Graham Crackers

This match follows a standard trios formula. First two pairings work the mat, third pairing runs the ropes, flashy first fall victory for tecnicos, rudos come back with cheating and brawling to win second fall, rudos control the ring in the third fall, a tecnico comeback with dives, and the finish (in this case a low blow). It's a solid formula and this is a solid match but it isn't much more than solid either. The rudos looks good but this tecnico trio is lacking. Cruz is miles better than his partners but we don't see him in the ring nearly as much as we see them.

I'm fucking loving this feud and I'm pretty excited just knowing that it ain't over yet. This was a step below that last trios match but still incredible. They redid the finish of the Dandy vs Cruz match but this was executed so much better as we had a few really great false finishes just before the brawl on the floor which also looked much more out of control in this match. tim really hit the nail on the head about how this felt like both guys had unleashed everything they had and they still couldn't finish their opponent off. I wasn't bothered by the ref stuff in the first fall all that much and I'm not sure if that was a rudo ref as much as it was the ref distracting Dandy and Charles taking advantage.

This might just be a top 5 match right now. I even like it better than the Satanico vs Sangre Chicana match I was just raving about. This match is all about building the El Dandy vs Emilio Charles Jr. feud and it does a better job of setting up that feud than any other trios match on this set has done setting up any other feud. It's not just that I want to see these two square off, I'm worried my expectations are now too high. They are intense when they are going after each other but those athletic spots tell me that as much as they may hate each other they are still both determined to be the best. At this point El Dandy has really put everything together. He showed flashes before and had some interesting ideas but now he really looks like the best. In this match he has that perfect balance of great execution, great timing, and great selling. I'm mainly familiar with El Dandy's 90s output which is incredible but in this match I really feel like I've seen the turning point in his career.

Y'know, I've liked Javier Cruz in the other matches on this set but this is his breakout performance to this point. He had some tremendous selling that pushed this match over the top. He was so fired up and seemed so determined to win this match. This looked like the fight of his life. This was also a match with a lot of workrate and a lot of cool spots and Hombre Bala kind of shines in that sort of match. The big bombs and huge bumps were paced very nicely during the third fall and gave this an epic finishing run. This isn't an amazing upper tier match but this feels like it isn't too far outside of that spectrum. Maybe top 40?

They also main evented the first Kings Road show against each other.

The Charles vs Nelson matwork was interesting but kind of dry. Masakre was pretty great in this, especially when selling for Popitekus or working with Angel Azteca. Azteca hits a fantastic tope with so much momentum that he bounces off of Masakre and lands 10 feet away. The Popitekus vs Gran Markus stuff was fun again but was based more around tecnico vs rudo stuff as opposed to the athletic exchanges of the last match. I think I'd like to see them in a singles match. The second two falls were pretty fast. This was nothing special but it had some entertaining moments.

This match has two big fat fucks doing athletic lucha spots so it's definitely staying in the top half. You rarely get to see David vs Goliath stuff in lucha so watching the smaller guys taking down the big boys with all kinds of cool armdrags and flying techniques (including Morgan hitting the best tope en reversa) was pretty cool. One of the most fun matches on the set.

Wow, this is incredible. It's an interesting match on paper before we even get to the ring. Sangre Chicana is an artist who paints in broad strokes while Satanico brings little details to his best matches and that's part of what makes them so memorable. This is some of the best standup fighting I've ever seen in a wrestling match. First of all, they throw some brutal punches. Not only are these punches nasty looking but even with the poor sound quality there are still a few punches that are really really loud. Satanico, being more of a grappler than Sangre Chicana controls the first moments of the match with clinches but shit gets real when Sangre Chicana is backed into the ropes and resorts to using a headbutt to defend himself. Both wrestlers throw a variety of punches as well as some varied defense. They make great use of bobbing, weaving, and blocking. I especially liked when Chicana used the ringpost to evade a few strikes. Neither man is afraid of fighting dirty either. I love Satanico coming back with a chop block followed by biting his opponent's forehead. Satanico is the master of those nasty bar fight techniques as he also hooks Sangre Chicana's eye to control his movements. Chicana's dirty techniques are a bit more psychological. He slowly approaches Satanico with his arms up as if comes in peace before throwing a cheap shot. This all comes to an end with the best double count out ever. Obviously, if there is a double count out both guys better be fighting around ringside or else I will be pretty pissed off. This isn't a wild brawl causing a double count out but it is a really intense showdown where neither man is willing to give up. This is the kind of match that could only have a decisive finish with their hair and their pride on the line and unfortunately we never got to see that. As it stands this is one of the best matches in one of the best years in wrestling history. It's one of the best matches on the set and I could see it as a dark horse number 1 pick.

A conversation that totally could have happened (but probably didn't): "Hey Texano, it's me, El Dandy. I just got some New Japan tapes from Jeff Lynch and there's a fucking awesome Choshu vs Fujiwara match. We'll watch it after we drink and fuck some rats. Did you hear Fujiwara is going back to UWF? Maybe we'll get another Fujiwara vs Yamazaki match!" So Atlantis vs Texano was pretty cool. Their matwork was a little more UWF-ish than some of the other matwork on the set. Outside of a couple flashy Atlantis counters this was more about attempting armbars and cool amateur wrestling. As a guy with a Super Muñeco avatar and signature I'm obligated to say that he's not as bad as tim says but I'll admit that his exchanges with Azteca weren't anything special. Blue Demon Jr. is pretty shitty though. he's pretty much only capable of a decent match when Hijo Del Santo is in the ring. Dandy tries really hard though and that's gotta be entertaining. Dandy vs Azteca is much better (that ends up being MOTY just a year later so that's no surprise). This is bottom half stuff but it has it's moments.

This got better and better as it went along. Rayo vs Halcon was a major thread throughout this match as they were building to an apuestas match. Rayo can be such a charismatic and enjoyable performer that the brawling between those two, while not as spectacular as the best brawling on this set, was still really fun. Los Infernales are obviously the most fun guys to watch in this match. They both worked really well with El Texano who looked like a great brawling babyface although most of those moments happened opposite Satanico who I honestly think could make anyone look like a great babyface. Lizmark had some of the most impressive flashes in this match. Every time I see him he has such good timing and is as good throwing hands as he is flying around. He looks like an all time great but I keep feeling like we are only getting brief glimpses of how great he is as he hasn't been the main focus of any of any top tier trios matches and the Satanico vs Lizmark match was a bit of a disappointment to me. He's an incredible supporting actor but I'm still waiting for that great Lizmark starring role and I really want to believe it's out there.

I think a lot of that has to do with the quantity of matches at similar quality levels. For example, when I see tim's rankings I will see matches that he and I have maybe 5 or 6 spaces apart from one another and while I disagree with his placement of said match it rarely seems too crazy to me because I don't think the quality is that far off. As I approach the end of the set I'm starting to realize how hard it will be to rank this as opposed to the AWA set which felt so open and shut to me. I have my overall rankings divided into tiers and at this point the matches in each individual tier could go in any direction. To give you an idea of what I mean, my top tier is made up of the three matches that feel like number 1 contenders, the second tier is made up of 11 matches, the third tier is made up of another 11 matches, the fourth is made up of 10 matches and it continues in similar fashion after that. Of course that's just my personal experience and other viewers may see this very differently. Now with all of that said, not a lot of people have made it past 1984 yet so there are still a lot of matches that have not yet developed a consensus. If you look at the thread for a match like Siglo XX vs Cien Caras you can see tim loved it, Curt hated it, and I felt like I landed right in the middle. There's still a possibility that a consensus may form around a match like that with either tim or Curt turning into an outlier.

1987 1.) El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (Mask vs. Hair) (7/18/87) 2.) Jerry Estrada, Pirata Morgan y Hombre Bala vs. Atlantis, Alfonso Dantes y Rayo De Jalisco Jr. (Feb 1987) 3.) El Satanico, MS-1 y Masakre vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr., La Fiera y Tony Salazar (3/20/87) 4.) Blue Panther/Sergio El Hermosa v. Super Astro/Solar (10/17/87) 5.) Atlantis, El Hijo del Santo y Tony Salazar vs. El Satanico, El Dandy y Espectro Jr. (4/3/87) 6.) Mogur vs. As Charro (Mask vs. Mask) (9/18/87) 7.) Cien Caras vs. Siglo XX (4/10/87) 8.) Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Atlantis y Alfonso Dantes vs. MS-1, El Satanico y El Dandy (3/27/87) 9.) Lizmark, La Fiera y Kung Fu vs. Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala y Jerry Estrada (2/27/87) 10.) Americo Rocca, Javier Cruz y Chamaco Valaguez vs. Talisman, El Dandy y Guerrero Negro (3/13/87) 11.) Tony Salazar, Mogur y Alfonso Dantes vs. Hombre Bala, Talisman y Tony Bennetto vs. Satanico, MS-1 y Masakre (4/10/87) 12.) El Dandy, Magico y Super Astro vs. Gran Cochise, Javier Cruz y Javier Rocca (11/11/87) 1988 1.) Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala y Verdugo vs. Atlantis, Angel Azteca y Ringo Mendoza (3/88) 2.) Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy (Hair vs. Hair) (9/23/88) 3.) El Hijo Del Santo vs. Espanto Jr. (4/10/88) 4.) Atlantis vs. Emilio Charles Jr. (8/12/88) 5.) Arandu vs. Guerrero Negro (Hair vs. Hair) (1988) 6.) Kung Fu v. Javier Cruz (3/88) 7.) Mogur vs. Mascara Ano 2000 (Mask vs. Mask) (9/23/88) 8.) Blue Demon, Blue Demon Jr. y Ringo Mendoza vs. Emilio Charles Jr., Pirata Morgan y Satanico (11/25/88) 9.) Kato Kung Lee vs. Kung Fu (Mask vs. Hair) (4/29/88) This is going to be really hard to rank in the end. A lot of these rankings feel like they could change when I go back and organize my ballot.

Are these new shows going to be taped?

I thought this was really enjoyable but I'm a sucker for younger guys working really hard to put over a legend. These guys took such big bumps for every Blue Demon armdrag and headscissors takedown. That is a great rudo trio and with those guys holding down the fort this couldn't be that bad, even with a wrestler as lame as Blue Demon Jr. standing right there. This may be a bottom half match but I don't think it's a bottom 10 match.

This is another fun heavyweight match but probably not at the same level as Rayo vs 2000 or even Cien Caras vs Siglo. Mogur is really good at working the mask ripping. I love how he tears 2000's mask and proceeds to hit him with brutal crossfaces. I thought Dos Mil was the third best member of Los Hermanos Dinamitas but he has impressed me on this set so I may have to reassess that opinion.

Blood. So much blood. Pirata Morgan is the master of pro wrestling as Grand Guignol spectacle. Those terrifying images I associate with Pirata Morgan like spitting out a mist of blood or licking his opponent's blood off his hand are all here. The strikes are brutal too. I never really thought about it before now but Morgan probably works extra stiff to compensate for a lack of depth perception, kind of like Hansen being blind as a bat. Well, there are some really cringe inducing strikes in this one. Then there is El Dandy. He takes a huge beating in the early portions of this match and if Morgan doesn't cut him off the referee does. When he finally makes his comeback he gives Morgan a taste of his own medicine and Morgan becomes a pretty gruesome sight on his own. The finishing stretch is weird. They hit some huge moves and have a ton of nearfalls which is tricky territory for me when I'm watching lucha. This probably would have been just as good without as many nearfalls but they were sold well and they do feel unique in the context of this set so it worked for me.

I really like Emilio Charles Jr. and I'm really excited about all of the Emilio Charles Jr. coming up on this set. It's crazy to see him so young and not nearly as hideous as he would one day become. This isn't the best match he ever had with Atlantis but it is still pretty spectacular. The early matwork is simple but worked really well. I love their standoff after one of the faster early exchanges when Atlantis flips to his feet and Charles quickly stumbles to his own feet. That's a cool visual to demonstrate a rudo being momentarily outclassed by a tecnico. Emphasis on momentarily as Charles is right there with Atlantis for most of this match. We get to see more of the spectacular Atlantis offense that made up his arsenal at that time and not to be outdone Charles has some beautiful looking offense of his own including a great looking tope con giro. This is one of the most satisfying matches on the set and one that I think will do pretty well with a lot of people even if it's not an top tier match.

Yeah, tim hit the nail on the head for me. This had cool moments but didn't add up to a great match. As someone who is a bit of a mark for Los Fantasticos (and martial arts gimmicks in general as they make me think of my love of Steve Blackman when I was younger) I was surprised we didn't see more of them on the set but I'm assuming that had a lot to do with the footage we did have not being full matches. It's a shame because I was curious about seeing these guys team up with Blackman (not Steve this time) who OJ has made sound like a pretty interesting wrestler.

This isn't the spectacular matwork of their 1992 title match but this is still another great match in a great rivalry. We have had better matwork in individual falls of other matches but there haven't been many matches with this much matwork throughout that have been this consistent or had a finish this fantastic. I love watching these guys work together and I still think this is a potential top 20 contender but I'm not married to that ranking yet.

Now this is a fucking great trios match right here. Los Bucaneros strike again with their brutal triple teams and intricate stooging/miscommunication but this time against an even more spectacular tecnico trio. Angel Azteca was a pretty spectacular young high flyer at this point but Atlantis really shines here in what is one of his absolute best matches. That over the top rope tope he hits is superhuman as are those breathtaking midair armdrags where he leaps and spins before coming down and grabbing his opponents in midair. Those are spots that require cooperation from all parties but they are so perfectly executed here with such good timing that it's easy to forget how the magicians really perform their tricks. When I first watched this I missed the low blow and thought we completely missed the finish. Seeing the lowblow doesn't prove to me that we didn't miss anything but it does at least give me a sense of where the match went from there. Still, with a full picture of the finish or a truly decisive finish we could have had the best trios match on the whole set right here. This is still pretty close and is going to be very high on my ballot when all is said and done.

I like rudo Kung Fu. I'd seen a few of his matches without the mask where he uses the nunchucks as weapons (like he does to Cruz at the start) and remember enjoying them even if I don't remember one of them being especially great. Similarly, while this isn't the most amazing brawl on the set it was still pretty entertaining. Cruz is a bit dry and I feel like he could have done more to make this feel like a big fight but mechanically he brought a lot to this match. Probably a bottom half match but really fun and I'm glad it was on this set.

Whoa, get a load of Arandu's Rush-tastic hair. That alone has me excited for this hair vs hair match without knowing who he is. I love his whole look with the leopard print and matching valet. The match itself is a fun brawl around ringside and it's made better by a pretty crazy atmosphere. The best part is the finish with one of the best fouls n the set. Arandu gets away with it too! And somehow he got out of the building without the crowd killing him.

So I guess El Dandy had started watching Japanese wrestling at this point. He had on his best Kazuo Yamazaki tights and was throwing kicks like a UWF guy. It was cool how he and Javier Cruz kept getting really heated when they matched up, especially given their history. Otherwise this is all babyfaces having a good clean wrestling match. Really, almost everyone looks good here. Everyone except Magico (who is wearing Mascara Sagrada gear). Magico's kind of awkward and a few of his really athletic moves don't hit very clean which forces Rocca to overcompensate and it just looks really goofy. It's not a good goofy either. Unfortunately those moments are really distracting, even with so much good stuff happening around them.

The first fall of this match is probably one of my favorite individual falls on the whole set. The Solar vs Blue Panther matwork is every bit as good as it looks on paper. Not only does it feature long sections of uninterrupted chain grappling I also liked the way their matwork works in some aspects of amateur riding and mounts into what is some very distinctly lucha matwork. Super Astro vs Sergio El Hermoso is also what you expect it to be and pretty damn good as well. Honestly, I liked the rudo control stuff too but it's that rudo ref shit that is way too distracting. Sigh...

Oh man, can I please please please see every As Charro match ever. His offense is sooooooo fucking awesome. He's got awesome punches, a bicycle kick, what looks like a rider kick to the floor, and he tops it all off with a Tamon Honda style delayed german suplex!? I wish he was a bit more subtle about getting his blade ready but that's just one misstep and a rather subtle one at that. The match itself was good but not amazing. I feel like some of this may have been clipped but I can't tell.