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Tony Salazar vs. Herodes (3/2/84)


Phil Schneider

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  • 2 weeks later...

This was a fucking awesome bloody Memphis style brawl. Salazar makes a great Lawler stand-in and spends most of this match working from underneath Herodes. Herodes attacks him before he can enter the ring which leads to a quick first fall victory. The second fall was also really quick and having two quick falls like that would usually bother me but the third fall more than makes up for it. Salazar's comeback is sooooooo awesome. He just ducks a punch and stuns Herodes with a series of jabs. It's so simple and so fucking cool. The bulldogs on the wooden planks outside of the ring were brutal. Herodes hits a fucking insane fat guy tope. There are some great nearfalls as well including one where Salazar misses a tope en reversa and Herodes just crushes him with a senton. I wish we had a better finish than the ref calling a DQ on a low blow he didn't even see. How often do refs take the crowd's word for it? Still, that wasn't enough to put a damper on how fucking cool this match was.

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Really excited that we get the grudge match between these two.  Herodes has the awesome beard still and dominates the first few minutes until Salazar comes firing off and wins the first fall.  Salazar starts off hot on the second fall and posts Herodes.  The ref admonishes Salazar in order to give Herodes back the advantage and him rams Salazar’s shoulder into the turnbuckle and clubs and cranks it away. Salazar responds by going after Herodes shoulder.  I love the intensity being displayed here.  Referee gives Herodes the second fall with an armbar submission.  Salazar gets busted up at the onset of the final fall and is a complete mess.  Herodes does a straight choke and this has gotten grim.  This choke is really nasty and he comes back firing some body punches.  Salazar is able to come back with some wild punches and is really selling the beating well.  Salazar is doing some excellent selling of the blood loss.  Herodes gets posted now on the outside.  Nice bulldog on the outside.  Salazar posts and bulldogs him again.  Now Herodes comes up a complete mess with the blood just gushing out.  The back and forth punches when they get back in is great as you would expect with both guys missing some because of the blood in the eyes.  Herodes especially squinting because of the blood flow is great.  Herodes with a huge dive to the outside.  Salazar responds with a big dive on his own.  Herodes again is trying to clear his vision.  Diving headbutt and some big time nearfalls that the crowd bites on.  Herodes even gets one with a big senton.  Referee goes down and Herodes responds with our best nut shot of the set so far.  He pins him down but the ref asks the crowd whether a foul commenced.  The crowd tells him yes and Salazar is declared the winner.  Great final fall and bloody grudge match overall.

****1/4

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First two falls are decent but not really too impressive, but the third fall becomes a bloody war.  Both guys hit huge gushers and they're drenched with blood.  They both sell their own cuts and work over each others cuts wonderfully too.  Salazar's comeback rules and the bulldogs on the outside were cool; Herodes' selling on the outside afterward was especially great.  Alhough most of it was great I do feel like there were times in the third fall where quality dropped a bit though and I don't think it maintained a high enough level of quality for enough of an extended period to really rank too high.  This is still a great match though and I actually loved the ending: the crowd was just so full righteous anger that the ref couldn't possibly ignore them.

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Herodes is like a tough, little squat Harley Race here.  I love his bump off having his head rammed into the middle turnbuckle.  Really unique.

 

Oh man, was this great!  The first two falls moved pretty quickly, but what was there was good.  

 

Then we hit the third fall, and goddamn all hell breaks loose.  I don't think "bloody" quite does it justice.  These two are just covered in blood.  Some great brawling, near falls, and then (in my opinion) a really cool ending.  

 

This is my #2 right now behind MS1/Chicana.  

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My find of the set so far is Herodes, this guy really is Race-like in look and execution. Bumps big, mauls people, not afraid to bleed, and not afraid to fly either. Anyone notice the mats outside the ring are the same blue and red color/pattern of the old All Japan rings? I love Tony trying to apparently hold the blood in his his head with his hand and then later, Herodes does the same only he looks like someone just shot him in the eye. The pops for Herodes kicking out of the rollup and the foule at the end are enormous. The sentons in this rule so much, too. 

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If this match could have put more continuity into the third fall from the second fall with Salazar selling his arm I would have really loved this match. That said, this was a great match with a tremendously great third fall. Herodes spitting point blank into Salazar’s face to warm it up for posting was fucking awesome. The first fall was well done I thought and I liked Salazar’s comeback offense at the end of it. On stand alone, the second fall was really good with Herodes crushing Salazar’s arm with his fat ass and shit. It did well to set up Salazar on the defensive to start in the third fall but I wished they had continued some with the arm instead of completely ignoring it. The third fall was fucking awesome with Salazar bleeding like a stuck pig and then Herodes doing the same. I loved the cut biting and clawing. The bulldogs on the floor sounded sick because Herodes is so big. The final five minutes were incredibly great with Herodes doing an unbelievably awesome fat man dive and both guys selling their asses off all tired and bloodied. The ending was a little too abrupt and kind of cop out to me. It was a disappointing finish. Still, this was really great at its best.

It’s tough because I liked this a lot but I wanted the second fall to be a little more important than it was. I’m giving this four stars and maybe a little more. It’s close to an A- but definitely a B+. I enjoyed this a good bit.  

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Man oh man. Salazar comes in with white pants and you just know what's gonna happen. I was almost shocked that they spent the first two falls doing some wrestling and armwork. But the last fall is just Oh Shit  violent. The blood and selling of the blood is truely high end insanity, Salazar throws some world class punches, Herodes repeatedly crushes him with his size.... just a true lucha bloodbath, violent and gritty. Even the ref was increasing the intensity in his attempts to get them out of the ropes. I didn't mind the finish but the only real disappointment was that we didn't get to hear the pop for it.

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Tony Salazar vs. Herodes (3/2/84)OH YEAH!!! this blood feud has been building up the past few weeks and here is the singles match. Herodes attacks Salazar immediately while wearing a fucking white robe like a Klan member then calmly goes to talk to Dr. Morales while Salazar sells on the floor. Salazar takes a fairly quick 1st fall with a nice handspring elbow/senton combo. Both men then worked over the other's left arm in the 2nd fall with Herodes using his weight and power to force a submission. Salazar gets thrown to the floor as the 3rd fall starts and Herodes posts him which brings out the juice and Salazar is wearing white tights here which is an added plus for the blood as it drips down his body. Salazar is a fucking crimson mask here as Herodes is a real dick working over his cut until Salazar fires it up and starts biting Herodes' head getting blood out of his old wounds. The battle goes to the floor where Salazar hits a couple of bulldogs on the wooden floor and HOLY SHIT did Herodes tap a gusher with his blade job. JESUS he is completely covered in blood and Salazar is a fucking vampire going after it being pulled off by the referee by the hair. These two continue to bust their asses even though they are covered in blood with Herodes hitting a HUGE fat boy tope suicida to the floor. Salazar isn't going to be one upped though as he comes back with a high plancha from the ring to the floor. They go back to the ring where it's a total war of attrition with both men trying to put the other away before Herodes hits the referee by mistake then punts Salazar in the balls and tries to pin him but the referee is persuaded by a very loud crowd telling him what happened and he awarded the match to Salazar. The last half of this match was so fucking awesome.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The first fall was really abrupt. I like Salazar's non springboard elbow, though. I do think that it could have a stronger first half. All three finishes were good and I especially loved the senton on the arm. I'm not surprised they were good. That's something I've seen in portland. If you run 2/3 falls matches ALL the time, you almost have to develop a bevy of good finishes. The story of the match was the third fall brawl obviously. There were elements of continuity I did like such as the sentons and the awesomely dickish elbow sidestep by Herodes. I forgot all about the arm selling, to be honest, because Salazar was taking so much other damage. I think the length and relative ease of the first fall drags it down a bit but otherwise I'd believe that this might be the second best singles brawl on the set. I'd also, of course, believe that it won't even come close which is one great thing about the set.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I currently have this rated #2 through 30+ matches. THe first time I saw it, I thought it was more spectacle than great match. On rewatch, you start to notice the little things that Herodes is great at and Salazar is more than willing to bleed like he's Sangre Chicana. I almost never rewatch matches for these sets unless it is a podcast requirement but I am so glad to have been so wrong. A true classic.; 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This was awesome. I was really looking forward to the match after the earlier trios, and it didn't disappoint at all. I love that with the 3 falls in lucha, you can get a guy just mauling someone from the opening bell and taking a quick fall. It seems believable to me that that would happen now and again, but you obviously don't see it much in standard 1 fall matches. Salazar's juice job was great. He reminds me of Fujinami, in that he's a guy who just looks right having the shit kicked out of him. Kinda like how Shelly Winters exists in films to get killed, Salazar seems like he exists just to get worked over like this. Herodes' dive was quality. Loved the finish with Herodes taking the ref's momentary lapse in attention to hit the foule, only to get called on it. Great hearing all the fans in unison screaming foule. This is my number 3 so far, and Herodes is becoming a firm favourite of mine.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Loved the bulldogs. Loved the blood. Loved the hatred. Taking two bulldogs and two postings to get the blood flowing from Herodes just solidified him as a tough bastard. And insane fat guy topes are automatic rewinder moments.

 

Wait, that's the last of Herodes on this set? Oh, poopie.

 

The fact Herodes and the ref might have had problems leaving the building in one piece if they didn't do the DQ enhances a finish that I should have, on paper hated. Nothing beats hearing a rabid crowd when the audio on the match isn't good. I've got it #2 on an insanely strong disk, behind only the Exoticos trio match.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am a total mark for a blood brawl where you have blood stains on the mat and guys just covered from head to toe. It's just a shame these guys wasted two falls before getting to the fun. Herodes is a favorite of mine but he seemed kinda off his game here just repeating the same senton and bodyslam over and over while Salazar sold. Although to be fair the bodyslam came into play later on when Salazar rolled him up and the crowd erupted at the huge nearfall. The third fall was awesome with both guys juicing heavily and Salazar making sure to cover both hands in blood so every time he punched Herodes it would leave a nice visual. Finish was one of those cheap ones I can do without and it was a little disappointing the video cut off before we could hear the huge pop for Salazar getting the win by DQ but such is life. A great third fall mixed with two very skippable falls probably means this winds up somewhere in the middle for me. Probably bumped up a bit due to the blood.

 

Not that it matters to most folks but when Cubsfan & I were in Mexico this past year we gave this match to Tony Salazar himself and his son said he remembers it fondly & Herodes was one of his favorite opponents to ever work with. He was shocked to find someone actually had video of the match.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Yeah, this is great.  I think this was one of the most enjoyable matches on the set so far.  I might even like it better than the revered MS-1 v. Sangre Chicana match.  Herodes is so much fun to watch.  I'm also bummed that this is his last match on the set.  The ending didn't bother me at all.  The last fall was really epic and bloody. 

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  • 8 months later...

I need to rewatch MS1/Chicana but right now I have this above it. With a better finish to the 3rd fall I could see this finishing really high on my ballot, but I didn't like the DQ call of something the ref didn't even see. This was really awesome though and I thought the 3rd fall really built up the drama well. Only criticisms would be the ref continuing to count the first fall when Salazar clearly came off of Herodes during the count and the fact that some of the strikes looked like they missed by a mile.

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