Tuesday 20 September 2016

YouTube Lucha Grab Bag

El Hijo del Gladiator, Fuerza Guerrera & Ponzona v Octagon, Super Astro & Volador (CMLL, 9/16/90)

1990 CMLL really is the gift that keeps on giving. This was another one of dataintcash's uploads (hero's work, that), and at this point I feel like I might as well just grab all the CMLL TV from that period. It's such a stacked year that, even after combing through match lists and picking out a bunch of interesting stuff, you end up skipping right over something cool. Case in point: this. Because Fuerza v Super Astro is pretty fucking cool. Astro was inspired in this, with all of his headbutts landing flush, his springboards getting major height and his little jigs leaving the rudos befuddled. As he got older and his footwork weightier he really required a rudo with some competence as an actor to make that spot work, but he was still at his physical peak here (he was 31, so in lucha terms he was practically a hale youngster). Even still, the rudo unit went above and beyond with their stooging, not just for Astro's jig, but for pretty much everything thrown their way in the first caida and a half. Fuerza/Astro rocked like you'd expect. Fuerza ended up humiliated on the floor almost right away and it prompted him to start a fight with a fan, which of course he shied away from when it became apparent the fan wouldn't. Eventually he washes his hands on the exchange with a very clear "that'll be enough of that then!" gesture and tags out. Hijo del Gladiator isn't someone I feel like I know very much about, but his shtick was every bit as fun as Fuerza's. He was even more determined to look like a goofball, if you can believe that. Volador gave him the run around something fierce and it culminated with a third caida tope that landed Gladiator in the second row (he wound up in a lady's lap after almost wiping out the guy in front of her). Ponzona might've gone and topped both of them, though, at least when it came to the uber stooge moment of the match. Where Fuerza and Gladiator were left dizzy by Astro's footwork, Ponzona threw a full blown tempter tantrum. The third caida had a bunch of 'one guy applies a submission --> an opponent comes in to break it up and apply a submission of his own --> rinse repeat', which was a bit deflating after the rudo beatdown to end the segunda promised something more, but it did end on a high note. The spot where Fuerza tried to run away from an Astro tope only to get cleaned out by Octagon's seated senton was outstanding. 

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