MLJ: Negro Casas vs Tarzan Boy [HAIR]

2002-09-13 @ Arena México
Tarzan Boy vs Negro Casas

26:39 in

I had to go digging a bit for this one. That's one of the bits of madness about this whole thing. There's more lucha online that I'm ever going to get to, and that's just online, and really that's just the stuff that interests me too. There are things I prioritize though, and a Negro Casas hair match I've never seen anyone talk about is up there.

I have a soft spot for Tarzan Boy too. Because it's one of the first things I came across starting this a couple of years ago, I'm a sucker for the Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Atlantis, Tarzan Boy, Olimpico version of GdI. He's like the world's best, smarmiest Paul Roma, but you know, in a good way. He's absolutely insufferable here, coming out to Simply Irresistible with four girls, tights with 69 on them, and lipstick kisses all over his body. There's a great camera shot early on of Casas entering the ring with Tarzan Boy in the foreground, standing on the second rope posing, partially obscuring the entrance. Later on, he wouldn't stop posing and grinding even as the ref was trying to give him instructions. That'd distract Casas enough that he could rush in and take the early advantage in the match.

This was the main event of the 2002 Anniversary show, so it's not exactly totally under the radar or anything. This footage claims to be unedited but the only way that seems to matter is with some longer pan shots than usual and the fact they don't split screen the replays. It's very watchable.

This was a one-fall match for some reason (not unlike the Damien vs Satanico match from around this period). It could have used a few more minutes certainly and almost functions as a hair match sprint, without long spurts of selling you'd expect in the tercera, but it's a very good match for what it is.

What's telling, too, is that you could see where the act breaks would be. Tarzan Boy loses the advantage early as Casas hits this great spear, but he gets it back with a really nice Drop Toe Hold, and they go back and forth a bit until he hits this a killer half nelson slam/chokeslam thing, following it up with a springboard spinning splash. That'd probably be a fall. A few moves later, Casas escapes from a Gory Special/pin, and manages to get in the Scorpion Deathlock; that'd be the comeback and the second fall. Then they brawl back and forth for a bit until Casas puts him in a chair on the outside and as he gets up, hits his running seated senton. That would be the transition point to the finishing stretch in the tercera. So it all makes sense. It just happens to be one fall. In this match, given the time it had, it helps because there's never a real feeling of disappointment from short falls. It all feels like more than the sum of its parts. In situations where they're going to have three or four minutes between the first two falls, maybe they should go this way instead.

So, it's missing some of the drama that you'd get in the end of these because it doesn't nearly have the number of near falls you'd usually expect (Though one at the end is really good). It also does have a slight veneer of its times. Tarzan Boy hits a Scorpion Death Drop and later in the match, Casas hits a full nelson spin out into one. Tarzan Boy launches this pretty silly cradle suplex too which didn't quite have the execution it needed. Those are minor things in the grand scheme though. As part of the Casas canon that doesn't get talked about much, it's worth seeing (But then every part of the Casas canon is worth seeing), and hey, Tarzan Boy's such a jerk in it that a fan even runs in to attack him after the match.