Pierroth vs. Mascara Sagrada, Mexican National Light Heavyweight title, 2/1/91

If ever there was a test of how good Pierroth was during this time frame then this is it. Mascara Sagrada was not... very good... After a while, you accept him as part of the crew and sometimes you're impressed with what a rudo can do with him in trios, but we talking about trios. This was a twenty minute, two out of three falls title match. It wasn't exactly a miracle match, but it could've easily been a disaster. It was more of a heel vs. face match than a true title match, partially because Pierroth wasn't good enough on the mat to carry Sagrada but also because his strengths lay in being a "character worker," which he'd use to great effect the following year when his charisma exploded. The work is outrageously bad when Sagrada is on offense as you'd expect, but pretty entertaining when Pierroth is in control. Pierroth was sort of a second tier worker (as much as I like him), but he pulled this off. Would've loved to have seen him against Octagon, who was the best possible Mascara Sagrada on the roster.

Hoping to keep more up to date with lucha this year.

Black Terry/El Hijo Del Pirata Morgan/Skyde vs. Negro Navarro/Trauma 1/Trauma 2 Arena Neza 1/1/12

-- This was ok. I read some criticism of the Terry/Trauma II matwork but it was nowhere near as frustrating as it can be. Navarro vs. Skyde was a nice change of pace but they could've done more. The best parts were the Terry/Navarro exchanges. Ever since those clips of Terry and Navarro fighting each other cut to Metallica's Unforgiven I've been clamouring for a singles match between the two. I could quit watching and die a happy man if it ever happens. El Hijo Del Pirata Morgan was a bit disappointing in this and played an odd role as fall guy.

El Hijo Del Santo vs. Angel Mortal Jr., Arena Neza 1/1/12

-- This was boring as shit. The same match Santo's been working for twenty years against a bad worker.

Blue Panther/Atlantis/Solar vs. Ultimo Guerrero/Felino/Negro Navarro, 1/14/12

-- This was a good match. Panther and Felino were awful on the mat, but the Solar/Navarro exchanges were amazing. I'm one of those people who think they wrestle too often, especially in matches like these, but I was floored by their work here. More surprising, though, were the Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero exchanges. Atlantis looked great, but Ultimo Guerrero was fantastic. I don't want to get carried away and call it the best match he's ever had, but it was certainly the most I've enjoyed him.

Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Morphosis, Psicosis, Volador Jr. [MEX TRIOS] CMLL GDL 1/17/12

-- This seemed okay. I think you have to be in rhythm with the match to enjoy this type of wrestling as there's no breathing space between moves. Prefer the darkened arenas to the usual CMLL lighting.

Chico Che vs. Black Terry, IWRG 1/22/12
Chico Che vs. Black Terry, hair vs. hair, IWRG 1/29/12

-- This is what I'm talking about when I say Terry is better at working brawls than maestro tags or IWRG matwork. Both these matches deserve their own posts, but let me just say that the first match is an excellent mano a mano bout and the second is best Terry match I've seen. You should all go watch it now instead of reading any more, but long time IWRG viewers will be pleased to know that it takes the best aspects of Terry's feuds from '06-08 and pits them against a legitimately good worker in Che. Both guys bleed buckets, the strikes are great and the headbutts legendary. The key spots in the hair match work really well, especially the stuff lifted from Terry's match against Multifacético that Raging Noodles and I reviewed a few years ago. Loved all the involvement with the seconds and thought Alan Extreme's tope was sensational (and extremely well caught by BTJr.) The opening falls were fleshed out, the decider was dramatic while still being appropriate for the size of the arena, and the bullshit with the ref was fun. Terry was in his element bleeding and selling and these matches ruled.

Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs. Trauma I/Trauma II, LUCHA POP 8/27/11

This was a fairly typical match between these workers. It was bare bones in terms of layout and structure; Navarro dominated, Terry played second fiddle, and yet it was still pretty good. When Black Terry Jr's videos first started appearing it was Trauma II who showed the most potential among Dinastía Navarro, but for the past year or so Trauma I has been beastly. I don't know if he's overtaken Trauma II, but it sure looks that way. Mind you, everyone gets relegated to secondary status when Negro Navarro is in the ring. That's what happened to Terry & Trauma II, who worked the usual "my turn/your turn" pattern. The selling was decent, but Terry's a stronger character than Navarro and I don't really like seeing him in this environment. Sure he can work holds, but his forte are those Terribles Cerebros brawls where he does his best character work. Here Terry and Trauma II spent most of their time trying to hook each other, but it's obvious who's hookin' who if you keep taking turns. Not only that, but they always manage to go too long. I don't know if I've ever seen a Terry/Trauma exchange that ended on an upbeat. Navarro vs. Trauma I was outstanding, however. They worked this tiny little story where Trauma slapped the old man, and talk about teaching your boy a lesson. Trauma did a fantastic job of screaming basically, as Navarro taught his ever-improving son that he still doesn't know squat. Trauma I vs. Navarro has tremendous potential as the younger Trauma has the size to fight back against his old man, whereas big brother would have to work from underneath and probably get mauled. Navarro eased up on his boy after the armlock and ended up giving him the bout, but the signs were there that Navarro vs. Trauma could develop into one of wrestling's better match-ups. Here's hoping they wrestle each other more often than Navarro and Terry do.

Blue Panther vs. Super Astro, Mexican National Middleweight Championship, AAA 10/9/92

I've always thought this match was a disappointment and still do. The matwork in the first caida is nothing special and actually pretty weak by lucha title match standards. When you consider that it's a Blue Panther title match it's even more frustrating. Worse still is the second caida. I'm sure we've all made concessions for a weak caida in the past, but a soft fall is not what you'd expect from an oft-cited classic. I'm not against short falls by any stretch of the imagination, but a pinfall or submission shouldn't just fall into your lap. They do some good things in the third fall but it doesn't happen in rhythm with the rest of the match so it's hard to get excited about. It does salvage the match to a fair extent, but not to the point where it's a classic. Panther vs. Angel Azteca was better than this and that's hardly a classic either. When I think about what's missing from this match it's difficult to imagine what people see in it. There's none of the beauty and struggle of Panther's matwork against Atlantis or the breathtaking work of Super Astro in trios. I'm not sure what causes people to elevate this match beyond its proper station, but at least their impression is favourable. Hopefully, they use it as a gateway to the better stuff because I just don't see this as a high point in either guy's work.

Virus vs. Stuka Jr., Arena Coliseo de Guadalajara, 8/30/11

Wow, after crying out for CMLL to give Virus more time to work they finally went and did it. Thank you, CMLL.

This was a wonderfully old-school match. The matwork was short and not much more than a feeling out process, but the rope exchanges and transitions were classic lucha and the slower, more deliberate pace had a strong resonance with me. The match didn't have a big arc, but in this particular case the simplity of the match outweighed the need to make it dramatic and I liked the fact that Virus was able to end the match cleanly and simply from a series of moves that Stuka should have kicked out from. You could probably argue that it made Stuka seem like more of a jobber than is usually portrayed in lucha, but it was worth it to be free from the trappings of the modern day style. I didn't really follow lucha last year, but more matches like this and I think I'll enjoy catching up on it over the New Year period.

La Fiera v. Jerry Estrada, chain match, Monterrey, early 90s

This is the first time I can remember seeing a chain match in lucha. I've got to say it's one of the better borrowed gimmicks I've seen in Mexican wrestling. The thing I liked about this most was how random the match-up was. One of the great things about lucha is that when you think of a chain match in Monterrey, there's probably a hundred different match-ups it would suit, but you look at the billing -- Jerry Estrada and La Fiera in a chain match -- and you think, "yeah, that works." Totally random, totally great. I can't think of another style of wrestling where there's so many match-ups you have to watch in case the match is great. This is a case in point, as long time readers will know how I feel about Jerry Estrada, but there's no way a sane man can resist watching this. I'll give Estrada his props now -- he was badass in this. They both were, really. It was basically a mano a mano match with a prop, but they did a lot of cool things with that prop and there was all of the blood and violence and selling that you'd expect. Brutality aside, I don't know if I'd call it a truly great match as it lacked the type of big finish that kicks the nearfalls into overdrive, but I kind of liked the finish they came up with for the sheer goofiness of it. After the tope and big spill to the outside, the idea was basically that the match was too violent to have any sort of resolution so they threw down the chain and did a double clothesline spot. Estrada barely connected with his clothesline, but it was one of those "only in lucha" moments where throwing down the chain and doing a double clothesline seems like a good idea. Yeah, it would've been better if one of them had tortured the other into submission but the match ran out of gas as a whole. Still, these matches are about atmosphere more than anything else and this definitely had its share, from the torn canvas to the workers bringing extra objects to the fight (for no other reason than they were scheduled to fight that night.) Plenty to dig even if it's incomplete.

Blue Panther vs. Negro Casas, CMLL 4/24/11

Neither of these guys rank among my favourite lucha libre vets but this was an excellent mano a mano bout. I think it's fair to say that mano a mano bouts don't have the grandest of traditions in lucha libre. Historically, they remind me of studio matches from the territories system where the purpose was to further an angle or tease an arena match. For the most part, they were an excuse for both guys to spill a little blood before a wager match while holding back their big moves and doing the sort of fluff you see in the first two falls of any hair or mask match. Things don't really work like that anymore, but to be honest the classic mano a mano probably works best in a dark, dingy arena with a promoter who's teasing a wager match that will never, ever happen in his territory.

What made this Casas/Panther match so good was that it was more or less worked like a straight-up singles match between the two. They also kept it really tight. I still don't like maskless Panther and I hate the way he waddles around the ring, but his work was snug in this match and I felt like he was keeping everything close quarters like in an old school mano a mano bout. I've mentioned many times in this blog that I think Panther's brawling is suspect, while acknowledging the times when it's been very, very good, but he managed to pull off what I'd describe as "technically minded brawling" in this particular bout; something that Negro Navarro and the Villanos are very good at. He's nowhere near as vicious at it as those examples, but then he's not a prime candidate for a hair match either. Nevertheless, he was looking to exploit Casas' injuries through submission and the finish was a ridiculously good shoot move.

As for Casas' performance, I'm a big Casas fan without being a huge Casas fan. I agree with people who claim that Casas is one of the greatest workers of all-time, but for my mind it's a very old-school Casas that's one of the greatest workers ever. Casas was a guy who could generate massive amounts of heat through his magnetism and flamboyance, his sheer ability to get under people's skins, and many other things that didn't involve ring work. As times changed and wrestling became more and more offense driven, Casas had to move with the times, but offense was never Casas' biggest strength. Others may praise him for adapting to a changing wrestling environment and staying at the top or thereabouts for so many years, but for me the appeal of Casas begins to wear thin from about 1998 onwards. This match had pared down offense and a very dogged focus, but there was a long submission struggle that didn't really work for me where I thought it was clear that Casas came off second best in terms of pure technique. Mind you, even in the work from his prime I think he's been overrated as a mat wrestler.

Sluggish matwork was really the only fault in what was otherwise an enjoyable mano a mano bout, however. Considering how forgettable most mano a mano bouts are even when they have blood and mask ripping and pillar to post brawling, this was a really decent match.

Villano III vs. Rambo, mask vs. mask, 10/25/87

This was awesome. I don't know how much of it exists on tape since it was a Cronicas y leyendas de la lucha libre hatchet job that I watched, but I presume it's the whole thing since it's a handheld shot from ringside. Whatever the case, it was every bit as bloody and violent as the pictures suggest:



And everything you'd expect from a Rambo vs. Villano mask match. In fact, having watched their later hair matches it's pretty much the capper. In lieu of a review let me just say that you know you're watching a hair match when Villano looks like that in the opening fall.

El Canek vs. Don Corleone, UWA World Heavyweight Championship, 2/14/82

This was okay, but I was expecting something different. I guess I was anticipating some sort of non-existent Ray Mendoza mat game from Canek, but it was pretty much your run-of-the-mill Canek match from this era. Canek was a guy who could do a lot of things athletically, but he was a bit of a boring prick really. The highlight here was Don Corelone, who had a great build for pro-wrestling and moved really beautifully. He was spry throughout this bout and did a number of cool spots, but they never went anywhere because of how lazy Canek's pacing was. Heavyweight bouts are obviously going to be wrestled slower than other lucha libre bouts to distinguish the weight classes from each other, but Canek loved the resthold/action/resthold/action pattern of heavyweight wrestling and seledom did anything to lengthen or shorten the periods of action and inaction. There was no flow to this and no discernable theme, but it all built to a tope like a lucha libre title match is supposed to, so I suppose it was job done as far as Canek was concerned. It didn't help that the crowd wasn't mic'ed, either. Without crowd noise, matches always look muted. The handheld footage of this show is much better than the Japanese TV coverage, IMO.

Atlantis vs. La Fiera, NWA World Middleweight Championship, 4/3/92

It's weird watching a match where one of the participants gets stabbed to death years later but that's wrestling I guess. I'm not going to eulogise La Fiera too much, but he was part of that generation of luchadores who debut in the late 70s and ushered in a more contemporary style of lucha libre. By the time the 90s rolled around, his body was already showing the effects of that new working style, but he managed to make the transition into "seasoned vet" and remained a useful player. He also stuck with CMLL when everyone jumped to AAA, which protected his spot somewhat, partly out of loyalty and partly out of necessity. This match was somewhere between the Fiera of old and the seasoned vet, and probably a good example of how you manage a pro-wrestling career (Atlantis) and how you don't (Fiera); but let's just concentrate on the match.

Atlantis was in his absolute prime here. Much like "real" athletes, wrestlers only have two or three years where they're at their true peak. They may be good workers either side of that peak, but if you look back in retrospect there's a clear crest. The first fall here was among Atlantis' career best. One of the things that people complain about when it comes to lucha is the length of the opening falls, which are almost always too short for people used to other styles of wrestling. By and large the third fall is the one that counts, but as I've documented many times in this blog, the workers have choices about what they can do in the first, second and third falls. Here, they worked in essence a "mini match" in the primera caida. From the lock-up to the break, and the matwork and submissions to the standing exchanges, there was a clear arc between the opening bell and Atlantis winning fall.

I'm not sure what the heat between Atlantis and Fiera was, but the part where Atlantis ignored Fiera's handshake and used it as a takedown instead was boss. There was an edge to their lock-up work and it continued in a competitive vein on the mat with great side headlocks from Atlantis and niggly counters from Fiera. The side headlock for all its simplicity is an amazingly visceral move when done correctly and this would be exhibit A in how to make it look good. The finish saw them return to their feet, which is something that drives me up the wall about the NWA style matwork that influenced this match, but this was about as natural a transition from matwork to standing exchanges as you'll ever see. Fiera scored a rope break off a nice counter-reversal from Atlantis and the match was reset. Atlantis positioned himself for the lock-up, but was caught by surprise by a kick to the gut and whipped into the corner. This set-up the chain of events which led to the finish, and while it may seem rather elementary when I type it up, rarely do you see workers link the matwork and the stand-up exchanges together like that. Nine times out of ten, they simply release the hold, back-off and reset the match with a whip into the ropes. Here, it seemed like Fiera seized an opportunity to change tack, which had the added effect of making it seem like Fiera was thinking about the win and not simply going through the motions of a typical primera caida. Unfortunately for him, Atlantis was stellar on his feet and reeled off a sequence of offence that was good enough to be the finish to the entire match. This ended up being a problem later in the match, but more on that in a bit. The first fall was a cracker as far as first falls go in lucha.

The second fall was designed for Fiera to hit back straight away, but was entertaining all the same. Atlantis continued to have the upper exchange in the standing exchanges, which was a nice bit of overlapping from the first fall, and Fiera wasn't getting much purchase with his signature kicks (which were noticeably lower than in his prime; something us aging guys can sympathise with.) Fiera's opening here wasn't quite as strong as in the first fall as he did the over top rope bump that Pirata Morgan and Emilio Charles Jr. were fond of but didn't sell it to any great extent. Back in the ring, he finally clipped Atlantis with one of his kicks and that was the set-up for a massive swan dive plancha that they replayed over and over again. This was an unnaturally big finish for a second fall, which left me wondering how they were going to top things in the final caida, but there certainly wasn't any short changing of the fans in falls one and two.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to top their efforts in the final caida. Ironically, it may have been a case that the first two falls had too much action. Traditionally, the reason why the first two falls are short in lucha is because the third fall is supposed to be a big 50/50 fall where the winner takes all and both guys come desperately close to winning on numerous occasions. This can stretch believability at times because the pinfalls and submissions often come simply in the opening caidas and take a superhuman effort in the finale, but the basic idea is that the jeopardy increases and the tension and drama escalates. If you pack too much into the first two falls, it's like a movie that runs out of story or a record release that has great singles put not enough songs to make an album. Fiera slowed the match to a crawl by working over Atlantis' arm, which was an understandable strategy, but completely out of place in a tercera caida where the action should flow back and forth. Atlantis sold it well, but it really needed to start in the segunda caida (as Fiera's avenue back into the match) to have any dramatic effect. The idea was that Atlantis would get heat for fighting off Fiera, but they needed to establish it as more of a turning point, i.e. Atlantis is in control of the match until Fiera injures him.

It was an odd fall, really, as they both wanted to put the match over but didn't give themselves a hell of a lot to do. The finishing stretch and everything leading into it was pretty lacklustre. I don't know if they ran out of steam or if they were just out of synch at the end, but it didn't do the match any favours. My take on it is that they got the order of the spots wrong, which hurt the progression of the match. They should've split the armwork over two falls and saved the big plancha for later in the match where it would have more impact. It's strange that two guys as experienced as this would falter like they do, but there's no denying the match falls flat. It's still worth watching even if it isn't perfect; you just have to downgrade what was a pretty promising match.