Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs. Mascara Ano 2000 (8/15/86)

[Phil Schneider]

Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs. Mascara Ano 2000 (8/15/86)

[tim.]

Seems like piledrivers were illegal by now?  Match isn't much in the first two falls but gets good in the third.  Ends with Jalisco turning a spinning backbreaker into a piledriver for the win; the announcer says "prohibido (or something)," the crowd explodes and there's lots of post match drama, so by now piledrivers seemed to have been a big deal.  Interesting ending and good final fall but this goes fairly low for me.

[Curt McGirt]

First off I have to say, having never seen either of these guys, I love their masks. Ano's is beautiful with the tusk-like designs coming out of the cheeks, and Rayo's is awesome in its simplicity, so understated. I wonder how these guys fared in the mask tournament on the old board...

 

Work is fine if a bit middle-of-the-road. Rayo is one lanky bastard for a luchador. He sells every bump into the turnbuckles like it's killing him. So much for the first two falls, that was quick. After some weak opening offense from Rayo we get two topes and a plancha where he nukes his knee on the floor landing, looks like it hurt a lot. There's some controversy over the martinete as the finish but the ref and the commish seem fine with it so we call it a match. Fair and short, probably low-middle in the rankings.

[Graham Crackers]

I think I liked this more than tim and Curt though it's not like I think it's a really high ranking match either. The way they made those first two falls sound I thought they'd be really rushed. They are short but they still manage to work in some simple feeling out matwork in the first fall. Then the second fall has a nice and simple transition where Rayo, who has been controlling the match since his first fall victory, misses a falling headbutt and Mascara Ano 2000 begins to take control. These aren't the first two falls you may want from other workers but it worked to both of these wrestlers' strengths. This is a title match but neither is known for their matwork so some short falls, simple exchanges, nice transitions, and Rayo dancing schtick is going to be the best path for them to choose. The third fall is all about big bombs and it's really fun to watch. I didn't expect so many dives but they all looked good. This isn't anything deep but it makes for really fun junk food.

[Matt D]

I'm glad we get to see these two in a singles setting, as we've only seen them in tags so far and Rayo didn't do a ton the last time we saw him. I kind of like Mascara's stooging. I'll admit the feeling out stuff feels a little pedestrian, but I kind of like how it's based off of who can armdrag who more than actual matwork. After watching someone like Lizmark hit his stuff it's a little disappointing watching these two kind of stumble about. They're trying at least and I did like the kneeling torture rack thing that ended the fall. 

 

Mascara selling the back between falls is really welcome though as is Rayo staying on it. The momentum changes pretty quickly when Rayo misses the huge falling headbutt. Mascara hones in right on the arm though and his stuff look pretty good. From this match, he's definitely more of a dickish stooging honing in guy than a matwork/spot sort of guy, but that's ok. Also it could just be the title match environment. I like his use of the shoulder tackles to bounce Rayo around the ring. I would have liked a more arm-focused submission, but that snap backcracker, stand on the guy's legs, surfboard thing was both really simple and really cool. Does that thing have a name? 

 

I love when the seconds have their guy's shirt on. Man, what was up with Mascara doing a ministry of silly walks walk so he could walk into an aerial attack to start the third fall. Those grounded headbutts from Rayo were pretty goofy too. And they got right to that dive, huh? And then another. They hadn't really done enough damage to each other to validate the sort of third fall selling you usually get in a third fall so I guess in that regard going to the dives early let them raise the stakes immediately. Mascara does the backcracker neck thing again but can't hold it this time. Then we get some near falls. I liked the struggle during the bodyslam-turned-small package. That was well done. They cycle right back into the dives after that. Rayo grabbing the rope on the outside and then falling down was a nice little touch too. I am liking some of the spots in the third fall. The tope headbutt followed by Rayo turnbuckling himself on what we're supposed to think was another attempt worked well even if it was a bit illogical. The nearfall off the Mascara top rope whiff was good too. I liked how Mascara sort of shook back and forth to prevent the inverted surfboard too. 

 

I liked how they went back to the armdrags with the abdominal stretch and then how Mascara thought he won. Some great stooging body language there. That rolls right into the tombstone and the fall.

 

Well, if they had switched a few things around on this I would have liked it a lot more. They sort of teased things I wanted but didn't go all the way with them.I want to see Mascara in a more comedy oriented match now and wouldn't mind seeing him in a beatdown situation. It had some good stuff but I see it in the bottom quarter. 

[Graham Crackers]

I would have liked a more arm-focused submission, but that snap backcracker, stand on the guy's legs, surfboard thing was both really simple and really cool. Does that thing have a name?

 

It's La Cavernaria, named after Cavernario Galindo.

 

[Lee B.]

I think I'm with Matt D on this match.  It had some nice touches, like Mascara getting wiggly in the legs to block the surfboard (or whatever the plan was), and Jalisco collapsing trying to get back into the ring on the third fall.  There was a fairly botchy roll-up attempt in the third fall that didn't look too great.  One could claim they were exhausted, but it wasn't that long of a match, and they weren't selling exhaustion otherwise.  Mascara thinking he won with the abdominal stretch was a bit far-fetched, but the tombstone piledriver looked good to finish the match.  The crowd seemed fairly well into the match, which was nice.  The dives were fine as well.  Not enough heat though to get this out of my bottom half, most likely. 

[goc]

I liked this match, but it's probably going to be lower third on my ballot. It's definitely one of the lesser singles matches on the set so far but it also has some very strong competition in that department. The first two falls didn't do much for me but it did really pick up in the 3rd. I thought the finish was a little wonky though with Mascara Ano 2000 thinking he got a submission (why?) only to get pulled into a Tombstone for the win. The dives were cool and Jalisco falling down trying to get back in the ring after his dive was a nice touch but this didn't have enough to really push it up my ballot.

[soup23]

This is a different type of title match we have seen so far in this set in that it is pretty limited on the mat and seemed more along the lines of modern CMLL action. Rayo mixed in some of his personality to keep things interesting. Third fall ratcheted things up a good bit as both Rayo and Ano had time on top. Rayo hits a tombstone which Ano sells like death and we get some hefty challenges thrown out at the end. Real good match but middle to low on a set like this. ***1/2