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

Solar/Antorcha vs. Sergio Galvez/Joe Panther

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Found Footage Friday: PANAMA~! KING MIKE RAPADA~! SANDOKEN~! EL SATANICO DE PANAMA~! GEMELOS INFERNALES~! EL BARON~! CHRISTOPHER~!

El Barón y Jaguar Kuna vs. Satánico y Gemelo Infernal 3 Panama 1985

MD: I wouldn't say this held up quite as well as the matches we've seen so far out of Panama. These guys were lithe, wiry, and they had some tricked out armdrags as you'd expect but other exchanges felt downright clunky. Satanico is a pale reflection of the one we know and love, just some guy in a mask. I haven't talked up the Gemelo Infernales' maskes, which are these cool goblin type deals in black and white. #3 here used his knee fairly well. Baron here had a skull match which was pretty solid too, even if he was a scrawny tecnico. His best stuff were the flying driving headbutts. Jaguar had a neat front flip he did for absolutely no reason, one great dropkick and a dive that has to be seen to be believed to end the third fall. Overall, these guys were game and occasionally things got wacky in a good way (like when Gemelo Infernal 3 kept hitting spinning tombstones on everyone which led to some uninspired head-selling by Jaguar), but didn't come together like some of the other Panamanian footage.

Sandokan/Ricardo Díaz/Antorcha 1 vs. Kronos 2/Gemelo Infernal 1/Gemelo Infernal 2 Panama 1989

MD: Back when we were all doing the AWA 80s set over ten years ago, I had the distinct feeling that Verne was terrified at the idea of overheating the crowd. Heels rarely won and they even more rarely got their heat back after the match. After seeing a decent amount of this Panamanian lucha, you really, really get the sense that they wanted to cause a riot each and every time out. Sometimes, they even manage it. Here they didn't but it was sure a surprise to me.

The first two falls were pretty much as you'd expect. The exchanges are a bit more flowing, with a lot of tosses out of a head and shoulder sort of grab. Sandoken has the most tricked out, even if not particular swift, variations. I really liked when he continued the motion through on one of these to get to his feet. Everything was smooth and kept moving, with the tecnicos winning the fall with these fun assisted victory rolls into sunset flips. They're kind of hard to explain but it was all pretty neat and you could imagine some more athletic 2022 guys stealing it successfully. The second fall was more of a beatdown with the rudos winning with submissions.

Then things really opened up. First there was a great comeback with Sandoken coming back with headbutts on everyone, Diaz with fun sweeping punches, and Antorcha with shoulder throws/back body drops, a whole bunch of the. The rudos took back over though, all leading to the Gemelos bloodying up Sandokan and Diaz on the inside and Kronos absolutely crushing Antorcha with a chairshot on the floor. We're talking an all time chairshot here.He got carried away by some of his buddies leaving things with a 3 on 2 numbers game for the rest of the match. There were a couple of comebacks, including a sort of unbelievable 3 on 1 Sandoken comeback towards the end with Sandoken kicking out of a bunch of stuff, but the numbers won out and, like I said, somehow there wasn't a riot. Just another really complete look at this regional subgenre. It remains well worth diving into.  

Brian Christopher vs. King Mike Rapada USA Championship Wrestling 6/9/01

MD: This was a TV match to heat up a feud for the No DQ match live that night. It was Brian Christopher going in to Nashville to try to take the crowd back from (now heel) Rapada and defend his dad's honor. I'm not exactly rushing to watch Rapada matches or anything, but the idea of Christopher defending Lawler and being a stand-in babyface is kind of interesting. Of course he does it in the way that Jerry would love most, blatant homophobia on the mic to start. Rapada's heel act isn't bad, as he has Honest Ernest playing a trumpet on the way down, and he keeps control during the match using the usual chicanery. Here, I think he used the "hidden object" too sparingly, just really once or twice to cut Christopher off instead of really leaning into it. Christopher had a lot of fire to start, beating Rapada around the ringside area including a bulldog on the floor. This was to set up the later match so it ended in a ref bump and trumpet shots (see, it was a good part of the act), but it was a nice look at Big Star Christopher coming home right after his WWF run ended defending the honor of the Lawler name.

Jerry Lawler vs. King Mike Rapada USA Championship Wrestling 7/28/01 

ER: This was maybe 5 minutes long including the post-match, and it wasn't very good, and also it was very good. Mike Rapada is the ultimate example of a guy who did the absolute least with the most, the Renegade von Erich, a man who never got good at wrestling despite constantly working with some of the smartest workers in wrestling history. But I actually like him in his King Mike persona, playing the aloof dumb heel with a stolen crown. He's the best dressed in the ring, but that's also because Lawler is wearing this sunny side up gear that I've never seen him wear, with white tights and yellow singlet. Jackie Fargo is wearing one of those confusing shirts that some 70 year old white men have, the kind that don't fit their personality or body. It's pointless to ask these men about these shirts (or their car dealership hats) because they won't have much of an answer about a) where they got the shirt, or b) why they ever thought it looked like a normal shirt that you would wear in front of people. 

Fargo's shirt is a hideous NBC Sports shirt-jersey, with NBC SPORTS as the name across the shoulders, a big N as the jersey number, and a big Peacock logo on the front. It doesn't resemble anything at all related to sports, and looks much closer spiritually to a toddler's onesie with a baseball playing elephant and the words Lil Slugger across the shoulders. While wearing this shirt, he calls King Mike a "little asshole" for turning on these fine people. Fargo is 70 here, so when he gets down to count a 2 count he needs to pull himself up by the ropes to stand back up, and there is zero chance he's getting back down to count another 2 for King Mike. Jackie literally just stands next to the pin with his hands on his knees waiting for them to take the hint that no count is coming. Lawler picks up on it and rakes Rapada's eyes just to move things along.  Lawler takes the strap down maybe three minutes in and throws four great right hands, also takes a big back bump on a double shoulderblock collision. Billy Joe Travis comes out and gets into the ring only to get punched by Fargo (great punch too) and in the chaos Rapada hits Lawler with a chain, Fargo gets the chain, Travis threatens Fargo, and King Mike kicks the ring announcer. Some hot matches happening an hour east at the Lebanon Airport Armory later tonight, be sure to check em out. 

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