Arandu vs. Guerrero Negro (1988)

[Phil Schneider]

Arandu vs. Guerrero Negro (1988)

[tim.]

This disk keeps killing it with great matches I've never heard of featuring guys I've never heard of.  This is wild stuff, the atmosphere and crowd are nuts and they really take it to each other with the brawling.  Guerrero Negro's comeback is amazing, the crowd comes unglued and crowd the ringside are as he's trying to throw him into the seating.  Arandu seems to get into a scuffle with one of the fans even as he's making his way back.  They add a great homestretch at the end of this and after Guerrero Negro accidentally drop kicks the ref out of the ring, Arandu takes advantage with a big FOULE followed by a roll up for the win.  Wild, super heated stuff.  This will do well on my list.

[Graham Crackers]

Whoa, get a load of Arandu's Rush-tastic hair. That alone has me excited for this hair vs hair match without knowing who he is. I love his whole look with the leopard print and matching valet. The match itself is a fun brawl around ringside and it's made better by a pretty crazy atmosphere. The best part is the finish with one of the best fouls n the set. Arandu gets away with it too! And somehow he got out of the building without the crowd killing him. 

[Curt McGirt]

Arandu's blown-out hair looks like you could reach in there and pull out anything: rubbers, a flask, probably a vial of coke. His valet (first of the set) has a great ass and is so '80s looking you'd swear she stepped out of a Winger video or something. The crowd is on fire and these two have a particular talent at doing the bottom-rope spill to the outside that is all over these matches. Short and heated first two falls; the valet gets up and stands on Guerrero Negro in celebration after the second adding insult to injury. Arandu takes a huge bump into the seats after bloodying Negro and has to fight his way back to ringside! Negro has to grab some old girl by the hair through the ropes and yank her away from him. Amazing. There's a painful-looking foule to end after a missed moonsault and ref bump and the crowd STORMS THE RING AT 'THREE' and starts pitching trash. I mean there are people in the ring right at the count. This is so unruly it's absurd. There is, no joke, a serious near-riot situation and after the barber gets a clip they immediately smuggle Arandu out (probably in the trunk of a car) while the crowd is busy doing a Public Enemy-in-ECW-style ring invasion. I haven't seen any Sting vs. Rick Rude matches from the early '90s but I imagine they look a lot like this, minus the complete spectacle the crowd brings to it. Don't know why that's the first thing that pops into my mind, maybe it's the airbrushed spandex and Negro's uberface performance.

[DouglasC]

There are three reasons there are no more appearances of Arandu on this set.

 

1) Lack of footage

2) He wasn't very good, and this is a miracle match

3) He was ground to mulch in the riot that followed this match

 

It is really hard to separate the insanely great crowd reaction this match got with the in-ring stuff, but that 2-count frenzy during the final fall was very well done. All sorts of stuff that could lead to a 3-count against a stunned opponent, without being the 5 minutes of moves of death that some of today's stuff can overuse.

[Lee B.]

This didn't remind me of Sting-Rick Rude as much as it reminded me of the High Flyers v. Adnan and Blackwell, where the heels beat up Verne at the end of the match and the crowd goes completely nuts.  This match was super from the get-go, with the stiff punches and the repeated tumbles to the floor.  I liked Arandu's finishing sequence of four hip-tosses and then a senton from the top turnbuckle.  Once the blood starts flowing, things get really out of hand at ringside.  I thought the valet was escorted from ringside for her own safety, but she shows up at the end.  The tosses into the chairs are pretty impressive.  That final two-count sequence was so tense because you knew the crowd was ready to explode.  I really wanted it to be over because of all the pent-up energy.  The missed moonsault made me think Negro was going to win, so the ending was a real surprise.  Just mayhem at the end with Negro chasing Arandu between snips and Arandu seeming to get mauled as he exits the ring.  This may not have been the best technical match, but it was intense and memorable and could make it into my top 10.

[goc]

Damn this was a really great match and an INSANE crowd! Too insane, it kind of hurt the match for a bit when Arandu got revenge tossed into the chairs and then someone tried to go after Arandu's valet causing the match to grind to a halt for a minute or so. But it also helped the match a ton because they were in LOVE with Guerrero Negro!

 

I really like the little bit we see of Arandu's gimmick here with the valet and the way he carries himself he almost comes off as a bit of a "monster heel" That makes the first fall with Guerrero Negro catching him with kicks while the crowd loses it all the more fun. It also left me really anticipating Arandu's turn on offense and he didn't disappoint me with that awesome move where he kept hitting Guerrero Negro with judo throws but dragging him back up to do it again like 4-5 times in a row. Then killed him off with a big senton off the top. Arandu's valet standing on Guerrero Negro after the 2nd fall was over was a nice touch.

 

The third fall was awesome and they really built up the drama of the finish. I was SURE the match was going to end after Arandu missed his moonsault but then they keep going and the ref just EATS a dropkick that sends him to the outside allowing Arandu to get away with a foul and then steal the win. I loved this match and it's hard to see it not finishing in my top 10. Monterrey must have been a scary place to work if you had a lot of heat like Arandu & his valet do here.