Subject: MR AGUILA! and BLACK WARRIOR! in Japan, baby! DR WAGNER JR! and MR NIEBLA! kill each other dead! HALCON NEGRO! has real poofy hair! and other Lucha-like stuff from this week!
ALOHA~!
WELCOME TO DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #71!
This is the first of the more-than-likely-highly-erratically spaced
multi-installment Lucha BO-NANZA series of posts! Imean- HELL! I just
got another 540 minutes of puroresu magnificense from the KING OF THE
GOTDAMN WORLD- Glenn- so who nows when this will ever end. All I know
is that I haven't even gotten to the Groupo Revolucion Sixman or the
SHOCKER~!! Vs Violencia match yet so these will come often enough I'm
thinking- probably alternating until the Lucha is used up. To quote the
Natural Five, "Can it Really Really Really Be True?!?" Steve in Canada
supplied most of the CMLL TV after swinging the deal with the InSane For
Lucha Phil Schneider. El Bahari- the other half of the Canadian Lucha
mavens- supplied the other stuff pretty much. The Michinoku Lucha TV
was sent in by the glorious and fabulous GLENN! But first, a word from
Los Fatboy...
&*&*&*&*&*&* CONSEJO MUNDIAL de LUCHA LIBRE TV- 9/15/97
-Dean!
Mr Niebla vs Dr Wagner Jr:
This is a personal breakthrough match for me (and that's what really
counts:)). I was always under the impression that Dr Wagner was like
all those WCW wrestlers I saw last night in Charlottesville- lazy,
dogging it, underachieving. BUT since the Big Japan tour where he and
Tajiri really went at it a couple of times and the New Japan Top of the
Junior 97 series- where he took a toprope Death Vally Driver from
Takaiwa like a MAN in a really credible NJ Junior match, Dr Wagner has
come into his own as a rudo who can GO. Mr Niebla was always on my list
of fave youngsters in EMLL with [[[SHOCKER!!]]] Black Warrior, Rey
Buccanero Jr, Violencia, Astro Rey, etc. BUT he was always just another
REALLY athletic spot machine with a goofy finisher and not as
transcendent and overflowing with wrestling ability like his compadres-
sort of like how Heavy Metal was to Rey, Juventud and Psicosis back when
they were all in AAA- y'know, Good but really Smoked. BUT this big
batch of tapes shows that Niebla has gotten on to the level of [[[[
SHOCKER!!!]]]] and Black Warrior in terms of Being Fuckin Cool As Crap
Between Highspots. So this match Rocked Like A Hurricane. The first
caida starts with basic lucha mirror matwork done fast as crap which all
climaxes into the Fabulous Poses of Stalemate. Niebla gets Wagner to
play to his strength and run the ropes, which allows Niebla to drop kick
him out of the ring, setting up the Triple Ciclon Phat Ass Tope that
Wagner takes like that Packers Assistant coach on Thanksgiving day when
the Cowboy's Kevin Smith ran into him. They crawl back to the ring and
go into some swank Malenko-Guerrerro roll-ups with Niebla coming out on
top and scoring the first pinfall.
The second caida has the basis that Niebla flies all around Wagner until
Wagner can kill him with wrestling holds- which I loved. Wagner gets
his kind of caida early by cornering Niebla and giving him the Famous
Rudo What-For offense- smacking him around and kicking him and yelling
at the crowd like a king. Niebla escapes and does all of his jumpy,
flippy, running the ropes armdrags and fake-outs until Wagner finally
reverses a rana attempt into a Liger bomb for a two count. Niebla
bounces Wagner outside the ring, hits the
handstand-bouncing-off-the-rope fake-out to set-up the SWANK Del Santo
Two Inches From The Ringpost tope. Niebla throws him back in and gets
Wagner to run the ropes. Wagner counters the set-up with a Crucifix
Rollup to take the second caida. So the stage is set for the third
caida- is it the high-flying of Niebla or the vastly improved,
newly-expanded by Japanese touring ground attack of Dr Wagner Jr?
The third caida goes out the frickin window as these two decide to
totally go against all Lucha tradition and have a Liger-Ohtani match for
the third fall- but with Niebla selling a lot better than Ohtani and
Wagner having a cooler mask that Liger. Wagner grounds the young punk
and starts working on his leg, getting a few lower level slams and
suplexes to set up a figure-four which Niebla escapes by hitting the
ropes. Wagner hits a big Dragon Screw and Niebla escapes to the floor,
Wagner feeling confident enough that he's got Niebla's leg busted-up to
yell at the crowd for a little bit- giving Niebla the prerequisite NJ Jr
time to stop selling the leg. Niebla gets back into the ring and hits a
transition by reversing a corner-whip and dropkicking Wagner out of the
ring. Niebla then does the Desperate Highspot Trian on the Wily Veteran
starting with a super-PHAT ASS over the top rope tope which he follows
up couple of standing switches off the apron into the ring into a German
suplex which he follows up with a toprope hurricanrana followed by a
missile dropkick that knocks Wagner out of the ring to set up the
really, really PHAT ASS Plancha ENORME! Niebla drags the corpse of Dr
Wagner into the ring and Wagner Rigor Mortises out of two pinfall
attempts and they both lay in the ring dead. Niebla hits a desperate
LaMajistral and Wagner Misawas at 2 and 867/868ths. Having lost his
moment of advantage, Niebla tries four roll-ups that Wagner either
reverses or escapes. Wagner fakes a transition by almost pulling off a
last ditch powerbomb but Niebla is too strong and turns it into a
Hurricanrana roll-up. Niebla attempts to get back in the drivers seat
by taking it back on top by trying to reverse a corner whip into Corner
Sunset Flip, but Wagner catches him in mid-air and turns it into [I
SWEAR] a perfect cross between a Michinoku Driver and KAORU's more
dangerous Excaliber and Niebla is killed, but good. Wagner gets the pin
and the best Lucha singles match I've seen in a long time comes to an
end. This had EVERYTHING. Spectacular moves, rock-solid psychology,
great selling at the end. Dr Wagner guided Niebla to a great match and
maybe this is a sign that he is feeling the urge to attempt to reach the
same plateau of greatness that his brother, SilverKing, has enjoyed for
all these years. This was a good start. GET ALLL THIS.
!@!@!@!@!@!@ CONSEJO MUNDIAL de LUCHA LIBRE TV- 10/04/97
-PHIL!
El Hijo Del Solitario/ Tony Rivera/ Olympico v. Karloff LeGrade, Halcon
Negro, Valaitin Mayo:
For Los Rudos, Karloff LaGarde looks like he should be driving a Gold
Firebird and buying cervesas for young Mexico City Junior High School
girls who think his big poofy hair is radical; Halcon Negro has a huge
afro and kind of looks like the stuck Dwyane from What's Happening;
Valatin Mayo looks like a Mexican Hershal Savage- like when he's not
wrestling he is the stunt cock for Tijuana Donkey-girl porn films. For
Los Technicos, Olympico has an understated white mask with the Olympic
torch on it; Tony Rivera is maskless with the hideous acid wash Daisey
Dukes with frill- truly the worst pants since man started covering his
Genitals. El Hijo Del Solitario has a gold mask with racoon eyes around
it. Solatario- his father- was a great wrestler, he, however, is a big
skinny turd who does nothing. He is the worse kind of bad Luchadore- a
really thin scrawny guy that doesn't kill himself. Speaking of killing
themselves, Olympico kevorkians a springboard tope-con-hilo- snapping
his calves on the seats. I mean this was Marshall Applewhite crazy:
here he is wrestling in an undercard match with a whole pack of turds
and he busts out one of the craziest freaking highspots I have ever
seen. There is a load of poop in between that and Technico sucide part
two- Tony Rivera- who has been called the new Silver King(!)- makes his
bid at becoming the new Oro, as he attempts a Run In The Corner Into A
Plancha move, but he slips on the top rope and lands face first on the
concrete and out comes the stretcher. The rudos win with some kind of
silly submission hold. Not good at all, but a couple of nice examples of
death the Lucha Libre way.
#$#$#$#$# AAA TRIPLEMANIA! 4/30/93.
-DEAN!
Babe Sharon/ Rudy Reyna/ My Flowers vs Winner's/ El Salsero/ Super Calo:
For Los Rudos, Rudy Reyna, Babe Sharon and My Flowers. These are all
Exoticos so they enjoy an actual alternative lifestyle as opposed to
working an alternative lifestyle like the endless shitty insulting
homosexual gimmicks north of the border. Real deal here, folks, they
are who they are and everybody likes it that way- no secret backroom
crap with ringboys- exoticos say it loud, they're homosexuals,
tranvestites and transexuals and they are proud; and they wrestle like
motherfuckers. My Flowers must be related to Scarlotta Pimpernila
because he is the dragqueen BOMB. Reyna and Sharon are quite a bit less
than all that. For los technicos, Winner's, Super Calo and El Salsero
get the honors. Winner's hair is REALLY bad. Think of the red-haired
guy from "Room 222." Super Calo's hair is a haunting combination of
Menudo/DeFranco Family and Jack Sikma when he was winding up his
SuperSonics career. That was three references only Jeff Amdur will
get. YESSSSSS! My Flowers kicks ass early on making the INCREDIBLY
mediocre Winner's look halfway viable (For a true showing of Winner's
mediocrity, see his BAD mask vs mask match against Super Calo back in
95.) It goes totally goofball pretty quickly as the technicos all dance
to that Salsa beat after knocking all rudos to the floor, and then feign
a triple tope suicida to scatter the flaming, raging opposition- thus
giving Rudy Reyna the chance to steal a kiss from an unsuspecting
good-lookin' fella in the first row. My flowers hits a PHAT ASS Elbow
Drop, then a Flying Cross-Body Block. Babe Sharon isn't afraid to die
taking the humongus ringpost bump to set up Super Calo killing the hell
out of himself with a Shiryu Somersault Tope into the guardrail. El
Salsera then does the Assisted TopRope Tope to TRIPLE KILL everyone.
Rudy Reyna goes femmie over the edge with the Skipping Plancha. Weird.
Sexually Disturbing. CHOICE!
Cien Caras vs Konan:
Cien Caras is the worst worker in Mexico, BUT he really brought the heat
back then. Big deal- this sucked. Postmatch, Konan beats the hell out
of a pathetically out-of-it Jake Roberts.
Super Muneco/ Lamparin vs Gran Guerrerro/ Jerry Estrada:
For Los Rudos- the nondescript Gran Guerrerro and hilariously garbed
Jerry Estrada- looking like the drummer for White Tiger or something-
get to be all anti-social and piratelike. Actually Gran Guerrerro has
the super swank Rorshack Test black and white mask that is pretty
fabulous in an understated way- but the zubas crap HAS to go. Have some
PRIDE, for God's sake! For Los Technicos, the super annoying Super
Muneco just isn't a good enough worker to pull off wearing the ghastly
yellow and black, star-embossed and suspendered monstrosity that he
isn't afraid to sport in this mama. Lamparin has one of those spooky
human-face masks- this one in the visage of Aladdin or something- and
the rest is a real elaborate outfit in the truly twisted "AAA fashion
sensibilities" sense of the word. Jerry Estrada realizes that the
parade of mediocre wrestlers in bad outfits isn't worth the effort so he
does his prerequisite Jerry bump (two handed), feigns a little matwork
whith his hideously outclassed Super Muneco, and calls it a match.
Fishman/LaParka/ Blue Panther vs Eddy Guerrerro/ Latin Lover/ Love
Machine:
For Los Rudos, the ruins that were Fishman, the incredible Blue Panther,
and the LEATHER-CLAD LaParka (talk about SWANKER THAN SWANK.) For Los
Technicos, Eddy and Love Machine are still quite the babyfaces, though
I'm thinking they actually turned just to never have to tag with Latin
Lover again, a man wearing pants so tiny it barely held in the lil latin
unit. Possibly Eddy turned to get the super whipass Red White and Blue
Los Gringos Loco pants- as opposed to the Bass-Player For Twisted Sister
spandex with hole cut in the sides that he fearlessly wears in this
ass-stomper of a match. Internet rumor has it that even Jerry Estrada
actually went up to him after the match and said, "Man, Eddy, those
pants REALLY suck." Anyway, Eddy frickin RULES against Blue Panther as
he shows that he was the 1993 Head Scissors Poo-bah. THEN, Eddy and
LaParka do a freakin Lucha Armdrag Clinic. What the hell was Crowboy
saying about Eddy no longer a true luchadore while in AAA? He's as
lucha in this match as El Santo's cape. Two GREAT rudos, one who is
better as a technico (LaParka) and another who was slightly diminished
as a technico (Blue Panther), Two Great Technicos that both hit their
stride as rudos- though Eddy was as great on either side of the fence,
One guy who was BORN old, and a go-go dancer. Welcome to Mexico,
motherfucker.
Perro Aguayo vs Cien Caras:
Okay, these are two of the worst workers in Mexico, but- GOD!- was Perro
over, and, BOY, did Caras generate heat. Ah, who gives a crap. This
was totally devoid of anything resembling anything worth anything.
Perro bleeds a bucket, which is always nice. Love Machine and Blue
Panther were seconds, but I don't think this had any bearing on the cool
double face/heel turn match these two had later on, so there you have
it. El Hulk Hogan vs Senor Roddy Piper in a cage, but four years before
the fact.
#$#$#$#$#$#$# Michinoku Pro Lucha TV -2/21/98
- by REV Ray!
Opening begins with guy playing a tune on his guitar. I secretly wish
Men's Teioh would run over and smash it. The man who's all about the
ladies and the ladies are all about him, Men's Teioh is on the panel
this week. Of note, there is now the Delfin logo over the Sasuke mask
on the plank which sits in back of the set.
Mr. Niebla/Mr. Aguila v. Rey Buccanero/Black Warrior :
Let's face it, I don't want to do play by play for an entire lucha match
here's the highlights :
* Rey takes a monkey flip off the apron over the post to the floor,
followed by a moonsault to the floor by Niebla
* Aguila hits a twisting somersault plancha on Black Warrior
* Black Warrior hits a run up the ropes frankensteiner.
* Rey puts on Archangel de la Muerta's tights and Black Warrior does the
crotch chop.
* Buccanero hits the Takaiwa endless powerbomb into a jacknife hold.
The finish gets a bunch of sterio moves (Techinico topes, rudo
superbombs, rudo majistrals) Aguila and Niebla are all flippy flying in
this. Warrior sporting a mask which looks to be half Blue Panther
style. And Rey Buccanero who's bigger than the rest seems to keep pace
with them pretty well. Pretty damn cool.
Announcers place a caricature of Men's Teioh over the Sasuke logo.
Hey, an Ultraman movie... and it looks like they stole suits from Gamera
II : Advent of Legion.
Tony Ribera/Ringo Mendoza v. Violencia/Karloff Lagarudi Jr :
Highlights :
* Volencia hits a rolling senton to the floor off the post on Ribera.
* Yes, the lucha horns are on the loose in Japan!
* Volencia fouls Ringo.
* Screwed up finish where Ribera goes for a rana but gets powerbombed
and looks to be knocked out, leaving Ringo in alone. Volencia is
elimianted to even things up. So Ringo and Karloff finish off the match
alone.
Nothing really spectacular.
Hey, a pair of scissors so spectacular, they can raise your kids! Buy
now and get a Mr. Twist! A product of Ryuma Popeil.
Shinobi v. Archangel de la Muerte :
Highlights :
* Angel and I think Karloff stuff powerbomb Shinobi off the apron...
OW!
* After killing him DEAD, Archangel introduces him to several of the
chairs at ringside.
* Shinobi goes for a top rope rana, but Archangel holds on, powers him
up and drops him with a superbomb, which Shinobi kicks out of. Angel
misses a rolling senton and Shinobi mounts a come back.
* Shinobi does a Gedo Clutch into a rolling cradle for a 2. Angel
powerbombs him, covers with a foot on the chest, Shinobi kicks out.
Angel goes powerbomb crazy but Shinobi keeps kicking out. Shinobi
finally comes from behind and catches Angel in a grounded octopus type
hold.
Dunno, Shinobi sort of got killed a lot in the match but just sort of
bounced back out of no where... which sort of killed what Angel was
doing. And to top it off, he uses "Don't Cry" by either Asia or REO
Speedwagon as
theme music. Whats the dealio?
Mr. Aguila/Mr. Niebla/Atlantis v. Rey Buccanero/Black Warrior/
Emilio Charles Jr. :
Hey, Black Warrior's got a kilt. He's scottish so he's not CRAP!
Aguila's pretty over with the crowd. Black Warrior shows off some cool
suplexes against him. Neilba does a bunch of rope bouncing stuff.
Atlantis pulls out a tope to the back of Charles' head. Aguila does
some bouncy stuff including a rana on Warrior to the floor. Neilba head
scissors Warrior to the floor, knocks down a charging Rey Buccenaro on
the apron. Nielba runs at him and gets launched by a monkey flip into
Warrior thus beginning the lucha train wreck sequence with Aguila,
Warrior, Rey and Neibla. Charles tries to join in, but Atlantis stops
him from joining a game he can't keep up in :-) Charles and Atlantis
finish this up in the ring.
What we learned : Aguila and Niebla are really really agile and bounce
around like superballs. Warrior looked pretty good on the mat from what
I've seen (this is maybe the 3rd time I've seen a Black Warrior match,
but I've liked what I've seen.) And Buccenaro can keep up with them
pretty well for someone his size.
Prior to the match we get a recap of most of Teioh's defenses since
winning the title from Delfin... which is quite a few matches.
For those of you in the market, Nissan's got a forklift for you.
Men's Teioh v. Funaki :
They do a lot of match work in this with Teioh
controlling quite a bit. Teioh works over Funaki's leg. Men's does a
rolling elbow, but proves he's not Misawa as Funaki bounces off the
ropes and drops him with an elbow forearm of his own. He goes for a
scorpion but Teioh counters and Funaki's favoring his leg. Teioh does a
lot of work over the leg spots until he sets up for the corner figure
four, Funaki gets him into the post and starts working over Teioh's leg,
including getting him in the corner figure four. Teioh blocks a
kneebreaker and does the funky foward roll up into the reverse kneebar
that Funaki does. Men's hits Miracle Ecstacy, but Funaki turns it into
a cross armbreaker. This was a good match. Lots of technical and
submission wrestling, almost entirely mat work, but back and forth and
some cool wrestling. Of course, they probably did all the mat wrestling
because it was damn cold in that warehouse they were wrestling in. You
could see their breath.
Men's Teioh v. Super Delfin :
Joined in progress with Togo distracting
the ref as Funaki and Men's work over Delfin's leg on the post. Men's
gets Delfin in a torture rack. Luger wishes he was this cool. Delfin
comes back with a bunch of lariats and takes control. He hits the
swinging DDT and the Delfin Clutch but Men's kicks out. Men's makes his
come back after fouling Delfin. Men's does two rolling elbows into a
German suplex for a 2. He hits a reverse DDT for a two and a swinging
DDT off the ropes into the Delfin Clutch for a two. Delfin counters a
rolling elbow attacked with a shotay. One more and Delfin goes for the
cover, but gets up and puts on the Delfin clutch for the win and to
regain the title he lost back in May. Men's grabs the belt and looks
like he doesn't want to give it up, but kisses it one last time and
hands it over. KDX congratulate Delfin and leave.
@#@#@#@#@#@ CMLL TV-10/18/97
-PHIL!
Damiencito El Guerrerro/ Perrocito/ Fierito v. Cilcloncito Rameriez/
Bracito De Oro/ Mascarita Magica:
For Los Rudocitos, Perrocito is Mini Pierroth which is kind of weird
because big Pierroth is in AAA so I guess your mini doesn't jump with
you. Fierito- who I suppose is mini-Fieria but Fiera doesn't have a
mask and is a technico while Fierito has sort of a Felinoesque white
mask with bitchen fangs on it; Damiencito El Guerrerro looks just like
Damien El Guerrerro exept he is ten million times better. For Los
Technicitos, Cicloncito Rameriez has the blue mask with curlycues,and
Bracito De Oro rounds out the cast although Brazo De Oro has lost his
mask, his mini is unhooded and much less fat- bizarrely. Although his
name translates to Little Magic Mask, Mascarita Magica is sans hood-
guess he threw it off when Eddie did. You have to love EMLL, where the
midgets take it to the mat; nothing like watching a tiny man work for an
armbar. The first caida was all mat wrestling with Dameincito and
Cicloncito being the best at the mat reversals and counters, while
Magica is all about the fancy headscissors, elaborate armdrags and
superfluous flips. The rudos take Primera Caidia with absurd submissions
in triplicate- the best being the Black Warrior deadlift submission by
Fierito. Segunda Caidia was all highflying with Magica hitting a big
tope, Brazita getting backdropped by his partner off the ring apron into
a senton, and Cicloncito hitting an asskicking From The Ring Apron
Through The Ringpost Tope. Magicita wins with another ridiculous
submission- a kind of a rolling abdominal stretch. The third caida was
more mat work and ended with a bunch of hot near falls, with Fieria
pulling out a snowplow and Damiencito finally getting the pin with a La
Magistral. Great match. These minis are all about the same size, with
no little freaks like Baby Rabbit, so you begin to forget you are
watching midgets and just find yourself watching a super trios match.
EMLL: Even our Midgets can wrestle!!
%^%^%^%^ CMLL TV 1/5/98
-REVRAY!
Rey Buccanero/Violenca/Karloff Lagarde vs. Ultraman/Fantasma/Mascara
Magica :
Pretty slow in the first fall with the rudos getting the fall with
Volencia tope rope somersault sentoning Magica and getting a submission
on Fantasma. Segunda caida is pretty quick. Ultraman catches Violencia
with a quebrada and fantasma gets Rey Buccanero in an upside down bear
hug (like he was going for a tombstone) for a submission win.
Volencia takes the Jerry bump off of Ultraman at the start of the third
fall. This is also a quick fall. Ultraman gets in a tope con hilo.
Magica and Lagarde go at it in the ring, Magica seems to be favoring one
leg and Lagarde puts him away with a powerbomb counter to a Magica rana
attempt.
Eh. Was slow at the start, when things heated up, it was already over.
Universo 2000 v. Brazo de Plata for a CMLL title :
Primera Ciada : Super Porky gets in a fat second rope splash to get the
first fall. The second fall is a lot of mat work, porky controls alot,
but Universo counters reverse Indian leg lock as Porky starts posing,
Universo reaches back and trips him and then counters into his own leg
lock to get the submission.
Univero starts the fall by working on Porky's leg, but Brazo keeps
countering his holds and controls early on with headscissors. Porky
knocks Univero out to the floor with the belly bump o' doom, hits a
plancha off the apron. Universo gets control, answers with a tope.
They end up in the ring, Universo ends up getting Porky with a small
package to counter his bodyslam attempt.
Blue Panther/Apollo Dantes/Emilo Charles Jr vs Mr. Niebla/Atlantis/La
Fiera :
You know, Apollo has some real redneck music for a theme song.
Opening is slow with a lot of mat work early. Things pick up once
Panther tags in because the rudos start sneak attacking the technicos.
Rudos pick up the first caida after an Apollo top rope splash on
Nielbla.
Rudos continue beating on Niebla for a bit, then Atlantis until Atlantis
starts running Charles and Dantes into each other. Panther and Neilba
mix it up a bit. Technicos win the second caida following a Nielba rana
on Charles following a lift over by Panther and Apollo tapping out to a
submission hold by Feirra.
Rudos threaten to walk out a few times. Panther seems to be avoiding
Atlantis through out the match. They finally get going and pull off
some nice back and forth mat spots with near falls off of assorted
pinning combos until the both fall out to the floor. Apollo and Fierra
go at it with Fierra getting in some OK kicks on Apollo, who claims a
low blow following a spin kick to his chest. Rudos win the fall when
Charles uses "El footo on el ropes," a classic lucha finisher on Nielba
to win the match for the rudos. Boo hiss!
OK match. It picked up at the end. Seen worse, seen better. Would
have liked to have seen more Panther in there.
#$#$#$#$#$#$#$ CMLL 8/2/97
-dean!
Cadaver de Ultratumba/Espectro Jr/Guerrero de la Muerte vs Ultraman
Jr/Astro Rey Jr/Solar 1:
Your rudos on the night are the steadily improving and impressive
Cadaver, the steadily improving and more impressive every time I see him
Espectro Jr and the strangely resurgent Guerrerro de la Muerte. Your
technicos are Ultraman and Astro Rey- who are slowly but surely getting
too good to be on the undercard, and the Old School sensation Solar
Primera.
The first caida is just ABSOLUTELY gorgeous- it's possibly the best
first caida I've seen since 1994 AAA when Blue Panther was at his peak
against El Hijo del Santo, because this goes to the mat and it's as
graceful and quirky and perfect as you can want your Lucha Libre to be.
Solar Premier is just fuckin NUMBER ONE AND THE BEST in this as he is so
fluid in his roll-ups and crisp as hell in his armdrags. Cadaver and
Espectro have definately broken through into the good workers phase of
their career and are equally as compelling on the mat, as our their
fellow travellers up the card- Astro Rey Jr and Ultraman Jr. Roll-ups
fly into takedowns that flow into armdrags that build to leg submissions
that are countered out of and, so, a pose is struck and the two exit the
ring in a stalemate of grace and speed and, thus this leads to the next
two luchadores who try to outdo their predecessors by showing all their
mat skill. All this is why I love the EMLL traditional first caida. I
remember the old days (1995) when all these guys were quite the
fast-forward fodder- but they have really developed into some really
skilled Old School luchadores. This caida is a LOT of why I adore Lucha
Libre. The build from the mat to the armdrags to the finish is so
perfect that if you watch intently, the Ultraman Jr Quebrada Tope just
flies off the screen. This is how you set up the highspot and how you
use great psychology to build to a finish.
The second caida is a four minute affair that starts with the stalemates
fading and the technicos getting the advantage. This leads to the rudos
acting more rudolike to get the big MO on their side and breaks down
into a full-blown rudo caida with the neato Cadaver Ultratumba- Espectro
double rudo pinning combo kicking in in full effect.
The third caida blows its top as the build up of the first caida and the
diminished rudo caida hits the big payoff with the swank third caida.
They pick-up at the rudo caida- as there is always two rudos bustin up
the technico with the usual low-level rudo traditional attack until the
technicos get fed up and Astro Rey throws Cadaver to the floor and the
other four follow suit and a fat ass lucha brawl hits the floor with
full technico rudo-turn tactics- including the doubleteam posting of
Espectro. Solar drags Guerrerro into the ring and eliminates him with a
peppy yet preposterous leg-entangling inverted Indian Deathlock
variation for the submission. Solar then tries to hold Cadaver on the
floor after Ultraman Jr drop kicks him through the ropes and Ultraman
goes for the Ciclon Ramirez-level old school tope right into the fixed
theatre chairs of Arena Mexico and- after Solar I loses his grip on the
young Cadaver- kills the holy fudge out of the wily veteran Solar as
they both careen helter skelter into the unforgiving chairs. ZOINKS!
That's GOTTA be all kinds of hurty and shit! Having knocked themselves
out of the Lucha powerplay advantage by fulfilling some strange technico
suicide pact, the result is the suddenly outnumbered Astro Rey falling
victim to Espectro's Post-Toperope Hurricanrane Rito Romero Special with
the headwrenching assist by Cadaver. As all looks real bleak for our
morally upright contingent, Ultraman drags his corpse into the ring and
covers Espectro at the bottom of the lucha submission hold thus making
it a pinning predicament for the applicant, BUT Cadaver has- at the same
time- taken Astro Rey over the point of balance and gotten young Astro's
shoulders on the mat while Astro is still victim to Espectro's
submission even while Espectro- he- himself is being put in a pinning
predicament by Ultraman- thus causing the fabulously goofy double
pinfall and the close of a beautiful caida followed by two much goofier
caidas. I loved this match. A whole big bunch.
NEXT WEEK: BACK TO JAPAN! ACE vs MISAWA! HAYATO is not happy with
TAKAIWA! GAEA! GAEA! GAEA! THE WORLDS WORST BIG JAPAN TAPE! And
whatever else!
NANIWA~!
Dean Rasmussen, Juventudiac~!
