LUCHA SET DISC 7

Cien Caras vs. Siglo XX (4/10/87)

I was completely unimpressed by this one. Cien Caras appears to be pinning himself at multiple points and the VQ is so bad you can't even enjoy the blood, which is one of the only reasons to enjoy the match. I don't blame the crowd for throwing trash at all. There is one cool point where Siglo XX applies the "rocking horse" submission (I don't know what else to call it) a second time but otherwise, not much to see here aside from some crappy brawling.

El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (Mask vs. Hair) (7/18/87)

El Hijo del Santo shows up in a sick red car and gets carried to the ring on people's shoulders... that might just be the best wrestling entrance I've ever seen. Holy shit. Casas is already in the ring and is, well, Casas. He wins the first fall with la Magistral and SOAKS UP THE HATE. Just looking at him you want to slap him so bad. Another thing to note: within a huge ring with very big and very loose ropes, these guys adjust perfectly for their style. I'm having to pause this as the most brutal Tapatia ever wins the fall and I am losing my shit watching this match.

*cut to the finish* I just watched that twice now. Sorry I can't give more play-by-play, the damn thing is just too fantastic. It may be one of the top matches I've ever seen. Wondering if this will be #1.

Third time I watched it now. This is The Negro Casas Show. Every little thing he does is perfect. Towards the end they get a little no-selly, jumping right up after big moves but you buy it because this one is for all the marbles. Casas is the good guy whos pride is on the line and forced into the role of super dick in order to win, and Santo is trying to hold onto his mask for the sake of his family and his honor. After the vicious camel clutch Casas raises his opponent's hand and openly weeps as his locks get buzzed. You just don't get much better than this, folks. It's one of the matches I could watch on an endless cycle, like Andre/Hansen. I'm not sure if it's legit better than MS-1/Sangre Chicana but it's gonna be a fight.

Mogur vs. As Charro (Mask vs. Mask) (9/18/87)

Charro has this awesome mask with a spade on the face and in the pre-match interview also has his kid wearing one too as he is interviewed in dead seriousness by Dr. Morales... then as soon as the match starts he's kicking the shit out of Mogur before he can even get his jacket off and we definitely know he's not a tecnico. Tim is 100% correct about the first fall, if you are gonna blast through and end it quick you might as well do it like that. No replays this time as it jumps right back to the action. Mogur is selling his ass off during his comeback while whooping the piss out of Charro and we get another short fall. Charro does this hilarious deadfall off a posting that is like something you would see in a silent film. Then he does a dive and you think these guys are totally spent until we get a fake-out and a Mogur dive right in front of an incredulous grandfather. Then there's ANOTHER plancha and these two are done. We get a crappy foule-fake faceoff and a flash pin and the crowd loses it and crowds the ring. Really awesome for such a short match despite the bunk finish and lack of demasking.

Blue Panther/Sergio El Hermosa v. Super Astro/Solar (10/17/87)

I took a break for a little while from the set (busy with other things: work, my band, endless driving, being a drunken lout) but I'm back to it now. I reviewed a bit of this before the stop and here's what I wrote:

"If you don't lose it for the first caida in this one then I don't know what to say. Two maestros go head-to-head and smoke any Eddy/Malenko match that those two were stealing from. Then we get a beautiful bit from Sergio el Hermoso and Super Astro with Sergio chewing gum and having his mouth busted and I am all in on this match."

After that I paused the DVD and never came back to it, so went back and started fresh. Overall this was one of the most purely enjoyable matches on the set, and though in general I HATE HATE HATE rudo ref interference this came off more like he was a dunce. Yeah, tercera caida wasn't near the first two, mostly due to that. But it wasn't the deal-breaker I expected it to be. Solar's backbreakers are an artform in and of themselves in this one. The open is just as good as I thought it was, maybe better. It is a crying shame we don't get any more Solar or especially any more Solar vs. Blue Panther on the set. It's almost Thanksgiving, so be thankful a gem like this is on the set, heel ref or no heel ref.

El Dandy, Magico y Super Astro vs. Gran Cochise, Javier Cruz y Americo Rocca (11/11/87)

I guess Dandy just lost a hair match and I'll be damned, he does look like Yamazaki up there, same red pants, skinhead, everything. I think the star design on the pants might even be the same. Everything is pretty "hail fellow, well met" and first fall ends with a great string of highspots -- missed in-ring dive, missile dropkick over la Tapatia, victory roll. Dandy and Javier start out segunda caida in grand fashion, are cool with each other, but Dandy calls him out second time around and the heat starts to build between the two. Magico seems passable but he badly fucks up his pinfall and Rocca basically falls down and says "pin me". Really glaring 'sore thumb' kind of performance amongst all these set godheads in the same ring. Then they replay it in slo-mo... jeez. At the end he completely botches a Space Flying Tiger Drop and you have to feel for him because you know they gave him so much shit for it backstage. Not enough to ruin the match though, really cool to see an all-tecnico trios and the work is really fast and furious. Dandy even hits a 1987 Shining Wizard!

Yeah, lots of moves namedropped here... it's that kind of match.

Arandu vs. Guerrero Negro (Hair vs. Hair) (1988)

Arandu's blown-out hair looks like you could reach in there and pull out anything: rubbers, a flask, probably a vial of coke. His valet (first of the set) has a great ass and is so '80s looking you'd swear she stepped out of a Winger video or something. The crowd is on fire and these two have a particular talent at doing the bottom-rope spill to the outside that is all over these matches. Short and heated first two falls; the valet gets up and stands on Guerrero Negro in celebration after the second adding insult to injury. Arandu takes a huge bump into the seats after bloodying Negro and has to fight his way back to ringside! Negro has to grab some old girl by the hair through the ropes and yank her away from him. Amazing. There's a painful-looking foule to end after a missed moonsault and ref bump and the crowd STORMS THE RING AT 'THREE' and starts pitching trash. I mean there are people in the ring right at the count. This is so unruly it's absurd. There is, no joke, a serious near-riot situation and after the barber gets a clip they immediately smuggle Arandu out (probably in the trunk of a car) while the crowd is busy doing a Public Enemy-in-ECW-style ring invasion. I haven't seen any Sting vs. Rick Rude matches from the early '90s but I imagine they look a lot like this, minus the complete spectacle the crowd brings to it. Don't know why that's the first thing that pops into my mind, maybe it's the airbrushed spandex and Negro's uberface performance.

Kung Fu v. Javier Cruz (3/88)

Kung Fu comes to the ring with a $5 balaclava covering his mask for some reason and cheap shots Javier with the chuks which is funny and effective. The balaclava would probably get huge heat these days considering all the narcos and federales appropriating said fashion statement. We get another weird submission here, kind of a reverse full nelson done with the legs in a bridge (?!). After that Kung Fu does a camera-snapping motion to someone as he stands on Javier. Then he does it two more times and the second time it looks like he steps on his crotch. There are some pretty good bulldogs in this and I dig Kung Fu smashing Javier's head into the mat which, if the stories are true, is about as hard as concrete. Take that in mind when Cruz misses a toprope dive or Kung Fu gets powerbombed right near the apron.

This was more fun than good. There's blood but it's not an apuestas which is strange but spices things up, making it feel like something's at stake when it isn't. Perfectly competent but lower rank match.

Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala y Verdugo vs. Atlantis, Angel Azteca y Ringo Mendoza (3/88)

Bucaneros waste no time and ditch their plastic swords for the beatdown in a hurry. Crowd is super hot for the tecnico comeback. There's some really sloppy rudo miscommunication with one horrible spot where one of the pirates gets dumped by his bros on the floor. The part where all three are selling fake foules from Ringo's kicks is humorous though. The refs finally make them quit smarming like vultures on the tecnicos for the final fall, we get two big dives, and then... a foule that gets cut? Who knows. Overall I don't think this was anything special. Yeah Atlantis is always breathtakingly smooth (him spinning like a top in the air before hitting an armdrag was siiiiiiiiiick) but he wasn't enough to make this more than middle of the road to me.

El Hijo Del Santo vs. Espanto Jr. (4/10/88)

Man the kids love Santo. There's for the first time some intro music, with a spiffy '70s sounding theme playing that has a neat guitar solo. I wonder if it was from one of his pop's films. If anyone knows what that is please let us know if there's a Youtube of it floating around.

We go straight to the mat with some back-and-forth but mostly Santo dominance. He busts out the Fujiwara headscissors spin twice which I dig. This really looks to be a showcase for him as a worker. Espanto might be the champ but he's just getting eaten for dinner tonight. Finally he comes back with some clotheslines, but the crowd boo him and the ref acts like he punched him instead! Tercera caida and Santo is spazzing on the mat from an injured arm. Lucha limb work, surprise surprise! Of course it doesn't really matter cause this is the Son of the Saint we're talking about here. Espanto does a dive then does the Chris Hamrick bump followed by a massive Santo plancha that is truly impressive considering the size and height of the ring. Espanto CHEATS TO WIN and we have cops storm the ring to keep people out. There are so many wagging fingers on the apron it's ridiculous.

Super solid match and like I said a total Santito showcase. Espanto was more than game but the man in the silver mask could wrestle Khali and get a good match out of him. Maybe. Anything on this set that has a little kid jumping straight up in the air for a nearfall so far is top-shelf.

Kato Kung Lee vs. Kung Fu (Mask vs. Hair) (4/29/88)

Watch the footage of Black Man that was posted in the lucha thoughts thread, he looks really good. I would have put that as an extra on the set personally.

The ref starts out confiscating a ton of hidden shit on Kung Fu which is pretty funny considering this is an apuestas. Reminds me of the similar bit with Eddie Gilbert in Global. Some really goofy work here with particularly pathetic kicks from Kung Fu. Towards the end of segunda caida both guys look visibly winded even though they haven't done shit. Kung Fu actually does hit a good headkick and Kato a nice Ryder kick through the ropes at last. Plancha and countout to finish. The work in this one was really poor but the match does have its own kind of charm. Kato at least sold really well the whole time. Bottom ten more than likely.

Atlantis vs. Emilio Charles Jr. (8/12/88)

It has been great watching Atlantis grow into his character and I've never seen Charles before. Opening matwork is a treat and the aforementioned flubbed kip-up from Charles gets a good reaction. Atlantis sells these spinebusters like a champ, writhing in agony on the mat. Charles uses these to slow the pace and he's just methodically beating on Atlantis, who counters by rope-running to pick up the pace and get the jump on his opponent. Now it's Charles' turn to sell like death on the mat. We go into about two dozen pinfalls and both guys are acting drained from the effort. This doesn't stop them both from diving (Charles does the Cactus Jack Crack Smash off the apron). Tremendous reversal-into-submission finish here. These guys seemed so evenly matched the entire time and I love how the wear of the match got to them down the stretch. Really enjoyable and I look forward to more Charles for sure.

DISC 7 RANKINGS

1. El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (Mask vs. Hair) (7/18/87)
2. Arandu vs. Guerrero Negro (Hair vs. Hair) (1988)
3. Blue Panther/Sergio El Hermosa v. Super Astro/Solar (10/17/87)
4. Mogur vs. As Charro (Mask vs. Mask) (9/18/87)
5. El Hijo Del Santo vs. Espanto Jr. (4/10/88)
6. Atlantis vs. Emilio Charles Jr. (8/12/88)
7. El Dandy, Magico y Super Astro vs. Gran Cochise, Javier Cruz y Americo Rocca (11/11/87)
8. Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala y Verdugo vs. Atlantis, Angel Azteca y Ringo Mendoza (3/88)
9. Kung Fu v. Javier Cruz (3/88)
10. Kato Kung Lee vs. Kung Fu (Mask vs. Hair) (4/29/88)
11. Cien Caras vs. Siglo XX (4/10/87)

Yeah, speaking of disparate feelings about matches. I really need to go back and watch Cien/Siglo again cause it can't be below #10, but based on my review I'm sticking it there. When a Santito showcase is the fifth match down you know you're standing in some tall cotton.