Not to labour a point, but this really is a singular match in lucha libre history; maybe all of wrestling history. An apuestas match with no blood that starts with several minutes of mat work and it's somehow more violent and visceral than 99% of apuestas matches ever? I suppose trying to rip your hated rival's blood-soaked mask off or cave their skull in with the ring post will communicate an adequate level of enmity. It's also very fun to watch if you're a bloodthirsty degenerate who enjoys that in your pro wrestling. On the other hand, these two trying to stomp each other's face into the ground repeatedly might've been even more effective in laying out their history. The Battlarts/FUTEN comparison is apt and obvious if you've seen any Battlarts/FUTEN, but there are also elements of the wildest Choshu brawls, the nastiest WAR potato-fests and even the pacing at times reminded me a little of the best 90s interpromotional joshi. Never for a second though did I forget that these two fucking despise each other.
Casas was grinning like a dog eyeing a pork chop before the bell and while the opening was cagey, the first strike thrown in the whole match being a disgusting kick to Santo's knee really set the tone for everything that followed. It looked like Santo did not expect to be kicked side-on in the leg like that, half planted as it was, the knee almost buckling inwards underneath him. Santo responding with an armdrag that was really more of a judo throw, landing Casas high on his shoulder and neck, also provided some nice foreshadowing of how Santo would ultimately win out. The matwork had none of the grace and beauty of lucha grappling, instead it was rough and gritty and coarse and every time they went to the mat it felt like things were about to go off the rails. I don't even remember who started it now but before long they were throwing slaps and punches to the face, stomps to the head, kicking each other in the shoulder and liver and ear. I've seen Wanderlei try and volley a man's head off his shoulders and somehow it looked less TRUCULENT than some of the stomps Casas was throwing here. Maybe it's because those Wanderlei kicks were business, a largely impersonal endeavour in pursuit of victory, whereas these were steeped in murderous intent. The way he ran and jumped on Santo's knee as it was draped over the bottom rope was putrid, then when Santo grabbed that rope to break a half crab Casas just punted him in the wrist. The violence just escalated and escalated and there were a hundred different moments both subtle and not so subtle that you could mention. I think my favourite part of the whole match was when Santo grabbed Casas by the hair to apply a tapatia, yanking him back and forth with enough force that he wound up having to release it because he ripped a handful of Casas' hair out. Then Casas spun around into the mount and started headbutting Santo in the face while he held the eye holes in his mask.
They almost do a reset of sorts with about 10 minutes to go, coming after Santo slides out the ring - or is kicked out the ring - and smashes Casas' face into the ring board before kneeing him in the head half a dozen times. When they make it back in after that they stand in opposite corners staring a hole in each other, and if they hadn't the measure of one other before that then they absolutely knew what the rest of the match was going to be. Santo's rocker dropper/shoulderbreaker thing was nuts and I like how that really set us up for the finish, even if Casas never sold it to a huge extent afterwards. Casas dropkicks Santo in the face while the latter is hung up in a tree of woe, then when Santo slips out of la Casita Casas decides he'll hang him up in the corner again, unperturbed and maybe even a little pleased that he needs to dish out some more punishment. You could see it in how he casually walked over and dropped an elbow to the back of Santo's head and I'm pretty sure he did it with a smile on his face. Of course Santo is who he is and avoids the second dropkick, Casas goes sliding out the ring, and Santo sits up and immediately crushes him with a plancha to the floor. His gradual comeback after that was almost All Japan-ish and brought to mind some of those Misawa comebacks where you knew deep down the other guy had missed his chance, even if he'd still get some licks in as he went down swinging. Santo brutally headbutting Casas in the face before hitting the corner senton was amazing, then when he couldn't hook the Caballo he transitioned into the nastiest cross armbreaker you ever did see.
Before watching this again I went through everything between these two from the point where Santo turned rudo in November '96, through the three awesome trios matches in June '97, even both Santo/Felino matches from July since Casas was there in Felino's corner. There were elements of the feud from everything that came before it that they touched on here, like the powerbomb that Felino had used to put away Santo in trios and singles matches. Callbacks like that aren't really what I think of with lucha, but I guess it makes sense that they'd do it here since this is such an abnormal sort of match. There's really nothing else like it and I wouldn't argue with anyone who called it the best match there's ever been.
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