El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (7/18/87)

[Phil Schneider]

El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (7/18/87)

[tim.]

Here it is, probably the match on the set with the widest rep.  This has something of a big match feel thanks to the unusual production values for this set and the hot crowd (not something unusual for this set).  Casas brings the charisma and idiosyncratic little touches that make him great like almost launching himself over the ropes while running Santo into the post, doing an awesome selling by grabbing his face off a Santo dropkick and much more.  He dominants through the second fall but Santo makes a spectacular comeback, as much because of Casas as himself: Casas just goes flying off a knee lift, gets huge height on a back body drop and the ending to the fall is visually stunning.  Third fall has some great action and speaking of spectacular, Santo hits two beautiful dives; the dive off the top is especially crazy looking.  Not sure if Casas slipping off the top rope followed by a Santo senton was intentional or one of the all time great botch coverups but it was cool either way.  For renowned lucha classic I'm not sure it will end up in my top 20 but this is definitely a great match and not too far behind that level. 

[Curt McGirt]

El Hijo del Santo shows up in a sick red car and gets carried to the ring on people's shoulders... that might just be the best wrestling entrance I've ever seen. Holy shit. Casas is already in the ring and is, well, Casas. He wins the first fall with la Magistral and SOAKS UP THE HATE. Just looking at him you want to slap him so bad. Another thing to note: within a huge ring with very big and very loose ropes, these guys adjust perfectly for their style. I'm having to pause this as the most brutal Tapatia ever wins the fall and I am losing my shit watching this match. 

 

*cut to the finish* I just watched that twice now. Sorry I can't give more play-by-play, the damn thing is just too fantastic. It may be one of the top matches I've ever seen. Wondering if this will be #1.

[Curt McGirt]

Third time I watched it now. This is The Negro Casas Show. Every little thing he does is perfect. Towards the end they get a little no-selly, jumping right up after big moves but you buy it because this one is for all the marbles. Casas is the good guy who's pride is on the line and forced into the role of super dick in order to win, and Santo is trying to hold onto his mask for the sake of his family and his honor. After the vicious camel clutch Casas raises his opponent's hand and openly weeps as his locks get buzzed. You just don't get much better than this, folks. It's one of the matches I could watch on an endless cycle, like Andre/Hansen. I'm not sure if it's legit better than MS-1/Sangre Chicana but it's gonna be a fight.

[Graham Crackers]

Tim already touched on the reputation of this match but that's important to think about going in. I will add that I've probably watched this match more times than any match on this set.Now, the last time I watched this match I was a little disappointed. I had already been exposed to the later iterations of the legendary Santo/Casas rivalry which I thought were so much better and on top of that I was watching it soon after Santo/Espanto and I didn't think this held up favorably compared to that one. This doesn't have the hatred of the later matches in this series and it doesn't have the physicality of the Espanto Jr. match and for whatever reason that really bothered me.

 

Those problems seem silly now. I still prefer the Espanto match and the later Casas/Santo matches but this is still a great match on it's own. It makes for an interesting early chapter in both men's careers. This feels more like two men who respect one another trying to one-up each other than it does a match between bitter rivals and that's because that bitterness isn't there. There's no hatred. Casas is a rudo because he's cocky and he's not afraid to get rough but for much of this match he is still focusing on matwork and athleticism, just like Santo. That hubris is important to the match and directly leads to some of the exchanges where Casas finds himself on the losing end like when Casas slips off the ropes Fuerza Guerrera style and gets flattened by the tope de cristo. It's impressive just how good both men are at projecting those aspects of their personality. Even in the cleanest exchanges it's clear who is the rudo even without any context. Outside of the way both men carry themselves and sell both the action and the story this features some incredible execution. I mean, if you know who these guys are you probably know that but it's hard to talk about a match like this without mentioning it.

 

This feels like a top 20 match but with the amount of amazing stuff on this set I can't say where this will end up just yet. That doesn't make this any less of a classic either. This match just represents another aspect of what makes lucha such great wrestling.

[DouglasC]

The first time I saw this, the VQ was so ghastly the camera may as well have been in Tucson. But, no sound for me. I'll take the trade-off. And I'll second Curt - Santo's entrance might be the best ever. I'm not sure what the name for the spot is where Casas places Santo's head outside the ring with his neck on the ropes, then tries to pull him through the ropes, complete with his feet by his face. It looks all sort of evil, and someone should rip that off as the rope based submission hold that can't win, but looks painful as opposed to the tarantula. Yegads, Casas took a nasty bump off the ropes prior to the 2nd fall ending. There's a rewinder! After the tope in the final fall, even masked, you can picture the expression on Santo's face. That's a master. Even this late into the set, it is hard to say where this one will land, except for just giving a generic "very high".

[Lee B.]

The video quality, especially after the last match, had me loving this.  I didn't know anything about this match, hadn't seen it before, but very soon into the match I knew it was something special.  I didn't get Casas heeling after his first fall win as much as just being overjoyed that he won the fall.  The early bump Santo took through the ropes to the floor, banging his head on the railing, was great.  The crowd was a lot of fun throughout, trying to encourage both wrestlers whenever they landed on the floor.  Casas's facial expressions were great throughout, and I loved how he sold his head during the second fall.  The third fall had a lot of near-falls, which made this seem more like a U.S.-style match than a typical Lucha match.  I really liked how Casas struggled like a wet noodle against the submission attempts toward the end of the third fall.  He really seemed out on his feet.  The fall off the top turnbuckle by Casas toward the end was really compelling, whether it was a botch or not.  The sportsmanship (although Casas seemed out of it) at the end was nice as well.  I can see this as a top 20 or so for me too.  Really great match.

[goc]

I definitely see this as a top 20 candidate for me. Casas kind of psyched me out because with those white pants I was expecting a bloodbath but this was so good I wasn't disappointed we didn't get one. I love everything about Casas in this one, those awesome punches, the drop kicks, the dives, the way he struggled against Santo's submissions, his cockiness about winning the first fall after essentially being dominated on the mat, Casas was awesome in this. Not to take anything away from Hijo del Santo, because he's fucking Hijo del Santo, but this was all about Casas for me.

 

Oh, and Santo's entrance in this was so awesome. Loved him being driven into the arena and then carried on people's shoulders to the ring.