We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming for Some 80s Lucha

Negro Navarro, El Texano & El Signo v Lizmark, Tony Salazar & Alfonso Dantes (8/15/86)

It's nice to see Navarro was a bruiser as far back as '86. He's definitely more surly now, though, with the shaved head and cantankerousness that comes with age. The whole primera was basically one long gang beating inflicted upon the tecnicos by the Misioneros. Navarro actually seemed relatively content to let Texano take centre stage during this, so Texano seized the opportunity and punched many faces. Speaking of bruisers, btw: Tony Salazar. It was up to him and Lizmark to turn the tide for his team, and while Lizmark did it with grace and finesse, Salazar just bulled folk around like a rhinoceros. Some of Lizmark's offence was pretty awesome in this, especially when he had the Misioneros running round in circles bumping into each other. Signo might've been the most fun during those segments. He's the shortest and stockiest so he was like a little bowling ball knocking down pins. Dantes wasn't great in this, but he had a few moments. He took a double gut buster from Navarro and Texano in the tercera and sold it like it punctured his lung, and he had one nice semi-lengthy exchange with Signo, even if it came AFTER the rudo beatdown in the primera, which seemed a wee bit backwards structurally. I'd like to see Navarro hitting the mat from around this time. He got surlier with age, but I'm wondering if he didn't also become a better mat worker. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot to compare with.