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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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