soup23

I would think I will be the high voter on Hennig vs. Bock at the Cow Palace at #3 but you never knowl. Also, would like to know if anyone else had Leon vs. Hansen above #5

Some more individuals I am not too familiar with (tailsman, Valaquez). The Santo interaction in the first fall was a ton of fun vs. both Fuerza and Estrada. Fuerza in particular shows a lot of fire in the onset. Mendoza comes in to relinquish Santo from the corner and he has a quick flurry with Fuerza and Estrada bumping around. We then get some neat heel miscommunication spots with Tailsman and Fuerza not being able to get on the same page. Santo and Fuerza have their typical good sequence then Valaquez and Estrada have a nice sequence with Estrada takinga backdrop through the ring ropes. Big tecnico flurry with submissions and dives from Santo wins the first fall for them. Second fall starts off really fun with Santo just bouncing off the rudos and them running into each other with comedy spots. Estrada is able to get the advantage of Mendoza and Tailsman kicks him on top of the head coming in. However, Mendoza is able to fall through to the floor. Valaguez gets a beating to and Santo as well. Rudos are dominant now. More mask tugging and agression from Fuerza. Tailsman gives valaguez a powerbomb without any regard for his health. Rudos take the second fall as Santo gets posted. On the third fall, they really go after Santo and his mask untying it. I liked the other tenicos trying to get in but Estrada keeps them at bay. Finally we get the big comeback against Fuerza. Fuerza gets his mask ripped. Finish comes when Fuerza is able to take Santo's mask off. Now this was a good tag with a lot of good action and followed a formula but something seemed off for me and I think it was how two bit both Mendoza/Valaguez felt.***1/4

I always like Bobby Fulton but he annoyed me in that match. I thought that match was decent but very blah overall. I would in no way place it in the same category as stuff like that Olympians tag on the last disc or so. Martel vs. Rhengians at 149 seems pretty harsh. 122. Nick Bockwinkel and Mr. Saito vs. High Flyers (3/7/85) - This also really surprises me. This tag seems like it would be right in your wheelhouse.

Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (11/21/86) Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (8/30/86) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (5/2/87) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Wahoo McDaniel (8/28/83) Stan Hansen vs. Leon White (3/13/86) Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (1/17/87) Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito vs. High Flyers (3/7/85) King Tonga, Masked Superstar, & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter (Cage Match) (4/21/85) Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Midnight Rockers (January 1988) Stan Hansen vs. Sgt. Slaughter (2/23/86) Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (1/27/87) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (3/7/87) Stan Hansen vs. Crusher Blackwell (6/28/86) Jumbo Tsurtua vs. Rick Martel (5/13/84) Crusher Blackwell vs. Mad Dog Vachon (Algerian Death Match) (5/22/83) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (9/20/84) Da Crusher & Greg Gagne vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey (Cage Match) (3/25/84) Mr. Saito vs. Rick Martel (4/24/85) Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (7/16/88) Stan Hansen vs. Nick Bockwinkel (4/20/86) Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. High Flyers (Cage Match) (4/14/82) Bill Dundee & Jerry Lawler vs. Original Midnight Express (10/30/87) Tito Santana & Rick Martel vs. High Flyers (8/29/82) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (3/28/85) Rick Martel vs. Harley Race (4/20/86) 140. Bobby & Jackie Fulton vs. Destruction Crew (11/18/89) 141. Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Dino Bravo & Steve O (8/28/83) 142. Cactus Jack Manson & The Rock N Roll RPMs vs. Chavo, Hector, & Mando Guerrero (12/13/88) 143. Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal vs. Scott Hall & Curt Hennig (11/14/85) 144. Crusher Blackwell vs. Bruiser Brody (10/21/84) (NO DQ) 145. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. Da Crusher & Baron Von Raschke (6/13/85) 146. Col. Debeers vs. Jimmy Snuka (Glove On A Pole Match) (2/21/87) 147. Adrian Adonis vs. Hulk Hogan (10/17/82) 148. Crusher Blackwell & King Kong Bundy vs. The Road Warriors (11/22/84) 149. Steve Regal vs. Buck Zumhofe (11/28/85) 150. Sherri Martel vs. Debbie the Killer Tomato (7/26/86)

I am almost through 2 discs and this a bottom two match for me so far. I feel safe in saying this will probably be a bottom 20 pick when all is said and done and maybe a bottom 10.

Really excited that we get the grudge match between these two. Herodes has the awesome beard still and dominates the first few minutes until Salazar comes firing off and wins the first fall. Salazar starts off hot on the second fall and posts Herodes. The ref admonishes Salazar in order to give Herodes back the advantage and him rams Salazar’s shoulder into the turnbuckle and clubs and cranks it away. Salazar responds by going after Herodes shoulder. I love the intensity being displayed here. Referee gives Herodes the second fall with an armbar submission. Salazar gets busted up at the onset of the final fall and is a complete mess. Herodes does a straight choke and this has gotten grim. This choke is really nasty and he comes back firing some body punches. Salazar is able to come back with some wild punches and is really selling the beating well. Salazar is doing some excellent selling of the blood loss. Herodes gets posted now on the outside. Nice bulldog on the outside. Salazar posts and bulldogs him again. Now Herodes comes up a complete mess with the blood just gushing out. The back and forth punches when they get back in is great as you would expect with both guys missing some because of the blood in the eyes. Herodes especially squinting because of the blood flow is great. Herodes with a huge dive to the outside. Salazar responds with a big dive on his own. Herodes again is trying to clear his vision. Diving headbutt and some big time nearfalls that the crowd bites on. Herodes even gets one with a big senton. Referee goes down and Herodes responds with our best nut shot of the set so far. He pins him down but the ref asks the crowd whether a foul commenced. The crowd tells him yes and Salazar is declared the winner. Great final fall and bloody grudge match overall. ****1/4

My favorite old ass crazy bumper from the 90’s, Estrada shows up. Ultraman was great in the trios match so I look forward to what he does in this title match. This starts off very mat based with some snug arm work that does not look like it feels good. Estrada really impressed me working this hold mentality throughout the first fall based on what I have seen of him and he wins the first fall with the same submission that Vera did previously. Estrada takes off the second fall again working over Ultraman’s arm. Ultra gets ins ome flurries but has remained pretty grounded. He finally is able to maintain the advantage with a wheelbarrol slam into a submission. Ultra starts off the third fall hot with some enzuguris and suplexes to some extreme nearfalls. We get some of those great Estrada bumps now off of these suplexes. Estrada has a look of pain with every move that he applies that is really good at selling the damage he has taken. Estrada gives a flash dive to the outside then of course has to take a bump into the chairs himself because that is what he does. Big running knee lift is missed by Estrada in the corner and a great dropkick and dive combo to the outside is followed up by Ultraman. Estrada goes back to the old standard in this match, working the arm. The doctor comes in to see if Ultra can continue and he waves it off given Estrada the win. Huge celebration takes place. I thought this was great and showed good versatility for both of these competitors. ****

Dos Caras has never been one of my favorites. I should probably rewatch the All Japan matches since I watched them two years ago when I was real wet behind the ears with lucha stuff. This is a good contrast to the previous match on the same card. The deadlift spot where Caras pulls Vera up is really great. Some minor clipping occurs throughout this match but I don’t think we miss much of anything. Vera takes the first fall with a submission. Vera starts off fast in the second fall with two quick dropkicks to try to put Caras away. Caras is able to roll him up to get the quick flash pin. Third fall slows the pace back down. Tons of pin and submission attempts. Really nice surfboard is executed by Caras. Vera does a really awful dive off the second rope. Vera redeems himself with a good dive on the outside to Caras. Caras is able to get the momentum on the victory roll for the win. This match was good but mostly bland. It feels like one of those matches that at the end of the process you look down and see it ranked in the bottom quarter and it’s a realization of how strong the overall set was. ***1/4

Never watched anyone on the rudo side before and we get a very grainey camera angle on this one that will probably be tough for me to distinguish. First fall is a blast with tons of fun stuff going on too numerous to name. All three of the faces are able to come in and look good. Second fall begins with a rudo beating. Huge bump to the outside takes out the apron. The chase around the ring resulting in the back elbow smash was the greatest face spot I can remember of that sequence. Those punches by Ultraman that Tim references are super. Finsh was hectic and conclusive ending. This match was a total blast that I could have had 5-10 minutes more of. ****

Starts in progress with Herodes and the entire rudos completely kicking ass. Mocho Cota again endears himself to me by tearing apart Lizmark in the corner. He also gives some huge dropkicks to Mendoza to take the first fall. Cota presenting his missing fingers to the crowd is another brilliant touch. I am to the point where I am ready to see every match of his that has made tape. Salazar is a bloody mess and the Rudos are just wailing away on him. Mendoza tries to drag him to the outside and Cota responds by banging his head against the apron. Lizmark tries his hand and again gets beat up. Brawl continues on the outside and then back inside with round two of Salazar getting creamed. Finally Lizmark and Mendoza have had enough and the big comeback commences. Herodes takes a big bump in the corner. Salazar especially shows a lot of good fire in this segment. Stereo dives are made to the outside. Finish makes sense in the fact that Salazar is seeing red and when Herodes goes for a nut shot he responds giving the rudos the win. Really fun match that didn’t have a ton of flow but made up for it in passion and hate. ***1/2

This starts with a heated brawl between Satanico and gang. Lizmark and Atlantis come out and get their ass kicked immediately. Lizmark comes firing back and is great using all sorts of flashy moves including the springboard armdrag. Atlantis looks good in his segment and has continued to impress me throughout this set. First fall ends with a butterfly suplex, powerbomb combo. Really rudo vs. tecnico structure with almost every offensive move from Eqipcio and Faraon is of the kick/punch variety. Rudos take the second fall just clubbing away and ending it with a senton. Third fall starts with more of the same. Egipcio kicks with Lizmark in a submission are not very inspiring. Lizmark makes the big comeback and Egipcio is looking for a foul to be called to no avail. Huge diving headbutt allows both Atlantis and Egipcio to be pinned. It now comes down to Lizmark and Faraon. Lizmark has the win in his grasp until Faraon says enough of that shit and rips off the mask ending the match. The crowd is pissed at this development and someone in the crowd has to be restrained. This was a fun tag but too inconsequential to place high on a set like this. ***1/4

Time for the rematch. Cota is more animated at the onset mugging for the crowd. First fall was more beautiful wrestling. Cota spinning out of the chinlock was incredibly cool. Cota trying to frustrate Rocca by rubbing his face like you would pet a dog is also awesome. The arm submission work looks very nasty and unique. Rocca seems to be showing a little more viciousness in this rematch which is appreciated. The flip over victory roll finish was awesome and the perfect way to end the first fall. Cota again is awesome at the beginning of the second fall getting dropped on his dome and trying to shake out the cobwebs. Cota comes firing back with more desperation and aggression because he has to even it up. Constant one arm takedowns and slinging him into the turnbuckle. Big senton and Cota uses his knee to help with pinfalls. Cota finishes him off with a submission that I am sure has a name, but hell if I know what it is. Cota gets a little overzealous coming in and gets posted. The third fall has a much faster pace. Rocca goes for a pin but Cota catches his arm and we get another double pin. I don’t want this feud to end. Third fall being abbreviated made sense but does place this one slightly below the first match. ****1/4

The first fall of this is some of my favorite lucha matwork wrestling this side of Blue Panther, Llanes vs. Dandy and dandy vs. Azteca. Giving a running play by play would be mundane but I was completely engaged in everything transpiring. The referee making Cota break the headscissors as a choke gave a nice little narrative and the match was off and running from there. Every submission looks like it could be it, at one point Cota has a pin attempt with all of Roccas limbs tied up that I don't know how he kept escaping from. Rocca wins with the Gory Special which is a fantastic finish to a caida like this. Cota gets in gear in the second fall and schools Rocca at almost every turn. The stuff is done on the mat but with a great viciousness attached to it including the submission finish. The third fall now is for the championship and Cota is even more aggressive ringing out the arm and sending it into the turnbuckle. He then hooks on a nasty looking chinlock that looks more like a rear naked choke a treated as Rocca is in sever danger from it. Cota's second keeps pushing Rocca's legs from the ropes and a fan responds by pelting garbage at him. Cota's throws are something that written here don't seem like much but he does them with such force and disregard that they really look vicious. His whole demeanor in this match has been superb. Rocca makes his big comeback with some pin attempts and a couple of dropkicks. Victory gets caught by Cota and we almost have the Owen vs. Bret finish. HUGE dropkick from Coata sends Rocca to the outside then we get probably my favorite dive of the set up to this point as Cota goes out like a missile and Rocca goes flying back. Both men thankfully make the count and Cota is frustrated. Cota runs the gauntlet of nasty submissions but Rocca wont give it up. Cota slaps the mat in frustration. Bridging armdrag by Rocca and some dropkicks but he gets into the ref. Cota hits and armdrag and even though the legs are under the ropes, the dazed ref doesn't see it. People are not pleased with this. Bring on the rematch.****1/2

First fall is all Atlantis. He shows his amazing grace from the onset with a great dropkick that sends Satanico regrouping to the outside. He also does a leap up cross body. He hooks on a camel clutch that I thought might be it but Satanico shows his resourcefulness by biting his hand. Atlantis puts him away with a rocking horse type submission that has Satanico reeling to end the first fall. Satanico complains on the outside in between falls and then gets in and starts putting the boots to Atlantis. Atlantis shows he can mix it up in that area and gives some back drops to Satanico and hooks in the abdominal stretch with a cravat variation. Satanico comes firing back with throws into the turnbuckly and outside. Sataico celebrating on the outside and raising his hands in the air is glorious. He puts Atlantis inside the ring and gives him some hip tosses and a elbow drop and finishes it with a pin. He continues to put the beating on him in between the falls. Third fall ups the ante even more with some mask ripping and stiff punches and knees to Atlantis. Satanico is a complete vicious loon just hammering away and biting at him. The ref gets heavily involved by pulling Satanico’s hair to finally pull him off. Atlantis is a bloody mess with it all over his chest. We then get Problemas de Transmission and we go to black and white. This doesn’t detract from the violence though as Satanico continues to put the boots to him. We get a badass king of the mountain spot with Atlantis having to grab one of Satanico’s legs and wrap it around the apron to allow him to get in. We then get revenge spots as Satanico is sent into the corner and Atlantis bites him. Satanico is a bloody mess now. Atlantis goes back to that ab stretch submission but Satanico is able to get in a short elbow and now both competitors are drained and we have a nasty slugfest between the two. Atomic drop from Atlantis gives him the advantage and he follows that up with a backbreaker but Satanico socks him right in the mouth. Atlantis kills him with two beautiful dropkicks and goes for the victory roll but Satanico cuts him off again. Satanico then hooks in the camel clutch but Atlantis fights out of it. Another crazy dropkick sends Satanico to the outside and we get a dive from Atlantis. He goes for a flying headbutt and again Satanico ducks away. Satanico is looking really strong here and this match is a war. Sunset flip gets our closest near fall of the match for Atlantis and now he hits the flying headbutt but he tries again and hits the turnbuckle. Amazing resourcefulness. Santanico then gives him the boots and locks on the submission for the clean as a shit victory. Holy shit was this amazing and told a great story. Both guys come out looking spectacular. I watched this match twice to make sure I wasn’t crazy on first watch but this would be the best match I have seen in 2013 and therefore it deserves the rating I am giving it. *****

I said the same thing about white vs Hansen

Add Lobo Rubio to the guys I have never seen before. I love seeing young Santo as he looked really young and spry in the 1990 stuff I have seen so this being seven years before that is a mindbender. Santo does a roll up rana into a headscissors that I haven’t seen before but looks great. He follows that up by climbing up Rubio and taking him down with another headscissors. Rubio retreats to the outside but that is not safe as Santo headscissors him back in. Awesome. Even with the shitty sound, the crowd was going nuts for this exchange as Atlantis and Fuerza try their luck. Atlantis twists up Fuerza till he is on his head literally. Fuerza is momentarily on top with a wicked quick exchange but Atlantis comes right back with an armdrag sending him to the outside. I again appreciate the mixing of pairings as Rubio gets outmatched by Atlantis. Santo and Fuerza then go at it. This long term rivals seem more cautious with each other and do some beautiful chain wrestling. Dropkick to the outside wins the duel for Santo and we restart with the original pairing in the match with the tecnico getting better of everyone so far. Wrap around the world armdrag by Santo to Rubio This is a clinic. Fuerza tries to amp up the aggression vs. Atlantis but gets outclassed again by the quickness of Atlanits. Ditto for Rubio. Santo then does an armdrag to Fuerza which has to be seen to believe. I can’t even describe it was like a back arm armdrag. Tecnicos then lock on their submissions and win the first fall without hardly breaking a sweat. Segunda Caida starts out with Rubio and Fuerza given a run at Atlantis and Santo and failing. Rubio gives a great rudo move of telling him to calm down which pops the crowd huge. Finally Rbuio catches Atlantis with a punch and the rudos take over. Atlantis gets out and Fuerza offers santo a headshake. When Santo declines, he gets a swift slap in the face. Awesome move by the rudos as Atlantis is laid on the top rope and Rubio gives Fuerza an assisted dive on top of him. Rubio comes down with Santo with a double axehandle from the top and the rudos are dominating now. Santo gets posted on the outside. Rubio hurls Santo to the outside in a power press position and Santo sells his legs well. That ends the second fall when the tecnicos can’t answer the bell. The onslaught continues on Atlantis on the outside and back in the ring. Fuerza gives Santo a ton of stiff strikes but now Santo fires back and him and Rubio have a heated exchange. Fuerza comes in with some stiff right hands and kicks to Santo. Atlantis comes back in for revenge. Fuerza fouls Santo but the ref doesn’t see it. He eats a tilt a whirl suplex from Atlantis twice. The heels then have some miscommunication and the tecnicos double up resulting in them hitting their huge dives on their foes on the outside. The rudos are counted out and Santo/Atlantis are victorious. This tag is an excellent template to the tecnico and rudo style as the tecnico’s showed great flash and grace in winning and the rudos just clobbered them when they were on top. Finish was completely satisfactory. Great intro to lucha choice. A- (****)

Refreshing to see Chicana in a traditional title match right after the blood feud with MS-1. This is a match where he clearly feels like the superior worker to Mendoza and leads him to a good match. I can also see this match having some huge proponents because the targets of Chicana's neck and Mendoza's back play into the strategy of multiple falls. Chicana emphasizes the back in everything he does in the third fall. The finish is a letdown and I actually could have had 5-6 more minutes of this but overall it was very good and showed great versatility for Chicana. B+ (***3/4)

Have to hand it to MS-1, he is relentless if nothing else. This time him and his lackies attack all three members at the onset and lay down another impressive beatdown. I know Mocho Cota is someone to be on the lookout for based on the pre set podcast, and he was impressive here and incredibly lanky. He hits a gusher and the rudos clearly take the first fall. The build to the tecnicos comeback is awesome and the pop on the first punch is amazing. The work with them rushing the ring and taking over was really neat and I do love how they will fight fire with fire and throw back nasty punches and do 3 on 1 beatdowns. Satanico of course was a awesome as a prick person on top hitting kicks and also as a person begging off. Match was probably too short overall to be a true classic but as a standalone on a set like this, it was a lot of fun and certainly deserves a spot. B (***1/2)

Obviously probably the odds on favorite to be #1 for the set and a match I had seen and really liked before. On this watch, this felt like one of the greatest matches of all time. When I watched this a few years ago, I don't think I had the maturity and conflict in my real life to fully resonate to the match. Tons of people will talk about the components of the match but I will comment on the thing that makes this match one of the best. The element of depth. How far was each man williing to reach below to pull out a victory. How far was MS-1 willing to sink in those first two falls to ensure victory. Chicana's sell job is awesome throughout with a glazed look on his face. In the past two years of my life, I have faced greater triumphs and depths. There have been moments where you feel that same glazed over feeling. Everything becomes a blur and yet you soldier on because achieving the task at hand is worth it in the end. chicana exemplified this. Him raising his arms at the end of this match felt like a religious rebirth. The ending didn't see them hug and congradulate each other. As satisfied as Chciana was at the vicotry, his hatred for MS-1 didn't subside. This match is a masterpiece. A+ (*****)

There is something bizarre about the first trios on the set involving Kevin Von Erich. He starts us off with a mat based section against Herodes which I never would have guessed would be the case but it was interesting nonetheless. Kevin may have missed his calling as a heel because he shoves Herodes down and has the most prick look on his face. He fires off a dropkick and Herodes retreats. Mascara and Colosetti have the next exchange and it is fine if not particularly inspiring stuff. This gives way to Pirata vs. Halcon. Pirata is the person I am most looking forward to on this set. With Dandy, Satanico, and Santo, I feel like I have seen a ton of their greatest stuff in the 90’s so I know what they can do. I have seen some great Pirata stuff but I feel there is more untapped potential in my viewing than in the other three individuals. Their first exchange ends in a funny moment as the ref gets taken out by Pirata. Halcon ends up on top for most of the exchanges. We get a switch up in the parings as Kevin and Colosetti are next. Kevins high standing elbow had great air on it. Kevin also drags his face against the mat while in a head scissors. What a dick. Herodes and Ano have a fast as shit exchange followed up by Pirata and Ortiz continuing doing their thing. Pirata looks a little better this time but gets monkey flipped to the outside and takes a sick bump. I’m loving the snippets of the different pairings we get throughout this match. The two bruisers Halcon and Herodes go at it. Kevin fires off dropkicks and another high elbow to pin Herodes and Halcon gets the victory roll on Pirata to end the first fall. Rudos start off dominating the second fall playing the numbers game and clobbering their counterparts. However, Kevin is able to fire off and now that team is dominating. Pirata finally gets one up in a exchange with Ortiz. He pins him on a front flip senton. Tempers are really flaring up with Devin and Colosetti. They continue wailing away on each other on the outside between falls and Kevin gets posted. Halcon looks out of gas on the third fall basically relying on Pirata to bump for him into the ringpost and to the outside. He does do a nice dive onto Pirata though. Kevin is able to get the top rope crossbody on Colosetti to win the match. Pretty anticlimactic final fall even with the spot the match had been building to with Kevin vs. Colosetti. Kevin steps over him in another dick spot from him in this match. Good intro to trios matches and I really liked the constant mixing of the pairings. I don’t think Kevin of course understands the dynamic of tecnico vs. rudo tendencies in lucha but they covered for him well.B- (***1/4)

Another match that starts with a firm mat base. Canek went for a bow and arrow which was a neat variation and different from the last match but Fujinami wasn’t game so he turned it into a pin attempt. Canek then does this odd hold where he has the legs grapevine and his hands are interlocked under Fujinami’s righ armpit. Fuji pushes the pace with some dropkicks. Canek does two really cool diving elbows including one to the back of the head of a standing Fujinami which is a variation I have never seen before to win the first fall. So far Canek has been a lot more lively to me in this match than the previous one. Second fall starts off with Canek hot as he hits the flying elbow. He does a weird sell job out of this though that I didn’t quite get and Fuji takes over with an enzuguri and floatover suplex. Backdrop suplex evens it up and this second fall felt a lot like the brief second falls we see in CMLL today. Fuji starts the third fall by attacking Caneks leg and peppering it away. Canek hooks in an abdominal stretch. One thing I have liked about this match as a soon as a match starts to feel a little boring, Fuji will escape and pick up the pace. The tone of the third fall is more vicious to even within the confines of wrestling holds like their arm drags. Butterfly suplex and fisherman suplex are both busted out by Canek. Fuji now locks in his own bow and arrow and ab stretch as payback spots. Canek comes back with a figure four and they do the roll to the outside with the hold still applied spot which seemed very revolutionary in 1983. Canek suplexes him back in and Fuji selling of the leg is majestic. Fuji accidently dropkicks the ref and Cnaek sends him to the outside. Awesome looking tope from Canek responds that feels built up to. Finish is pretty blah with the ref just declaring Canek the winner but we do get a fairly heated brawl and exchange on the outside to what I can only guess would continue this feud. I liked this better than the previous match based on the fact that I thought Canek was a lot better in this match. B+ (***3/4)

I don’t think I have ever seen Canek before. I forgot to mention it in the last match but I love this arena and the look of this show. This one starts mat oriented like the last match but was more explosive and active than the previous match. Canek would get submission moves but not do a ton with them. Corleone was having to push the action in the first fall and came off with some good transitions. His flipover leg grapevine maneuver especially impressed which he then transitioned into a STF type hold. Lou alls for a rope break and we get a little shoving contest. Canek takes advantage with a dropkick and gutwrench suplex. A couple of flash elbows and we have the finish to our first fall. Canek starts the second fall where we left on in the first working over the arm. Canek delivers a weird piledriver where he executes it like a tombstone. Thesz pulls Canek off of a submission he had on Corleone when he reaches the ropes. This fall has been way too one sided. Beautiful bump by Corleone on a back drop. Corleone fires back with a flurry and hits tonight favorite move, a double underhook suplex to even it up. Third fall is a little back and forth before a deep surfboard by Corleone. Corleone giving that up and going back to that STF type submission was super. Canek makes his comeback here and powerslams and dropkicks to the outside. Big dive for Canek. Thesz is out of position for a nearfall. Atomic drop gets a nearfall to the chagrin of Bob Backlund. Canek then hits a german and wins the matchup. I liked the previous match better as the work seemed more focused and it built up better to the third fall climax. Corleone impressed though. C+ (***)

I really enjoyed seeing Lou Thesz ref this match and both guys upping their matwork game to impress them. That was something Phil talked about in the podcast previewing the set and I agree. How much Centurion Negro is out there? He looked really good here I thought being dominant but interesting and feeding into Hamadas underdog tendencies. Only saw a 6 man of him opposite black Terry on youtube. The opening fall with the leg work he was doing I thought was really good and interesting variations on some stuff. Everything looked very firmly applied and not relinquished. The double underhook suplex being utilized by him as neutralizer was also one of my favorite themes of the match. The third fall ratchets everything up with dives to the outside and multiple pin attempts and positioning but this would have seemed pretty hollow to me if they hadn't laid the grown work on front end of the match. Overall very enjoyable and I dig Hamada as the best underdog in the footage we have seen.B (***3/4)

Prematch promo from Andre is amusing with him saying he is 7 feet 2 inches tall. Ok then Hulkster. Opening is a wild scene with Chicana defiantly standing in front of Andre chewing gum. Andre charges ahead and Sangre wisely takes a powder. Some big shit also was happening in the crowd with someone being carted away by the police. We start off with both Dantes and Sangre grabbing a leg resulting in Andre spanking Sangre. Dantes tries his luck again and gets sit on. Herodes grabs and hammerlock and Andre dead lifts him up. He then does it to both Chicana and Herodes ot the delight of the crowd. Where t the fuck is Caras with all of this happening? Andre is doing some amazing power man stuff and the crowd is eating it all up. He pulls Chicana one foot up from out of the corner onto his feet. Finally, Cien enters the match. Cien gets worked over a bit but its more Andre to the rescue. He steps on Chicana. Andre in another funny moment places caras in front of him to kick any oncoming intruders. I am really alarmed at how incompetent they are making Caras look with Andre having to bail him out at all times. Fall ends with Andre/Caras as the victors. Finally the rudos get a little advantage on Andre only for Caras to trip them up. Caras gets fouled behind the refs back and Andre lines all three in the corner for a battering ram spot. He sits down on Herodes and bearhugs Chicana for the victory. Match is perplexing because I have a couple of major problems with it. One, it follows the same pattern and is not that short. Andre dominates against three guys, Caras gets outgunned and worked over, and Andre makes the save. Second, I will need more clarification on how big name the rudos and Caras where at this time. I know comedy can be a part of major wrestlers in lucha but it didn’t work for me in how stupid the rudos were made to look. I can see some people really digging this as a vacuum type match with Andre showing his dominance and I did laugh at many spots, but the overall match lacked a certain depth and was too long for what it was trying to accomplish. C- (**)

May regret this but I'm going to try to use Parv's grading system on this set. These four guys are a good mixture of well known individuals (Hamada, TM), people we have seen in other 80's set (Babyface), and a lucha guy that is well known (Perro). Perro sets the tone for the match right away bum rushing Hamada and sending them to the outside. Good vicious brawling in the opening onset. Perro casually walking to the outside and facing Hamada was great and Perro overall is my MVP of this match. Another cool moments happens when Hamada tags in, wants to go after Perro, and he casually walks and steps out of the ring. Hamada responds by spitting at him and the heat is on. Hamada has a great combination here where he fends off both Babyface and Perro. Sayama looked crisper on his stuff here than what I have seen of early 80's TM. Babyface was the worlds most loyal henchman always letting Perro wail away but standing there by his side and lending a hand. First fall finish with Sayama/Perro seemed a little botched but they covered it up nicely. Second fall Perro/Baby are able to get their revenge and even things up. Third fall has the premise that the rudos have dominated this whole match. Hamada really comes into play here firing back with just enough stuff to give the viewer a sense of hope before Perro slings him to the outside. Hamada's bleeding now but not giving up. His posting of Perro after slinging him out the ring ignites the crowd and myself as a great revenge spot. You can see both Perro/Babyface losing a sense of control they have had for most of this match and Perro saying fuck it and fouling on Hamada on the surface may seem cheap, in the confines of the match it made perfect sense. I have no idea where this will rank overall of course but if this is a middle of the road match in the set, we are in for a wild ride. B+ (****)