Posted April 13, 201015 yr comment_5449459 Pirata Morgan v. Brazo De Oro Interesting match, really slow mat based first couple of falls, I enjoyed watching the guys struggle for holds but I could see it boring some people. The match really picks up in the third fall with some big moves and a cool finishing run. Not really what you would expect from these two guys, but a very good match, which I can see ranking all over peoples lists. Satanico/El Faron/Lizmark v. Big Van Vader/Fabouloso Blondy/Cien Caras It was pretty fun to see Vader work lucha, and I enjoyed his interactions, especially where he was shrugging off guys like King Kong, still as a match I think this is a little below a nomination. I would like to see Vader make the set, so I want to see if there is any other Vader available. El Brazo/Brazo De Plata v. Hombre Bala/El Verdugo More blood and guts from this feud. Along with the brawling, we also got some great Porky highflying including a top rope splash, plancha off the apron and a tope. Bala is especially impressive as he unloads with some nasty looking punches. Great shit, as the top twenty is going to be full of blood soaked hair matches.
July 24, 201114 yr comment_5477657 Pirata Morgan v. Brazo De Oro What I wrote for the Complete & Accurate Pirata Morgan project: "In the super-secret DVDVR 80's Project forum, Phil said that this was "not really what you would expect from these two guys". And well, I kinda agree and disagree with that. On one hand, you see those two names in a singles match, you expect some serious violence to go down. On the other hand, this is a title match, and it's 1989, so lucha title matches are still being worked like lucha title matches. So, yeah, it's kinda not what you'd normally expect from them, but I don't really know what you should expect when you put these two guys against each other in a lucha title match setting. Ultimately, the beauty of the match is that it takes this "what happens when you put a pirate in the ring with a comedy relief guy and force them to have a fair fight?" concept and runs with it, with both guys playing it to perfection. Pirata offers a handshake to open the match, and Brazo is understandably leery, as it is Pirata. But it's also a title bout, so he may as well be sporting...but, his first instinct was right, and it's a trap for Pirata to sink in an armbar, and then a hammerlock. After watching him do it in a match from this year as a broken down old man, it's interesting to see young Pirata working stooge heel stuff, using (legal) trickery to take the advantage in this unusual setting and frequently scrambling out of the ring when Oro gets the upper hand. Oro looks good on the mat here, too, especially his Indian deathlock where he does the Eddy Guerrero shimmy to apply more pressure. Eventually, Pirata's blood gets angried up too much, and he says "fuck this polite shit" and blasts Oro in the teeth with a clothesline. But his attempt to follow up gets countered, and Oro grabs a nifty looking roll-up to win the first fall. Segunda caida takes us back to the mat for some more fun, before an Oro attempt and a monkey flip goes awry and Pirata falls back, dropping him face first on the top turnbuckle. Pirata forces a submission with a figure-four leglock, but initially refuses to break, and even after he does, he follows it with a big kneedrop onto Oro's leg, screwing it up even further. It should be noted that Oro's cornerman for this match is Shadito Cruz - patriarch of the entire Brazo clan - and he is trying to the best of his elderly abilities to get between his injured son and this mad dog of the seven seas, to little avail. Tercera caida has Pirata going right back to the leg, including locking on the figure-four again, but Oro guts it out and manages a comeback, even working over Pirata's leg and leaving both men hobbling around the ring. Unfortunately, he makes the critical error of doing a quebradora onto his injured knee. Both men are down, but Pirata comes to first, and takes the opportunity to sink in a cobra clutch for the win. Post-match, Oro puts the belt around Pirata's waist, and there's some legit handshaking, and that normally works in lucha title matches, but felt out of place given the tone of this one. Still, I can't complain about the body of the match at all. I know I painted a very specific picture of who Pirata Morgan was and what he did at the start of this project, but matches like this make me realize that there was more to him as a worker than even I give him credit for, and I want to see every Pirata title match after watching this." Satanico/El Faron/Lizmark v. Big Van Vader/Fabouloso Blondy/Cien Caras You know, Ken Timbs actually had a very nice singing voice. Just putting that out there. This was a lot of fun. Lucha Vader is fittingly monstrous, and there were strong supporting performances from Cien, Faraon, and Lizmark. Faraon in particular looked great in the exchanges where he got to hang with Vader. There was one moment in the third fall where all three technicos are swarming Vader, and Vader is desperately trying to fight them all off. It felt like if we were nominating this by five-second intervals, that would be a slam dunk. As a whole, though, I agree with Phil. Very good, but not a nomination. El Brazo/Brazo De Plata v. Hombre Bala/El Verdugo I didn't like this quite as much as Phil. Still, this was plenty violent, and the Porky highspots sweeten the deal. I second the nomination.
July 23, 201213 yr comment_5510941 NWA Lt. Heavyweight Title: Pirata Morgan © vs. Brazo de Oro (11/17/89) This is title match style not hair match style so this is going to be more technical than brawling. These guys did a really good job working in and out of holds but I could see where some would find this tedious and boring and we are definitely going to have to emphasize the different between title match style and apuestas match style. As the match went on the intensity grew and we would get more action with Oro looking really strong hanging with the great Pirata. Pirata was relentless working over Oro's right leg and Oro was great selling it as I loved him shaking the leg trying to get the feeling back. The action would finally go to the floor with Oro hitting a big plancha from the top rope to the floor before Pirata would fire back with a slingshot plancha of his own and by this time the match was a complete war of attrition. Pirata then went for a tope suicida but hit his second Emilio Charles Jr. by mistake which turned the tide for Oro as the stretch run gets really fun. I liked this match a lot and I think it moves forward fairly easily. El Faraon/Lizmark/Satanico vs. Cien Caras/Fabuloso Blondy/Big Van Vader (11/17/89) So great seeing Vader in EMLL and then you have Blondy singing the national anthem which was great. This was a match built on singular moments such as Faraon standing tall against Vader and Vader fighting off all the tecs but this wasn't consistently good enough to warrant a nomination. Caballeras contra Caballeras: El Brazo & Brazo de Plata vs. Hombre Bala & Verdugo (11/17/89) This is the antitheses of the Oro/Pirata match which it should've been since this was a hair match as these guys tried to kill each other here. Lots of bloody violence and guys hitting each other hard inflicting pain. Porky was great here too hitting all of his high flying fat man offense. The 3rd fall was really fun as they broke out their highspots to go along with the blood flowing and while there were other hair matches that were more dynamic this was pretty much no frills violence and a slam dunk nomination.
