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! I mean- 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
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
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 La
Majistral 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
(by PHIL SCHNEIDER)
El Hijo Del Solitario/ Tony
Rivera/ Olympico vs. Karloff LeGrade/Halcon Negro/Valatine 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
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
Babe Sharon/Rudy Reyna/May Flowers
vs. Winner's/El Salsero/Super Calo
For Los Rudos, Rudy Reyna, Babe Sharon and May
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.
May Flowers must be related to Escarlotta Pimpenila 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. 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/La Parka/Blue Panther
vs. Eddy Guererro/Latin Lover/Love Machine:
For Los Rudos, the ruins that were Fishman, the
incredible Blue Panther, and the LEATHER-CLAD La Parka (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 La
Parka 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
(La Parka) 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 DUFFY)
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 vs. 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 vs.
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 vs. 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. What's 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 vs. 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 vs. 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
(by PHIL SCHNEIDER)
Damiencito El Guerrerro/ Perrocito/
Fierito vs. 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 tenmillion 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
(by REV RAY DUFFY)
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 vs. 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
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
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 out do 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.
NANIWA~!
- Dean Rasmussen, Juventudiac~!