Found Footage Friday: VILLANOS~! UNIVERSO~! PIRATA~! PANTHER~! ESPECTRO~! MANDO~! MARKUS~!

Villano IV/Villano IV/Milo Caballero vs. Universo 2000/Hijo del Gladiador/Babe Face Monterrey 1991

MD: The sort of lucha trios that hits just right for the most part. Villano IV was paired with Babe Face who was happy to stooge all over the place, feigning getting hit by low blows and making faces. Villano V was matched with Universo who was heatseeing (punching the post and getting DDT'd for instance). Both pairings were heated and seemed to have issues. Gladiador and Milo were more or less along for the ride.

Lots of feeding (more than basing) in the primera with an exciting escalation. When the rudos took over there was a nice bit of Villano V grabbing fans' hands on the outside after he took a beating. The comeback moment was just Milo recovering and attacking from behind but the Villanos more than made up for that. V got some great punches in on the floor on Universo while IV doled out justice on Babe Face. They rushed to pinfalls in the tercera but then had the Villanos make an illegal switch despite the fact they were the tecnicos here. The rudos complained but it was too little too late. Fun stuff but it almost would have been served better as a straight tag.

Pirata Morgan/Mascara Sagrada/Kato Kung Lee II vs. Indomito/Blue Panther/Espectro, Jr. Monterrey end 91/early 92

MD: The big appeal to this one was that the rudos had recently turned on Morgan and now he was with the tecnicos. It was straightforward overall with more exchanges than heat even with Morgan's turn but it was all pretty masterful so you don't mind. Primera pairings were Panther/KKL, Indomito/Morgan, Espectro/Sagrada. Lots of Panther matwork. He worked a short arm scissors/gotch lift sequence with you don't see every day in Lucha. At the start ot the second round of exchanges (rope running) he knocked KKL out of the ring immediately before eating an arm drag on his way back in and that was funny for the matter-of-factness of it. Equally funny was watching Morgan work staright tecnico including some flashy things like a Mule Kick out of nowhere. Espectro  and Sagrada didn't go as long but the had the most tricked out stuff overall.

Rudos took the primera with a beautiful Panther northern lights out of nowhere. That led into a fairly simple beatdown, simple because it didn't last long. The second they cycled to Morgan, he started firing back and tecnicos won quickly. Likewise, the third fall was quick, full of crowd pleasing tandem stuff (including an estrella with KKL using a victory roll into the center instead of a 'rana. So fun stuff but I wanted to see Morgan really go on the offense and that wasn't what this one was about.

Mando Guerrero/Centurion Negro/Monarca vs. Corsario Negro/Gran Markus Jr./Azteca de Oro Monterey 1991?

MD: This, on the other hand, was all heat. The issue was between Centurion Negro and Corsario Negro (the latter of which had no mask anymore). Corsario dodged him well enough during the primera (which was full of posturing), even if it meant that his team was at a bit of a disadvantage. In the segunda, they went all in on Centurion's mask, tearing it apart. The commentators were trying to get any glimpse they could, noting definitively that he did not have a mustache. The comeback in the tercera was because they were focusing too much on the mask allowing Mando and Monarca to come in and even the odds.

At that point, Centurion laid a pretty colossal beating on Corsario. The refs wanted to just award it to the tecnicos but they didn't want to stop. Nothing wildly over the top, just stomps and stomps and more stomps but they were pretty brutal ones. Eventually that let the other rudos come in and even the odds and they fairly quickly got a banana peel win. Post-match they had to do everything they could to keep Centurion and Corsario away from each other. If this led to an apuestas match, I would have bought a ticket for it. I think we might have five or six minutes of a JIP match actually. I should look at that.

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MLJ: Recent Uploads: Espectro Jr., La Fiera, Satánico vs Black Magic, Love Machine, Último Dragón

1992-04-10 @ Arena Coliseo
Espectro Jr., La Fiera, Satánico vs Black Magic, Love Machine, Último Dragón

I don't know about you guys but my favorite lucha themed holiday isn't Dia de Muertos but "whenever dataintcash posts new lucha." I realize that there's a near endless amount of lucha I haven't seen. I realize I never exactly finished the DVDVR 80s set. I realize this, but it's still kind of a blast when something previously unavailable online pops up.

I like nice tight little series, a trios or two and a singles match at the end of it. Here, we've got a Coliseo mini feud, a trios match, a singles match. Nice and neat. Norman Smiley is a guy who got good at some point but I'm not convinced in the least that 1992 was that point. I haven't been impressed yet as he seemed to almost be working a strongman gimmick with lots of posing. I have a feeling his rudo work is stronger than his tecnico work (which is true for just about everyone, it seems) but I haven't seen much of that. Frankly, I'm more interested in this as a Fiera showcase. It's another singles match for him from the early 90s. We've just got to get to it through a pretty crazy trios.

I've seen very little Art Barr in Mexico. This seems early for him there and he was a tecnico which also seems wrong somehow. This was just a week after the Panther mask match, and yeah, how have I not seen that? Just looking online quickly, most of the build isn't online so that'd be frustrating but I have to still check it out at some point. I go around looking at random Panther lightning matches and not that? Anyway, yeah, this was a week after that, and Panther was hanging out with the rudos selling the piledriver that finished it, neckbrace and all, well-appreciated in an age of Rush doing package piledrivers and what not. Also appreciated was Love Machine bursting out to attack Panther. Hell of a way to start the proceedings. Here's the newly unmasked Barr sort of basking in it all:

Probably the best part was that right after the assault, after the other rudos batter him away from Panther, Fiera, who had a dog collar and a chain around this time, immediately smashed Magic with it and hung him over the top rope. They didn't waste any time getting into it while still building off of the giant match that had just happened between Panther and Machine. So we had a more than solid rudo beatdown. Rudo Fiera certainly was spirited, blasting Magic and Dragon with the chain, and finishing the fall off with a foul while the ref was distracted.

The match never really settled down into something that felt controlled or structured. There was always something wild about it, as if it'd get thrown out at any moment. I think that's an energy Barr brought to the table really, even when he was getting swarmed. In the segunda, the tecnicos kept trying to fight back but couldn't get traction until Magic reversed a whip. Dragon was happy to blow mist all over the place (though never at his opponents); it's funny how that part of his gimmick disappeared over the years. Eventually things ended up as Magic vs Fiera again, finishing with a German from Magic. I have no idea what happened, though, as while it was a nice suplex, Smiley couldn't hold the bridge. I think he might have landed on his head. The ref just gave it to the tecnicos.

Segunda was a bit of a reset, with the highlight being Satanico and Dragon having a short but really good exchange. Satanico never disappears in these matches. Here, he seemed to be directing traffic, like always, with the express intent of getting revenge on Machine for what happened to Blue Panther. I love watching Satanico do his stuff: just little things like his mannerisms here as they were triple goozling Magic in the corner:

It's hard to say that this broke down at the end, since it had never really come together except for as a slightly focused brawl, but it became even more chaotic in the end, with Dragon hitting the Santo corner tope on Satanico, and Espectro (who did pretty much disappear in the match) just rolling around with Barr for far too long in order to distract the ref and allow Fiera to crotch Magic to set up the match for the following week.

We end up watching plenty of matches that are ultimately a mess. This was one of them but it was heated with some great punches from Fiera and Satanico and a lot of energy from Dragon and Barr. I'm real curious what Smiley is going to look like in the mano a mano match and we'll look at that next time.

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MLJ: Misterioso/Volador 1: Mano Negra, Misterioso, Volador vs El Supremo I, Espectro Jr., Javier Llanes

1991-05-31 @ Arena México
Mano Negra, Misterioso, Volador vs El Supremo I, Espectro Jr., Javier Llanes

The gameplan for the next week or two is to look at Volador (Sr.) and Misterioso (Sr.). This was inspired in part by the Between the Sheets podcast talking about their mask match and in part by Super Parka getting his Arena Mexico booking. I figured the best way to do this is to take a look at what's online, watch some matches with them teaming, watch some matches with them feuding and end with the mask match. There's not that much online so we'll jump around and cover a span of years.

This first one had Mano Negra, Misterioso, and Volador vs El Supremo, Espectro, Jr, and Javier Llanes. Negra's gotten play lately as an Atlantis mask victim. Llanes, the son of Enrique Llanes (and maybe cousin to the Guerreros?), was a guy I wasn't familiar with at all, but I liked him so much here that I went and watched his 92 title match with Dandy which is online and is top notch. You should check that out if you haven't already. El Supremo was a long time vet who took the mask of Robot R-2 (the fiend!) and Lawrence de Arabia (because of course he did). Pierroth, Jr. would take his the next year.

This was a pretty typical early 90s trios match in all of the best ways. Lots of tecnico shine, some solid heat, perhaps not the comebck that one would hope for but a very fun finishing stretch in the tercera. A dynamic, feel good match, and while this might be a stretch, I think it's the sort of match you don't get a lot now from CMLL due to a simple contradiction. Early match wrestlers aren't supposed to do quite as much as they do here and upper card rudos don't generally want to give as much as the ones here do. Sometimes you get something right smack in the mid card that approximates this, but not as often as you'd think. That's my impression at least.

The primera started with feeling out and ended with a bunch of rudo miscommunication and clowning. Llanes showed me a ton of personality here. Like, so.

He did that goofy post arm drag dance twice, which made it mean more when Volador really got him with one. And then there's the world's most subtle foul:

Lots of good, quick action here with all of the tecnicos getting to shine and flip and fight against the odds. This gif of Volador leaping over the rope after Supremo and then casually whacking him in the face as he walked past sums things up well.

Anyway, the tecnicos picked up the fall and they moved into the segunda with more of the same. Eventually the rudos took over with Espectro cowering in his corner, the tecnicos all charging in to crush him, the refs pulling two of them back, and Espectro pulling the third in. It was servicable, at least. Generally there are two sorts of acceptable rudo beatdowns. The first is when all of the rudos are in and the tecnicos cycle in and out only to get ambushed or swarmed. The second is when one rudo is in, the rudos do quick switches, and the tecnicos are stuck hoping for a tag on the apron. To me, the problem is when you have all of the rudos in at once and the tecnicos stuck on the apron. Thankfully, this match didn't have that. It was the latter which segued into the former, ending with a nice double submission on Mano Negra.

Unfortunately, the comeback transition spot was just okay. Basically, the tecnicos just had enough and then regrouped enough to make a concentrated offensive. Nothing clever but nothing egregious either. At least the comeback itself was good, with the tecnicos wanting revenge. Volador tossed Supremo into the ring cover. Misterioso punched Llanes in the corner. Then he kicked out his flipping gutbuster and Llanes sold it like his stomach had just gotten inverted as well.

This led into the finishing stretch with cut offs, a few dives (including a crazy one by Volador), and a roll up by Negra on Espectro. I'm not sure this match led to anything really. I don't see a big Mano Negra vs Espectro, Jr. match or anything, but it was a lot of fun for what it was.

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Cassandro Was Always By My Side, and Never Tried to Leave

Gran Apache/May Flowers/Pimpinela Escarlata/Polvo de Estrellas vs. Cassandro/Alan/Billy Boy/Decnnis (AAA, 5/20/06) - FUN

Cassandro is wearing his completely awesome Wonder Woman outfit that I have never seen before. One thing about doing this project is that I can be completely amazed time and time again at the many different outfits of Cassandro. So far I have not seen the same outfit twice.

This match is full of dissension, as the Barrio Boys clearly don't agree with Cassandro's lifestyle choices and do not want to be teaming with him. Think about that: The BARRIO BOYS don't agree with Cassandro's lifestyle choices. So that's just not believable. I'm sure the Barrio Boys have made a boatload of bad life decisions. Gran Apache, on the other hand, has no problems whatsoever teaming with his group of exoticos, and is perfectly content to punch all the Barrio Boys right in the face (which I will never complain about).

This was all sorts of fun, as I always like May Flowers but he doesn't turn up too much anymore. Pimpi had a bunch of great moments including climbing the turnbuckle, back to the ring, and when Billy Boy tries to run in and stop him --> ass to the face, with a wiggle to boot! The Barrio Boys end up finally turning on Cassandro after a couple of miscues (that naturally involved some playful kisses), so then you had ALL the Barrio Boys, and ALL the exoticos ALL beating up poor Cassandro. It's just not fair.


La Fiera/Mocho Cota/Pimpinela Escarlata/Sangre Chicana vs. Cassandro/El Brazo/Espectro Jr./Pirata Morgan (AAA, 6/18/06) - VERY GOOD

This was so awesome. Pimpi and Cassandro were the young bucks in this match, and they were both in their late 30s here. Almost everybody else in this match is in their 50s. But I am in the camp who feels that a lot of luchadors need about 30 years of seasoning before they really come into their own. That seems to be how it's gone the last 3 years, at least.

So seriously, motherfucking Mocho Cota, making tape in the 2000s!!! That just doesn't happen that often. I don't think I've seen any other Cota match from the 2000s. Anybody else have a stash of Cota from this decade that they're hoarding? Because he looked quite awesome here. Threw some fine punches, did an AWESOME shoulderblock sequence with Brazo, bouncing off and staggering around, before manning up and just plowing through Brazo. He threw a nice dropkick and did a great tope during the sprint. He looked the same as he did in '96 CMLL, just slightly looser skin.

Sangre Chicana was also a total boss in this as well, with real nice punches and a great tope. Everybody really gets their chance to shine in this. Espectro Jr. threw some nice punches, Brazo got to do a bunch of fun belly bumps and Sangre/Mocho/Fierra all fell awesomely and hilariously into place for Brazo's big splash. Fierra can still bump shockingly well, and Cassandro and Pimpi are themselves, so you know that rules.

Cassandro had awesome hair and looked like Dustin Hoffman as Dorothy in "Tootsie". I would really like to see a lucha match interpretive adaptation of Tootsie. I think Mano Negra would make a great Dabney Coleman. He has more hair, and no mustache, but he makes the same great bug-eyed Dabney Coleman expressions. Brazo already kinda looks like a tan Charles Durning, and it wouldn't be too hard to find a couple of the blonde lady workers with low self-esteem to portray the Jessica Lange and Terri Garr roles. Make this happen, somebody.

The Night Queens run in at the end and it becomes a giant schmozz, with allegiances breaking down. Sangre Chicana wandering around and just punching Night Queens in the face was amusing. The Queens were also all wearing rainbow sashes, just in case you forgot they were, ya know, Queens. Cassandro gets suplexed into the 2nd row and this was all kinda of great fun.


Oriental/Chikayo Nagashima/Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Takashi Sugiura/Fabi Apache/Cassandro (AAA/SEM, 9/3/07) - GREAT

I assumed a lot of the guys would do it up pretty big since they were in Japan and don't tour there too often, and I was correct. This was a real unique mixture of talent in one match, and it worked out to be really awesome.

First off, Pimpi comes out in a full on bridal gown and tosses his bouquet to the crowd. It is amazing. Then Sugiura comes out and Pimpi gets all hot and bothered by his stocky physique and wants a piece of him, which causes Takashi to naturally freak out, lest his lips touch another mans'. I was not sure how Cassandro was going to be able to top it, and his entrance does not....but his amazing glittery Rising Sun singlet COMPLETELY does. This might be my favorite Cassandro singlet.

Fabi and Nagashima match up really nicely, and I haven't regularly watched joshi for most of this decade, but earlier in the decade when I was still checking out joshi with some regularity, she was easily one of my favorites in GAEA. She matched up even better with Cassandro, as they get into a hilarious slap exchange with Cassandro over-emoting to the crowd and the crowd eating it right up. She also takes a nice beating as at one point she's stuck in the corner, and Fabi does a great running kick right to her face, Cassandro does the most painful looking butt bump (aside from maybe Morishima, but Cassandro is literally half his size) right to her head, and Sugiura ends the trifecta with a nasty running elbow.

Cassandro ramps up the crazy for the Japanese crowd, getting an insane amount of distance on his "run full speed towards the corner and wrap myself around the turnbuckle" spot. I see the spot coming every time, but I always enjoy it more and more. So nuts. He also does the absolute fastest deadliest Jerry Estrada bump I've ever seen. Just a full on sprint into a flip right over the ropes. Just sheer madness.

This was like a random NOAH 6 man, and random NOAH 6 mans are one of my favorite style of matches possible. This one just had two really great lady workers and my two favorite exoticos. Well worth going out of your way to see. I wish Cassandro and Pimpi made it to Japan more often.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CASSANDRO

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