New Footage Friday: RIP Harley, Dory, Villano III, Random French Guys

Harley Race vs. Dory Funk Jr. AJPW 12/12/81

PAS: This was a AJPW HH, and a nifty chance to see what a 70s title match between these two might have looked like. The opening of this match had Dory side headlocking, like a side headlocking machine. His dogged determination to hanging on to a dull headlock almost became a comedy spot. He was working like a Chikara or Beyond guy who's gimmick was "Dory Funk Jr." After they finally move on from that it got pretty great, I loved all of the work around the Indian Death Lock, it was applied in a way I hadn't seen before, and they did a bunch of nifty adjustments and reversals. Race is also a great heater, and when they stood out and started throwing it was pretty great, for all of Dory's starch when he gets fired up he can look good. The match got very good in the end run, with some big suplexes and some drama, although the draw finish was a bit deflating. This wasn't a hidden classic or anything, but it was a good chance to see what these guys could do in a long match.

MD: We come to celebrate Harley Race. I wish, maybe, that we had a different match to do it with, but that is a testament to the man in and of itself. Every time, over the last few years, that a new Harley match that looked interesting popped up, we reviewed it. This is one that was buried, that I didn't actually realize was on this disc. It's not a bad match to choose though. Harley won his first NWA Title from Dory. They had history. I don't think there are many (if any?) full singles match between the two that we have.

Look, this is Dory at his most Dory. He's working towards a draw. The first half of the match is a series of headlocks, building to spots, and brought back down to headlocks. The back half is basically the same thing but with Harley having the advantage. They escalate to a finish that calls back to parts of the match previous. Some of it is serene. Every time Harley starts to get out and has to get cut off is really solid. He was hugely entertaining in that role, feeding, giving, stooging. Likewise, every time he has to cut off Dory, he does so with either a bomb (suplex, pile driver, etc) or an organically placed shot that seems like the most natural thing in the world. It's not that they didn't work the headlocks, with Harley kicking his foot from underneath or lifting and dropping his body while on top. The few times Dory bridged up while in control made it seem tangibly painful. It amazed me a bit how many times they went in and out of it, but it went past the point of tiring me to feeling like real commitment.

I like where they eventually made it to, especially Harley's Indian Deathlock and the eventual reversal. The strikes were just great, Dory's forearm off the ropes, Harley's straight punches in the corner. Something like the first blocked suplex, deep into the match, felt like it really, really meant something. Hell, even Harley's first hit falling headbutt felt like it meant something because he'd missed it once along the ways. These guys were just so credible and the crowd believed them entirely. There's a reason that streamers went flying with the draw. They could get away with this match and even have it feel satisfying when others couldn't. And frankly, there was a great match possible here. If they had chosen some hold other than the headlock, something that would allow for some selling, a revenge hold other than the front facelock, if they had told the same match but had given themselves more of an (almost literal) crutch, then this thing would have singed. As it was, that they got as far as they did with what they chose to go with, and that they were rewarded by the crowd for such, does feel fairly legendary.

Bud Jenkins/Jean Sobek vs Gino Rossini/Eddy Warrant 6/11/88

MD: Look, if have to have Midnight Oil stuck in your head for a few hours because they played it before a 1988 match from Germany, this is the match to watch. I'm not even sure what to say about this. Wrestling can be a lot of different things, from shootstyle to Titanes en el Ring, but the opening exchange of this feels like it taps into an acrobatic genre/tradition that we've barely seen anything of. They intersperse it with some choice shots and heatseeking behind the ref's back because wrestling is wrestling, thankfully. There's the world's most casual ref bump drop kick, an endless stream of machine gun European uppercuts, guys camping on the top rope, and no finish, but you don't really care because you're just glad to have seen this stuff at all.

PAS: Belgian wrestling is apparently it's own wild thing. The opening of this match is totally bonkers, flips and spins that make the most agile luchador look flat footed. I especially loved the way one of these guys (no idea who was who in this match) jumped over a drop down, he floated in the air like he was levitating, this was after some crazy flip ups out of armdrag attempts. It gets a bit more standard in the second half of the match, but that first section was breathtaking and bizarre.


Ciber Black/Emilio Charles Jr./Shocker vs. Mascara Sagrada/Super Mueneco/Villano III 10/5/08

MD: I'd like to say that there's some secret method here at Segunda Caida Labs at how we find these matches, but there's really not. With lucha especially, there are so many regional or lost matches that some random new channel might have something and go under the radar. I do some searches every week or so, for Negro Casas because I want to check out his indy stuff, for Bockwinkel since sometimes you do get lucky there, but also for Emilio Charles. Because of when he passed and because there's no hijo de, you don't get the search
cluttered with a lot of newer matches.

I have no idea what's going on here, save for that the listing says it's a benefit show for Scorpio, Jr. and that the tecnicos come out to the Back to the Future theme (which Villano III's shoulder spikes and cape being awesome). I think that this was one of the first times Charles and Shocker had teamed since their feud in 2001.

This was just fun indy lucha with a bunch of solid, charismatic guys. I loved how meat and potato the initial beatdown was. They used the rope and the ramp, really grinding down. Everything Charles did looked mean. Shocker brought the star power and the fans (at least the young ones) were constantly chanting. They ducked the rule of three on the rudo communication/tecnico comeback and that could have breathed just a little better to prime the crowd. The tercera was full of the fun exchanges that you couldn't get with an initial rudo ambush. It was especially great to see Villano III against everyone. Fun little celebratory match (and only in lucha can a match end with a foul DQ and still feel like a celebration).

PAS: Emilio was rocking an amazing mustache in this match. He looks like a guy Rick Dalton would hunt down on an episode of Bounty Law. It is always worth watching guys like Charles and V3 and Shocker throw hands. This was a very formula lucha main event trios, it was designed to leave the fans satisfied, and not really as something to be rewatched and analyzed. When Super Muneco runs through his routine, it isn't anything new or surprising, and hell he basically made the rudos armdrag themselves, but we need to see him roll his head around and do a crazy dance, and he delivered. Very much a match that delivered.

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New Footage Friday: Wiskoski, Texas Red, Santo, Payasos, Matsunaga, Aoyagi

Ed Wiskoski vs. Texas Red Big Time Wrestling 1979?

MD: This was a 10K challenge, where Bastien would win the money from Wiskowski if he could beat him in 15 minutes. I'm going to come off as hypocritical between this and the trios, but with lucha I tend to like things falling into traditional structural lines because there is an inherent ritualistic beauty to lucha while here, I really appreciate the wrinkles that the 15 minute challenge put upon this structure. For instance, some of the nearfall trading towards the end felt six or seven years before its time, maybe not at the speed of a Steamboat/Savage but considering Wiskoski's size and Bastien's age, it's still fairly notable.

Wiskoski's size is a hell of a thing, really. He's billed at 6'4" on wiki but he uses every inch of that, while still being able to move so well. Their initial feeling out/matwork sequence with the armdrags and the headscissor takeovers was very impressive while still feeling completely sound and logical.

Obviously, having Buddy Rose on the outside and announcing was a big asset. The match was consistently engaging and entertaining, which is really something about that turn of the 80s west coast style. Buddy helped like he always did. The finish was clever as it sort of gave Bastien two visual wins (both of the match and the money) while doubling down on the heat, as Rose not only cheated him out of the money, but Wiskowski ultimately won the match. If they were giving this away on TV, there was plenty to still go to the arena to see.

ER: This was disappointing to me, because it really wasn't the match I wanted these two to have. I like both guys a lot so was really excited about the match on paper. Plus it's from the SF territory which was the territory I would hear about from "old people" as a kid (like how my dad said he and his friends would always call Pat Patterson "Fat Pat"), so any SF footage is great. Judging by the cut of Buddy Rose's suit jacket and shirt lapels I'm saying this was 1979. And I like both of these guys and always want to see more than what's out there, it just wasn't the match structure that I was at all interested in seeing. Wiskoski was putting up his 10 grand check from Shire if Texas Red could beat him in 15 minutes, and Texas Red looks like he is going to beat him every single minute of the 15 minutes. This match was 90% Texas Red beating Wiskoski pillar to post, looking the entire match like Wiskoski should have been the one trying to win a 10K payday. I fully expected this to be Buddy Rose cheating throughout, giving Wiskoski the advantage every time, but instead Red just dominated him most of the run time and couldn't put him away. Wiskoski came off like a total badass surviving Red's onslaught, getting run into the buckles a ton and bumping a zillion times for such a big guy. Wiskoski threw these cool short range side angle punches that I love, but they never seemed to have much of an effect on Red. We do get the big moment of Wiskoski just about being put away before Buddy interfered to break up what surely would have been the win. I liked the actual ring work - not a shock, both guys are very good wrestlers - but this felt like Wiskoski should have been more unfairly dominant, not bumping for 14 out of 15 minutes.


Masashi Aoyagi vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga NJPW 8/7/91

ER: This was a big New Japan show with 10,000+ in attendance, and this match was certainly something that was going to stand out early on a big G1 card. This would be an unexpected match to talk about while leaving the arena, two karate guys basically working a heel vs. heel match, two Billy Zabkas kicking spleens and testicles. Aoyagi is an absolute villain in this, cheapshotting Matsunaga with a liver kick while he's being checked by the ref and not letting up for 7 minutes. Aoyagi really gave Matsunaga an asskicking. Matsunaga chose a life of death matches after eating this beating. "I'd rather backflip into Caribbean spider web than get my bottom ribs kicked in," is something I'll likely never announce as my life choice, but these 7 minutes made Matsunaga say that. Aoyagi lands hard kicks to the chest, ribs, arms, and temples. Brutal body shots paid off with hard high kicks. Matsunaga is getting overwhelmed, and literally his only way back into the match is to kick Aoyagi right in the balls! Aoyagi was kicking him all around the ring, literally digging his feet in to Matsunaga's ribs to force him out of the ring, and Matsunaga comes in and just kicks him in the balls. Matsunaga treats Aoyagi with the respect he was treated. There was the feeling it wasn't going to last, but he made his moments count. Aoyagi's receipts were violent as hell though; he starts flinging his whole body into Matsunaga, big tumbling spin kicks that even when they don't land still see Aoyagi's full weight crashing into Matsunaga, awkwardly landing on his legs as they tumble. Aoyagi kicks him until surrender, and then gets the shit kicked out of him by some big ponytailed goon who I didn't recognize in the moment. This is something I don't think we've seen, and instantly becomes one of our all time classic Aoyagi performances.

MD: Is there anything that could possibly set the tone to a match better than Aoyagi kicking his opponent, the seconds, and downing the ref all in the first few moments? Maybe Matsunaga, after being forced out by kicks a few times, coming back in and shooting a kick right between Aoyagi's legs? That's basically this match. They'd retreat and attack. Aoyagi has the cool takedowns and throws, and of course the wild, theatrical kicks. Matsunaga, to his credit, didn't back down until the point where he could simply no longer get up. It was a brutal seven minutes. Violence candy.

PAS: Matsunaga comes to the ring seconded by Tiger Chung Lee and Kurisu, what an incredible trios team that is. Aoyagi opens the match by kicking the shit out Matsunaga, Chung Lee and Kurisu (with our boy Kurisu taking a big bump off the ring apron). He proceeds to bust up Matsunaga's body and head with kicks and punches. I loved Aoyagi's kidney shot/high kick combo. Aoyagi is awesome at turning wrestling matches to 70s Kung Fu movie fights and this was another example of that. Chung Lee and Kurisu jump both guys post match, and I clearly need to see the tag match that set up.


El Hijo Del Santo/Super Muneco/Angel Azteca vs. Los Payasos AAA 9/23/94

MD: The level of talent involved here was off the charts. I feel like every new Hijo Del Santo match is a joy we're lucky to have. Los Payasos was as fun a gimmick as you can get and all these guys were so good and working super hard for a Tijuana handheld in front of a molten crowd. The primera had a lot of the exchanges you'd expect, with two between Muneco and Amarillo. With lucha, the traditional structures work and they work for a reason. I'm ok with rudos catching tecnicos to win a tercera, but it felt a little weird for them to take over the offense and win the primera so clearly. It didn't affect the heat on the comeback but some of that was because you have Santo doing his dive and what not. The tercera was all dramatic flash with a little bit of BS but that's what you want for Santito vs. evil clowns. I'm thinking a lot of the structure (and the martinete DQ to finish the second fall) was because the rudos were taking this in the end, so it probably all worked in context of what was happening show to show. As a standalone I would have preferred something else - a structural lucha ideal, because I always want that - but the match they gave us was still great. The post match sort of boggled my mind but in an entertaining way, at least.

PAS: The Primera Caida of this match was really great, Azteca and Santo are two of the smoothest wrestlers of all time, and Muneco brings a nice frantic energy to all of his offense. The Payasos are all extremely professional rudo luchadores and they know exactly how to play their role as bumpers and eaters of offense. The Segunda and Tercera Caidas were more about establishing business, and I had forgotten about what a huge push the Payasos were getting, they win the first fall clean, only drop the second because they martinete and stretcher out Azteca, and Amarillo ends up submitting Santo to his own Cabello finisher. We did get some Tirantes nonsense to set it up, but still that is a strongly booked rudo team. I enjoyed the back half of this match too, Santo has the prettiest topes of all time, and knows how to get fired up, but this didn’t end up being the classic trios the first fall teased.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Aeroboy vs. Aramis! Diabolicos vs. Super Pinocho/Super Raton/Super Muneco!

Aeroboy vs. Aramis MDA 2/17/19

ER: Sadly this is going to be another one of those LWW posts where I didn't actually like the match I was recommended, but wanted to write it up just to show I did the leg work and gave it an actual chance. This is one of those modern lucha matches that I absolutely despise, the kind that borrows from every single awful American indy trope and sullies my beautiful lucha with stupid suplex no sells and mirror sequences. What makes this actually worth watching is 2-3 legitimately spectacular spots peppered throughout. I don't love a lot of the stuff in between those matches, although things don't get too egregious until the back half of the match. Before we get to the "I take a nasty German suplex but it rolls me onto my feet so I run at you and hit a huge lariat but that you pop up from that lariat and hit a superkick and then the superkick bounces me into the ropes and I hit you with a superkick and then we lie on the mat selling but also I adjust my gear a ton while selling" portion of the match there was some stuff I actually enjoyed. There were a couple nice pop up ranas and headscissors early, Aeroboy hit a hard tope that smooshed up his body while crunching Aramis into the barricade, and Aramis gets thrown nicely into the ringpost. A lot of the rest is that "run into the corner and lariat me, but then I'll turn around and run right after you when you run back and hit you" kind of stuff that is a pox on modern lucha. But again, the two spectacular spots are spectacular: Aramis hits a bonkers tope, super fast, hard contact, that sends both of them smashing violently into the second row through a few fans. Later, Aeroboy is in the crowd, and Aramis climbs to the top, rope walks a few feet out on the top rope, and hits an amazing tope con giro into the crowd. The match itself never really matched those two moments, and didn't offer me a ton more than those moments, but your mileage may vary.

Romano Garcia/Gallego/Rocky Santana vs. Super Muñeco/Super Raton/Super Pinocho Sanchez 3/2/19

ER: Man I love lucha. This wasn't technically good, but it sure was enjoyable, and it had all the silly charm that really drew me to lucha 20 years ago. I think Romano Garcia is so good. He's getting older (he's literally 61!) but he has such a great brain for lucha and still knows how to put together a satisfying match, shining with a few moments worthy of being stolen by younger guys. He set up a couple comedy pratfalls including one where he really took his time before missing a planned spot, it was great. Gallego is fun too and it's cool we're getting full length Diabolicos matches in 2019. For awhile none of them were making tape, so either they all took a few years off or they just worked out of sight. Our tecnicos looked crazy, truly a collection of looks and gimmicks that could only work within lucha libre: Raton and Pinocho in particular, with their tiny little shorts and massive bellies with tight little shirts and suspenders doing some major heavy lifting. I presume that these are at least 2/3 original members, which would put them all in their late 50s/early 60s, and that's an old age to be wearing this gear. It's fun seeing old tubby guys pulling off armdrags, and I flipped out when Pinocho did a huge fat guy tope in the tercera. I mean that was just completely unexpected. It's lucha and it can be ridiculous, and it certainly gets there as Muneco steals the segunda pin while Pinocho is setting up a Vader bomb, and then to pay him back he punts Muneco right in the balls to give the match to Los Diabolicos. You have a man in his 60s dressed as a little wooden boy, kicking a clown in the balls, all for free. I love spending time with this kind of lucha.

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SLL's All-Request Friday Night...on a Tuesday

Super Muneco, Robocop, & Gran Houdini vs. Los Thundercats (Monterrey, Late 1980's)
Requested by Tim Evans

Fuck Sting. We've got Robocop.

Primera caida is mostly mat-based. After only knowing them for their bloody apuestas match with Trio Fantasia for so long, it's pretty cool seeing more of the technical side of Los Thundercats here. Tygra starts off with Gran Houdini. Houdini should be escaping from a lot of complex submissions. He doesn't, but he doesn't really get put into any in the first place, so I'm not sure I can blame him for that. Whatever. That's not what you're here for. This is what you're here for: Panthro and Robocop are up next, and man, you haven't lived until you've seen Robocop go to the mat. Seriously, he's actually pretty slick, I liked his nifty armdrag takedown, and he'd probably be the star of the match even if he wasn't fucking Robocop, but the fact that he's Robocop just makes it all the sweeter. Then Muneco and Lion-O square off, and now things gets wild. Honestly, Muneco is kind of a bastard. Everyone else seemed like they wanted a nice clean fight, and here he comes lolling his head around as he does and starting shit with people. Lion-O with the mask ripping. What would Jaga say? Still, this mean streak seems to work out for the Thundercats, as they take the first fall. Presumably, in the second fall, they tried to find a drug dealer to make into Monterrey Robocop 2 and sic on our hero, but the technicos evened the score pretty quickly, so no dice.

And oh, holy shit, this third fall. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Robocop match falls down in it's third part. Muneco immediately starts fouling all three Thundercats in full view of the ref, and apparently, even in the 80's, the Monterrey officiating staff was composed entirely of match-ruining assholes, because this guy just lets it go for some reason. He gestures like he's thinking about giving the match to the Thundercats at one point, and he holds his arms out a lot as if to say, "Come on, Super Muneco, cut it out! You know I hate having to actually do my job!" For his part, Robocop does have the decency to be disgusted by his partner's behavior, and then there's a bit of decent brawling, but then it just turns into an orderly match again, and I really don't care about that. I want to see Robocop throw Super Muneco through a bunch of windows while reading him his Miranda rights.

In conclusion, despite the match having kind of a lame finish, Monterrey Robocop is awesome, and the perfect companion to Robert Cop.

NEXT TIME: A non-Meiko, non-Kana modern joshi match that doesn't suck? The gods must be crazy!

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