Man, Herodes was the best. Best stooge, best bruiser, best everything. He was past his physical peak by 1990 even though he'd only been wrestling about twenty years, which by lucha standards is no more than the blink of an eye. He'd gained weight and wasn't terribly mobile, but what he'd lost in athleticism he'd gained in pure scuzz. The mask he wore pre-match was a Lidl brand Demolition hood, he was almost entirely bald on the top but still thick on the sides and retained the terrible rat tail, his dodgy Motorhead beard making him look like Brazo de Plata if Brazo de Plata inhaled Triple H. He started this on the apron, more goofy than menacing as he joked around a bit with some folk in the crowd. He was like the daft uncle at Christmas dinner who'd tell the kids that pulling on his ponytail would make him bite their fingers off. It was largely a stooge performance overall, giving up the ghost a couple times and taking a powder mid-exchange, but he got to bowl a few guys over and there was one gorgeous little sequence with Ciclon Ramirez that belied his impending decrepitude (not that it stopped him wrestling another ten years anyway). The first caida was about as basic as you'll get, but it got time to develop and was ultimately satisfying. I'm not familiar at all with Aguila Solitaria and I know I haven't seen much El Supremo. They were fine though, and their exchange to start the match was decent enough. The rudos chasing themselves in circles trying to catch Pantera wasn't quite Fuerza and Panther chasing Rey Jr., but it was a fun little segment that at least had you buying their reasons for snapping. You don't humiliate a man like Herodes and if Supremo and Gladiator are teaming with him you don't humiliate them either. A man's game charges a man's prices. They should've known better.
Angel Azteca, Super Astro & Kung Fu v Emilio Charles Jr., Jaque Mate & Espectro Jr. (CMLL, 1/5/90)
Emilio Charles Jr. is also the very best. I don't know if he and Angel Azteca had beef coming in but Emilio winning an exchange fair and square leading to Azteca having a vendetta against him for the rest of the match makes me think Emilio may have pissed him off in the recent past. It was sort of an overblown response from a tecnico, but then this is Emilio and I'm sure he did something to deserve it. There was a great moment where Azteca, mid-exchange with Espectro, turned to the rudo corner and smashed Emilio with a forearm. Anybody else and you'd have said it was uncalled for. Emilio of course got his revenge during the inevitable rudo beatdown and I feel like you could easily slot him into that Arn Anderson category of guys who seamlessly go from stooge to killer in seconds. Super Astro was really fun with all of his bamboozling footwork and his springboards always look gorgeous. The big dive of the match was a tope to a prone Jaque Mate and he landed with all of his stockiness across Mate's upper body. He also had a cool opening exchange with Espectro where Espectro ribbed him for being tiny so Astro stomped on his bare boot. It's always a little surprising that Azteca never wound up being a superstar. He had pretty much everything you'd want in a masked tecnico and yet I don't remember him doing anything of note after the Dandy feud.
1990 CMLL Project
1990 CMLL Project
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