Checkmate (Tony Charles) & Magic Dragon vs. "Supersock" Jose Lothario & Al Madril (10/12/82)

 

Bugsy McGraw was sitting in the crowd during the match eating popcorn and talking to the fans. I dug the Checkmate/Lothario matwork here as Lothario finally had someone he could take it to the mat and they worked in a little Euro style matwork. Madril & Dragon had a decent exchange featuring some good slaps to the chest before Checkmate/Lothario came back in where Lothario worked FIP and he was fine but the heel control section was a bunch of nothing but working an armbar. Madril would get the hot tag and the faces took turns working over Checkmate with the fans loving it until Checkmate hit a leaping headbutt to Madril's ribs so he could tag Dragon back in. Dragon did his backflips into a thrust kick but missed a SOMERSAULT SENTON off the top rope allowing Madril to make a short lived comeback as he would soon get trapped in the heel corner. Checkmate would miss his running headbutt though and took a nice bump through the ropes to the floor before Madril would go for the mask which would lead to a 4-way brawl but didn't last long. Lothario would finally get tagged in legally and he went to town on the heels including a dropkick on Dragon but time would run out as Madril would get a sunset flip on Dragon. This was an interesting match with odd pacing and it had some really fun spots and I'm going to throw it on the block as a low-end nomination.

I liked the Checkmate/Lothario mat exchanges early on, and there were a few neat spots throughout the match, but mostly this was dull. Lothario's FIP section was really a drag. Madril was nothing special, and while Dragon's second rope somersault senton was gorgeous, everything else he did looked about as bad as it usually does. Liked some of the Checkmate/Lothario stuff, but they both could have done more than they did here. I say "no".

I had a complete disconnect with SLL as I really enjoyed this match.

 

Checkmate & Magic Dragon vs. Jose Lothario & Al Madril 10/12/82 (WCCW 10/12/82)

- Bugsy is at ringside. For four guys I really don’t like, this was a pretty energetic tag. Madril has some nice punches. I don’t know if this was just a weird moment in time where all the planets were aligned properly but I didn’t hate anyone in this match. Madril and Dragon had some nice sequences including Madril escaping a hammerlock and dueling Mascaras flying attacks. After a double knockout, Lothario gets the hot tag but Checkmate controls and we miss it because they cut to a fan in the audience. When MAdril comes back in, he punches the hell out of Checkmate and Mate’s selling of the punches were great as he just droops. Madril and Dragon get back in and have another solid duel. After a hot ending, the match ends in a draw. There were some awkward spots here and there but I enjoyed this more than any other match so far today. Solid nomination.