80s' Lucha, Vol.2

Vol. 1

DVDVR Top Lucha Matches of the 80s – Disc 2:

CMLL 1984/1/20

Satanico vs. Atlantis

Young tecnico Atlantis is too damn quick for the surly bruiser Satanico, his flashy and gracious athleticism is top notch and he wins the primera in under 3 minutes, it was too easy sort of speak. Atlantis looks like one million dollars and even here, in a very young age, he’s the master of creating drama, suspense and big match feeling using nothing but most simple body talk and gestures, now that’s called true working. The segunda is pretty much the same until Satanico decides he’s had enough of it and switches to dirty fighting and cheap shots. The rest of the match is a brilliant struggle between two guys who are mean and malicious to each other, there’s blood, mask ripping, hair pulling and amazing selling by both. One mistake can be deadly and that’s exactly what leads to the finish.

So far this has been the best match on the set, simply incredible, easily five stars.

*****

CMLL 1984/1/27

NWA World Welterweight Championship: Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca ©

I don’t really know what to write here other than “this match had a bunch of swank hold-for-hold matwork and dusty finish”.

****

CMLL 1984/2/3

NWA World Welterweight Championship: Americo Rocca vs. Mocho Cota ©

See the description above, but this time I enjoyed it way less.

***

CMLL 1984/2/17

Egipcio & Faraon vs. Lizmark & Atlantis

Quality semi-chaotic tussle, Egipcio and Faraon were mental in the gnarly rudo roles and they made the perky tecnico duo look like gold. They worked the surly Texas dirty style, straight out of bar fights. You could see back then Atlantis had the “it” factor for greatness.

***3/4

CMLL 1984/2/24

Faraon, Herodes, Mocho Cota vs. Ringo Mendoza, Tony Salazar, Lizmark

Classic, old school brawl done in a vintage CMLL style, the rudo trio is practically a dream team of evil dirtbags, here they controlled the large portion of the match simply via isolations and 3-on-1 gang beatdowns, with the central match-up being Herodes vs. Salazar. Herodes made him bleed and just mauled him relentlessly, on and on, only for Salazar to get some revenge in the tercera. Loved the whole thing here, the rudo trio looked like a pack of rabid dogs going after chicken. For fuck’s sake, the tecnicos didn’t make a proper comeback until the 14^th min into the match, they were getting their asses kicked all the time.

****1/2

UWA 1984/2/26

Cadetes del Espacio (Solar, Ultraman, Super Astro) vs. Ola Lila (Sergio el Hermoso, Bello Greco, Rudy Reyna)

Another visually fun trio, but also another match with no clear direction or notable events to write about. The tecnico trio was outstanding, though, so there’s something.

***1/2

UWA 1984/2/26

Campeonato Mundial Peso Completo de UWA: Dos Caras vs. Enrique Vera ©

Meh…

**1/2

CMLL 1984/3/2

Herodes vs. Tony Salazar

Okay, Tony Salazar’s got to be a contender for the best puncher ever, at least judging from this small sample of two brawls on the disc. This is a continuation of the blood trio brawl from 2/24 and it’s just as awesome. Herodes is basically the Mexican version of Harley Race, a surly bulldog who will dig your eyes out and fuck the skull. Just a perfect big fat rudo with extremely violent tendencies, his job is to make tecnicos sympathetic, and damn it he’s so good at it, he’d probably make George W. Bush a likeable person. Naturally, both guys bled a bucket or two in the match, the selling was phenomenal with them barely standing on their feet near the end. Fantastic, nasty ass brawl.

****1/2

CMLL 1984/3/2

Campeonato National Medio: Jerry Estrada vs. Ultraman ©

Now this was a fun scientific match! One of those lucha title bouts where nothing really stands out other than some damn fine hold-for-hold matwork, but it’s so captivating you can’t take your eyes off it.

****

CMLL 1984/3/9

Ringo Mendoza, Hijo del Santo, Chamaco Valaguez vs. Jerry Estrada, Fuerza Guerrera, Talisman

Great Santo showcase, the young tecnico superhero was the centerpiece of the match, there was great heat with Fuerza and Talisman. Ringo served as a father figure for him, good story, good match.

***3/4

CMLL 1984/4/?

Campeonato Mundial Peso Welter de CMLL: Lizmark vs. Satanico ©

Great, clean title match, hold-for-hold and struggle on the mat everywhere. These two killed it in the ground based game.

****

80s' Lucha, Vol.1

DVDVR Top Lucha Matches of the 80s – Disc 1:

UWA 1980/4/13

Gran Hamada & Satoru Sayama vs. Perro Aguayo & Baby Face

Great match and a terrific way to start the project. Hamada and Sayama are crazy athletic, especially for that period, they do moves and chain them into sequences straight outta karate movies, it looks quite cinematic, must’ve been a breathtaking thing to see back then. On the other hand, Perro and Baby Face are the perfect counterparts, two surly charros who will punch you right across the nose just because they can’t stand your catlike shit. This felt like Aztecs meet Ninjas, great tag match.

****1/4

UWA 1981/?/?

3-on-2 HANDICAP MATCH: Sangre Chicana, Alfonso Dantes, Herodes vs. Cien Caras & Andre the Giant

Fun Andre showcase, he’s an unstoppable behemoth here, this is basically a Wild Kingdom episode about three hungry coyotes trying to tackle a huge badass buffalo, and it fucking works. There’s a lot of campy wrestling here, just think of Star Trek TOS, good match.

***3/4

UWA 1982/2/14

Campeonato Mundial Peso Medio de UWA: Gran Hamada vs. Centurion Negro ©

I don’t really know what to write about this match other than “bunch of damn fine matwork and high flying”. Clean as a whistle lucha title match. Would’ve been even better with a less confusing finish, Thesz kind of fucked it up.

****

UWA 1982/2/14

Campeonato Mundial Peso Completo de UWA: Don Corleone vs. Canek ©

Good match, but they didn’t wow me, and I’m pretty sure this doesn’t belong on this set. While Canek was good both on offense and as the FIP, Corleone’s workover session in the tercera was very boring. Fortunately, there was more than enough good stuff elsewhere to call this match good.

***1/2

UWA 1983/6/12

Campeonato Mundial Peso Completo de UWA: Canek vs. Tatsumi Fujinami ©

Great match until the bullshit ending, seriously WTF was the all about? Another one that doesn’t belong on the set, mos def.

***

CMLL 1983/9/23

Herodes, Pirata Morgan, Coloso Colosetti vs. Kevin Von Erich, Mascara Ano 2000, Halcon Ortiz

Good trio, but I see better every week in CMLL.

***

CMLL 1983/9/23

Cabellera vs. Cabellera: MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana

One of the most famous lucha libre matches amongst the internet community aficionados. However, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s just getting into lucha, because the match is quite challenging and demanding, it’s pure 100% selling and the work is as minimalistic as anything old school you’ll ever see. It’s a pure, total brawl with both gladiators bleeding a lot, I means seriously, they were covered in blood and messed the ring mat in process, I’d give my left nut to see a remastered version of this one day just to enjoy the stunning visual violence. MS-1 was an unbelievable dickbag aggressor who beat the shit out of Chicana, pure hate 101 there, all he did was punching and stomping, but it worked. Insane heat, and seeing the old ladies yelling at him and pushing him away from Chicana was fucking priceless, what a fantastic rudo. Chicana’s comeback in the segunda was immense, it’s amongst the best comebacks ever, I say. The tercera was simply a pure masterpiece, they were selling for each other like they got hit by a train, they were desperately rolling on a bloodied mat trying to pin each other, such a sluggish power struggle right there. Despite the strong and constant selling, it never looked over-the-top or cartoonish, it felt more than earned. The finish, of course, was a super fitting end to this cult classic tussle.

A definite lucha brawl, must-see match.

*****

CMLL 1983/9/30

Satanico, Espectro Jr., MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana, Mocho Cota, Fiera

Never seen this trio before, and holy shit – it’s a fucking amazing follow-up to the hair match from one week earlier. I even dare to say it’s a better match, as crazy as it sounds. It’s just a violent orgy of nasty smacking, there were tons of surly punches and obligatory stomping. There was no traditional llaves here, not even a little bit, instead the entire match was one giant chaos with six angry men mauling each other mercilessly. Satanico delivered one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen in this match.

*****

CMLL 1983/10/28

Campeonato Mundial Semi Completo de NWA & Campeonato Mundial Semi Completo de UWA: Ringo Mendoza (NWA) © vs. Sangre Chicana (UWA) ©

After watching Sangre Chicana in two bloodied brawls, here he is in a title match, and he’s just as amazing as in slugfest tussles. The sanctity of traditional title match llaves is respected down to a T here, as we got a clean as a whistle title bout between the men who know their shit. The hold-for-hold sessions were innovative, creative and super compelling, they didn’t overcomplicate things, not even once. I knew what Chicana was capable of, but senor Ringo also delivered a breathtaking performance going toe-to-toe with SC, it was an amazing watch. I’m a reviewer who rarely touches play-by-play and all the rigid technical stuff such as which move got hit here and there, I’m rather a story guy, I like to try and picture stories wrestlers are telling in the squared circle, and this match is exactly an example where I don’t even want to bother with moves and shit, all I can say is – wow.

*****

CMLL 1983/11/25

Fuerza Guerrera & Lobo Rubio vs. Hijo del Santo & Atlantis

Killer tag with Santo and Atlantis shining as the young promising tecnicos, this was truly a spectacular showcase of speed, agility and perky high flying. The rudo duo served as a perfectly suitable roughhouse tandem designed to solidify the babyafaces as real deals.

****1/2