Chilanga Mask Love Letters 2018

Difunto vs. Masada vs. Último Demonio vs. Wotan (Chilanga Mask, 5/20/18)

SG: Matches with eliminations give you a lot to talk about, but this is one fall to a finish. Luckily for us, it’s one of the most sheerly violent matches that I’ve ever seen. Wotan is fully unhinged even to start, cracking a giant beer bottle over Demonio’s head to some of the shriekiest of audience shrieks. Masada looks giant compared to him but is really out to give one of his most physically active performances since who knows when. Feels very much like him to not want to get shown up on the road, even if I appreciate his dickishness/desire to not do shit making him one of the few American deathmatch guys ever who wrestles with a genuine sense of hierarchy. The first half is mostly Difunto/Masada primarily pairing off in the ring with Demonio/Wotan in the crowd and eventually the merch table. 

Bless whoever had coffee mugs printed out because Wotan is ready to blast Demonio with a few, just insane. I think that he delivers about 200 headbutts in this match, all as nasty as what Black Terry did to him here a couple years before. Demonio’s refusal to not engage him in stand-and-strikes really pays off for the match in a rare occurrence because I can’t remember the last time that someone broke a mug over Ishii’s head. I’m less bothered by the deathmatch magic elves and some revealing camerawork than I could be because it adds to how grotesque it all is, because the action is already in the Bumfights territory. Like, what’s more desperate than Wotan sticking Demonio’s head with skewers that he’d already been stabbed with by Masada?

The best lucha brawls come off like real fights between broken men in bad neighborhoods, and no offense to whoever owns the Toyota dealership with which Coliseo Coacalco shares a lot, but that’s already the ennui of this shit, so why not go for the gusto? The final third breaks down, less in quality but more in depravity, as a chair table on the floor comes into play. Deathmatch magic elves and all. Masada nearly breaks Wotan’s neck with a Death Valley from the apron onto it and it just gets worse from there after two nasty powerbombs on the outside. 

Meanwhile Difunto has bled more than anyone and is barely making it into the review! His dueling beer bottle to the dome spot with Wotan goes as well as you’d expect. Finish is Demonio getting his revenge and knocking Wotan unconscious with a falling powerbomb from the top to the chair. Well, it’s sort of a finish, because Difunto & Masada then stage-dive in onto the two as the staff attend to Wotan. And then a fight breaks out in the crowd after a fan yells out that they should let Wotan die instead of getting him treatment. Impulso, there to carry his brother to the back, responded by kicking the shit out of someone who might not have been that fan. Also, Facade is here. Everyone should just know that. Sadly, he didn’t kick the shit out of a fan.

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New Footage Friday: FELINO~! MAGICA~! WOLFIE D~! FLASH~! SLIM J~! MASADA~! MURDER ONE~! WAR GAMES~!

El Felino vs. Mascara Magica CMLL 5/21/96

PAS: A real hidden gem which, barring some third caida wonkiness, is a real classic. The first fall is some of the best lucha mat wrestling I have ever seen. Felino and Magica were working these sick looking leglocks, just tremendous torque on ankles and knees. There was some llave in it, but it really felt more like Tamura RINGS stuff than Negro Navarro. Felino also really bangs at Magica's shoulder in the second fall, leading to a cool bit of business where Magica can't lift Felino into the submission he won the first fall with. I liked the screwy finish to the third fall with Magica sliding under the ropes to beat the count, but not getting his foot all the way in, felt like kind of heartbreaking NBA replay moment where the game winning three point shooter had his toe on the line. I thought the restart Caida got a bit move spammy, and had this possible foul from Felino which didn't pay off. They were telling such a brilliant smaller tighter story and then went unnecessarily maximal, it was like the end of a Marvel series. WandaVision is about grief, Falcon and Winter Soldier is about race, but let's end it with a bunch of pew pew lasers. Still the good was so good that this was a real treat to watch.

MD: A week or two ago, an Atlantis mask match dropped and I realized I'd seen it a few years ago because dataintcash posted it on Youtube, which got me thinking how much I wanted him to post some more stuff as it'd been a while. Lo and behold, this drops. At the least, it's been offline for a while. It's a long title match and outside some goofiness in the tercera (and even allowing for that, really) it's very good. They had plenty of time to let things breathe, which is what you want. The primera was worked straight and it covered the ground of what you look for in these: it was competent, as in they didn't blow things or seem lost; competitive, as holds weren't just given but had struggle; and compelling, with some more tricked out holds and escapes. The next level is having some semblance of a narrative and there were bits and pieces with that, between a focus on the legs and both guys going for STFs. The pace picked up and led to the first of multiple Mascara Magica dives in th e match and the finish. The segunda had Felino fake a leg injury after another STF and then took the opportunity to do a cool victory roll from the apron in to set up the fall. In the tercera, he went full rudo with some great arm focus (including Mascara Magica not being able to hit things), and ultimately a tecnico comeback and huge dive for what looked like the win, but they restarted the match and it felt almost like a fourth fall, building from Felino clotheslines and Mascara Magica roll ups to bigger (and still legitimately impressive in 2021) spots with neither guy able to pin the other until Mascara Magica switched to a submission and got the nod. Just a good, long title match, where even the restart didn't hurt it as it felt thematically different afterwards. Anyway, someone nudge dataintcash to post some more stuff.

Wolfie D vs. Flash Flanagan MCW 4/4/98

MD: This was on a Tojo Yamamoto memorial in 98. Wolfie was on a crutch with his leg in a cast. I'm a big fan of matches where someone's working with a real limitation because they're almost forced to get outside of rote spots and be creative. This was definitely creative. There was a need for Wolfie to be on top for a lot of it so they had to keep finding ways for that to happen when he could barely move around, first with the crutch shot, then by tying Flash in the ropes, then with a chair, etc. It made it more of a thought experiment than the straight up bloody violence you might hope for out of something like this, but maybe that's fitting for a Tojo memorial show. These two worked a bunch of gimmick matches (tables, death match, falls count anywhere, ladder) over the span of a couple of years before starting to team later in 98 and this ended in BS with the chain breaking and nothing really getting settled, but it was fun while it lasted.

Slim J/Murder One/Gabriel/Altar Boy Luke vs. NWA Elite (Todd Sexton/Masada/Rainman/Azreal) NWA Wildside 7/3/04 - EPIC

PAS: Another Cornelia War Games gets dropped and we get to see another classic. This was really wild, with probably one too many gimmicks and ideas, but some real high highs. Slim J has got to be one of the great cage match workers of all time, what a total psycho. He bleeds a ton, takes huge bumps (including a top rope side slam), and gets barbed wire kicked into his face. Really liked the classic Wildside tag teams facing off against each other, with the Blackout of Murder One and Rainman beating the bricks off of each other and the Lost Boys of Gabriel and Azreal doing the same. Masada brings the lunacy by lighting his hand on fire for chops. Lots of set up required for the big ladder bump off the cage, but the payoff looked painful, and Dusty got his moment to elbow everyone. Again Cornelia proves they know how to end a War Games, with Slim J sticking barbed wire in the mouth of Sexton for the tap. Nasty, nasty stuff. 

MD: Interesting structure here as this has the longest Match Beyond that I can remember. Usually, you get through the War Games itself and it's pretty quick to the finish. The first pairing seemed like it was two minutes instead of five, but you forgot that quick. The pre-match promo had Bailey hype up Sexton, who was playing scared to get over the danger of the match (which is always nice to see in a world where everyone tries to be tougher than it) by saying they needed him in first as the technician to work on someone's limb and damage him for the submission or surrender portion. That would be well and good except for the other side surprised them by starting out Slim J, who as the smallest guy, you wouldn't think would start. These Wildside/Anarchy matches are full of clever little bits like that. Some of them, like Gabriel getting trapped outside the cage at the end, worked really well. Azrael (who was pretty great in this one, bumping and basing all over the place and happy to crash into the cage over and over) going through the table from the inside out worked well too. 

Some things, like Dusty freeing Slim J from the cuffs, or the dissension between the two tag teams that were trying to work together, or the final turn on Sexton needed a bit more space to breathe but it's hard in a War Games when things are happening all the time. It was also a bit of a victim of its time, where every move needed an extra twist or flip or spin to it. Everything was a tricked out video game move. When they used the barbed wire or tossed people into the cage, it all worked a lot better. That said, the fact that the match worked as well as it did despite the trappings of its time was a testament to how much effort and thought they put into these and how much history and character elements they could call upon, even in 2004. And hey, what was up with Luke and Rainman deciding to do headlocks and rope running at the start of the third period though? Even the announcers called that out. In a way it, like everything else, sort of worked though. A War Games is pure distilled chaos and everything in this match fit that bill.

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki vs. Masada

78. Low-Ki vs. Masada HOG 12/7

PAS: Stiff, compact brawl which surprisingly saw Ki get thrown around for much of the match. I can't remember the last time (if ever) I have seen Ki get eaten like this. He is a great bumper and really good with his timing, so it's a fun role for him. Masada jumps Ki early and roughs him up, including press slamming him throat first on the guardrail. Ki fires back with chops and some nasty 12 to 6 elbows, but he's mostly selling. I especially loved Masada's quebradora, it looked like it broke Ki's tailbone. Masada goes for the skewers, which gives Ki the opportunity to hit the Woo Dropkick and double stomp combo (and that double stomp looked like it might have broken Masada's collarbone) for the win. This is as close to Ki vs. Necro as we are going to get in 2019.

ER: This felt like the kind of match every promotion for the past 20 years has wanted Low Ki to do, but can't actually get him to do. Low Ki is almost always the smaller man in a match, and yet he rarely works matches as if he's a Rey Mysterio underdog. Instead Low Ki has gone into every match like he is 20 lb. bigger than any opponent. Low Ki opposite Da Hit Squad? Low Ki is now 300 lb. You know there have been promoters who wished he would take a beating for 90% of a match, if only because they themselves want to see Ki take an extended ass kicking. But Low Ki is a guy who works so credibly that there hasn't been a size difference yet that hasn't been able to close. And yet here he makes Masada look massive, and gets beaten around the building. Low Ki is one of the most inventive bumpers of all time, so seeing him get bounced and angled off tons of surfaces is great fun. Masada hotshots him on the guardrail, drops him with a quebradora, and fills in the spaces nicely with awesome kneelifts and uppercuts that knock Ki onto his heels. Ki is really good at taking a beating, selling that beating, but also being constantly active. Some guys take a move and then wait around until being picked up for the next move, but Ki is always actively selling something, and always taking any shot he can. If he's down holding his ribs and Masada is approaching with something new, Ki is going to try to punch him in the throat or get in at least one sharp knee strike if he's going to eat two. I loved how Masada's obsession with his death match ways is what cost him, as he tries to stab Ki with BBQ skewers which gives Low Ki the only opening he needs. Low Ki could not have landed more on Masada's chest with his match finishing double stomp, just quick violent revenge paying back a surprise beating.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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IWRG 1/10/10

2. Imperial/Dinamic Black v Comando Negro/Alan Extreme

TKG: Alan Extreme and Dinamic Black are clearly guys who trained together, perhaps brothers and they have their stuff against each other down. I haven’t had much good to say about either one against anyone else but they had a Willow Wisp v Surge level of polish. I’m not a big fan of touring matches but they structure the tag match around their stuff really well. The structure of the tag match means they do some switching up but it’s kind of kept to a minimum and really is done in a way that keeps both of them from being exposed. There is some goofy stuff in this match, Imperial being the guy who deadlifts Comando Negro for Dinamic Black’s front cracker feels like the wrong guy in the wrong position on a double team but this is the best “second match on the card” that we’ve seen in 2010.

PAS: This class of young guys have had individually strong moments, or good secondary performances, but this is their first really good match. Tom was right about Alan Extreme and Dinamic Black, they really have their stuff down and it is some nice looking stuff. I also liked how Negro and Imperial matched up, they also worked well together in a way which didn't look as rehearsed. Good building first fall with nice matwork and standing exchanges, solid beat down second fall, building into a big move third fall with some crazy dives (Alan Extreme does a twisting spinning top rope quebrada which was Flip Kendrick crazy), this is lucha libre right here.

3. Hijo Del Diablo/ Gringo Loco/ Masada v Chico Che/ Eragon/ Hijo del Pantera

PAS: This was really a match of peaks and valleys. When Chico Che is on, he is one of the most fun wrestlers in the world to watch. I love an agile fat dude, and his flying spots look great, floats in the air on his headscissors and splashes and moves shockingly quick for a big dude. I can't remember the last time I have seen Masada, but he is a welcome addition to the Gringos team, he is really expressive and charismatic, and he pulls off simple stooging and shtick so well. He also isn't afraid to take a weak Eragon tope by flying backwards through six rows of chairs. So a lot of good in this match, still there was some bad, a couple of spots near the end of the first fall get blown badly, and the big comeback face brawling didn't look good at all. El Hijo Del Pantera has some strenghts, but asskicking is not one of them.

TKG: Yeah I can't say enough about how fun this rudo team is. On the 1/7 show I described Eragon as a guy who is awesome at primera caida technical exchanges and not knowing what to do in the other two falls. The more I watch I think it’s less that he doesn’t know how to fill time in caida 2 and 3 then it is that he actually is uncomfortable drawing attention to himself there and kind of works tentative trying to fade into the background. Gringo Loco, Hijo del Diablo, and Mazda are super shticky stoogeing bumping guys who really do everything to make the technico look effective and won’t allow him to fade into the background. Eragon does do the really odd move of being the tecnico who looses all chop exchanges, which only works if you’re doing really underdog tecnico and I don’t think he’ll ever be able to pull off. I really like the pairing of Chico Che and Eragon but this could have used Rigo. Maybe they could regimmick Eragon as Perez Prado or replace the dragons on his mask with Farsifa Organs.

4. Dr Cerebro v Bushi (IWRG IC light title)

PAS: This was a really odd match, I am not 100% sure how I feel about it. Dr. Cerebro is an amazing performer, but this is the second singles match in a row which has felt really strange. For most of this match Cerebro was just squashing Bushi. It almost felt like a guy on his way out Mid-South wrestling. The handhelds which Black Terry Jr. are really awesome, you get a great close up look at how lucha is performed, when Cerebro applied his crazy upside submission to win the first fall, we really get a great view of exactly how it is applied. The first half of the second fall is also dominated by Cerebro, but then they go into a weird 2.9 section. Cerebro hits an insane top rope uranage for a two count, and Bushi hits the next move, all of a sudden this was a 2002 Chris Daniels match. Finish is kind of odd too, Bushi hits a tope, just smashing Cerebro into rows of chairs, while Cerebro is selling his thigh and the ref is distracted, El Hijo Del Diablo hits a martinete on Bushi, rolls Cerebro into the ring and he wins in two straight falls. So after being eaten alive by Cerebro for most of the match, Bushi leaves the country looking strong because it took two guys to beat him. You would also think this would lead to Bushi v. Diablo in a hair match or something, but Bushi is on a plane the next day. Lots of good stuff in the match, but this wasn't a good match.

TKG: I dug this more than Phil but it still is problematic match. I described Avisman as working like a “poor man’s Dr Cerebro”in his title match with Bushi so I was expecting a lot more from this. Dr Cerebro really dominates the first fall and it’s a really cool matwork fall as everything feels less cooperative than it often does (Cerebro and Bushi appear to be forcing their ways into and out of holds) and you don’t see either releasing holds on their own. Dr Cerebro isn’t Avisman (guy who can be beat off the ropes) as Dr Cerebro is a pretty solid highflyer himself. And it felt like the rope running fall was being worked as the highflying equivalent of volume puncher v power puncher where Bushi would try to overwhelm Cerebro with the speed and volume of his aerial stuff while Cerebro would slow Bushi down with harder stuff.. It’s more complex story than the Avisman one and I don’t think the match fully accomplished getting it across. For a match that was really one sided, it did accomplish giving you the sense that both Dr Cerebro was tough for being so dominant and Bushi was tough for surviving that level of beating.

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