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: SERDAN~! AQUILES~! VERNE~! MCCLARITY~! VILLANOS~! TEXANO~! SIGNO~! NAVARRO~!

Michel Serdan vs Aquiles Brazil 9/13/87

MD: We've covered two other matches from Brazil and they've both been tremendous. This was no different. If someone is just sitting on a bunch of Michel Serdan matches, please come forward with them. We'll watch them all. This was billed as his retirement match, one last fight in a cage against Aquiles to prove the better man once and for all. Aquiles cut a fun quick promo before the match saying he wanted Serdan to be calm because he was scared to face him. Serdan had a more celebratory one where he got to thank the fans. This was escape rules with rounds of all things. The cage was flush to the ring, so much so that there were no turnbuckle pads.

That came into play immediately as Serdan ran Aquiles right into the corner a couple of times to open him up. He was already bleeding when he ran him into the cage. He had wild sweeping strikes meant for the last row. I wouldn't call them conventional or even tight but they were very effective and dramatic, like he was riding the music of the roaring crowd. The round breaks served as potential transitions, but even more so were attempts out of the cage. That's when Aquiles got to first take over on Serdan, who had beaten him enough that he was satisfied and went to leave but was immediately pulled down. He quickly got color too though not quite as much as Aquiles (though he had the bald head to help it go a little further). From there they went back and forth, utilizing either escape attempts or round breaks as a way to fire back at one another, just repeatedly slamming fists into heads from every angle.

What a finish too. Aquiles managed to knock Serdan away and started to climb and you wondered, just for a moment, if he might get away. Serdan was there though, grabbing at his feet and it wasn't hard to see the rest of this playing out with Aquiles thrust back into the ring and Serdan rising victorious. However, the entire heel locker room rushed forth and pulled Aquiles over the top. The celebration that followed was one of the most jubilant ever in the history of heel triumphs. Though he was completely undeserving, Aquiles rushed back and forth, surrounded by the heels, arms in the air, as Serdan recovered, dejected, in the ring. I have no idea how they avoided a riot here; it was well-warranted. There's very little quite as beautiful in all of pro wrestling as a heel drawing heat with such exuberance and verve. I'm sure he got his comeuppance at some point but this is a world we only get a glimpse into so who knows what it was or when. I would have paid to see it though, that's for sure. 

Verne Gagne vs Roy McClairity NWA Chicago 8/6/54

MD: We had the first fall of this previously, but not the whole thing. It's a long 2/3 falls match, with a substantial first fall. Verne is Verne, dynamic, explosive, made for TV, carrying within him this bounding energy. You can see it in the way he moves. There was a promise of action in his matches, though, of course, it's the 50s, so that action never crosses a threshold from sublime to absurd in a way that more "action-driven" wrestlers from Race to Rocco to Angle to their modern counterparts can't claim.

A lot of the match was centered around McClaritiy trying to find an answer to the challenge of Verne, working hard to ground him and keep him in long holds, most especially a fairly complex grapevined leg stretcher. It meant that when Verne got an upper hand once again, he was more aggressive and frustrated than usual, looping in some chippy extracurricular bits of damage; for instance, in a toehold, he might slam the knee into the mat in a way that he might not have otherwise. It turned the crowd against him a little, or at least turned them more towards McClairity.

They were working the holds so hard and with so much spirit that without Verne's baldspot, it'd be hard to tell the two of them apart at times. The finish of each fall came down to battle over sleeper type moves, first Verne's straight on sleeper and then McClairity's cobra clutch. In the third fall, with neither able to get it on, McClarity went to the well with a side headlock one too often and Verne hit a 1954 belly to back suplex out of it (one that everyone seemed surprised by) to score the win. Between the underlying story of McClarity trying to contain Verne and Verne getting frustrated by it and just how hard they were working each hold, this felt a lot shorter than it was and remained enjoyable the whole way through.

Kato Kung Lee/Texano/Villanos IV y V vs Indomito/Signo/Tigre Blanco/Negro Navarro CMLL 1991

MD: Look, I love that we have all of these Monterrey matches. I've found something worth watching in 90% of them and some of them are legitimately great. We've got to see regionally pushed talents like Panterita and Arandu and more from the greats like Casas. But man, it can be so frustrating in the way lucha can so often be to see great builds to an apuestas match and then not even know if the thing ever happened, let alone having footage of it. The build to Indomito vs Texano was really good and this was another piece of that vexing puzzle.

They paired up for the primera, with Signo vs Villano (I think V; telling apart Villanos is my personal lucha weakness) really standing out as being smooth. Just a lot of fun talent here so it was nice to see them have their exchanges. The tecnicos took it and kept control into the segunda, though Indomito was dodging Texano for the most part, as well he should. Kato Kung Lee got to take advantage of sheer numbers involved in an atomicos match and did his usual shtick, just with more people to higher effect. Immediately thereafter the rudos had enough and swarmed. At times it was hard for Indomito to take center stage just because Navarro and Signo were there but once they got going, he honed in well enough on Texano and bloodied him. The comeback in the tercera was heated and focused on Texano rushing the ringing and getting his revenge. He hit a pile driver on the outside and back in the ring which was jarring especially because they weren't sold like death. Things built to a final exchange where Texano came in too hot and Indomito was able to get his feet up on the ropes for a cheap pin. Again, just a nice balance of blood and revenge and comeuppance denied. All building to a match that's not listed on luchawiki at least. Ah well. Lucha is a challenging mistress.

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QEPD Super Porky

Brazo de Plata/Brazo de Oro/El Brazo vs. Solomon Grundy/Chavo Guerrero/Popitekus CMLL 4/8/90

ER: It doesn't get more portly than this in lucha, and this match was filled with a ton of belly busting. The big draw here is Porky/Grundy and it delivers in every way you'd want it to. In a match with no dives we still wind up with a ton of big boy gold. Outside of a few nice armdrags we don't really get any Popitekus (but with his gorgeous hair he looks like the fattest possible Ramone), but we get a lot of Porky picking on Grundy, building to a huge sumo war between them to end the tercera. Grundy dwarfs Porky but Porky throws harder fists, throws an uppercut into Grundy's neckbeard, and then bumps him to the floor with a belly bump. There are a LOT of belly bumps in this match, and they're all great. 

I love Grundy's slow bumps to the floor, feels and looks like a glacier falling into the Antarctic. He falls to the floor, Porky hits a lariat off the apron (felt like it was supposed to be a plancha but Grundy moved), and then Porky splatted him with his running belly bounce. Later Grundy takes the absolute slowest Harley Race bump, and I love it. The match is filled with entertaining misdirection, a lot of Porky accidentally hitting splashes and avalanches on his bros and then blaming them for it. Porky even shoves Grundy backwards onto his brothers! There are some classic moments, like Porky being knocked from the apron onto Oro's shoulders, who dumps him butt first onto a front row fan! I also loved the big build to Grundy hitting an avalanche on all three Brazos, with Porky doing a hilarious bump where he runs most of the way across the ring before just taking a normal back bump. The final sumo showdown between Porky and Grundy was fantastic, with Brazo shoving a ref in between them to get Los Brazos DQd, the ref getting a full stretcher job post-match to sell the Porky/Grundy loose meat sandwich. This match might have the most belly bumps I have ever seen, so of course it comes with the highest possible recommendation. 

MD: Great build here as they really milked a potential Porky vs Grundy encounter all the way to the tecera, with a couple of false starts along the way. The first was best as they teased it only to have the other Brazos rush in, kicking off the transitional beatdown. It wasn't just all Porky either as Grundy showed some decent physical charisma in his bumping and in building the anticipation. And of course, yes, he'd eat Porky's clothesline to knock him out, catch Porky's clothesline off the apron and get crushed against the barricade for good measure. The funniest bit of this one was when Porky ended up in some guy's lap in the first row. That shows protecting people with control of your body right there. This ended with one of the most satisfying bits of ref flattening you'll encounter. It was hardly definitive but I doubt anyone cared about that given the effort they made to stretcher him out.

JR: I don’t know if this is a personal failing or an issue with the narrative overall but I feel like far fewer words have been written about rudo Brazo de Plata, so I’m glad we can touch on it here. I think it’s instructive for how gifted a performer Porky truly was. He has great timing and great cut offs and when he does his normal spots minus the flourishes that made them so well loved otherwise, they stand out as tremendously impactful. He is a performer that can use his body in so many ways, or rather, can use his body in one way but change enough about it to make it feel so different. As he rushes forward, with good but rarely seen punches and headbutts and body checks, Super Porky feels inevitable.

Of course, as the match goes on, specifically in the third fall, we get to see the rudo comedy that one would expect from Porky, where he is essentially the incompetent henchman deployed by his slightly more competent brothers. Nothing here is exclamatory per say, or groundbreaking, but at the same time there is value in being able to play the hits and do so without any major faults. This match is fine, more of a Brazos exhibition than anything to talk about on behalf of their opponents, but at the same time it is nice to see Porky show off different shades and viewpoints rather than the standard fare we talk about most often.

Brazo De Plata/Negro Casas/TAKA Michinoku vs. El Hijo Del Gladiador/Gran Markus Jr./Satanico CMLL 5/30/97

MD: Fun trios. This was sort of a sweet spot where Porky was still imposing, to the point where he was, of course, funny, but could make someone like Hijo de Gladiador beg off when he was taking liberties. Within a decade, that would be over and he'd be there just for laughs. Great laughs, certainly, but here he could serve more roles within a match. He could also make like Shawn Michaels posing in the ropes while his partners were in the ring, so it was a balance. And when it was time for him to come in, the fans buzzed in a way that they didn't for Casas or Satanico, for instance. The end of the primera was fun stuff with Casas hitting one big DDT only to get jammed on the second, setting up Porky to come in and accidentally knock him onto Markus only to teeter him back to a sitting and pinning position and then squashing Hijo de Gladiador on a sunset flip attempt. They got the pin while shaking hands like gentlemen. Not much else to say here except for that TAKA (more Taka here than TAKA) was paired well with Satanico both in the primera and in the closing exchange. Satanico was pretty giving against him and looked as great as always; his big interaction with Porky was slapping him in the corner only to get crushed by a series of headbutts out of it as the crowd popped big. The final tecnico comeback was picture perfect Porky use too, as Hijo del Gladiador was trapped behind him in the corner so every time he got whacked by Satanico and Markus he was crushing HdG. Not only does that never get old, but here it was effective and pro wrestling believable in switching the momentum for that final time.

ER: Wow. I actually had no idea a match existed that had Satanico tearing it up on the mat against Taka Michinoku (I trust we do NOT have their singles match a couple weeks after this?), and it's only one of several very fun things happening here. Porky is really treated as the biggest name in the match, and he worked the match as someone who relished the role. This was always building to a big Porky/Markus chubby boys showdown, but all the pairings here worked really well. Gladiador and Casas gave us some quick exchanges before Satanico and Taka came in and outquicked them, and I loved all the rudos scrambling away from Porky whenever he came in. Gladiador hit a questionable strike on Casas and Porky runs in and just plasters him into the corner. We get a lot of classic Porky comedy mixed in with actual strong ringwork, so we get him bumping his butt into Gladiador's face when getting punched in the corner, but we also get an amazing sequence where Satanico starts punching and slapping Porky over and over in the corner. and I'm expecting Porky to start his crying routine. Instead, he had enough and charges out of the corner with a half dozen wicked headbutts that backs Satanico all the way across the ring. Porky hits a big dive into Markus (Markus had landed two very stiff punches earlier during Irish whip exchanges and I couldn't wait for Porky to flatten him) and Taka finishes things with his nice missile dropkick to Satanico's chest, then plants Satanico with the Michinoku Driver. Loved the vibe throughout this whole match, great mix of classic lucha and comedy and stiff strikes. 

JR: I must confess that I haven’t watched a ton of this 90s lucha since the pandemic, and returning to it here is like putting on an old pair of comfortable shoes. Seeing prime Casas and Satanico and remembering the things they did every night was so gratifying. It made me love wrestling for a moment.

But Porky! A revelation every time. People talk about Tajiri being a silent film star with his body language, but I see Porky do sequences here, with a stylized hip attack and a rope running sequence and I can’t help but think of Charlie Chaplin films, in which he is toeing the line between genius and accident. Porky does that here; getting kicked in the gut, but the momentum causes his ass to hit someone in the face, or flattening his own partner so hard that he bounces back up into a cover of his own.

Really, this is sort of the platonic use of porky in a match like this. Casas does the heavy lifting and holds everything together long enough for Taka to shine and change the pace and for Porky to have a few huge moments, including a tremendous plancha. This isn’t what I’d call an all time Porky match or anything, but I think it’s the blueprint of one.

Brazo De Plata/Brazo De Oro/Brazo Cibernetico vs. Villano 3/4/5 Acapulco 11/20/04

PAS: I think I have probably called 15 different lucha cage matches "the only good lucha cage match", but I am doing it again. Here is the only good lucha cage match and it is great one. You can put together any combination of wrestling's Hatfields and McCoys and they are going to try to murder each other, and this was an awesome combo. Nothing funny about Porky here, he was looking to put Villanos in the ground, and there was some big chop and punch exchanges and a fair amount of spilt blood. I liked the finish with V5 and Oro left in the cage only for V3 to break a bottle through the cage on Oro's head so his brother could escape. I am not sure how we didn't review this match when it arrived on the internet, but it is another chapter in this endless family feud. 

MD: Nothing is bad in a bubble. Lucha cage matches tend to be bad because they're a bunch of singles guys stuck together, a few of them maybe with programs or build, but with the primary goal of escaping in the midst of the chaos so that they're not one of the last two in there. Team vs team cage matches probably work better because there's much more hesitation for wrestlers to just scramble out at the first opportunity; to be doing so would be to leave their partners in danger. More so, there's generally a more visceral feud as was the case here. Finally, you have to factor in how hard it is for Porky to get up and out of the cage by this point, so they really had to do some damage to the Villanos to allow for that. Put that all together and you had a recipe for a good lucha cage match. 

I loved how this was filmed. You weren't going to see all the action but then that was impossible given the sight constraints and the size of some of the wrestlers and how thoroughly they were intent on beating and bloodying one another. Instead, it almost felt like you were on one of those rail rides at an amusement park, except for instead of the figurative horrors of It's a Small World, you were able to look left or right and see the real horror of a bloody Porky getting battered in the corner or Platino scrapping hard in a fist fight. It was less on the big memorable spots and more on the steady violence then, at least until the ring started to clear a bit. Thankfully, it all led to the most memorable moment of all, when Villano III smashed a beer bottle into the cage as Oro was trying to climb out, shattering it against the cage and sending glass right into Oro's face. Brilliant, unsafe spot, that was only lessened a little by the fact the Brazos weren't immediately on top of him to get vengeance.

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New Footage Friday: KIDO! IVAN GOMES! VILLANOS! LOS DESTRUCTORES! DEVILS REJECTS! NWA ELITE

 Ivan Gomes vs. Osamu Kido NJPW 8/14/76

PAS: Gomes is a legendary Vale Tudo fighter who both fought and trained with Carlson Gracie. Very little footage of him exists and this is a Different Style Fight with Kido. This was a worked shoot, and more of an interesting bit of historic footage then a great match, with Kido eating a lot of head kicks and eventually getting choked out with a guillotine. I would love to see Gomes in some actual Vale Tudo fights and I have to keep an eye on this youtube page.

MD: I don't have much to say about the specifics of the match. It's more that it exists at all, and of course, the general sense that if something like this does exist in the 70s, what else happened that we haven't seen along these lines and that might exist on tape? It's a whole style of wrestling that we barely have any of until years later. Some of the shots that do land were pretty great, at least. Hopefully we get more along these lines.

Villanos (III/IV/V) vs. Los Destructores (Tony Arce/Vulcano/Rocco Valente) AAA 3/5/95

PAS: These are a pair of great lucha rudo trios and on paper you would expect a brawl, but this was a title match and was worked mostly scientifically. We get some cool matwork exchanges and rope running in the first couple of falls, Villanos are super skilled and it is fun to watch Los Destructores try to match them hold for hold. At the end of the segunda Villano IV hits this fast northern lights suplex and damages his neck. The third fall has the Destructores working him over angering his brothers and heating up the third fall. It never really breaks down into a total brawl, and I really hate the double pin ending in lucha, however this was a cool chance to see great luchadores do something a bit unexpected.

MD: Just about everything you could want out of a trios titles match. Just understand that it's a title match and it's worked like a title match. Therefore, it's not even close to everything you'd want from a Villanos vs Destructores match. The primera was technical and sound, very smooth, with that sort of escalation from pairing to pairing you like to see. Everyone got time. While nothing was breathtaking, everything worked. It ended cleverly with the bottom dropping out and Villanos pinballing into one another, allowing for a triple team. For such a logical sort of spot, it felt pretty fresh to me. The segunda kept that escalation going and was full of motion, with things never wearing out their welcome. It ended with the Villanos working like a well-oiled machine only for disaster to strike as Villano IV crushed his own head on a Northern Lights suplex, which is again, not a specific spot that I can think of seeing too many times, but carried the narrative for most of the rest of the match. He fought on but had to start the tercera and just got crushed by the Destructores, a great selling job as the fans more and more desperately wanted him to get out of the ring. Eventually it happened and they rolled into a big comeback until he was recovered enough (though still sluggish and selling) to move into a lot of finishing stretch near-falls, a few dives, and a final pairing with a really good visual on a double pin (which feels like a consolation prize, but what are you going to do?). It was a title match so it never became an over the top brawl (though the Villanos were pretty heated in their final comeback, for good reason), but it was loose enough that the Destructores really got to rudo it up in the back half. Otherwise, like I said, it was pretty much everything you could want from a title match that played it mostly straight, clever in multiple places and overall well-executed.

Devil's Rejects (Iceberg/Shaun Tempers/Azrael/Tank) vs. NWA Elite (Kory Chavis/Jeff Lewis/Phil Shatter/Abomination) NWA Anarchy 6/23/07

PAS: I wrote a long review of this match in my book Way of the Blade (buy it now on Amazon),  and have recorded an upcoming podcast on this match for my Way of the Blade podcast with both of the evil stewards of these teams Rev. Dan Wilson and Jeff G. Bailey. So I have said my piece. It was super hard to track down, and Rev. Dan has placed it on Youtube for all to see. NWA Anarchy is a real footage blind spot, it is clear that there are plenty of classics to be excavated. This is a heel versus heel War Games, with two psychos leading their respective crew of lunatics into battle, it has blood, huge uncalled for bumps by enormous men, a showdown between two untrained monsters, Phil Shatter looking like prime Scott Steiner and much more. It is a goddamn delight and everyone should watch it, buy my book to read me praise it more, and keep your ears peeled for the podcast. 

MD: This is one I've heard about and read about but never actually had the chance to see. It's just a perfectly balanced War Games, the mix of story and moments and spots and blood and violence and spectacle. More than anything, it creates a sense of mood, which is what you want from every match you see, but something you absolutely need in a match beyond. Multiple times in this thing, you get a sense of inevitability or dread or awe. Case in point, the first five minutes with Chavis holding an advantage over Tempers. It's unquestionable, but you know it's fleeting, on borrowed time. Likewise, later on when Lewis is kept out of the ring for long seconds; when he flies in around the barbed wire off the top of the cage, it's a great moment since it's full of daring and surprise, but you can feel the encroaching futility because the numbers game was about to be restored. The match succeeds at so many things: Tank's return, an absolute Shatter showcase, Abomination destroying everyone in the center of the ring, the escalation of weapons (fork, weapon of destruction, sword of screams) and blood, and of course, Wilson and Bailey getting involved, which is visceral and satisfying (the whole world seem to shift on that missed dropkick), but also doesn't distract from the wrestlers when it came to the finish, which is honestly some of the most restraint ever shown in a match like this.

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New Footage Friday:VILLANOS! ULTIMO! AMERICAN DRAGON! YANO!

Villano IV/V/Sanguinario vs. Ultimo Dragon/Pantera/Tineblas Jr.  AAA 9/8/96

MD: Nice trios match that got some time. Pantera was the standout from the tecnico side, with a long, very good, opening exchange with Villano IV (I think it was IV; for someone who writes on this site, I'm terrible at telling Villanos apart). I was very much ready to joke that there was no point in having Tinieblas, Jr. there if you weren't going to have Alushe but Sanguinario worked well with him, and not just in the stalling and being cowed by his superior size. Dragon, despite getting the focus moment at the end of the match, after the dives, and comporting himself well there with a few slick spots, was barely in the match otherwise. He got a nice pop whenever he showed up and got to show off with the corner handstand. I liked the moment of comeback, most especially Pantera charging the rudo corner after hitting a lucky move so that they couldn't immediately cut him off, but the beatdown needed a little more viciousness, maybe. Good stuff all around though.

American Dragon/Metal Master vs. Liverpool Lads 3/08

MD: More lost 80s heel Brian Danielson, this time with Collyer getting in on the act. I'm pretty certain that having a bunch of British kids chanting "cheat" at him for working southern tag antics was Danielson living a pro wrestling dream. There's one moment where he hits a roundhouse kick in the corner and immediately remembers he should be doing more conventional stomps instead. Lots of commitment to the act with some fun heel miscommunication spots. They have some nice cutoffs towards the end but instead of building to a hot tag, they go the fed-up-partner route instead, which is almost never as satisfying. Still, everyone played their role well and this reinforced what we saw of Danielson's range last time. No Rick Rude hip swivels but he did taunt the crowd with a USA chant at least.

PAS: Fun to watch Collyer and Danielson work like the Rock and Roll RPMs. They are full foils in this match, but very fun foils. I am mark for the spot where one guy gets whipped into the turnbuckle, and is saved by his partner, only to have the heel try the same thing and get clowned. Brookside is a guy with a lot of skill, Danielson thinks his best match ever was against him, but this is more of pop the crowd kind of match, and it fulfilled its purpose. 

Keita Yano vs. Taro Yamada Wallabee 6/24/12

MD: Nice (and relatively surprising) accomplishment here as they fill a lot of time, in a dojo type setting, with a fairly measured sense of escalation. My complaint about Yano's comedy 'rope-running' isn't that it exists but that it's not funnier. If they were going to break in that direction anyway, they should have made that break worthwhile by having big comedic payoffs. As it was, it felt more like lip service towards the idea of it but they weren't imaginative enough there or they thought it might have devalued the rest of the work/atmosphere, maybe. If you're going to break suspension of disbelief in the first place, make it worth it! Anyway, the rest of the match was full of imagination and struggle, with them tying one another up and stretching the hell out of each other in a very tit-for-tat manner. There were times where you got the sense that Yano especially was just twisting limbs this way or that to see what would stick but whenever it seems like it might work, you tended to believe it would.

SR: Damn great match, I imagine if Yano had never stunk up BattlARTS and instead was only known for doing weird technical matches while wearing his joker makeup and clown singlet in a tiny gym we’d all be Yano superfans. Taro Yamada is the last guy in Japan still holding up the T2P style matwork and one of the most underrated grapplers on the independent scene. This was 25 minutes of matwork that was like a great IWRG style title match. It was a mix of Yamadas llave holds with Yano going along and some cool RINGs-like leglock work thrown in, with both guys doing a great job escaping and transitioning between holds. Whole match felt fresh and competitive and never was like a derivative or weird LARP, these guys were trying to pop each others shoulders and/or ankles the whole time. There were one or two geeky moments where Yano did some “rope running” although it was more like a comedy spot with Yano hooting like an owl, and both these moments lead to cool spots, one where Yamada actually trips Keita with a drop down and another where Yano tricks Yamada into his special hold. There wasn’t some kind of story if you are into that but there were a few great nearfalls and I deeply respect these two for just grappling it out for 25 minutes without slowing down, and never throwing a strike or even a body slam, it was all submissions and funky cradle pins (especially loved Yamadas weird Delfin Clutch variation), just really tightly worked stuff that wouldn’t look out of place in a WoS or lucha title match. I did love Yanos dickish knee slide across Yamadas face and the moment where Yano had enough of the llave holds and challenged Yamada to an amateur match was really cool. Finish was great as well. Best Yano match I’ve seen by far and actively a great match, which is a major shocker. Yamada played a huge part too but I’ll be damned if Yano wasn’t feeling it that night. Apparently there have been a few matches between these two and I look forward to checking them all out but as it stands this is the best I’ve seen from Yano by a mile.

PAS: I am a real Yano skeptic, but it is hard not to enjoy this. You rarely see two guys just hit the mat like this, and this was a weird mix of shoot mat work and llave  Both guys found really interesting ways to twist and turn body parts, and with no ropes to break, they had to find a way out of all of the holds. I also thought the rope running was stupid, but it was my only complaint in a 20 minute plus Yano match. I loved the partier stuff near the end, I love when wrestlers challenge their opponent to amateur restarts, and both guys to interesting attack and defenses from that position. Feels like I need to dig a bit more into no ropes clown makeup Yano

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New Footage Friday: Brazos 25th Anniversary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXMKL-Iy2Yk&feature=youtu.be

Escorpion Dorado Jr./Corazon De Dragon vs. Super Halcon Jr./Bestial

MD: It's been a while since I've seen undercard lucha, especially undercard indy lucha from 2001. Not a ton to say here. One-fall opening match. They didn't do anything big and most of what registered was carried by Bestial and Halcon's rudo antics. The crowd was into it, but more into booing them than cheering the tecnicos. Some things looked good. Some things looked sluggish. The only build to the finish was Halcon launching a cheapshot after a handshake and as a match, it probably could have used a bit more of a beatdown after that.


Super Nono/Super Kepler vs. Enrique Vertiz/El Cazador

MD: Ñoño had a big kid gimmick. He was definitely young but maybe not as young as luchawiki would have us believe (though hey, maybe). I thought he had the act down pretty well and the kids were into it to the point where they were chanting for him and not against the rudos. Cazador was a bit more into the match than Vertiz who was mostly bemused by everything (completely no-selling an outside-the-ring wedgie for instance). Kepler did not look smooth including some of the weirder stilted armdrags you'll see. If you had gotten the rudos from the first match and let them work with Ñoño, you might have had something here.


Pirata Morgan Jr. vs. Dash

MD: This was the first of a bunch of Luchas 2000 vs XLAW matches. Anyway, the first two minutes were pretty good. Morgan hit a Dropkick followed by a tope right to start and then had a string of fairly nice looking offense (press up facebuster, somersault senton, etc.). It got rougher after that. Dash looked like he was wrestling underwater and just seemed to lack the strength to get Morgan up at times (which could have been on Morgan too, I guess, though he showed plenty of effort elsewhere, like his flip bump on a clothesline). They were definitely not on the same page with some of the spots and holds. The run-in at the end was at least high energy.


Brazo De Platino/Super Brazo vs. El Pietir/Dolar

MD: Pretty satisfying mauling at times. Brazos were full on rudo but beloved, to the point that when they try to take a powder up the stairs, the fans inspire them to come back. Some perfectly fine 405 Live stuff combined with handshake goofing. Platino's clap slaps/punches were fun but would probably get old quick. Dolar had a presence and really ran into the corner on one whip late in the match. Perfectly acceptable fat indy guy. Platino and Super Brazo could do this stuff in their sleep but it's still a good, charismatic act.

MD: There was a bit with Gringo Loco and some young luchador where they did a lot in a short period of time and Gringo got clowned which was effective but not really much to write about. It felt like if they'd done a big indy show in 1998 Calgary and gave Teddy Hart a showcase or something.


El Brazo Jr./Brazo De Oro Jr./Brazo De Plata Jr. vs. Crazy Boy/Mike Segura/Genesis

MD: Totally different vibe to the show once we hit this point. The entrances are more elaborate. There's more of a buzz. The Brazos are out with football gear and ski masks to start, with weapons to bear. The XLaw guys cut a promo and then the violence begins. Amusingly, they cut away from a lawn dart iconoclasm onto a chair in the middle of the ring to focus on some floor brawling. That set the tone pretty well. They kept things moving here with a lot of creative weapon usage that didn't have overly elaborate set ups (except for the chair assisted moonsault in the dive train but that you can forgive, and the final table spot but at least that had a soundtrack). As with a lot of this show so far, especially with the XLAW vs Luchas 2000 stuff, the rudo/tecnico dynamic was a bit off. The crowd was behind the Brazos but the XLAW guys got the big comeback/momentum shift off the Brazos going to the well once too often with a whip into a chair in the corner. The crowd got behind them during the mauling that followed though. Like with any of this stuff, the craziest bump isn't always the most spectacular looking one. Crazy Boy took a clothesline over the top and hit a chair on the apron on the way out which just felt nuts. The one-on-one exchanges towards the end maybe went on a little too long and broke the tone of what had come before but there was nothing innately wrong with them. The wrestling was all good. It just felt out of place. By that point the genie had been long out of the bottle and they couldn't just go back to order after all the chaos; maybe if they had fall breaks, I guess. It was all very 2001 post-ECW Emulation with unprotected chair shots and violence on women so inconsequential that the camera didn't even follow it and some worked shoot stuff post-match (I guess?), but that can be good for you in small doses now and again.

PAS: This was fun without actually being particularly good. They wandered around and smashed each other with things, and sometimes the finish ended up being worth the set up, and sometimes it wasn't. The stuff that resembled traditional lucha brawling was the best, I really liked the bleeding and the dive train, and the ECW prop stuff didn't work as well. Segura is the biggest pro on the XLAW team, and his lucha stuff looked the best, Jr. Brazo's were fun, although it probably made sense for their careers to ditch the Jr. gimmicks and go with what they did.

Brazo De Oro/Brazo De Plata/Brazo De Platino vs. Villano III/IV/V

PAS: I love the idea of Hatfield vs. McCoys wrestling family feuds, Armstrongs vs. Fullers is really the only other one I can really remember which spanned generations like the Villanos and the Brazos. Imagine my glee when my boy Rob lets me know about a previously unseen Villanos vs. Brazos match. This is exactly what you want, expect and love about a match between these two families. Lots of blood pooling in forehead scars, great looking wild brawling, a couple of Super Porky miscommunication spots and all six guys looking like the dazed survivors of a tour bus crash. Porky is just iconic, I loved how he worked in the splash-his-partners comedy spots into non-comedic violent spots in a brawl, and the highlights of the match where him just standing and trading hard shots with Villano 3. A worthy addition to this iconic rivalry.

MD: This was shaping up to be a great, hate-filled, bloody brawl, and certainly there's a big history of those between these families but I'm not sure that was the right move to follow the last match, especially after the ceremony. I think this would have worked better if they started with more shtick and then built to the violence. There was plenty of room to transition that way. That's the problem with watching these things in context sometimes. That said, it was a really good brawl until the finish when La Dinastia Alvarado came in to battle in full force. Porky's physical timing was amazing as always. At the end of the first fall, he was masterful at trying to portray an attempt at stopping himself from jumping off the second rope after the Villanos switched up who he was going to land on. Too often guys in that situation would just jump. I was really into where it was heading with Villano III directing traffic but then everyone rushed the ring and that was that.

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New Footage Friday: Dick Murdoch! New Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Can-Ams! Infernales vs. Villanos in TJ!

Dick Murdoch vs. Johnny Rodz WWF Kuwait 1984

PAS: Murdoch is on one in this match. Three stooges selling, phantom air punching, multiple shoving matches with the ring announcers, just the full Murdoch. Rodz was a fun foil in this match, but my goodness what a Murdoch show. It was clear that he was going to take everything to 11 in front of a crowd who may not be familiar with wrestling, so he was especially off his rocker here. There may be five minutes of shtick before the first lock up, some all-time atomic drop sells, everything you would want from a showman in front of a small crowd of Emir’s in a carpeted soccer stadium.

MD: We had a few Kuwait matches to take a look at. After a scan of a few matches (including a pretty fun Adonis/Murdoch/Smirnoff vs. Morales/Johnson/Gama Singh cage match and a 25 minute tag with a fake Masked Superstar, Don Muraco and DeCarlo/Bellomo!) this was the way to go. Two immediate thoughts. First, one of my favorite matches of all time is Funk vs. Martel from Puerto Rico from 1986. In it, Funk wages an indirect war with the entire country of Puerto Rico. This kind of feels like that, with Murdoch spending more time arguing with the crowd and menacing the PA announcer than fighting Rodz. Second, you know how even in the most serious matches, Murdoch ends up stooging in the third act. Like in the amazing Karl Kox match? Here, you don't get anything but the stooging. It's the purest distillation of comedy house show Murdoch and it's a thing of beauty. The way he shooting gallery walks across the ring after getting hit by Rodz is amazing. His reactions to the PA guy calling out every bad thing he does? Brilliant. His stagger shadowpunch selling? He wasn't wrestling for the empty back rows; he was wrestling for someone on Mars. The crowd was a constant buzz. Rodz did his part, but you get the sense he was just happy to be there. This is in no way good but it is in every way great. Dick Murdoch, walking contradiction.

ER: You see some on paper potential for a Murdoch being Murdoch match, and then something so bizarre comes along and ends up out-Murdoching any kind of Murdoch you were hoping to see Murdoch. First, let me say that I really loved Johnny Rodz here. It's tough being the straight man forced to play things normal and not look like a nerd while your opponent is duck walking around the ring and starting fights with timekeepers. Rodz bumps really big for Murdoch to keep him looking like a threat while Murdoch is hilariously stooging to fill in the gaps. There's no chance anyone in the crowd knew who Murdoch was, but because of the work of both men they all got to see Murdoch as a very believable threat and total buffoon. I loved Rodz' big bump off Murdoch's 2nd strike of the match, staggering fast 3/4 of the way across the ring and spilling hard into the ropes, and later Rodz does an awesome twist on Flair's corner bump, flipping over the top and landing hard on his butt on the apron. Murdoch is a great striker, but Rodz had a big variety of shots that made him look super credible. I especially liked him hitting a leaping punch to Murdoch's beer belly, then tags him in the chin when the gut punch causes him to buckle. Obviously Murdoch is a master. He was his own one man Ministry of Silly Walks here, doing this absurd straight leg/straight arm waddle while being punched, and clearly peaking with his atomic drop sell. Murdoch sells an atomic drop like someone who is dangerously close to shitting their pants, knees buckles, on his tip toes, asshole clenched, rubbing out his tailbone, while also moving his hips as if he was working out a major wedgie without using his hands. He punches the air and flops face first with his butt in the air, he punches the air and gets kicked over onto his butt, and every second of it is great. These two men reached people who - honestly - they couldn't have actually known how to reach. They just did what they knew how to do in the most exaggerated way possible, bringing the gift of stooging to Kuwait.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Kenta Kobashi vs. Doug Furnas/Dan Kroffat AJPW 10/7/92

MD: There are a lot of batches of these handhelds. For instance, there's a batch of AJPW dates that we've barely looked at because they were followed so quickly by first Fujiwara vs Fuchi and then by the new NJPW set. This was part of yet another group where we knew these aired on TV but generally JIP or clipped and sometimes just as part of a digest of finishes. As best as I can tell (and I double checked it with Ditch, so we'll call it the best I could tell), only four minutes of this actually aired on TV.

That means that we have for you a never-before-seen-in-the-wild Kobashi/Kikuchi vs Can-Ams match, another iteration of one of the best tags of the 90s.

This is a good and interesting, but lesser version of the match-up. For one thing, the crowd, while definitely abuzz, isn't quite as electric. Also, there isn't quite the same commitment to a singular theme that makes the May match such a great Southern Tag.

This had another six months of history behind it and definitely some of the same elements. I love how Kroffat and Furnas can draw heat in this setting. Every time they cheat or even take a shortcut, the crowd boos. Some of that is Kikuchi's charisma or how beloved Kobashi was, but I think a lot of it is respect and admiration for Furnas and Kroffat. They really lean into it. There are two moments in the match where Furnas comes in behind an opponent who is fighting back against Kroffat and grabs him for a belly to back; the fact they repeat the spot later on adds more than it subtracts because it doubles down on the theme and it gets a reaction each time. I do think overall, there are a number of individual reactions instead of the sort of building one you get in the May match. Ultimately, they instead build to some pretty cool spots and a moonsault that the world for how hard Kobashi had to work for it. Ultimately this was good stuff that couldn't live up to what they'd already laid down months before.

PAS: I thought this was tremendous, their May match is of course an all time classic, and it is so neat that this big run of HH’s had given us two other versions of that match up. Kikuchi is of course a legendary face in peril, and he takes the expected level of beating here. Kroffat was especially nasty throwing knuckle punches like he was trying to open up his eyebrow, Furnas also bends him in two with a variation of a torture rack, which really looked like a guy being tortured. Lots of cool cut offs in this, Kikuchi flies into Furnas when he was about to leap into a rana, Kikuchi grabs Kobashi so he won’t get double team, only to pay the price when Kroffat lariats him off the apron. Video blips out a couple of times so we miss a shot or two, but we are still totally blessed to be able to check this out, and all four guys are at their prime.

Satanico/Rey Bucanero/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Villano IV/Villano V/Atlantis Tijuana 2001

ER: This was from a real hot time in TJ, tons of big talent was coming through fresh off the demise of WCW, and more talent was coming in from CMLL than any time since. This was also around the time me and some friends made some trips down there to finally check out Auditorio Municipal de Tijuana. I got to see some cool things there, and now Roy Lucier is posting a ton of handhelds that not many others have ever seen. This is a great house show style match with some great bits, spirited performances from everyone, and a nice build to a big dive finish. Satanico was an absolute machine in his early 50s, punching everyone in sight, working as ringleader of his Infernales goons, and throwing in a genuinely hilarious spot where Atlantis gets him to flinch and take two fast back bumps in anticipation of getting hit. All of the comedy worked, and there was a really good Bugs Bunny Duck Season/Rabbit Season joke where guys kept turning over sunset flips to favor their side, so the tecnicos flipped it on them and made Infernales flip their own man over, a really fun take on an old spot. Later I laughed when Atlantis started chasing UG around the ring and UG was running full speed but also Atlantis threw out practically a dozen tilt a whirl backbreakers (I know he's slower now, but I have no clue how he has any knees left at all) and worked with big energy; both Villanos looked good, and one in particular (I'm not going to bother to guess which one, as there's no way I'm reading a roman numeral IV or V on a handheld that I'm watching on my phone) has this awesome sequence where he hits a pop up rana, armdrag, and sticks the exclamation point with a cool cutter. All of Infernales alley oop avalanches got real good height, and I laughed at Bucanero/Guerrero locking on their overly complicated rolling leg bars and armbars, because everytime they would roll through Satanico would stroll over and just grab a free limb and start yanking. This was also during the period where Bucanero was maybe the biggest bumper in wrestling, and here he slides to the floor to challenge a Villano to slugfest, then brings it to the apron and takes his big vaulting bump over the turnbuckles to the floor. This all comes to a head with both Villanos hitting stereo dives, capping off the kind of fun and charismatic 15 minute match that anyone would love to have seen live.

MD: This was a blast. The New Infernales were one of the best acts in the world at the turn of the century. Satanico is probably the best guy in history at directing rudo violence. Atlantis was at the height of his power here and the Villanos were Villanos, nothing more said. The initial beatdown was fluid and solid, with everything the Infernales did smooth and practiced. They made each bit of complex tandem offense look natural, like it's obviously what would happen if these three goons teamed up. Even when something didn't quite work perfectly, it still felt like it fit into the match. I really liked the corner alley-oop. I've seen a million GdI matches and they very rarely use it. It made for a great transition. The back half of the match was mostly them feeding comedy spots for the tecnicos. You can hardly imagine Ultimo Guerrero running from Atlantis like that even a year or two later. His knee-bump over the top was at hyperspeed and Bucanero did this twisting trip flip bump over the other turnbuckle which I don't remember seeing him do too often (probably for good reason). I liked the extra (post-)post-dive wrinkle to the finish as I thought it'd end in the ring between Atlantis and Satanico. Just crowd pleasing lucha with some of the best acts in the world at the time.

PAS: This was a very CMLL trios for 2000 Tijuana. Pretty trippy to see these guys work in a different environment. Infernales were just such a smooth lucha machine, the first fall is rudo dominated and dominated in a pretty perfect fashion. Bucanero and UG's shtick eventually began to tire me in 2000, but I can really appreciate it looking back 20 years later. It was fun to see the Villanos who are such master rudos themselves work as technicos against another rudo force. Atlantis is great in this too, he was so fast and agile back then, and having watched him for so long, I was really getting a lot of joy anticipating where he was about to go. Beautiful bumps to the floor from Gdl, in a way that felt totally safe but looked totally dangerous which is really the best way to do it. Great stuff, had a grin on my face the entire time.

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RIP Silver King

Silver King was one of the absolute best wrestlers in the world at the exact time my love of wrestling went from love to all out obsession. When I began college and was finally on my own independent schedule, combined with finally having internet fast enough to regularly use, I dove right into tape trading and acquiring tons of lucha and puro. Silver King was a guy who would regularly be added to my WCW perm tapes, and I sought out his new Japan matches for that reason. That was a great era for him, and I wanted to look back at some matches I remember being standouts.

Falls Count Anywhere Mexican Hardcore Match: Silver King/La Parka vs. Halloween/Damian WCW Nitro 6/7/99

ER: This is the infamous match where these four guys beat the shit out of each other, while Schiavone and Heenan giggle to themselves the entire time because it's a MEXICAN hardcore match.   And it's as crazy and great as you remember. This whole match is made up of these psychopaths interrupting each other's spots by throwing chairs at each other's heads. Halloween topes headfirst into a Parka chairshot, Damian baseball slides Parka off a chair, Silver King gets a chair bounced off his head on his Silver King plancha, Park hits a dive into a seated Damian, Silver King moonsaults with a trash can onto everyone; it's constant insanity and really should have been treated with flat out awe and respect. These guys were all total asskickers here and should have been treated like gods backstage. Trash cans get bounced off heads, Silver King hits a tornado DDT off the apron through a table on Halloween, Halloween shows what a bump god he was going to be for the next several years, La Parka powerbombs Damian through a table and Damian KICKS OUT! Damian probably still regrets kicking out of the table bomb, as Parka then immediately powerbombs him through two set up chairs that DO NOT BUDGE. It's absolutely sick and Damian gets pinned while his kidneys contemplate whether or not to keep functioning. Damian had taken a couple wicked flipping bumps off lariats earlier in the match, another example of Damian under the radar stealing the show in a WCW match. Total legendary brawl during the hardcore era, as violent as it ever was.

Silver King/El Dandy/Villano V/Damian vs. Kendall Windham/Barry Windham/Curt Hennig/Bobby Duncum Jr. WCW Thunder 6/24/99

ER: What a killer little gem. The luchadors aren't treated like a joke even though the Rednecks all tower over them. Rednecks treat them like total equals which is practically guaranteed to get an awesome result. This was tremendous. The Rednecks didn't have to be this generous to the luchadors, but the match was given enough time that every single person got time to shine. This was a great complementary effort with some fantastic moments. This is a total El Dandy showcase, he gets to wail on so many Rednecks with his big time whip crack punches, and the fact the crowd was really responding to Dandy (and all the luchadors) made this extra special. There was a fun run where each member of the lucha team got to hit a big move off the top, with a Redneck bumping big for it. Silver King and Dandy each hit big missile dropkicks, Villano V hit a heavy crossbody, and when it got to Damian they added some great psychology by having Hennig sidestep it. Rednecks transitioned to offense and cashed in on all the big bumps they took. Hennig especially looked mean, throwing hot punches and hitting real stiff in general. At one point during a casual luchador corner headstand Hennig just cuts it off with a quick headbutt to the dick. I've never seen that before and it rocketed Hennig up my list of great workers. This was during Barry's absurd "pretty sure he's wearing women's jean shorts" period, but Windham was nicely motivated and moved like his body was healed, so had some nice moments. Duncum was a fun overlooked guy, I like his more John Nord slower bruiser style, kicking Silver King right in the face at one point. Kendall gets to seal the deal on this match, hitting a mammoth headlock style bulldog on King, King taking it like a total nutbar. Great showcase for 8 really fun wrestlers, really shows how well the fans would have accepted luchadors as legit guys if they were actually treated regularly as legit guys.

Silver King/Villano IV/Villano V vs. La Parka/Juventud Guerrera/Psychosis WCW Thunder 9/30/99

ER: Another one of those great WCW compact trios matches that deliver on it's on paper delicious junkfood promise. These things move quick, and it's cool when every guy in the match totally delivers during their moments. King hits some nice power and agility spots, big spinkick, big bump flipping off the top rope and landing on his stomach, always seemed at the center of the important action. Villanos looked like killers and hit one of the great tandem bits of offense here, a sky high flapjack into gutbuster on Juvy. The way Juvy's chest sticks the landing over their knees is disgusting, the whole move looked designed to kill. Parka worked like a maniacal goofball throughout, and we got an awesome spot where the Villanos caught a Juvy springboard 450 to the floor (yep) and then Parka wiped out everyone with a suicide dive. Juvy was a terror throughout, always flying into frame with a fast wild springboard attack, and Psychosis misses a couple big spots with gusto and plants his big guillotine leg for the win. This whole thing was good and even had time to take a couple pace shifts, giving us a nice Villanos control segment in the middle of some big highspots. These guys always shone when given the chance, just another of countless examples by this point.

We are planning on celebrating some more Silver King over the next several days. This one is hitting me hard and I really want to enjoy justifying my love for the guy.

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WCW Worldwide 8/22/98

Saturn vs. Mark LaRoux

ER: This must be an early Lash appearance as I don’t remember him being called Mark LaRoux. It’s usually a tough draw when you pull job duty against Saturn, and LaRoux earned his payday here. Saturn, the guy doing high arcing half nelson suplexes at noon on Sundays. Hard clothesline, that suplex, and the best death valley driver in wrestling, this was quick.

Bobby Blaze vs. Brian Adams

ER: This is a full Adams squash, Blaze gets nothing whatsoever, but Blaze makes all of Adams big slams and backbreakers look good. Adams has his big tilt-a-whirl backbreaker which looks good, drops a nice leg, hits a big press slam into a gut buster, all of it looks good. But Blaze is good enough that we could have had an interesting match. Really the best thing about this was Vincent as Adams’ second. That guy was a great hype man and knew how to carry himself with braggadocio, proud to be the bottom rung on the nWo ladder. When Adams went for the press slam Vincent came running around the ring holding both his arms up, like he was sitting on the sidelines when Steph did a no look pass leading to a Klay 3.

Jim Powers vs. Mark Guthrie

ER: Man Mark Guthrie? I had no idea how many randos WCW was using around this time. This must have been right before the next crop of Power Plant guys came through. Guthrie has a real bad dirtbag kid mullet, looking more homemade than styled, the kind of cut that was looking dated in 1995. Powers tries to bring energy to this, hits a nice shoulderblock, decent kneelift, good enough powerslam. This was another short one, kind of a dull couple weeks of WCW syndie TV here. We need a little help on this episode.

Roadblock vs. Mike Sanders

ER: Roadblock heard my plea and answered my prayer! I barely recognized Sanders here, he had a shaved head and wore a plain black singlet. I guess with Sanders and LaRoux showing up here, we ARE in the period were new Plant guys were getting called up. Roadblock works a fun squash, throws a big lariat and hits a big powerslam, misses a huge elbowdrop off the middle rope (really crashing the landing), and he does cool stuff like sticks his knee up in the corner when Sanders tries to ram him. The rope flip moonsault is nice and squishing, always a finisher I love. After the match some dad with a bad mustache is angrily booing Roadblock, but…was he cheering for Mike Sanders? That’s weird. Cheer Roadblock, he’s an awesome big fat guy!

Los Villanos vs. Doc Dean/Manny Fernandez

ER: So, you know by now, this is not THEE Manny Fernandez, but I do like this Manny Fernandez leaning into the camera on his entrance to say “I’m back, baby!” Another fan is doing the “We’re Not Worthy!” bow to the Villanos as they come out, and I now want to meet that man. It’s always going to be a fun watch when you spot a Villanos tag in the wild where you're practically guaranteed their victory. Doc and Manny didn't have ZERO chance, but I'VE never seen either of them pull a win, and we've at minimum seen Villanos beat Disorderly Conduct. So we get to watch a match where the Villanos are showing off their offense and getting to act like the bigger team, like the bullies, and it's a rare treat. Villanos threw a bunch of nice lariats and it's cool seeing them control a team that aren't other luchadors. It's not a total squash as Manny has a brief quick run where he shows off a tight 5 seconds of material, but you want this because it's the Villanos main eventing a taping and cutting off the ring on a couple white guys as the babyfaces. The Doomsday Device crossbody was a great finish, with Manny strongly missing an avalanche chest first, and I thought it was cool that they opted to do their finish on the larger of the two opponents. Nice flex that they earned.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WCW B-SIDES

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My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Worldwide 6/15/98

Barry Horowitz vs. Chris Benoit

ER: Kicking off my deep Saturday night with pro wrestling's #1 rated murderer! But this is probably 100% my favorite Barry Horowitz match in WCW. It's freaking great. Benoit gives Horowitz 60% of the match, smack dab in the middle of Benoit thick in the TV Title hunt. Benoit is a guy finally getting up the card, and he's somehow generously giving Barry Horowitz a chance to showcase all of his genuinely great offense. It was 10 days after Barry's 38th birthday. Had Benoit felt bad about forgetting Barry's birthday, and thus decided to gift him the longest stretch of offense in his career? Whatever the reason, it was the best. Barry chokes him with his boot, throws an awesome headbutt you don't remember him throwing, sinks a nice knee, crisp legdrop, rakes Benoit's back like a motherfucker, comes off like an old territory legend. Surely Benoit eventually takes over with a hard back elbow, snap suplex, and big diving headbutt, but Horowitz looked like a guy who really belonged and completely crushed it in a nice late career opportunity. Made me love that guy even more. Worldwide Classic right here.

Scott Louden vs. Fit Finlay

ER: Scott Louden: Man Who Gets An Actual Ring Entrance and Onscreen Graphic. Who the hell is Scott Louden? He looks kinda like Bob Backlund if Backlund weren't fanatical about his workouts, but his singlet game is on. Yellow and black singlet with a tornado on the back, and STO on the leg. Was this guy some gaijin used by UFO? Florida indy guy? Also, Schiavone calls Penzer "Dave Lonely Man Penzer". That rules. This is a complete majestic mauling by Finlay, 3.5 minutes of ass kicking. Louden is a bit bigger than Finlay but his entire match-long offense consisted of catching Finlay with a kick to the stomach as Finlay charged the corner. The rest of this was what you wanted, Finlay roughing some dude up. He dekes him a couple times, makes him think they were doing a collar and elbow but ducked aside and dished a knee to Louden's gut, and later he held onto the ropes on an Irish whip and Louden missed a dropkick in one of those "I don't think HE thought he was missing" ways. The rest of this man, Louden may as well have been a bag of yard trimmings. Finlay hits the hardest short arm clothesline possible, kicks him in the spine THREE different times in the match, hard body slams, big bombs away, big kneedrop, all done with the expected vicious precision that makes Finlay the best. His rolling fireman's carry into snapped off Tombstone are an awesome finisher 1-2. RIP Louden. You couldn't have drawn a much worse name for your appearance.

Leroy Howard vs. Goldberg

ER: Howard was Rastaman in BattlArts, and he regularly gets put in with tough dudes in WCW, but it's frustrating as he never actually gets to do anything against them. He would have been a really fun semi-competitive job guy on WCW C shows, there were lamer guys who got more offense in than him. But this match is the exact thing that every single person in the building wanted to see. Goldberg no sells a hard shoulderblock from Howard, and then it's basically the spear into the jackhammer, and people are just losing their shit. Every single person went home talking about how awesome that spear and jackhammer were, it likely didn't even matter what else was on this taping.

Kendall Windham vs. Tim Cheeks

ER: Damn they are not letting the results of these matches be much in doubt. WCW had like 300 guys on the roster, how are Tim Cheeks and Scott Louden breaking into TV matches? But Kendall Windham is secure as fuck in his wrestling ability, he's got that Windham boys confidence and that Windham boys generosity. Windham gave Cheeks a lot of moments here, including a big comeback pop. He ate a couple hip tosses from Cheeks, missed THREE different elbowdrops over the course of the match to allow Cheeks back on offense, and Cheeks got to come up after one of those missed elbowdrops and hit a big clothesline and fire up the crowd. Windham made the guy look on his level, which is awesome. Cheeks dodged a corner charge from Windham by moonsaulting off the top and landing on his feet, and later misses a springboard crossbody that I certainly wasn't expecting him to attempt. Kendall let the guy shine a bit, and the rest of the time smothered him with uppercuts, great body shots, an awesome diving lariat, and finished him off with a great classic bulldog. Kendall rules.

Villano IV/Villano V vs. Disorderly Conduct

ER: Well this is totally great. You've never seen more Disorderly Conduct offense in a match, which is something all of you should watch. This is fun as hell and go go go, WCW syndie tags are always so good at time management, so much good action always packed into just a few minutes. V5 hits a couple hard lariats, one sending Tom to the floor, just these nice stiff arm lefts. Late in the match he hits an awesome flying clothesline on both Mean Mike and Tough Tom. Both teams make frequent tags, both attack nicely from the apron, crowd doesn't care who they're supposed to be booing as they cheer both teams on. The result is up for grabs as neither of these teams beat anybody (my brain gets excited for things like that while watching old WCW, helps out my constantly updating WCW hierarchy depth chart). V5 is working this more like a stiff brawler, V4 is going for more elegant lucha, hitting a crossblock and some spinning kicks. DO are good asskickers here, guys that know how to drop a nice elbow and hit a nice shoulderblock. Mike misses a charge in the corner, Tom gets dropkicked to the floor, and Los Villanos hit a Doomsday Device crossbody, and really stick it. Crowd was amped for all of this, and this brisk 4-5 minute tag really needs to be adopted by WWE as a TV formula. They really unnecessarily slow things down at times, but I know that teams could adapt to this style. There's no reason why most teams in WWE can't be as consistently fun as Disorderly Conduct.

Reese vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

ER: Man I don't care, Reese vs. Hacksaw was pretty good. Reese is huge and really didn't make TV a ton, and I'm a guy into freakshow stuff. Reese locks in a big bearhug (you obviously need to do a bearhug if you're 7' tall) and Duggan bites his face to get out of it, also goes for a huge big man elbow drop, and squishes Duggan in the corner with his butt. Duggan throws nice big swinging lefts and rights, slams into the big man a couple times, upends him with a lariat and drops a good enough knee.  This was a fun big boys battle. But it's pretty funny how Hacksaw was in the main event of a show that had freaking Goldberg on it, as late as June 1998, 3 weeks before the Georgia Dome main event.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WCW B-SIDES

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2008 Match of the Year

Villano V v. Blue Panther CMLL 9/19/08

PAS: I remember this being a totally shocking result when it happened. Villano V wasn't really wrestling super regularly, and it felt like he was being brought in specifically to get a mask loss payday, plus Panther had one of the iconic masks that you figured he would keep forever. Panther is a guy best know for his llave, but this was a straight up brawl which had some of the greatest topes in wrestling history. Villiano V delivers an insane dive bumping performance, he is flying recklessly back on every Panther tope. There is the iconic moment in the first fall where he smashes the back of his head on an armrest leading to a grisly bloodstain, but also he hurls himself into the crowd on another tope, and takes a full force back bump on the floor on a third, Panther has a great looking tope but Villano made it look like a cruise missile. Loved the finishes of all three falls, Villano is woozy from blood loss and tries a rudo trick by swiping Panthers mask, and rolling him up before he can recover, before he could steal a fall, the ref sees the maskless Panther and DQ's V5. Perro Jr. is V5's second (which is kind of weird, he's Villano 5, aren't Villano's 1-4 available to second their brother?) and he spends much of the fall break pouring water on the bloody back of Villano's head, including loosening his mask. Panther rips the mask to work the cut and his slips right off in his hand giving V5 the even up fall. Third fall is awesome with more great topes and a sneaking old school finish, Panther nearly gets the tap with his snap Fujiwara, but when he goes for it again, Villano counters with a crucifix pin. This match had a odd pacing with the Villano injury, but man did it build to an epic climax, worthy match for Panther drop the hood.

ER: This is actually my favorite all time wrestling match. I remember being shocked and almost heartbroken at the result when it happened. Blue Panther's mask is my favorite in lucha, and he's one of my favorite luchadors. This match seemed like an impossibly obvious result, like when I went to see Super Parka challenging for Santito's mask. But if Panther had to lose his beautiful mask, at least it happened in an all time match. We don't see any matwork or smooth headscissors here, these guys come out ready to fight, with V5 throwing some of his classic lefts and even suplexing BP on the floor. But soon we get to one of the sickest spots in pro wrestling history, with Panther hitting a big tope that sends the back of V5's head into the point of a metal armrest. By the time he gets up from being attended to there is already a large blood spot forming on the back of his head. They replay the shot from every angle and every one of them looks bad. You know V5 has to be seeing triple. Back in the ring Panther immediately hits a sidewalk slam and the crowd sounds shocked that he would immediately slam the back of V5's head into the mat. Panther was this close to babyfacing a Villano. Perro immediately cheats by grabbing Panther's leg, almost to get the crowd back behind Panther. Both guys go after the other's mask, ripping at them and each getting DQ'd a fall.


By the time the tercera starts Panther is in all out win mode, and Villano is in all out "let's guarantee I concuss myself and forget math" mode by taking tons of bumps on the back of his head. Panther hits a couple crushing dives that Villano bumps wildly for (seriously some of the best bumps you've ever seen off a dive, flinging himself backwards into the crowd like a man being blown back by an explosion), and this time when Panther delivers another sidewalk slam, the crowd loudly cheers. Panther goes for a plancha and we get one of the only great spots involving a prone opponent getting a leg up in the nick of time. In the 80s and 90s you saw that absurd spot of a heel jumping off the middle buckle in to the boot of a lying down opponent, and it never looked good. What was the guy going for, an axe handle on a horizontal opponent? Then in the 00s we graduated to the moonsault into boot, which looks spectacular the first time and then when it becomes a trademark bump it gets silly real fast. Here Panther flings himself to the floor and Villano desperately gets that boot up to catch Panther, and it totally works. Villano is crazy and hates his brain, so he delivers a couple superplexes, and misses a flipping senton for a great nearfall. Panther almost gets the tap with an armbar, and sensing that he goes for it again and gets reversed into the pinfall that sees literally 30 years of his mask vanish in 3 seconds. Probably the most shocking upset in wrestling history. Panther is the man though, and a true gentleman competitor, and he graciously parades V5 around atop his shoulders.


ONGOING ALL TIME MOTY LIST

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MLJ: Babe Face, Negro Casas, Rambo b Villano I, Villano IV, Villano V

1992-03-06 @ Arena Neza
Babe Face, Negro Casas, Rambo b Villano I, Villano IV, Villano V

I was in a Villanos mood still, and looking through the various things decadas80s90s2000 has posted over the years and found this. There's a lot of stuff on there which isn't easy to search for on youtube or catalog. I found a number of things I want to get to at some point. This may not have been the best choice. It was fun disposable lucha, but I wanted to see some more 92 Casas in a match that isn't one of his hyped ones.

This was something of a trainwreck with lots of feeding and lots of bumps, lots of ducked moves and lots of counters. There was some shine at the beginning and some heat in the middle but it was really just a constant flow of action. I'd say that the entire rudo side delivered in one way or another here, though Babe Face the least. He had to be getting up there in age by this point and it showed. That said, he had some great comedic sells and at least an attempt of a few bumps. He was just a half step behind everyone else. Rambo, on the other hand, was a blast. I need to see more of him. He was an amazing cheerleader on the outside and his offense is just so offbeat and novel. It's not that it's well executed or brilliant or anything, but he just has a way of using his body as a weapon that fits his scummy, over the top character perfectly. I need to see more of him. He came off like the perfect Mocho Cota partner here.

Casas was above and beyond. One thing that amazes me, absolutely amazes me, is that you can watch a random Negro Casas trios and you will, maybe seven or eight times out of ten, see him do something you've never seen him do before. It almost always fits. It almost always makes sense. It almost always adds to the match. It never seems forced or contrived. It just seems like Casas wanted to do something different that night, to try inflicting pain a different way or to react differently. I'm not sure I've ever seen another wrestler like that. Here, he took the monkey flip bump to the floor, which I'm sure he must have done other times in this era. However, he also did a fun comedy spot where Rambo fell straight backwards, like a tree-falling senton, trying to break up a pin, and the Villano moved. Casas got his knees up to save himself and Rambo sold it like he was shot in the back by his own man. He also did a double corner clothesline (tried a corner clothesline on a Villano in the corner who got his arm up), which is one of those sort of no-brainer spots you've just never seen before. He added so much energy and excitement and motion and character to the match.

I had no context here, but it didn't matter. I'm glad to watch great rudos clowning and bumping and bullying for super tecnicos and it's always great to see near-prime Casas. He could do almost everything he does now in adding meaning and purpose and character to a match but he could do all the more athletically back then.

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MLJ: Guerreros del Infierno A-3: 2000 CMLL Tag Team Title Tournament

Alright, onto the comp itself (so this is the third entry in this series, but it's an A category). Again, apologies for not having matches to show people here, but Fredo was kind enough to transfer this over from VHS for me so it's out there. We're starting with the tag team tournament for the CMLL titles. These were vacated around this time due to El Hijo Del Santo going independent instead of working for CMLL full time. He had been teaming with Negro Casas.

It took me a little bit to figure out what happened here, as I have this listed as one half of the tournament bracket, with Emilio Charles, Jr. and Mr. Niebla winning the other side. On the comp itself though, this is listed as the 1st round, semi finals, and finals. Apparently what happened was that Charles was injured, so GdI having won their side of the bracket got the belts by forfeit, and then had their first defense against Niebla and a substitute partner (Villano IV) at the Entre Torre Infernal PPV where the finals were supposed to take place.

So this side of the bracket had Felino and Tarzan Boy, Blue Panther and Bestia Salvaje(who with Scorpio, Jr. had been the team trading the belts with Santo and Casas), Porky and Olimpico, Lizmarks Sr. and Jr., Cien Caras and Universo 2000, Gran Markus, Jr. and Pimpinela Escarlata, and GdI. In case anyone's curious, the other side had Niebla and Charles, Jr., Fuerza and Black Warrior, Scorpio, Jr. and Zumbido, Tony Rivera and Antifaz del Norte, Wagner, Jr. and Shocker, Rayo and Atlantis, Tinieblas, Jr. and Rivera, and Satanico and Apolo Dantes.

This was absolutely CMLL tournament lucha, but that's okay, because tournament lucha can be fun if you come in with the right expectations and are looking for specific things. Here, I wanted to see just what GdI brought to the table in 2000, both giving and taking. I've seen them in trios with Satanico to lead them, but here they were out there on their own on what would probably have been one of the biggest nights of their careers up until this point.

And I have to admit, it was all a lot of fun. Before the first match, they showed us this awesome training video with the two of them running tumbling drills and hyping each other up. That's going to be a theme in this. They are a team, a unit, in the sort of way that I've rarely seen with a tag team in my CMLL watching. Titles are defended so rarely and straight up tag matches, as opposed to trios that are almost always there to push a singles program, are pretty rare too. GdI were a team and I think that's part of why they stood out so much.

2000-06-30 @ Arena México
Rey Bucanero & Último Guerrero vs Felino & Tarzan Boy [CMLL TAG, 1st]

I want to stage the complaint of having Tarzan Boy's theme in my head once again. Just to give some perspective here, UG was 28, Rey was 26, Tarzan Boy was 27, and Felino was 36. According to cubs' Match Finder, Rey and UG only had one straight up tag match together in their career up til this point. GdI took over immediately, using either tandem offense or paralleled offense (as in Rey would hit a flapjack and then UG would hit a flapjack). After some mauling, both Tarzan Boy and Felino got to do "vs. the world" exchanges where they out-quicked both opponents. UG was more agile at this point and ate this stuff especially well.

Eventually though, Felino ran into a double flapjack/facebuster thing and then a cool double lift up into a double sit down choke slam. They were very smooth with this tandem offense and it really stood out. Then they flipped back with the arms into a cool double submission:

Tarzan Boy met much the same fate with another double flapjack, then a double wheelbarrow suplex and a really nasty arm pull/foot choke double submission. Striking stuff.

Rey Bucanero & Último Guerrero vs Villano IV & Villano V [CMLL TAG, quarterfinal]

The Villanos had pretty awesome music. They were tecnicos here and took a good chunk of the short match due to well-timed rudo miscommunication. The best spot here was Rey accidentally clotheslining UG over the top to set up stereo topes and a nice little exchange where UG got shrugged off while trying to bulldog a Villano into Rey's foot (as he was on the apron), followed by him shrugging off the Villano, only to see him float back over and hit a powerslam for two.

Eventually though, GdI took back over with whip reversals and tandem dropkicks. They hit another double facebuster, yet another (and different) double submission and then a double corner clothesline which I don't think I've ever seen before but it looked great. Then they finished it all up with this cool double leg lock roll into a double crab. I didn't grab screen caps of all these but you have to take my word on it that they were novel and cool, but at the same time fit well into the albeitly short matches.

Rey Bucanero & Último Guerrero vs Hijo del Lizmark & Lizmark Sr. [CMLL TAG, semifinal (de facto finals)]

Like I said, Charles' team had already won their bracket (I think the week before on June 23). The match finder has him wrestling up until July 28, and then not again until August 18, with the supercard being on August 4, so unless it was an angle, they didn't book this match with the injury in mind.

I say that because, for a de facto tournament final, this was very, very decisive. GdI swarmed. UG hit a corner clothesline. Rey leapt off his back with a poetry in motion body attack. UG slapped a leglock on Lizmark and leaned down a bit. Rey leapt off his back again (while he kept on the leglock) and hit a dropkick on Lizmark, Jr. in a really spectacular and novel spot. Rey locked in a reverse figure four and UG grabbed a double-underhook to really grind in the leglock. He rolled back. Rey turned over and just like that, within a minute, they won. It was a massive exclamation point to the night.

So, to sum up, this was tournament lucha so nothing went long or had much substance but GdI got to show off their teamwork in their first match, how well they could feed tecnicos in their second match (as well as some cool offense), and then totally dominated in the third, and I think the crowd absolutely noticed their presence. All of this was a lot of fun for what it was.

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MLJ: Sin Salida 2010 Set Up Bonus: Hijo del Fantasma, Máximo, Volador Jr. vs Ray Mendoza Jr., Shigeo Okumura, Taichi

2010-05-28 @ Arena México
Hijo del Fantasma, Máximo, Volador Jr. vs Ray Mendoza Jr., Shigeo Okumura, Taichi

3:37 in

Before going on to the Taichi vs Maximo hair match, I thought it made some sense to take a look at one of the matches that built it. This meant watching another Taichi match, but at least I knew it was going to be one with at least some heat built in. Frankly, half the reason I'm going forward with this match is that I want to see the jerk lose his hair. Apparently, at the time that wasn't a sure thing. Maximo had lost his last two apuestas matches (vs Texano, Jr. and Okumura) and Brazos weren't supposed to win the big ones anyway.

Speaking of losing a wager match, this had Ray Mendoza, Jr. to round out the rudos side. I've seen him sans mask once or twice on the journey I think. He (as Villano V) beat Blue Panther for his mask back in 2008 only to lose his own in 2009 to Ultimo Guerrero. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a lot of the build to the 2008 match is online or else I'd do run through those matches because they sound like they were a lot of fun. On the other hand, we've got a few of the build to Villano V vs UG online, so maybe I'll do those at some point. It's just hard to get too excited for a payoff when its an apuestas match with UG.

Anyway, Mendoza is a guy who lost his mask at 46 or 47 and could have done okay from a charisma even if he had lost it years before. He's extremely emotive and great at stooging. He came out with a big sombrero and seemed pretty damn happy to be there. It still amuses me that the Japanese rudos come out to Du Hast. I really hate Volador's side tassles. enough about that.

Let me run it down quickly. This was structured to heat up the hair match. It went two falls, had double heat and two comebacks. The rudos charged the ring at the beginning of the match, had an energetic beat down, and then Maximo got to be the lynchpin in the comeback, being the only one to be able to charge back in and do some damage. He got beaten back but that allowed his partners to fly in. They hit double dives to set up Maximo vs Taichi and a rope-assisted roll up by Maximo.

The rudos came right back with a rudo-advantage reset that lasted most of the segunda. This had more hope spots including a solid Fantasma vs Mendoza chop off where Mendoza was channeling his inner Satanico with his stooging and then hitting great powerslam out of nowhere. Volador hit a dive to get himself and Okumura out of the match, and Maximo flew back in with his butt bump to pin Mendoza. They finished this with the Kiss of Death, really one of the most protected moves in CMLL, and Taichi completely no selling it to foul Maximo and then beat the crap out of him. Not the world's worst way to heat up the match while still having Maximo look strong.

This was slight but perfectly functional with enough character to make it enjoyable. Maybe I'm an easy audience or maybe it's just that I'm still in my first year of heavily watching this stuff, but that's pretty much all that I need to make me happy with a lucha trios. Obviously other elements (great, escalating matwork, a super comeback, violent brawling, tricked out armdrag sequences, etc) can be the difference between me being happy with a match and me thinking everyone needs to go out of their way to see it, but the baseline for me is whether or not the match accomplishes what it's supposed to, whether or not there's a sense of anticipation and payoff, and whether or not there's enough character to make the thing sing. This wasn't a masterpiece, but it did accomplish all of that.

GIFs:

Poor Kemonito:

Oof:

Dives in and out:

Pre- Powerslam:

Post Powerslam:

Best thing that Taichi's ever done?:

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Finlay May Be Warm In Flanders, But its Draughty in the Trenches

Finlay v. Rey Mendoza Jr. WNC 9/20/12 - EPIC

So cool that this match got to happen in the Finlay window. Mendoza is the unmasked Villano V, and I think the Villanos are the most Finlayish of the luchadores. We get all that we would want from this match up, starts out with very aggressive mat work, all of the counters had a bunch of struggle, nothing was smooth or fancy. Finlay reversing a grounded headlock is just beautiful, he grabs a leg and twists until Mendoza breaks and he puts on a knee crank of his own. Mendoza starts the brawl, as he cracks Finlay with a clothesline over the top rope, and hits him with a great old fat man tope. The last half is full of nasty clotheslines, over hand rights, and nasty bodyslams. This was gritty as hell, felt like a 70s crime movie as a wrestling match.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FINLAY

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MLJ: 2010: A Garza Odyssey 5: Brazo de Plata, Héctor Garza, Toscano vs Naito, Ray Mendoza Jr., Taichi

Taped 2010-03-02 @ Arena México
Brazo de Plata, Héctor Garza, Toscano vs Naito, Ray Mendoza Jr., Taichi

6:49 in

http://youtu.be/kpXDyYGwkUs

http://youtu.be/fAbVrAYoxi0

http://youtu.be/NhojlPV6NYg

We're back to the land of Garza. I'm probably a terrible wrestling fan in 2014 for having never seen Naito before, but New Japan just isn't my thing. I can probably be forgiven for never seeing Taichi. Mendoza is the unmasked Villano V. I got confused for a minute because I saw a Rey Mendoza, Jr. in WCW but that was IV unmasked. He's probably my biggest draw into this match. Toscano is Tarzan Boy just as a tecnico. He'd peaked and was on the downslope (and I think he's still there). I swear that Porky looked better in 2013 than he did here.

This was a comedy match, no ifs ands or buts. Mendoza directed traffic well for his side and showed a certain glee when paired off against Porky. Garza fit in nicely as he does in most matches. Naito stood out due to the character work, including interacting with the ring girls which is pretty rare in these things. I wouldn't say he was good based just on this but he had been around CMLL for a year or so at that point and he certainly knew what he was doing. Taichi didn't show me much but I think he was fairly new to all of this. Toscano had one fun bit where he clowned Naito with fake handshakes but didn't stand out much past that. Ultimately, this was on the low end of Porky comedy matches.

There were some novel bits. I thought Naito and Toscano did well enough in their early matwork (prior to that Garza led Taichi around but it was not memorable in the least). The rudos took over with a triple kick on Porky and won the primera by making him run the ropes over and over again, which was amusing. The Japanese wrestlers had a thing where they'd send diving awkward kicks from weird angles.

I wouldn't necessarily call the comeback well executed but it was elaborate enough, in a trudging through molasses sort of way. It ended with a double drop toe-hold by Toscano and Garza sending a head into a groin and all three rudos into the corner for a Porky charge followed by a couple of roll ups and a Porky second rope splash on Taichi who certainly had dues to pay apparently.

I wish we had more Mendoza here. He was fun in stooging against Garza, messing around with the latter's taken off shirt like the world's greatest Felino, but he had been paired up with Porky to begin so there wasn't much chance. That probably says all you need to know about me though: I'd rather see old man Villano V than Naito if given the chance. Anyway, the slow trickle of comedy slowly slowly drained to its end and Porky hit a dive onto poor Mendoza on the outside and Toscano and Garza (who made for pretty good partners, really) locked in a fun double submission for the tecnico win. I swear that Porky seems bigger now, but he seemed way more likely to have a heart attack when I see him in matches from a few years ago. Ah well, they can't all be winners. I'd be open to see some more Naito now, I suppose, but I assume his NJPW work is more "main event style" and less dickish. Instead, let's just move on to a few more GdI matches, which is what's next.

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