Found Footage Friday: LOST LUCHA~! HIJO DEL SANTO~! BABE RICHARD~! KONNAN~! REY SR~!

Shogun/Faisan vs. Babe Richard/El Master Arena Coliseo 1984-1985

MD: It's rare that lucha this old pops up and I don't think we have a ton of Richard pre-reffing. Shogun is the Ramirez from the last few months.  Master was Richard's brother. They had a pretty good act as heatseeking rudos. Constant motion. Faisin did a spot early where he took one's hands up to the top rope and when the other rushed in, he faked a kick, then stepped on his head/shoulders, to bound off and armdrag the other. I'm not sure I've seen it done quite like that. Then Shogun came in and they played right into a bunch of rudo stooging. Once they took over (and got the primera with a foul), they were constant double teams and pulling feet in from the outside to be weapons. Just constant nuisances. The handheld nature of this meant we heard all the laughter as they were getting theirs and the heat when they were dishing it out. Comeback became quebradora city until Faisan took an errant palm strike and fell down, getting a foot up as he did to foul one of his opponents before the ref and draw the DQ. Very weird finish that I am glad is lost to time because no one seemed to like it.

Rey Misterio Sr./Arana Negra vs. "Huracan Ramirez Jr."/Konnan LA Early 90s

MD: A series of finds from the family of this Ramirez. Arana is going to be Misterioso and we come in with a rudo beatdown. He works the crowd well enough here. They all do more or less, and the crowd is very into Konnan (and Ramirez knew his job was to get them chanting along for him). It's fun to watch Misterio beat on him. Most of the Rey Sr. I've seen has him as a tecnico but it's always fun to watch him play rudo now and again. He was quite good at it. Konnan was quite good at making sure people's faces ended up in his crotch, including when Arana tried to do push ups. Rudos took back over with chairs (including a drop toe-hold onto them) and Konnan was good at looking like he was constantly trying to get back in it or fight back, even with a rudo ref. Finish had Misterio get a foul on Konnan behind the ref's back but he spent too long celebrating and got nailed himself with a Konnan foul. The fans seemed pretty happy about all of it at least. An interesting look at how certain instincts played out in front of a crowd like this and of a relatively svelte Misterio Sr.

Huracan Ramirez Jr./Hijo del Santo vs. Mosco de la Merced/Tornado Negro Anaheim Late 90s

MD: We get about ten minutes of action here and I'm not sure if it's just the primera or if it's the whole thing, but it is fun. This is parking lot tent lucha. Ramirez looked pretty good here, starting and then being part of the finish. I don't know if Tornado Negro was a natural enemy to him or what but they matched up well with armdrags and what not. The fans wanted to see Santo and so do we and he had a few minutes of playing the hits with Mosco, sweeping him out of the ring, doing the headstand headscissors, a headscissors takeover, the rowboat. It's all rousing stuff and the fans eat it up. Then Ramirez comes in for some rudo miscommunication stuff, including yanking the ref down, before he hit a power bomb out of the corner and Santo flew off the top with his headbutt and they brought it to a finish. We're not going to refuse seeing Santo we haven't seen before and the setting was nice but it was pretty lightweight stuff.

ER: My girlfriend and I are in Reno for a birthday weekend getaway, and we watched this in bed at like 1:30 AM after getting some of the best pizza (shout out Noble Pie Parlor). We had just talked about El Santo movies the day before when she saw a couple in one of my many dvd and blu ray stacks, and I had given her a brief history lesson and told her about the times I saw El Santo's son live, explaining that he is regarded by me and everyone else as one of the finest wrestlers in history. Lo and behold, the next day, new Hijo del Santo appears in the wild and here we are watching him. This is probably not the greatest intro someone could get to Hijo del Santo, but I loved her reactions and insight. Mainly, she wanted to know, that if he was such a big star, then why was he working this show under a tent outdoors without a very big crowd. I told her he was a major star who was still a man of the people, and as long as someone paid his rate he would play any venue and still put on a performance worthy of the Santo name. 

I have never seen him turn in a Less Than Santo performance, and in that way this was a good way to introduce someone to him. Because once Santo entered the ring, she understood his star power. She has been absorbing wrestling through osmosis, it being regularly on in my place, but she has never seen anyone who moves like Hijo del Santo. I told her that I hadn't either, and would recognize his motion anywhere. She was captivated by how light he was on his feet, his cross ankle headscissors, all of the things we are so familiar with, captivating yet another soul. We have all seen dozens and dozens and hundreds and hundreds of Santo matches more essential than this one, but I don't know if there's a wrong place to jump into this man's career. Even in this venue, you can feel the star power and see what's special about him. I'd watch him work his magic with anyone, anywhere. 

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

WWA 9/2/91

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

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

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

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

Los Mercenarios vs Rey Misterio/Kiss/Halcon 78 

 

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

Villano IV vs Scorpio Jr. 

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

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

Hijo del Santo/Hijo de Solitario vs Kahoz/Fishman

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

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

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New Footage Friday: WCW Festival de Lucha

ER: This is one of those shows that I've heard about for 20 years, one of those shows that someone on a message board would pretend to have a copy of, cause a stir, and of course never actually follow through on getting the footage to anyone. It's one of those shows where people just wanted to see it more and more because they thought they would never get to see it, which is the best kind of Hidden Gems gift. And, excitingly, Super Boy is now officially on the WWE Network. Blessed. We get the fantastic mission-front set with traditional dancing, great pueblo set, ring valets all in traditional garb, and what sounds like a loud crowd who is into this. I'm there with them.

TOMK: It’s about time this showed up. You would have thought they would do this in September as some sort of Hispanic Heritage Month deal…but I’m not complaining about October.

MD: I'm dealing with some shifting watching situations that make annotations tricky currently (as in, I watched this show on a commuter bus over a few days), so the comments I provide will be general. Hopefully, Phil and Eric have the heavy lifting here.

I'm not going to say "Nitro lucha" is my least favorite lucha but it's certainly not my favorite. So many things that I've learned to love about lucha libre just aren't present. My remembrance with them is that you didn't really get memorable captain feuding or character driven pair-offs or momentum shifts with builds to comebacks. Clearly defined segments. Dives as means to a bigger end instead of ends in and of themselves.

It was distilled one-fall Lucha with some of the wrong things distilled.

That said, this entire show was a blast. So much of that was due to the setting, the dancers, the fact that they really just embraced this stuff instead of having it off to the side as a sideshow. On this show, these guys felt like stars. Top to bottom, too. You had Disco Inferno main eventing for maybe the only time of his career up until that point, and he felt natural in that role. Jericho felt larger than life, like a Buddy Rose type figure, and almost all the more charismatic or memorable luchadors felt like big deals.

And that was most of them. The talent pool here was great. You had a lot of the usual suspects: Villano III and V, La Parka, Psicosis, Juvi, Halloween and Damien, Hector Garza, Super Calo, Konnan and Rey, and the WCW contingent with Finlay, Smiley, Swinger/Lane etc. but you also had guys that didn't really show up in WCW like Felino, Pirata Morgan, Texano, Rey, Sr., and freaking Super Boy. Maybe coolest of all (not as cool as Super Boy, but...) we had new Blitzkrieg matches, and a bunch of unique pairings that you just didn't think you'd get.

Everything basically worked, from Jimmy Hart's Boricua first family to Jericho's foreign legion, to the fact guys seemed to trade between being rudos and tecnicos depending on the match. There was some sense of overkill or a lack of agenting. For example, I really liked the Juventud Guerrera, Pirata Morgan & Psicopata vs. Hector Garza, Konnan & Rey Mysterio Jr. There was a pretty key story in there with a big fight for the top rope rana through the pairings and ultimately, a bigger fight for the Juvi driver, but in the next match on the taping, someone hit a top rope rana almost instantly, like it was nothing, and then I think a match later, someone hit a Juvi driver, of all things, just as a move. Even if these matches weren't all taped in the order they'd be filmed, that would have been a long term problem. That's not to say the matches didn't vary at all. Some had more thorough beatdowns (Especially the Damien/Halloween ones, I think), and others more comedy, but the general tenor of Nitro style lucha is "good action" and that's a lot of what this was.

Other random thoughts: Psicosis might have been the best masked rudo of his specific generation (guys born in the early 70s). He's so emotive, such a dick, able to play to the crowd, but also able to base so well and hit so much stuff. Juvi just really got it too. He integrated a lot more of US heel mannerisms and it was a good mix. I'm not super familiar with Salsero, but I'm amazed he didn't get himself more of a job out of this. He was playing a unique role and would have probably gotten over on a weekly basis in WCW as a clowning, joke-spot guy that could still go. Lots of clotheslines and DDTs on the show. It's a joy to watch the differences in the selling though: Blitzkrieg folds in half, Hector sails across the ring, and yeah, Disco makes sure to flail sell for quite a few seconds. There was at least one VIII decapitation of someone too. I thought Konnan worked surprisingly well in his trios match. I don't remember him working nearly that spritely in the late 90s. He also gave a lot for Disco who was giving his all. Heel Big Wiggle era Norman Smiley was a lot of fun and Jericho as a corner man made it all the better. I've seen rudo Rey Sr a few times lately (had mostly seen him as a tecnico) and he's just a great stooging pug base. I wanted to see Finlay, Blitzkrieg and Super Boy against literally everyone else on the show. I'm glad we had a few more matches than listed because it would have been a crime not to see Finlay in this setting.

I guess my biggest takeaway from it all is that I wish it had gone on for a while. 


Silver King/Venum/Kendo vs. Super Boy/Villano V/Felino

PAS: This would probably land in the lower half of WCW lucha trios, but it was still a ton of fun to see different guys work in this environment. Kendo's stuff fit in great in the sped up WCW lucha style, and his big tope looked awesome. Super Boy and Felino both looked great too, Felino was fully in his fastest luchador in the world prime, and Super Boy is an amazing short fat agile revelation. I have no idea why this didn't at least get them both WCWSN filler gigs. Venum Black looked not ready for prime time, he was tentative, and awkward, and even his big dive felt unsure.

TOMK: The EMLL announcers used to talk about Felino as one of fastest wrestlers in the world but you kind of forget how fast he could make an exchange look. Not sure if he’s actually “stop watch fast” or just knows how to make every move look sudden. It is a blast to watch Felino and Silver King working their fast exchanges. I think Super Boy and Silver King tried to do a ridiculous exchange near the end that had a 1/50 chance of working but if it did it would have blown every one’s mind and they were completely prepared for it possibly not working. Venum Black may have blown his leg on his dive near end.

ER: The Felino/King sections of this were really hot, and if this match just had their cool trips and ankle picks it would have been worth it. All of the Felino stuff was really great, and then you have Super Boy coming in and being the fast flippy fat guy who looks even more awesome taking falls, because his beautiful round belly looks great on the mat and his shirt always exposes it. It makes him look like when you'd KO King Hippo by punching him and making his pants fall off. Venum looked a step behind everyone but he did hit a wild dive at the end (which Tom thinks may have wrecked his leg). I have no clue what King and Super Boy were going for at the end, but it doesn't happen, and it was fun to see them pick up the pieces. I saw Super Boy work a flea market in the early 2000s, and he did a huge dive, crushed the two chairs in the row in front of me, and landed on my leg. It was great. 

ER: I am LOVING the Jimmy Hart Festival de First Family. What a great bunch of weird dudes, with American Wild Child mugging the whole time, Psicopata dragging around a blow up doll, and Pierroth yelling on the stick. I love Pierroth, and this late 90s period of Pierroth was really great. This was a stable I would have killed to see go up against the LWO. I'm just picturing Pierroth whipping everyone with his belt and hitting hard lariats on everyone. This is great.  

TOMK: Jimmy Hart comes out with his stable, Ricky Santana, Fidel Sierra, Pierroth, American Wild Child and Psicopata. Holy shit why couldn’t this have been a regular WCW stable. Pierroth gets the mic and explains that he is going to wear the Puerto Rican colors. And fuck it Pierroth really is the guy who I didn’t get at first but now when I see old footage absolutely can’t take my eyes off of him in a ring.

La Parka/Super Calo/Salsero vs. Halloween/Damien/El Mosco

PAS: Total fairgrounds lucha match, lots of classic shtick you can see at any small arena around Mexico, except performed by masters of the craft like Familia de Tijuana and Parka. Great stuff by Salsero too, who turned every move into a shake of the hip, and threw out a crazy top rope quebrada to the floor. Loved everyone missing an in ring dive, all of the stuff with the Kendo stick and Parka making the rudos dance to his tune. Usually WCW lucha wasn't this traditional, so it was a fun look into some stylistic differences between the matches.

TOMK: Salsero? Salsero? Of all the guys they brought in Salsero. I guess Salsero and Kendo come as package. But why would you want that package? For a little dancing followed by in ring tope and slapping rudos confusion comedy spots, Rayo is right there. This is mostly a match made by Halloween/Damien heel miscommunication spots and pretty much they are absolute kings of building a match around that.

ER: Damn this was fun. You show me this list of 6 names and Salsero would not be the guy I'd expect to be featured the most, but here we are. This whole match was full of schtick, and it was super welcome. And the pairings were all real fun, starting with Mosco and Calo. Mosco has a big high spinning heel kick, and later takes an amusing bump over the top off a Salsero dropkick. Salsero got to work a bunch of classic schtick, getting the rudos to attack each other (loved FdT ganging up on Mosco and Mosco swinging a chair at them), and boy did I not expect him hitting a gigantic top rope quebrada (to seemingly no reaction, on a show getting loud ass reactions from everything, that's weird). Halloween and Damien looked as good as usual, loved them getting outsmarted by La Parka at nearly every turn, and La Parka was so great at leaning into every single strike. I loved Parka's long  dance evasion from Halloween, ending in a perfectly timed mean slap from Halloween, and Parka was running so fast into Damien's corner boots, catching them right in the neck. This really got to unfold in a great way, and while it didn't hit anywhere near the peaks of WCW lucha sprints, it had a nice traditional charm that was felt throughout. 

  

Rey Mysterio Sr./Villano III/El Texano vs. Blitzkrieg/Piloto Suicida/Raul

PAS: Damn is Villano 3 a beast in this match, just a violent lucha machine, hard shots, great looking DDT, internal organ flattening senton, just a monster. Your tecnico team felt like a green tecnico team being carried by awesome rudos, and we had awesome rudos. I am surprised Blitzkrieg was as subdued as he was in this match, my memories of him were always just a lunatic breaking out crazy highspots, here he wasn't much crazier then Raul (whoever that was). Excited about the run in setting up a killer rudo battle later on the show.

TOMK: Who is Raul? Is that Zorro? Facially kind of looks it. I thought Zorro was a tad taller than that. Anyways this is a fucking Texano showcase match as he just beats the fuck out of everyone and throws himself around bumping and setting up face comebacks. Jimmy Hart’s team runs in at the end attacking both faces and heels and we get an awesome tease of Pierroth vs. Texano. Is Psicopata actually Mando at this point? He doesn’t really move like Mando…If WCW only had been willing to air this show we might have gotten a WCWSN main event Psicopata/Bad Street vs. Psycho/Killer and that would have turned everything around.

ER: Damn check out this Rey Mysterio Sr. showcase, what a brute who knew how to make green fliers looks formidable. He's someone who throws in extras, fills time nicely, a guy who needs to be spoken about in the same sentences as other era workrate lucha gods. I like how he throws in an extra spin while getting into position for a Piloto Suicida armdrag, and on the floor he eats a rana and purposely throws himself into the legs of the guardrail to make the bump look better. Oh but then you had his excellent rudo partners looking like all time asskickers. Villano III gets Blitzkrieg a WCW contract by crushing his ribs with a top rope senton, and Texano was the most explosive guy in the match throwing strikes as hard as his bumps. The thing falls apart in absolutely glorious fashion, I mean three tecnico dives that all miss in increasingly spectacular fashion, terrible catches and botched dives and the most incredibly ugly trainwreck you've seen. Raul (yeah who the hell IS Raul?) slips and dives head first straight into the floor, Piloto apparently pilots the plane on the cover of License to Ill, and Blitzkrieg takes a flip dive into nothing when Rey whiffs. I was so damn into this rudo team, but this ending was too funny. Post match Pierroth run-in made everybody in the match look like a lesser luchador though. It's unfair to people in the match to let Pierroth come in and beat the shit out of people as the last visual. 

Juventud Guerrera/Pirata Morgan/Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr./Hector Garza/Konnan

PAS: Juvy/Psicosis/Pirata Morgan is a absolute killer rudo team, and it is really cool to see all three of them have matchups with Rey Jr., all great exchanges worked at a high level. Konnan is also working super hard on this show. This was his big opportunity to headline a show, and he was delivering at the peak of his abilities (admittedly a low peak). Run in was fun, although weird they had run ins at two different matches.

TOMK: You forget how amazing Juventud was. Just the entire fucking package, has the crowd in the palm of his hand, able to do the workrate midcard lucha spotfest that was asked of everyone while also just slowing it down to get little things across. It is WCW, so of course they are going to do two matches with invading foreigner heel teams attacking Mexican faces and rudos for a finish. The heel stable of Finlay, Lenny Lane, Jericho, Kaz, Norman Smiley, Chavo and Johnny Swinger is bizarre but would have also liked to see that as a regular WCW stable. Well maybe not Swinger.

ER: Damn now look at THIS rudo team! This is definitely the high profile main event of episode 1, because that's a big time tecnico team too. Tecnicos were fine but this was a rudo bump showcase. Psicosis and Juvy are among the greatest most explosive bumpers of all time, and this was them compressed and burning bright. The way Juvy takes whip snap somersault bumps looks so great, he rolls up tight like Samus and just bounces off that mat. Psicosis bumps to the floor, onto his head, onto his stomach onto the floor, onto his head again, just dude being who he is. Even Pirata takes a totally preposterous somersault back bump to the floor after getting dropkicked off the apron; the bump felt completely disconnected from the dropkick, sending him the totally opposite direction of where he should have bumped, but the dude somersaulted to the floor so who gives a fuck. No padding on the floor, no logic to the bump, but Morgan is here taking a hard bump to the floor on this taping.

The run in was totally badass and I LOVE the invading foreigners stable!!! What a kick ass gang of everybody-but-Mexicans. They're wearing light wash jeans with cuts ranging from "dad" to "Kaz Hayashi's Jncos", black sleeveless crop tops, woven belts, just throwing stomps and beating ass. This is what the stunt doubles would have looked like if there had been a Backstreet Boys Movie. It's so perfect. You can already see the hierarchy of the stable, with Lane, Swinger, and Kaz being the underlings who would actually get their asses kicked in trios matches before either Finlay or Jericho came out to cheat for them to win. Also Tom isn't excited for Johnny Swinger? Swinger is a guy who ate some of the worst beatings on 1997 WCW TV, he's the perfect guy to be the lowest totem pole guy in a stable. Somebody needs to take the ugliest beatings while the top guys escape. I hate that I never got to see this stable until now, and not more.


Juventud Guerrera/Felino/El Mosco vs. Piloto Suicida/Salsero/Raul

TOMK: Is El Mosco really wearing “Live Drug Free” on the back of his tights?” Really?

ER: This was pretty messy, and probably the weakest of the show so far. Felino doesn't vibe really well with Piloto, Salsero breaks out a nice tope con giro and STILL gets no reaction (his dives are like the only ones that get met with silence, it's like people enjoy his shtick but then get mad when he breaks out actual impressive highflying), but this is 100% a showcase for Juventud. Juvy is a genuine frontrunner for best chops in wrestling history. That sentence is not hyperbole. Juvy's chops are the fastest and feel like the best representation of the term "knife edge". His chops absolutely slice and hit harder than the chops of men twice his size. He does have the curse of overly visible frustration when things go wrong, and things can go wrong with a green face team, but there is still gold here. Juvy hits a real hard missile dropkick and Piloto takes a nice classic rolling lucha bump through the ropes, Juvy drops a great springboard legdrop, hits his great spinning rana off the top, basically Juvy on offense could do no wrong. But we do get a real bizarre finish, as Juvy calls for the Juvy Driver, picks up Piloto Suicida, and then drops him twice in a row. Maybe it was supposed to look like Piloto was blocking it? He did eventually get a kinda roll up nearfall, but it just looked like Juvy kept blowing the spot. I really don't think that's what they were going for. 

Kaz Hayashi/Psicosis/Ron Rivera vs. La Parka/Blitzkrieg/Kendo

TOMK: Why is Kaz in this match? He’s in the Jericho outsider stable but just a regular rudo here? They only had one taping and still couldn't keep booking straight? Kaz really leans into all of Kendo’s stuff nicely and the two RPW guys work match up and know how to work their spots together. Parka is over and kind of weird to see him getting this much of a showcase in all these matches when I don’t think he ever got this much of a taste at any other time in WCW. Wait, they were aware that he was super charismatic and can carry a face team on charisma? They knew?

ER: Parks was given a WCW showcase in several ways that other luchadors were not. On the WCW/nWo Revenge game - the highest selling wrestling game on the Nintendo 64 - La Parka was one of only a few luchadors included in the game (Rey, Psicosis, Juvy, Chavo and Eddie if you count them as luchadors), which had a really large roster for video games at the time. And Parka was presented as separate from the "cruiser" luchadors, the only luchador other than Konnan who was lumped in with the heavyweights in the game (tantamount to guys like Barbarian, Stevie Ray, and Yuji Nagata). He was presented separately and as a potential breakout star, and they seemed to know it was a good idea to feature him more in matches and give him side angles to work his gimmick...and yet they seemingly had the coldest possible feet about pushing him as an actual singles star. It made no sense. They knew, but they didn't know. Highlights of this match were Kaz really making all of Kendo's headscissors look great, a great Blitzkrieg dive followed by a big twisting La Parka dive, and Blitzkrieg hitting a big phoenix splash for the win. Blitzkrieg was a cool part of wrestling 1999, and I love that we're getting a little more added to his story. He's a total cult fave, indy white guy shows up as an out of nowhere unknown in WCW one episode of Nitro, gets over immediately when he's treated like a peer by Misterio, and has maybe 30 matches total on tape. He was a nostalgic part of my teen wrestling fandom, and now we get like 10% more Blitzkrieg appearances than previously existed. That's awesome.

Rey Mysterio Sr./Villano III/Villano IV/El Texano vs. Pierroth Jr./Fidel Sierra/Ricky Santana/Psicopata

TOMK: There was some nice Pierroth and Fidel Sierra stuff, but this wasn’t going to live up to my expectations. I was also expecting a big Hart bump, and instead Hart was subdued. He felt like a watered down Andy Barrow.

PAS: I loved this, it was rudo vs rudo and kept up a really killer pace. Pierroth is rocking an amazing Soul Glo Jheri Curl and every time he throws a chop activator juice flies all over his opponent. Psicopata was all over the ring and the outside, stooging, flipping to the floor, bumping huge, total barrel of energy. Really different from a normal WCW lucha match, and I dug that difference.

ER: This lineup is far and away the match I am most excited about on the show. Tom is right that it couldn't possibly live up to my expectations, but damn did I think this was just great. This was our Pierroth showcase match of the evening, and this was an evening that benefitted from a Pierroth showcase match. He was throwing the best punches of the show, kicks to dicks, and the best non-Juvy chops. He came off like a total boss against a very badass team. We got a lot of simple brawling, and it was satisfying as hell. Villano III gets some nearfalls that the ref keeps missing, including a gorgeous small package off of a delayed vertical suplex, and we get an actual powder in the face spot for the finish!! Hell yeah! There was so much powder!!

Rey Mysterio Jr./Silver King/Hector Garza/Konnan vs. Chris Jericho/Norman Smiley/Johnny Swinger/Lenny Lane

TOMK: I think there may have been a good Black Magic vs. Silver King exchange but this was messy.

ER: My god who is the Festival de Lucha girl accompanying Rey? Jesus. And this foreigners stable is so much gold. I love every single stable at the Festival de Lucha tapings!! Every single stable in this 75 minutes has been something I want to watch weekly!

Felino/Psicosis/El Mosco vs. Super Calo/Blitzkrieg/Venum Black

TOMK: Venum Black’s leg is fucked and he comes into this match hobbling. The whole match is just super impressive to watch this guy work a match on one wheel. Should he have worked this match? Should an agent have put someone else in? Whatever. Super Calo does my favorite Super Calo thing where he eats a clothesline by landing on the top of his skull.

Fit Finlay/Kaz Hayashi/Norman Smiley/Johnny Swinger vs. La Parka/Hector Garza/Kendo/Raul

TOMK: I really liked this match. This is hidden gem that you didn’t know you wanted. Kaz’s offense looks great and he sells and bumps to make Raul look like a bad ass. Eats a real nasty piledriver from Raul. Parka gets extended exchanges with Finlay and a dance off and exchanges with Smiley and hits a tope that takes Swinger’s head off. Garza gets some cool stuff in opposite Smiley as well, Swinger and Kendo keep each other occupied, and it’s a cool finish.

PAS: This was really fun, so awesome to watch Finlay and Parka beat on each other. I can imagine an alternate universe where this show was successful and these two had the greatest Apuestas match in wrestling history. Jericho was really fun as a douche on the outside heat seeking. Parka and Smiley had a fun dance off too, honestly Parka is so great he can have dope exchanges with everyone on this roster.

Super Boy/Halloween/Damian 666 vs. Rey Misterio Jr./Piloto Suicida/Salsero

TOMK: This I liked too. A bunch of Halloween/Damien stooging, miscommunication stuff, and you get to see the California guys match up and showcase what they can do together. I really wish Rey vs. Halloween was a WCW series at any point cause it is a cool match up…plus there was an ESTRELLA!!!!

PAS: Really fun stuff, Super Boy has to have some of the biggest missed potential of anyone in the 90s, and it is cool that we get to see a little more of what he could do. Halloween and Damian 666 are such pros and they make everything the tecnicos do look great.

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New Footage Friday: French Catch, Super Boy, Rollerball,

Le Marquis/Black Shadow vs. Marcello Motta/Angelito French Catch 5/28/85

MD: All I want to talk about is the Marquis and his valet. Obviously, there was some old writ that somehow survived the Terror and Paris Commune that he was able to brandish showing that old landed gentry, of which he was one of the last, are lawfully allowed to utilize their valets in matches without any repercussion. This was some of the most acceptable and enjoyable constant cheating I've ever seen. They made an effort of distracting the ref a bit, including Motta being angry enough to hurt his own partner, but what made this sing was the total immersion. Every single time the Marquis entered or left the ring, the valet held the ropes. Every time the babyfaces got near the corner, he cheated. Every time the Marquis took a shot, he was there to dust him off. Occasionally the random mascot mocked him. It all led perfectly to the big dropkick spot that allowed enough space for the final pin. As for the work itself, it was good though maybe a notch down from some of the earlier French wrestling we've seen (though that still puts it pretty high). I liked all of the nasty side-mares. Angelito was pretty unique in look and movement but it all felt a little loose from him. I suppose the Marquis' act could get old if we had dozens of matches of his, but as this is pretty much all we have, it's gold in my book.

ER: These kind of matches are pure undistilled joy, and I always find myself loving the surroundings as much as the joyful ring work. Every shot of the crowd brings a smile to my face, and also makes me a little sad that this type of crowd is mostly gone. This looked like a crowd of families seeing a Saturday afternoon matinee. There were older couples and elderly couples, mothers there laughing with their children, a grumpy teen who was probably dragged there by a parent and was fighting the good times, and of course a giant blue furry mascot who apparently was just sitting in the crowd. He occasionally smacks Marquis' personal butler and the crowd appears to treat him like they would any other attendee. Everybody is in a sweater or an overcoat, and this seems like a crowd who would eat simple and deliciously prepared peasant food for dinner one night, which then gets turned into a stew the next night with wine, and in the meantime they're going to have a laugh while watching the acrobatic stylings of Angelito. And that's what I did! Angelito and Marquis were highly entertaining, with Marquis almost exclusively being a base for Angelito's breathtaking monkey flips, while being regularly toweled off by his butler. He and Angelito were quite a pair, and I did not get sick of those monkey flips, the way he would approach his opponent normally, then kick his body into the air so that he was nearly vertically upside down, before pendulum whipping downward to catch his feet on Marquis' or Shadow's thighs. They were amazing. He also had some cool counters, my favorite being Marquis catching him in a press slam, and Angelito immediately kicking his leg down to kick off Le Marquis' chest, landing on his feet and uppercutting him as punishment. I loved how Marquis' butler stood on the apron the entire match, and how that built to a big moment of Angelito drilling him with a picture perfect dropkick to knock him off (it should have been a bigger moment, but the butler oddly just sold it as if he had slipped off the apron and was getting back up to save face, not a guy who just had his sternum collapsed by a hard kick). This never veers into overt violence or intensity, it keeps its pace and is pretty to look at, and I am continually fascinated at these glimpses into the wrestling cultures of our worldwide friends.

PAS: I really enjoyed this although it lacked some of the mindblowing otherworldliness of some of the other French Catch. This was pretty formula wrestling match with a fun formula attack. Angeltio and the Marquis are a fun matched pair. With Angelito whipping off cool takedowns and monkey flips and the Marquies bringing his valet and a quality amount of horseshit to everything he does. I could have totally seen this turn into a six-man tag with the Mascot joining the babyface team. This French stuff is such a treat and we clearly need to find a Frenchman to invade the archives and get us more!!

Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones All Star Wrestling 8/20/88

MD: Very cool that we got promos at the start of this, though Jones put Robert Gibson's lazy eye to shame. Rocco's hyperactive offensive bursts reminds me of the young Piper we've seen lately and now I lamented that there was never a scenario where those two could have teamed. This was really high end stuff, but it was almost too much so. They'd wrestled so many times that everything was a counter of a counter of a counter. The crowd was on board because they were familiar with them and it never felt choreographed; in a situation like that, I usually go for it. Here though, it was so metatextual, so over the top in the familiarity that some of the basic and primal stuff didn't entirely make it along for the ride. You ended up getting the blood and the DQ at the end but I felt like Jones had more reason to be angry a decade before. Here, familiarity seemed to breed contempt, not the hatred they needed to make the finish work. That's a nitpick but I still couldn't shake the feeling.

PAS: This didn't have the athleticism of the earlier matches, these guys both clearly had more wear on the tires. This had way more shortcuts then the WOS sport stuff we have from the 70s and 80s and I enjoyed the difference. Rocco tossing water into Jones eyes, removing the turnbuckle pad and Rocco bleeding by the end. Even the finish with the ref getting tossed around separates this from other stuff we have seen. It does feel a little more like two guys irritated with each other, then two guys who hated each other, and this kind of a brawl needed a bit more anger. I did love Jones wasting Rocco with the baseball slide dropkick, which is the moment it felt furious.

Rey Misterio Sr./Ultraman/Piloto Suicida vs Mercurio/Fobia/Super Boy FLL 2/15/95

MD: I came late in life to lucha libre, so obviously, I wasn't tapped into this vein like those who were part of the community twenty years (or more) ago. This, to me, feels like much more of a counter-culture scene than ECW. Maybe that's just hindsight but ECW was just a stylized, dirtied up version of what we always knew. This was something else entirely. At the base of it is just good lucha libre: majestic and valiant and scummy and tricked out, larger than life. They hit their spots cleanly and clearly. The primera exchanges were crisp and engaging. The segunda beatdown did a great job with crowd control, feeling organic instead of forced. There wasn't that moment of climax of a comeback. A lot of it happened between the segunda and tercera with a chairshot on the outside, but the finishing stretch hit all the marks, with a Estrella/Rana combo actually finishing the match instead of being a nearfall, which I'm not sure I've ever actually seen. Ultraman was quizzically over (he might not have been the guy I expected the crowd to go for the most) and he played into it well. How great must it have been to be a local during this period, right? The rest of the country was watching the Dungeon of Doom and Million Dollar Corporation and you got this.

PAS: Superboy is this total 90s cult figure, he would show up every year or so in Michinoku Pro as this short really fat incredibly graceful highflyer. He worked the WCW Lucha pilot which never went anywhere and then kind of faded away. So cool to see him in his So-Cal lucha home. The moment where he was working these incredible primera caida armdrag sequences with Rey Sr. were a true highlight. The opening sections off this were pretty great with all six guys getting a chance to shine. I thought the Segunda and Terecera lacked some of the Primera's focus, it was pretty aimless brawling leading into the Estralla finish of the third fall. The promise of that first fall never really delivered. That is a very lucha libre thing though, you will sometimes get this awesome individual fall in an otherwise pedestrian match, and those glimpses of brilliance are well worth it.

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New Footage Friday: Piper, Choshu, Inoki, Porky, Nicho, Santo, Rey Sr.

Roddy Piper vs. Riki Choshu NJPW 9/8/77

MD: This was very straightforward. Roddy got outwrestled. Roddy went to the cheapshots first. Choshu came back. Roddy cut him off. They went back and forth towards a clean finish. It was all good though even if nothing was over the top. Piper was maybe 23 here. I like how he sold after holds. I liked the viciousness when he took over. He had a fun gutwrench that Choshu went up too much for. Both distinctive Choshu comebacks were after Roddy was verbally taunting him, which was a nice touch. There was that real sense of struggle in this, from the opening Piper headscissors all the way to the butterfly suplex that ended it. I like how different this was from the Inoki match. That's a testament to young Roddy.

PAS: Really fun to see incubatory versions of both of these all time greats. Piper has some of the better headlock punches I can remember. He really pops Choshu right in the nose and eye. This was before Choshu developed his formula, he has an afro instead of his stringy hair, and doesn't throw a lariat or put on a Scorpion. This was fun, but I can just imagine how amazing a 1985 version of this match would have been.

ER: This is like a great Young Lions match, no highspots or rope running, both guys staying close the whole time, and both laying in shots. Piper was 23 as Matt said, but everything he did looked so good and fully formed. Look at that headscissors where he holds his knees tightly together and scrapes Choshu's head across the mat, or when he whips Choshu's head into the turnbuckle like he's slamming a car door as hard as he can. I also like how Piper would whip his arm into the side of Choshu's head, and also loved how he sold for Choshu. At one point he ate a heavy back suplex, and then lay there pulsing on the mat as if he kept trying to get up but suddenly had no working core. My brain didn't even read Choshu as Choshu in this - as Phil said he wrestled and even looked quite differently - as he looked more like "what if Kantaro Hoshino was a powerlifter?" I dug how he didn't put up with Piper's chippiness, and the two suplexes to end it are a suitable ending for the era.  

Roddy Piper vs. Antonio Inoki NJPW 9/22/77

MD: It's been a bit of a surprise but I've really enjoyed 70s Inoki. Maybe the trick is that I'm watching relatively short matches that highlight his energy? Here, there's a ton of craziness on the outside to start, and Piper capitalizes, and the first few minutes are really good. Piper's great at picking someone apart and Inoki's a quality guy to pick apart. He uses the ring, including ambushing Inoki when he comes back in and unleashing a ton of golden gloves jabs. Inoki's big late 70s move was apparently fighting his way back into the ring; when he does it by getting Piper's leg and then doing repeated bull charges to drive him into the corner, the crowd pops huge. They follow it up with Inoki getting some punching revenge and one of my favorite things, an extended short arm scissors section with Piper constantly engaged from underneath, so I'm all for this one. Piper eventually sneak-shots his way back into it, but it's never a real competition after that; at one point, while facing off for fisticuffs, Inoki's able to just shove him down. Inoki just has this forward momentum, always charging forth, that Piper tries to redirect or sneak around, but there's just no stopping it. Another butterfly suplex ends this. It was a good win, one that made Piper seem like a threat, even if not too much of one, and that made Inoki look great in victory.

PAS: This was a very Piper match which I loved. It starts with Inoki and Blackjack Mulligan brawling on the floor and Piper jumping Inoki from behind. Piper has some great wild punch combos, which he did about as good as anyone. Inoki taking control with his "ruined Ali's career" leg kicks is pretty cool, Inoki knows how to handle a guy with great hand speed and combos. I am also a big time mark for short arm scissors. I liked Piper's comeback, but one of my issues with Inoki matches is when he decides its over he just steamrolls his opponent and ends the match. If this had a more exciting finish it would have been a real hidden classic. It was still a great look at young Piper, who has really become one of my favorite guys to watch.

ER: This was so cool, with Blackjack Mulligan jumping Inoki on the floor and Piper opportunistically taking advantage of that...but I love how the advantage doesn't last long and Inoki comes firing back and just lays into Piper. It felt like an MMA fight where a guy takes advantage of a slip from his opponent, but the guy who slipped is a better fighter and the second he gains his footing he just starts punishing that dude. Inoki overwhelms and clowns Piper, legsweeping him, dodging every attack, catching his strikes and forcing Piper into armbars and short arm scissors and trying to wrench him into the octopus, really punishing him for his insolence. But Piper's comeback is nice and fiery and he really laces some shots into Inoki. I really like Piper's full arm swinging shots, really the only guys I've seen who throw similar arm strikes as him are all luchadors, though I know that was obviously not an influence on him (just as Piper likely wasn't an influence on any luchadors). Phil is right about Inoki just deciding to end matches and ending them quick, but this was still a 10 minute powder keg.

Super Porky/Nicho El Millionario/El Hijo Del Santo vs. Rey Misterio Sr./Halloween/Damian Tijuana 6/2001 (?)

ER: This match was every damn thing I want in my lucha. 2001 Tijuana is proving to be one of the all time great lucha hotbeds, and let's thank Roy Lucier for letting us see these matches from the tape trading era of lucha. 2001 Tijuana and shows with 2001 Santo matches were the very first lucha I bought from a flea market, and it was the best lucha I had seen in my then 3 year history of watching lucha, which began with WCW luchadors leading me on to WWF Superastros, before finally getting cable TV and finding lucha on Galavision in 1998. 2001 Tijuana was my favorite lucha I had seen, and it only looks better in 2019. This is lucha perfection to me. Super Porky turns into a physical comedy performance for the ages (focus on physical), Rey Mysterio Sr. continues to look like an absolute legend every time I see him, Nicho shows how insane he is with how many dangerous violent spills he takes on a show that to his knowledge wasn't being recorded; Hijo del Santo is a legend who we know has a 100% track record of showing up on every show he's on no matter the crowd size, and Halloween and Damian are two of the more dependable brawlers of the era (at one point Halloween hits this great leaping mule kick, and it's just one cool thing the two of them do). It's a match with so many standout stars that I have no clue who the standout star of the match is.

Super Porky gave a performance that ranks up with the best of them, a great mid career performance. He hits a super far assisted top rope splash, sets up a beautiful version of his headlock takeover/headscissors, works a hilarious comedy spot that sees him do more rope running than I've ever seen him do at any point of his career (building to a great payoff of Halloween and Damian popping each other), he absolutely crushes Familia de Tijuana's valets with a huge body press of the apron, and his dancing after the primera was impossible to not smile through. Nicho is absolutely nutso. He takes all of his most dangerous bumps here, plus some new ones. He falls on his head, throws high dropkicks on the concrete floor, gets suplexed into the 5th row and appears to hit a baby (!), he insanely wraps himself around the ringpost on a missed charge (as crazily as I've ever seen that  bump done), drops a guillotine legdrop onto Mysterio over the guardrail, he gets powerbombed kidneys first through two freaking CHAIRS!! This guy! Mysterio is like lucha Fit Finlay, it's insane how underwritten this guy is. He comes off like a total crime boss here, sending his henchmen into battle, he hits hard, he knows how to stooge, he'll take a great bump into the crowd (and suplex Nicho further in), and he comes off like a total sadist. Santo is lucha grace personified, hitting his flawless headscissors, his big senton into a dive past the ringpost (set up nicely by Porky), but then when Felino runs in at the end of the tercera we get to see Santo the brawler - which is the best Santo. He's so graceful and moves so smoothly, but he's super aggressive in brawls and the way he went after Felino made me want to see that match. This match was insanely hot, insanely violent, all done for locals only. Everything from this era of TJ needs to be seen, just a total early millennium wrestling hotbed.

MD: This was glorious mayhem. I love that it fit into so many traditional tropes while being bonkers and over the top. I'm not sure I've ever seen Rey Mysterio Sr as a rudo before but he definitely fit the look. Nicho as the post-modern, crotch chopping tecnico who wanted to get his hands on him, worked. That he had Hijo del Santo and Brazo de Plata with him just made everything more surreal. There are so many weird moments in this. Porky flips up and over with a rope assist before hitting the headscissors/headlock takeover. He's the one who holds a guy down for the Santo senton/tope combo. Santo positions someone on the guardrail for a Psicosis legdrop. Porky hits a dive on a valet. Psicosis had more distinct hope spots than you generally see, which I assume was the US style rubbing off on him. We miss the absolute moment of tecnico comeback here, which is a shame, and Felino interjecting himself at the end led to an awesome beatdown but maybe wasn't conducive to a good match. That's the thing with some of this footage. It's honestly good booking. They keep building to the next thing. It just means when you watch it as a capsule, the finishes aren't always as satisfying as the match itself.

PAS: This was a total blast, pretty much exactly what you want from a Tijuana lucha match: you know it isn't going to make a ton of sense, you won't get a clean finish, there will be some nonsense with refs and run ins, but you put all time greats and total lunatics in that formula and it is going to rule. Nicho went full Sabu in this, flying all over the ring smashing himself into the post, getting hurled into the crowd, you totally understand why he had such a short career as a great wrestler as he was dying these kind of horrid deaths regularly. Porky at his best is maybe the most entertaining wrestler of all time and here he was at his best. The Porky top rope splash has to feel like getting hit with a bag of hotel laundry, all of the sheets from all of the rooms in a giant bag landing on your chest.  Santo brings class to the insanity and Familia De Tijuana are great rudo foils. It goes off the rails as you expect, but it was a great train crash.

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All Time MOTY List Head to Head 2001: Parka vs. Santo VS. Tijuana Trios

Rey Mysterio Jr./Damian 666/Vampiro vs. Rey Mysterio Sr./Halloween/La Parka Tijuana 10/26/01

PAS: I assume this is a relevos incriebles match with Mexicos Most Wanted on different teams, and dueling Mysterios, but I will admit I am not totally versed in the angles of early 2000s Tijuana lucha. Rey Jr. was post WCW pre-WWE and was in the midst of baggy pants Rey, he still knocked off some cool moves, but kept having to pull up his pants after every move.  I actually enjoyed Vamp and Rey Sr. in this too, they had some energy and Rey Sr. actually based really well for his nephew.

This was mainly focused on Damian 666 vs. La Parka and it was totally awesome stuff. There are fans burning Parka gear in the crowd, and he riles up the crowd right to the precipice of a lucha riot. He throws Damian into the crowd and starts mashing him with a chair right in front of the guy who burned his pennant. He also gets some giant piece of wood and smashes Damian with it and powerbombs him through it. We also get an awesome Rey Jr. vs. Parka section where he pinches him on the cheek like a little baby, before getting ranaed in revenge. Parka is a fucking superstar in this match, and plays the chaos of this match like a master conductor. I really loved the finish too, with Parka burying Damian under a Parka flag and then getting rolled up when he gets too preoccupied with taunting.  I forgot how much I loved Tijuana chaos and this was a great example of it.

ER: This is just a nearly perfect lucha match for me, and really takes me back to seeing live Tijuana lucha cards from this era 15 years ago. We saw some wild stuff (oddly just missing all of these participants, but involving adjacent performers like Nicho and Super Parka) but the brawls never got this wild and the work never felt quite as mean, and the matches I saw didn't have as many highs. Everybody gets and delivers big moments in this match, even Vampiro. Even before the bell sounds Mysterio Sr. shoves his nephew and shows they won't be messing around. Of course this was the La Parka show, but no one man owned this match. Parka in 2001 was so skinny (compared to what we've gotten used to) that I'm going to start spreading misinformation that this was actually an all time great performance from AAA La Parka. You get all the stuff you love out of current La Parka, but against fresh match-ups, like a spry Damian and a having fun free agent Rey.

We've seen Damian as a slow guy with a big belly hitting people with a kendo stick for over a decade now, it's great to see him snapping off fast ranas on Parka, taking a crazy bump into the crowd (followed by getting pelted with chairs from Parka), and it's cool to see how loudly the crowd gets behind him after his beating at the hands of Parka (considering there are some major names in the match, I wasn't expecting Damian to emerge as the hero). Damian paying Parka back for his beating was huge, and the great thing about violent, chair throwing, table launching, drink smashing La Parka is that he always takes back whatever he gives. Parka gets tossed through a table, Damian hits a big senton on the table, Parka gets tossed into the crowd, pelted with chairs, really gives back generously. We never got a ton of Parka/Misterio in WCW, just a handful of tag matches and one singles (which I basically need to seek out tonight), and in AAA they mostly were on the same tecnicos side, so the whole match I was salivating at the chance for a Parka/Rey clash, and it totally delivered. Parka acts like the cocky older brother and shoves Rey back about 6 feet before Rey starts outwitting him with speed. Yep, gonna need those WCW tags tonight, thank you.

Halloween is the lost super worker of the 2000s, never got much of a chance to shine in WCW, emerged post-WCW as a big bumping asskicking heavyweight, and was at the peak of his powers here. He gets mostly paired with Vampiro, which could have been a disaster, but totally makes it work. Vampiro was kept to his nice spinkick and nice full leg extension superkick, Halloween flew fast to the floor off the spinkick, leaned in chin first on the superkick, throws great knife edge chops, and late in the match hits this great jumping kick. Misterio Sr. was a guy who never really got talked up by the people buying lucha tapes, so either this match was a career performance or there is more cool stuff out there to mine. Him shoving his nephew really set the tone for the match. You typically don't get that kind of start to a match when guys are planning on dogging it, and he was always a great presence throughout the match with stiff right hands. Finish was fun with Damian getting to be the unexpected tecnicos hero, after getting buried in all kinds of Parka gear (and it should be noted that before the match, someone was literally BURNING a La Parka pennant in the crowd!) and catching a pose-happy Parka in a roll up.

Hijo del Santo vs. La Parka review

Verdict:

PAS: The Trios match was awesome stuff with an all timer Parka performance, but the Santo match also had an all time Parka performance, and also had classic Santito so it gets the win for me.

ER: This trios was basically everything I love about lucha and an excellent collective performance. I love those lucha trios where not only are the individual parts good, but the whole rises above as well. This was way WAY closer to the Santo/Parka bloodbath that I would have guessed, and there were parts of this trios where I was flipping out and was definitely planning on voting for a new king. Really the only thing that dropped it down for me was the odd moment where Vampiro almost punched Halloween/Misterio's valet in the face (though I liked her overall interference, it's odd that the tecnicos was literally going to punch a woman in the face, when she had just been chopping him in the chest). It's a small moment, but a weird one, and we're still left with a match that easily would have finished in my top 10 for 2001. But, the champ retains.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LA PARK

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