Espectáculos Promociones Panama: More Atila Jr. (Mystery Solved!) and His Pal Satanico! Panamanian Impacto! El hijo de Urracá!

Satanico/Atila Jr. vs Impacto/El hijo de Urracá - November/December(?) 1988

MD: Another pretty complete tag. I have a much better sense of the Satanico/Atila Jr. act after this one. They have matching jackets here and very much come off as an interchangeable unit. They still feel like the Gemelos to me, with a sense of being swarming nuisances, but they're a little more dangerous over all. For instance, when they have control of Impacto in the segunda, they really hone in on the leg with one rapid-fire stretch/pull/yank after the other. They had plenty of tandem kicks and knees. I wouldn't say that they were a completely well oiled machine as there were a couple of wonky bits where they didn't seem to know what they were trying to do. Overall, while Atila, Jr. looked better on the mat, this was more of a high-energy Satanico showcase overall.

Meanwhile, they were quick to stooge and feed and base and did mostly well in that role. Impacto was a little all over the place. He did a bound into the ring to start and immediately seemed to hurt his leg, to the point where his partner moved him to the corner. Then he was fine a couple of minutes later (though maybe that did explain the leg focus later in the match... but you wouldn't know it from the selling and what came before and after?). He had some nice flowing armdrags (primary credit to the rudos here) and these absolutely bonkers diving lawn dart headbutts towards the end where he hit a weird angle and just bounced off.

Said partner was El hijo de Urracá and this is our first look at him, named after a Panamanian folk hero. No idea if there was another Urracá and he was his son or if he's supposed to be the spiritual son of said folk hero, but I liked him here. He had some interesting stuff when facing a 1-on-2 scenario against the rudos, a few little finesse bits that they fed into and based for that I've never seen done quite that way and a nice, similar transition into a submission to win the primera. Solid fire overall too and a good connection with the crowd. I wouldn't mind seeing him again and I'm curious what Graham digs up, if anything, now or in the future.

GB: I’ve got a lot of diddly squat to offer here. Just a couple quick anecdotes and not much more, honestly.

Firstly, Atila/Exterminador reached out to me and through him we can confirm this Atila Jr is the real McCoy. They seemed rather pleased that this part of their history hasn’t been forgotten and were amazed we have videos and photos of their time in Guatemala and Panama. I had lamented before of how he joins fans in attendance at ringside with only the old wrestling guard recognizing who he is. I feel grateful that, if nothing else, Matt and I can restore some joy to a luchador whose career is paramount to the success of lucha libre in at least two countries.

Secondly, I believe El hijo de Urracá is the son of the 70s Panamanian luchador, Indio Urracá. They’re a semi-regular on the cards but not nearly as prominent as you’d assume they’d be based on the name. Not as high on the cards as say Indio Ibeorkun, for instance. Perhaps the gimmick didn’t fit his style, much like it doesn’t quite suit Hijo. The real Urracá was a leader of what is now modern-day Panama. A fierce protector, Urracá has become a legendary figure for his guerrilla warfare like resistance against Spanish colonization, leading the Ngäbe-Buglé people in multiple battles and thwarting Spanish conquest for years. He has since become a symbol of indigenous resistance and Panamanian pride; a symbol a little lost in translation between the ropes here. There are moments where things go right, as Matt alludes to but, for the most part, El hijo de Urracá feels more calm and hesitant than he should be. In these 2-on-1s he hits back with a headbutt or two to shift momentum but it takes him some time to move to the second move of his arsenal. Satanico/Atila try and make up for it by adding their own movements but it’s all a little jarring. If he had been any other name I’d probably have no quibble here but you have to play to your gimmick.

Less harshly, I’ve started to come around on Impacto. He’s not someone I think we can go to bat for, but he’s a lot more entertaining in this match. Not having to focus on the “history” of the match or trying to build canon has allowed me to come into this with the goggles of a fan again and I love the dumb fun he pumps out here. The lawn dart headbutt has to be seen to be believed. A completely buffoon thing to do but just so memorable. As a high-flyer babyface that had to get over in a territory with better flyers, this was the way to do it. Not that it was a great choice for career longevity, of course, but when Matt mentioned “a spot” I immediately knew what he was going to say next. If you thought he had to retire a few years later due to injuries, you’d be right! Cut down in his prime (I’m guessing a complete rookie here in 1988), Impacto seems to retire less than a decade into his career. In the grander scheme of things, his highest career accolade would most likely be in 1996 when he and his partner el Patriota won the mask (though I’d assume hair?) of Rosa Salvaje (Rey Demonio) and Adrian el Exotico (Andy Barrow). That’s where his trail runs cold and I believe he retired.

Read more!

Espectáculos Promociones Panama: The Mystery of Atila Jr.! Exterminador?! Not Satanico! A Halcon! Impacto (not that one)!

Impacto/Halcon Vs Atila Jr./El Satanico - November(?) 1988

MD: A palette cleanser straightforward tag with clear lines that got a lot of time and went back and forth for the most part. It had a pretty solid balance of exchanges, rudo beatdown, tecnico dominance, and sheer shtick. Impacto was pretty clunky at times, especially when he tried to do something particularly complicated. He was fine when he was just splashing someone in the corner, for instance. Halcon on the other hand really stood out; he was very smooth and able to hit some impressive spots with nothing feeling particularly forced.

I'll fully admit that I spent most of the match trying to figure out if Atila, Jr. was in fact our old friend Exterminador. And, I'm not entirely sure. If I was just looking at him selling, feeding, stooging, interacting with his opponent and the crowd, I'd lean towards yes. I was looking for some "signature offense" and didn't quite see it but there were bits in how he chose to double team with Satanico and how they had it backfire which was reminiscent of the Idolo tag. I liked him though, at least for what he was called upon to do in this match. I was disappointed when things didn't break down fully between him and Satanico. I have to admit that instead of feeling like some lightning strike generational rudos, these guys felt more like the Gemelo Infernales' buddies and stand-ins. Competent, down to their matching tights, but you're not going to go look for their entire career collection. I'd sure like to see some more Halcon though.

GB: Let’s get the obvious out of the way; this is not the Satanico we all cherish. Instead, we have a perennial lower carder that is passable enough to continue the match’s narrative forward, even if the gimmick doesn’t quite match the wrestling. Through the few matches we have of him, his offense is a little light and he plays to the crowd in more of a comedic way than you’d hope. Which, all things considered, isn’t necessarily the wrong thing to do in Panama as intention is more important than the realism, for the most part. Stuff like this usually gets over well enough, though it’s not going to elevate you beyond a certain level on the card. Naturally, young Satanico here would find out as his push didn’t last so long and he’d still be wrestling opening matches as late as 2014 while his contemporaries, such as Red Master and Los Gemelos would be headlining.

It’s fitting in a sense that Matt mentioned Gemelos in his appraisal of Satanico and Atila Jr. The only proof I have that this is our buddy Exterminador is a polaroid from a Satanico/Atila vs Gemelos II y III match that happened on December 28th 1988 at el Orlando Winter de San Migelito:

Even though the two Panamanian videos showcasing Atila Jr have him in a slightly different getup, we can notice the familiar skull stitched onto his mask in the picture above. With no doubt I suggest this is him. Much to Matt’s dismay, the central feud here appears to be Satanico/Impact, though I’m also rather clamoring for a little violence between Atila and Halcon to pop up someday. Halcon’s cool. It’s unfortunate that this match doesn’t really play to Atila/Exterminador’s strengths. He’s such a unique case of someone being lost to time that I wish we had just one slam-dunk match as the “Eureka!” moment to get his case over. Alas, he’s saddled with Satanico during his return to Panama.

Equally alas is the placement of Atila on the card. We know from the Kendo/Idolo feud that Atila/Satanico were curtain jerkers, opening the match with freshly debuting talent. We also know the Impacto/Satanico feud lasted at least 9 months as they appeared opposite each other on the Varela/Baby de California cards. However, with two major changes. Firstly, by this time, Atila had gone back to Monterrey and seemingly better things with Septiembre Negro Jr as his partner. Secondly, Satanico/Impacto was headlining above bigger stars and seemingly bigger programmes. I guess we can add another luminary to the list of stars Atila/Exterminador made. Though I’ll go out on a limb and say Satanico’s push was more sustained due to the booker and after-effects of Atila/Exterminador than anything else as he slips down just as fast as he crept up.

Though all of this begs a few questions. If Satanico on top was the end goal, why would they not have him be bumped up the card alongside Atila? It isn’t as if Atila was an unknown entity. Exterminador gimmick aside, Atila Sr (Jr’s uncle) was a massive player in the Panamanian scene in the mid 1970s. And, unlike Septiembre Negro Sr, Atila Sr was very much one of the boys:

Atila Sr and Cesar debuted in early May alongside Montunito, wrestling a bloodbath against the Ursus, Titan and Sergio Galvez that left the Panamanian tecnicos licking their wounds. A week later Cesar/Atila did the same again to Ursus and Titan. They were presented immediately as a strong force to be reckoned with.

Thanks to his violence, Atila Sr was the beater at the top of the card, wrestling against names such as Mano Negra (yes, that one), Ricardo Diaz, Emperador and Chamaco Castro. The Mano Negra programme was quite popular across Panama and the two would jostle between technical title matches and bloody brawls:

Further, with the launch of a new wrestling company in Panama, Atila Sr found himself in hot programme after hot programme. So much so, he was specifically chosen to headline the company in a feud opposite Rayo Chapin in the  Guatemalan legend’s second and penultimate tour of Panama:

This was a feud which lasted but a few months until the company shut its doors due to “mismanagement”. “Too many bosses and not enough wrestlers,” Don Samy de la Guardia commented about them.

Regardless of the corporate side, Atila continued his dominance. Him and Valentin were (and still very much are) seen as the “tag team of the decade” despite their relatively short time spent in Panama. Why was the same not done with Atila Jr and Satanico? What a waste of talent in Atila/Exterminador.

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: PANAMA~! KING MIKE RAPADA~! SANDOKEN~! EL SATANICO DE PANAMA~! GEMELOS INFERNALES~! EL BARON~! CHRISTOPHER~!

El Barón y Jaguar Kuna vs. Satánico y Gemelo Infernal 3 Panama 1985

MD: I wouldn't say this held up quite as well as the matches we've seen so far out of Panama. These guys were lithe, wiry, and they had some tricked out armdrags as you'd expect but other exchanges felt downright clunky. Satanico is a pale reflection of the one we know and love, just some guy in a mask. I haven't talked up the Gemelo Infernales' maskes, which are these cool goblin type deals in black and white. #3 here used his knee fairly well. Baron here had a skull match which was pretty solid too, even if he was a scrawny tecnico. His best stuff were the flying driving headbutts. Jaguar had a neat front flip he did for absolutely no reason, one great dropkick and a dive that has to be seen to be believed to end the third fall. Overall, these guys were game and occasionally things got wacky in a good way (like when Gemelo Infernal 3 kept hitting spinning tombstones on everyone which led to some uninspired head-selling by Jaguar), but didn't come together like some of the other Panamanian footage.

Sandokan/Ricardo Díaz/Antorcha 1 vs. Kronos 2/Gemelo Infernal 1/Gemelo Infernal 2 Panama 1989

MD: Back when we were all doing the AWA 80s set over ten years ago, I had the distinct feeling that Verne was terrified at the idea of overheating the crowd. Heels rarely won and they even more rarely got their heat back after the match. After seeing a decent amount of this Panamanian lucha, you really, really get the sense that they wanted to cause a riot each and every time out. Sometimes, they even manage it. Here they didn't but it was sure a surprise to me.

The first two falls were pretty much as you'd expect. The exchanges are a bit more flowing, with a lot of tosses out of a head and shoulder sort of grab. Sandoken has the most tricked out, even if not particular swift, variations. I really liked when he continued the motion through on one of these to get to his feet. Everything was smooth and kept moving, with the tecnicos winning the fall with these fun assisted victory rolls into sunset flips. They're kind of hard to explain but it was all pretty neat and you could imagine some more athletic 2022 guys stealing it successfully. The second fall was more of a beatdown with the rudos winning with submissions.

Then things really opened up. First there was a great comeback with Sandoken coming back with headbutts on everyone, Diaz with fun sweeping punches, and Antorcha with shoulder throws/back body drops, a whole bunch of the. The rudos took back over though, all leading to the Gemelos bloodying up Sandokan and Diaz on the inside and Kronos absolutely crushing Antorcha with a chairshot on the floor. We're talking an all time chairshot here.He got carried away by some of his buddies leaving things with a 3 on 2 numbers game for the rest of the match. There were a couple of comebacks, including a sort of unbelievable 3 on 1 Sandoken comeback towards the end with Sandoken kicking out of a bunch of stuff, but the numbers won out and, like I said, somehow there wasn't a riot. Just another really complete look at this regional subgenre. It remains well worth diving into.  

Brian Christopher vs. King Mike Rapada USA Championship Wrestling 6/9/01

MD: This was a TV match to heat up a feud for the No DQ match live that night. It was Brian Christopher going in to Nashville to try to take the crowd back from (now heel) Rapada and defend his dad's honor. I'm not exactly rushing to watch Rapada matches or anything, but the idea of Christopher defending Lawler and being a stand-in babyface is kind of interesting. Of course he does it in the way that Jerry would love most, blatant homophobia on the mic to start. Rapada's heel act isn't bad, as he has Honest Ernest playing a trumpet on the way down, and he keeps control during the match using the usual chicanery. Here, I think he used the "hidden object" too sparingly, just really once or twice to cut Christopher off instead of really leaning into it. Christopher had a lot of fire to start, beating Rapada around the ringside area including a bulldog on the floor. This was to set up the later match so it ended in a ref bump and trumpet shots (see, it was a good part of the act), but it was a nice look at Big Star Christopher coming home right after his WWF run ended defending the honor of the Lawler name.

Jerry Lawler vs. King Mike Rapada USA Championship Wrestling 7/28/01 

ER: This was maybe 5 minutes long including the post-match, and it wasn't very good, and also it was very good. Mike Rapada is the ultimate example of a guy who did the absolute least with the most, the Renegade von Erich, a man who never got good at wrestling despite constantly working with some of the smartest workers in wrestling history. But I actually like him in his King Mike persona, playing the aloof dumb heel with a stolen crown. He's the best dressed in the ring, but that's also because Lawler is wearing this sunny side up gear that I've never seen him wear, with white tights and yellow singlet. Jackie Fargo is wearing one of those confusing shirts that some 70 year old white men have, the kind that don't fit their personality or body. It's pointless to ask these men about these shirts (or their car dealership hats) because they won't have much of an answer about a) where they got the shirt, or b) why they ever thought it looked like a normal shirt that you would wear in front of people. 

Fargo's shirt is a hideous NBC Sports shirt-jersey, with NBC SPORTS as the name across the shoulders, a big N as the jersey number, and a big Peacock logo on the front. It doesn't resemble anything at all related to sports, and looks much closer spiritually to a toddler's onesie with a baseball playing elephant and the words Lil Slugger across the shoulders. While wearing this shirt, he calls King Mike a "little asshole" for turning on these fine people. Fargo is 70 here, so when he gets down to count a 2 count he needs to pull himself up by the ropes to stand back up, and there is zero chance he's getting back down to count another 2 for King Mike. Jackie literally just stands next to the pin with his hands on his knees waiting for them to take the hint that no count is coming. Lawler picks up on it and rakes Rapada's eyes just to move things along.  Lawler takes the strap down maybe three minutes in and throws four great right hands, also takes a big back bump on a double shoulderblock collision. Billy Joe Travis comes out and gets into the ring only to get punched by Fargo (great punch too) and in the chaos Rapada hits Lawler with a chain, Fargo gets the chain, Travis threatens Fargo, and King Mike kicks the ring announcer. Some hot matches happening an hour east at the Lebanon Airport Armory later tonight, be sure to check em out. 

Read more!