Found Footage Friday: FUNK~! RHODES~! APACHE~! ANGELICO~! NAVARRO~! PSICOSIS II~! SOLAR~! HYSTERIA~!

Gran Apache vs. Angelico Arena Lopez Mateos 2011

(Facebook Link) 

MD:  This really benefited from Black Terry, Jr. getting us so close to the action. Apache is so great to watch up close. First and foremost, the strikes are so damn good. Every time he rears back for a punch or a slap, it's an event. But I love watching him lace one limb over another and grapevine in to lock in a hold. There's just such confidence and assurance to it all. Meanwhile, it never feels given. It simply feels taken. Angelico, on the other hand, really worked to unlock one hold or another. He'd grind his elbow down or work the arm in order to get the leg and it always felt like he was accomplishing something of meaning. That was made all the more so by Apache selling after each and every hold. Even if he was only in it for a second, you'd see the toll it was taking on him. Eric had written about how hard Scorpio landed on Sabu last week and maybe that was on my mind, but there's a senton of the turnbuckles that Apache hits here that was absolutely thudding. Late in the match, Angelico pushes him off and Apache hits basically the only good roll in wrestling history because it prevents Angelico from being able to capitalize, and then he just clocks him again. Finish had a bit of distraction but they still went the extra mile to have Apache go for one last (distracted) punch only to end up contorted and pinned for his trouble. It's a joy to watch Apache work up close and personal. 

ER: We knew Black Terry's handhelds as the best place possible to see guys like his father, Negro Navarro, Los Traumas, but I don't think I recall seeing a lot of Gran Apache footage. Now we've got two new early 2010s Apache singles matches and I would love it BTJ just kept releasing more. This is a damn showcase for the man, a great look at all the ways he could entertain a crowd in a full singles match. I think we were too harsh on Angelico back in the day. We weren't ready for his Afrikaans llave and were repulsed by his tagger culture appearance. He's a great canvas for Apache to attack, whether it's Apache throwing punch varieties or slapping him on the back of the head (which happens a dozen times) or seeing how Angelico can get untied in honest ways. The camera work is incredible, giving us intimate glimpses at every step of their process. There was this amazing double bridge, where Apache rolled Angelico into a trap arm cradle and bridged up for leverage, only for Angelico to bridge his feet up onto Apache's bridge. We were closer than the referee for it.  

I was exciting to unlock some of the secrets behind Apache's punches or slaps and even with the closest possible view I was unable to. I watched several of his punches several times, watching what both hands were doing, trying to see how he was making it happen...and I couldn't. Apache's close up magic stays undefeated. He knows it too, as every time he throws a loud punch he looks off somewhere in the crowd with a grin, playful in his violence. Apache was in his early 50s here and his quickness and ability to spring to his feet was impressive. Moonsaulting off the top and landing on your feet in a lucha ring in your 50s? That's a crazy man, viewed as closely as possible.  

Hysteria/Psicosis II vs. Solar/Negro Navarro Arena Lopez Mateos 1/19/11

(Facebook Link) 

MD: BT, Jr. had released this previously but I don't think we've ever covered it. Pairings here are Solar and Psicosis and Navarro and Hysteria. Solar and Psicosis keep things flowing, lots of ins and outs, lots of motion. Navarro gets the sort of reaction you'd expect right when he gets in there. All the twists and turns (of his opponents') body that you'd expect too. There were a couple of escapes where I had to rewind to see them again and I'm still not quite sure how he got out of a hold but I believe it because I believe in him. The magic of Negro Navarro. When Solar made it back in, he got too close to the corner and the rudos started acting like rudos, beginning a beatdown. Psicosis and Hysteria worked well together (and had clear camaraderie) but they went too far, going after Solar's mask. That led not just into a comeback (Solar's quebradora and Psicosis bumping huge off the rope for a Navarro punch) but the rudos having their masks undone too. Fun finishing stretch where Hysteria whacked the post by accident, letting a bit of spirited pairing/cycling happening before a double pin and then a clutch Psicosis submission out of a cazadora finished it. Fun match which switched things up given the beatdown and cleaner lines.

ER: I'd never seen this. This is flat out some of Black Terry Jr.'s best work. This was a great match that Terry brought to full life. It is one of the most well-filmed wrestling handhelds I've ever seen. He's the closest person to the match and frames every exchange in full vision. It's a hard worked, impressive match with stiff submissions and long chain sequences to a quicker pace than I'd expect on a Wednesday night winter show. This crowd is hot, and these guys all bust ass. Negro Navarro looked so tough, stoic and strong as he worked through holds and hit harder than the others. When Histeria fakes a late match foul, Navarro can only stand and shrug into the distance, the toughest guy ever to work Teller physical comedy, When the loud, molten crowd is cheering his name, he handles it the same. His composure and focus is there in perfect frame, making Navarro's hidden reaction feel seen. 

Solar and Psicosis II are strong together, every exchange. Psicosis II was a very good worker that would probably be talked about more if he wasn't the second Psicosis. He is great at working with Solar, working up to Solar to his strengths, going up multiple times for Solar's strong delayed overhead backbreaker (one directly into Black Terry's camera like it was planned). Solar's selling during his near unmasking was sympathetic and led to a hot home stretch. Every stretch was hot. The Solar/Psicosis opener was 5 minutes that set a steep pace and they held it. Everyone's work held up to the closeness of Terry's camera. It was incredible how tight all of this looked. Psicosis locks Navarro's into such a wicked, contorted lifted submission and we're three feet away from where Navarro's body gets dumped. I don't often think about how pro wrestling is filmed, but this match was so good, and everything about how the action as filmed was to the match's benefit. It was all the angles I wanted to see of every exchange.  

Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk [Texas Death Match] PWF 5/6/89

MD: Bob Cook of all people coming through and supplying this to us decades later. This has such a great feel and look and mood to it. They came down in street clothes without any music. There's no fanfare, no pomp and circumstance. They're just there to fight. And fight they do. The first half of this is in and out of the ring so we can only catch glimpses of the violence when it veers back into to screen. I love how organic it all feels. Funk brings in a table but it doesn't feel like a "spot." It's just him setting it up however he can to slam Dusty's head into it and then he tosses it out when he's done with it. Entirely different than the sort of things we see today in a way that I'm not even sure that I could explain to someone who's mostly only seen modern wrestling. The plunder is a means and not an end. It's just part of the path of violence that they're walking. It's opportunistic. They get bloody so quickly and the falls come quickly too but maybe you can buy the one for the other. They fight on the apron and Funk gets tied up in a microphone wire and it's all brilliant stuff. Dusty knows how to make the most of it spinning him about and whacking him with the mic. 

The rules here are a thirty count after the pin and then you have to beat a ten count, which does break things up but also leads to what is almost a clever finish. Dusty gets a roll up out of nowhere, which is the last thing you'd expect in a Texas Death Match, because how does that even work? Where's the drama? Funk just got rolled up. Obviously he's going to beat the count. But he goes after the ref and Humperdink comes in. The timekeeper is keeping the count, not the ref, so it keeps going while Humperdink tries to use an illegal object on Dusty. Dusty moves. He gets Funk. It would have been a perfect finish because it would have used that 30 seconds for the backfiring interference and then Funk wouldn't have been able to answer the ten count when he would have otherwise been fine, but they complicate it somehow and start the 30 count again. It's a great finish in theory though. And from what we got to see here, it was pretty wonderful over the top bloody violence.

ER: So this is what Funk was up to the day before Music City Showdown, where he created one of the greatest angles in wrestling history. When I found out this match existed and found out it was Texas Death rules, I knew we were in store for a Terry Funk master class on how to fill time while selling long counts between falls, both when he is the one counted down and when he's the one waiting. The shaky roving camcorder footage is not the best way to catch every detail of this match, but it adds something intangible to a fight between brawling legends. Seen by our eyes for the first time nearly 40 years after it happened, it is incomplete but the fuzziness makes it feel even more like lost lore. When we eventually see Dusty in full unobstructed view, he is already bleeding. I don't think I saw how the blood started, we just get a large bloody Dusty emerging from the people, and then all of the stumbling and swinging and artistry of falling we'd expect from Terry. 

Both men look perfect for Texas Death. Terry is in the red Bunkhouse Buck variant gear while Dusty is in all denims, the wrapped left knee over his jeans one of the subtlest and greatest Texas Death looks possible. Both men strip the clothes away of the other, Terry ripping open Dusty's shirt, Dusty ripping off half of Terry's pants so half the match is worked with the right cheek of his briefs exposed, along more leg than we'd seen of his since 1978. Funk's selling is expectedly excellent. During one of the falls, Funk spends the entire count flopping as if he's failing repeatedly to do a kip up, before pulling himself up from his back rope by rope, until he's pulled himself on top of the ropes, which lets Dusty kneelift him immediately to the floor. When Dusty uppercuts Funk in the balls, Terry crouches down into a beautiful strut away from Dust, before scrambling back at him in the same ball selling crouch just to get punched back down. Funk even goes after a security guard at one point, who has no idea what to do and just laughs nervously while keeping his eyes on Funk. Everyone was keeping their eyes on Funk. How could you not? 

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Found Footage Friday: APACHE~! SKAYDE~! HECHICERO~! RAYO~! FIERA~! LUCERO~! SANGRE~! ULTIMO~! ATLANTIS~!

Gran Apache vs. Skayde DTU 4/18/10

MD: We're all happy that Black Terry, Jr. is posting matches. He's posted this one here and on Facebook, so give him clicks:  https://www.facebook.com/reel/1681600072845956. Here we got up close and personal for a super enjoyable encounter. Apache was able to keep up with Skyde on the mat the whole way through and had a bunch of thunking power moves, while also bringing multiple dropkicks, a moonsault attempt in the middle, and then the two dives at the end. There was something a little clunky about him at times. When he went over for the rolling Boston crab set up for a rowboat, he had a hard time getting over, but it never felt collaborative. It just added to the grit, and, in my mind, set up the finish where while he took Skyde out, he was spent from the effort he put in on the dives and couldn't beat the count either. 

What made this jump off the screen, however, was how sharp the holds were. They were so good at unlocking holds with little shots and bits of positioning: a twist of the arm one way so as to twist it another, a cradle that wasn't meant to be a pin but to set up the next hold, a transition from a kickout right into the next thing. For the most part Apache pressed the advantage. He had bit of a size, came off as an all arounder. Where he stumbled was not accounting for the fact that one side of the ring happened to have barbed wire all over it and he careened into it on rope running. Later on, there was a bit of added drama that for him to get a rope break on a hold, he'd have to grab the ropes on that side of the ring. It didn't play into the match too much past that but it created a more interesting environment for them to joust in.

While the crowd groaned a bit at the finish, they had no reason to complain with the action up til then. Apparently BT, Jr. is going to be posting every Monday so we'll have lots to look at over time. 

PAS: The 2010's period when Black Terry Jr. was just releasing incredible indy lucha every week (and we would get new FUTEN shows) was one of the most rewarding periods of my pro-wrestling fandom. IWRG and the smaller lucha promotions were just on fire, awesome cool matches every week with guys like Black Terry, Negro Navarro, Dr. Cerebro and many more just killing it. Lots of that stuff has been only sporadically available in recent years, and I am pretty sure this is a match which is completely new. Apache is a guy who dipped into that 2010s indy lucha world, but wasn't a mainstay, so it is especially neat to get to see him stretch, and more Skayde is also always a treat. This is a match which just fulfilled expectations, I came in expecting great looking Llave, some cool exchanges and a little Apache high flying and it just checked the boxes. My expectations are pretty high for this stuff, and while it didn't exceed them, just hitting them is pretty great.  

ER: Had I been there live this is something I still would be thinking about. Black Terry Jr. is back and puts you in the front row of lost lucha libre like few. Phil isn't exaggerating about how much the original BTJ handhelds meant to his fandom, I remember all the excited phone calls and texts about every single new upload, leading down the Black Terry rabbit hole, documenting some of the coolest lucha that had mostly to that point gone unseen by all but the most dedicated lucha heads. I don't think I've ever seen Gran Apache in any of BTJ's handhelds, and the sight of Apache in an environment like this looks totally foreign to me. It's beautiful. Live, seeing two old guys (well, 50 and 45, youthful for our brand of lucha) working llave and the hardest fucking mat possible, it's the thing I want from my lucha. We see them fully up close rolling through exchanges, Apache rolling through leg locks that get tighter with each roll, going through what feels like a 12 step process to knot up Skayde's legs. Apache's llave somehow looks more graceful while Skayde's moves more heavily. I don't mean that as an insult to Skayde's work, I thought the heaviness added to the pendulum swings of his llave, his floating majistral looking like an act of magic physics rather than fast Quackenbush precision. Skayde's single legs and cinched in crabs looked ligament tearing, and Apache is wise to just start slapping and punching him the longer we go. 

Apache's punches and slaps were one of the first things that got me into actual lucha libre, believe it or not. I was mostly familiar with lucha through WCW, and Psychosis/Rey/Juvy matches from Japan or ECW. When my family finally got cable TV in the year 2000 it wasn't long before I found Galavision, and discovered Gran Apache slapping the shit out of Oscar Sevilla in his little Sears portrait matador suit. I was fully onboard the Apache express from one match, and here every punch and slap to Skayde brought me back to those first ones I saw. I never got to see Apache live (I saw Skayde once, during a period where he had gained weight and got outshone by a 60 year old Solar) and the sound of his strikes live must have been incredible. 

7 minutes into this I yelled "There's barbed wire in there?!" to my living room, as BT Jr. had kept that angle hidden. There's a whole side of the ring with barbed wire around the ropes and while these men mostly stay away from the wire, Apache does accidentally hit it once and yelps loudly, a hilarious camera reveal. It also leads to my actual favorite shot, late in the match, as Apache punches Skayde in the face. The afternoon sun glows behind them and The Barbed Wire Side of the Ring looms in the foreground unused, the kind of lucha vision only seen in outdoor tent lucha. Now that BTJ is back, who knows how many more similar visions we will see. We'll write about every one. 

Caifan Rockero I vs. Rey Hechicero 2/13/09

MD: Likewise, Rob's gone through a channel posting a ton of things and pried out what seems to be new or lost or recovered, perfect for us. And for us, it doesn't get too much more perfect than an incredibly blurry match between Caifan and Hechicero from 09. I'm pretty certain AEW fans have no idea how old Hechicero is and how long he's been doing this. I saw my share of his stuff back when I first started getting into lucha, including an apuestas match with Caifan from a year after this one, so this is like going home in some ways.

They go almost 30 and it feels like a series of a hundred mostly disconnected exchanges, each one interesting and experimental in its own right. They're all full of struggle. For a lot of it, Caifan is the aggressor and Hechicero has to get out of something, though he has his share of hefting Caifan up as well. Sometimes it's clear what they're going for and it works beautifully. Sometimes you're left to wonder. There's a shoulder breaker Hechicero does twenty minutes in where I'm not sure if that's what he meant to start with. Other times, though, the struggle is wonderful. When Hechicero went for a tapitia, he only got it after slamming Caifan's head into the mat a few times in a way that I'm not sure I've ever quite seen; simple but it worked very well within the sequence. Caifan hit his arm cradle suplex twice. There was a bit more of a sense of build for the second one, but you still wonder about him having to go to the well in such a long match like that.

They did escalate to rope running but then they'd take it back down. So much as there was a narrative, it was one of increasing exhaustion and damage over time. You believed it because they were doing so much. The moves did get bigger to a degree, more off the top, for instance. When Hechicero finally stunned Caifan enough to get the hold he really wanted, it felt more like him outlasting Caifan than anything else. I wouldn't call this particularly focused, but it was certainly imaginative and fun. 

Atlantis/Rayo De Jalisco Jr./Ultimo Dragon vs. La Fiera/Sangre Chicana/Charles Lucero 9/6/92 Plaza De Toros Monumental

MD: Lucero was a replacement for Tugboat Tyler. They didn't even update the graphics. But he's part of what made this fun. We've seen the rest of these guys go at it, and yeah, I'll always be glad to see Chicana and Fiera, but a relatively young (relative to a lot of the footage we have of him fifteen years later) Lucero in the mix was novel.

A lot of this is the rudos stooging all over the place, Lucero pretending Atlantis fouled him, Fiera having Ultimo run over his back, everyone playing into Rayo's act. Again, some of the novelty is seeing Lucero feed into it. Eventually Chicana punches Rayo in the skull while he has a hold on and the rudos take over. Atlantis comes back with a chair on Chicana and it feels a little unwarranted maybe but who knows what these guys were up to otherwise. The tonal shift is especially weird as they go into everyone-in-a-headlock-at-once and la estella and a celebratory finishing bit for the tecnicos but hey, we're not going to complain too much about mean Atlantis chairshots. This too, like everything else this week, was fun. 

ER: I love when 15 minutes of VHS tape trader quality lucha shows up, talk about a trip back. There's always something new to observe, always somebody who stands out that you weren't thinking about earlier that week, month, or year. Charles Lucero was someone I didn't know about until his matches with Hechicero, Rayo a lot of people didn't know about until he was older and lazier and up his own ass (complimentary, and pejoratively) and here they're both a perfect set of rivals. In the primera there's this great early moment where Rayo is teasing his matador attacks on Chicana, before just rushing past him to double hammer fist Lucero off the ropes to the floor, just swinging that Mexican Polish Hammer into his chest. His misdirections to throw off Lucero's timing are wildly entertaining. I enjoyed old conceited Rayo but whenever I see the stop-start routines done in younger Rayo speed it feels like some of the best lucha trickster work we have. La Fiera was also a standout, because early 90s Fiera is always going to be a standout, and here he was especially gifted at making 1992 Ultimo Dragon's offense sing. Great pairing, an accompanist who knew how to make a guy feel like a star.  

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Apache and Sevilla Dance in the Rain, then Dance for HAIR!

Gran Apache vs. Oscar Sevilla AAA 3/19/00

ER: This is a pretty famous match if you were a certain age on internet wrestling message boards, two lunatics fighting in the middle of a rain storm in the slipperiest possible ring. The video quality on year 2000 lucha is grainy enough that you don't see the rainfall, but it's impossible to ignore the huge umbrellas everywhere and the pools of water splashing up from the ring. Sevilla starts things by hitting a great tope as Apache is coming down the aisle, and it's such an insane way to start the match because these guys clearly had no traction in that ring. Sevilla built up an impressive head of steam on a ring where guys were falling over just throwing worked stomps. The ring looked like waxed glass, a real slip and slide, and it added to every part of this match and made everything they did so much more impressive. Both guys bleed, and bleeding in a ring during a rain storm is just a different level of kickass wrestling bleeding. Sevilla is a fun lucha bumper, really throwing himself into his misses, and he has one of my favorite ways of hitting the turnbuckles. 

Apache has among my favorite strikes in wrestling history, and his punches, slaps, and kicks are on glorious slippery display throughout all of this. His pushing kicks to Sevilla's head are so annoying and so awesome, Sevilla bleeding out while Apache is just scraping his boot across his forehead and sliding into position like he's in Risky Business. Apache even incorporates the ring water in ways I wasn't expecting, like attempting to drown Sevilla while holding him in a caballo. Apache's second was great cheapshotting Sevilla, dropping hard elbows while Apache stands on Sevilla's neck, and Sevilla's second hits his own great dive down the stretch. The bumps in this are at their best when you can see just how far guys are sliding on the mat after just a normal back bump. At one point Apache slides at least 7 feet after hitting the mat, and it's beautiful. The whole match feels dangerous, as you get the sense that every single movement is just asking for a rolled ankle. The referee refuses to stand in the ring because it's too dangerous, and that danger didn't stop Apache or Sevilla for a second. I love it. One of my favorite occurrences in wrestling history. 

Gran Apache vs. Oscar Sevilla AAA 3/31/00    Pt. 2

ER: This whole thing starts with a fight between warring clown factions, but I don't think any of them are clown luchadors? As best I can tell, Apache and Sevilla each came to the ring followed by clowns, and the clowns threw frisbees and soccer balls to the fans, and then the clown gangs started kinda hitting and kicking at each other like an extremely confusing take on an FMW vs. Karate Guys steam out. Apache uses the Classic Clown Fight distraction to jump Sevilla, then throw him halfway across the ring with a crazy splash mountain (Sevilla was always a bump god so you know he's a guy who will make a splash mountain look great) then immediately takes the primera with a Michinoku Driver. Everyone in attendance agreed heartily that Sevilla looked awesome getting thrown onto his shoulders in the primera, so Apache throws him with another splash mountain in the segunda, but Sevilla rolls him up tightly on the second driver attempt. Sevilla has great roll ups, really tight and they all look difficult to kick out of, and those are on full display in the tercera. The tercera is also when we get to see Apache's excellent punch display, as well as a fine pescado and a great tope that shoves Oscar into the barricade. Apache gets busted open and while Sevilla isn't a vicious attacker, he does not need to be. Apache's blood projects for him and Sevilla's pinfalls look so convincing that the crowd keeps getting more and more excited to see Apache's head get shaved. I adored Apache's Atlantida, as it lead to a fantastic Sevilla crucifix pin, and again the entire tercera played as a real showcase of how a well executed roll-up can really erase any size difference. Of course Apache gets extra time to Houdini his way out due to Tirantes, but it only makes Sevilla look better. Also, Sevilla's blouse looks like pro wrestling once it's stained with Apache's blood. Sevilla taps Apache with a rings of Saturn, and Tirantes gives Apache such a long time to break out of it that he probably caused Apache permanent shoulder damage. 

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Gran Apache vs. Oscar Sevilla

Gran Apache vs. Oscar Sevilla vs. Panthro vs. Cuerno De Chivo AAA 10/17/99

ER: The Fall and Fall of Goat Horn! This was an excellently set up cage match, and I love that these good lucha cage matches have made themselves hidden to me and now I keep stumbling across them unintentionally. This was a hair match, last man in the cage gets shaved, and the layout of the twists was so much fun. Cuerno de Chivo - Goat Horn - had lost his mask to Sevilla several months before, Sevilla is a hair and mask winning machine, Apache hates Sevilla, and there's a Thundercat. That's a good start for a foursome! And everyone has great moments, made only better by the turns of the match. Apache is a sadistic killer to Sevilla, interrupting everything he does with his punches (that were probably my favorite punches in the world in 1999), and flattens him with two different super violent sitout pedigrees. One of Sevilla's skills was whipping his face into the mat, and Apache really lifted him up high in that double underhook before bringing him down on his face. He finds time to punch Panthro too, and does get smashed face first into the cage by Sevilla, but then kicks Sevilla out of the air when Sevilla goes for a twisting elbow. 

Apache escapes 3 minutes in, then just makes fun of everyone from the outside. Panthro escapes a couple minutes later, and Apache starts helping out Chivo by blocking attempted Sevilla escapes. Apache really parkours his way up the cage to punch Sevilla in the face, distracts him enough to make him face plant on a missed frog splash...but, Apache can't pull himself away from the glee of knocking Oscar off the cage and manages to get himself pulled back in! Apache takes a real dangerous awesome fall back into the ring, and then we get Apache fully helping Chivo kick Sevilla's ass. This makes Panthro climb back into the ring to save Sevilla, essentially giving us a late match restart. We get the tecnicos finally pulling the duke on the rudos and quickly escaping, leaving the two rudos begrudgingly left fighting each other for their hair. Apache was downright giddy at the thought of Sevilla losing his long silky locks, but he's not going to be losing his own hair to anybody. We get a great long bit of Chivo and Apache talking it out and Chivo keeps trying to reason with him. They shake on it, Apache kicks him in the balls as swiftly and cruelly as possible, and then scrambles up the cage with ease, blowing kisses on his way to the floor, Chivo left holding his balls in the ring. Apache was a real whirlwind here, like a quick moving lucha Finlay. Great cage matches, a lucha staple. 

Gran Apache/La Rata I/La Rata II vs. Oscar Sevilla/Pegasso/Bull Rogers AAA 2/18/00

ER: Pegasso is billed as Luchador Sin Nombre here but looks exactly like he's always looked (not sure how long he went unnamed), Apache has a fine Indian maiden with him, and La Ratas are absolutely horrifying scarecrow men. This is also weird to me, as it's 2/3 falls, which is something I didn't realize AAA was still doing at this point. This is a short trios, very quick falls, but packed with enough dives for an hour of TV. Pegasso especially seemed intent on injuring himself, breaking out a couple tope con giros, and Asai moonsault, and a sick springboard rana to the floor where he basically powerbombs himself. There are more dives from the others (even Bull Rogers, a luchador who seems to only exist for a few months of 2000 AAA), but I got so much more glee from Gran Apache's antics. 

This was a master stooge class for Apache, in a match where I don't think he landed a single piece of offense, not even a punch. Every Apache exchange had him bumping nicely to the floor to put over a Rogers dropkick or Sevilla rana, and the rest was him working an incredible bit around being kicked in the balls. Apache swings several times on Sevilla and misses every shot, so just immediately complains to Pepe Casas that Sevilla kicked him in the balls. After being awarded the segunda for this (without too much of an investigation by the refs), Apache proceeds to duck walk all around ringside while holding his balls, feebly giving thumbs up to the crowd while limping around with his butt out, so distracted by his aching sac that he walks face first into a ringpost, then staggers off holding his balls and his forehead. I'm not sure when the change happened, but there aren't anywhere near enough lucha matches based around a rudo selling a phantom ball kick, but this was some of the best I've seen. Sevilla pays him back by winning the tercera, merely by faking his own injured balls, but obviously doesn't put anywhere near the care that Apache put into his aching scrotum. 

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New Footage Friday: GUERREROS! PANTERA! APACHE! CASAS! FIERA! PIERROTH!

Los Guerreros Del Futuro (Damian El Guerrero/Guerrero del Futuro/Guerrero Maya) vs El Pantera/Filoso/Triton 9/7/93 - FUN

PAS:Solid workman like trios match and a chance to see Black Terry under a mask work this style. Pantera add the flash to the match with a bunch of flips and ranas. Terry(Maya) threw some big overhand chops and clotheslines. Felt more like a time filler then a standout match, but a pleasant way to fill some time.

MD: Perfectly fine trios here, from the Back to the Future music at the start to a motion-heavy finish. As Pantera pops up in this footage, I consistently like what I see. He had the best primera exchange with Futuro, though it also had the most time too. They started with a fun little head-to-head shoving match and moved onto solid matwork with good bridges from Pantera. He also had a nice moonsault press and unique step up wheel kick during the comeback. We didn't get much Maya (Black Terry) there, which was a shame. Really, past a few hard shots, his biggest contribution to the match was being in the right place for the stooging spots later on. The beatdown was fairly subdued, as they kept one rudo in the ring for most of it and kept things in their corner. The match never really exploded but it always kept moving.



El Mestizo/Gran Apache vs Escudero Rojo/Reyes Veloz 9/7/93

MD: It feels good to watch something with stakes and emotions and a hot crowd. This had a lot going for it, three heel control segments (which means three comebacks), Apache putting it all out there, his punches, an exciting, high-stakes finishing stretch, blood and guts. I really liked the end of the primera. The rudos had ambushed at the start and it looked like they were going to get the nod on a double stretch, but Apache came in with a dropkick on both guys. He then laid out one with an awesome punch and teased a dive outside only to turn it into a moonsault back into the ring as Mestizo hit a flip dive off the apron. The second beatdown came after an errant Apache punch which fed into the end of the segunda where once they got the rudos held for the shots, they just didn't stop and get DQed. One nitpick here is that I would have liked some color on the rudos here to help justify the weight of the DQ. Apache and Mesitzo bled (and got their wounds worked over) but the rudos never did. The tercera ended up as a one-on-one fairly quickly and had some pretty exciting post-dive countout teases and near falls, before the finish, where after a couple of missed leaps off the top, Apache had to chase his opponent down before hanging on and dropping him with a German. This is pretty much what you can reasonably hope for when a lost mid-card apuestas match shows up.


PAS: I think the work in this match was pretty basic, although the drama of the hair stipulation and the blood really brought the entire presentation up a big notch. I agree the technicos getting DQ'ed in the segunda was a little weird, this is an apuestas match, the ref has to give them a bit of rope. The third fall was an extended Apache vs. Rojo singles match, which had some real drama to it, interesting to see Apache here, as he really would go on to great things, he wasn't exactly a youngster but this is definitely some of the earliest footage we have of him.

Chamaco Valaguez/Faraón Jr/Oro vs Arkángel de la Muerte/Cachorro Salvaje/Drako 9/10/93

MD: Drako was some mysterious and short-lived North American in the gimmick. We're not sure who. I don't have an answer after watching this but I thought he had solid presence and size with a fairly potent knee shot. They built up a mystique of him going at it with Faraon, Jr. too with some pretty engaging pre-match theatrics. Guys eat falls in CMLL due to the 2/3 structure and he did fall to a German in the segunda but got his heat back (I guess) by getting DQed by wrenching Faraon's head on the top rope in the tercera. It was pretty unfulfilling. Oro was pretty over and had good energy. I liked how big a jerk Cachorro was. Arkangel hit an amazing sit out Rock Bottom to help end the segunda. Drako seemed competent enough that they could have run further with the gimmick. Maybe someday we'll know the story there.

Atlantis/La Fiera/Pierroth Jr vs Black Magic/Mano Negra/Negro Casas 9/10/93


MD: Fantastic stuff. This was building to the Anniversary show, where both Fiera and Casas and Mano Negra and Atlantis would have apuestas matches. They billed Casas, Magic, and Mano Negra as La Ola Negra, which I hadn't heard before. They do tag a handful of times between 92 and 94. This constantly entertaining with the fans very much into it. Fiera is such a perfect Casas opponent, gritty and tough, but with so many different kicks, all of which look good and Casas is so good at dodging one only to eat the next, that sort of thing. Atlantis and Mano Negra brought plenty of hate too, all the way to the mask ripping at the end. The beatdowns were glorious, the comebacks were earned and heated. There was an awesome bit where they picked up Fiera and drove him head first into the first row chairs before tossing Atlantis into the crowd and post match Fiera got revenge on Casas by doing the same. Pierroth and Magic were ok as bit players but this was really about the other four and made me want to go back and watch the 93 Anniversary show again.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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New Footage Friday: GORDY! HICKERSON! BLACKWELL! HANSEN! SASUKE! ATLANTIS! AMERICAN DRAGON! METAL MASTER!

Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy vs. Crusher Blackwell/Phil Hickerson AJPW 12/14/88

MD: Bizarrely giving Hansen performance. This is one of the most giving performances I've ever seen out of him, especially against someone who's not paying him. Was Blackwell bringing him in for shots in his Georgia Indy or something? Did he feel like he owed him for some favor done in 1978 Mid-Atlantic (if so you don't really see that bear out in their AWA stuff)? No idea, but this is a Hansen who's getting crushed by mass, beaten around the ring, and legitimately playing face-in-peril in a bear hug. When Hickerson is in there, he fights back a bit more, but then they just tag Blackwell back in. Remember, this is 89 Blackwell. He's huge, has great presence, and can still do an amazing elbow drop (and miss one for a transition too), but this isn't seven years earlier when he was missing top rope splashes and what not. And, of course, Gordy's on the apron playing clapping cheerleader. Eventually, he has enough, intervenes, survives charges into the corner long enough to get a foot up, and it's academic from there. I'm still filing this under "baffling."

PAS: Hansen was always very good at using his size to overwhelm, and it's cool to see him in the ring with two big motherfuckers who gives as good as they get. This was worn tread on the tires Blackwell, but he was still a quarter horse of a dude with great punches and good use of that girth. Hickerson is a mean asskicker in this to, and I love to watch two guys stand in the pocket with Hansen and not get blown out of the building. Gordy is fun in his exchanges as well, although he isn't in the match a ton. Finish was great, I love a Hansen lariat, and this was one of his nastier ones. He hooks it right under Hickerson's jaw and it looks like it's going to pop his head clean off.

ER: At minimum you knew this was going to be great just because how often do you get to see a tag match where Terry Gordy is the smallest man in the match? But how much does it rule that Blackwell and Hickerson took 90% of that match?? Stan Hansen is perhaps the most famous eater of men in pro wrestling history. Hansen can chew someone up more dominantly than anyone, and here he gets completely dominated by Crusher and Hickerson. Sure Hickerson takes some knocks to the head, gets smacked into a ringpost, but it's like Crusher and Hickerson were working the way Hansen and Gordy work every other team. Usually when Hansen takes a shot from someone, he's the one who shakes his head and then angrily walks through it. Blackwell is absolutely impenetrable here, just flattening and outfighting Hansen and Gordy. Blackwell isn't getting the same height on his jumping elbow drops, and he's not doing high dropkicks (or any dropkicks), but he's a tough fat guy with a low center of gravity who punches and headbutts Hansen in the face. 

Blackwell acts like and is treated like the toughest guy in the match, and I love it. His elbow drops look awesome, his missed elbow drops look awesome, his avalanches are delivered with glee, and he's a 5'9 man who convincingly bearhugs Stan Hansen. Two different times in the match he's working over Hansen in the corner, then stops Gordy's interference with one strike! Gordy charges in to save Hansen and Blackwell just turns around and punches him! Later, Gordy charged in and Blackwell just mule kicked Gordy away and ignored Gordy's forearm! Blackwell worked like the total star of the match, which is the most fun way the match could have been worked. Hickerson also appears to be having a blast on his only trip to Japan, a trip where he and Blackwell will be the team in the RWTL who wins no matches. Hickerson seems to really bathe in the new audience, and Blackwell holding Hansen and Gordy in the corner like he was Andre, so that Hickerson can fly across the ring with an avalanche, was a real moment of wrestling bliss. Hansen decides to shut things down the way he does. Hickerson goes back to the well on that avalanche and eats a boot, then the hardest possible Hansen running shoulderblock. Elbow pad adjusted, Hickerson whipped, lariat takes us out. Who could have guessed this would be a 10 minute Blackwell/Hickerson showcase? A great on paper match worked within an unexpected structure is a great treat. 

El Hijo de Anibal/Atlantis/Great Sasuke vs. Java Genjin/Tutankhamen VIII/Macho Pump MPRO 7/24/03

MD: Lost MPRO match that's a good use of fifteen minutes of your time. I haven't seen much Anibal, Jr., but he died of COVID earlier this year. I thought he looked pretty solid here actually, having a decent amount of size, only slight awkwardness because of it, a fearless dive or two, and a nice running elbow. It followed a pretty standard lucha structure despite being one fall. The tecnicos got to shine early, including everyone feeding for Sasuke and Atlantis getting to do some more tricked out one-vs-two spots than I usually remember him doing. When the rudos took over, it was primarily Jabagengi (Being Gran Apache, of all people, working a monkey man Neanderthal gimmick, of all things) directing traffic. It was solid but maybe lasted a little too long without enough motion. They worked for the comeback and went into bigger exchanges. Tutankhamen shined here more than in the rest of the match, including a double jump twisting senton bomb and a no hands dive over the top, but maybe he was a little too into celebrating after the fact. Macho Pump had some personality and got tossed by the head by Atlantis and I have nothing else to say about him. Finish maybe needed a little more zing, but the dives before it had plenty. Basically, the highs were high and lows were few and tolerable. Fun stuff.

PAS: I thought this was neat stuff, MPRO six mans are such a joyful formula style of match. Gran Apache in a monkey suit and Fantastik in King Tut hat do a great job of filling in the KDX rudo base role, and this is some of the better Macho Pump I have seen. They were especially great at basing and bumping for Atlantis, just flying around for all of his offense, I loved the height and distance Macho Pump got on the monkey flip, it was almost Eddieish. All of the dives looked great, we couldn't always see where they landed, but man does Sasuke fly out sight with recklessness and force, it is almost crazier when we don't see his running tope con hilo land. Fantastik hit a crazy flipping springboard senton in the ring, and a wild no hands tope con hilo on a prone Anibal, he was so good every time he showed up in Japan but never went anywhere in Mexico.

ER: 2000s MPRO is a fed ripe for discovery for me, a real blindspot outside of a few matches here and there. Before this, did I know that Gran Apache wore a Giant Gonzalez full body skin and fur suit with a Neanderthal mask? I had no idea, and the crowd had no real idea what to make of him. He has a large novelty club and looks like Bubba the Cave Duck, only with a big dark zipper up his back. He grunts and slaps chest and thighs and constantly tries to get the crowd to react to him, and they politely do, but not enthusiastically. I'm not sure I would have even known it was Apache, even though the slap punches were there and he was a strong base for the tecnicos. I adored Apache's backwards bumps to the floor, perfect backwards tumbles over the bottom rope while landing on his feet, a bump to the floor I don't really see in lucha. There's a classic luchador way of bumping rolling over the bottom rope to the floor, holding the rope and flinging your legs over, but this was like Apache tipping backwards into the water before scuba diving. I loved it. Sasuke had what appeared to be a huge Asai moonsault to the floor (tripod camera missed the landing but it got the loudest reaction of the match so it was surely typical Sasuke danger) and hit his big swan dive right at the finish. Anibal hits a great dive and a nice plancha to the floor, plus takes a wild monkey flip in ring that bounces him upside down off the ropes. But Fantastik really takes the cake, taking multiple high backdrop bumps to the floor (often at the hands of Apache by accident), hits a cool double jump springboard somersault senton, a gorgeous bullet tope, and then hits the dive of the match with a hands free senton to the floor, Super Calo style. I love this format, really need to dive more into mid 2000s MPRO. 

American Dragon vs. Metal Master Paris Japan Expo 7/6/08

PAS: Chad Collyer uploaded this, it was from a show in Paris and has a masked Bryan Danielson against a masked Collyer. What a treat, first section of this match saw Dragon working 80s heel, choking with a rope, doing a Ric Rude hip swivel, taking stooging bumps. He was as good doing John Tatum as he is doing souped up Chris Benoît stuff, as he was doing Ricky Morton shtick in WWE tags, what a talent. I thought all of the early over the top heel stuff really paid off at the end of the match, when they had more of a hot workrate finishing run. By then the crowd was fully behind Metal Master, and chagrined every time Dragon got a bit of an advantage. The execution on the finish had a bunch of cool little flourishes, including Dragon doing a super fast Saint escape of a waistlock into a back elbow. Video gets choppy at the end, but we still get almost the whole match and a great little snapshot at a small part of an all time greats career. 

MD: Absolutely tremendous. When I saw the word "expo," I half wondered what we were going to get. It hearkened back to some of those lucha performances at other "expos" that end up being as streamlined and straightforward as possible, in front of game but unfamiliar crowds. In that regard, this didn't disappoint. This is 2008 Collyer and Danielson, under hoods, wrestling their version of a high-energy 1989 American match. Danielson completely gives himself over to the role, complaining about the crowd not cheering for him at the start, bumping, stooging, feeding, clowning, and stalling throughout, taking over on an unclean break, playing hide the object with a rope from the turnbuckle, and yes, twice doing the Rick Rude hip swivel and probably having the time of his life in the process. Yet, they show that they understand what works and why it works. The crowd completely comes along with Collyer as he fights his way out of a chinlock. Danielson hits an axehandle off the second rope mid-way through to set up a bit transition as he leaps off the top into a Collyer dropkick later. They had to switch cameras towards the end and you got the sense that the person had technical difficulties and had to be selective in what was captured, but you get the broad idea of it. Towards the end, they cycle into Steamboat/Savage pin attempts, and some very believable 1989 power move near falls, before Danielson reverses a flying body press and grabbing the tights for the win. Full commitment, total patience and restraint, great understanding of what works and why. I'm sure they had a blast doing it. It's a great performance from both guys and another feather in Danielson's cap.

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Catching Up On 2013 AAA

Gran Apache, Lucky Boy and Nino de Ebano vs. Atomic Boy, Flamita, and Jinzo, 4/13/13

I don't know much about anybody in this match not named Apache, although I thought (and was correct) that I've seen Atomic Boy before as a mini. The others are either Apache, Navarro, or Arkangel trainees. These kinds of spotfests aren't for everybody, but if they have minimal botches and don't act like wrestling is super serious business I'm kind of a sucker for them.

This one is a real hoot and everybody in it gets a chance to do their thing. Lucky Boy and Nino de Ebano take some big bumps and bust out a couple dangerous dives (one does a springboard swanton and barely rotates before landing). Jinzo looks like a throwback Pena young boy but works like a pretty convincing bully. They all get to do all sorts of goofy 5 man submissions, which is when the awesome glue of the match - Gran Apache - does everything you want him to do: punch slap and kick pretty boys and skinny masked weenies. All the spots were fun  but all of them were capped off great by an old man interrupting them to slap them senseless. From kicking Jinzo in the temple with the toe of his boot, to his great running punch in the corner, to watching all the goofy submissions, mugging to the crowd before smacking everybody in said goofy submissions, and then even bleeding, Apache was the (not at all shocking) star in this. Real fun way to kill 15 minutes.

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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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