This would've been worth watching for the pre-match skit alone, with a nurse in the miniest of mini skirts delivering a wrapped portrait of Atlantis to the good doctor, who coincidentally happens to be in scrubs in his own office. Maybe it was a busy day at the practice. Clearly it ruffled Wagner's feathers because he's a terror right from the start. He's also rocking the SWANK white mask with black zebra stripes. As far as mano a mano bouts go, this might've been the closest one to an apuestas match that didn't actually have anything wagered. If you're doing a mano a mano (or apuesas, for that matter) like this with no blood then you need to highlight the violence in other ways, and these two highlighted - nay, DEMONSTRATED - the violence by laying it in and delivering everything like it was designed to hurt like a bastard. Nothing was given freely and a lot of it was paced like you were watching two guys trying to press any advantage they might have. Atlantis' comeback matched the beating put upon him earlier, they tore at masks, someone got tope'd into the third row and the finishing stretch was about as good a blend of lucha and New Japan bombfest as you could get. Maybe a top 3 Wagner singles match ever.
Negro Casas & El Hijo del Santo v Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero (CMLL, 11/2/01)
It's been ages since I've watched any Guerreros del Infierno; even longer since I've watched them in a 2v2 tag. That's not at all my favourite match type in lucha, but this was properly good stuff and the fact it was a title match gave everything a sense of gravity. The primera was really strong and I thought Ultimo and Rey hung with the legends about as well as could be expected during exchanges. Those exchanges weren't the flashiest, but there was struggle and it looked like Santo and Casas had to work for everything. And then we did get some flash with one truly beautiful Santo armdrag, another thing I hadn't really seen in a while. As the match went on it felt like Santo and Casas were starting to pull away, that mix of skill and experience that Bucanero and UG didn't have yet, but it was the rudos who took the first fall. Even if they didn't have the edge in experience they did have brute strength and I loved Guerrero reversing La Casita into a deadlift powerbomb. The tercera feels appropriately big and if you were a Guerreros del Infierno fan, there was that nagging sense that the old heads were on the up the deeper it went. Santo's stuff was gorgeous all the way through but I really loved the setup to him hitting the corner tope, which was as much Bucanero staggering around on the floor, getting into position organically, and then taking the thing on the back of the head like a screwball, flying a good dozen feet up the ramp. And Casas hooking the deep Casita to put a bow on things felt like the right finish. That brute strength will only take you so far, I guess.
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