb, teasing like he was going to drop him on his head before lifting him back up and dropping the man perfectly flat, I will proudly trust Hechicero with handling all of my Faberge eggs. Especially the old evil ones. 

2025 MOTY MASTER LIST