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Atlantis y El Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera y Lobo Rubio (11/25/83)


Phil Schneider

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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- (****)

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Some really nice flashy matwork here.  I liked Lobo a good bit in this match, he had a really cool couner to Atlantis' sunset flip pin in the first fall, took a huge spill to the outside off a Santo armdrag and had a cool missed punch spot in the last fall.  The rudos just brutalizing Atlantis and Santito and then tossing them out of the ring to be counted out was good stuff, paid back by the technicos winning the final with a countout off big stereo dives, Atlantis' being especially nuts.  A bunch of really fun sequences with the technicos outshining the rudos with skill and speed; match was a total blast all around.

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I love those kinds of spinny, floaty armdrags and headscissors spots that Santo does so well in this match.

 

Its really cool to think that ten years after this match he is still doing them perfectly against the likes of Eddie Guerrero and then ten years after that he's doing them against Ultimo Guerrero.

 

And Atlantis is super-cool in this as well.  I remember a few years ago when I got some 80s lucha from Bob Barnett and I first saw Atlantis doing those highspots after only seeing his more tame recent stuff, blew my tiny mind.

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(Got my DVD's the other day - thanks Will!)

 

Went straight to the match since I hadn't seen in ages and remembered loving it. So weird hearing the announcers call El Hijo Del Santo "Santo Segundo". Sounds like the type of ripoff gimmick AAA would create. It's no wonder Fuerza Guerrera & Lobo Rubio were handpicked to be opponents in his debut. Announcers kept saying it was also Lobo Rubio's Arena Mexico debut but that doesn't sound right.

 

I loved this match because everyone did their job perfectly. The rudos were just there to be bump machines and always be in the right position so the tecncios could shine. Too many rudos these days don't grasp that concept and just want to get their own shit in before worrying about making their opponents look great. Lobo Rubio in particular was the standout for me and it's no wonder so many people in Mexico speak highly of him as one of the forgotten great workers of the 80's. Santo's stuff with him was so ahead of it's time. Also ahead of it's time was the Atlantis/Fuerza upside down slap spot. Most people think Rey/Juventud invented that. I'm not even sure who was the first to use it but I bet it dates back to even before this match. Santo seemed nervous at times but was kept in check by the rudos. I thought Atlantis actually looked better. His stuff was much smoother. Lobo Rubio vaulting Santo over the top rope to the floor was insane! Apache did that spot a month ago and someone called it too excessive and this was 30 years earlier! Finish was great. Both tecnicos save their most spectacular spot for the finish and the crowd is left wanting more.

 

I'd recommend this as a good match to start the set with. Will finish high on my list but not sure how high since there are so many great singles matches on the set.

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This is a fun match that I've seen a few times now. It's a showcase for the cutting edge of high flying of young Santito and Atlantis with a pair of great rudos there to catch them. There are so many incredible looking spots in here that people have already mentioned and will continue to list so I won't really get into that territory. The other really interesting thing about this match is that it's an opportunity to see three all time greats before they were fully formed. They are so graceful and quick and you get to see them do tons of stuff that got dropped from their routines over the years. Atlantis obviously dropped most of the high flying spots for example. At the same time some of the things they are known for are already present like how Fuerza already throws a great right hand and doesn't hesitate to talk shit. In some ways they are also a little awkward, almost as if they lack the confidence they would develop later. Knowing who these guys are makes being able to go back and look at a match like this that much more special.

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Atlantis & Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Lobo Rubio (11/25/83)This is a special match as it was Santo's debut at Arena Mexico as he was in his rookie year with Atlantis also in his rookie year as well and you could tell that these guys were going to be megastars as they had "it" as rookies. It also helped to have guys like Fuerza & Lobo as the opponents as they were great at making these guys look good especially on the mat as they were at the right place at the right time. Everyone was so slick here working in and out of holds at a rapid pace that it just looked so easy. Santo was just ridiculous here with his athletic ability throwing some of the best blind armdrags I've ever seen. After losing the first fall, the rudos took control in the second fall with the tecnicos taking some big bumps especially Santo who was tossed to the floor by Rubio knees first which looked like it hurt like hell. The tecnicos would make a comeback though starting a hot stretch run that featured some good counter wrestling and spectacular dives to the floor that would give the tecnicos the win since the rudos got counted out. This was great stuff and like I said a special match.

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Ok, so that floating armdrag from behind thing that Santo does is fucking amazing.  I had to rewind that like eight times to see how it even happened.  

 

There's something really cool about the way Hijo del Santo just moves.  He just seems to float.  

 

I love luchadores who are really smooth like Atlantis and Santo are here.   Everything they do just seems really effortless.  Like all these complicated moves are just natural and second nature to them.  And the rudos here do an amazing job taking their stuff.  

 

I have this third on this first disc.  I love the display that the technicos put on here, but it just lacked a little conflict to really put it over the top for me.

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Lucha 1.10
Atlantis y El Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera y Lobo Rubio (11/25/83)

More great 80s-looking punkish thugs here. Rubio wouldn't look out of place graffiting the subway in the background of Turtles.

Cool headscissors sequence to start. A lot of trips and flips and things between Gurrera and Atlantis that I won't pretend I understand.

This is all very fluid. Constant motion. The armdrags are unusual. They seem "airy" in someway, not seen those before.

Faces seem to be just too good for the heels here. Santo seems to hit what I can only call a reverse armdrag. Not sure I understand the physics, but I've never seen one before. The move actually defies science.

El Punko Rubio has a go now and we get more floaty armdrags. Both Atlantis and Santo look really good in this match.

I don't mind this variety of super-duper smooth fluid matwork, it's all rather artful.

Heels have had nothing in this match so far. They can't get anything going at all. Santo seems to glide rather than jump. A very graceful worker.

Heels finally get a bit off offense going and work over Atlantis. I feel Fureza allowed him to tag out far too easily though. Cut the ring off, basic strategy.

Rubio starts working over Santo now. He's the power man in this match. Nastily throws Santo to the floor over the top rope. Sick sick bump!!! Shit! The heels have been properly vicious in this segment.

Santo vs. Rubio now and Santo hits a nice kneelift and as Rubio charges him just trips his leg. Awesome. Have loved Santo in this match. Cool backbreaker on Fureza by Atlantis now. Rubio breaks it up.

Some real highflying stuff from Santo and Atlantis now in a sequence which is a little too choregraphed for my tastes. It's enough for a countout win though. Spectacular finish.

Dug the hell out of this. Strong finish to the disc.

A

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I really liked how Santo and Atlantis seemed to get more confident as the match went on, landing bigger and flashier moves, until the end of the 3rd fall when they seem to be having fun, like the last inning of Game 7 of the world series and you're up by 5 runs. I'd never seen this match before, and went into it not expecting much, but absolutely loved how good Santo and Atlantis were this early in their career.

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A first look at Santo and Atlantis in the early stages of their careers. You could see the potential in them as both were skilled natural athletes and already proficient at executing the moves. The difficulty here lay in the duration with 25m of action. What they did would've been fine in a shorter timeframe, but it ended up becoming repetitive and really dragging in parts. The opening face shine period went on for an age. At this stage the level of match they were aiming for was beyond the wrestlers capabilities.

 

Which is not to say that they should've been less abmitious. My main thought afterwards was what a fantastic way to develop the skills of young wrestlers. Matches like this one help accelerate the process. Give them lots of ringtime and responsibility. If they're good enough then over time they'll learn how to put all the pieces together. Working 3m of ringtime each night in a protected trios enviroment isn't going to teach anywhere near as much.

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This was a completely different match from everything else on this set so far but it was a really good match. Atlantis and Santo were young as fuck at the time and athletic freaks. If that mixes with Fuerza and Lobo being bumping, bumbling fools than I’m happy. Santo’s got the best variation of arm drag and leg scissors takeovers ever. It’s absurdly awesome. I marked out when Fuerza did his bump but he didn’t go full out here. Maybe he will later in the set. I hope so. All of these first fall exchanges were just monumentally fun. It was comedic and pretty much a showcase for Atlantis and Santo but it was insanely fun to watch. Fuerza is such a great bumbling fool during all of this bumping around, running into Lobo, and causing problems all around. The end of the first fall ruled with Santo’s senton and Camel Clutch combo. Fuerza and Lobo then turned into badasses in the second fall and my God the beating they gave was sweet. Atlantis gets his face crushed by Fuerza while in a tree of woe on the actual ring apron. That was sick. Then we have Lobo literally throwing Santo ten or fifteen yards out of the ring for the count out finish. Damn, this match is fun. The last fall was a total blast too with Fuerza throwing mean punches and Atlantis and Santo ending it with two totally awesome dives. This match ruled.

Man, I don’t know. I think I’ll give this four stars or so. This is another B+. It was good as fuck. It was an awesome way to end the disc.

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This is an awesome match and just an awesome showcase for these guys. It was a little long but with this amount of talent on display you can't complain. Just chock full of intricate sequences, cool armdrags, matwork, rudo brawling and whatnot. A lot of the stuff you see here you really wouldn't see again from Santo. It's not that he got worse, it's just that he figured out what worked what the crowd would react to and he made a transition from a young guy with spectacular stuff to a guy who gets a reaction without relying on new more spectacular highspots. But at this stage, you can tell they went out there to tear the house down and let the young guys win the crowd over in a swift stroke. Fuerza has to be one of the most reliable workers of all time.

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It was amazing seeing young and spry Santo and Atlantis here. Santo especially hit some awesome stuff that seems have fallen out of his repertoire by the 90's and it was incredible seeing Atlantis when he could still fly. Everyone in this match looks great and it totally works as a coming out showcase for Santo at Arena Mexico. I think this is the 2nd best match on the disc. Just an amazing example of silky smooth lucha flying. I can't even imagine how amazing this must have seemed in 1983... 

 

A- or ****1/2

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm definitely going through a lot of this stuff a second time if I get a chance. Otherwise all I can really say is, great mat-work and armdrags and dosey-do two-on-one counters, cool dives, totally brutal rudo mauling, pretty good technicos selling, intense comeback, and phenomenal dives to finish it. So it has lots of really fun pieces, especially for the relative youth on the face side, but I've got no idea if it would all come together if I actually stopped and tried to analyze the thing like I usually do. I feel like I am watching this set the Johnny Sorrow way, which is really sort of mortifying.

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This was fun as all get out. So many great things to admire. I loved the headstand slap exchange and the matwork in general. The tecnicos seemed to be working this like it was an exhibition, you know like those legends doubles matches at Wimbledon, where guys are almost goofing around, playing trickshots. The rudos were totally confounded, and I loved Rubio's little 'enough' gesture, which got a big reaction from the fans. Santito's armdrag from behind was the between the legs shot of the match, and really was a rewind moment. Atlantis was quite the acrobat, flipping around, so quick and smooth. The rudos were great foils, and then looked great bringing the beatdown in the second fall. The twin dives was a wicked finish. Atlantis's was spectacular, but there's just a beauty to the way Santito glides through the air with that cross body. And it looks like it would hurt too. I really, really enjoyed this.

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Really enjoyed this and didn't realize when watching it that was Santo's debut at Arena Mexico, which makes it even cooler. Santo was so smooth and fluid with his flying it is pretty unbelievable. Atlantis looked good here too and I was really surprised at Guerrera as well. I have this third behind the previous two matches with Chicana.

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  • 1 month later...

I enjoyed Rubio a lot here, especially the way he screamed and played to the crowd.  I though the first fall went a bit too long and was too one-sided.  I was really enjoying the match by the third fall, however.  Guerrera's punches were sweet.  I think I have this in the upper mid-range of the matches so far, maybe #4 or so.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Highlight of the first fall was the great Santo arm drags and the nifty hooks and pin attempts by Atlantis, and Lobo tossing Santo over the top to end the second fall was insane -- and then the swanton by Lobo on Atlantis on the outside was even more insane! Dives in the third are just massive and a great way to end the match. Sitting at #3 for me at this point in the set.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Lobo Rubio looks so fucking sleazy with the blonde mohawk, Stryper-esque trunks and shades. It is amazing that this is Santo's first year and he's already wrestling like a maestro. The headscissors stuff looks effortless yet painful, like Rubio's head is gonna pop like a pimple between Santo's shins. I know I've crapped on a lot of the early Atlantis stuff but honestly it does look like the rudos are leading him here. His movements seem furtive in comparison to the confident flow of Santo. Still one of his better early performances, he busts out some nice armdrags and is super athletic. Speaking of which, those reverse armdrags that Santo throws will have you rewinding and just wondering how. We get some nice rudo stooging before the inevitable beatdown. Rubio picks up Santo and just flat pitches him vertically out of the ring and it looks really bad on the tendons when he lands. Never seen that one before! Tercera kind of drags until the two big finishing dives with Atlantis' being really huge. Well, I guess I can't say it dragged when it was so brief; it just looked like the tecnicos were winded and everyone was ready to go home. Solid match, especially for two green guys who would be topping the card at Arena Mexico for the rest of their lives after this. 

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  • 7 months later...

First fall felt like a "your turn, my turn" exhibition but everything picks up BIG TIME after Lobo Rubio counters an Atlantis leapfrog with a punch to the face in the 2nd fall. The rudos do some awesome double team moves & Fuerza hits AWESOME uppercut Kane like punches. Eventually the tecnicos come back and win with an AWESOME double dive finish. This might be my favorite match on the set so far.

 

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