Found Footage Friday: IWRG RETRO 1996~!

IWRG Retro 46 1996

Cassandra/Indomable/Chiola vs. Princesa Dorada/Julisa/Irma Aguilar

MD: You always spend some of these matches just figuring out who you're looking at. I'm no expert on 1996 IWRG luchadoras. Thankfully we had names on screen on the way out. The pairings are Indomable/Irma, Cassandra/Dorada, and Chola/Julisa.It's hard to say too much about any single wrestler here but Indomable hit hard and got hit hard against both Irma and Dorada. Julisa and Chola had some slick (or at least quick) rope running. The primera, in general, had a lot of simple and straightforward matwork n the first two pairings but everything felt like a struggle.

Cassandra stood out the most to me probably. She had a mask with the open hair and a unique look and really played to the crowd a lot. At the start of the segunda she wanted a handshake and when she didn't get it, she shook the ref's hand and give him a big hug instead. The primera was pairings with everything breaking down at the end. The segunda had a lot more in and outs. Sometimes it got a little too chaotic maybe and lost focused and it never settled down to a rudo beatdown and comeback. Instead, it built to a bunch of goofy (in a fun way) rope running where everyone got in there at once and some big tandem spots. Occasionally along the way you got ruda miscommunication. This felt better than the sum of its parts, honestly. At times it was a little rough around the edges but that didn't hurt the entertainment quota overall even if I could have used just a little more heat.

Mini Cochesse/Mini Andy Barrow vs. Mini Flashito/Mini Konnan

MD: Andy Barrow was The Killer's facepaint clad manager who became a rudo himself and this was a mini version of him. I can't say I'm super familiar but I sort of want to be now? I should ask Tom K about him. ANYWAY. This was his mini and this was pretty good. The rudos had no problem bumping, with Barrow sliding out of the ring over and over and Cochesse taking a crazy flight to nowhere through the ropes. They were solid in the beatdowns too though there was one Doomsday Device which seemed to go away afield. 

Flashito had some very nice and interesting stuff and Konnan was beloved by the kids. He also finished a caida with a nasty liontamer-esque standing cloverleaf. Flashito had a great press up dive to set the stage for the finish of the match, clearing the ring for Konnan to get a rana to end it. This hit a lot of the marks you would have wanted it to.

Kato Kung Lee/Tony Rivera/Torero vs. Los Oficiales (Oficial/Guardia/Vigilancia)

MD: A lot of fun and more heated than I expected coming in. The tecnico side was a joy actually. Kato Kung Lee has all of his super stylized faux karate stuff. Rivera has a lot of tricked out stuff including this great trip out of nowhere. And Torero has the bullfighter gimmick and most of what he does is play into that in the best sort of Rayo way. He had them charging at his red flag before the match. They clowned Los Oficiales pretty well during the primera.

Segunda went as you'd expect with three-on-one beatings. All fairly basic stuff but they controlled the ring and tempo well. Surprisingly, Rivera bled and they worked the wound a bit. That led to the big comeback in the tercera. A little bit of miscommunication set up the dives, but they twisted it where they caught each tecnico one after the next and then dragged things down until a rudo beatdown DQ (I think at least). It's always a little tough without the crowd noise but you can imagine how it went given how they worked this one. 

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Found Footage Friday: SERDAN~! AQUILES~! VERNE~! MCCLARITY~! VILLANOS~! TEXANO~! SIGNO~! NAVARRO~!

Michel Serdan vs Aquiles Brazil 9/13/87

MD: We've covered two other matches from Brazil and they've both been tremendous. This was no different. If someone is just sitting on a bunch of Michel Serdan matches, please come forward with them. We'll watch them all. This was billed as his retirement match, one last fight in a cage against Aquiles to prove the better man once and for all. Aquiles cut a fun quick promo before the match saying he wanted Serdan to be calm because he was scared to face him. Serdan had a more celebratory one where he got to thank the fans. This was escape rules with rounds of all things. The cage was flush to the ring, so much so that there were no turnbuckle pads.

That came into play immediately as Serdan ran Aquiles right into the corner a couple of times to open him up. He was already bleeding when he ran him into the cage. He had wild sweeping strikes meant for the last row. I wouldn't call them conventional or even tight but they were very effective and dramatic, like he was riding the music of the roaring crowd. The round breaks served as potential transitions, but even more so were attempts out of the cage. That's when Aquiles got to first take over on Serdan, who had beaten him enough that he was satisfied and went to leave but was immediately pulled down. He quickly got color too though not quite as much as Aquiles (though he had the bald head to help it go a little further). From there they went back and forth, utilizing either escape attempts or round breaks as a way to fire back at one another, just repeatedly slamming fists into heads from every angle.

What a finish too. Aquiles managed to knock Serdan away and started to climb and you wondered, just for a moment, if he might get away. Serdan was there though, grabbing at his feet and it wasn't hard to see the rest of this playing out with Aquiles thrust back into the ring and Serdan rising victorious. However, the entire heel locker room rushed forth and pulled Aquiles over the top. The celebration that followed was one of the most jubilant ever in the history of heel triumphs. Though he was completely undeserving, Aquiles rushed back and forth, surrounded by the heels, arms in the air, as Serdan recovered, dejected, in the ring. I have no idea how they avoided a riot here; it was well-warranted. There's very little quite as beautiful in all of pro wrestling as a heel drawing heat with such exuberance and verve. I'm sure he got his comeuppance at some point but this is a world we only get a glimpse into so who knows what it was or when. I would have paid to see it though, that's for sure. 

Verne Gagne vs Roy McClairity NWA Chicago 8/6/54

MD: We had the first fall of this previously, but not the whole thing. It's a long 2/3 falls match, with a substantial first fall. Verne is Verne, dynamic, explosive, made for TV, carrying within him this bounding energy. You can see it in the way he moves. There was a promise of action in his matches, though, of course, it's the 50s, so that action never crosses a threshold from sublime to absurd in a way that more "action-driven" wrestlers from Race to Rocco to Angle to their modern counterparts can't claim.

A lot of the match was centered around McClaritiy trying to find an answer to the challenge of Verne, working hard to ground him and keep him in long holds, most especially a fairly complex grapevined leg stretcher. It meant that when Verne got an upper hand once again, he was more aggressive and frustrated than usual, looping in some chippy extracurricular bits of damage; for instance, in a toehold, he might slam the knee into the mat in a way that he might not have otherwise. It turned the crowd against him a little, or at least turned them more towards McClairity.

They were working the holds so hard and with so much spirit that without Verne's baldspot, it'd be hard to tell the two of them apart at times. The finish of each fall came down to battle over sleeper type moves, first Verne's straight on sleeper and then McClairity's cobra clutch. In the third fall, with neither able to get it on, McClarity went to the well with a side headlock one too often and Verne hit a 1954 belly to back suplex out of it (one that everyone seemed surprised by) to score the win. Between the underlying story of McClarity trying to contain Verne and Verne getting frustrated by it and just how hard they were working each hold, this felt a lot shorter than it was and remained enjoyable the whole way through.

Kato Kung Lee/Texano/Villanos IV y V vs Indomito/Signo/Tigre Blanco/Negro Navarro CMLL 1991

MD: Look, I love that we have all of these Monterrey matches. I've found something worth watching in 90% of them and some of them are legitimately great. We've got to see regionally pushed talents like Panterita and Arandu and more from the greats like Casas. But man, it can be so frustrating in the way lucha can so often be to see great builds to an apuestas match and then not even know if the thing ever happened, let alone having footage of it. The build to Indomito vs Texano was really good and this was another piece of that vexing puzzle.

They paired up for the primera, with Signo vs Villano (I think V; telling apart Villanos is my personal lucha weakness) really standing out as being smooth. Just a lot of fun talent here so it was nice to see them have their exchanges. The tecnicos took it and kept control into the segunda, though Indomito was dodging Texano for the most part, as well he should. Kato Kung Lee got to take advantage of sheer numbers involved in an atomicos match and did his usual shtick, just with more people to higher effect. Immediately thereafter the rudos had enough and swarmed. At times it was hard for Indomito to take center stage just because Navarro and Signo were there but once they got going, he honed in well enough on Texano and bloodied him. The comeback in the tercera was heated and focused on Texano rushing the ringing and getting his revenge. He hit a pile driver on the outside and back in the ring which was jarring especially because they weren't sold like death. Things built to a final exchange where Texano came in too hot and Indomito was able to get his feet up on the ropes for a cheap pin. Again, just a nice balance of blood and revenge and comeuppance denied. All building to a match that's not listed on luchawiki at least. Ah well. Lucha is a challenging mistress.

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Espectáculos Promociones Panama: Master List

MD: We're looking at a bit of a break from Panama to cover some personal stuff. That said, for a while I wanted to put together at least a rudimentary master list of what we've done so far, through FFF and Espectáculos Promociones Panama. I know Blogspot is not the best for this sort of thing so here's a list. Someday we'll go back and try to source out dates and have a chronological list for everyone and really make sense of the footage, but for now hopefully you find it useful. Check out all of the EPP posts for the context and pictures and go out of your way to see Exterminador and Bunny Black and Sergio Galvez and Sandokan and the guys that you know. Stylistically, it's a fun middle ground between Mexico and Puerto Rico and there's a lot to discover.

Going through the FFF stuff again, I do think it's likely we'll revisit some of it at some point, because the story of Park in Panama or Gigante Tataki or the Brazos deserve Graham's historical treatment. In the meantime, hopefully footage keeps dropping so we build up a backlog of more matches to watch. 

Found Footage Friday:

12/17/21

• El Celestial vs. El Tahur
• Gemelos Infernales 1 y 2 vs. Gavilán de oro y La Cobra
• Puma y Lobo Negro vs. Estrella Blanca y Antorcha II
• Chamaco Castro vs. Tiburon Negro
• Gemelo Infernal III vs. El Barón

2/11/22

• Sergio Galvez/El Tahur vs. Kato Kung Lee/Celestial 1988

2/18/2022

• Sandokan vs. Principe Island 

4/1/22

• Sandokan vs. Rocky Star

6/10/22

• Cirujano de la Muerte vs. Emperador 1988

11/11/22

• El Barón y Jaguar Kuna vs. Satánico y Gemelo Infernal 3
• Sandokan/Ricardo Díaz/Antorcha 1 vs. Kronos 2/Gemelo Infernal 1/Gemelo Infernal 2

12/9/22

• Sandokan/Kato Kung Lee vs. Gigante Tataki
• Sandokan/Olimpico vs. Gigante Tataki (Hair Match) 

12/23/22

• Solar vs. Sergio Galvez

12/30/22

• Sandokan vs Principe Island (LA Park) 1988

1/6/23

• Principe Island I (LA Park) vs. Principe Island II (Super Parka) 1988

1/13/23

• Principe Island I (c) vs Sandokan

1/27/23

• El Idolo/Ursus/Celestial vs. Gemelo 1/Gemelo 2/El Tahur
• Los Brazos (Brazo de Plata/Brazo de Oro/El Brazo) vs. El Idolo/Celestial/Ursus

2/3/23

• Los Brazos (Brazo de Plata/Brazo de Oro/El Brazo) vs Gemelos Infernales/El Tahur 

Espectáculos Promociones Panama

1. Introduction
2. Solar/Antorcha vs. Sergio Galvez/Joe Panther
3. El Africano vs El Cobra
4. Sandokan (c) vs El Africano
5. El Idolo vs Celestial
6. El Barón/La Cobra Vs Bunny Black/El Ciclón 5/15/87
7. El Barón Vs Bunny Black (mascara contra mascara) 5/30/87
8. Silver King/Máscara Negra vs Sergio Gálvez/El Cirujano de la Muerte 5/15/87?
9. Kendo vs El Tahur 5/30/87
10. Mary Varela/La Gata vs La Baby de California/La Hiena de Jalisco 7/30/89
11. Blue Panther/Gemelo Infernal I/Tahur vs Kato Kung Lee/Baron/Celestial 1/17/87
12. Sandokan/Celestial/Emperador vs. Principe Island/Cirujano de la Muerte/Idolo
13. Gemelos Infernales vs Gran Darazín/Flamarion 1988
14. The Legend of Sandokan: At War With Anibal
15. Idolo/Exterminador vs Sandokan/Emperador June 1988
16. Idolo vs Exterminador (Chain Match) July 1988
17. El Idolo vs Exterminador (mascara contra mascra) 7/17/88
18. Hombre Araña/El Celestial Vs El Androide/Joe Panther 10/2/88
19. Idolo vs Kendo (mascara contra mascara) - 2 October 1988
20. Impacto/Halcon Vs Atila Jr./El Satanico November(?) 1988
21. Satanico/Atila Jr. vs Impacto/El hijo de Urracá - November/December(?) 1988

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Found Footage Friday: SANTO~! KATO KUNG LEE~! VORDELL~! WAYNE~! THE MOST HUBRIS-LADEN MATCH OF 2002~!

El Hijo Del Santo vs. Kato Kung Lee 11/28/86

MD: This was from Santo's patreon and you can get it there. We've been spending so much time lately with our Panamanian friend Kato Kung Lee as a tecnico in Panama that it was a bit strange to see him as a rudo here but rudo he was. He was touted for his martial arts skill of course but it was telling early that he was only able to get an advantage by powering Santito into the corner. It was only after he took over that way that he leaned into the mean looking shots. If Santo's the best ever at anything, it's his rolling, convulsing selling or his selling on the outside with his head on the apron slumped over and his absolute explosiveness in key moments including comebacks. Both were on display here. KKL took the primera with this great kneeling cradle bodyslam that was almost like a falcon arrow in its own way, followed up by a full body stretch. We don't see how Santo comes back in the segunda due to a brief bit of clipping but do see his great dropkicks and even KKL cutting him off so that it becomes a banana peel roll up.

The tercera is where the blood comes in, with Kato Kung Lee taking back over after the seconds got involved during a cavernaria by Santo. We miss a little bit of that final beatdown but we get to see the come back, the dive, the senton off the top and the finish, with the crowd up for all of this. The best thing I can say about this is that it holds up against other Santo mask matches, with the blood coming a bit later than expected but maybe all the more dramatic for it. The best thing a Santo opponent can do in a match like this is make him seem like he's really at risk, and I think KKL managed that here due to his size and perceived skill.

Damon Scythe vs. Robby Lance ECCW 6/29/02

MD: The sheer hubris of these two, huh? I mean, you want to judge a match accurately, like you would any other match. Consistency is important in this sort of thing. I want to point out that they never, ever had the crowd. A little, just a little for some of Lance's comebacks. But he kind of blew that with some cocky covers and a few too many underhooks and overhooks and cradles and straightjackets and whatever, when he probably should have been portraying more desperation when he had an opportunity while behind. There was some sense of escalation as the match went on and bombs mattered more (until they didn't down the stretch) but they also started the match off with a German and a Tiger Suplex and there wasn't really a sense on why some submissions were more effective than others. I know they had matches leading up to this, but I have no idea if it was in front of the same or a similar crowd, but this crowd in particular wasn't at all ready for what they were offering them. They weren't conditioned. They weren't understanding. Plus it was 2002, probably the single worst moment in indy wrestling history for hecklers wanting to put themselves over with references or demands. They led things off by being called Marky Mark and ended it with fake countdowns to when the match should end.

So I had to get all of that out there. At some point around the 25 minute mark, the shopping plaza should have been struck down by lightning for what they were trying to accomplish, but it was still fun to see twenty years later. Everything was hard hitting. Everything was tricked out. Everything was overly elaborate in the best pro wrestling bullshit manner. Because they agreed to the same level of twisted reality and because they were selling and countering and putting effort into all of it, you just toss your hands in the air and sort of buy all of the excess. I mean, the crowd didn't, but I am older and wiser and not trying to get myself over (even while posting on a pro wrestling blog in 2023). Lance's second fall was off of some submission so wonky that he lost it and just jammed in a nasty hammerlock, which, on the one hand, good instincts, right? But on the other? That was an exception though. Most things worked surprisingly well, if you just tried to shut out the noise and the images. If they were in the back of a shopping plaza with chains instead of ropes in Japan, this might be an all time classic? Probably not though. There's some alternate universe where these two start Catch Point ten years early. In this universe this match and these two wrestlers end up forgotten until now.

Vordell Walker vs. Damien Wayne SAW 6/14/13

MD: This was in a cage, for Wayne's NWA National title, and DVDVR darling Walker's last shot at the title. The cage was used pretty effectively here as a way to justify blood, as a way to steady top rope moves, and just to make everything seem bigger. Wayne had a way of selling everything like he was in a giant arena and watching that through the grates of the cage probably helped it relative to the overall setting. The fact that Walker's shots (chops, headbutts, missile dropkick, you name it) all looked massive didn't hurt.

Some weird structural decisions midway through unfortunately, with Wayne getting passed an object when he was more or less in control (having just hit a top rope elbow drop). You'd want that to happen after Walker hit something big maybe? The object was gone after that and it didn't have a huge impact overall in the match. They were going back and forth for most of this, which was fine, but that probably should have been done at a different point and maybe to open up a more prolonged bit of heat. Maybe my favorite use of the cage was Wayne using it to steady himself when Walker was in the tree of woe; they set up maybe the only good sitting up out of the corner spot I've ever seen with Wayne, steadied, stomping Walker's gut to make him sit up so he could hit a legdrop. When he tried it the second time, he ate a hanging suplex, which more or less set up the finishing stretch. These two just paired up extremely well with one another and while the finish could maybe use just a little more oomph and I had that one narrative quibble, it was a solid cage match all around.

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Espectáculos Promociones Panama: Blue Panther in Panama! Kato Kung Lee! Tahur! Celestial! Baron! Gemelo Infernal I!

Blue Panther/Gemelo Infernal I/Tahur vs Kato Kung Lee/Baron/Celestial 1/17/87

MD: This felt like lucha comfort food to me. Maybe it was because both Kato Kung Lee and Blue Panther were there, but this followed pretty familiar lines. There are definitely unique quirks to Panamanian Lucha, bits of Puerto Rico or unique elements to the stadiums, some spots or moves you don't expect, some peculiarities that we can't explain just yet, but there's more overlap with what was happening in Mexico than not and this match is a testament to that.

Speaking of familiarity, we're getting increasingly familiar with the usual suspects here. I have a great sense of Tahur as a base and as hard-handed clubberer and as a guy who isn't afraid to make a heroic dive to nowhere. This is Gemelo Infernal I who is more of a character than his smoother, workrate-y brethren GI II (and I don't have a sense at all about III yet). He has weirder moves and weirder movements and here made a great stooge for Kato Kung Lee's kung fu strikes. With Tahur and Panther getting him up extremely high for his headscissors takeovers, Baron looked like a top notch junior here. He got to show a different side than in the Bunny Black feud but it made me want to see more of him in both settings. And Celestial mainly stood out late in the match, paired with Panther with heated mask ripping.

Panther, to his credit, fit right in. I was a little disappointed at first as he was initially paired with Kato Kung Lee, which isn't what I wanted to see him do in Panama but he rotated through to the others as the match went on. And Lee? This was the best I've seen him in Panama. The fans went nuts for his shtick like always but he just had extra zing and agility as he bounded around the ropes. You could transfer the exact same act into modern AEW and if he could pull it off like he did on this night, it would get over huge.

Structurally, this was also familiar, early pairings cycled through, escalation to rope running, stooging, and the tecnicos going over in the primera, a rudo beatdown in the segunda, comebacks and cutoffs, and it all coming to head in the tercera, where Tahur just had enough of KKL's kicks and fouled his way out of the match which likely led to something else we unfortunately don't have.

GB: This match is a bit of a lucky get for us. Truth be told, I came across this post by accident many months ago when my passion for Panama was still in its infancy. However, the original video had lost tracking and the end was cut off. A little dismayed, and with some digging, I managed to piece together the missing part and give us this gem.

There’s not much to be said here as the only memories of this fight I can find are two screen grabs from a video of Panther and Kato arriving at the Tocúmen International Airport for their match. For all intents and purposes, this was treated as a big deal. Ricardo Pitti was there, alongside fans, to welcome Panther to Panama and extend a warm “welcome home” to KKL who had just lost his mask to el Hijo del Santo two months prior (though this was never aired nor played up during his visit). Matt highlights the ending between Kato and Tahur and there is something there. Whether this match led to it (or led from it), el Tahur did take Kato’s mask at some point in the 80s. In Mexico it would be sacrilege but, if he had lost his mask beforehand as Luchawiki claims (something I doubt), it wouldn’t be the first time Kato begged the fans of Panama to “pardon” him from losing his mask.

Kato Kung Lee, el camina cuerdas (the rope-walker), has a bit of a mysterious background. We are all well aware of his escapades in Mexico, as one part of the trios Los Fantásticos, but not much more seems to be known of him, especially in his heydays in Panama. Perhaps the most internationally known Panamanian-born wrestler isn’t even listed on the Hall of Fame board, let alone given any further detailing.

From the bits and bobs I can cobble together, Lee debuted alongside the other greats Panama had to offer in 1965 as the tecnico El Valiente where he would go on to lose his mask (twice - with the first loss being “pardoned”) to his maestro Chamaco Castro and rebrand himself as Johnny el Valiente and, a little later, as the remasked Rayo de Oro. I think there’s room for people to argue that KKL has had a bit of an “ode” (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) to other fighters along his career. One might argue his mask is all too similar to something blurring the lines of el Baron and Kendo (who’d go on to take the KKL name much later, ironically) but the name “Rayo de Oro” is a little too on the nose. So much so newspapers in the 1970s would also tend to confuse him with the legendary Guatemalan Rayo Chapin:

Even if his name wasn’t quite to the level of Chapin, KKL was always determined to be a star and take his name around the world. Despite Panama’s flourishing local scene, and it being a great training ground for the stars of tomorrow to hone their craft (whether from South America, Mexico or even Canada (Mad Dog Vachon!), the hospitality never quite seemed to be reciprocated. You had the odd wrestler such as El Enterrador and Joe Panther travelling through Africa and Europe but nothing “historic” in the same way Panama’s role was for laying the foundations for the UWA in Mexico (which I’d now argue would never exist without Panama).

One of the most important promoters during Panama’s golden age, Sammy de la Guardia, lamented that it was never due to skill that Panamanians stayed within the confines of Panama. Rather, it was too expensive and too risky. There was no government funding, as Mexico had, those wrestlers who travelled did so on their own money (or the sponsorship of their promoter). With little offer for reimbursement or being able to see a local return on investment in building up a name, promoters seemed more interested in keeping their stars home.

Thus KKL would risk everything when he set out to stake his claim in foreign land before the end of the 1960s taking with him Los Hermanos Muerte 1 y 2 to Guatemala and Mexico. The latter duo would go on to great success in Guatemala and KKL would see success in both Mexico and Japan - a name many recognise to this day. Again, the most famous of all Panamanian born wrestlers.

Still, and much the same for most of these stars from Panama, KKL had a quiet send off, far from the luxuries those stars in Mexico would enjoy. He’d pass away the owner of a BBQ joint. The referee for this match, the most famous in Panama, Carlos Linares, would pass away as a flip flop manufacturer. The stalwart of Panama’s rudos, Sergio Galvez, to this day works in a little bakery opposite his local theatre. The passion was there and as much as wrestlers and promoters pass Panamanian wrestling off as their “pasatiempo y nada mas” (pass time and nothing more), there’s a little sadness that a country so poignant for lucha libre as a whole, didn’t get to enjoy the boom it more than helped usher in.

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Found Footage Friday: PANAMA~! SANDOKAN~! KATO KUNG LEE~! OLIMPICO~! GIGANTE TATAKI~! DYNAMITE~! CANEK~! KIMURA~! TAKANO~!

Sandokan/Kato Kung Lee vs. Gigante Tataki Panama 

MD: Tataki was Walter Quisbert Limachi, a 7'5" Bolivian giant who had been a boxer before getting into wrestling. They get around twenty minutes out of this before it breaks down completely. Tataki was fairly agile for his size, with a ton of presence. At one point, he gets Sandokan down and just bounds up to the second rope to miss a stomp. When he took and when he gave was a little suspect and he sure liked to bump out of the ring whether it was warranted or not. In general though, this all worked pretty well. Early on Sandokan and Kato Kung Lee used a lot of kicks to the legs and tried to play cat and mouse with the giant. If he got his hands on either of them, he could chuck them across the ring without any issue. The first time he stepped through the ropes to give chase, you could hear all of the kids screaming in horror. When they were double teaming him they were able to bound over him to hit sunset flips and what not. Unfortunately for the heroes, around halfway through the match, he got them both outside and smashed Kato Kung Lee with a chair. That was it for him and he got taken to the back. After that, Sandokan put up a valiant attempt, staggering Tataki with ten punches for every one that Tataki could throw, but after getting knocked to the floor, he recovered and started tossing Sandokan around again, including hitting a kneeling pile driver and this great toss where he grabbed Sandokan's singlet and rolled backwards. Both Sandokan and Kato Kung Lee were more than happy to fly around for him. Eventually, Olimpico (I think) came out to even the odds allow Sandokan to recover. Even then, they could barely hold the giant at bay, but after getting posted, he eventually got angry and went to the back, only to come back to sign a contract for the apuestas match we have upcoming. This wasn't Der Henker vs LeDuc/Corn or anything, but it was a pretty solid way to fill almost half an hour as a total package. All we have is the footage to go off of but Sandokan continues to look impressive as a local Carlos Colon type ace. Tataki may have given a little erratically, but for a guy his size he had a lot of presence and surprising athleticism. 

Sandokan/Olimpico vs. Gigante Tataki (Hair Match) Panama

MD: This falls on the spectacle side of apuestas matches as opposed to the bloody sort, but it was a hell of a spectacle. Sandokan and Olimpico started like the tecnicos did in the last match, throwing kicks in and darting around so Tataki couldn't get them. He sold the leg kicks as if he was taking bullets, but he'd also bound to the second rope threateningly. It didn't take him long to separate his opponents, given that he was able to toss them around so easily. Things opened up once he hit his kneeling piledriver to Sandoken on the floor. Once they could no longer double team him, he'd pummel one and then the next. The comeback was big, but it could have been bigger as he just missed a big splash in the middle of the ring. It was fun though, with Sandokan running up to sit upon Olimpico's shoulders so he could smash Tataki on the head, right until he'd get rolled forward, forced to victory roll his own partner. They kept bounding up and doing it again though. I was picturing Carlos Colon and Invader 1 doing it to Andre, and it was all pretty wonderful stuff. Tataki wasn't exactly subtle in his shift from taking to selling, but he sold enthusiastically when it was time. Even then, he was able to separate his opponents and was taking back over again with huge hanging tree slams onto Sandokan, until the ref ended up distracted by Olimpico and Tataki ate a mule kick to the groin. He sold this bigger than anyone has ever sold anything, basically, falling out of the ring and spasming across the basketball court towards the crowd. That set up the absolutely iconic finish with Sandokan and Olimpico throwing chairs at Tataki one after the other, burying him so he couldn't answer the count.

Dynamite Kid/Canek vs. Kengo Kimura/George Takano NJPW 4/3/81

MD: Chippy stuff actually. Early, early 80s mean jerk Dynamite is the best Dynamite and here he had a couple of kids to beat all over the ring. Canek tried to keep up, which was welcome, but he wasn't nearly as mean. Kimura and Takano had something to prove so it ended up being a little less cooperative than you'd think. Less artful exchanges. Kimura was especially good at hoping into the ring to assert himself and break things up and just swipe from the outside in general; good fire overall. When they could work together, they had a chance and Dynamite wasn't afraid to bump for them when warranted, even if he was less eager to sell. In return, they went up for all of Kid and Canek's stuff (butterfly suplex, delayed vertical, gutwrench suplex, clothesline onto the top rope, Canek's plancha, the press slam into a backbreaker that ended it). Like I said, Canek was fine but whenever he was in there, you wanted him to tag out just because you knew Dynamite was going to throw a nasty European uppercut or drop a headbutt.

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Found Footage Friday: PANAMANIAN LUCHA~! CACTUS~! MORRUS~! SLIM J~! ROCKWELL~! DEVILS REJECTS~!

Galvez/Taur vs. Kato Kung Lee/Celestial 1988

MD: More Panamanian lucha. This was pretty polished. Galvez stooged well and looked like he could be the Cuban Assassin's partner. Taur had this great sweeping punch. Both of them based perfectly for Celestial who had a ton of fun headscissors takeover variations. Kato Kung Lee came off as an attraction at the height of his power and the fans were very into his rope running/climbing shtick that befuddled the rudos and won the first fall. The beatdown that followed primarily relied on the numbers game and was compelling enough, and then the comeback was celebratory like you'd expect. I'd say this match, at least, would stand up fairly well against comparable ones from the era.

Shaun Tempers/Azrael vs. Ace Rockwell/Slim J NWA Anarchy 5/20/06 - EPIC

MD: This was a great piece of business, with all of the story beats and intensity of one of the more complicated Anarchy matches but in a nice, compact package, going less than 15, with a clean shine, heat, comeback structure. It had all the wildness and mayhem you'd want though. Rockwell and Slim J rushed the Rejects at the start and they both looked great in the early going. Rockwell was incredibly intense with his headbutts and punches and running shots as the camera kept switching back and forth to try to keep up with the action. Slim J took a bit more of a beating given the size differential but came back in the ring with offense that seemed to pause time as he shifted around this way or that. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone else do his flipping grounded neckbreaker in a Rude Awakening style, for instance. All of that only worked for so long as they could keep the Rejects away from each other, however, and they came back in the ring when they could start to work together. Eventually, Rockwell stormed the ring by using his cast as a weapon and they went towards the big spots of the finish. The first was an absolutely insane superplex counter where Slim J pulled all of his weight down to switch motion in midair and with just a touch of his toes on the mat turned it around with huge momentum. It's not the sort of thing I'd want to see every day but here, it absolutely worked. Then Rockwell crashed Tempers through set up chairs on the floor with a top rope splash. And to set up the actual finish, Slim J took out Wilson and Azrael with a corkscrew dive. The finish was what you'd expect here, something to keep the heat on the Rejects and protect Tempers' weapon, but overall this one really got the job done in keeping the feud hot while giving the babyfaces a lot of chance to fight back.

PAS: This was really great stuff, high energy, big time violence and really intensity. Great demonstration of what made and makes Slim J so amazing. He brawls like an absolute demon in the beginning of this match and also pulls off some incredible state of the art highspots. The reversal of the superplex was mind blowing, just such a cool mix of balance and athleticism, his corkscrew dive to the floor was also next level. Rockwell is tremendous too, he feels like a guy who needs a deep dive, also really great at the punching and kicking parts and hits that wild top rope splash through the group of chairs. The Rejects were fine foils and the finish did a really nice job of setting up their all timer of a War Games which was still to come, I really need to see every second of this feud.

Cactus Jack vs. Crash the Terminator MECW 9/10/95 - FUN

MD: This was supposed to be Cactus vs. Barbarian but apparently Barb couldn't make it. Cactus hyped things up pre-match saying he'd teamed with Crash (being the future Hugh Morrus) before in Japan and they'd have a good match and they shaked, but Crash then ambushed Cactus. Cactus comes back with a really nice forearm sending Crash out and Cactus got back on the mic saying that it was time to fight instead. I don't think the intensity quite lived up to that opening, or that they went quite as hard as you'd expect for a main event substitution like this, but for one thing, the ring seemed really unforgiving. That said, I liked the idea of the entry point with the mic work before and after the ambush. You could picture Foley in the back trying to figure out how they'd start the match. Once they got going, most of Cactus' stuff was very credible. Great headbutt. Nice running elbow drop. DeMott was obviously strong. He caught Jack off the second rope impressively and got him over on a big suplex and a power bomb. Finish was a missed moonsault and a second double arm DDT and there was a sort of senseless ref bump in the middle, which was literally impactful but not exactly resonant. The announcing continues to be some of the worst in recorded history, without even the woman that helped the Waltman match we saw.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SLIM J

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CACTUS JACK

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New Footage Friday: SANTO! TANK! BABA! JUMBO! DANDY! MOGUR! ICEBERG!

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Giant Baba AJPW 5/14/77

MD: This was the final of the 77 Champion Carnival and I'm pretty sure Baba came into it worn down from dealing with Abdullah. Jumbo sensed his moment, his big opportunity, and threw everything he had to win. For the first minute or two, unfortunately, that meant containing headlocks. I was sort of regretting this one showing up. I've been spending a lot of time with 88-89 Jumbo lately, and it's a little hard to go back. Once Baba really started to fight out of it, however, the match opened up. Jumbo was determined to give him zero openings, meeting him more than half way with forearms and pure athletic aggression. Instead of the usual momentum shifts, Baba got hope spots, but Jumbo would close the gap and take back over. Ultimately, it wasn't his moment, and it took one good move for Baba to get the win. A few years later, it would have taken two or three and the match would have been the better for it. (Of course, twenty years later it would have taken ten or fifteen and the match would have been the worse for it). Still, everyone in that crowd knew what they had just witnessed: Jumbo dominating even a weakened Baba. He may not have won the match but he took another step towards what he would soon after become.

ER: This was maybe the most I've ever seen Baba dominated in a match, and while I'm not big on Jumbo from this era, it's a cool sight to see. Jumbo goes after him and keeps muscling Baba down to the mat with headlocks and then yanking forward on his neck. Once Jumbo even did a Phillie Phanatic kind of trick where he tripped Baba, and Baba did this athletic roll backward over Jumbo and wound back up on his feet. You got this sense that Baba was kind of biding his time, and was going to come down on Jumbo twice as strong, and then when that time came there was this great buzz where the crowd realized that Baba was supposed to be coming back strong, and wasn't. Baba was being effectively outstruck and outmuscled by Jumbo and that sense of buzz and panic was really exciting. It was cool seeing Baba getting hope spots, to see him completely outgunned. It was the hierarchy at the time, but I wish we got a couple extra nearfalls at the end, let Jumbo kick out of a couple big boots or something huge. I loved Baba's spry big left boot here, and how he hung Jumbo out on his flying clothesline, but I'm picturing the crowd reaction had Jumbo gotten a shoulder up ONE last time, and I just love how great the AJPW hierarchy style worked for so long, how well trained the crowds were to recognize when someone was exceeding their usual standing. 

Kato Kung Lee/Hijo Del Santo/Mogur vs. Hijo Del Gladiador/Kung Fu/Supremo CMLL Late 80s

MD: We're obliged to watch any new Santo that comes down the pipe. This was clipped but in a sort of "good parts only" way. You still got the sense of what was happening (primera = rudo beatdown; segunda = tecnico come back; tercera = exchanges with tecnico advantage). Santo and Kung Fu were captains, and while he took the time to bully Kung Fu pretty soundly, including at least three times of just casually walking across the ring and whacking him in the skull, Santo was able to have exchanges with all the rudos. We didn't quite get enough of everyone else. For instance, the camera completely missed whatever Hijo del Gladiador used to win the segunda, we don't get much Mogur at all, and while they teased the usual Kung Fu vs Kato Kung Lee battle, it ended with the rudos taking a powder and eating the countout. What we got here was good and iconic but it just made you want the rest.

El Dandy/Gran Cochisse/Hijo Del Santo vs. Pirata Morgan/Blue Panther/Bestia Salvaje CMLL Late 80s

MD: Another clipped affair where you still get a lot of good stuff but probably not quite enough of it. We got a lot of Dandy, Cochisse, Panther, and a bit less Santo and Bestia here. Past catching a Dandy dive like a brick wall, I barely remember Pirata being in this. Cochisse was pretty game for an older guy and at least tried a bunch of stuff (the best of which was urging his body to pull off a 'rana out of a standing stretch), though he had Panther to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Dandy looked like the best guy in the world, with a beautiful comeback punch out of nowhere and a killer clothesline. Panther was good all around but it was particularly striking when they spent a good fifteen seconds highlighting him gnawing upon Dandy's hand on the outside. Not the sort of Panther you were expecting.

PAS: This was a pretty wild brawl from what we got, with a chance to see some all time greats. Santo is cool in this kind of chaos, you don't expect him to kick your ass, but he is always ready and willing. Assuming this is late 80s Dandy is going to deliver at an all world level. He hit a enziguiri with Bestia running off the ropes, which was as cool as I have ever seen that move hit. We also get the wild Dandy over the top rope floating tope, which was one of the great dives of the 20th century. This is all chopped up sadly, so you lose some of the subtle flavors, but it is great we got to see what we got to see. 

Tank/Iceberg vs. Azrael/Rainman NWA Wildside 10/30/04

MD: We don't watch a lot of death matches around here and even then, I probably see less than the other guys. The appeal is fairly obvious. Wrestling is all about helping the crowd suspend their disbelief, not necessarily to make them feel like what they're seeing is real, but to accept it in the moment as its own sustainable reality. A lot of things can help with that, logical storytelling, compelling selling, great looking offense. Presumably, however, nothing is as quick and easy as people really getting hurt and there's no proof of that quite like blood. It's like injecting that suspension of disbelief into the fans' veins instead of crafting a beautiful picture that makes them feel it naturally. The premise are that there are weapons on poles in each corner. The camera vantage point means that we see a lot of violence but not necessarily any close-ups of the result of said violence, which I'm more or less fine with. Early on, Rainman and Azrael were able to get the weapons first as they were smaller, more agile, and that allowed for the only equalizer possible against Tank and Iceberg, but it wasn't going to last. It's a lot of violence that all escalates to the last corner and the thumbtacks. They serve as a certain center of gravity pulling the last third of the match towards the center of the ring. There's a moment where the ref hurts his hand on one during a count which actually helps the overall atmosphere and feeling of danger. The finish is completely believable with a flaming boot doing half the work and a huge double team by the NWA Elite off the top and into the thumbtacks doing the rest. It's not the sort of thing I want to watch every week, but it definitely got the job done.

PAS: Really cool to see some handheld Wildside show up, especially a gruesome brawl like this. Iceberg and Tank are such formidable babyfaces, that you almost need to come armed with implements of horror to have any chance at all. Every time I see Iceberg I am amazed at the agility he had for such an enormous man, he was really on the level of Vader or Jerry Blackwell. He takes a psychotic assisted powerbomb here, and hits one of the most devastating sit out spinebusters I have ever seen, it look like it powdered Rainman's spinal cord. We got a lot of gross stabbing and carving, and some fun stuff with thumbtacks which weren't completely played out by 2004. The flaming kick to the face was one of the cooler looking fire spots I have seen in a while and the finish had the violence and chaos you want from Cornelia GA. 

ER: I could watch Tank and Iceberg do anything. These two would have been a legendary team from another era, and watching them is always just a crushing reminder of the big fat man dearth we're dealing with now. At a certain point WWF just stopped seeking out fat guys, and fat guys stopped seeking out wrestling. There should be a steady pipeline of football guys who weren't good enough for the NFL, who are now also rapidly gaining size due to no longer having two a days in their life. How does NXT not have 7 of those guys? At some point the wrestling world changed and it unfairly passed over two real talents. Iceberg and Tank were the kind of guys who you could tell would have been great workers no matter their size, and I'm so happy they were big fat guys. They're two of the better bleeders of the 2000s, and throw right hands with their entire body, two guys who threw hands like they had never seen any wrestling past the territory days. You take their bleeding, and their big right hands, and insert them into any 1985 territory, and you have a big time drawing heel. I don't think you even need the death match portion of this for it to work, but Tank and Iceberg are great at integrating weapons. The thumbtack bumps all looked sick, loved that seated spinebuster right into the tacks, and Tank's STO followed by picking tack shrapnel out of his wrist was awesome. Tank eats a flaming kick, and that might be one of my favorite ever Wildside spots, just a killer moment that would have have me leaping out of my chair live. 

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