New Footage Friday: Santo! Rey Jr.! Villiano 4! Scorpio Jr.! Shamu!

WWA 9/2/91

Rey Mysterio Jr. /??? vs Shamu/Peligro Mortal 

MD: This had a nice bit of pomp to start as Rey Sr gives his nephew (though not billed that way) the Rey Jr mantle. The rudos here worked ok as bases. Everything was fine, but unsurprisingly, Rey's the guy you can't take your eyes off of. Not everything was smooth but even the things that weren't smooth still worked. He might have to bounce twice on the ropes before launching himself off, but there's still such agility and talent to the fact he even could get that second bounce that it somehow added to it instead of taking away from it. Somehow that seemed as impressive as the things he hit clearly, cleanly, and brilliantly.

PAS: This was a mini's match, and it is crazy how much more agile and wild Rey was then other mini's. The rudos were nice bases for all of Rey's spots, I think the thing that stood out the most wasn't the spots themselves but how much more height and speed Rey would get on typical spots. A springboard headscissors isn't that rare, but Rey just floats in the air like a flying squirrel before he hit anything. 

ER: I gotta write about a new Shamu match, I love that guy. He's the Tijuana undercarder my friends and I always got most excited for any time we did a wrestling road trip down south (except for my friend Jason who pretended he liked Xstasis). He was the best base on a lot of the shows we saw and when your gimmick is also that you're a fat guy whale then of course I will love you. This was probably the earliest Shamu I've seen and he takes the same great fast bumps to the floor and can catch ranas and armdrags better than anyone in the match. Peligro Mortal isn't bad himself, and Rey is spectacular. I don't think you would have predicted he would take over the world and become one of the biggest stars of all time, but he is the guy in the opening match that people talk about after the show. He really soars on his springboard offense, and at one point Shamu bumps him into the ropes to create space and Rey flies back into the ropes  like Shamu was an explosion. 

Los Mercenarios vs Rey Misterio/Kiss/Halcon 78 

 

MD: Pretty fun midcard trios match here. Mercenarios were Bill Anderson, a young Louie Spicolli, and some guy under a mask, who was pretty definitely not Tim Patterson, who had the gimmick off and on in the years prior. Anderson and Spiecolli worked well together (though I kind of wish Anderson worked up to his size a little more), but it was the masked guy who really stood out. He was a crazy bump machine and pinballed all over the ring and the floor for all of the tecnicos. He made Kiss, who I'm not particularly familiar with, look like a million bucks in their exchange. This was all-around enjoyable with sufficient chaos in the tercera that the handheld cam had no idea what to focus on.

Villano IV vs Scorpio Jr. 

MD: This was a solid title match. Scorpio was maybe half a step behind in the opening matwork but that was the only thing he felt behind on. When the pace picked up, his quick dropkicks were great. When he was in control, he had presence. His submissions in the tercera were all good. Villano was more or less flawless throughout. Even though the crowd was definitely behind him, I could have used a slightly better transition in the segunda. He just sort of fell out of an abdominal stretch (that Scorpio was cheating on) and then took over. The crowd deserved something better there. They got a pretty good tercera though with a lot of drama.

PAS: I thought this was pretty great. We don't have many (if any) long Villano IV singles matches and this was a treat. I thought the early matwork was really cool, including a long section working in and out of a calf stretch. I actually liked the second fall fine, with Villano IV hitting this really nasty short knee drop, and Scorpio doing sort of a Oklahoma stampede with a spinebuster. Final fall had a heavy V4 tope and a great looking reversal of superplex where Scorpio looked like he was going to get sheer dropped on the top of his head, before he reversed it into a pin. V4 clearly was holding a belt of some kind, and I want to see all of those defenses. 

Hijo del Santo/Hijo de Solitario vs Kahoz/Fishman

MD: Unfortunately, we only get the first two falls before the tape cuts off. Not a ton to say with just that. Solitario held up his end so what we got were good. I always look for a Fishman performance that'll make him stand out to me and I rarely get it but I thought he asserted himself well here. He's never comes off as particular quick or agile but there was a real heft and weight to all of his offense here as he leaned on the tecnicos. That I appreciated at least.

[The video got taken down very quickly due to WWE complaints about Rey footage. We will find some way to get the footage uploaded. As you can see, it got pulled before either Phil or Eric could watch any of it.]

Read more!

MLJ: Recent Uploads: Kahoz vs La Fiera [hair]

1996-07-09 @ Arena Coliseo
La Fiera vs Kahoz [hair]

This was a poor man's Sangre Chicana vs MS-1. That said, even a poor man's Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 is still a rich man's match. Lately, Kozmic Trooths (sic) has been posting more matches than I have time to watch, lots of stuff from mid-late 90s CMLL that's gone under the radar from the most part. I'm not going to write up the Cibernetico from 99 he posted, for instance, but it's a worth checking out as a fun look at where guys like Olimpico, Black Warrior, Ultimo Guerrero, and Rey Bucanero were at that point in their development.

What I am going to write about is this. I'm not entirely sure what the backstory was here. Kahoz had lost his mask to Shocker in 1995 (which seems very early for Shocker to pick up that sort of a win even if it was December and after he won the Gran Alternativa). I'm sure everyone knows that Kahoz was a gimmick that Pena himself had used but had given to Astro Rey in the 80s. I hadn't known that until now. Anyway, it doesn't look like there was a ton of build to this. It really doesn't matter.

This followed the beautifully minimalist Chicana vs MS-1 format, though here Fiera was a full tecnico. That meant that Kahoz took over early, spent long minutes beating Fiera to a pulp, bloodying him all around the ring and the ringside area. This was where Fiera shined, selling broadly, bleeding huge, drawing a ton of sympathy. There was little attempt to fight back but that just build up the pressure for the eventual comeback all the more. Kahoz ended the fall with three pick-up/drop downs in a row (which I'm not sure I've ever actually seen. He could have finished him but kept picking him up; more on that later), and a stepover submission. As a primera, it was just as good as MS-1 vs Chicana, I think, a bloody, brutal beating.

The segunda and tercera were still solid, even at times transcendent, but there just wasn't quite enough there to match the very best bloody one-sided brawls. In the moment, like with all Fiera tecnico performances, I kept waiting for the trademark spin-kick to signal the comeback. As a single move, it's not quite as good as Chicana's punch, but it's more stylized, flashier even if less visceral. He hit it early in the segunda, but not until countering a caught kick into an vicious enziguri. From there it was a short but utterly triumphant revenge beating, capped off with a picture perfect frog splash. The Tercera was more of the same, awesome punches, blood and selling, a spot-on kick to the back of the head to send Kahoz to the floor followed by exactly the tope the match needed, all capping with a finish that called back to Kahoz arrogantly picking Fiera back up in the primera.

There was also a commercial for "La Sexy Olympia," and normally, I'd post a gif, but this match is too good to distract from. Watch the match. You can catch the commercial right before the segunda. Like I said, if you like MS-1 vs Sangre Chicana, you'll probably like this too. Even though it's not as good, that's still as good a company as a hair match can be in.

Read more!

Between Heaven and Hell Black Terry Fell In The Deep Crimson Dew

Black Terry vs. Matematico vs. Ultraman vs. Kahoz vs. Cuchillo vs. Astro Boy Jr.vs. Brazo de Plata Jr. vs. Daisuke Haonaka vs. Hijo del Fantasma vs. Toshiya Matsuzaki Toryuman- GREAT 5/3/06

PAS: Ridiculously fun match which was a total train wreck but in a really entertaining way. You got to see a bunch of old luchadores who never see the light of day. Black Terry had an awesome punch exchange with Ultraman. For an ex-high flyer Ultraman has really turned into Jose Luis Castillo in his old age. Cuchillo and Kahoz are guys I haven’t seen in years, and they looked like guys I hadn’t seen in years. Kahoz especially looked shitastic, as he was completely unable to bump over the top on his first attempt, so he has to run to the other side of the ring to bump to the floor Also that actually looked like the real Matematico who must be 70. Total blast.

TKG: Black Terry looked to be guy holding this entire thing together working fun sections with Hijo del Fantasma, Matematico, and Ultraman and one of the Japanese kids. Gran Cuchillo comes out and stretchers the other Japanese kid just smacking him around with the butt of his gun, suplexing him on the ramp and then dropping elbows. Cuchillo hitting opponents with the butt of a pistol may expose the business more than Tiger Jeet Singh hitting opponents with butt of sword. But Cuchillo is way more fun. Cuchillo and Kahoz are really too old to pull off their miscommunication heel double team stuff. But fuck all that other shit: BLACK TERRY~!!!

Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro VS Trauma I, Trauma II, Zatura IWRG 6/4/09-FUN

TKG:I dug this a lot although I don’t know how good it actually was. I left this thinking these two teams match up really well and have a really good match in them, this has hints of it but isn’t it. That’s the same feeling I have leaving every Jumbo v Billy Robinson or Backlund v Adonis. I may have ridiculously high standards. It’s kind of ridiculous to say I liked this match for its sloppiness. I don’t know if Trauma I legit busted his arm up or if he was just selling over the three falls. Don’t know if Trauma II legit fucked up Cerebro Negro’s neck or if that was a match element. Either way the match was constantly broken up by medical staff checking on guys pulling them out of the action and eventually letting them back in, while the rest of the luchadors had to continue to work ignoring the downed guys and medical staff. I’m assuming that this was all guys getting legit tweaked but I really enjoyed the weird pacing and general dynamic (of guys getting pulled out and reinserted) that it created. Not a dynamic that I think they’ll ever be able to recreate. I imagine if they rematch these teams, the rematch will be smoother and not sure if that’s necessarily for the better. Anyway the real shocker of this match was how good both Cerebro Negro and Zatura looked; and how well they matched up opposite each other. Cerebro Negro was a guy who I enjoyed a bunch in 08 as kind of the best of the “flashy innovative offense” IWRG rudos. But he’s really underwhelmed in the Terry/Cerebros v Dinastia Navarro stuff. And well Zatura is a guy who always struck me as being nothing but insane out-of-control dives. But here the two match up shockingly well and felt like working spotty highflyer lit a fire under Cerebro Negro. I get the sense that people are starting to get a better sense of what they can do with Trauma I and really liked both all the Terry work on Trauma I’s arm and how Terry set up and sold all the Trauma I comebacks. The Trauma II v Dr Cerebro interactions were really the least version of that match up and shockingly the most uninteresting part of the match.

PAS: I don't think anyone would look at this match up on paper and think that Zatura and Cerebro Negro would come out looking the best. Their long mat section was very cool, I especially loved all of the countering based around Zatura's arm. Zatura also broke out a great looking dive, and Negro was probably the top brawler during the brawl section. There is a moment where Trauma II is on his stomach and Cerebro Negro is just unloading with right hands, it really looked like a guy violently finishing someone in MMA. There is such a great mix of trios right now in IWRG, now that it looks like the Trauma's turned on Zatura, I hope we get Negro Navarro back soon, because Dinastia De La Muerte v. Officiales, Juvi/Fuerza/Pirata or Zatura/Chico Che/Freelance all could be incredible

Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro vs. Barba Roja/Hijo de Pirata Morgan/Pirata Morgan Jr. IWRG 8/27/09-FUN

TKG: The Piratas really felt out of their league here. First fall has Dr Cerebro matched up opposite Jr, ,Black Terry matched up opposite Barba Roja and Cerebro Negro opposite Hijo. Black Terry strained his arm on an armdrag had a doctor check it out and then had Barba Roja work over his arm. Terry is really good at the wounded tough warrior stuff and that may have been the best first fall interaction. The other Piratas looked completely lost working technical mat based offense. Second fall was rope running move fall where everyone switched up partners and third fall was all about the big moves where member of team runs in to prevent the fall. Piratas were way more comfortable in those settings. The second fall where they were most comfortable was short, and the third fall felt kind of mechanical.

PAS: Black Terry cuts a post match promo basically saying “It is good for young guys like that to get experience against wrestlers like us.” The match really felt worked like that, with Cerebros being polished professionals, carrying some green rookies through a match. There was individual moments of competence from the Piratas, but this match was 90% Cerebros

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

Read more!