Back to the 80s Lucha

Rayo De Jalisco Jr. v Mascara Ano 2000 (8/15/86)

I thought this was more interesting than good, but still pretty enjoyable. What they're doing isn't spectacular by any stretch, but it's cool to see a title match between two guys I don't recall ever seeing work a title match. The first caida had some neat enough matwork, although it was more about Rayo whipping 2000 around the ring with armdrags - and a little dancing thrown in for good measure - than them rolling around on the mat. I liked 2000's reactions to Rayo getting the better of him -- you could tell his ego was taking a beating and that aforementioned dancing was adding insult to injury. The tercera wasn't particularly long, but it had a couple nice topes and a big Rayo plancha, and I liked how Rayo wanted no part of the tapatia twice in the same match.


Babe Face, Pirata Morgan & Cien Caras v La Fiera, Lizmark & Rayo De Jalisco Jr. (September 1986)

I'm not sure the date on this is correct. It feels like a lead in to the Babe Face/Fiera hair match from August, what with how they bled and bit each other in the face and whatnot. This was really fun stuff. I've watched a bunch of lead-in trios of late, often setting up apuestas matches where the central pairing go at each other tooth and nail. This wasn't quite as frantic overall as some of those, but the Fiera/Babe Face match up was as gritty and violent as any. Fiera's sell of the blood loss was really awesome, the way he'd stagger around like his body was willing but the tank was nearly empty. He'd unload with the spin kicks and he got his revenge by drawing blood, but Babe Face always seemed to come out on top. Maybe the rudos just worked better as a unit. Honour among thieves and all that -- the kind of code Fiera used to live by himself. The other four guys were very much bit part players, though they each had their moments. Cien Caras was pure hubris and I loved him for it. When things were going his way he reveled in the moment, but whenever the tide turned he wanted nothing to do with anyone on the opposite side, especially Lizmark. Pirata Morgan never took any career-threatening bumps, but he took one doozy to the floor and spat Fiera's blood in the air so he ticked the boxes of what you want in a bit part Pirata Morgan performance. I've been holding off on watching the Fiera/Babe Face apuestas for ages so I'm hyped about it coming up next.

Looking at 1995 CMLL

El Dandy, Ultimo Dragon & Hector Garza v Ray Gonzalez, Dr. Wagner Jr. & El Felino (CMLL, 8/18/95)

1995 is sort of a lost year for CMLL. I could probably count on one hand the amount of 1995 CMLL matches I've seen, I don't recall even reading about anything from that year, and it's not like anybody's jumping to take deep dive on it. I'm not saying I'm going to be the guy to do that, but if this was anything to go by then there might be a few things worth unearthing. El Dandy and Ray Gonzalez are clearly feuding at this point, though going by Dandy's apuestas record this didn't lead to a hair match. Which is sort of astounding because they sure fought like an apuestas match wasn't far away. They bleed truly gruesome amounts of blood. Dandy was cut open about a minute in and he bled EVERYWHERE. Like, I'm not sure enough people were even watching CMLL in 1995 to warrant a gusher like that. Gonzalez is a Puerto Rico guy so he knows how to bleed, but when the tecnicos made their initial comeback he just ran away. Again and again, when Dandy tried to grab him, Gonzalez ran. This went on for a while and I wondered if they were going to hold off on Dandy's revenge for another time, but no, eventually he was caught and he did indeed let the blood flow. Wagner wasn't featured a ton in this, but he was my favourite guy in it. He didn't have to do much, sometimes it was just his mannerisms and charisma that grabbed me, but whenever he was on the screen I paid attention. He threw his hands up on the match and threatened to walk out with Gonzalez, but Dandy followed them up the ramp, clocked Wagner with a hook, and Wagner took a pratfall into the crowd. Later he fell backwards out the ring as Ultimo held the ropes open, tumbling to the floor as he hopelessly tried to grab onto something. It was more of a comedy performance than anything, but it made for a fun counterpoint to Dandy and Gonzalez mutilating each other.

Porky v Escorpion (Hair v Hair)

Super Porky v Rey Escorpion (Hair v Hair) (CMLL, 10/18/13)

How's this for something totally different? I don't remember ever seeing a lucha/shoot style hybrid before, but that's what this was. It's MMA rules and it's sort of surreal watching Brazo de Plata don the gloves and work FUTEN-level stiff. It's unfortunate that they stuck to the two out of three falls format, though. We never got a ton of actual match time and the falls hurt the pacing of it. Felt like things were really starting to break loose only for us to have to settle down for a minute or two before resumption. Porky was crazy fun in this. He doesn't have much left in the tank at this point, but I loved him using his fatness to ground Escorpion, secure the mount and rain down holy hell with the punches. When Escorpion was on top it was all Porky could do to curl up and cover his face, which got the crowd behind him ten thousand percent. I should watch more Escorpion from 2013. I think I've only seen him in this feud, but he was awesome in it and there's bound to be other stuff. The spot where he used his legs to tie Porky to the ropes while punching his unprotected head was glorious and I don't remember seeing anything like that before. Finish might've been cheap on the surface, but Escorpion pummeling Porky so badly that it caused Maximo to lose it and come to his old man's aid was quite the moment. I thought this was a really fun novelty. Probably would've been even better with a few tweaks, but I'm not sure it's ever been done before so it's hard to criticise them for not getting it spot on first time.

Super Porky v Rey Escorpion Trios

Maximo, Stuka Jr. & Super Porky v Dragon Rojo Jr., Polvora & Rey Escorpion (CMLL, 10/4/13)

CMLL really was brilliant in 2013. Between Porky/Escorpion and Rush/Casas/Shocker we got tonnes of awesome brawling. If they allowed blood in Arena Mexico then this would've been twelve stars. I actually thought at several points they were trying to open Porky up hardway as Escorpion was just punching the absolute dogshit out of him, biting him like he was trying to siphon the gravy out of his forehead. It was sort of harrowing because Porky could barely defend himself. He looked like the fat kid being set upon by a gang of thugs and no wonder the ref' tossed out the primera. Porky eventually snapping was incredible and man oh man was he potatoing Escorpion something fierce. There was one bit where Escorpion was lying in a heap in the corner and Porky was just drilling him with left hands. It was as WAR-esque as you'll ever see in lucha. Everyone else played their parts fine as well. Dragon Rojo Jr. and Polvora were capable lieutenants when it came to holding Porky's partners at bay, Maximo's diva shtick was fun once he started making his comeback and Stuka's no-hands reverse plancha is astonishing. Seriously, it never ceases to be breathtaking, and the camera angle made it look completely insane. Awesome ten minute scrap.

Casas v Ultimo Dragon - The Lead-In

I was planning on watching the Casas/Fiera hair match today, but then I kind of wound up down the rabbit hole and wanted to finally check out some build to the Casas/Ultimo title match that I also want to re-watch soon. I'm on a Negro Casas kick, basically. He was very, very good, you know.


Negro Casas, El Felino & Bestia Salvaje v Ultimo Dragon, Ciclon Ramirez & Oro (CMLL, 3/12/93)

This was pretty much everything you'd ask for in a lead-in trios. The early Casas/Ultimo exchange wasn't particularly flashy or grand in scale, but it gave you a taste of what to expect and that thirty second stretch where Ultimo continually dragged Casas back into the armbar was beautiful. It really set the tone for everything they did throughout the match -- Casas was Casas and arguably at the very peak of his powers, but Ultimo was rapid fast and getting better by the day. Plus he had those kicks, and Casas didn't seem to have a proper answer to them. I've shit on Ultimo Dragon plenty of times on this blog, but I thought he was pretty excellent here and Mexico is by far my favourite setting for him. The Felino/Ramirez and Bestia/Oro exchanges ended up going a similar route, with Bestia eating Oro's dust and Felino getting pissed that his partners allowed him to be humiliated so. At that point the rudos teased dissension and suckered the tecnicos into a gang beating. Casas took out his frustrations by seemingly tying Ultimo's leg to a fixed seat, and the beatdown continued into the segunda with Oro playing punchbag. Fittingly it was Ultimo clipping Casas' legs from outside that was the catalyst for the tecnico comeback, leading to an awesome revenge spot with Ultimo repeatedly kicking Casas into rows of seats. Oro's moonsault to pick up the fall on Bestia was gorgeous and of course Ultimo would pin Casas with another one of his kicks (this time it was an enziguri). That issue ate at Casas into the tercera and I loved that he just drove his shoulder into Ultimo's balls. I mean, what better equaliser? Ultimo repaying the favour with a dropkick was another awesome moment. Did he mean to go low? Did it actually CONNECT low or was Casas trying to pull the con job? Maybe it was accidental, maybe it wasn't, but either way it made you wonder if even the subtle low blow was something Casas couldn't beat Ultimo at. The short end run between them was great and Casas once more trying and failing to outdo Ultimo made for a great finish, but it was the Ciclon Ramirez tope leading into it that was the moment of the match. It was truly spectacular; he absolutely fucking torpedoed Bestia with that thing. Great match.

Casas v Fiera - The Lead-In

Negro Casas, Black Magic & Mano Negra v La Fiera, Atlantis & Vampiro (CMLL, 9/17/93)

I remember reading OJ's review of this months ago and being disappointed that it sounded...well, disappointing. I wasn't hugely fussed about watching it, but I'm going to watch the Casas/Fiera apuestas soon and wanted to see at least a little of the build. As a lead in trios this wasn't as strong as those Dandy/Fiera or Dandy/Llanes trios, but maybe my lowish expectations helped matters because I still enjoyed it. I don't disagree with the criticism that it felt like three separate issues playing out with no real thread to tie them together. I didn't really mind everyone mostly sticking to the one dance partner, though. If the brawling was pedestrian then I might've, but I didn't think this was that. It captured a pretty nice sense of chaos and it wasn't like there weren't moments where one guy would stop beating on their rival to take a swing at someone else. They may not have been brothers in arms, but for this night at least they were makeshift comrades and they had a common goal. Casas/Fiera showed flashes of greatness, I thought. Black Magic/Vampiro and Atlantis/Mano Negra had their moments as well, but it's Casas v Fiera at the Anniversary show and that was the most spotlighted match up. When they turned it loose we got a few cracking moments, like Casas trampling over fans as Fiera chased him into the crowd, Fiera repeatedly ramming Casas' head into a seat and later slamming him into the second row. Casas got himself some nice colour after being lawn darted into the post as well, and on the whole it whet the appetite for the hair match. I can't complain.

Arkangel de la Muerte v Tigre Blanco (CMLL, 1/23/00)

Public opinion on this seems to be that it's about as by-the-numbers of an undercard title match as you can get. I don't really disagree with that assessment, but I don't mind by-the-numbers as there's a scarcity of lucha title matches in general. It's also an opportunity to see more Arkangel de la Muerte, so I never felt like it was fourteen minutes of my time wasted. First caida didn't have a ton going on, and to be honest I don't remember anything about it now despite watching it only a couple hours ago. It was short, at least. Segunda picks up some and it gave us a few minutes of nice legwork, which I thought Arkangel sold well. It didn't have much of a payoff and was contained within the fall itself, but it was cool while it lasted. Third caida was where they went for broke, though they never had much time to really get the point across. There's only so much drama you can create with four minutes, I guess. Tigre Blanco's tope was gorgeous, though, and those powerbombs never lacked for impact. CMLL was on quite the tear in early 2000, with the Satanico/Tarzan Boy and Villano III/Atlantis feuds in full swing. This was nowhere near the level of that stuff, but it was a neat detour from the piss and blood and guts of what those guys were doing.

Virus Has Been Commissioned to Deprison the Prism of Your Mind, Spit the Wisdom of The One Divine

Virus v Loco Max (CMLL, 2/7/12) - GOOD

One of the great tragedies in lucha is that we've never gotten that big Virus blood feud. That feud where he's able to strip loose the chains and brawl like his life depended on it. I guess it's looking the gift horse in the mouth to complain about such a thing. It's not like we could be doing with less Virus matwork. Matwork Virus is still the best Virus, but you watch something like this, where he's punching a guy in the chops and brawling around ringside, and it's hard not to conclude that Virus working bloody apuestas bouts wouldn't be awesome. Loco Max was alright, even if I didn't find him very compelling on offence. He's a guy who has an annoying tendency to telegraph kick-outs. When Virus rolled him up in the second fall and he was struggling for dear life I knew it was over, then when he found himself in the same predicament in the tercera and did nothing I knew he wasn't going down then and there. Virus was an awesome little bruiser, though. I loved how he did a triple shot of ramming Max's head into the top, middle and bottom turnbuckle of one corner, but then he went that extra bit further and started bashing his head off the canvas as well. His 'wind up the right arm, pop them with the left' spot is always a favourite, but the part where he just dinged Max in the jaw almost as a desperation shot ruled. You can quibble about the finish being cheap and/or abrupt and I wouldn't really argue with you, but it was a nasty ball shot and it felt suitably desperate. If it led to a wagers match I'd have actively loved it, but I'm willing to bet my house and car and everything in it that it didn't. Such is the lucha libre life, brothers.


Complete & Accurate Virus

Star-Spangled Up and Virus' Chain Got Cuts, Mr. T Looked, Saw His Shit and Went Nuts

Virus v Dragon Lee (CMLL, 4/5/15) - EPIC

I haven't watched any Virus in a minute, let alone written about any. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder, because after this I want to go back and watch everything he's done over the last couple years. I guess this match is a little bittersweet. I remember when the Guerrero Maya Jr title match popped up online in 2011 and blew everyone away. That kind of awesome old school title bout was a rarity (still is, I guess) and there was Virus, the guy who'd seemed to spend most of his prime in barely-featured CMLL undercard lightning matches, hand-leading Black Terry's kid through a classic. And for the next four years we got a handful of killer Virus title matches each year. Still, nothing lasts forever. All good things must come to an end, and this was that end, that occasion where the young challenger usurped the champ. What a way to go out, though. The first caida was a total Virus showcase and a Virus matwork caida is pretty much never not great. I love how he used his stocky little frame to pin one of Lee's arms in place while he twisted the other into the position he was satisfied with. Lee spent most of the time escaping holds rather than applying them, but I liked his snappy ankle lock reversal, and that led to Virus straight kicking him in his taped up thigh to get free, which of course ruled. Pretty soon Lee started making some headway, being the younger and quicker of the two, firing off some rapid strikes that Virus had no real defence against. He'd throw his arms up to block, but Lee had it all scouted and changed it up accordingly (loved his jab-hook-spin kick to the gut combo). I'm not sure if Lee intended to go for the double German at the finish or if he just messed up the initial bridge and improvised, but if it was the latter then it was a pretty solid indication of how good he is for someone so young. The second caida followed on from where the first left off, but Virus evening things up by using his old man smarts - punching Lee in the gut in order to secure the Emerald Frosion - was a neat touch. They really kicked it into high gear for the deciding fall, and even if Lee blowing off the leg work when it was time to make his comeback was frustrating, it was worth it for the way Virus tore that thigh apart. How he'd tie him in knots was impressive enough, but it was those nasty moments where he'd just slam the leg into the mat that I dug most. Stretch run had the heat and the drama, a corker of a tope, and a finish that somewhat played off those German suplexes from earlier. Slam dunk of a title match. It may be the last we see of Virus in this setting, which is a real bummer, but it sure ended on a high. 

Complete & Accurate Virus 

Trauma I v Canis Lupus - The Mask Match

Trauma I v Canis Lupus (Mask v Mask) (IWRG, 9/4/16)

There's always the danger that watching a match you've seen pimped for months on end as an all-timer will fail to live up to the hype. I mean, I thought the first two falls had some nice ideas and set the table well enough for the massacre that was the tercera, but I wouldn't really say they were a particularly strong pair of falls for an apuesa match. I liked Lupus' tope coming in the first fifteen seconds, he had some nice jab combos and his riling up of front row Trauma fans was entertaining, even if I'd rather he spent less time posing and more time punching a guy in the face. It was a solid enough rudo beatdown, but a beatdown more along the lines of something you'd see in the mano a mano rather than the blowoff. Lupus stealing Trauma's Lo Negro del Negro for the finish was great, though, and it begged for a follow up later on. Trauma's selling of the leg heading into the segunda was a nice touch and I bought that first fall beatdown having taken its toll on him. I don't necessarily think his comeback was too easily come by or anything, and I liked him going to the tope quickly as well, but I couldn't help heading into the third caida feeling that the whole thing lacked some bite. Then they started blasting each other with chairs and it became everything I could've asked for. I can't really articulate it, but there are points when I'm watching lucha where it'll suddenly hit me that I'm watching something verging on the transcendent. It just kind of sneaks up on me and I don't get that feeling watching wrestling from America or Japan or Europe. I don't know the exact point I got that feeling during this, but it was somewhere between Canis Lupus curling up in the corner with blood streaming out of his forehead and Trauma headbutting him clean in the nose. The selling of exhaustion down the stretch was phenomenal, the way they'd take that little extra second or two to compose themselves, how they'd throw slaps that had almost nothing behind them. At one point Lupus just grabbed Trauma by the horns on his mask and repeatedly headbutted him, partly because it was about all he had left, partly because fuck this guy who won't stay down. By the end the ring mat looked like a tarp from a blood splatter reenactment, both guys were covered in gore and the drama for every nearfall was absolutely through the roof. I'd somehow managed to avoid major spoilers as well, and with Trauma I being my favourite wrestler in the world a few years back I was right there with those people under their Los Traumas masks. I got worried for a second after they bumped the ref', thinking we were about to get some schmozz finish to put a damper on things, but they went the opposite direction and that along with the tombstone only turned the heat up even more. I loved that Trauma was too fried to even kick out properly so he just grabbed the ref's arm to stop him from counting. Lupus' hands were stained completely red and he could barely push himself to his knees without slipping on the blood. And the finish. Truly the perfect payoff and a fitting way to cap any mask match. The immediate aftermath with Lupus lying face down in a literal puddle of his own blood is the sort of visual you don't soon forget.