Tuesday, March 31, 2015

80s' Lucha, Vol.2


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 14th 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.

****

No comments:

Post a Comment