ohtani's jacket

What kind of a casual fan cries when Lex Luger loses a bout? Are you implying that casual fans think it's real?

I want to make a correction to this. Los Guerreros did work El Toreo in '83 but it was against Perro Aguayo, Fishman and Babe Face. In the Misioneros matches, El Faraon subbed for Cota.

Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraon vs. Villano III (Elimination Match) (10/84) This was the main event of the 10/14/84 show. Chicana, Faraon and Villano III all had issues with Perro Aguayo. We've covered them before, but let's recap: After Faraon was unmasked by Fishman in April of '76, the first big feud he was involved with was a program with Perro Aguayo. They feuded over the NWA World Middleweight title and later the NWA World Light Heavyweight title, but their feud was so heated that it led to a hair vs. hair match on the 43rd Anniversary Show and a double hair vs. hair match between Faraon & Ringo Mendoza vs. Perro Aguayo & Joe Palardy on the year end show for '77 after Faraon had beaten Palardy for the World Middleweight title a few weeks earlier. The great thing about lucha at this time is that they didn't stop feuding when Faraon became a rudo. In 1982 there was an atomicos match at Arena Mexico that paired El Solitario, Mascara 2000, Ringo y Cachorro Mendoza and Perro Aguayo, Fishman, Sangre Chicana y Faraon against each other. In the third fall, Fishman accidentally hit Faraon with one of his kicks, which ignited a brawl between the two. Aguayo immediately entered to attack Faraon and when Chicana intervened in support of the Pharaoh, Arena Mexico apparently became a madhouse with just this incredible reaction at seeing the rudos fight. The following week there was a wild Chicana/Faraon vs. Aguayo/Fishman fight that was said to be one of the most memorable rudos contra rudos fights ever seen with no quarter asked and none given. That led to an even wilder super libre match where Aguayo bled so much he couldn't finish the third fall and had to leave because of blood loss. The violence didn't stop there, however, as they took the feud to El Toreo in February of '83 for a pair of revenge matches where the blood continued to flow. Fishman bled so much in their second fight that the doctor wanted to stop the fight, but Fishman ultimately forced Chicana to submit in a match people still talk about as one of the bloodiest in Mexican wrestling history. And of course, Villano and Aguayo had their own war the same year with their hair vs. mask bout. And what more can be said about Sangre Chicana, voted 1983's most outstanding wrestler by Box y Lucha Magazine, which was a tremendous honour for the 50th anniversary of lucha libre, his three feuds with MS-1, Satanico and Aguayo sealing the deal.

Re-watching a few wrestlers I haven't given a fair shake to in the past. Brian Maxine vs. Robby Baron (2/21/77) Here's what I said about Maxine the first time I saw him in back in 2009: "Maxine was a heel who wore a crown and had "I am Super Star Maxine" handwritten on his tights. Maybe he went through Memphis at some point. A pity that he sucked. Robbie Baron was one of your most game no-namers around. I don't think I'll be watching Maxine for a while." I've learnt a lot since then and come to appreciate Maxine as one of the most colourful characters of his era. This had some excellent wrestling in the first fall, but was criminally short. It was around this time that Maxine began making a face turn, which was a slow burn deal where he gradually began behaving himself. The upshot of that was that we got to see more of Maxine the wrestler, which was interesting to see. He wasn't the most skilled worker in the business, but pretty much rock solid. Brian Maxine vs. Mick McMichael (1/28/80) Maxine by this stage was a fully fledged blue-eye, but because he wasn't on television so frequently Walton kept expressing surprise at the "new" Maxine. This was a much stronger bout that I remembered, in fact it's probably the second best McMichael bout I've seen after the McManus one. Two thirds of the way through, this looked like a nomination for the Europe set, but there was some oddly timed comedy from McMichael at the business end and then an injury finish that left McMichael with a dislocated shoulder. It was more believable than a lot of injury finishes, but they're always downers. There was unlikely to be a winner in this one and the injury finish allowed Maxine to continue his babyface push by refusing to accept the decision, but there's no sweetening the disappointment.

I'm fairly certain they took turns making noises while on top. Hmm, that sounded dodgy.

I'm not really a fan of either of these guys, though I do like the Hase/Hashimoto matches. I thought this was fairly good when they worked submission holds and not so great at other times. A lot of the early transitions were poor, and I couldn't stand the dueling figure four leg lock spots on the outside. I also couldn't stand their breathing sounds. A lot of people can't stand the screaming in Joshi, but I'd rather listen to that than the noises Hase and Chono make. That was easily solved though as I just put on a record. While I may not have liked some of the details, I thought they did an excellent job of turning their semi into an epic. Hase's victory at the end was really convincing in terms of the emotion. So, overall I'm not sure I'd call it a classic but it was a strong match.

Javier Cruz, Impacto II y Solar II vs. El Dandy, Franco Colombo y Panico (10/84) This was part of the Javier Cruz/El Dandy feud, which was an important feud in the young careers of both men. There's a good chance it took place on the undercard of the 10/14/84 show, but I can't find any evidence of it. We'll get to El Dandy vs. Javier Cruz in due course. For now here's a quick look at their partners: Panico and Franco Colombo are most notable for being present day CMLL bookers. Panico came from a lucha family, his father Manuel Robles being one of four brothers who wrestled (two as "Robles" and two as "Sitos.") Despite the fact that his father was a popular wrestler, Panico refused to take advantage of his family's reputation and tried to make his own way in the wrestling business as a luchador enmascarado. Probably the most interesting story about Panico is the story of how he unmasked. On August 17th, 1982, Panico lost his mask tagging with his father against Franco Colombo and Faisan, who later became Rocco Valente of Los Destructores. Where it gets interesting is that while everybody agrees that Panico lost his mask, nobody can seem to agree with how it happened. As the story goes, the match ended in a draw and that's where things start to get hazy. Because lucha was governed by an actual regulatory body, there had to be a winner in wager matches. Draws were unheard of for the first 50 or so years of lucha libre. From all accounts, the first instance of a draw in a luchas de apuestas match was the MS-1/Gran Jalisco draw on 7/23/82. On that occasion, both competitors were forced to lose their hair, but with the Panico match accounts of how the draw was dealt with is murky at best. Some claim that one of the refs declared the technicos the winners while the other raised the rudos' hands, while others say only the rudos were declared the winners and therefore the technicos were forced to lose the wager. One person even claims there was an official fourth fall but that the crowd were on the verge of rioting and nobody noticed the fourth fall amid all the confusion. Whatever the case, it seems Faisan unmasked and Colombo lost his hair, and after a week of controversy the commission forced Panico and Robles to do the same. Colombo was a Diablo Velazco protege and part of the same group of trainees as Satanico, Espectro Jr., Asesino Negro, Sangre India (who sadly died doing a tope at Arena Coliseo on Christmas Day 1979), Cesar Curiel, and others. He had a brief run with the Mexican National Welterweight title from late '80 through to early '81, but like an NBA bench player who goes on to be a head coach he spent most of his national career as a JTTS. In fact, he gave up his hair to Cruz twice after this in 1985 and '86. Impacto II is an enigma in that nothing is known about him. I think it's better that way. Solar II is the brother of Solar I, who in Solar I's own words he brought with him to Mexico City because he wanted him to become an accountant or get a good job, but while he thought his brother was studying he was in fact training to be a wrestler. So, Solar formed a tag team with his brother. Solar II had a much more modest career than his famous brother, but he had a few moments in the sun, including taking Enfermero Jr.'s mask and winning the NWA World Welterweight Championship. I don't think it's difficult to make out who's who, but Panico is the guy in the black amateur singlet and Colombo is the guy in the green trunks.

I don't know if they're the five best, but these are the ones that shaped my fandom: Clive Myers vs. Steve Grey (10/8/75) Steve Veidor vs. Gwyn Davies (5/26/76) Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones (6/30/76) Terry Rudge vs. Marty Jones (11/30/76) Jim Breaks vs. Young David (Davey Boy Smith) (12/3/79) There's a list on the front page of my recommended matches.

It's impressive that a 33 year-old match can offend you that much. It's like it's been lying in wait your entire life to offend you.

CMLL "The Lost Years" (1993-95) Mocho Cota, Felino & Kahoz vs. Silver King, El Texano & La Fiera, 8/22/95 Is it time to re-evaluate old man Cota? He was pretty damn good here. He didn't move as well as the 1984 version we've been watching, but he brought a little mat work, a little brawling and some great trios bumping. It helped that he was working against world class workers in the shape of Silver King and Texano, but long time fans of the blog will know that I've never been the biggest fan of Los Cowboys and yet here they looked like absolute world beaters. It may have just been the occasion as even La Fiera looked surprisingly athletic for this point in his career and was doing all his old spots with gusto. This had a little bit of everything and was given enough time to be one of those neat Arena Coliseo matches that pop up from time to time. Felino and Silver King had a mat exchange to begin with where Silver King looked like the most exciting guy in Mexico, and then Cota and Texano had themselves a good old fashioned contest on the mat. The finish to the first fall was really cool as Cota was resisting a sunset flip attempt by Texano and Silver King nailed him with his super kick. Between falls, they tried lifting Cota from the mat and he fell straight back to canvas. Later on, he sold one of Fiera's kicks by taking an amusing bump to the outside where he signaled that he'd had enough of Fiera and stumbled into his corner. Back in the ring, he had Texano in a suspect choke hold, which led to a punch exchange between the two of them where Texano kept delivering jabs to the face. Basically, everybody was ruling it here. Not to be outdone, Felino took a bump off Fiera's spinning high kick that looked like it could have easily decapitated him. The only weak link was Kahoz, who was a fairly average worker, but had been in a thousand career trios and at least knew what to do. The big talking point, though, is whether Cota was some sort of 90s maestro. It's too early to say whether this is the start of a reappraisal, but if I were scything through '95 looking for the good stuff this would definitely be a keeper. Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. & El Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Dandy, Silver King & El Texano, 7/15/94 On one hand this version of La Ola Blanca were better than I expected as El Hijo del Gladiador (Talisman) served as the the workhorse and Gran Markus Jr.'s involvement was kept to a minimum. On the other hand, they weren't that good. Talisman was a decade past his best, and while Wagner did plenty of his father's mannerisms, he wouldn't really get how to work until he went to Japan. This was a title match for the CMLL Trios titles, but you wouldn't have been able to tell that by watching the match as it wasn't treated as special. Having said that, for as important as trios matches have been in Mexico in the past 30 years, the various trios championships have never been accorded the same prestige as the national and world singles titles, and you'd be hard pressed to recall too many classics for the trios titles. The trio of El Dandy, Silver King and El Texano should be a dream trio, but something about them felt a bit off. Their opponents weren't ideal, but to be honest I don't think this was the best period of El Dandy's career. He'd get a lot better when he started working for WCW, ironically, as whenever the WCW luchadores worked Mexico dates they tended to blow the cobwebs out of their working boots. Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. & El Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Dandy, Silver King & El Texano, Arena Coliseo 7/94 This was an earlier match that set-up the trios shot. I'm not sure of the date as cubsfan didn't have anything listed for Arena Coliseo. I suppose they were holding something back for the title match, but both the match and the post-match challenges lacked conviction. Samson Fuyuki, Pierroth & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon, Vampiro Canadiense & Atlantis, 6/10/94 This was a decent enough match for what it was. There are times during this period where Atlantis feels a bit stale as he'd been going at it with the same gimmick for a decade, but he ran through his classic exchanges with Emilio and no matter how many times I've seen them they always warm the cockles. In the past, I've tended to be down on Ultimo Dragon's early years in Mexico, but he's been serviceable in these past couple of matches. And God help me, I kind of dug the Pierroth/Vampiro kick-punch exchanges. Mind you, I'm an unabashed Pierroth mark. He could kick and punch the corner ring post and I'd dig it. The finish here was kind of weird as Vampiro went to the top rope, slipped and took a bad spill. Emilio pounced on the opportunity by entering the ring and pinning him, and on the replay Vampiro could be seen selling it as though he'd blown out his knee. I couldn't really figure out whether they were covering for the blown spot or it was real, but either way the match ended on a flat note. For those WAR enthusiasts out there, Fuyuki didn't do much, just stereotypical East Asian heel stuff. El Dandy, Negro Casas & Ultimo Dragon vs. Ray Gonzalez, Bestia Salvaje & Felino, 8/11/95 Disappointing given the talent involved. There was a lot of focus on El Dandy vs. Gonzalez as they were scheduled to meet for an NWA World Light Heavyweight title match in a fortnight. Gonzalez wasn't the most talented of the Puerto Ricans they brought in around this time so I wasn't really feeling this as much as I would have if it had been say Miguel Perez Jr.

Zoltan Boscik vs. Leon Fortuna (2/21/74) I was kind of expecting Leon Fortuna to be this flashy, charismatic guy since he was from Tonga, but he had absolutely nothing in terms of charisma or personality and wouldn't emote. He was just a wrestler; a good one, but about as stone-faced as they come. Boscik didn't have a huge personality either, so this was flat with a dead crowd that didn't help matters. The wrestling wasn't bad, but it wasn't much of a spectacle. The finish revolved around Fortuna being knocked groggy by a Boscik back elbow and I kind of wondered if it was legit as Fortuna wasn't much in the way of a seller. Vic Faulkner vs. Leon Fortuna (8/15/74) This was more exciting as Faulkner was a showman and Fortuna could simply play the foil with his good wrestling. However, there was a great example in this of what a dick babyface Faulkner was when he was applying a hold on Fortuna and used Fortuna's forearm to wipe the sweat from his brow. It supposed to be a cheeky joke, but if I was Fortuna I would have given him a receipt. Apart from that cocky shit, Faulkner was slick. Zoltan Boscik vs. Mal Sanders (1/10/78) This was only Sanders' second television match and he was about 19 years old. He was already a big athlete for 19 by the standards of the day and didn't look anywhere near as scrawny as the usual boy wrestlers. The match wasn't very long, but Boscik carried him to something halfway decent. Clayton Thomson vs. Majid Ackra (8/1/74) The first two falls of this featured some decent stylings from Clayton Thomson. The problem with Thomson is that Walton puts him over so strongly on commentary as one of the best wrestlers he's ever seen, etc., which may have been true in the 60s but wasn't on show in the 70s. Still, there were some decent Euro style holds in the opening two falls before his opponent got frustrated and turned it into a brawl. Ackra was a Pakistani wrestler who hadn't been on TV since the late 60s and was basically doing a gimmick where he was wearing lifts in his boots. Walton did his damnedest to sell it like the boots were dangerous but it was still pretty lame. The finish was awful as Thomson surprised Ackra with a flash pin coming out of his corner for round four and it was one of those weakish looking pins wrestlers sometimes score in British wrestling instead of something super slick.

All-Star Promotions began sharing the time slot from the start of '87 after Joint Promotions' five year extension with ITV expired at the end of '86.

Count Bartelli is the most boring I've seen. Singh had zero personality and would rarely emote, but he did the smash mouth stuff as well as anyone and when they'd put him in there with Pat Roach or Terry Rudge the matches were good. If he was the lead guy, then they tended to be weak. The heavies take some getting used to, and unfortunately the most exciting heavyweight worker, Steve Veidor, stopped appearing on TV around this time. Bridges, Quinn and St. Clair jump to All-Star within a few years and the promising young heavyweights of the 70s fail to materialise into anything, so Roach ends up being the cream of the crop working mostly catchweight contests with the occasional challenge from a young heavyweight like Tom Tyrone. Roach was one of the best big men ever; whether that comes across in the matches to follow we shall see. This is a judgement call, but I think it would be better if you labelled World of Sport as either Joint Promotions or All-Star Promotions as WoS was simply the name of the television program and was cancelled in September '85.

Irish rugby legend who got dropped on his head in the opening minutes of a game in New Zealand and hasn't stopped whining since.

From what I've seen he's okay. I'd say the biggest problem with him is that he's so bloody hyper. The space between moves is important in wrestling in terms of controlling the rhythm and pace and Devitt has no idea how to utilise that space. If he did, he wouldn't have to use so many moves and the moves he did use would be more effective. Aside from that, mechanically he's fine. Cosmetically, I'm not sure jacked up little guy is my preferred wrestler type. His heel act doesn't bother me too much as he's really Irish looking and sounding and comes across like a whiny Brian O'Driscoll.

This also occurs if you use accent marks as I've discovered a few times with lucha names. Not sure if it happens on the forums but definitely on my blog.

2/2/80 was the air date. I'm thrilled (and slightly relieved) that you're enjoying this stuff. If there's anything you want to see that's not online let me know.

Is Jeff Lynch still using the same e-mail address?

Satanico vs. Super Astro (10/84) The date on this one is 10/14/84. It was the semi-final of the show that featured the Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraon vs. Villano III elimination match. Super Astro debut in May 1974 in Ensenada, Baja California under the name Rey Bucanero. Despite possessing the talent and charisma to succeed, Astro had a hard time breaking in the business due to his size. At only 5'3", he was the shortest guy in the ring no matter where he worked and was often told he couldn't make it as fighter. In his early years, he drifted between Tijuana and Los Angeles trying to catch a break. After a while, it dawned on him that he might be more successful as an enmascarado, and in the late 70s he took a sketch of mask he'd made when he was only 9 years old and developed it into the Super Astro mask. At the same time, he took advantage of being unable to get a booking by lifting weights and adding muscle to his frame. He managed to secure a booking at the Olympic Auditorium and on the opening match of the card debut his Super Astro character against Principe Hindu. People were taken with his mask and signature spots and the gimmick was enough to secure him a spot on the Baja California circuit. Then came his big break when Francisco Flores brought him down from Tijuana to the Federal District. 1984 was a big year for Super Astro. Los Cadetes del Espacio were formed that year, possibly for the UWA World Trios Tournament which ran for two months from late January until the middle of March. The Cadetes shocked the lucha world by defeating the pre-tournament favourites on 1/29/84. They also defeated La Ola Lila and Los Temerarios on the way to the final, the Cadetes vs. Exoticos match possibly being the one from the set. The final took place on 3/18/84 against Los Fantasticos, however an hour before the show, Super Astro found out his mother had died and immediately left for Tijuana with Gran Hamada taking his place in the final. Singles success then came in the form of the UWA World Middleweight Championship, which Astro won from Gran Hamada in Guadalajara on 7/6/84. It was that championship victory and this semi-final match against Satanico at Arena Mexico that convinced Astro that he had finally made it in the pro-wrestling business. Astro fell prey to Satanico in both this match and the 1/85 rematch at El Toreo, highlights of which you can see online, but for a guy who they said would never make it the experience was a big deal. Astro went on to have a lengthy career working for EMLL, AAA, the independents and Japan, as well as working in the States. In 1999, he dropped his mask to Villano III in Tijuana in a Relevos Suicidas match with Lizmark and Fishman, but continues to wear his mask even to this day, claiming that the promoter never paid him. Initially, this got him in trouble with the commission, and he occasionally worked under different names in order to keep wrestling under the mask, but these days nobody seems to mind. He also owns a cafe in Mexico City, which is run by his ex-wife. It's famous for its giant torta, which is free if you can finish it in 15 minutes. As of 2011, only 99 people had ever succeeded in 20 years of trying.

Having to wake your opponent up after a sleeper was pretty common in territories where the sleeper was put over as a dangerous move, wasn't it? I know I've seen it in British wrestling. It works a lot better when it's a heel who applied the hold.

You're not wrong. Barr was occasionally okay in trios but so were Konnan and Vampiro.

This is actually Los Metalicos not the Brazos. I really liked this: "Los Metalicos vs. Los Cavernicolas, 12/18/92 This was the most wonderful undercard match I've seen in a mighty long time. I might even go so far as to say it was the perfect lower card CMLL workrate match. Los Cavernicolas were a short-lived repackaging of Popitekus, Verdugo and Hombre Bala as cavemen. All three were breaking down physically, but were still fantastic bases (especially Bala.) The Metalicos were your perfect trio of sensational young fliers, led by the incomparable Oro. Awesome bumping and catching from the rudos and absolutely gorgeous tope suicidas from the Metalicos. This stuff is so beautiful when done right. The highlight was Oro doing a springboard moonsault that will long be embedded in my memory as how to do that move. Really exciting match that I almost didn't watch until I decided I'd watch everything available to me. Would definitely make my short list for best matches of the year."

Kato Kung Lee y Shogun vs. Kung Fu y Xavier Monarca Cruz, 10/2/92 Javier Cruz in 1990 had one of the best babyface runs I've ever seen. There are a lot of classical babyfaces in lucha, but Cruz played the fired up babyface to perfection. He was like a lucha version of Tito Santana, able to play a perpetually pissed off babyface without coming across like a complete dick. The trouble with Cruz is that outside of that run his career really wasn't that interesting. He was a team player more than a leading man, but with the AAA defections beginning to take their toll, there wasn't much of a team to have a run on. Still, they turned him heel and he began wearing a black studded glove to distinguish him from his technico look. They also played up his history of hair matches. He'd won so many hair matches in the past that he'd earnt a rep as an El Tijeras de Oro (Golden Scissors), but after two straight losses to Apolo Dantes he needed some midcard hairs to build him back up, and that's how he wound up in this feud with ex-Fantasticos, guys he'd knocked around with in the past. I'm not sure Shogun was. I don't think he stuck around CMLL for long. At first glance he looks like another guy trying to cash in on the Fantasticos gimmick ala Octagon. This was a fairly tame tag that was build for the year-end show, a card which usually featured a couple of lower profile apuestas matches to see out the year; in this case, Cruz vs. Kato Kung Lee and Pierroth Jr vs. El Supremo, though it would be remiss of me not to point that out that El Supremo's mask had some historical value. Los Brazos vs. Los Infernales, 10/2/92 This is exactly what you'd want from Los Brazos vs. Los Infernales in a midcard spot as opposed to the main event. Some violence and intensity from the Infernales, a bit of blood from El Brazo, and the usual dive train from both sides. It was fun watching the guys walk around in various stages of their hair regrowth. MS-1 was recovering from a hair loss to El Faraon in the summer, El Satanico had just had his head cleanly shaven after losing to El Dandy at the Anniversary show, and Brazo de Oro had short hair from an issue with Chicana. This wasn't your four star hidden classic, but it was guys you know are good putting on a good performance. Atlantis, Love Machine y Mano Negra vs. Bestia Salvaje, El Supremo y La Fiera, 10/2/92 This never got going, and aside from a few glimpses of what Atlantis vs. Bestia Salvaje might have looked like around this time was nothing to write home about. It did have a cool ending though, as Fiera was passed a towel which concealed his favourite weapon, the chain. He proceeded to whip the absolute shit out of Love Machine, which may have been hinting at something bigger, but Barr left shortly thereafter. King Haku, Ultimo Dragon y Vampiro vs. Black Magic, Negro Casas y Pierroth, 10/2/92 King Haku, Ultimo Dragon and Vampiro, that's my trio right there. This started off with a disagreement between Pierroth and Smiley over who the captain was and squabbling among the rudos. Negro Casas squaring off against King Haku has to be seen to be believed. He sold Haku's chop like he'd been shot in the chest with a double-barreled shot gun. The rudos began beating Pierroth up, and in one of those lucha quirks he kept tagging with them instead of an instant technico turn. Ultimo Dragon tried to bring some workrate and had some pretty slick exchanges with Casas, but this match was all story. Pierroth had gotten so big in '92 that they turned him technico, which killed probably one of my favourite runs in lucha history, but he was getting big cheers and they needed to do something with business sagging. Vampiro was surprisingly okay in this, in that "every once in a while Konnan was surprisingly okay" sort of way. Black Magic vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr., 11/20/92 I was hoping for a big, dumb and dopey Rayo match and instead I got a grounded, not so good mat display from Smiley. It was kind of interesting that they made him the heavyweight champ, I guess. Los Metalicos vs. Los Cavernicolas, 12/18/92 This was the most wonderful undercard match I've seen in a mighty long time. I might even go so far as to say it was the perfect lower card CMLL workrate match. Los Cavernicolas were a short-lived repackaging of Popitekus, Verdugo and Hombre Bala as cavemen. All three were breaking down physically, but were still fantastic bases (especially Bala.) The Metalicos were your perfect trio of sensational young fliers, led by the incomparable Oro. Awesome bumping and catching from the rudos and absolutely gorgeous tope suicidas from the Metalicos. This stuff is so beautiful when done right. The highlight was Oro doing a springboard moonsault that will long be embedded in my memory as how to do that move. Really exciting match that I almost didn't watch until I decided I'd watch everything available to me. Would definitely make my short list for best matches of the year. Xavier Monarca Cruz vs. Kato Kung Lee, hair vs. hair, 12/18/92 This was the type of hair match which you know isn't going to reach any grand heights, but it was simple and effective and stuck to the basic tenets of hair match wrestling: blood, brawling and submission attempts. So long as you stick to those tenets pretty much anyone can have a good apuestas match. It's the great workers that take it to another level. Cruz wasn't really in that category, you'd have to say, at least not without an opponent who was equally as good. Still, this was a decent way to cap a fairly insignificant feud and it probably wouldn't have made sense to have a legendary bloody match in a token end of year apuestas match, though it would have been cool. As many of you will know, I'm a big fan of the '89-92 CMLL period, but the strain on the promotion was really starting to show here. The guys who you'd expect to be good were good, but dark days were on the horizon and you could tell that the clouds were gathering. Still, I love this era, out of nostalgia if nothing else. Next I'm going to take a look at some CMLL from the lost years of '93-95, where the hardcores stopped taping CMLL and we literally lost stuff.

I'd go Satanico > Morgan > MS-1 but it depends on the match. For the Cadets, I think we only have the one match of theirs from the 80s, but Super Astro personified the gimmick and had the most memorable high spots so that's a good choice. How about, Cien Caras, Mascara 2000 and Universo 2000? Talisman, Fuerza Guerrera and El Dandy? Sangre Chicana, Mocho Cota and La Fiera? Trios Fantasia?

Okada/Naito was all right. The only thing I have to compare it to is the Tanahashi/Naito G-1 final, which I thought was a better match, but Tanahashi's a much more experienced worker than Okada, and leading Naito through a main event level Dome Show match was challenging for Okada. It was a bit messy, but they managed to pull off the real main event of the night.