Lee B.

This lucha set seems a bit like eating your vegetables from time to time, but by the end of most matches I am glad I watched them. I just don't look at the TOC on the discs and say to myself, awesome, I can't wait to power through to match #6 because of so-and-so, because I rarely know all six of the luchadores in a trios match. I think the interest will pick up again if Portland or Puerto Rico is the next set, because of all the Piper, Rose, and Martel on the Portland set, and the Hansen, Funks, Abdullah, blood, etc. on the Puerto Rico set. I'd love it if Will had more than three sets in him, but I am thankful for what he has done for me so far.

I watched the first 3/4 of this match in one sitting, and watched the very end about a week later. I remembered the match having some cool stuff in the first two falls, and some just OK stuff. The third fall was going on for a bit before I had to stop watching. And things seemed to be repeating themselves a bit much as the third fall went along. Plus, I hadn't read the comments and wasn't sure who was who. Picking back up with the match, the sequence where Ano takes a huge backdrop, eats a stiff dropkick, and then falls victim to a spinning splash from the apron was a great sequence. And then the final suplex to Mogur was insane and made me realize why this match is part of the set. Mogur did a great job selling the head-drop suplex whatever, and getting unmasked while you are out of it has to be a drag. There was not a lot of heat in this match, although there was a lot of trash in the ring at the end. I don't know what the crowd was thinking either. I agree that Mogur's punches to Ano after and while ripping his mask were cool. The near-falls toward the end were well-timed. I think this could end up in my top 40, but I'm not sure about my top 20.

Morgan is a beast in the first fall, and Dandy is a bloody mess. Morgan tossing Dandy in the air and kicking him in the gut as he falls down was impressive. The ref's antics with Dandy were annoying in the first and second fall, but this doesn't spoil the match. Morgan's slam of Dandy over the top rope to the floor to start the second fall is breath-taking. I never quite buy the routine of the heel pulling up his opponent repeatedly at the two-count, especially in a high-stakes match like a hair match. Dandy's combination of a top-turnbuckle head-butt and figure four is really impressive. The third fall is quite eventful, with some great missed splashes and lots of other cool stuff. It does go on a bit with the two-counts, but it is all more exciting than Charles-Atlantis, perhaps due to the blood. It was nice to see an enzugiri make an appearance in the third fall as well. I really thought the third fall, overall, made the match quite epic. The peso exchanges during the hair-cutting was nice as well. I loved this match and could see it in my top-10.

Opening matwork was quite solid. I always enjoy the flippy head-stand escape from leg-scissors that Atlantis performed. I loved Charles's attempt at a kip-up to match Atlantis, and the crowd's reaction. Charles's spine-busters and armbar take-downs were pretty brutal. I really liked Charles's backwards bump to the floor after the spinning backbreaker from Atlantis. There are a lot of near-falls during the third fall that are not quite as exciting at times as I hoped they would be. Toward the end, Atlantis hits a nice dive through the ropes, and Charles hits a good somersault from the apron. The final submission on Atlantis is a but surprising, with a great reversal, and it is a good conclusion to the match. Charles was especially fun to watch, and I think this was a very solid match. The lack of heat and hate may not make it a top-tier match for me either, but it should end up pretty well into my top-half of matches.

Kung Fu seems to be having a lot of fun as a heel during the first fall. Cruz does a great job selling the postings and the rest of the abuse to his forehead. I like Kung Fu's shrieks as he lays in the kicks during the second fall. Kung Fu's standing of Cruz's face, as well as his bulldog, are pretty brutal. Cruz's missile dropkick to take the second fall is beautiful. Kung Fu's banging Cruz's head into the mat during the third fall, and the resulting stain, is a bit gruesome. The series of two-counts toward the end are done well. I like Kung Fu's gloating leading to a couple of submission attempts by Cruz, the second of which works to win the match. I thought this was indeed fun, but not life-changing or anything. I would enjoy watching this again more than a lot of other matches, so this will probably end up in the lower top-half for me.

This didn't remind me of Sting-Rick Rude as much as it reminded me of the High Flyers v. Adnan and Blackwell, where the heels beat up Verne at the end of the match and the crowd goes completely nuts. This match was super from the get-go, with the stiff punches and the repeated tumbles to the floor. I liked Arandu's finishing sequence of four hip-tosses and then a senton from the top turnbuckle. Once the blood starts flowing, things get really out of hand at ringside. I thought the valet was escorted from ringside for her own safety, but she shows up at the end. The tosses into the chairs are pretty impressive. That final two-count sequence was so tense because you knew the crowd was ready to explode. I really wanted it to be over because of all the pent-up energy. The missed moonsault made me think Negro was going to win, so the ending was a real surprise. Just mayhem at the end with Negro chasing Arandu between snips and Arandu seeming to get mauled as he exits the ring. This may not have been the best technical match, but it was intense and memorable and could make it into my top 10.

Wouldn't it be funny if a wrestler established a finishing maneuver that was actually a botched move, but it still looked kind of cool? If Rocky Mountain Thunder had some staying power, his dangerous and botchy finishing move might have been called the Mile High Driver and emulated in ROH. But anyway, this was a solid match. Dandy was fun throughout, especially his super-human dive at the end. I was surprised to see Cochise take the final fall. Magico was wacky but kind of fun to watch, especially his "dive" toward the end, which has been mentioned already. I liked the good sportsmanship at the opening as well, which pretty much held up throughout. I think a member of the opposite team was even massaging an opponent's leg after a first-fall submission, if I am remembering right, and that was cool to see. This will land somewhere mid-range, not sure whether higher or lower.

Yeah, that opening sequence with Solar and Panther was super-smooth and fun to watch. I totally loved seeing Sergio here, and his rope-running with the waving arms could have gone on for 10 minutes as far as I'm concerned. He did a great job selling the punch to the face. At first I thought the ref was the lucha Tommy Young, what with the insanely elaborate leaps to make the counts. When I realized he was a heel ref, I dug him even more. I guess I haven't seen a lot of heel refs, outside of Danny Davis in the WWF (and that super-annoying Texas set ref whose name escapes me, although he was more inadvertently heel), so I enjoyed the novelty of his ludicrous actions during the match. And it's not like he cost Astro and Solar the match or anything. Solar's backbreakers at the end were a thing of beauty. I guess one flaw was that I never bought the heels as real threats. Despite that, I watched a lot of this match with a smile on my face and will put it in my top-half, although not super far up.

This match really has some brutal moments. It seems like Mogur is bleeding pretty much from the outset, and Charro joins him before long. That leap feet-first off the top turnbuckle to the floor was killer. Charro had some pretty sweet punches. They both sold the blood-loss exhaustion quite well in the third fall. This is a solid mid-range match for me. It wasn't too long, and I enjoyed it while it lasted.

The video quality, especially after the last match, had me loving this. I didn't know anything about this match, hadn't seen it before, but very soon into the match I knew it was something special. I didn't get Casas heeling after his first fall win as much as just being overjoyed that he won the fall. The early bump Santo took through the ropes to the floor, banging his head on the railing, was great. The crowd was a lot of fun throughout, trying to encourage both wrestlers whenever they landed on the floor. Casas's facial expressions were great throughout, and I loved how he sold his head during the second fall. The third fall had a lot of near-falls, which made this seem more like a U.S.-style match than a typical Lucha match. I really liked how Casas struggled like a wet noodle against the submission attempts toward the end of the third fall. He really seemed out on his feet. The fall off the top turnbuckle by Casas toward the end was really compelling, whether it was a botch or not. The sportsmanship (although Casas seemed out of it) at the end was nice as well. I can see this as a top 20 or so for me too. Really great match.

The video quality hurt this match for me as well, especially since much of the drama seemed to revolve around blood loss. The first-fall submission was pretty cool, and there was good chaos when it was reprised and everyone (including me) thought that was the finish. I liked the crowd excitement and thrown stuff at the end. The match had good mask-tearing and biting, but Siglo didn't blow me away too much as a performer. Siglo did go splat well, and it was cool when Caras dropped the chairs or whatever on him to end the match. Despite these good qualities, I think this match will land in my lower half of ranked matches.

I agree that this had some fun moments, and some cool moments, but it ends up slightly into my lower half. It took me a while to figure out the rules and the teams. Los Infernales were a lot of fun to watch and got great heat. The pre-match chaos was fun but kind of went nowhere as the first two teams matched up. I dug the ending to the second match as well, with a rudo getting dropped onto Atlantis for a pin to counter the double-submission attempt. The ending was surprising and abrupt, but it worked. I wonder whether this led to any sort of Dantes/Salazar feud, or if it was just an accident. Dantes pummeling of Satanico post-match was fun as well. However, disjointed was the word, and the overall structure of this match brings it down for me a bit.

The opening fall is really smooth and a pleasure to watch. I liked the handshake to start, and also the refs getting on Salazar's case for threatening a punch. The triple submission at the end of the fall looked great. I think the rudos actually took the second fall, right, with Atlantis getting kicked like crazy and then Satanico pinning Salazar after a senton. I agree that the rudo domination was not all that evil, although Atlantis getting tossed hard into the corner a couple of times had to hurt. The dives at the end of the third fall were fun, and the quick pin amid the chaos by Salazar was a nice way to end things. The reprise of the Santanico/Salazar slugfest in the third fall was nice as well, even though the refs again got on Salazar's case for apparently no good reason. I preferred the previous match over this due to Dandy's big bumps and a bit more hate, but this was quite pleasant.

I liked this better than the previous match on 3/20/87. I also liked the technico rampage to start the second fall, especially Rayo punching MS-1 throughout ringside. Dandy's bumps during this fall are incredible, especially off the monkey-flip and soon after when he goes over the top rope to splat on the floor. Dantes had some great punches on Satanico as well during the second fall. I thought the performances of Dandy and Dantes stood out and made this match enjoyable.

This was another one of those trios matches where the technicos are going to get beat on during the first fall, so they are annoyingly ineffective when they do anything. When they go in the ring to try to save a partner, they just kind of stand there until they get attacked and beat down by a rudo. Salazar's selling is pretty silly throughout the match. Fiera does a nice job of bellowing when his leg keeps getting targeted. It was pretty nasty to see his leg tangled up over the top rope during the second fall. MS-1 gnawing away at Rayo was pretty effective too. The match got better when Rayo hulked up, and the third fall was pretty exciting. Salazar redeems himself partly with some out-of-control spinning backbreakers in the third fall. The finish surprised me, so that's a point in this match's favor. However, the first fall was kind of annoying due to the technicos' efforts, so I don't think this match will finish two high above the mid-point for me.

I liked Rocca's opening sequence with Negro where they turn into a wheel and Negro ends up flying through the ropes to the floor. Talisman and Dandy also hit the floor soon after, and indeed this is a fast-paced match. In the second fall, the rudos are flying into the first row of seats. Dandy finally gains the advantage in nice fashion by punching his opponent in the face as he attempts a leapfrog. Triple-teaming starts up, with the rudos dropping the technicos from great heights onto knees and ring ropes. Some sweet sentons end the second fall in definitive fashion for the rudos. One of the technicos gets worked over with chokes before the third fall starts. Rocca gets worked over a bit to start the third fall. Valaguez tags in and gets the better of Talisman, who bails. Techincos are thrown into each other, and then we have some dives, leaving Negro and one of the technicos in the ring. Negro fouls for the loss. I pretty much enjoyed this fast-paced match, although I didn't understand who Negro fouled at the end. It seemed a bit random and abrupt. El Dandy was insane in this match with his flips over the top rope to splat on the floor. I think this is top-half for me.

The first fall had several amusing moments, with Kung Fu dominating Bala and then later all three Buccaneros. Kung Fu's bows are great. The Buccaneros' refusing to grant the match-ups desired by the technicos in the first fall always works for me as well. Lizmark's sequence with the Buccaneros at the start of the second fall is not super-smooth, but if works fairly well. I liked Estrada ripping off his eyepatch. The assault on Fiera's leg is pretty compelling, and I second the love for Fiera's leg going out from under him. However, I wish the leg would have been even more of a focus of the match. Lizmark's funny scooting small package wins the match. This is pretty mid-rangey to me, maybe even bottom-third, as others have said. I think the Buccaneros stooged a bit too much in this match.

I am with Graham Crackers in thinking this is a pretty superior trios match. It should finish in my top 30 or 40 matches. The rudo mauling throughout the first fall, especially before the match began, was impressive. The knee-drops from the top turnbuckle were pretty brutal. I loved how the rudos chucked Atlantis over the top rope after the first fall. Dantes had some cool armdrags at the beginning of the second fall. Jalisco's fancy footwork in the second fall was awesome. Atlantis's moonsault-y pin for the second fall was great. The heel miscommunication and 1-on-2 and 1-on-3 action in the third fall was so intricate and fast. I can't imagine how they pulled that off. Things switched gears rather abruptly as Atlantis gets a triple dropkick to the head that looked devastating. I didn't quite see Jalisco submit, but whatever he was in, that was a good enough way to end the match. I couldn't tell who was who on the rudo side, but it didn't matter. This match was great.

The first fall didn't do a lot for me, although I appreciated the crowd digging Dandy and Rocca's exchange. The rudo miscommunication at the beginning of the second fall was fun enough. The fishhook was a cool submission for the second fall. It seems like people are getting posted and run into the apron various times during this match, but it doesn't seem to make a big difference in the selling or story-telling of the match. People just end up in the ring again regularly, not selling anything in particular. I did like Blue Panther's big bump off of Stuka's leg-trip in the third fall. The post-match was a bit half-hearted. This may land in my bottom third, but not too far down.

The first fall is pretty quick and one-sided. Salazar's backwards diving headbutt to end the second fall was pretty cool. The third fall starts with some fun, fast-paced match-ups. Some great slug-fests ensue. The chubby guy plancha onto Rocca after Rocca scores a pin is rather amazing. The finishing sequence with the roll-up pin into the submission is nice. I couldn't tell who was who with the rudos, and the rules at the end threw me. The crowd seemed hot, but there wasn't molten heat between the teams. This will be about mid-range for me, despite some very cool moves here and there.

I thought the technicos were a bit ineffectual during the first fall while Fiera's arm was worked on, just walking into the ring and then backing off, or stumbling into an attack from the apron. The first fall was fun, with Lizmark's hopping roll-up and Fiera dropping an elbow for the pin. The stalling at the beginning of the second fall to deny the fans the match-ups they wanted was amusing, but the transition to the mask-ripping and biting with Mascara and Jalisco was pretty dramatic. Those falls where the ref just ends it when a wrestler "can't continue" (or whatever) don't do a lot for me, which was the case with the second fall and poor Lizmark. Lizmark's flip-bump through the ropes to the floor soon after that was cool. Fiera's kick-based attack on Babyface's head is fun, and the arm-selling by Fiera is amazing throughout. Jalisco's final comeback gets a super reaction from the crowd. Babyface's elaborate skooching backwards on the mat due to Fiera's kick was great. The ending is good and decisive. I don't think this is quite a top-10 match for me, but it could be top 30.

I concur with the Kung Fu love. I got a real kick out of it. I wonder who it was? Talisman trying to emulate him was funny. Heel miscommunication was kind of dazzling and fun. I liked the sneaky foul in the second fall followed by the more flagrant foul in the third, although I could have lived without all the replays. Great punches scattered throughout the match as well. I liked this as a mid-range match too, maybe a tiny bit less than the previous Atlantis match.

The first fall, as is often the case on this set for me, was solid but not super-memorable. I liked the dueling armdrags from Ringo and Satanico at the beginning of the second fall. MS-1's face-first backdrops to Atlantis were horrifying. In the third fall, I liked Ringo throwing MS-1 into the ring apron and then posting him. The hit-and-run segment from the technicos was fun before the end of the match. This ends up being solid mid-range, maybe a bit above, for me.

This has to be a top-10 match for me. Espanto was a beast. I have to agree with Matt D about Espanto's biting in the third fall. Due to the poor video quality, it almost looked like "found footage" of some grisly act taking place. Quite harrowing! Espanto's knee-first fall to the floor during the second fall was a cool move. The camel clutch submission for the mask loss was kind of novel. This reminded me a bit of the Tully/Magnum I Quit match in terms of blood and intensity. Good stuff!

I liked this match quite a bit too. It should land nicely in the top third of my matches when I rank things. Babyface's open offensive flurry was great. Fiera's flip bumps over the top turnbuckle to the floor were good. The working of and selling of Fiera's shoulder was nice throughout. Fiera's splat onto the floor in the third fall was amazing. I thought the third fall meandered a bit at times, but overall it was a lot of fun.