I've watched a lot of Santo recently and let me tell you, that guy was fucking stupendous. I guess I'd kind of forgotten just HOW good he was, but man, he was SO good. 1997 is maybe one of the three best wrestling years in history and he has as good a case as anybody for being the best in the world that year. This follows on from three trios matches the previous month. The first one I wrote about a few days ago, with Felino not actually being in the match but involving himself via shenanigans at the end. The rematch of that from a week later was even better and had Bestia Salvaje sitting front row causing a ruckus. Everybody beat the bejeezus out of each other and Bestia stuck his nose in allowing the rudos to pick up the win. The third match from 6/20 actually had Felino in it and this time Bestia's interference backfires, as Santo ends up hitting a tope straight into his face. It was a brilliant series of matches and set up a title match with some proper heat behind it. Bestia was cornering Santo here while Casas was cornering his brother so you knew that would come into play at some point too. As far as title matches go this followed a bit of a different path than you might expect. It was only two falls for a start, but it never felt disappointingly short. If anything it made you absolutely want to see a rematch, while at the same time continued building anticipation for that next Santo/Casas installment. The opening caida was a wonder, though. These two are a sensational pairing when they hit the mat and wrestle and as always with Santo when he's in there with Felino, everything he does has an extra layer of intensity to it. He'd grab Felino's leg and work through half a dozen holds, one Indian deathlock variation that I can't even explain, switching to something else every time Felino managed to find an answer. I've probably said it 20 times on here by now but for a guy who's typically known for his gracefulness there are very few wrestlers in lucha who can tear at a guy's limbs like Santo when he's compelled to. In one of the cool deviations from the norm we get a huge Santo tope in the primera. Felino had been a pain in his ass recently so he probably saw his opportunity and decided to waste him, no hanging around. Santo's achilles heel in this feud rears its ugly head again though and Felino picks up the fall with a powerbomb. People will sometimes say there's not enough STORY~ in lucha but that move had been a big part of those trios matches the previous month and the crowd responded like it mattered when Felino hit it here. The segunda is high energy the whole way and pretty quickly you realize it's not just going to be one of those short equalising falls. Even if the finish is screwy it adds yet more fuel to the eternal Casas/Santo fire, and any disappointment fades as soon as you see Casas walking away smirking. Why would anybody think they can out-bullshit the master?
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