Saturday, August 27, 2011

From the 80's into 90's!

Continuing on with my trek through the past...

El Faraon vs Sangre Chicana (1986, unknown location): No clue where this took place since it was shot from ringside and the arena was pretty dark. It probably wasn't a big show considering these two seemed to be having a pretty sub-standard match for what they are capable of and the finish was a double low blow which is a typical cop out nobody has to job on a small show finish. I'm not too broken up since I got to see them have a great match earlier on the DVD.

Next up was supposed to be Los Hermanos Calavera (Oro's dad and uncle) teaming up from Guadalajara in 1982 but the listings were misleading! It was just a clip of challenges after their match was over. BOO!

Rayo De Jalisco Jr./El Faraon vs Asesino Negro/Indio Jeronimo (1982, Arena Coliseo De Guadalajara): After I got over the shock of seeing Asesino Negro almost 30 years younger and 150 pounds lighter I focused on Rayo. For almost any lucha veteran these days you can find at least one person who will come to their defense and say even though they're old and broken down now they used to be good. I say "almost" because Rayo seems to be the exception. I have never come across anyone who has said Rayo used to be even passable. This match pretty much confirmed that. He was only 22 years old, very skinny and the rudos were certainly treating him like the new kid who needed to earn their respect. Fascinating to see how his moveset never even changed throughout the years. Everything you saw him do throughout the 90's and 00's he was doing here except a LITTLE faster. The only blip was a neat headscissors out of the turnbuckles with Asesino Negro taking an awesome bump to the floor. Faraon was excellent as was Jeronimo. Perfectly fine match that the crowd was really into.

Olympus vs Indio Misteca (1985, Monterrey): I believe this was the re-opening of the Coliseo Monterrey after it was shut down for a while but don't quote me on that. It was some sort of big event though as before the match they had a musical performance and the main event was a special legends match. This was the first match so I guess the dude following Chicana around decided it might be cool to keep it on video. He recorded the first 4 or 5 minutes and then the last 4 or 5 minutes. Standard opener outside of some few athletic spots from Olympus and a tope suicida after Indio took a scary backdrop to the floor. After they crawled back inside Olympus did the Cavernaria for the win. THAT SPOT ACTUALLY WORKED FOR ONCE!

Sangre Chicana/Cuautemoc Torres/Dardo Aguilar vs Ruby Rubalcaba/Yuma/Barba Negra (1985, Monterrey): This was the main event of said show shot on handheld by the guy who was following Chicana around. While I appreciate his hard work and rare footage I do have to complain about this match since it was a trios match and for whatever reason he just kept the camera on Chicana the entire time. Even when the crowd was popping for stuff going on in the ring he just zoomed in on Chicana on the apron so this wasn't much of a match. The few bits he did catch were interesting though. One was Torres doing a SPRINGBOARD CROSS BODYBLOCK! IN 1985! That's the earliest I can recall seeing anyone do a springboard. The other cool spot was a ringside POV as Chicana crushed Yuma with a sick as shit tope suicida. The match degenerated into a brawl when Chicana turned on his team and then started fighting with Dardo Aguilar around ringside.

Following the match there is a quick look inside the home of Chicana at the time. In the most stunning development of all-time Chicana lived with a huge portrait of himself on his wall. That is AWESOME! Lots of cool photos with him holding titles and such.

The DVD cut off during the next match which was a handheld of Justiciero Vengador vs El Pervoso at the Plaza De Toros Monumental in Monterrey. What a pretty place to hold Lucha Libre.

Decided I needed a break from handhelds and moved into the early 90's...

Solar I/Apolo Dantes/El Monarca vs Rey Venus/Javier Cruz/Corsario Negro (1991, Arena Coliseo De Monterrey): This match is the definition of why life was so hard for me collecting results back in the day. Everyone knows Javier Cruz's nickname is El Monarca. But there was also a wrestler named El Monarca. Of course I was such a Lucha n00b I didn't know that and just assumed it was the same guy until one day I ran across a result where they were on opposite teams. FUN TIMES! They also look a like too which is really creepy. Anyways... this match was alright when Dantes/Cruz were doing their thing and Monarca even had some fun moments but for the most part I found it rather dull. Solar wasn't really motivated at all and hit the comeback way too early which confused everyone in the match. Finish was a low blow that the camera missed. Pretty lackluster stuff.

Kato Kung Lee/Super Astro/Angel Azteca vs Kung Fu/El Hijo Del Gladiador/Masakre (1991, Arena Coliseo De Monterrey): Kung Fu was doing that annoying gimmick where he hid nunchucks under his sleeve and would constantly use them which made the crowd angry. First fall finish was pretty sweet and perfectly timed by the tecnicos. Second fall had some fun stuff but then it was all downhill with some horrible brawling and Kung Fu just choking guys non-stop. I was hoping they'd at least do a spectacular finish but it just ended up being a flat finish where the rudos won clean. Bleh. In a sorta funny moment they had Bello Kalifa on commentary at ringside and he went up to Gladiador trying to do an interview while the match was in progress and Gladiador just waved him off. Who tries to interview someone in the middle of a match?

Atlantis/Mascara Sagrada/Panterita Del Ring (current Efesto) vs Negro Casas/MS-1/Jerry Estrada (1991, Arena Coliseo De Monterrey): This was pretty fun. I was worried when the first fall seemed to come to a stop as Casas just stood on the top rope and stretched Panterita and the other guys just walked around aimlessly but I guess some folks through beer into the ring and they had to wait while it was mopped up. Estrada played along by slipping on the wet spot and chasing after the dude who was cleaning it up as if it was his fault! Things really picked up in the second fall with some great exchanges and the crowd being really hot for seeing Panterita vs Negro. Panterita even had his own cheering section and anything he did to Negro got a HUGE pop. It looked like they were building to a match between the two which must have been epic. Elsewhere in the match Estrada continued to shine taking some awesome bumps including his famous Jerry-bump and getting flung into the 5th row taking out a bunch of fans! The fans didn't seem too unhappy as one guy even gave Jerry his beer! FTW! Beer is fucking expensive at Leafs/Jays games these days so I'd gladly be flung five rows deep just to get a free one! Finish had Sagrada take MS-1 out with a plancha and Atlantis get Estrada with the Atlantida. Casas/Panterita then traded nearfalls and finally Panterita won with a picture-perfect top rope dropkick. Good stuff here.

Same DVD had parts of the 1/6/91 CMLL TV show which had footage from the 1/4/91 show @ Arena Coliseo which is newly discovered footage...

Mascarita Sagrada/Aguilita Solitaria/Pequeno Cobarde vs Espectrito/Piratita Morgan/MS 1/2: This was 50/50 an angle and an amazing showcase. The angle was Pequeno Cobarde turning on his team after a bunch of miscommunications with Aguilita. The amazing showcase was the performance of all six guys when the angle wasn't in progress. HOLY FUCK were there some insane exchanges! Sagrada and Piratita in particular were showing off some amazing chemistry and had at least 3 out of this world exchanges that the crowd was going nuts for. I'm pretty sure Sagrada did at least 2 spots in this match I've never seen him do before. It's no wonder he is considered the best mini of all-time when you see stuff like this. Aguilita and Peq Cobarde even had their time to shine until they got to the angle portions. Rudos won in two falls but two falls was more than enough for me to love this!

Aguila Solitaria/Aguila De Plata/Super Muneco vs Bestia Salvaje/Comando Ruso/Scorpio: Not much to say here... exactly what you'd expect with these guys. Bestia took a huge sallida before being nailed by a Muneco tope suicida was the only memorable spot. Only the first two falls were on the DVD.

Mogur/Misterioso/Volador vs Pirata Morgan/Masakre/Espectro Jr.: This had the occasional edit by whoever was recording which ruined the flow a bit but I got what I wanted out of this: An awesome Volador/Pirata exchange and a great triple dive spot that had the crowd scurrying for safety. Unfortunately in that triple dive spot Misterioso and Masakre crushed Vicky Aguilera (older lady who always sat front row at Arena Coliseo/Mexico until she died) so everyone was worried about her post-match although she seemed to be laughing it off as they tried to stop her nose from bleeding. WHAT A TROOPER!

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