Found Footage Friday: HIJO DEL SANTO EARLIEST FOOTAGE~!

Hijo del Santo/Matematico/Blackman vs. Blue Panther/Lobo Rubio/Black Terry 7/24/83

MD: Our earliest footage of Hijo del Santo. This is just 8 minutes, clipped, and we usually don't do clipped matches, but look at the names here. It's not like we have a ton of lucha from this early either. A lot of the focus is on the Lobo Rubio vs Santo pairing and some things do stand out. they would hang on to a limb through escapes and moves much more than I'm used to in lucha (I'm more used to one hold moving into the other). It felt more European in that regard. Some of it was very slick. Santito had these great leap through armdrags too where he sort of jumped past Lobo and whipped him around. Santo already had the flip senton off the top but here he chained it into a forward charge and the set up for the caballo instead of a dive. The footage cuts off with a later fall with Santo doing quite well against everyone all at once until they did catch him and start triple teaming. They certainly didn't let him out there with the gimmick before he was ready. That's my big takeaway here. 

ER: What a find, guaranteed to be the best eight minutes you spent on a match this week. If this is the earliest Hijo del Santo we've seen - and I don't think Matt would lie - then this is a real find. It's not a full match but it gives a very full picture of everything that young incredibly skinny Hijo del Santo could do. This man arrived fully together on sight, kept from the gimmick but advancing quickly. This man was already here, looking like he understood everything already. What stood out first was the honesty in his basics, the advanced level quickness of his exchanges without skipping past the actual contact and transition. He knew how to apply a side headlock, how to do tough scissors escapes, how to fall for leg picks making it look like he's not just moving through a sequence. Just like the Santo you've known every active year of his career, his execution is flawless. His dropdown floated in gorgeously at the tops of Lobo's knees, forcing Lobo's roll rather than relying on Lobo to do the sequence anyway. 

Beyond his command of physically sound basics and speed, he had tricks and ideas. He did a mystifying armdrag that is perhaps the prettiest armdrag I've ever seen, where he floats past Lobo as a magician's misdirection and hooks him as Lobo is turning around to his left. He does it twice. I watched it I don't know how many times. His rolling senton hit just as smooth as any year of Santo you're familiar with, and while your brain expects tope, I liked the quick to the point in ring tope he hit to Lobo's neck. His confidence was unreal. 

The bit at the end, with Santo working both Blue Panther and Black Terry, is the most GIFable thing I've ever seen, on the level with the real primo Super Porky sequences, for different reasons. Every man is On for every single step. They're all the best man of the sequence. Look at Blue Panther set up this wonderful bit where he actually gets tripped by Santo's dropdown while Terry makes it over; Panther is up rubbing his head in confusion as he stumbles perfectly into place to grab Santo before getting armdragged past Terry. Terry takes a bump through the ropes when Panther gets shoved into him, and Panther hangs up in the ropes by the boot when he's dropkicked after. Even Lobo gets involved, kicking Panther's boot free and dropping him off to the floor. We go into Santo's earliest footage and come away learning that Blue Panther was just as fully formed. 

I wish we got more Matematico and Blackman. Matematico had a roll up that gliding up and over Panther's body, hesitating at the top of the steady rollercoaster before tumbling perfectly down the other side. Blackman is at minimum a great North Star for viewers with mask blindness when watching 40 year old lucha footage. Blackman had a nice command of his speed, and the bit at the end where he evades all three rudos was a guy who surely had some good ideas in the footage we don't have. Bask in what we do have.   

Hijo del Santo/Matematico/Blackman vs. Blue Panther/Lobo Rubio/Black Terry 7/31/83

MD: The revancha from the following week. Another minute or two longer than the first clip too. This was shot more from ringside/underneath and we come in (after the tecnicos greet the kids and pose for a photo) with a rudo ambush. Panther and Lobo have a great Hart Attack style dropkick followed by a pendulum back onto the knees. The kids are already chanting Santo and for good reason as he bounds over Lobo in the corner and hits a bunch of armdrags and dropkicks. This is clipped but we get a really nice Matematico vs Black Terry exchange and then all of the tecnicos bounding off the top rope one after the other with body presses until they pin the rudos all at once in a great fall-ender. It's so easy to take Santo for granted since we have year and years of him and plenty of footage, but he was constant motion here, all over the place and they certainly set him up for success with the feeding and basing. It had to be pretty exciting to see him vs Panther for this crowd. Panther had a great roll through landing/escape on a catapult I'd never seen before, though it all built towards Santo's tope. Lightning in a bottle that would shine in the night for years and years to come.

ER: We should be making a bigger deal about this right? We should be shouting about these two matches from the rooftops. It's Hijo del Santo, it's Blue Panther, it's Terry, it's glimpses of guys like Matematico and Blackman, it's just constant gorgeous sweeping lucha action. This match is just as special as the previous week's, as this one is in the middle of the most amazing arena, a bullfight arena that stretches to the heavens and doesn't even seem to have spaces for proper aisles and rows. The higher you see the grandstand stretch to the sky the less sense it makes. It feels like reckless construction, thousands of people stacked on top of each other defying physics row by row. It's the same kind of wonder as when I saw National Geographic photos of favelas on a hillside, stacked impossibly on top of each other, no roads or paths or support network visible, just colors. The lucha action itself is beautiful, impossibly smooth, but I can't stop looking at these thousands of people piled on top op each other, how impossible the lines and angles look. It looks like how they draw a large crowd in comic books, like during that storyline arc where The Thing gets involved in pro wrestling. It's just stacks of people. They aren't real, but these people are, and they're ALL chanting for Santo. 

Because, Santo was ready on arrival and everyone in this impossibly shaped building knew it. We've all played with Coach's Sons in childhood sports and we're all inclined to dislike them, but Santito was the rare coach's son who was clearly a megastar. His tope is filmed from the crowd, making it look like Santo disappears deep into the crowd. I wish I knew where he landed, but it's probably even better that we don't know. El Hijo del Santo recently finished #22 on the GWE project, and seeing how he looked in his earliest footage...how silly is that? My entire life as a lucha fan, we've been subliminally underselling the perfection that is Santo. It's writers getting MVP fatigue for Bonds and Jordan, you just see nothing but high end work from the same guy and eventually you just want to vote for Charles Barkley or Jeff Kent. I love Samoa Joe, but I was also there for his earliest matches representing UPW. We know the wrestler he grew into and the great heights he reached, but here's footage that show Santo reaching those heights from go, under the brightest lights...and I'm just not sure you can reasonably compare the two. 

Celestial/Stuka vs. Carlos Plata/Gran Markus Jr. Arena Coliseo Monterrey 1989

MD: Apparently we have very little footage of Plata. This starts with kids surrounding the tecnicos and a guy in a dog costume handing out candy. Commentary loves this for the "seed must be sown in children today and harvested tomorrow in adults." It's funny as they talk about wrestling being more sanitized for national consumption and then at the blow of the whistle the rudos immediately ambush the tecnicos. I could watch Markus pick up guys by their mask/tights and drop them on their face over and over. You really don't see that often but he's just a brick wall in there. The finish of the primera was just Markus holding Stuka in a surfboard while Plata kicked him over and over. Mercy rule win for the rudos.

Segunda did have the tecnicos come back with Markus basing for some fun stuff. Plata kept things more back and forth. He was good at sneaking shots in and had a way of throwing his body around interestingly on bumps. Nice finish with Celestial stretching himself up backwards for a victory roll and Stuka doing a back handspring headbutt. Tercera had Plata using this pretty great choke drop off the ropes right into a choke. Things broke down pretty chaotically, with Stuka fouling his way back into the ring to mount a comeback and then Markus trying to interfere from the outside after he got eliminated. Even with two refs that just led to distraction which backfired on his team much to the children's delight. 

ER: A great rudo showcase, a great look at Markus and our (my?) first look at Plata. Plata is such a good base and expert at setting up tecnico offense, that he makes Celestial look like Atlantis in the first two falls, while the bad 3rd fall finish makes him look like Celestial. Markus works dominant stooge and plays to Stuka's bumping shtick while taking big bumps of his own. Markus and Plata worked what felt like 80% of the match in control while working like they were on their heels. Stuka I liked more when he was bumping for Markus's strikes, but Markus knew how to take their tecnico offense so well that he made them look like mountain movers at times. Markus and Plata are such great bullies, Markus kicking Celestial in the ribs while he was held in a submission, or my favorite, Markus lifting Stuka by his singlet and repeatedly throwing him face first into the mat. Markus is doing a Taue reverse nodowa otoshi, only using stretch fabrics. No less vicious. The peak is when Markus and Stuka have a showdown punch exchange that is truly great, both reeling in ways that nobody can real now, Stuka dropping into the middle rope after a shot straight to the chin. Beautiful work.  

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At Black Terry's Feet They Will Cast Their Golden Crowns

Black Terry/Shu El Guererro v. Kendo/Blackman UWF 3/2/90 - GREAT

PAS: This was exactly what you want from a fourth from the top tag. Kendo and Blackman have some really fun spots, and both rudos bump and stooge like champs. Kendo is a guy with out a ton of substance, but has some serious flash. Black Terry is such an asskicker, there is a section where they trap Blackman in the corner and you have some black on black violence so bad that someone should call Bill Cosby.

TKG: Kendo is super super fast here. He isn’t as good as guy eating opponent’s offense as he is as guy running through his own spots. But majority of match was spent with the rudos eating stuff and getting outwitted, so not much of a problem. Kendo does a spectacular dropkick where he spreads his legs and simultaneously knocks both Terry and Shu out of ring. It looks like no one has tightened the ropes and Shu does a nice job protecting Blackman from dieing on his top rope arm drag. Shu grabs at Blackman’s legs and makes it look like he’s trying to prevent Blackman from hitting his spot, while actually holding Blackman up.


Black Terry/Asesino Negro Jr./Dr. Mortus v. Ave Fenix/Kid Tiger/Star Boy IWRG 7/12/07-FUN

The rudo team in this was a lot of fun. Dr. Mortus and Asesino Negro Jr. are both big fat dudes, and both are good at fat rudo spots (similar to Samot and Maldito Jr. in 2010), both of them bumped pretty good too. Terry had more of a minor role, hitting some fun cheap shots. Technicos really didn't contribute much to the match though, Kid Tiger and Ave Fenix were both pretty green, and there were points where they were clearly out of place or flubbing spots. Not a bad match, but not a memorable one either.


Dr. Cerebro/Black Terry/El Hijo Del Signo v. Pantera/El Hijo Del Pantera/Zatura IWRG 2/11/10-GREAT

PAS: Really great match which was a step below epic. We get a long opening mat section (which we are getting in a ton of lucha matches lately, not just in IWRG, WELCOME BACK LUCHA MAT WRESTLING! FUCK YEAH!) with some really beautiful stuff being done by Cerebro and Zatura. Then it breaks down into pretty damn great brawling. What was really strange is that your technicos were acting really dickish. Terry and Cerebro are coming off this bloody feud defending Mexico, and the Technicos are smacking Terry on his bad neck and trying to bite open wounds. Terry does an amazing job as a wounded Rottweiler, still dangerous and violent, but there is both a hurt paw and hurt pride. Hijo Del Pantera is not ready for this kind of match, he hit his signature spots fine, but this required more, and he didn't really have it. Signo was better, he took an insane bump into the chairs for example, but this match needed Cerebro Negro and Freelance.

TKG: I liked Hijo del Pantera and Hijo del Signo in this. In the past I’ve thought of Hijo Del Pantera as a guy who is ill prepared for the push he’s getting. But he actually worked fine here and this was the sharpest his brawling has looked. I actually liked the dynamic where you had those two almost always working against each other. It almost had the feel of Japanese tags where rookie or junior teams with heavyweight. I mean neither of these guys are (or will ever be) Kikuchi or Fuchi but I liked the way that role worked in the match, thought there exchanges all were nice and thought the final Hijo del Pantera submission on Hijo del Signo looked awesome. Phil has mentioned the Zatura v Cerebro mat exchanges which were super tough looking, but the opening Pantera v Terry matwork was also a blast as Terry continued to sell the neck and head (from martinete on chair in last match) throughout the matwork…and you had this neat story of when is Pantera going to decide to exploit that injury.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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HAMADA UWF #2 3/2/90

Shoji Akiyoshi v. Masonari Murakawa

PAS: Young Sasuke is basically getting squashed at this point, as young Jado stiffs and beats him quickly. I think the story with Sasuke is that he was trust fund rich kid, and he is getting beaten on like a trust fund kid trying to break into wrestling.

TKG: I thought Sasuke bought a gold statue of himself. That’s a kind of tacky Tony Montana move…not really the type of thing you do if you’re actually born to wealth. Really Sasuke is a pretty tacky guy lots of ways. It’s possible that over the course of his career he concussed the class out of himself. No concussion here but did feel like Jado was taking him to the grocery store: “Learn to loose like common people”.

Monkey Magic Watika v. Black Aidoman

PAS: This wasn’t as good as baby Gedo v. baby Jado from the previous show, as baby Delfin just isn’t as good at this point. There is some fun bumping by Aidoman, and his offense looked good. Seems weird because I don’t remember Gedo being this good 3 years later.

TKG: This had feeling like they were given too much time and they tried too much but yeah Gedo surprises. The early section with Delfin throwing non contact dropkicks which Gedo bumped huge for was kind of ugly. But I had a real sense of Gedo as guy controling and putting a match together.

Bison Kimura v. Xochi Hamada

TKG: Is it really a joshi match if there are no neckbridges and no screaming? I mean there may have been one pin where Hamada neck bridged out, and Hamada did scream when Kimura bit her foot. But essentially this was worked like Leilani Kai vs. Starla Sexton at the state fair. They wouldn’t be given this much time at the state fair. Promoter might tell them to go long while he waits for Austin Idol to show up. This was given too much time and Hamada started blowing lots of stuff.

PAS: The ropes were really loose and I think Hamada blowing stuff can partly be attributed to the shitty ropes. Kimura was fun beating on Hamada, I especially liked her stomps. Still this wasn’t much of a match and was a thousand minutes long.

Shu El Guererro/Black Terry v. Kendo/Blackman

PAS: This was exactly what you want from a fourth from the top tag. Kendo and Blackman have some really fun spots, and both rudos bump and stooge like champs. Kendo is a guy with out a ton of substance, but has some serious flash. Black Terry is such an asskicker, there is a section where they trap Blackman in the corner and you have some black on black violence so bad that someone should call Bill Cosby.

TKG: Kendo is super super fast here. He isn’t as good as guy eating opponent’s offense as he is as guy running through his own spots. But majority of match was spent with the rudos eating stuff and getting outwitted, so not much of a problem. Kendo does a spectacular dropkick where he spreads his legs and simultaneously knocks both Terry and Shu out of ring. It looks like no one has tightened the ropes and Shu does a nice job protecting Blackman from dying on his top rope arm drag. Shu grabs at Blackman’s legs and makes it look like he’s trying to prevent Blackman from hitting his spot, while actually holding Blackman up.

Super Astro/Lizmark v. Jose Luis Feliciano/Espanto Jr.

TKG: Aw fuck Super Astro is the most spectacular wrestler in the world. This starts with some Super Astro going through his signature stuff with Espanto Jr while Lizmark matches up with Feliciano. They switch up half way into match and Super Astro matches up with Feliciano while Lizmark gets paired with Espanto Jr. When they switch pairings you really don’t want to see the Lizmark/Espanto Jr sections as they are a mess. But this is all about Super Astro. They still haven’t tightened the ropes which are sub foxy boxing loose at this point and you realize the degree to which Super Astro can just launch himself from standing position and doesn’t need the ropes to do most of his big spots. Lizmark is really handicapped. Super Astro doesn’t do his fake (the 619 inspiration) but just hits one beautiful back tope and flip after another.

PAS: Lizmark still hits all of his spots, they just look super dangerous because he looks like he is going to land wrong, but they all come off. Espanto Jr. isn’t very good, there is a point where he breaks out an insane looking tombstone, which was completely out of place in this match, and which Lizmark doesn’t really sell. Tom is right about Super Astro. He is incredible and he does a tope rope dive into a tope which is breathtaking. Feliciano was pretty great too, as he took everything really well, and had amazing clotheslines for a luchadore.

Negro Casas v. Yoshihiro Asai

PAS: Casas is a complete pleasure to watch in everything he does. At this point Asai was an over green babyface with some nice spots, kind of like a paunchier Mistico. Casas does a better job carrying Asai here, then anyone ever has carrying Mistico. The opening matwork was especially impressive considering that really isn’t what Casas is known for, or really what Asai is either. The finish felt a little abrupt, and they definitely want to make me see the hair match they challenged for.

TKG: This wasn’t nearly as heated as their sections in the trios match from the last show. Still pretty fun. Negro keeps getting taken to the floor and then bailing before Asai can dive. Eventually he gets stuck and Asai hits this nutty over the top rope flying forearm. Casas hits a top turnbuckle dive too. But this is mostly kept in ring and on the mat.

Gran Hamada v. Perro Aguayo

PAS: Man alive was this fun, Aguayo just exudes asskicker more then anyone else his size in wrestling history. He totally beats the shit out of Hamada here, throwing rows of chairs on him, hitting him with bottles, busting him open. Meanwhile Hamada is getting in some really great babyface comebacks. Aguayo goes over super strong winning two straight falls and just destroying Hamada in the second fall. His double stomp off the top is the end all be all of double stomps.

TKG: The brawling in the crowd was just awesome. I mean I have seen enough joshi that I should be immune to “wrestler gets tossed headfirst into row of chairs” spots. But Hamada gets tossed headfirst into row of chairs and the force of the toss flips him over that row and he takes another bump on the next row. Aguayo then just picks up the chairs wallops Hamada with the row and then tosses the row of chairs at the fans. Hamada leans into everything and there really is no need to lean into Aguayo’s boots to the face. He doesn’t need help making it look like he’s knocking his opponents face off.

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