I assume there was some lead-in to this. Probably a trios where things got tetchy - as things between Santo and Casas tended to get - and here we are at the mano a mano. I should probably seek it out because I guess the more context the better - and most importantly the more Santo v Casas the better - but either way this stood on its own as being awesome. It had some of the best matwork I've seen from them, all of it applied and fought over with a real grittiness. They'd try and kick their way out of holds, then Casas would just drop on top of Santo and throw forearms, almost from inside the clinch, while Santo would grab his hair and throw forearms of his own. This might've had the tightest Santo headscissors I've ever seen. He clamped that thing around Casas' head and whipped him to the mat repeatedly, then Casas got more and more irritated and eventually tried to heel kick him in the eye. It eventually breaks down like you expect and Santo rams Casas head-first into the post, Casas gets bloodied and tries to rip Santo's mask off, the ref' takes an elbow to the jaw and long before the match gets thrown out you know they're settling nothing this night. I guess it had been so long since I watched Santo in a hate feud that I half forgot how great he was in them, but this was a swift reminder.
El Hijo del Santo, Atlantis & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. v Negro Casas, El Canek & Apolo Dantes (CMLL, 7/12/96)
You could say this was a Santo v Casas show. And by "you could say," what I'm definitively saying is that this was a Santo v Casas show. It's so much of a Santo v Casas show that everything not involving them really pales in comparison. They're at each other's throat from the very beginning as Santo hits a running knee lift while Casas is stepping through the ropes, then drops him with a straight right to the face. And we're off to the races from there, brothers. The first 8-10 minutes are all Santo and Casas. Everyone else stands around watching, unsure if they should get involved while deep down knowing they probably shouldn't. At one point Apolo Dantes looks at Casas like "are you taking that?" and then a minute later there's another shot of him standing there like "well I guess he wasn't taking that." I think there was a 20-second period where both of them were on their respective apron before Casas comes in and sprints over to get at Santo again. It just escalates from there, spills to the floor, referees get involved, some suits plead with Casas to let it be over, fans in a frenzy. This was legit some of the best pull-apart brawling ever, where they'd be separated for a brief moment before one of them would break free and attack the other, every instance of it a little more wild than the last. There's about a dozen cops on the scene and Casas runs through rows of spectators while pensioners and children scatter. Santo will headbutt Casas until he's sprawled over someone's lap, then he'll get up and charge again and this time Santo is left lying underneath a row of fixed seats. The cops and referees nearly manage to usher Casas through the curtain, but he gets loose and sprints down the ramp and they're at it again. It was madness, like a genuine street brawl where the police are called and friends and family members are in tears on the side of the road. The problem is that nothing else is hitting those heights. When they're finally cleared from ringside the other four guys settle into an actual match, but it's hard not to actively want the camera to cut backstage for some more carnage with even other wrestlers trying to put out the fire. When the backstage cuts stop you hope the fight spills back out to ringside again, but it never happens. The remainder of the match sets up a 2 v 2 tag the following week, and it's fine and everything, it's just that nothing was going to match Santo/Casas unless it was more Santo/Casas. Still, this was some phenomenal Santo/Casas and it's worth watching for that alone.
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