Jerry Estrada vs. Ultraman (3/2/84)

[Phil Schneider]

Jerry Estrada vs. Ultraman (3/2/84)

[Graham Crackers]

I haven't seen a ton of Jerry Estrada. From what I have seen I do know he's a lunatic bumper but otherwise he hasn't given me much reason to think he's a great worker. He doesn't do much to sell me on his skills in this match either. In fact I don't recall any crazy bumps from him in this match outside of those front rolls for every enziguiri which are a little over the top for my tastes. I've always wanted to see Ultraman in a singles match and he didn't disappoint here. This was a title match so we didn't really get to see any of those punching combos but he looked good controlling Jerry on the mat in the first fall and he did a fantastic job selling the damage to his shoulder in the second and third falls. The finish was a bit anticlimactic and a pin or submission would have obviously been preferable. In the end this is a match that will end up somewhere on the bottom half of my ballot.

[soup23]

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.   

****

[tim.]

This match didn't do much for me.  There are things to like here: some of the matwork, Estrada wrenching the arm on the submission in the beginning of the segunda, Estrada's selling in the tercera and the dive exchange at the end (which led to a pretty awesome last minute or so, and I actually really liked the finish); but overall I don't think this was that great a match.  Feels like something that will finish low for me.

[Log]

Everything was hovering in that "perfectly nice" range for me until the finish stretch.  I loved the out-of-control dives from both guys and I dug the finish just fine.

 

This is sitting pretty low for me right now.  Nothing offensive, but nothing to set it apart.

[Curt McGirt]

Jerry immediately gets points with me for rocking the bootleg Iron Maiden shirt. The matwork on here looks much crisper and better-sold than the previous match, with Jerry in particular standing out -- great facials from him. Something I've noticed on this set during the title matches is the skill of the refs in counting shoulders down in pin attempts and submissions. They jump right on that every time. It's a small thing but I dig the attention to detail. In segunda caida Jerry decides he's gonna take Ultraman's arm home with him but Ultraman responds with a freaked-out submission to win the fall. Jerry's selling does gets into Mr. Perfect territory but I don't mind. The dives in this feel really reckless and lead up to the finish well. I love Ultraman getting carried out over a dude's shoulder while Estrada wins the belt that looks like something an rodeo attendee would wear. I'm gonna probably rate this higher than most will. 

[Exposer]

This was disappointing. The mat work was solid and I liked the focus on the arm. It was even pretty gritty stuff too and there was some nice struggle for the holds. I just wasn’t as engaged here as other matches with similar work. I can’t really put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy it as much but it might have something to do with lack of versatility on the mat. Once Estrada started bumping and the dives came into play this got better. I liked the finish a lot too actually with Ultraman hurting his arm. Overall, this was a good match and might be better on a later re-watch but right now it’s going to be towards the bottom half of my ballot.

Close to three stars or possibly a little less. This is probably a solid C or C+ at best. It was fine but nothing stood out to me much at all. 

[KillerSpeed]

I really really liked this. We saw Ultraman in 2011 hanging with the likes of Black Terry and Negro Navarro and he was right there in 1984. The guy has really varied, really vicious looking takedowns and was taking Jerry apart in the first fall. Estrada really sold like a champ here like he was fighting with all his might, and his reaction to the finish of each fall is just great. Watching Jerry selling like he has nothing in the tank then going berserk on the arm was really neat and the payoff was excellent. This also had one neat spot of struggling over an indian deathlock and perhaps the most "advanced" springboard rope running spots on the set yet, but the real story is Jerry Estrada. One of my favourite title bouts on the set so far.

[KrisZ]

Mexican National Middleweight Title: Ultraman © vs. "El Puma" Jerry Estrada (3/2/84)These two had some heated action the week before and this what spawned from it but this is a title match so expect more of a clean match. We get some really great matwork to start with both men working in and out of holds. Estrada gets the early advantage by stretching Ultraman to take a highly competitive 1st fall. Estrada works over Ultraman's arm in the 2nd fall which he started on in the 1st fall but Ultraman fights back slamming him hard on the mat then putting him in a neck crank to make him submit. Ultraman works over Estrada's neck to start the 3rd fall and the heat started to pick up here as Estrada sent Ultraman to the floor then absolutely crushed him with a tope suicida right in the seats. Ultraman though comes back sending Estrada to the other side of the ring and hits him with a tope that he almost missed. Ultraman's right arm is now basically limp and Estrada just wrenches it over his shoulder numerous times and Roberto Rangel calls the doctor to come into the ring to check him out. They decided to stop the match and Estrada is awarded the victory and the title which he celebrates happily. This was a total battle with both men taking it to each other and while the ending wasn't the best it didn't feel cheap as the armwork was there to support it.

[Matt D]

I enjoyed the crap out of this. I thought a lot of the selling (especially by Estrada) was some of the best I've seen so far on the set. I loved the arm focus. I thought there was a real struggle to the matwork and I was literally yelling at the screen "Don't do another dive you idiot!" when Ultraman went for his second dive. Great finish.

[Young Mr. Grace]

I really liked this too. While the work itself was solid enough, Estrada's selling was by far the highlight. I have fond memories of Estrada as a crazy bumper, so it was fun to see him in this type of match, slowing it down and taking it to the mat. I liked his subtle selling off the back drops, sitting up at first and then falling back in pain. 

[keith_h]

I found myself enjoying this match quite a bit. Estrada's selling is top notch and Ultraman is always great. Not the usual insane Estrada bumpfest that people would expect, but he finds ways to make even the simple things look super painful. I also loved the crazy out of control dives. They made those dives look like they were trying to kill each other and it was awesome.

 

B or ***3/4

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

This was pretty good. I enjoyed the way it escalated from the matwork in the first fall, which was quite nifty at times, to Estrada just brutalising Ultraman's arm. I thought Estrada looked good here, but Ultraman's performance wasn't all that great. He just seems kinda bland. This won't be super-high on my ballot or anything, but it was a good mid-range bout.

[Robert]

I'm gonna go with Log on this one. It was a fine match but not one I'd be looking to re-watch any time soon. When I watch a Jerry Estrada match I'm looking for the big bumps & overselling but there was none of that here. He wasn't working with much as I've always thought Ultraman was utter crap and lucky to be in a trio with Solar & Super Astro who he could just hide behind & get away with doing nothing but posing most of the time. The finish was pretty realistic and totally believable but I like conclusions to matches I've invested 20+ minutes into. Would have prefered Estrada grabbing the arm and forcing him to submit rather than a doctor stoppage. Oh well. Estrada will have other chances to deliver on this set.

 

Not related to the match: During commentary it's mentioned that the first ever match broadcast on Galavision was just over a year before this match occured and it involved Aguila India & Jerry Estrada.

[Lee B.]

I agree that Estrada's selling was very effective in this match.  It made the opening matwork much more compelling than I usually find matwork to be.  Estrada sold his head and neck quite energetically as well later in the match.  (Maybe too energetically?)  I was fine with the doctor stopping the match at the end.  It was an unusual way to end the match, which is fine with me.  It did seem that the doctor was celebrating the win a bit after the match, which made me suspicious.  Overall, this was pretty mid-rangey and could slip to my lower half, but maybe not.

[goc]

I liked Jerry Estrada a lot in this one and think people are kind of sleeping on how good of a rudo he was in this match by focusing just on his selling. Lots of little dick moves like pulling on Ultraman's mask and the always enjoyable disingenuous handshake attempt to start the match. This won't isn't ranking super high but I liked Estrada and he's someone I'll be watching more closely as I attempt to try and pick up some steam in my watching.