Found Footage Friday: LOS INFERNALES~! VALENTE~! GUERRERO DE LA MUERTE~! NIEBLA~! LATIN LOVER I GUESS~!

Rayo De Jalisco Jr./Latin Lover/Valente Fernandez vs. Los Infernales (Satanico, MS-1, Pirata Morgan) Monterrey 8/23/92

MD: We had previously covered the Latin Lover vs Valente Fernandez apuestas match so it's nice to get this as well, which has Fernandez turning on him, including him explaining it after the match. Morgan wears a bandana through this as he'd just lost his hair to Vampiro. Infernales ambush to start, and it's a solid rudo beatdown where they cycle through the tecnicos before slamming Lover, holding him down, and having MS-1 squash him with a top rope splash. Segunda starts with Rayo charging the ring and it settles down to exchanges. He gets all of his stuff in as the Infernales bumble about. They're as good as anyone playing into it. Fernandez looks very good too, sharp offense, going out as a tecnico with a bang. Lover less so, overall. The tercera was short but chaotic with guys going in and out of the ring and the tecnicos sort of trying a hit and run approach. It ultimately backfired as Lover rushed in to save Fernandez from a 3 vs 1 situation and accidentally dropkicked him. Fernandez lost it after that and started in on Lover with a chair before raising his hands with the Infernales and going back out to post Lover some more. He got a ton of heat for it and on commentary after noted how sick he was of Lover constantly being so clumsy. The payoff was fun so now it's nice to have the set up too.

ER: I loved the match long payoff of Valente losing his shit on Latin Lover, because every time Lover was in this match he looked like the worst wrestler in Monterrey. Were Rayo's bunny hop headbutts ridiculous? Yes. But everything Latin Lover did - outside of a cool bad landing dropkick on the floor to MS-1 - looked like it was done by a guy who should not be in a ring in front of paying customers. Watching him hit light clotheslines below the boobs or his weird Roadblock moonsault bumps to the floor was enough for me, but watching Valente doing several flawless classic lucha bumps to the floor made me fully understand his turn, even before the dropkick. And let's hear it for my boy MS-1, the least acclaimed of Los Infernales but a helluva show here, outshining Satanico and Pirata, huge aura, big top rope splash, throwing harder punches than his celebrated brethren. 

Latin Lover/Kato Kung Lee vs. El Sanguinario/El Mercenario Plaza De Toros Monumental mid-1992

MD: It's worth going through all of this just so we know someone's covered it. Rob had pointed out a number of new matches on this channel and I can report back that there's not a lot to see here. Lover still had his mask at this point and he was over with a part of the crowd as the new idol/sensation, and I'd even say his stuff looked a little better here, maybe because Sanguinario was flying into it so well, but this was fairly straightforward. At one point in the segunda when the rudo beatdown abruptly start, he got lawn darted into the seats and that was pretty satisfying and Kato Kung Lee got to do his stuff right at the end to entertaining effect but the VQ was rough for the most part and the opening exchanges were pretty subdued. Unless you really want a glimpse of what early Lover looked like, I'd say this is probably a skip.

ER: If any of you are out there reading this and still wondering what early Latin Lover looked like, picture the worst Lenny Lane match you've ever seen and now picture Lenny with less polish. 

Mr. Niebla vs. Guerrero De La Muerte Arena Coliseo 12/17/96

MD: Just the tercera here. We come in with Guerrero in charge, first with a camel clutch and then tossing Niebla off the top. He has a cool little bit he does where he winds up with his foot for leverage before tossing him too. He then starts slapping the piss out of Niebla, which only enrages Niebla and enables the comeback, which included a great moonsault from the apron to the floor. On the way back in though, Guerrero pulls off Niebla's mask. The ref buys that it was an accident and the match continues (which I've rarely ever seen actually).They rolled into a stretch from there, including a big top rope dive to the floor and then wiping out over the top in a Jerry Estrada bump by Guerrero which was followed up by Niebla having to shift directions to hit his tope. Guerrero caught him on a rana attempt and dropped him with a power bomb for the win though. A good fall. Shame we don't have the whole thing.

ER: Fantastic one fall tercera look at the things that made Guerrero de la Muerte a special worker, one who we've likely highlighted much less than other special workers from this era of special workers. This was Guerrero's fall. Niebla got a couple cool tecnico moments: a big Asai moonsault (the way he slingshots himself to the apron made it look like he was going to go even crazier, like Gran Metalik or Taka) and a tope with hardly any run up, just switched directions when he saw where Guerrero was running. Guerrero was great at setting it up, his backdrop to the floor superb, holding onto the top rope to get full extension and holding it for a full arc. It looked like he was captured in a vert ramp trick on the cover of Thrasher. 

But the fall was all about building to those few big Niebla moments and letting Guerrero run wild with the rest. Even Guerrero gets a big dive, hitting an awesome full arms out plancha. Both were excellent at catching the others' dives. I'm with Matt in that I don't think I've ever seen a mask removal deemed "accidental", and in this case Guerrero was definitely Up To No Good with the mask removal. The way it happened was so sick. He had the mask partially removed and had a handful of the mask's jawline so he could hold Niebla in place while punching him in the face. Niebla began to fall after taking punches and the mask came off in Guerrero's hand. An accident, in that he wasn't attempting to rip his mask off, he was merely using the mask to punch his opponent in the teeth!

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Found Footage Friday: 1989 CMLL

Full Show

Septiembre Negro/Bufalo Salvaje vs. Pegasso/Sombra Poblama

MD: We come in JIP here, just the finish, but it's a fun one. After a bit of measured rope running, Septiembre Negro takes a wild hefting bump over the top. Sombra Polbama hits a great driving heatbutt off the apron onto him as Pegasso (I think) locks in this cool dangling pulling armhold on Bufalo Salvaje to win it. 

Las Estrellas Blancos vs. Bestia Salvaje/Comando Ruso/Panico

MD: Estrellas aren't super familiar to me but they had a kid or a mini out with them to do tricks pre-match and signed a bunch of autographs. Rudos ambushed to start with one Estrella getting lawn darted into the post. I'm not used to seeing Bestia Salvaje so young and he was really moving around in there well. Start of the segunda had solid tandem rudo offense including pressing an Estrella back against the top rope for a shot off the top and holding him up in Hart Attack position for a bunch of offense. Panico followed it up with a slam onto the side of the ring, but while doing so, the tecnicos came back. Little bit weird timing there. They did a revenge posting on Comando Ruso and then held Panico's arms so they could kick him again and again with big setups. A crowd pleaser that he sold like a foul. Rudos took back over and did a stacking submission with Bestia posing on top. Finish actually had an Estrella come from behind and foul him there, drawing the DQ but a moral victory perhaps. I'm not sure I've ever seen that exact finish to a fall. I had fun with this even if I thought the timing of the comeback as dubious.

Pirata Morgan/Super Halcon/Hijo del Gladiador vs. Jaque Mate/El Egipico/Pierroth Jr.

MD: Rudo vs. rudo war here. Pirata's side ambushed to start though it didn't really pick up until the end of the primera where Gladiador was waistlock dropping people on the ground and Pierroth's mask had been mostly torn apart. Egipico had a pretty solid comeback where he just started to punch everyone. Nothing really sparked it but it was fiery enough all things considered. After the comeback things devolved into lots of formless brawling and mask ripping. I wouldn't say there was any sort of central thesis to it, just things ebbing and flowing as people engaged and withdrew, but when it all came back together, it really all came back together. They were able to isolate Pierroth 3-on-1 and gave him one of the nastiest beatings I've seen in ages, leaving him a bloody mess with a strewn mask barely clinging on to consciousness. It was a hell of a way to end the thing at least.

Los Infernales (MS-1/Satanico/Maskare) vs. Magico/Blue Demon Jr./Huracan Ramirez

MD: Another rudo ambush. They were leaning hard into it on this one. They said this was a super libre, I think. Satanico can direct rudo beatdown traffic better than anyone and that's what we had here. Just a constantly moving beatdown ending in a triple submission that stretched Blue Demon in every direction at once. Notable is that when they were doing the "stand on your opponent" triple submission bit earlier, they saw the tecnico coming to break it up and dismounted to stop him, which you never really see.

Tecnico comeback was driven by Magico (Who would soon become Mascara Sagrada or at least Hombre Sin Nombre? That probably helps date this?) but things would sort of go back and forth with bits of tecnico comeback interspersed with renewed rudo beatdown. All the rudos managed to stooge and take the babyfaces' stuff, Satanico being especially great at it, but soon after they took back over and were undoing the tecnicos masks all at once. It went like that until they had the rudos in some real danger and in response they swarmed, beating the crap out of Huracan Ramirez and drawing the DQ when they wouldn't stop. So not exactly satisfying but you can't fault the rudo talent here certainly.

ER: I don't think we specifically set out to write about Satanico on consecutive days but there sure are worse ways to run this website. Our streak of Consecutive Days to Start 2026 Writing About Satanico will almost surely end with this, but I love our look at first 76 year old Satanico and now 40 year old Satanico. There is no moment of this match where my eyes were not drawn to whatever Satanico was doing. As Matt says, he is very clearly the one running traffic for this entire match. Whenever he is not directly involved in the action, my brain was always saying "Where is Satanico? What is Satanico doing right now?" because whatever he was doing was almost always the thing most worth watching. He is the man directly Los Infernales while dictating the match's tone and energy. It's incredible. It's one thing that his actual ring work is a cut above everyone else (not an insult to anyone, for he is Satanico), it's that he is such a presence at all times. He is the smallest of Los Infernales, but anyone seeing Satanico for the first time would instantly be able to tell that he is In Charge. 

Sometimes, due to 1989 lost lucha video quality and the incredible matching gear/full heads of gorgeous hair on Los Infernales, it would be easy to forget that Masakre or MS-1 was currently in the ring wreaking havoc and not Satanico. But then, our boy would come into frame with that smile and that even better head of hair and the mood would just change. He took offense from tecnicos better (love his fold on Huracan's huracanrana), he stirred shit and stooged better (loved the way he threw up his hands in plea while his boys were being pinned in the segunda), and he was the one who would always enter with punches and devilish charm. My favorite actual moment of the match was MS-1's apron fist fight with Magico. I've seen a lot of bad looking apron fights, and they had such a dramatic battle with both rocking each other with punches to the face, chest and body, both using the ropes to hold themselves up, never just simple back and forth, excellent dramatic movement by MS-1. But this was a six man Satanico match, through and through.   

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We'll Meet Again Terry, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, But We'll Meet Again Some Sunny Day

Black Terry vs. Mr. Condor vs. Pirata Morgan Zona 23 8/11/19 - GREAT

PAS: Terry in the junkyard is really special. This wasn't close to singles Mr. Condor match a couple years later (but honestly what in wrestling history ever was), but it was three awesome old men beating the shit out of each other in a rain storm and a junkyard. Lots of great punch exchanges, including an awesome one between Pirata and Terry, with Terry peppering him with jabs, and Pirata countering with a huge hook. Condor also nukes Pirata with a bottle. I think with a finish this might have touched EPIC territory, but instead it had a long meandering run in finish with Ovitt maybe? Some fat dudes who couldn't match the energy of the senior citizens they were beating up. Still this was sick.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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Oh Bury Terry Not on the Lone Praire

Black Terry/Pantera vs. Negro Navarro/Pirata Morgan IWRG 7/23/11 - GREAT

PAS: Compact 13 minute match which kind of felt like an awesome first fall, where we never got the second and third. Match opens with 5 minutes of Navarro and Terry grappling which was delightful and an obvious highlight. Pantera hits a cool tope from the apron through the ringpost, and there are some cool eliminations. Pirata had a moment or two, but this was worth watching for that uncut raw Terry vs. Navarro.

 
MD: It's a joy to watch Terry and Navarro do their thing for a few minutes. They're wrestling's odd couple. Navarro makes everything look theatrical, able to somehow make a straight line look stylized and curved. Meanwhile, Terry's entirely business-like, poised and practical, able to make something infinitely complex seem simple and professional. Navarro is eternally bombastic and will take you on the scenic route pointing out every landmark true and fabricated along the way and Terry somehow finds a shortcut to wherever he's going, getting there two minutes early yet still leaving you completely satisfied by the quality of company. When you put them together, they play perfectly with one another's strengths, the contrast driving the entire endeavor and leaving you not wanting to look away.

Morgan was fun here too, pulling out a few things that, while maybe not contributing to a greater whole would be memorable: an abrupt contorting cradle when he first got in there, the rare double rotation Casita for one elimination and then a rolling sort of Anaconda Vice that felt just as rare for the second. And then Pantera added just a bit of flash and motion (not too much) with a few high spots. As Phil noted, this ultimately felt like a really good primera, never boiling over, never leading to heat and comeback, but as exhibitions go, any one that'll start with a few minutes of Navarro vs Terry like this is well worth watching.

JR:   This match is mostly an exhibition, although there are certainly worse people to have that sort of match than Terry and Navarro. There are fun holds and some good exchanges that might look too cooperative in the hands of lesser performers. Pirata Morgan hits a slingshot senton that I can only describe as a non-ironic version of the slow motion one Chuck Taylor used to do in Chikara.

After the opening portion, when Terry and Navarro tag out, there is a brief moment that will stick with me as Pantera struggles with Pirata Morgan. I found myself thinking, as I watched this, of Cubs' wonderful obituary from today. In it he talks about the truly beautiful outpouring of support for Terry and how beloved he was as a trainer and teacher. Terry was observant of new trends and styles and was willing to teach things that were not to his taste if he thought it would help his students succeed. Close to the corner, Terry crouches down and talks to his partner, giving what I can only assume are instructions. My relationship with Terry has always been purely critical, of course. I've never seen him train or eaten at his table or heard him tell stories. I've only watched him perform. Perhaps this was a performance as well, but in that moment I saw Black Terry not as a wrestler, but as someone that cared and wanted to help his partner sincerely. I saw the type of trainer he might be, offering quiet but serious suggestion.
When I picture Terry, I think I'll always picture a man brawling, grunting. I'll picture effort and sweat. Tonight, I am glad that I can briefly picture something else that makes me feel closer to the whole of him.

TKG: This is pretty much a one fall sprint with Terry and Navarro doing their ras de lona work, Pantera getting in his big dives and a small tease of Pirata v Terry.

At turn of century when both AAA and EMLL where both stripping out first fall technical exchanges…the indies fully leaned into them, highlighting the work of the older maestros keeping the style vital and alive.

I really popped when after the initial submission exchanges, Terry started the technical leverage throw section with a big monkey flip and Navarro answered with an impressive nasty suplex.
As maestro’s got older we’d see fewer big suplexes. Your Hechicero generation of technical wizards really don’t do suplexes as part of technical display. That moving from leverage submission holds into leverage arm drags still happens but the subs into suplexes is something we see less and less and I miss.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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Found Footage Friday: PIRATA~! MS-1~! JAGUAR~! DEVIL~! FUJINAMI~! KOSHINAKA~! CHOSHU~! SAITO~!

Devil Masami vs. Jaguar Yokota AJW 9/7/83

Kadaveri: I think the context of this match finally surfacing needs a bit of explanation for those who aren't 80s Joshi nerds. Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami were the top two stars of AJW in the 1981-84 period in between Jackie Sato retiring and the Crush Gals becoming megastars. This WWWA Singles Title match was the main event to one of the biggest shows of the era and essentially the blowoff to their feud, which goes back at least as far as them feuding over the AJW Junior Title in 1980. Jaguar & Devil went on to form the tag team 'Empress Duo' and never wrestled each other in a singles match again.

Sadly though, the match was missing. The source for most of the early 80s AJW footage you'll see online is one Japanese guy's collection of home-recorded VHS tapes of AJW broadcasts on Fuji TV. I got in contact with him a few years ago and specifically asked him if he had this match, as I noticed a Crush Gals vs. Mimi Hagiwara & Noriyo Tateno match (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_qqf3xDkrE) from the same show was circulating. Turns out that back in 1983 when recording the episode he'd mistakenly inserted a tape with only about 25 minutes left, so we got the first match of the episode but then it cut off and the main event wasn't recorded. Imagine making a little error like that, and finding out someone from another continent is upset about it 40 years later. It's far from the only big match of that era missing but I'd say it's the most historically important one. I'd hoped for years that surely someone else had recorded and kept a copy, but most of these older Japanese fans aren't very online so this hypothetical person might not even be aware that they have something rare.

In more recent times there have been different people uploading their own recordings of 80s AJW broadcasts to YouTube, which has filled a few gaps. You might see me in the comments asking if they have the 1983 Jaguar vs. Devil Title match, but to no avail. Despite there being no footage, I felt this match was important enough then when I made the 1980s Joshi Set last year I inserted a magazine description of the match into the video (https://vkvideo.ru/playlist/640112534_2/video640112534_456239022) to let everyone know the match happened, rather than just disregarding it entirely.

So for decades, all we had to go on to learn about this match was descriptions in Japanese media at the time, and references to it in future interviews. When Devil Masami defeated Dump Matsumoto to win the WWWA Singles Title in 1985, she referenced this match in her post-match interview, saying that she felt her performance had made up for her deporable display in the 1983 bout, where she was so upset about losing that she'd threatened to quit there and then. At the time, AJW was still running a strange mix of worked pro-wrestling with an element of legitimate competition. Specifically, while most matches were entirely worked, sometimes they'd do matches where the majority was worked for entertainment purposes, but there was no pre-determined winner. Rather, after some kind of signal had been given, the wrestlers would take turns to try and legitimately pin the other for a 3 count.

Then in July 2024, this Japanese blogger uploaded clips from the match, saying that someone who had a copy invited him to his house to watch it and allowed him to record some moments on his phone.  https://ameblo.jp/kimumasa992/entry-12860724586.html I only had to watch a few seconds of the clips to verify that this indeed was the 9/7/83 title match. Whether this directly led to the full match being uploaded isn't clear, but it's possible the buzz among the tiny number of 80s Joshi nerds about this footage being confirmed to exist caught the ear of the mysterious uploader who put up the whole broadcast several months later.

Now to the match itself. The match length was 38:26, with 25 minutes shown on the TV edit. My more wider thoughts on it is that it changes my ideas on the development of AJW's house style by quite a bit. My working theory at the moment is that in early 1984 we saw their working style(s) diverge into what ended being the most varied but somehow still cohesive wrestling products of the era.

Firstly, there was an escalation in quickening the pace of matches and adding innovative moves, which brought us the style most associated with Jaguar Yokota, the Crush Gals and the Jumping Bomb Angels.
Secondly, while brawls and evil cheating heels totally existed beforehand, Dump Matsumoto kept that style relevant by upping the ante considerable, adding horror elements and a level of unhinged spectacle far beyond anything the likes of Abdullah the Butcher ever did. Thirdly, in what feels like a restraining move on the other two trends (even if not conscious), there was a movement (in big title matches especially) towards slower, epic feeling matches based around holds (taking some influence from early shoot style) and longer control segments compared to the far more fluid Joshi house style. I associate this more with Devil Masami, but Yukari Omori also excelled in this.

What's thrown me off about this one is, while Devil Masami was still in her uber-heel phase here, this match is actually fought more like a 'Style Three' type of match that I thought didn't come until around a year later. There's barely any dirty play from her at all in fact, even though she doesn't do her turn from heel to 'tweener' until a big angle in February 1984. So I think this match is in fact a first draft in front of a live audience of the style that really peaked in the Crush Gals boom era of 1985-86. Also, this is before the UWF's first show, so while I do know that shoot style did influence some AJW wrestlers a bit after this, it clearly wasn't the only thing going on.

We get an opening flurry in the first couple of minutes where both wrestlers get to throw some offense but to little effect, and then things settle down and for the next ten minutes this is very grounded wrestling. Sometimes they're on the mat exchanging holds, and they switch things up by taking to their feet for tests of strength, but the one consistent thread is that Jaguar is the superior wrestler. Devil is competitive and gets ahead a few times, but Jaguar always comes out on top in these exchanges. There's a familiar moment where Jaguar has Devil in a facedown leglock and Devil just can't break out of it and tries going for the ropes, familiar because Devil would put Chigusa Nagayo in a similar predicament in their big title match two years later.

Eventually Devil needs to break this dynamic and she does it by throwing Jaguar headfirst into the ring post and throws her into some chairs on the outside. Within  the context of the match I guess this is a dirty play, but watching Devil up to this point with her liberal use of weapons and outside interference, it barely counts.

This doesn't work well for Devil though. Jaguar flies back into the ring and unloads some big flying offense on her before taking back control and getting her on the mat stuck in a hold again. It's an unconventional layout in that Jaguar is the smaller, faster babyface, but actually she's the one who's trying to keep things grounded and slowed down with Devil fighting from underneath. So it feels like she's the one whose comeback has been built to when she manages to counter Jaguar's hold with a headscissors and then hits a cool seated-piledriver like move for her first protracted segment of offense of the match. We get some feats of strength with her big delayed bodyslams but soon they're back on the mat but Devil has Jaguar grounded now. Her camel clutch feels like such a more heelish hold than anything Jaguar did however. But this just leads up to what I think is the match highlight, one of the sickest ganso bombs I've ever seen it's borderline attempted murder. Devil just plants Jaguar straight down on her head and Jaguar stays down looking like she'd had the life knocked out of her.

The big ganso bomb changes the match completely. The next section is all Devil-dominance and Jaguar is selling like she's at 50% energy at most for the next several minutes. It's not the kind of 'holding a specific body part' selling we're more used to in modern times, just a general sense of being out of it and just about holding on to survive. Jaguar does get in a counter by hitting a backdrop, but is too hurt to capitalise and they tease a double KO for a bit before they're both up (Devil actually gets up first). Jaguar also tries hiding out on the outside to recover, making the most of the 20 count. It's a really good selling performance. Bear in mind we are missing about 13 minutes of the match (I assume nothing was cut from here on as it's the finishing stretch and the time calls add up), so the exhaustion on display probably made a bit more sense if we were seeing this in full.

Now we get to the spicy bit. The ring announcer makes the call for 35 minutes passed, and Devil goes for the win as per the secret rules. She stands horizontally to Jaguar, who is lying flat back on the match, and Devil just goes down flat to try and hold her down for the 3 count. On the replay, I have to admit, it looks like Jaguar cheats a little bit. The rule was that you're not allowed to try to bridge out until the cover has already been applied, but she goes up a split second before. Might not have made a difference, but Jaguar is able to turn onto her front and keep herself in the match. It's her turn to try to win next. Devil again goes for a cover, but those in the know will see she wasn't trying to win this time, it's a spot for Jaguar to do her signature bridge out straight to her feet to come running off the ropes, which she follows with a very nice jump over Devil's head (she gets impressive height on it) to get back into the match. Her turn is next

The spiciness continues. Jaguar hits a butterfly suplex and she goes for the win as per the rules. Devil's shoulders are clearly down as Jaguar begins the cover, and she tries to fight her way out of it but can only get one shoulder up at any one time. There's an almighty struggle over this, but Jaguar definitely does manage to pin Devil's shoulders for a 2 count. But a 3? Well, this video quality isn't great so it's not entirely clear, but it does look to me that Devil's shoulder was up just before the 3. Anyway, Devil was convinced her shoulder was up and was outraged. I've read all about this incident but never seen it for myself, with Devil saying the referee was biased and Jaguar says Devil was just mad she lost. But she goes right over the announcer table to scream at Commission Ueda (who isn't just an on-screen authority, he was actually the most powerful person in the company who wasn't a Matsunaga) that she's been screwed.

While it would still be the norm for rookie matches, this would be the last time AJW had a World Title be decided by shoot-pin rules. Which is another thing which makes this match historically significant and I'm so glad we finally got to see it. While that aspect of the company would be downplayed going forward, they also created a template for the kind of epic title match that AJW would really specialise in over the next few years. This is a lot rougher than the later matches, there are some lulls in the action (I mean in terms of being captivating, not literal movement) and it feels like it'd take a little while longer for the AJW crew to fully figure out how to get the most out of this style. I'd say the 7/19/82 match between these two is still probably the better match, albeit a very different one. It feels a bit weird to give this a star rating considering the context, but I'm going to give this a flat 4. But for it's place in history this is a must watch for anyone interested in 80s Joshi. I'm so happy this has finally surfaced.

MD:  To my credit, I am back in 1979 still, right? And while I've seen the Dump stuff that's canonical, I'm less versed on this stuff. But this is a big match, and a lost match, and we'll jump right in. It really felt like a title match and a struggle, especially the holds where it was obvious just looking at Masami and Yokota just how much effort they were putting into them, and especially the finish which had Yokota forcing Masami's shoulders down almost from force of will alone (or as Kad pointed out, from true force alone). This had kinetic action that ground back into the holds in a way that gave the match substance. It never broke down into chaos or interference. It always went back to the center and therefore it never lost its way.

Throughout the match, Yokota would get an advantage with speed and grit, often times just throwing her body at Masami (which is really how the match started), and then Masami would grind her down with power (again, how the match started) and bombs. Some of the specific holds really worked for me, such as the way they were able to trade bodyscissors early, working basically all the way around the world shifting holds and positions until they switched places on who had on the bodyscissors. 

Masami would drive Yokota out of the ring or leave her laying, but Yokota came back again and again. The comeback towards the end had her basically vault straight up over Masami's head before hitting a rana. Even then Masami shut her down and tossed her off the second rope from a fireman's carry. So while it was all grounded, they built to some pretty big spots, before the finish which was scrappy as could be and still felt contested nonetheless. I don't know if those shoulders were down.

Riki Choshu/Masa Saito vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Shiro Koshinaka 9/5/88

MD: This one's on us. We've had access to this HH since 2018 or whatever but I don't think anyone actually gave it a good look. It's the IWGP Heavyweight champion and the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion up against the tag champs for the belts. And it's really good and goes twice as long as I expected. 

After some opening title match feeling out between Saito and Fujinami (two of the most credible guys ever so it was good like you'd expect), Shiro wants to tag in against Choshu and we're off to the races. Koshinaka is a guy that I like a lot more in tags than singles. He (and Takano/Cobra) were really expected to be the heirs to Tiger Mask in having exciting, over the top Jr. Title matches and you really end up with a lot of noise. But he was a plucky underdog with a special connection with the crowd and a real sense of theatricality. Earlier in 88, he started being the only guy in the promotion (not even Inoki) who would sometimes "Hulk Up" and the fans couldn't get enough of it.

Here he quickly got outgunned by the superior hierarchical forces and what we ended up with was a tale of survival as he tried to punch his way out of first Saito's Prison Lock and then Choshu's Scorpion. There's probably nothing the fans in 88 New Japan would eat up more than someone fighting valiantly against holds like that and at one point they were clapping along to each valiant Koshinaka punch in a way that I'm not sure I've seen them do before. They cycled through this twice until, fighting a Scorpion attempt, Koshinaka was able to crawl over and make the tag.  

I thought things would go home shortly hereafter (once Koshinaka recovered enough to make it back in of course) and there was a bit of that, with Fujinami having to survive some of the holds Koshinaka fought out of as they targeted his knee. Shiro did come back in and they had the advantage for a while, but they were fighting from a deficit. It was Fujinami that got overwhelmed instead, posted on the outside by Saito and opened up to create a dramatic (and surprising) next act to the match as Saito bit the wound and Fujinami fought for his life.

Koshinaka tries to intervene and got trapped in the ropes just as Fujinami turned the tide, fighting off both Saito and Choshu until Choshu's lariat finally prevailed. Super dramatic stuff, the sort of which you can only get out of New Japan at its best. 

Pirata Morgan vs. MS-1 (hair vs hair) CMLL 3/15/91

MD: There's a moment at the end which is honestly remarkable and we're going to lead with that. After a solid tercera where I'm not sure MS-1's selling was warranted, but they sort of made you go for it anyway, Morgan gets a small package through countering a move for the pin. The commentary says that this move was invented by Lex Luger, champion of the world, and is called the Total Package. Honestly, this was worth dusting off just for that.

This is in the found, or at the very least, underlooked category. I'm sure most people haven't seen it. It's interesting but doesn't rise to the level you'd want it to, mainly due to some narrative quirks. It has some things you almost never see in a hair match, and despite Morgan wearing white with his black, it doesn't get quite as bloody as I thought it would.

We come in with MS-1 controlling in the primera. He is, of course, good at that. Morgan goes for a few comebacks but the ref gets in his way; it's that kind of match. They make a big deal out of the fact Morgan doesn't have a second. After MS-1 puts him away to win the first fall, he absolutely cracks him on the post on the outside. They made it sound as loud as any shot like that I've ever heard but then there isn't the massive amount of blood to follow it up. Morgan tries to come back with some big shots but the ref again gets in his way, which feels like an inversion to earlier apuestas matches. It'd be like the ref disrupting things after Chicana's big comeback punch vs MS-1. It just felt wrong.

As the segunda goes on, MS-1 keeps pulling Morgan up, which you almost never see in a hair match. He steps on his chest and then steps off before the three, that sort of thing. Eventually, Morgan tries coming back again and this time the ref pushes him out of the ring. That was the cue for Morgan's brother and Hombre Bala to come out to second him which symbolically turns the tide of the match and leads to his big comeback and some big dives before the finish. Along the way, there are some other weird quirks like Morgan rolling in the ring to get into position and some rope running that felt out of place, but in general, it ends well with that famous move invented by Luger and the fans are happy with the outcome. It all could have been just a bit more grounded and grisly though. 

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Found Footage Friday: VILLANOS~! UNIVERSO~! PIRATA~! PANTHER~! ESPECTRO~! MANDO~! MARKUS~!

Villano IV/Villano IV/Milo Caballero vs. Universo 2000/Hijo del Gladiador/Babe Face Monterrey 1991

MD: The sort of lucha trios that hits just right for the most part. Villano IV was paired with Babe Face who was happy to stooge all over the place, feigning getting hit by low blows and making faces. Villano V was matched with Universo who was heatseeing (punching the post and getting DDT'd for instance). Both pairings were heated and seemed to have issues. Gladiador and Milo were more or less along for the ride.

Lots of feeding (more than basing) in the primera with an exciting escalation. When the rudos took over there was a nice bit of Villano V grabbing fans' hands on the outside after he took a beating. The comeback moment was just Milo recovering and attacking from behind but the Villanos more than made up for that. V got some great punches in on the floor on Universo while IV doled out justice on Babe Face. They rushed to pinfalls in the tercera but then had the Villanos make an illegal switch despite the fact they were the tecnicos here. The rudos complained but it was too little too late. Fun stuff but it almost would have been served better as a straight tag.

Pirata Morgan/Mascara Sagrada/Kato Kung Lee II vs. Indomito/Blue Panther/Espectro, Jr. Monterrey end 91/early 92

MD: The big appeal to this one was that the rudos had recently turned on Morgan and now he was with the tecnicos. It was straightforward overall with more exchanges than heat even with Morgan's turn but it was all pretty masterful so you don't mind. Primera pairings were Panther/KKL, Indomito/Morgan, Espectro/Sagrada. Lots of Panther matwork. He worked a short arm scissors/gotch lift sequence with you don't see every day in Lucha. At the start ot the second round of exchanges (rope running) he knocked KKL out of the ring immediately before eating an arm drag on his way back in and that was funny for the matter-of-factness of it. Equally funny was watching Morgan work staright tecnico including some flashy things like a Mule Kick out of nowhere. Espectro  and Sagrada didn't go as long but the had the most tricked out stuff overall.

Rudos took the primera with a beautiful Panther northern lights out of nowhere. That led into a fairly simple beatdown, simple because it didn't last long. The second they cycled to Morgan, he started firing back and tecnicos won quickly. Likewise, the third fall was quick, full of crowd pleasing tandem stuff (including an estrella with KKL using a victory roll into the center instead of a 'rana. So fun stuff but I wanted to see Morgan really go on the offense and that wasn't what this one was about.

Mando Guerrero/Centurion Negro/Monarca vs. Corsario Negro/Gran Markus Jr./Azteca de Oro Monterey 1991?

MD: This, on the other hand, was all heat. The issue was between Centurion Negro and Corsario Negro (the latter of which had no mask anymore). Corsario dodged him well enough during the primera (which was full of posturing), even if it meant that his team was at a bit of a disadvantage. In the segunda, they went all in on Centurion's mask, tearing it apart. The commentators were trying to get any glimpse they could, noting definitively that he did not have a mustache. The comeback in the tercera was because they were focusing too much on the mask allowing Mando and Monarca to come in and even the odds.

At that point, Centurion laid a pretty colossal beating on Corsario. The refs wanted to just award it to the tecnicos but they didn't want to stop. Nothing wildly over the top, just stomps and stomps and more stomps but they were pretty brutal ones. Eventually that let the other rudos come in and even the odds and they fairly quickly got a banana peel win. Post-match they had to do everything they could to keep Centurion and Corsario away from each other. If this led to an apuestas match, I would have bought a ticket for it. I think we might have five or six minutes of a JIP match actually. I should look at that.

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Found Footage Friday: WAR GAMES~! MISAWA~! KOSHINAKA~! PIRATA~! COLOSETTI~! BENETTO~!

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Mitsuharu Misawa AJPW 10/14/83

MD: As best as we can tell, these next two haven't been in easy circulation. Thankfully gus came through and figured out how to get them off of a tricky disc and upload them. This one started out as one thing and morphed into something entirely different. People should go out of their way for it.

Where it started, and where I figured it would end, was as Young Misawa putting Young Koshinaka through his paces. He controlled for basically the first two thirds of this as an undercard young boy cruiserweight bully. They both had red trunks and Misawa really did a number on Koshinaka, grinding down on the arm. A lot of shots of the back of Misawa's head and emotive selling from Shiro. Shiro would try to escape and Misawa would get him back in. There was a nice floatover arm twist and some rolling with the short arm scissors, etc. Eventually, Shiro turned things into a cross toe-hold and took over with that and later a Romero Special.

When things picked up, though, they really picked up. Shiro's butt butt, sure, but also Misawa doing a front flip into a kick off the top, followed by a huge dive to the floor, and then Shiro hitting a double stop off the top. It felt like whoever was agenting the match went on a smoke break and they just decided to do whatever they wanted for the last two minutes before Shiro finally dragged Misawa down with a bulldog. Misawa looked more like the guy who would become Tiger Mask II than the guy who would become Misawa here, but he looked like the best possible version of that guy.

Shiro Koshinaka/Mitsuharu Misawa/Halcon Ortiz vs. Coloso Colosetti/Pirata Morgan/Tony Benetto 3/16/84

MD: This is likely one of Misawa's first matches in Mexico. He was matched up with Colosetti here in the initial primera pairings and it went mostly ok. There were one or two times where he seemed just a little lost, like when it was time to tag Shiro in after Coloso left the ring, but in general, he did fine. Colosetti had great for-the-last-row body language, really working big, both when matched with Misawa and during the comeback in the tercera as he was batted around the ringside area. Shiro was matched with Benetto; basically a lot of Kato/Bruce Lee back fists but he did get his double stomp off the top in too. Ortiz and Morgan worked well together, as you'd expect, the best pairing of the three even if maybe that's not why we're here.

Morgan did get to match up a little with the Japanese contingent, most spectacularly for a spot towards the end of the primera where they basically hit a veg-o-matic (bearhug, lean back, kneedrop) on him. Most memorable, though, is the ending image of him as Misawa and Koshinaka were getting the win on his partners; Ortiz decided to just bodyslam him over the top, not touching the rope, so he could hit a dive. The heat during the segunda was effective and efficient though there could have been more of it maybe; possibly a small clip at the start of the tercera to give that feeling. The comeback was fun with plenty of Koshinaka backfists. Misawa was just finding his way here but it's a good way to spend twenty minutes.

War Games: Hotstuff Hernandez/Jeremy V/Jimmy Rave/Onyx vs. Iceberg/Jason Cross/Justice/Rainman NWA Wildside 06/28/03 - EPIC

MD: Are there just an infinite number of these matches hidden away somewhere? Is there some sort of alternate reality that we can just endlessly pull these from? Or are we coming to the end sometime soon? We've covered so many over the years and they're all great and this is no exception. Wildside was just amazing for the sheer diversity in the ring, every size, shape, temperament. And it all came together and it all worked. It was like the entirety of possibilities of what pro wrestling could and should be were in the ring together. Just wild stuff. 

They started with Jeremy and Rainman, maybe not the pairing I would have chosen myself even though they'd been feuding but Rainman was a pro in these and kept things moving. Right when Jeremy (who got color early) was gaining control, Bailey's team won the coinflip and Cross came in, absolutely crushing Jeremy with a dragon suplex and brainbuster and setting the tenor for the rest of the match. Jeremy, Jimmy, and Jason had a high hill to climb here since not only were they in there with monsters of various shapes and forms, but the monsters almost all did crazy stuff. There was a Superplex on Iceberg (I think by Onyx). Iceberg used the cage to steady him to hit a top rope elbow drop, etc. And Justice (being Abyss) came in as the mystery man and towered over everyone. Hernandez was like a missile when he came in to even the odds. They managed well enough by flying around though, Cross hitting a ton of offense, Jeremy showing heart (and getting the win in the end with his camel clutch/cobra clutch combo), and Rave maybe getting the spot of the match with a sunset flip powerbomb on Justice off the top.

Look, during the same year, Cage of Death was going on in Philly. I get that Blood and Guts take more from that than from classic War Games, but these Wildside and Anarchy attempts really show how you can bridge the gap between the two.

PAS: This didn't have pools of gore that some of the other all timer Landmark Arena War Games had, but it felt kind of on the level of them. This was like a version of the 1989 War Games, with a lot of huge dudes throwing each other with big power moves. This might have been the most I have ever enjoyed Abyss, and it felt like the slugfest between him and Hernandez felt like a huge big man showdown. Iceberg not being a huge star in the 2000s was a big mistake by the wrestling world, he was a monstrous force of nature, who would still bump big, Iceberg taking a superplex felt like felling a Redwood tree. His top rope Sudanese Meat Cleaver was truly disgusting looking I expected Jeremy V's head to pop off like a Pez dispenser. Finishing submission looked great although that kid did take a whole hell of a lot of punishment to end up winning. Classic stuff, in the upper tier of these matches which is a hell of an upper tier. 

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Found Footage Friday: TOR~! RENESTO~! PIRATA~! ESTRADA~! REYNA~! FUCHI~! KIKUCHI~!

Super Swedish Angel (Tor Johnson) vs. Tom Renesto NWA Los Angeles 1951

MD: Yes, Super Swedish Angel is Tor Johnson, that Tor Johnson, the Tor Johnson. This is the only full match we have of him. I've seen this one likened to being straight out of a B film itself, but it almost felt like 1950s Sports Entertainment to me somehow, even in a way a lot of the other gimmicks haven't seemed to be. I expected Johnson to be more monstrous or thuggish but he was over the top in that sort of writhing almost Baby Huey sort of way, arguing with the ref, pulling faces, yelling at the crowd, marching around the ring with his hands waving and his mouth open, selling more shock than actual pain. He won the first fall by having Renesto run right into him and then hitting a decent enough big splash. Renesto is that Tom Renesto, young and Bronco Tom or Cowboy Tom here. He worked the arm pretty well with some varied stuff in the second fall (winning it with a schoolboy trip off the ropes) and then the leg in the third. They actually did a double leglock spot like you'd see in UWF which was pretty funny in this setting. Also funny was Johnson's hide the object bit, as he hid it in his mouth and then got nailed in the stomch, forcing him to swallow it. You really don't see that every day and with a guy witht he size, shape, and mannerisms of Johnson, it was high comedy. He fought with the ref as well. These comedy bits were more the high spots around Renesto controlling with holds. It seemed pretty much inevitable, no matter how much Renestro controlled however. At any point, Johnson could just flex his stomach or get a knee up and once down, it was one big splash away from being the end. Interesting look overall and not exactly what I expected out of our Plan 9 star.

Pirata Morgan/Hombre Bala/Verdugo vs. Apolo Estrada/Rudy Reyna/Tony Reyna (Monterrey 1989)

MD: We've seen three or four Apolo Estrada matches and he's been great in all of them. Here, he was matched up with Pirata Morgan and it was everything I wanted it to be. Los Bucaneros (who, of course, all have eyepatches limiting their vision to match their leader and his exposed eye socket) ambush right from the start and Estrada bleeds right from the start and he basically keeps bleeding the whole way through. Morgan is one of the top rudos ever at directing traffic during a beatdown and they keep it moving. The tecnicos try to fire back but get liberally fouled and triple teamed for their trouble. Bucaneros end the primera with a killer triple dropkick to a seated Reyna and a lifting press down onto another one. Segunda has the comeback and it's tremendous because while the Reynas were disposing of Hombre Bala and Verdugo with some pretty great sweeping punches, Estrada, a bloody maniac, was attacking Morgan in the seats. They have an extended fistfight in the midst of all of it and it's one of the best things I've seen in all of this Monterrey footage, in part because it just keeps going and going. The tercera keeps the wild feel. Rudy Reyna is such a fun exotico-turned-tecnico, with spin kicks and spinning chops and a spin wheel kick; he's a whirling dervish, and Tony may have stumbled a bit but his strikes worked well enough for me. But this was all about Estrada, as iconically bloody as any luchador getting his pound of flesh until Morgan fouls him on the apron. That let the numbers game put away the tecnicos for the win. Estrada was a great local legend, a great brawler, a great bleeder, all the stuff we like around here.

Masanobu Fuchi vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi AJPW 9/4/1991

MD: Thanks to gus for giving us the heads up on this one. As I understand it, we had the finish pro-shot previously and maybe a handheld that we've never covered. I am a massive proponent of handhelds. What we do every week relies upon them. I can tell you a ton about Goro Tsurumi or Eigen and Okuma because of stuff that never made TV. It's essential to figuring out what was going on, but here, you gain so much from getting in close and seeing the reactions. Just seeing the mangled ears (I think Kikuchi's were worse than Fuchi's!) and the grimaces and frustration. These two made the absolute most of one another. That meant Kikuchi having an early wariness, but also a daring, willing to throw a forearm first, but always aware that Fuchi could catch him at any moment. It meant Fuchi slapping him in response, because how dare he really? Moreover, though, it meant Fuchi absolutely stretching him in the most grotesque way possible. He'd just contort the back and hook his hands together to pull a leg in a direction it shouldn't go, and then, when the hold couldn't be kept any longer, he'd shift ever so slightly into a new one that somehow looked worse. Fuchi was such a chameleon, able to work comedy, able to bully in a trios, able to have fire when need be, but rarely (in footage we have) did he really get to be just this tricked out in his holds and was a sight to see. 

And of course, Kikuchi, probably the best babyface of this era in All Japan (Sorry, Kobashi) fired back again and again and put so much emotion and desperation into every forearm, every waistlock to try to get a suplex, into the pair of Octopus holds that he finally locked in. The finishing stretch was exciting with Kikuchi hitting that German (basically the only throw/move in the match along those lines), and the two of them having some teasing roll ups, before Fuchi started hitting one enziguiri after another. Even then, one got ducked and there was a moment of hope before it was extinguished. That was the difference with these Jr. Heavyweight matches. In other hierarchy-driven matches, there could be hope and effort could be rewarded, but there was always a sense this title could change hands at any moment. Guys like Momota or Nakano held it just a year or two before. It gave everything just a bit of extra excitement. Glad to have this one clear, crisp, and in full.

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Found Footage Friday: MONTERREY~! CARAS~! ARANDU~! HERODES~! VOLADOR~! BRAZOS~! SATANICO~! PIRATA~!

Cien Caras/Javier Cruz/Arandu vs Herodes/Volador/Angel Azteca (Monterrey 1991)

MD: I started writing about lucha here in 2014, primarily because I couldn't make sense of the DVDVR 80s set. For any number of reasons, I'm glad I did. Probably top on that list? I can just dive into a match like this and ride it like a wave. What an enjoyable twenty+ minutes here. I'm mostly familiar with Herodes from the 80s set and his Japan excursions, but here he was the beloved Chacho, basically babyface Norman the Lunatic dressing up in fun costumes, everything but a teddy bear. Basically, he was a couple of comedy spots away from being early 2010s Porky in CMLL, that role on a tecnico side. This was a little too heated for that, which is a good thing of course. Cien Caras was paried with him and the rudos swarmed from the get go, including tearing off his doctor's costume.

Things settled back down quickly into a really solid primera though. I'm confident in saying that Arandu is a lost rudo base. He was there for everything Angel Azteca and Volador had for him over two exchanges, could shut them down well with strikes, and almost always took a crazy handstand bump over the top to the floor. Plus he had the crazy hair and was just larger than life, at least in a provincial sort of way. He's come out as the real star of the Monterrey footage. Cruz had a good bit with Volador where he acted like a Cruiserweight Bully, jamming all of his stuff until he got monkeyflipped three times. And Caras and Herodes were fine with their shtick. They didn't do much but they didn't have to as the crowd was up for it.

The segunda had a lot of Caras directing traffic for a rudo beatdown, and he was good at that. Not Satanico level but still probably top tier. The real good stuff was in between the segunda and tercera where Arandu lawndarted Azteca into the chairs as people threw trash at him and Caras beat Herodes around the ringside area. The comeback was spirited but the match got thrown out due to constant triple teaming/brutality by the rudos shortly thereafter and things devolved to challenges. I get that lucha can be a lot of things, but I'm way more sympathetic to this form of it than any of the others.

Los Brazos vs Pirata Morgan/El Satanico/Justiciero (Monterrey 1991)

MD: This was much more of a house show Brazos match than I was expecting considering Morgan and Satanico were in there. I thought we'd be getting more of a crazy brawl but I really did enjoy this. The primary pairing was Porky and Morgan, and the sort of matches I was thinking of, you don't really get a primary pairing like that, just violent chaos. Here, the beatdown was pretty gnarly, with Morgan and co. cutting through Brazo and Oro before leaving Porky alone to get beat upon, but it was alway sa little funn too. For instance, at the end of the fall, they tossed Porky into the post on the outside and he bumped into the lap of someone in the first row. Great balance between violence and mirth.

The rudos took the first two falls here, but at the start of the primera and for most of the segunda until the finish, it really was the Brazos comedy hour. Morgan tried to avoid Porky early, but ended tossed around and squished off the apron. All of the rudos had very giving performances here (easier when you're winning two falls in a row I assume). Satanico was more of a secondary player but perfect as always when, for instance, he was getting his hand bitten by Porky on a devious handshake attempt. And everyone hit everything clean, of course. Great punches by both Morgan and El Brazo. Very fun rudo miscommunication down the stretch. Justiciero wasn't going to stand out as much in a match with both Morgan and Satanico but he was fine as a cog in the machine. I would have liked it if they ramped up the violence a bit and got bloody, sure but for the setting, this was entirely enjoyable for what it was.

Marlin/Sergio Romo Jr vs Marabunta/Enjambre (Monterrey 1991)

MD: Full disclosure here: I was sort of dreading the almost 27 minute length of this coming in relative to the matches above, but it was actually a lot of fun. Since I'm feeling nostalgic, one of the best things about getting into lucha when I did was that CMLL was livestreaming both Friday and Monday shows. The Monday shows were from Arena Coliseo and had their own feel, almost always with Rey Apocalipsis and Toro Bill, Jr. in a tag match on the undercard. They were always very entertaining for their role, and I got that same feeling from Marabunta and Enjambre (Hijo de Espectro) here. Early on Marlin was getting Marabunta into holds for their first exchange, and Enjambre kept coming in to interfere, until Marlin chased him off. Good pesky rudo stuff, sure, but he came back from deep in the crowd with someone's cowboy hat on. Just amazing.

There was a ton of stooging in the primera, as you'd expect. I never got much of a sense of Romo or Marlin here, except for that they were game and capable. The finish in the primera was a dropkick doomsday device that was set up very organically. It was a great beatdown though, tying Romo's leg up in a chair, lawn darting Marlin, smacking faces into the side of the ring, hanging people upside down and kicking them on the way down, just swarming bug brutality from Marabunta and Enjambre. They had a great tandem submission of a seated satan's knot combined with jarring knee shots to the back of the skull. We miss the very start of the comeback (just seconds really) but it's all heated with the revenge spots you'd want and building to a dive train. Marabunta and Enjambre were the sort of guys you'd want to see low on the card week in and week out.

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Found Footage Friday: CASAS~! PANTERITA~! PIRATA~! ASTRO~! SMILEY~! CARAS~! ARANDU~! SCORPIOS~! DEMON~! VERDUGO~!

Black Magic/Panterita del Ring/Centurion Negro vs. Negro Casas/Cien Caras/Arandu CMLL 1991

MD: Back to another wild trios here, another exciting match in this feud. There's such energy and almost elasticity whenever Casas and Panterita are in there. No one else moves like Casas. The way he hits the ropes almost seems to stretch reality itself, like he's always threatening to tumble off screen at any moment, like the ring itself would give way to him. It was true throughout but most especially as they were careening towards the finish of the tercera (Casas going for a 'rana and getting power bombed). The primera started with Panterita going right after Casas. It looked like there would be an immediate rudo advantage as Casas turned it around but Black Magic was there to toss him off the top and they rolled into exchanges.

This had to be pretty early into Smiley's sojourn into Mexico (in the pre-match interview, he pronounced Panterita's name wrong and couldn't remember Centurion Negro's name, not that he did much in this match) and he has raw size and presence but is still trying to figure out how to fit into a match like this. That's my takeaway at least. He has Casas, Arandu, and Caras to help him along but there are moments where he's coming back way before he's supposed to and I think there are spots here where he ends up getting goozled for his own good. They still were able to get a lot of use out of him though, like Arandu leaping back off the second rope only to get caught or Caras trying it on Smiley later only to get rolled up (the segunda finish). There were little bits of clipping here and there, maybe around fouls, but the long stretches of the beatdown and comeback were still satisfying. Casas was all over Panterita, tossing him into collapsing chairs, ripping the mask, trying to force his head into the space already occupied by the turnbuckle. They started the final exchanges with Casas tossing something in the air to distract him for a punch and set up the finishing stretch with Casas feigning getting fouled so his team could swarm in. I'm not getting sick of this pairing yet, that's for sure.

Panterita del Ring/Asterisco/Centurion Negro vs. Megatron/Scorpio/Scorpio Jr CMLL 1991

MD: Unfortunately, this was pretty clipped. We got a clear mat exchange between Megatron and Centurion Negro to start, which looked perfectly fine, and then bits and pieces of the beatdown and comeback and then the complete finishing stretch in the tercera. Therefore, I don't have anything intelligent to say about Asterisco (who I don't think was the Asterisco who feuded with Santito) for instance. I do want to stress how over Panterita was with this arena though. He had a cheering section; last match they had pom poms and here they had little flags. He had all the fire you'd want out of a local hero when fighting from underneath or making his comeback. He was probably matched with Scorpio, Sr. here but we didn't get to see much of that. It's a shame because Scorpio, Sr. feels like such a perfect wrestler for this blog given his size and overall scumminess. His nickname is apparently "El Rey Feo" (the Ugly King). Whenever he pops up in footage, I'm glad to see him. Anyway, this ended with things breaking down, the rudos controlling until the Scorpios had a mishap, and then a foul that the refs missed letting them win it anyway. This probably would have been pretty good, if somewhat slight, if we had gotten the whole thing.

Blue Demon Jr./Super Astro/Panterita del Ring vs. Arandu/Pirata Morgan/Verdugo Monterrey 1991 

MD: This is not actually new, but this video is in way more watchable form since it was cut up and misnamed before so we're going to cover it again. Here's the last review: 

(https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2012/08/just-call-me-pirata-morgan-im-sure-to.html)

It was epic then and it's epic now. While Panterita is in almost every match that have popped up in this dump and while I think it probably helps Ephesto's case over all to see these, and while seeing Casas off the beaten trail here has only spoken well of him too, Arandu is a guy who wasn't on anyone's radar and that really looks great in these matches: wild offense, big bumping, a lot of presence, fits right in with Estrada or Angel Blanco, Jr., or whoever. And here, he makes a great third Bucanero with Morgan and his brother. The story of this one was Arandu vs Super Astro and while everyone else played their part, it was some great contrast. Astro was willing to be lawndarted into hard objects and have his mask (and forehead) torn and chewed upon by Arandu and Arandu was more than happy to get chased around the arena and play into all of Astro's signature spots, including bumping out of the ring on the taunt spin.

My favorite moment in this was probably Demon dodging a punch so that Morgan hit Verdugo and then, when Morgan was selling his fist by shaking his hand in the air repeatedly, reaching his hand out to shake Morgan's, causing our one-eyed friend to freak out. The second was definitely Super Astro's final comeback where he burst into the ring and hit a DDT on Arandu that felt just as appropriate as punching him in the face due to how explosive it was. Even Blue Demon looked good in there, flying into hard objects for the rudos and hitting a nice Northern Lights Suplex. And Panterita fit right in on the tecnico side, hitting some of the more complex armdrags and vaults. Just a very complete match with blood, violence, comedy, big spots, something for everyone really.

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Loosely Formed 1998 WWF: Rock n Rolls! Aguila! Pirata Morgan!

Rock n Roll Express vs. The Head Bangers WWF Raw 2/23

This is continued proof of Rock n Roll Express busting ass during this too brief WWF stint. The first half of this was made up of Rock n Roll misdirection spots where they kept accidentally hitting each other while getting more and more frustrated about it. Morton and Gibson's timing looked excellent and some of the spots were complicated enough that I'm not sure there's another team on the roster that could have done them. Actually the other team that could have done them would have been Jarrett/Windham, so that's just more testament that the made-to-fail NWA stable actually ruled for two months. 

Ricky did a great version of the spot where he's running over Gibson and Mosh's dropdowns before colliding with Gibson, Gibson accidentally punches Morton off the apron, Ricky snapmares Thrasher into the ring and whips him across the ring which bumps Gibson off the apron, just expertly set up and executed misdirections from Ricky and Robert. 

Cornette expertly hooked Mosh's leg while looking away and Gibson hit the damn cleanest kneedrop right to the side of Mosh's head, then kneels down with one onto Mosh's forehead, then another onto his shoulder. 

Gibson sure took a lot of great bumps to the floor during this run, and he takes big one to set up the finish. What's the other late 90s Gibson I need to seek out? 

Pirata Morgan vs. Aguila WWF Shotgun 2/28

I had no memory of Pirata Morgan doing a two match WWF stint in 1998. Morgan/Brian Christopher vs. Taka/Aguila from the 2/16/98 Raw is insanely fun and an incredible visual representation of Pirata. He IS Pirata Morgan in that match, and it's great to see. He is not as great here, as this match is more about letting Aguila show off his surprisingly deep (especially for 1998) flying moveset. Pirata was here to be a base, and he's great at being a base. I wish he could have also beat the shit out of Aguila in between being a base. 

Pure unfiltered Aguila was some insane stuff. The height he got here on flapjack bump and a truly insane moonsault press to the floor were wild, just incredible hang time, and his springboard armdrag to send Morgan to the floor was some Juvy level shit. And brother, if you're talking hang time, he took a backdrop bump so high that, were there some kind of database that were actually tracking this, would almost surely rank towards the top of the All Time Most Hang Time on a Backdrop list. I wish I had been keeping a list like that, with to the hundredth of a second stop watch times next to all of them. 

Pirata's premier piece of offense is actually amazing, a tilt a whirl sitout powerbomb that is so damn cool, like something I've never seen. We have so many complicated fast moving big crash landing spots now and I don't think I've seen anyone break out a kick ass sitout powerbomb like this:

Pirata, in this match, also does maybe the laziest waistlock takedown I've ever seen, moving to a rear waistlock by just walking around Aguila, then lifting him waist high and just dropping him. They're not all going to be sitout powerbombs. 

Pirata takes a big bump off the top off an armdrag and puffs his chest out to take a missile dropkick, and the victory roll huracanrana roll up looked like something that would win a match. 

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Found Footage Friday: REY JR.~! PANTHER~! GILBERT~! FIRE~! INFERNALES~! LA PARKA~!

Eddie Gilbert vs. Huracan Castillo WWC 8/6/94

MD: This was limited by the gimmick, obviously, but you watch it to see the spectacle of it and how Gilbert chose to work it and milk moments. For one, before they got into the ring he took a head into the post and immediately bladed. That way, if nothing else, there would be color. There were flammable pieces of material in fixed intervals just outside the ropes and visually, things were most spectacular when the wind was blowing and the fire seemed to be reaching into the ring. Much of the match was based on Castillo trying to work Gilbert into those ropes and it portrayed that sense you get in exploding cage or barbed wire matches that the heel simply cannot escape. For most of the match, the payoff was Gilbert's hand getting whacked into the fire. Gilbert was able to get a little bit of control and get some revenge, but after Castillo's comeback (off of a Hotshot of all things), Gilbert took some shots to the face into the fire, bumping around and recoiling like crazy for it. The overall effect was diminished by the end since the fire had gone down significantly, but the finish revolved around Gilbert getting some barbed wire and choking Castillo with it, moving things forward to the next match in a very Memphis manner.

PAS: I thought this was awesome, it would have ruled if it was just a bloody Memphis punch out, but add the spectacle of the flames into, what a treat. Tremendous Gilbert performance, his punches looked great, got great early color, and did a wonderful job of making the fire bumps look horrific. Castillo was a fine regional babyface, and got amped up, but this was an Eddie show. I am surprised they used powder as the transition weapon, rather then the Gilbert fireball, but I dug Eddie using the barbed wire to set up the rematch, clever booking, and I need to search out the barbed wire match between these two.

Winners/Rey Mysterio, Jr./La Parka/Octagon vs. Blue Panther/Los Payasos AAA 9/2/95

MD: Maybe the biggest appeal here is just seeing Blue Panther hang out with a bunch of clowns. Really straightforward structure on this one. Exchanges in the primera leading to a tecnico pin, beatdown in the segunda, comeback in the tercera leading to some of the flashier spots, the dives, and the finish. A lot of the details were very good though. I loved the Panther vs Parka exchange in the primera. That felt like a fairly unique match up and they had fun with it on the mat. Coco Azul based really well for Rey too. I was less into what Winners and Amarillo were up to. Payasos and Panther worked well on the beatdown including some nice tandem offense and submissions. The comeback was great as Rey just went through everyone's leg to create chaos for La Parka to dance around. It was exactly what it should have been and the fans loved it. In general, it was a lot of fun to see the other tecnicos keep Parka chants going throughout the match. Rey's backflip dive over the top with a La Parka boost was memorable, but just the way he'd get up on a floating armdrag was endlessly impressive for the time and even now. Finish involved Los Payasos beating down Octagon after a dive and then starting to fight with the crowd, allowing Rey to slip in for a last second countout win. This was pretty much as enjoyable as you'd expect.

Infernales (Satanico/Pirata Morgan/MS-1) vs. Hector Garza/Lizmark/El Dandy CMLL 9/2/95

MD: Fun bit early on here where Satanico and Pirata had Garza held hostage in their corner and Lizmark and Dandy had MS-1 in theirs and it was a bit of a standoff. You're not going to win fighting Los Infernales on their own terms, however, so they eased into the beatdown almost immediately thereafter. No one can direct traffic quite like Santico and lucha beatdowns don't get better than Infernales ones. The comeback moment was just ok, Lizmark coming in to get a shot in, but he was really over with the kids on this night, so it's hard to complain. It was followed by Dandy throwing amazing punches at everyone, including an all time shot to Pirata on the floor. There weren't a lot of exchanges in this one, Satanico putting Garza through the paces to start and then later on a really good Dandy and Morgan one but given who was in there, it all flowed well and did what it was meant to.

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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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New Footage Friday: CMLL Handheld 11/25/95

Migra I/Migra II vs. Mexican Blanco/Súper Diablo (Erin O'Grady/Spike Dudley)

MD: I almost skipped this but I'm glad I didn't. It was a very fun opener. Blanco and Diablo were pretty creative and the Migras were solid bullies who weren't afraid to give and stooge. Very emotive and into what was happening. This followed southern tag structure more than you'd expect and the Migras looked like a million bucks in the heat. There were some wild and effective but very unfortunate acrobatics (the sort that land you on your own head) by the babyfaces but ultimately this was all pretty satisfying stuff for an opener.

PAS: I am guessing this was an all APW match. Diablo was listed on the file as Erin O'Grady (Crash Holly) and I am guessing Blanco was Matt Hyson (Spike Dudley). I assume La Migra was a pair of APW guys too (maybe Mike Modest and Maxx Justice). These guys all worked really well together, with Holly and Spike bumping like you would expect those guys to do, flying super high on monkey flips and eating shit on clotheslines. There were a bunch of dives which looked totally reckless in an awesome way, lots of flips which looked seconds away from killing both the guy who took it and the guy who dove. I really liked the German suplex which finished the match, fun stuff from some green guys who would go on to do things.

ER: Phil is right, this is definitely Modest and Justice as La Migra, a gimmick that has somehow sustained itself in northern and southern California indies. Modest and Justice were the first ones doing the gimmick, and after they stopped using it someone else would use it. even Brian Cage was a member of La Migra at one point in the 2010s. I'm not 100% certain that Matt Hyson is the non Erin O'Grady here, but my only other guess would be Chris Cole (I don't think Hyson ever had the muscle the non O'Grady had, and the offense didn't seem like Hyson's from this era). And this match is really great. This ranks among the best APW stuff I've seen, and I've seen more of it than most. Modest was so polished just a few years in, he really was a natural. But Maxx Justice/Mike Diamond also should have gone places and did bigger things. He was a legitimately intimidating dude with a great angry face, tall, with a big upper body (his day job was throwing luggage around for an airline, which feels like a great workingman's job that a 60s/70s regional babyface like The Crusher would have). But he takes moves really well from flyers. He caught dives and saved a huge rana from the top rope to the floor, and had this great base moment where he cut extremely low on a lariat before catching O'Grady. O'Grady had some crazy stuff, a guy who really did deserve to make it. He gets alleyooped into a dragon rana, hits a great tope, tope con hilo, that rana to the floor, all really big stuff for this era, and he also took two big bumps off the apron skidding across the floor. Hyson/Cole/whomever had some wild stuff too, great somersault senton off the apron and from the middle buckle to the floor, and hits a nice tandem dive with O'Grady. La Migra actually felt like a dangerous gimmick to be working in Los Angeles, feels like a thing that could have got Modest jumped. This match really showed the level of talent in mid 90s bay area indies,  incredible to get talents like this all at once, when you looked at what other American indies looked like in 95/96.


Los Brazos vs. Apolo Dantés/Pirata Morgan/Satánico

MD: This was just the second match on the card. The fans were familiar here and knew what they wanted and what they were getting, which was heaping amounts of Porky. The Primera had a bit of feeling out and one rudo swarm tease (the Brazos rushed in) before the rudos went cheap on a handshake and took over for real with triple teams. The segunda was a long bit of FIP heat, cutting off the ring, before the Brazos had enough and rushed forth. I'm not sure I'd have been as okay with that with normal tecnicos (as it defies logic more than having a thematic beatdown on one wrestler after another) but there's such a chaotic element to the Brazos that it worked. Most of the match was in the tercera, with Oro fighting off everyone and Porky doing a lot of comedy before they launched the dives. Satanico hit a nestea plunge off the apron on the far side of the ring which I don't think I've ever seen him do and somehow adds to his legend. They were chanting for Porky to dive well before it was his turn. The finish was fun as it was one of those everyone gets pinned out of a multi-man submission spots that never actually works and did here. I always appreciate that. The fans appreciated all of this and money was tossed in post match. There was literally no way this was going to be bad given who was in there.

PAS: Brazos are maybe the greatest formula wrestlers of all time. Nothing is more enjoyable then watching them do their match, you don't need any extra juice, the rudos really just have to show up. This match however had two first ballot hall of fame rudos and Dantes who was a king in the 90s. So not only to we get awesome Brazos stuff, but there is so true class to play off of. Satanico is a great Super Porky opponent, very comfortable with playing along, but also willing to get really nasty when it is desired. That Cactus elbow off of the apron was a true Holy Shit moment. We get some big time Pirata bumps too, and Dantes hits a great looking Superfly splash. Porky is of course a joy, he was at both peak fat and near peak agility at this point, and he hits his top rope dive so hard he nearly bounces out of the ring, he also reverses a double wrist lock by springboarding off the top rope into a flip, mind bending stuff from a guy who looks like Homer in the Simpson episode he got Obese to get on disability.


Silver King/Vampiro vs. The Headhunters

MD: This cuts off midway through the segunda, so all we really get is a mauling by the Head Hunters. Really, though, that's all we needed. They were tremendously effective at what they did. Not much more to say here except for that the crowd really wanted to get behind the tecnicos and that Silver King was one of the top guys in the world at working the apron and milking a moment at this point.

Atlantis/Héctor Garza/Pantera vs. Eddy Guerrero/Emilio Charles Jr/Felino

MD: I really liked this. Captains are Atlantis and Charles, and they set the tone immediately by having Charles get a cheapshot in on Atlantis during the announcements. After a brief exchange early where Atlantis gets the advantage, he dodges him for much of the rest of the match (though runs all the way around the ring into a quebradora as the tecnicos take the primera). The other main pairings are Felino and Pantera which works out quite well and Eddy and Garza which starts off a bit slow but on the second and third time through gets great. Late Garza is one of my favorite wrestlers period, so sometimes I don't give Early Garza enough credit, probably, but the point of comparison is always Eddy. I have no idea why the latter is here as he'd been working WCW for a few months now, but I'm not complaining. Once he really unleashes the rudo fury on him (after Felino sneaks in a foul on Pantera to turn the tide in the segunda), the beating is primal. Guerrero refuses to pin him after a nasty, wild powerbomb and then superplexes him and has Felino hold him down for the frog splash. Between falls, he slaps him and hits the brainbuster and locks in a STF for good measure. The comeback is a little all over the place, with Atlantis fighting to get his mask back on and just whipping Charles (who cries foul) around the ring, but Garza sliding all the way from one side of the screen, through the ring, to the other to get revenge on Eddy is great stuff. I could have used another minute or two of comeback, but Pantera gets to creatively upstage Felino, Atlantis gets the decisive win with the Atlantida on Charles, and post match, Eddy perfectly catches Garza on his signature dive. Post match, after the other rudos had left, Eddy wants a shake and Hector gives him one and it felt a little like a passing of the torch even if the real points of comparison would come years later. Always something to see here and it was always something worth seeing.


Mascara Ano Dos Mil vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr.

MD: Phil's already covered the Casas vs Santo match elsewhere, so this is our de facto main event. Lucky us. Look, it's been a while since I've willingly watched a Rayo match, especially a singles match, but the flip side of that is that it's been so long that maybe I'd be happily surprised? I love how if you go to the official ELP youtube page and find "Touch and Go" almost all of the first comments are in Spanish and about the Dinamitas. This is, obviously, a completely bullshit title match. Instead of matwork in the primera, there's lots of competent Mascara Ano stalling and a bunch of dancing foolishness by Rayo. There are basically two holds, one to stooge Mascara so he can go out and stall again, and one to finish it. The segunda is even less substantial, just a couple quebradoras, a couple of whips, and a missed top rope move by Rayo. My favorite spot in all of this was probably Rayo hitting two bouncing grounding headbutts and then comedically missing the third. My other favorite bit was him accidentally diving on the wrong person twice. We didn't even get Mascara punching him a bunch. This was not good lucha and I was not happily surprised.

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Lucha Libre Real 1/26/19

Lucha TV is putting up full lucha indy shows every week, and I want to start at least cherry picking the fun stuff from those shows. This week it is this Lucha Libre Real show with some fun looking stuff.

Demus vs. Robin

Demus is pretty much a must watch at this point. He is maybe the best brawler in the world right now and we get a fun tour of the bleachers with Robin, where he tosses him into chairs, smacks him with a ladies purse, and hits him with a giant metal pipe. There are some moments of fun in ring stuff too, Robin has a nice tope, and Demus hits his great muscle buster. Robin didn't bring a ton from his side, and hopefully we will get tons of these great Demus performances, and to make the list we need some cooler stuff from the B Side.

Black Terry/Pirata Morgan vs. Fresero Jr./Mr. Iguana

Brutal mauling, with Pirata and Terry in the role of twin Abby's bloodying up these two young guys in gruesome ways. Pirata is especially grotesque, painting Iguana's body with his own blood, and smothering him with his hand. Terry is really great at brawling as we all know, and he gets some big time exchanges with both Fresero and Iguana when they get moments of hope. I dug Iguana getting press slammed by his partner into his opponents. Probably too much of a squash to be a real MOTY list candidate, but it was a spectacle for sure.

Juventud Guerrera/Mr. Aguila vs. Los Traumas

Traumas are totally aggro in this, with Juventud talking some trash on the mic and T1 just slapping him right in the teeth. Lots of really hard shots by the Traumas on team Monday Night Wars, Aguila still has some agility and Juvi still has some charisma although they aren't what they were certainly (meanwhile Rey is ageless). Match has some real moments but kind of peters out with a double count out and a post match invasion angle and Aguila turning on Juvi and Vangellys, Grako, and Gangster Jr. running in for a pretty lame invasion angle


Everything I watch was pretty fun, with nothing hitting list. Still I am looking forward to digging into more of this stuff and mining gems

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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MLJ: Recent Uploads: Love Machine, Último Dragón, Vampiro vs Black Magic, Negro Casas, Pirata Morgan

1992-09-18 @ Arena México
Love Machine, Último Dragón, Vampiro vs Black Magic, Negro Casas, Pirata Morgan

I really meant to get back to Sombra and I will soon but Dataintcash has been uploading so I wanted to give some of these a look. There's another Robin Hood match up and an Estrada vs Fiera match which I'm going to give my vaunted colleagues a few more days to get to before I look at, but it sounds great on paper. This, though, took me by surprise. I'll watch any Negro Casas match that comes down the pipeline, but I didn't really have high hopes for this one. I was wrong.

It was one of the craziest lucha brawls I've ever seen. It didn't have the sort of brutal fury you get from the 80s rudos vs rudos wars, but it was just constant action, with all of the rudos playing their roles so well, and all of the tecnicos as endlessly spirited and fiery, even as a framing device, which I'm not sure I've ever seen before. Usually, when the rudos are beating on one tecnico, it's because they've managed to neutralize the others. Here, it was often two on one because one of the other tecnicos was chasing the third rudo around the ring. Crazy stuff with a lot of visceral hatred.

Morgan immediately felt like the best possible Vampiro opponent here. All Vamp really needed to do was bleed and sell and occasionally dive across the ring at whatever rudo last wronged him, using his height to make that visually striking. It didn't often go so well for him, save for one big revenge spot where he got to suplex Black Magic outside of the ring. Morgan was just awesome at bullying him and bleeding him, with all three rudos constantly cutting him off. There's a hair match between Morgan and Vampiro and I actually want to watch that now; it's nothing I've ever really thought of seeking out before.

I think this was shortly after Magic's turn and he and Barr got the very most out of that, with Barr first frustrated and then increasingly furious and deranged in his attacks. Casas was glorious, both as the rudo getting chased around the ring the most and as the guy taking the most sheer enjoyment from the beating they were giving out. He was always in the right place at the right time to help with a cut off or push someone off the ropes or get in an extra shot for good measure, and he made Dragon look like a million bucks by bumping for his kicks. I value old Casas just as much as young Casas, but I'll also freely admit that physically, he could do things well above and beyond when he was younger. He never had to, but they almost always add something unique and special to a match.

This was one of those vaguely unsatisfying two fall matches with the rudos controlling most, the tecnicos getting a comeback win in the middle, and then the rudos getting disqualified in the end. Of that sort, you either have the desperation DQ foul because the tecnicos are too much or when the rudos get DQ'd because they're just beating on the tecnicos too much. Both build heat for another match, but I kind of like the latter since it allows for more face saving on the rudo side. That's what we had here. I'd suggest watching this just for the breathless energy of it and Morgan and Casas playing their roles so well. This was really the way to manage Vampiro at this stage.

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