tim.

Now here's what a I really like to see, two guys who I've never heard of having a great match 20 odd years ago. Charro looks awesome in the first fall, hitting a cool bicycle kick off a front cartwheel, a top rope knee strike to the outside and ending the fall with a deadlift German. Third fall is just great, tons of awesome action and feels like a total war. Charro hits a tope and a crazy top rope dive and Mogur an awesome fake out dive off the apron. Some great moves and sequences at the end and some believable near finishes; ending is really cool as well. This will do well for me.

Here it is, probably the match on the set with the widest rep. This has something of a big match feel thanks to the unusual production values for this set and the hot crowd (not something unusual for this set). Casas brings the charisma and idiosyncratic little touches that make him great like almost launching himself over the ropes while running Santo into the post, doing an awesome selling by grabbing his face off a Santo dropkick and much more. He dominants through the second fall but Santo makes a spectacular comeback, as much because of Casas as himself: Casas just goes flying off a knee lift, gets huge height on a back body drop and the ending to the fall is visually stunning. Third fall has some great action and speaking of spectacular, Santo hits two beautiful dives; the dive off the top is especially crazy looking. Not sure if Casas slipping off the top rope followed by a Santo senton was intentional or one of the all time great botch coverups but it was cool either way. For renowned lucha classic I'm not sure it will end up in my top 20 but this is definitely a great match and not too far behind that level.

Now here's a match I'd never heard anything of, that didn't strike me one way or another on paper, and that turned out to be totally fucking awesome. This starts off in quite the fashion with Caras laying a beating into Siglo during the introductions while the fans are still crowding the ring. Caras wails on Siglo for awhile and Siglo's blue mask all but turns red. Siglo's comeback is almost a Sangre Chicana moment as he just hauls off with a punch out of nowhere and then really takes it to him. Last several minutes are just great, both guys are bloodied and fatigued and have an awesome dive-avoidal sequence which was pretty unique; a submission spot that almost botches but turned out to be all the better for the botch and the fans buy it so much they're jumping onto the apron already; two big dives and a crazy bump off a missed dive from Siglo. Caras follows that up by waffling him with a section of seating for the countout win and a teeming mass of humanity floods the ring. The crowd is also nuts throughout, pieces of garbage go flying left and right at intervals throughout this, they're all over the ringside area during the match and plenty loud. I was a little disappointed by the ending because I assumed it would go a bit longer and with a couple extra minutes this could get pretty high but still this is a hell of a match. Shit it's still PRETTY high for me.

disk 6 rankings 1. Babyface, Cien Caras y Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Lizmark, Rayo De Jalisco y La Fiera (September 1986) 2. El Satanico, MS-1 y Masakre vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr., La Fiera y Tony Salazar (3/20/87)3. Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Atlantis y Alfonso Dantes vs. MS-1, El Satanico y El Dandy (3/27/87)4. Atlantis, El Hijo del Santo y Tony Salazar vs. El Satanico, El Dandy y Espectro Jr. (4/3/87)5. Jerry Estrada, Pirata Morgan y Hombre Bala vs. Atlantis, Alfonso Dantes y Rayo De Jalisco Jr. (Feb 1987) 6. Blue Panther, El Talisman y El Dandy vs. Stuka, America Rocca y Chamaco Valaguez (11/86) 7. Lizmark, La Fiera y Kung Fu vs. Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala y Jerry Estrada (2/27/87)8. Tony Salazar, Mogur y Alfonso Dantes vs. Hombre Bala, Talisman y Tony Bennetto vs. Satanico, MS-1 y Masakre (4/10/87)9. Americo Rocca, Javier Cruz y Chamaco Valaguez vs. Talisman, El Dandy y Guerrero Negro (3/13/87) 10. Americo Rocca, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Salazar vs. Negro Navarro, El Signo y El Texano (9/19/86) Lots of good wrestling here but this was the first disk where nothing blew me away. The next disk looks like a welcome change of pace.

The team of Ringo Mendoza, Atlantis and Javier Llanes is also in the mix here.

The all trios disk ends with a four way trios. You can't write this stuff. There's a fourth team missing from this listing: Ringo Mendoza, Atlantis and Javier Llanes. What we get here are two one-fall match ups where the winners advance to a standard three fall trios. First two match ups are fun stuff if unspectacular, the ending to the second match is really cool as Satanico breaks up La Estrella for the win and keeps sitting in the pin afterward triumphantly. Final match up is good as well with Dantes going off on Los Infernales to end the first fall and a good rudo beatdown to start the second. Plenty of neat stuff in all this but toward the lower end of the trios for me.

Clean opening fall started off with matwork was a welcome change of pace. The technico's ending to the first fall was nice spectacular burst. Ending was really cool with some big dives popping off all of a sudden and Salazar getting a measure of revenge on Satanico. Somehow this match made me want to see a bloody Santito v. Espectro brawl. Just with their attire I think it would be a sight to see.

Satanico wildly headbutting Dantes' hand while having him in an arm wrench was so cool, then suddenly MS1 comes along to grab the other hand and start comically biting on it. Thus ends a so-so first fall but the second fall really picks up and is pretty damn awesome: the crowd is wild for the technico comeback, Atlantis and Dandy work a really cool sequence and during the ending Dantes steamrolls through MS1 with a big shoulder block on the outside. Third fall is short but sweet featuring El Dandy getting huge air off a backdrop, a big top rope dive by Jalisco and Dantes taking out MS1 with big shoulder blocks and a cool surfboard that he sends him flying off of after he quits. Fun stuff.

Real good heated trios. Opening rudo mugging was really good, Satanico smashing Salazar with big shoulder blocks was cool; the beginning of the second fall it got real good though, they took it to Jalisco and went after Fiera's leg. Jalisco's big comeback was awesome and the crowd went nuts for it and he took out all three Infernales both in the ring and on the outside. Good competitive third fall.

Another good but lesser trios. Technicos dominate in the opening and it's fun stuff and the rudo beatdown in the second fall is pretty good, Dandy hits a nice senton. Cool double dive spot at the end follow by a nice ending with a fast sequence ending in a TERRIBLE FOULE.

One of the lesser trios but still good stuff. King Fu is a good comedy character and again works a fun segment where he dominants the rudos. La Fiera rules in this match, hitting some cool kicks at the end of the first fall and a crazy front flip arm drag in the second; Los Bucaneros work over La Fiera's leg to end the second fall and in the third fall Fiera mounts a comeback selling the leg really well. The Fiera leg dynamic is really cool and gives this match a unique feel but it's a bottom third affair.

Am I the only one who always kind of wants to see the commercials that cut off after a split second in some of these older lucha matches? Rudo mugging starts us off and it's perfectly fine; the second fall though gets real good. Technicos stage a comeback and the crowd is absolutely molten for it. Back in the ring they run one of the better technico offensives you'll see, awesome stuff from all three completely with nice stooging. Atlantis even gives a nice "fuck you" punch to one of los piratos while getting up from a pin. Third fall is good too, Estrada hilariously sells like death for Atlantis just popping up in front of him off one of his rolling kip ups. Don't know exactly how the rudos won here, they pin Atlantis then Jalisco (the captain) comes in and they team up on him but eventually jump dump him out of the ring. There's a clip toward the end, maybe they pinned Dantes during. Another mid-range trios, nothing wrong with that.

Panther and Stuka start it off on the mat and it's pretty awesome, though none of the other combinations live up to it. Ends to the first two falls are cool, especially the first with a pretty great looking backdrop, and the brawling when the match degenerates it pretty good, including a really neat dive spot. Damn good match but not great relative to the set.

Panther and Stuka start it off on the mat and it's pretty awesome, though none of the other combinations live up to it. Ends to the first two falls are cool, especially the first with a pretty great looking backdrop, and the brawling when the match degenerates it pretty good, including a really neat dive spot. Damn good match but not great relative to the set.

Yes, I have the audacity to make this thread with no official imprimatur. Seems a good thread to have for general 80s project comments and questions. Also I have a question of interest:What set had the lowest discrepancy between sets ordered and ballots turned it? The highest?

Lucha libre as aired on Japanese TV! Relatively weak match for the set but still a lot of fun. Ending to the first fall sees the Misioneros hit a triple team atomic drop and a really cool double team submission for the win. Some nice punch exchanges throughout and neat stuff at the end, including a super-speed El Signo (I think) tope and Texano (I think) reversing the classic hurricanrana into the leg lock circle spot (there should be a name for that spot; maybe there is). This feels like a bottom third match which gets over how damn good this set it.

The match had two really awesome threads running through it: Fiera/Babyface and Jalisco/2000. Babyface goes right to Fiera's arm as keeps at it the entire match; Fiera for his part sells it beautifully every second, even recoiling in pain when the ref tries to raise is hand after winning the first fall. Jalisco and 2000 kill each other, mask ripping all around and Jalisco getting busted open with a beautiful apron posting before coming back and drawing blood the old fashioned way, biting. Some awesome spurts of brawling and great punches. Caras and Lizmark are no slouches in their own right, with Lizmark hitting a great dive toward the end. One of the better trios on the set thus far I thought.

Yeah it's a real shame, this feels like a top 10, maybe top 5, potential match in full.

Cool stuff. I didn't watch for this but will probably get this eventually since it seems a lot of the high ranking matches aren't online. 40 ballots strikes me as quite a success given the problems with the forum.

disk five 1. Espanto Jr. vs El Hijo Del Santo (8/31/86)2. Sangre Chicana vs. Perro Aguayo (2/28/86)3. La Fiera vs. Babyface (8/15/86) 4. El Solitario vs. Dr. Wagner (12/1/85)5. Ringo Mendoza, Atlantis y Ultraman vs. Satanico, Masakre y MS-1, (September 1986)6. Americo Rocca, Cacharro Mendoza y Kung Fu vs. El Talisman, El Dandy y Guerrero Negro (September 1986)7. Pirata Morgan, BabyFace y Cien Caras vs. La Fiera, Lizmark y Rayo De Jalisco Jr. (September 1986)8. Lizmark, Alfonso Dantes y Tony Salazar vs. El Signo, El Texano y Negro Navarro (8/15/86) 9. Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs. Mascara Ano 2000 (8/15/86) What a disk, best one yet. The top 4 on this disk is just nuts and all the trios are really good too. Jalisco/2000 is a good match itself.Well, halfway through the set here's my so-far tentative top 10: MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (9/23/83)Gran Cochisse vs. Satanico (9/14/84)Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (1/27/84)Espanto Jr. vs El Hijo Del Santo (8/31/86)Sangre Chicana vs. Perro Aguayo (2/28/86)Espectro Jr., Satanico y MS-1 vs. Mocho Cota, Sangre Chicana y La Fiera (9/30/83)Solar, Ultraman y Super Astro vs. Sergio El Hermoso, Bello Greco y Rudy Reyna (2/26/84)La Fiera, El Faraón y El Egipico vs. MS-1, Satanico y Pirata Morgan (3/29/85)Atlantis vs. El Faraón (3/22/85)La Fiera vs. Babyface (8/15/86)

I had a feeling I might be underrating this so I rewatched it and yeah, I was underrating this. The clipping is really unfortunate and pretty jarring in the first half but this match is incredible. Even through the clipping the first half is pretty good but the second half gets great, Wagner is fantastic working over Solitario. The ending run is perfect, masks are ripped up, both guys are spent and going for broke and there's tons of great spots and nearfalls. Ending is really cool too. Also even through the less than perfect VQ you can hear how hot the crowd is and get a sense of the big match feel. After rewatching it this does very well on my list.

Cool comedy bit with the nunchuks in the pre-match. Opening matwork is passable but afterward the extended run of technico offense and rudo stooging was a blast, really cool stuff. Talisman FOULS Mendoza to win the second fall and after a double team segment ending with two big dives from the other four Mendoza and Talisma are left in the ring and Mendoza is DQed for extracting revenge. Another very enjoyable middle of the pack trios.

This is all about Babyface vs. Fiera. Right from the opening Fiera bleeds big and Babyface is beating him around the ring area for the whole first fall. Second fall section between them is great as Fiera is trying to fire himself up and goads Babyface in the ring but while taunting he's still staggering and almost falls over. Technico onslaught at the beginning of the first fall is great and Fiera and Babyface really go at it back in the ring. Ending is cool with the technicos looking to have it in the bag but Fiera missing a missle drop kick lets the rudos turn it around. Middle of the pack match for me, and this is one hell of a pack.

The first of like thirteen trios that are coming up. Super fun match here. Some cool opening mat stuff and good stuff in the second fall: a really great though brief MS1/Ultraman segment, a heated exchange between Satanico and Mendoza and some cool sort of fallaway powerbombs by MS1 on Atlantis at the end. Third fall is great with a big punch exchange between Satanico and Mendoza with Mendoza getting the better of it and a cool segment where each of the technicos take their turn taking on all the rudos at once. Post match, Pirata Morgan comes down to beat up Satanico. Man do I wanna see that match.

Another classic. The little kids going up to Santito and encouraging him while he was on the floor between the first and second falls was so great. Espanto dominants for much of the beginning, doing some cool back work during the second fall, ramming the small of Santo's back into the top turnbuckle and whipping him face first off the ropes into a back kick. Santo's comeback is just amazing, sending Espanto out through the ropes on a Feurza bump followed by a big dive, right in front of the camera. Third fall is off the charts, tons of mask ripping, dives and blood. Santo staging his second comeback and his tearing at Espanto's mask and dragging him across the ring by it ruled. Espanto hits a big dive on the opposite side of the ring as the camera and then the camera cuts to the other side where they're laying in the wreckage and blood is streaming down Espanto's mask. A shame about the VQ and some clipping but it's not even close to masking a match this great.