Lizmark vs. El Satanico (April 1984)

[Phil Schneider]

Lizmark vs. El Satanico (April 1984)

[Graham Crackers]

ohtani's jacket has a terrific write up on this match on his blog where he talks about the rivalry between these two and how this match represents it.In terms of my own thoughts on this one, it isn't as epic as I would have hoped but it's still pretty damn good. The real problem is that after the first fall Lizmark is never in enough danger for the match to remain compelling. Satanico barely scraping together a victory could be interesting but in the end it feels cheap and not the spectacular kind of cheap you get when everything has gone according to the villain's plan. Lizmark does have some impressive offense and counters. Satanico is a master at selling all of that stuff. I love the way he goes back to selling the neck after he misses a knee in the corner to start the third fall. They both contributed some great stuff to this match but it feels as if it's less than the sum of it's parts.

[tim.]

Really liked this match.  Opening matwork is pretty fantastic with lots of really cool details.  Satanico through is just Satanico putting in an awesome performance in every aspect.  His selling of the piledrivers in the second fall was wonderful.  Good action in the final fall and I loved some of Satanico's fatigued selling toward the end.  One of these days I need to try to isolate the variables on what makes me either sort of like, not mind, or dislike a double pin finish in these matches because this is one where I just didn't care for it.

[Exposer]

This was a great match. Satanico is a great “selling heel” here and what I mean by that is he’s extraordinary at working underneath as the heel and withstanding the tecnico’s arsenal. The first fall is a lot of stop and go mat work but it’s all great. I loved Satanico shaking his arm off after countering an arm lock from Lizmark and putting him in a leglock. It’s the strong attention to detail that is impressive here. The section where Satanico is struggling through a head scissors while putting Lizmark in a modified crab is awesome. Lizmark’s crossfaces were awesome too. The finish of the first fall sets up the rest of the match. Lizmark wins by suplexing Satanico on his neck. Satanico sells his neck for the rest of the match. Lizmark goes right back to it in the second fall and works over Satanico’s neck but gets caught and powerbomed nastily on his head for the end of the second fall to tie it up. The third fall is tremendous with Lizmark going all out and doing everything he can to put away Satanico but slowly getting frustrated. I loved when he pounded the mat after Satanico made a kick out. The finish is something I actually liked too as it fit well with the narrative of Satanico trying to survive and keep the championship. Great match.

This is between four and four and a half stars. I liked this a lot. It’s close to a solid A. 

[soup23]

This is a beautiful match overall. Satanico I think was slightly less here than in the Atlantis match but that is no knock as his Atlantis match performance is probably one of my favorite rudo displays all time. Lizmark was right there with him most of the way in this match and this had a good amount of hatred but also grace. Finish is another one that wasn't very satisfactory and again detracts a little where this match with a tighter finish could have been a top 10 candidate for the entire set.

 

****1/4

[KrisZ]

NWA Middleweight Title: Satanico © vs. Lizmark (April 1984)The 1st fall is all matwork basically as both men are trying to get the best of each other with Lizmark looking awesome and Satanico carrying his end but not getting much in as he mainly played defense. The 2nd fall sees more Lizmark dominance including hitting two sweet piledrivers that Satanico sells like he was fucking shot with an AK-47. Satanico would basically luck himself into winning the fall as he countered a Lizmark rana with a powerbomb to even the sides. Satanico would start the 3rd fall running for Lizmark but hitting all corner taking a hard bump which was cool. The guys are working hard here but it's not clicking like you would want in a match here between these two although there were some great spots like Satanico taking a wicked bump to the floor followed up by Lizmark hitting a fucking great plancha to the floor. Both men would then try to put the other one away before Lizmark pinned himself with a tapatia as we got a double pinfall making this a draw. The finish was what it was and this match could've been better but it was still a really good match.

[Matt D]

This is one that I'm going to have to rewatch closely. I really enjoyed the first fall for a title match. I thought it was technical and intense and hate-filled. I loved how the second fall followed from the first and Satanico's desperation hail mary was awesome. The third fall is what I'm going to have to rewatch more closely. I didn't see the amount of neck selling Devon did (It was there in the second fall, of course), but it meandered a bit with all the admittedly cool flying headbutt attacks. I'll believe it that there's more to the third fall, but I'd have to break it down more.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I wasn't really feeling this. Lizmark didn't impress me much, and, while I liked him more, I'm yet to be blown away by Satanico. Might have to be one I rewatch.

[Lee B.]

I think I side more with Yo-Yo than the folks who really loved this match.  I liked Lizmark's quick and painful-looking opening submission attempt.  The first-fall sequence where Lizmark stands on his head with his legs around Satanico's head was odd but cool.  I loved Guerrera pulling Satanico out of the ring at the beginning of the second fall to rub his neck some more.  The crowd reacted great to that.  Overall, this was a solid match, but it may not be too memorable for me.  I also didn't totally dig the ending.  This probably will end up in my bottom half.

[Curt McGirt]

This is the last match on the set I have yet to see and seems pretty divisive as has been the norm so far. Let's watch, shall we?

 

Starting out there's some pretty intense matwork. The pieface tells you that there is no love lost between these two guys if you already didn't get the hint. This isn't high-speed, both guys are just kind of grinding into each other with maximum force. Satanico gets caught in a headscissors, turns it into a Walls of Jericho (!), which gets reversed into a roll-up and after that they decide to amp up the pace. There's a pin off a butterfly suplex and that's only something you will either see here or in a '70s Japanese match. Satanico is great at milking the punishment, begging for relief, and Fuerza Guerrera yanks him outside to the protests of Mascara Ano 2000. The second fall ends in a Quantum Leap into the '90s with a powerbomb reversal after a couple piledrivers that Satanico sells gloriously. Lizmark starts selling the fatigue and we get a great tercera filled with desperate attempts to win before we get a Flair/Steamboat double pin to secure Satanico's status as King of the Screwy Finishes. This is a great lucha title match with some really good selling and almost Regal-like work in the beginning, just a mean little slow burn fall. Satanico can do no wrong. 

[goc]

Lizmark did this kind of cartwheel into a leg takedown that looked really cool. Really liked the sequence with the psuedo Lion Tamer and really thought that was going to be the finish to the first fall when Lizmark countered out into a pin. Finish to the first fall felt like it kind of came out of nowhere, I would have prefered the aforementioned near fall.

I liked Fuerza Guerrera pulling Satanico out to try and fan him down with a towel and get him back in the match. I can't get a feel for how piledrivers are supposed to be treated. Satanico sells the hell out of the two he gets hit with but he wins the fall almost immediately after the second one.

Third fall has some nice dives from Lizamrk and I like the way Satanico desperately kicks out of the last nearfall before the double pin. The double pin is kind of disappointing but not going to kill the ranking of this or anything. Good match but probably middle of the pack or a little lower.