Americo Rocca, Cacharro Mendoza y Kung Fu vs. El Talisman, El Dandy y Guerrero Negro (September 1986)

[Phil Schneider]

Americo Rocca, Cacharro Mendoza y Kung Fu vs. El Talisman, El Dandy y Guerrero Negro (September 1986)

[tim.]

Cool comedy bit with the nunchuks in the pre-match.  Opening matwork is passable but afterward the extended run of technico offense and rudo stooging was a blast, really cool stuff.  Talisman FOULS Mendoza to win the second fall and after a double team segment ending with two big dives from the other four Mendoza and Talisma are left in the ring and Mendoza is DQed for extracting revenge.  Another very enjoyable middle of the pack trios.

[Graham Crackers]

I love a good trios match with great comedy spots. I often feel like good lucha comedy can fit in very nicely next to traditional pantomime comedy. A lot of the rudo stooging in this match, especially when going up against Kung Fu doesn't feel too far off from Charlie Chaplin's boxing scenes from movies like City Lights. The nunchuk stuff is pretty hilarious as well. The rudos do kick some ass when they have to but it's not an epic ass kicking and in the end this is just a really good comedy match.

[Curt McGirt]

This is nice after the last couple of bloodfeasts, a trios comedy match to open the window and get some fresh air, so to speak. We open with Kung Fu exhibiting his nunchaku skills to scare the rudos and the rudo ref as well. There's a funny cultural disconnect in having a guy named Kung Fu dressed like a ninja wielding nunchucks. Dr. Morales mentions Tito Santana and other "lucha Norteamericano" and I wonder what they're talking about. Talisman and Cachorro have a nice little matchup then El Dandy and Rocca come in and the pace picks up, ending in all the rudos getting thrown out of the ring with the final toss due to endless rollup being hilarious. After the first fall Rocca comes in and just smokes Negro with among other things a reverse armdrag and what I can only describe as an "armscissors". We get a rudo beatdown and an unseen foule to keep this from going full-on comedy, then finish up with stereo dives and a revancha foule to cap things off. This doesn't quite reach the heights of, say, the exoticos match on the New Japan set but it's great physical comedy and in small doses I love the hell out of it. 

[Matt D]

I'm not sure who Guerrero Negro is, but he seems like he would have been more interesting before losing his mask. . Thankfully, Dandy and Talisman I do know, which puts Negro in the black tights.. I am going to have problem with Mendoza and Rocca. Ok, Mendoza has the blue tights, Rocca has the gold. Kung Fu is Kung Fu. I'm good. Let's go! I could probably watch half an hour of the nunchuck stuff. 

 

The early back and forth stuff is fun. I didn't realize that they call El Dandy by his real name too, making El Dandy a title. I'd say that I'd love to have been in the room when they came up with the Kung Fu character but frankly, I don't know enough Spanish for it to matter. Hey, I swear they just mentioned Tito Santana. Now they're talking about the Von Erichs. Don't you hate when announcers dont' talk about the match? Did you know Stan Stasiak headlined more MSG shows than anyone in the 70s? Who knew, right? I like the Mendoza/Talisman section. I like Dandy's punch even more and the comedy that follows it is enjoyable enough. Yeah, Kung Fu was a great little novelty but I sure do want to see Dandy punch him in the face. I outright laughed at Dandy accidentally tossing Talisman out. Kung Fu's submission at the end there was great, the sort of roll up, flat face, leg thing. Someone needs to steal that.

 

Rocca's act is really good. The best part was when Negro just slaps the hell out of him and then poses just long enough to get legscissored over from the pose. Talisman really looked like he was just trying to dodge Mendoza during the one throw off the second rope too which is impressive body language for such a contrived spot. Man, Kung Fu punched Dandy. I wanted it to be the other way around. He went down like a sack of bricks though. The double press hotshots aren't as exciting as they could. They do take out Rocca which is nice because then they get to beat up on Kung Fu, but just for a moment. Mendoza eats the triple team next including a nasty clothesline  and then Kung Fu finally gets posted. The foul is so superfluous and they make Rocca watch too. Evil.

 

After the fall I finally get the Kung Fu mauling I wanted. And then the awesome beating on the apron that leads to the tecnicos comeback. Talisman comedically trying to cover up vs Kung Fu is great. This is stuff that could probably get old if I saw it all the time but once and a while it's great. I'd probably feel the same way about Santino if I saw him once a year too. We get a few more match ups before the cool dives which, due to the one camera, have this great visual of both tecnicos just leaving the ring. Mendoza gets the revenge low blow and that's the third fall. Yep I love the confused refs so much. 

 

 

This was a lot of fun but probably bottom half due to the wealth of other good stuff.

[Lee B.]

I concur with the Kung Fu love.  I got a real kick out of it.  I wonder who it was?  Talisman trying to emulate him was funny.  Heel miscommunication was kind of dazzling and fun.  I liked the sneaky foul in the second fall followed by the more flagrant foul in the third, although I could have lived without all the replays.  Great punches scattered throughout the match as well.  I liked this as a mid-range match too, maybe a tiny bit less than the previous Atlantis match. 

[goc]

5 million billion stars for Kung Fu's nunchuck display and the stooging that followed with Talisman trying to copy him. Who is the guest commentator for this match and why are they talking about the Von Erichs? I understand just enough spanish to be more confused than I would be if I had no idea what they were talking about. Kung Fu's gimmick seems to be that as soon as he grabs your arm you're going down. Rocca has a really nice shine sequence ending with him sending all 3 rudos out of the ring and almost catapulting Guerrero Negro on Dandy & Talisman who were already outside. El Dandy uppercutting Kung Fu as he bowed is just beautiful pro wrestling. Kung Fu isn't necessarily a great worker but damn he is good at doing his gimmick. The rudos stooging for Mendoza is screwed up with bad camera work unfortunately. I don't know how "standard" these stooging sequences were but that was a really fun first fall and the tecnicos looked great.

The guest commentator is back to confuse me during the break. Rocca works another great shine sequence with Guerrero Negro. Mendoza & Talisman have a really cool spot where Rocca fakes out Talisman on a cross body and then hits him with it causing Talisman to get frustrated and tag. Dandy almost feels like he's doing all the work on the exchange with Kung Fu and then Kung Fu knocks him out and the rudos have done nothing but stooge and bump so far. Talisman wants to shake hands with Rocca and after they do he immediately follows that up with a punch that takes Cacharro down hard. He quickly lets the crowd know what a bad ass he is. The rudos see their chance and soon it's 2 and 3 of them in the ring at a time. They go after Rocca's throat with chokes and then dropping him throat first over the top rope. Talisman then hits a blatant foul on Cacharro and pins him as the announcer and the crowd vehemently protest.

Third fall start with Rocca continuing to take a 3 on 1 beatdown. Eventually the tecnicos manage to turn it around and things settle back down into a standard tag formula. Rocca & Guerrero Nego end up in the ring together and Negro wants a handshake. He goes on one knee and Rocca just slaps the hell out of him. My enjoyment of Kung Fu lessens the more we get. Kung Fu & Rocca hit dual dives on opposite sides of the rings and we unfortunately don't see either landing. That leaves Talisman & Cacharro Mendoza and Mendoza ends this match with revenge foul that I have absolutely no problem with as an ending. The announcer and the tecnicos try and say it wasn't a foul but I'm not sure about that. On the replay, that was CLEARLY a revenge foul. This was really good one of my favorite trios matches so far.

[soup23]

This was a ton of fun but honestly is in my bottom fifteen currently which really shows the depth of this set. Anyway, this was a good way to end the disc. Kung Fu is never a gimmick that gets me all that excited so the nunchuk demonstration didn't do as much for me as others. Rocca was impressive here looking better than he has besides maybe the first Cota match. The action resulted in fun sequences but not a ton of consequence, leaving this fun but ultimately forgettable to me. (***1/2)

[TARO]

The guest announcer was an American wrestler. From the little Spanish I know, he mentioned being a tag champion in Canada & wrestled in Dallas. This is why we have the mentions of Tito & the Von Erichs. I didn't hear him introduced as a name I know. It sounded like Dr Morales said Bud Ryan? But that could be Brian too.

In sept of 86, maybe Lance Vaughn or a Kiniski or Brian Adias??