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Blogs

Great Lucha

El Dandy in trios action

Dandy/Chicana/Lizmark vs Satanico/Charles/Estrada, 11/9/1990   This was a teaser for the big hair match. I hadn't seen 1990 El Dandy for a while, but before the match they showed him visiting a family and he looked every bit the champion of the world, with his black eye and open collar shirt. And check out the shoes.   This was Dandy at the peak of his powers. I liked how Satanico wouldn't grapple. El Dandy had to fight 3 on 1 just to get a piece of Satanico and even then Satanico wouldn't g
Great Lucha

AAA 8 Man Tag (1995)

El Hijo Del Santo/Octagon/Rey Misterio Jr./La Parka vs Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/Pentagon/Psicosis, AAA Triplemania III-B, 6/18/95   Alright, forget all the bad things I say about AAA, I know what I like when I see it and this was something else. Some of you will remember the 3/95 trios that hooked a lot of us on lucha. This was the same kind of match, but packed more of a punch.   It was one of those matches where the rudos are agitated from the outset, as Octagon "bumped" Pentagon of
Great Lucha

Solar/Super Astro vs. Blue Panther/Sergio El Hermoso

Blue Panther/Sergio el Hermoso vs Solar/Super Astro, 10/18/87   This is a match I've seen a few times before and never cared for, but after being so impressed with Sergio el Hermoso in the Exoticos match, I thought I'd give it another run through. In all honesty, I wish I hadn't. I can't believe such a poor match gets touted as some kind of 80s find.   It starts off with the promise of Solar/Panther matwork, and Solar is awesome on the mat, but Panther's counters are awful by his standard
Great Lucha

Space Cadets vs. Exoticos (UWA 1984)

Los Cadetes Del Espacio (Solar, Ultraman, Super Astro) vs. Los Exoticos (Sergio El Hermoso, Bello Greco, Rudy Reyna), UWA 1984   I thought I should choose something spectacular for my 100th entry and here it is -- Space Cadets vs. Exoticos from 1984.   Phenomenal match really. One unbelievable spot after another and pure entertainment at that.   It was all wolf whistles and matwork to begin with. The Exoticos were fantastic; running away, avoiding engagement, working slick exchanges w
Great Lucha

AULL 8-man tag

Negro Navarro & Killer Family (Rey Krimen, Sadico, Sepulturero I) vs. Ángel Azteca Jr., Brazo de Platino, Mascara Ano 2000 Jr & Shu el Guerrero, AULL 11/29/06   I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but it ended up being a fun match-up. The Killer Family weren't too bad. Apparently they were trained by Rocky Satana, so I guess they've got some ring sense.   And of course they were led by Negro Navarro, who's gotta be the most stoic motherfucker on the planet. He locked up with M
Great Lucha

Santo/Dandy/Silver King vs. Casas/Satanico/Dantes (2/96)

Santo/Dandy/Silver King vs Casas/Satanico/Dantes, CMLL 2/2/96   You don't need me to tell you this was good. Just look at the names.   I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but Satanico was awesome in this. He had a lengthy mat exchange with El Dandy where you'd swear he was twenty years younger the way he was moving. He was carrying some extra weight, but it made him seem more bullish. With the crew cut and taped fingers, he looked primed, and sure enough he kept gaining inside contro
Great Lucha

Atlantis vs. Satanico (1984)

Atlantis vs. Satanico, CMLL 1984   Atlantis was just a kid here. You could see it in the way he swivelled his head, looking for crowd support. That open armed stance is classic rookie behaviour; a type of nervous energy that young technicos have. Satanico, on the other hand, wasn't the least bit unsure of himself, in fact this was Satanico at his cockiest. A vain, ostentatious, altogether glorious display.   At one point, Atlantis was lying on the mat; his mask ripped; forehead bleeding;
Great Lucha

Navarro/Shu vs. Solar/Skayde (AULL 2002)

Negro Navarro/Shu el Guerrero vs. Solar 1/Skayde, AULL 11/01/02   According to the match finder at cubs' site, this was only the second time that Solar and Navarro had faced each other. Assuming that they wrestled for longer than in the original trios, this may be the beginning of their rivalry. In any event, it's the earliest footage to pop up and a bit of a treasure trove.   Before I discuss early Solar/Navarro, I've got to say that I was actually more impressed with Shu el Guerrero and
Great Lucha

Navarro/Shu vs. Solar/Super Astro

Solar I/Super Astro vs. Negro Navarro/Shu El Guerrero, Arena Coliseo De Monterrey 5/18/08   This was really enjoyable. A little on the soft side to be a MOTYC or anything like that, but it was everything they could deliver on paper.   Solar/Navarro is the best match-up in wrestling. No matter how many times you see it, you just wanna see it again. Three times they squared off and each time they flaunted their maestro reps. The opening fall was worked around wristlock takedowns and arm drag
Great Lucha

Lizmark vs. Satanico (AAA 1993)

Lizmark vs. Satanico, Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship, AAA 9/17/93 (clipped)   One of my favourite things about lucha libre is classy performances from veteran workers, and this was one such occasion -- Satanico vs. Lizmark in 1993. The match was clipped, so it's impossible to know how much was shelved, but this was a simpler style than they were capable of. The work wasn't amazing by their standards, and in fact there were a few slip-ups, but everything was weighted and that'
Great Lucha

Los Brazos vs Santo, Satanico, Eddy Guerrero

Los Brazos vs Santo, Satanico & Eddy Guerrero, CMLL 9/16/90   I've been sick for more than two weeks, but I'm finally on the mend and this match is just what the doctor ordered.   Los Brazos are always entertaining, largely because they've got so many ways of telling the same stories over and over again, but rudo Brazos -- and not Bucaneros/Brazos, "rudos contra rudos" rudos, but actual "rudo" rudos -- is one of their best shticks.   You can follow the fortunes of any Brazo match b
Great Lucha

'95 CMLL -- Santo, Casas, Dantes

Santo, Corazon de Leon & Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas, Satanico & Emilio Charles Jr., 9/95 Santo, Corazon de Leon & Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas, Satanico & Emilio Charles Jr., 9/95 rematch   Santo hates Casas! Casas hates Santo! as the old deathvalleydrivers would say.   This two-part penny opera starts with Santo dropkicking Casas in the face before everyone's been properly introduced. Casas spends an exorbitant amount of time checking his face for structural damage,
Great Lucha

El Dandy vs. Satanico ('91 hair match)

El Dandy vs. Satanico, hair vs. hair, 12/6/91   For some reason these two never had a great match together.   Take this match for example -- almost every hold is a clever piece of work and the attention to detail is amazing, yet somehow it doesn't add up. Hold for hold it's a virtuoso performance, but in the big picture only half satisfying. I suppose the reason for that is the scale. It's quite a minor match; not what you'd expect from a hair match. And the scenario was one sided.   I
Great Lucha

La Sombra vs Ephesto

La Sombra vs Ephesto, NWA World Welterweight Championship, 12/7/08   This was a strong Match of the Year contender.   It was a modern lucha match, so there was an emphasis on moves and nearfalls, but they managed to work this into quite a dramatic contest.   We often praise guys for working a crowd, but sometimes it's the crowd who can lift a match to greater heights and that was the impression I got here. Both guys seemed to grow in confidence from the crowd willing them on. Sombra's
Great Lucha

IWRG

Los Oficiales vs. Aeroman/Zatura/Freelance, 11/28 TV Los Oficiales vs. Jack/Multifacético/Pendulo, 12/5 TV Freelance/Pendulo vs. Comando Negro/Trauma II, 12/12 TV   These weren't that flash. IWRG never show the match-ups you really wanna see and their editor has no clue how to match two shots together. The editing was all over the fucking show, like a monkey at a typewriter. Still, if you haven't been introduced to Freelance or Los Oficiales, youtube is the ticket.   People keep talki
Great Lucha

Brazos vs. Bucaneros continued...

Brazo de Plata & El Brazo vs. Verdugo & Hombre Bala, hair vs. hair, 11/17/89   This was from the same show as the Pirata Morgan/Oro title match.   It was a simple match that even a guy with a headcold could figure out. It didn't live up to their trios match, and they were happy to walk around doing stuff, but the publico loved it and Hombre Bala continues to be my hero. The finish was cool, as El Brazo went 2 on 1 against the Bucaneros and when he scored the winning fall the crowd
Great Lucha

Santo/Eddie vs. Espanto/Estrada

Eddy Guerrero/El Hijo Del Santo vs. Espanto Jr./Jerry Estrada (AAA; 1/31/93)   This opened with a lengthy mat exchange between Santo and Espanto. It wasn't as perfect as I would've liked, but it was an extended mat exchange between two of my favourite luchadores, so I should thank heaven for small mercies. You can turn if off after that, though, because the rest of the match was bad. Bad matches tend to lead to a lot of sweeping generalisations, but I haven't seen a lot of evidence that Eddi
Great Lucha

Brazo de Oro vs. Pirata Morgan

Brazo de Oro vs. Pirata Morgan, NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, 11/17/89   This was a long match with a slower rhythm than usual. I had to watch it twice to catch all the subtleties, and in the end I decided it was a match I had to think about too much.   Sometimes a slower rhythm is beguiling, but here it was a little too much. As a match, it was like watching the game of human chess. Oro was weary of Morgan's illegal holds, which frustrated Morgan into using illegal holds, unt
Great Lucha

El Dandy vs. Javier Llanes

El Dandy vs. Javier Llanes, CMLL Middleweight Championship, 3/11/94   This was the toughest thing I've seen in ages... If people think lucha isn't real wrestling, they need to watch this match. Never before have I see two guys wrestle with such ferocity. It takes practice to make this look believable, and an even greater commitment to go out there and do it as a work, and the close-ups of both guys were more than just selling, they showed effort and bloody-minded determination.   In many
Great Lucha

Blue Panther vs. Angel Azteca

Blue Panther vs. Ángel Azteca, Mexican National Middleweight Champion, AAA 9/4/92   It's good to revisit things every once in a while.   This was one of the first lucha tapes I ever bought, and while I could swear the version I had was complete, I could only find a clipped version of this floating around. Obviously that breaks the rhythm of a match, and can make it seem better than it really is, but despite the cut this was vintage Blue Panther.   They only showed the finish to each f
Great Lucha

Some good AAA!

From 9/6/92 TV:   Super Astro/Solar I/Angel Azteca vs. Blue Panther/El Indomito/El Cobarde   This was really good.   It had a lot of stalling to begin with, so you knew you weren't gojng to see a mat classic, but once they locked up we got some good, older style exchanges. I was impressed with Panther as the main rudo. He's not a guy I see as a strong rudo worker, but they were playing to a red hot crowd in Tijuana, and the public were for the technicos like a lucha crowd should be. He
Great Lucha

Two AAA matches

Octagon/Rey Misterio Jr./El Hijo Del Santo vs. Jerry Estrada/Psicosis/Espanto Jr. (AAA; 1/14/94 Tulancingo)   This was another chance to see Santo wrestle Espanto, but despite Espanto having a fucking awesome moustache and the two of them poised to grapple, there was precious little matwork to speak of. Why? Because AAA is the nadir of lucha libre professional wrestling. It's OK if you like flash in the pan stuff, but there's no rhythm to it. They spend an eternity stalling and blow half the
Great Lucha

Los Brazos vs. Los Bucaneros (Super Libre)

Los Brazos vs. Los Bucaneros (Pirata Morgan/Hombre Bala/El Verdugo), CMLL Oct/Nov 1989   This started off as a joke about Super Porky's gut and ended in a bloody mess.   Porky was feeling it from the start, going through his warm-ups (!) before the bell had even sounded. There's nothing quite as devastating as that man's gut and this time the recipient was Pirata Morgan.   Morgan was lavish with his over-selling and it led to some really great spots where the Bucaneros were afraid of

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