This was the lead-in to Dandy v Casas for the world middleweight title a few weeks later. If I didn't know already that it was a title match they were building to I'd have bet the house on it being the lead-in to an apuestas match. It was not the title match lead-in I was expecting, basically. I figured we'd at least get a clean start, maybe some chain wrestling before it got tetchy, by the end both guys even throwing a fist or two. It did not start the least bit clean and Casas had fouled Dandy two times in the first 90 seconds, then fouled him a third time a couple minutes after that. First he kicked the middle rope into Dandy's privates, then hoisted him up on his shoulders and rammed him balls-first into the ring post. The third low blow came as a cut off from his own knees, practically a double punch to the nuts. This was a phenomenal Casas performance. He walked the line between cowardice and confidence as well as anyone. At points he was only properly willing to fight when his boys had his back, but then at other times he'd pare away the bullshit and go full force, no backing down. It was sort of Flair-esque, like when the latter would bare his teeth and attack with fury when he knew his title was in jeopardy. Even if there was no title on the line for Casas here there was still a point of pride and people weren't about to forget how good he was. In true Nature Boy fashion there was even a spot where Casas was throwing knife edge chops in the corner and the crowd exploded when Dandy turned the tables and unloaded with his own. It never needed any escalation as such, because Casas had turned it into a street fight from the jump, but Dandy going from the chops to the punches was amazing and of course these were some ungodly punches. Casas' signature running flip bump off the ropes might've been the best of his entire career, practically landing him in the middle of the ring, coming up affronted and holding his face only to be kicked in the jaw immediately. In a match loaded with awesome moments my favourite was when Casas had Dandy's leg stuck in one of the front row folding seats, repeatedly kicking the chair closed into Dandy's knee while some guy has to shield his poor mother in the seat directly next to them because she's too old or frail or both to get up and move. Dandy effectively spent the whole match chasing a one-on-one with Casas and the final exchange was the perfect payoff. Casas was always the sort to come out guns blazing when he knew he had no other choice and pretty often his hubris would bite him. It did again here when he charged Dandy and flung himself like a torpedo, Dandy moving and Casas taking a fucking absolute screwball face-first bump into the middle turnbuckle, something that I really can't do justice by typing nonsense on a page. The fight and STRUGGLE over the tapatia is as good as you'll get. There has never been a wrestler more belligerent than Negro Casas and he would not give up an arm for this hold, not when Dandy was punching him in the ribs, not when he was slapping him about the ears, not for anything. And not only did Casas manage to buck him off, he went and fucking pinned him with the man's own cradle! I don't even know where this would rank among Casas' best performances - probably not top 20, maybe not top 50 - but it had everything from wanton cheating to technical mastery and whatever else we might fawn over. I haven't said a single word about the other four guys in the match, not because they never added value but because Dandy v Casas needed however many hundred words they got. The Espectros were a really fun pair of idiots though, routinely complaining about being fouled when they very obviously hadn't, stooging to the back row while getting vicious when they needed to, sort of like their captain for the evening. Post-match Casas offers up a handshake, then kicks Dandy in the chest instead. Based on how livid Dandy was I'm surprised they never changed the title match to a hair match on the spot.
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