MLJ: Hijo Del Santo vs Blue Panther 8: El Hijo del Santo vs Blue Panther (WWA Welterweight)

2000-04-09 - Monterrey
El Hijo del Santo vs Blue Panther (WWA Welterweight)

So, this is pretty much what brought me into this pairing. It's a great match, an excellent match, and I'd say one of the best lucha title matches I've seen. Santo's shown me a lot in this series and Panther as well, but I think sometimes trios matches can be a little limiting. People are trapped in their roles, and yes, that's part of what makes the matches so fun, roles and pairings, and what have you, but it also means that a luchador might not be able to show the full breadth of what he can do. I think that's come out in the last few matches with Panther, where he was able to stooge a bit more in the absence of Fuerza and show a lot more fire when he was paired up against Dandy. Even then, it was never really a total package. Here, though, it's just an all out master class in how to do a match like this.

This was an indy show in Monterrey. It aired on TV or at least was taped with commentary. There was some sort of "wrestlers of the future" tag tournament on the show as well, which Antifaz del Norte and La Parka, Jr. won. It's for the WWA Welterweight title, which is a title that Santo had held quite a bit in his career. He had it for almost two years during this reign. Just looking at results, I don't see Panther having gotten a really big win over Santo in his career at this point. Maybe he had one on a big show in a trios, that sort of thing, but not for a title or in the finals of a tournament or anything like that. I could be wrong, but it let me read an extra element into this.

This wasn't a picture perfect title match, but it was pretty damn close. There's almost no other way to look at this except for chronologically. The primera was exactly what you come into a match like this looking for, an escalation of matwork and build towards a finish. There may not have been super complex holds here but the little stuff, positioning and reversals and a slight differentiation of Santo's finesse vs Panther's slight strength advantage was all compelling. There was absolutely a tangible sense of struggle which is the most important thing in the world for something like this, but also huge amounts of polish. The marriage of the two is magic. Eventually they pick up the pace and Santo hits his big, delayed rising sunset flip pin for the fall. They picked up the pace for the segunda, working in more sequence amongst the matwork. Panther was an ideal base and sold both the pain and the indignity of eating Santo's offense. Eventually, Santo went for the same reverse wheelbarrow armdrag twice in a row and Panther crushed him down into a brutal looking submission for the fall.

The tercera was extended and very much worth it. Santo came in selling the arm from the end of the segunda an Panther has at least as much interesting armwork as you'll ever see. He weaved in from one hold to the next. Santo was amazing at selling, especially with a mask on, and it all built to a really satisfying reversal where Santo powered his way out and forced Panther into a Rings of Saturn type hold. Really satisfying stuff. It's the cue to take the match to the next levl (the nature of matches like this sort of prevent extended heat periods in the tercera), as Panther made the ropes and the ref had to push Santo off, foreshadowing the finish somewhat. This allowed just enough distraction for Panther to rush back to the arm, but Santo broke the match wide open with a couple of roll-ups. From here they traded big submissions (the highlight maybe being Santo sitting up in the Gori Special which is such an iconic spot for him) with Panther selling his leg to match Santo's arm. They do drop the limb selling which is a bit disappoint but more in my head than in any objective viewing of the match, since that playing into the finish just isn't a normative thing in matches like these. There was one big high spot with Panther hitting a number of bodyslams to set up Santo for a top rope move but refusing to execute it, frustrated by the positioning. On the third, he got rolled up which just frustrated him more so that he went to the top anyway and got knocked outside for his trouble. This of course led to a huge plancha from Santo.

Back in the ring, they kept escalating things towards the finish with more significant submissions, including a great Cavernaria by Panther and finally, Santo locking on the camel clutch. Panther kept getting to the ropes though and this led to another shoving match witht he ref. While Santo was distracted, Panther went for a roll up, only to get rolled through in a great false finish, followed by yet another one as Santo hit his big sunset flip. Finally though, Panther dropped down out of a victory roll, grabbed the ropes (which especially stung so soon after the ref broke the clutch and got physical with Santo) and picked up what felt like a monumental win.

For something that wasn't on a big stage, this was an absolutely great match. I've seen people complain that the finish wasn't clean, but I think it worked well in its context. Moreover, they were building to a rematch a couple of months later, so in that regard, it was absolutely the right finish. I wish they worked title matches like this more often now. It was really everything I wanted from the pairing. An essential match to watch.