RIPPA Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Here ya go - the guy who won the very first Wrestlemania match Here is said match http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26rol6_wrestlemania-i-part-1-tito-santana-vs-the-executioner-buddy-rose_sport And to tie into yesterday http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2gs9wp_wwf-wrestlemania-viii-shawn-michaels-vs-tito-santana_sport http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2k5bul_naoki-sano-samson-fuyuki-vs-tatsumi-kitahara-tito-santana-sws_sport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 When I was a kid, Tito Santana wasn't my favorite wrestler, but it was damn close. You have to keep in mind, I started watching in 1990, and while Survivor Series 1990 was important to me as it was the PPV I rented over and over those first many months of watching, he wasn't a big star at that point. He was a mid-card babyface who would hit his flying forearm and knock the heel out of the ring and ultimately lose because that was the last bullet in his gun. I hadn't realized at that point that for years he used the figure-four. When he became El Matador, he seemed more distant to me, but I was glad he had a second finisher now (and a pretty cool one at that) because it made his matches instantly more interesting. When Razor Ramon came in, I instantly disliked him because when he said Hey Chico, I thought he was saying Hey Tito. I always felt some weird sense of pride that he was the guy, with Hogan, who was on the first nine Wrestlemanias. That stat meant something to me for some reason because even though Hogan wasn't my guy, Tito was. He was always a sentimental favorite for me, and it's not hard to see why. Tito Santana is the ultimate babyface. He's one of two people, with Steamboat, who I think never really played heel their whole career, at least not on a big stage. He's supposed to be the nicest wrestler in real life and one of the best people, a family man, a humble man and a kind man, and it came through in his character. There was the "latin temper" sure, but he was just a good guy. More than that, though, he perfected the simplest, most straightforward, and one of the most effective structures in wrestling: shine, heat, comeback. He'll talk about this on shoot interviews too, so it's theory. It's not just instinct like what you get out of other wrestlers. It's theory and dogma and it works. He outwrestles the heel to start. The heel cheats to get an advantage. He takes a beating. He comes back. They go to the finish. There is no wrestling more primal than that. He's amazing because he does the simple things so very well. He's great at working a hold during a shine. He's great at selling for his opponent during the heat. And he's great at showing that righteous fury during the comeback. He's the quintessential WWF TV worker of the 1980s, sure, but Santana vs Valentine might be the greatest feud in WWF history. If you actually sit down and watch the matches, as many as we have now thanks to the footage explosion of the last few years, that's a picture which really becomes arguable. He's one of the wrestlers I wish we had more of the territory work of. His AWA match against the High Flyers was in my top ten on the AWA set and there are some Bockwinkel matches that it kills me we only have clipped or not at all. Like I said, even coming in years after his major push, Tito was one of my favorite wrestlers. I always kind of envy the fans who came in a few years before me and really got to experience him as a force. I'm not sure I can think of any wrestler I'd want to cheer for more. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 vs Hulk Hogan MSG 1980 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnHbiPJNOhI vs Randy Savage Boston Garden vs Randy Savage MSG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyvBUBBTAtE w/Bruno Sammartino vs Randy Savage and Adrian Adonis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFyATLvq-A4 w/Hillbilly Jim and Pedro Morales vs Dino Bravo, Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i6cMBHEcEs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick B. Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 w/Ivan Putzki vs The Wild Samoans vs Randy Savage Maple Leaf Gardens w/Jimmy Snuka vs Kenta Kobashi and Masa Fuchi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC75b4P_a3g vs Razor Ramon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OceR-sWNKm0 vs Virgil (This match aired on my 4th birthday) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1XwxOHWmHU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Possibly my 2 of my 5 favorite restlers ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qozr36PmvI8 James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew POE! Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 To me, a wrestler like Tito Santana would have worked perfectly in today's WWE. He would have helped downright crummy wrestlers like The Miz and Kofi Kingston have better matches and made Cesaro the main eventer he deserves to be. In the '80s he was a 'stereotype' and today he would have been seen as a great, hard-working wrestler. It's a shame he didn't debut 20 years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdj28c_tito-santana-vs-jerry-lawler_sport http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa3s02_tito-santana-mil-mascaras-vs-demoli_sport http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dfu13_hart-foundation-vs-tito-santana-dan-spivey-saturday-night-s-main-event-x-14-03-1987_sport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 The I Broke Wahoo's Leg V2 feud between Greg Valentine and Tito was fucking sweet. Tito comes back from being put out on an injury angle and sends a message to Valentine en route to the IC Title showdown by using the Figure Four. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colonial Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Always loved Tito Santana as a worker. Could work well against anybody, a perfect "stepping stone" against a heel wrestler on the rise in his later years, and someone you can always depend on to put together a decent 15-20 minute match on a house show. And he's probably the only wrestler who could manage to pull off some kind of a work-life dynamic during the golden years of Hulkamania, where WWF was putting out 3-4 shows a day and wrestlers were on the road for weeks at a time. The stories of Santana always finding a way to get home to be there when his kids were getting ready for school is incredible. A few years back, Santana unsuccessfully ran for a seat on his hometown's city council in New Jersey. I was living in Virginia at the time and didn't know this, but my dad (who lived in a nearby town) sent me several articles about it, talking about him being a teacher, his wife having a hair salon and him still lacing up the boots from time to time. My Dad watched wrestling with me when I was growing up, and he read numerous examples of wrestlers who fell on hard times (he was particularly saddened to read a story about Jimmy Snuka living in a rented room in New Jersey a while back). When he sent me the Santana articles, he wrote a note saying "of all the guys we watched, Tito Santana was the only guy I knew who would make it outside of the ring. He wasn't over the top, he didn't have to be silly to get over, and he knew that wrestling was a business that would eventually fade away. He had a plan post-wrestling, and I'm glad he put family and life first." My favorite Santana moment had to be 1990 Survivor Series. Going into the show, I figured that the "Ultimate Survivor" main event would be Hogan and Warrior finding a way to beat 10 villains in five minutes. Imagine my surprise that the face team would consist of Hogan, Warrior and TITO! Deep down, I knew he wouldn't make it to the end, but I was hoping that Tito could at least eliminate somebody before being sent off. When he pinned Warlord with the flying forearm, I was the loudest in a group of 12 watching the show by a mile. JD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I'm sad to say I've only seen Tito's stuff Strike Force onwards. I always enjoyed his matches but there was nothing spectacular about him, just solid work... which makes me wonder why didn't he do the Matador gimmick following Martel turning on him? When that reinvention came it seemed years too late. One of my fave matches of his? Versus Flair at the Royal Albert Hall... which I can't find a video of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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