CMLL had such an amazing year in 1997. I was watching this and thinking about how awesome the CMLL minis were that year and how Damiancito El Guerrero and Cicloncito Ramirez are a wrestling match-up made in heaven, but then it finished and it struck me that it might not even be a top ten match for the year. And that's crazy.
Pierrotito might be the best guy in this, matching up with Dragoncito at the beginning and losing his cool more and more as the match progresses. It even rubs off on his partner, who's by all means a good sport in his first exchange with Ramirez - an exchange as good as any you'll see - only to be clocking the technicos in the face and cheapshotting them left and right by the time we get to the third caida.
Pierrotito's a little bruiser of a rudo in comparison to his partner; a stocky fella that packs more of a punch than a bag of tricks on the mat (not to say he's bad working the mat, btw -- he's actually very good from everything I've seen). Still, he's happy enough to try his hand on the ground with Dragoncito in their opening exchange. That ends in a stalemate, as does the following Damiancito/Cicloncito exchange, but then he tries to somersault into the ring for his next exchange and messes it up... and he's not happy about looking foolish. His response to this is to drop the mat work and focus on simply pummelling Ultimo. His partner joins in, but by the end of the fall you're thinking they maybe should've stuck to the mat -- the technicos aren't stupid. They are fast. They're also tricky, and they use that to literally run the rudos into each other. Nothing will cost you a fall quicker than dropkicking your own partner in the face.
The second ciada begins much like the first, with Pierrotito and Dragoncito pairing off. This time Pierrotito comes out swinging, but Ultimo shows him up again. He's the little jumping bean that can't be grounded. Even Damiancito's losing exchanges to Cicloncito.
And so they up the nastiness. Dragoncito was running at Pierrotito with speed and Pierrotiro would wind up flying across the ring trying to grab him. Dragoncito would be bouncing around and Pierrotito would find himself out on the floor trying to pluck him out the air. Their solution is to beat the shit out of them. Ultimo can't buzz around if Pierrotito's repeatedly kicking him in the face. Cicloncito can't beat Damiancito in another exchange if Damiancito rails off and PLASTERS him in the face with an overhand right before they even lock up.
It really made for a great rudo caida; short and full of brutal looking strikes. And Damiancito's variation of a roll up... only in Mexico could THAT shit work.
The third caida is as good as it should be. The rudos are still full of piss and vinegar, but the technicos are ready to give it as good as they got in the second. They do this great exchanging of each guy taking a turn at breaking up a pinfall of the opponent, Pierrotito coming in to tell the ref' to hold up a second so he can kick Dragoncito in the head, Cicloncito simply walking up to Pierrotito and slapping him as hard as he can across the back of the dome. The whole tone of the match at this stage can more or less be traced back to Pierrotito flubbing that fancy ring entrance and trying to ease the embarrassment by knocking out Dragoncito's teeth.
The finish is the sort of rudo comeuppance a match like this deserves. Dragoncito's moonsault from the top turnbuckle to the floor completely crushes Damiancito, but Pierrotito was the one that dragged the match down the salty path to begin with; I guess it's only fitting that he should be the one to submit.
Such a great match. 1997 CMLL minis rule the motherfucking earth.
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