WWC Jr. Heavyweight Title: Ricky Santana © vs. "Flamboyant" Eric Embry (3/25/89) Embry is in Puerto Rico after losing his LLT in World Class and he is very fun at playing to the crowd here. Embry puts on a show early with his solid punches on offense and his bumping/selling on defense. Santana goes on a nearfall spree here with various cradles before Embry drops to the ground where he gets pelted with trash. Embry would foule Santana hard to get the advantage and he started roughing him up good taking him to the ground where he posted him then slammed him on the grass before throwing him on the table. Embry hits a nice diving clothesline off the middle rope for a nearfall then goes for a piledriver but Santana would reverse which started his comeback where he would throw some sweet punches with Embry taking everything like a champ. Santana would go up top but missed a big splash which Embry would try to take advantage of but Santana would lock him in an inside cradle to get the win. Very fun match here and I'm throwing this on the block as a low-end nomination.

Embry was really good in this. I've been a fan of Santana in PR so far, but he could have been replaced by any decent babyface in this match and it would have been just as good. This was simple, but effective stuff, with Embry's facial expressions, timing, offense and bumping all standing out. I loved his short uppercuts in this and I really thought the transition to Embry on offense was well done. Santana getting wrecked on the ground while the crowd showered Embry with trash was a great moment and Embry's diving lariat off the second rope looked very good. I also thought the tease of the piledriver and the circle jabs from Santana were really well done. This was not long enough or developed enough to be a slam dunk, and the finish felt a little flat to me. Still I want Embry on the set in some capacity as he is going to have two excellent performances cut due to clipping. Also Embry jawing with the fan who was waiving a giant phallic symbol at him, was one of the more amusing things I've seen all week. I agree that this is a low end level nomination, but I'd feel comfortable with it on a set for sure.

The only other Embry match out there (that I'm aware of) is one against Invader 1 shortly after the hair vs. mask match against Super Medico.

 

 

This one is from an Invader 1 disc release.