Gran Cochise vs. Satanico (9/14/84)

[Phil Schneider]

Gran Cochise vs. Satanico (9/14/84)

[Graham Crackers]

From the first lock-up you can tell this is going to be different from all of the other grappling so far on this set. Gran Cochisse has to work hard to find an escape from that first waistlock and from there they move through their first series of reversals. There is a graceful athleticism to great lucha matwork and that's present in this one but grace doesn't mean cooperative. These first exchanges happen at the perfect speed for viewers like us to see how these wrestlers jockey for position before finding the counter they need to turn the tide in their favor. The same difficulty that Gran Cochisse has in escaping that first waistlock is mirrored by the difficulty Satanico faces in getting his opponent off of his back. Like any good fight, neither man is going to give up their position that easily. Gran Cochisse is thrown out of the ring with a huge snapmare but Satanico doesn't pounce on him or dive. This is a title match and it's only the first fall. He waits for him to come back so he can submit him in the middle of the ring.The second fall is all about teasing escalation. They both try to pick apart their opponent's shoulder and things continue to heat up before they find themselves staring each other down on all fours. Gran Cochisse takes the second fall with a quick counter though it's not as decisive as Satanico's first fall victory. When the third fall starts Satanico suggests a handshake and at first Gran Cochisse is skeptical. Why wouldn't he be with a rudo as tricky as Satanico making the offer? Shockingly, it's Gran Cochisse who takes advantage by quickly going around and hitting Satanico with a huge knee to the kidneys and after that's followed up by a series of brutal spinebusters Satanico is not looking so hot. This leads to a series of spectacular near submissions. Each time Gran Cochisse puts Satanico into a hold that could end the whole thing Satanico barely finds a counter but after a while the damage starts to show and Satanico resorts to just desperately crawling away. The way the crowd embraces Satanico as an underdog in the final fall of this match is similar to the story of another one of my favorite lucha title matches, the Santo vs Espanto match from1992. Satanico's performance in this match is simply one of the best performances I've ever seen. The grappling and the selling are incredible but on top of that he manages to go from subtle heeling to underdog babyface within the course of one match.

[tim.]

God damn this match is a classic.  I just wish they'd stayed on the mat a bit longer because that opening matwork was truly masterful stuff.  Back on their feet though they do some cool trading of arm drags etc and posturing, with Satanico's body language etc being especially cool, how calm and collected he kept himself.  Second fall is great with awesome deuling arm work, and their little show down on all fours had the crowd whistling and barking which was hilarious.  Third fall is just out of this world.  It's like the best of all possible go-go-go runs of tons of big moves and counters, but in a 80s lucha style, and it just feels really special and is perfectly worked.  Too much awesome stuff to name.  I'll be surprised if this doesn't stay in my top 5.

[Graham Crackers]

I just wish they'd stayed on the mat a bit longer because that opening matwork was truly masterful stuff.

I'm with you on this. If we had more matwork in this one it'd be an easy number 1 for me but at this moment I don't know if I like this or MS-1 vs Sangre Chicana more.

[Curt McGirt]

I can't help but think this was a legitimate face turn for Satanico. All it took was for Cochise to use the attempt at the Fuerza handshake to jump Satanico from behind and the crowd was with it, like they collectively said "you just don't pull that kind of shit in a lucha title match". Everybody surrounds the ring at the end and some random dude even tries to lift Satanico on his shoulders which he wasn't having. Maybe I missed it cause I was kind of half watching, but did anyone throw money? This is one I'm gonna have to come back to. 

[Exposer]

This is Satanico’s career performance. I have a lot more to see of him but this is going to be hard to beat. I don’t know if I like this better than MS-1-Chicana. It’s really tough to say. I might have to watch these matches back to back once I finish the set to decide. I do think the story told here is more interesting. From a stylistic standpoint this match has a great mixture of everything. This is a title match so there’s not really any brawling but it has excellent mat work, excellent exchanges, and has the best build of almost any match I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if there’s a spot in this match like the first punch from Chicana in the brawl but I think the closest thing to that and maybe equal to that is when Cochise knees Satanico in the back on the handshake in the third fall. The character reversal is something that’s extremely hard to do in wrestling. Satanico does that here. His frustration early on sets the tone for everything else. It leads up to the reversal of roles. He’s unable to gain control and it’s terribly frustrating him to the point where he starts to lose focus. His mannerisms and expressions are awesome in this. I actually believed he was fighting for a championship. He’s still able to catch Cochise with his smarts and with the arm hold to win the first fall. The second fall has Satanico working over Cochise’s arm and he starts to get his confidence back. However, Cochise is game and turns the tide and pays Satanico back by working on his arm. This lets us know that Cochise is playing Satanico’s game. He’s checkmating him every time too. They sell their arms really well here and go back to the fast pace exchanges. Satanico sees that the arm work doesn’t work and tries to take Cochise on in Cochise’s game. This ends up being a big mistake and Cochise wins the second fall with a small package off of a body slam attempt from Satanico. Then the handshake spot happens. The crowd is livid at Cochise. He fucked Satanico over at his own game. The third fall is on another level from pretty much anything else on this set. Satanico is down. Cochise goes for the kill and just destroys Satanico with holds. He does everything in the playbook and more. Some of these holds are incredible. The best sequence here is when Satanico is audibly screaming in pain on that reverse arm bar and turns it into that wild leg hold but gets eventually overpowered by Cochise. Then the plancha spot comes. Satanico desperately ducking for cover is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match. It’s such a small thing to do but it means everything. Cochise still gets him with a plancha though. Then, they go back in the ring and have this slow tease towards Satanico’s victory that is something else. Satanico goes for all of these holds but Cochise keeps throwing him off. The last sequence is incredible. Both guys are running the ropes selling their asses off and I actually believed Satanico had some serious back injury he was moving so lightly. Then, Satanico finally wins on his feet and traps Cochise in a submission that goes back to the arm work. Cochise fights hard to survive but can’t hold on. The post-match is awesome too with the true handshake and the fan carrying Satanico off on his shoulders. This is either number one or number two. Either way it’s one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen.

Five stars and A*. Satanico put on a top five performance in wrestling history. 

 

EDIT: I sort of want to make something clear. I was stuck in the second fall about Satanico's frustration. He really does have a great relaxation to him in the first fall. He did seem to start to get a little frustrated in the first fall but his full on frustration didn't come until the second fall. So, really we have him relaxed in the first fall, frustrated in the second, and desperate in the third. That's incredible storytelling. 

[Matt D]

There are other first falls that I think tell stronger stories or are more aggressive, or more focused. This one works in a slightly different way. The ones I've liked so far are either about speed vs power or about wanting to actually hurt someone (even in some of the title style matches, like in the last Satanico one). This to me was more about really wanting to win, which I think is a much more difficult thing to get across. You get the sense that Satanico especially is not just trying to win but trying to win within the confines of the tradition. I kind of liken him to 85 Tully, where he came into every match wanting to play it straight but ultimately got outclassed, except for the scope and stage is bigger here, and Satanico is more prepared. I have no idea if that's accurate, but it's the feeling I get from getting to know him earlier in the set. So yes, other, stronger first falls, but this, to me, is more definitive for what everyone told me a Lucha Title Match's first fall should be. It's the most iconic of the bunch.

 

I think there's really that same element of gamesmanship in the second fall too. There is really the potential of a very sophisticated story here, and I think one reason why it won't do as well as the MS-1 brawl is that there just isn't as much evidence that it's there. There's a lot more connecting of dots necessary. I think, if you really watch the 83 MS-1 match, you can't help but see the story. It's minimalist and primal. This, here, in the second fall, has elements of both guys going to the same well, and when neither can really get an advantage they end up on the ground like frustrated beasts. Cochisse gets a lightning fall out of nowhere.

 

I do think a lot of the third fall is about whether or not an old dog can change his stripes. The stakes are so high that Cochisse obviously feels like he can't give him the chance and he can't afford not to take advantage after he crosses the line (before Satanico crosses it for him?). Satanico's selling and body language is amazing in the third fall, as other people have said. I feel like he's almost too good at selling on the set. There are earlier matches where you want to have sympathy for the devil. Here, you finally get to. He hangs on, avoids, just barely, the low blow (Which i probably give too much weight to but it really stood out), and he wins while keeping his head above water. This is one of those times where it's almost a shame that wrestling is a never-ending, serialized form of fiction, because it seems like this is a perfect ending for Satanico, while knowing, of course, that if it has to go one even another day, he's going to end up back in his old ways, because he's this embodiment of sleazy darkness. 

 

The problem with the match is that I honestly don't know how much of that i just pulled out of my ass. We all have slightly different readings of it. We all have some similarities. People who know lucha the best kind of look at some of us like we're morons or just plain wrong here, and I don't know. People said that I read too much into the Hour Long Draw that won the AWA set but I felt really confident about that from the work. Here, I feel like there's a cool story in my head but I just don't know if it's actually one backed-up by the undeniably interesting ringwork. I didn't feel a lot of it last time the first time I saw it (and i was watching really closely) after all.

[Log]

I thought this told a nice story of these guys being soooo even.  It was like whoever could get an advantage or score a reversal could pull out the win.  I loved this as an example of "Lucha Title Match".  This is probably top 3 or so for me.  Very, very nice.

[KrisZ]

NWA Middleweight Title: Gran Cochise © vs. Satanico (9/14/84)What else can be said about this one as it's one of the greatest matches of the decade in Mexico and the world in general. This isn't a bloodbath or a violent hate filled brawl but what it is is two guys who have a classic wrestling match trying to see who is the better man by using their skills. The match had an All-Japan epic feel by the end where the crowd didn't give a shit who won really because they were watching greatness and both were winners. Satanico showed here why he was one of the greatest of his era and Cochise maybe looked even better here and definitely made me wish we had more of him in big singles matches. This won't be my #1 probably but I don't think there is any way it won't be in my Top 5.

[Graham Crackers]

[Robert]

Fantastic match. Any fool who says Lucha Libre is all about the dives and highspots needs to be smacked on the head with a VHS copy of this match and then forced to watch it 3 times in a row.

 

I loved the legitimate battle going on to apply every hold. Nothing was taken for granted, no move easily locked on. It was a slow match but really wasn't... if that makes any sense. They were always moving trying to escape holds or find a way to lock on the next hold. As the match progresses it becomes less about the actual moves and more just a battle to survive exhaustion. Even just getting whipped into a turnbuckle led to a dramatic nearfall. The finish was great with Cochisse going for his finishing submission and Satanico countering into an inescapable submission where Cochisse finally had to give it up. A masterpiece of a match. Definitely top 5.

[Curt McGirt]

Yeah, totally reworking my rankings for this disc now. This is one for the ages. Satanico is so good he can pull off a face turn in a title match. The exhaustion selling toward the end of this is superb. The open with matwork-into-rope running is par for the course but it adds to the psychology of both guys being blown up by tercera caida. We get a lot of even-steven faceoffs that became overdone after the '90s juniors popularized them but they work within the context of the match. Just a really amazing piece of tapestry these guys wove here, I'm gonna have to rewatch everything on the disc now to see where it stands in comparison. The fact that crazy workrate matches like Chicana/MS-1 parte dos and Villano/Perro are gonna go low on this one is insane.

[Lee B.]

I enjoyed this match.  I liked the way Satanico tried to roll Cochise off of him in the first fall, but Cochise hung on.  I think Satanico's first fall looked fairly effortless, which corresponds to the idea that Satanico was pretty relaxed in the first fall but then became more desparate.  The third fall seemed pretty long, but it was full of very interesting action.  Cochise's wriggling out of Satanico's scorpion/Boston crab attempt was nice.  The ending was great as well.  I don't think this will rank quite as high for me as it will for some of you, but it's definitely a top-half match and a fine performance by Satanico.

[soup23]

I often have described Angel Azteca vs. El Dandy as a match that should be running in a loop at a museum somewhere to display wrestling as an art form. This match is worthy of having a video screen running in unison right next to that one. The first lockup to the final exchange was all about fluid uncooperativeness and leverage/jockeying for position. It was a beautiful display and in a year where Satanico already has one of my favorite performances in a match ever (vs. Atlantis) he gives another awe-inspiring transition here. For the first time on the set, you feel like cheering the devil on and relish in his victory. Top 10 lock. (****3/4)

[goc]

I liked how differently Satanico worked this as compared to his other 1 on 1 matches on the set. There was no attacking in between falls or outright cheating, just a little over confidence to start the second fall. And Gran Cochise was the one who attacked off Satanico's handshake to start the 3rd fall. Not sure if the story was that he had more respect for a vet like Cochise rather than a foreigner like Koshinaka or a young upstart like Atlantis but it was a nice change of pace. This is sitting pretty high on my ballot right now and wouldn't be surprised to see it in my top 10.