Satanico vs. Super Astro (10/26/84)

[Phil Schneider]

Satanico vs. Super Astro (10/26/84)

[Nomad]

It took me a little while but I really got into this match.  Its not at all what I was expecting from Astro, whom I've seen a fair wee bit of but mostly later 80s/90s stuff. 

 

I was thinking this would be the little fellas usual type of match but its quite the departure.  Or is it?  Maybe I've just been watching a one-sided selection.

 

Anyway, it was grand.

[tim.]

This is a match that really piqued my interest on paper.  Unfortunately I didn't think the first two falls were very good, mostly consisting of Satanico working over Astro in pretty by the numbers fashion.  No doubt I love a good extended rudo beatdown segment but I don't think Satanico was particularly good in his here.  Third fall though Astro stages a comeback and both guys bleed and beat the hell out of each other.  Astro hits some really great leaping headbutt offense and the highlight of the match is them both on their knees duking it out and Astro hitting these awesome pendulum swing headbutts.  Ending call is great: "La rana.  La rana?  La rana!"  Two average falls and one great fall, this won't rank too high for me.

[Graham Crackers]

I liked this a lot though I think this is another really good match that will end up in the middle of the ballot because it's not great. I liked that Satanico dominated and Super Astro only managed flurries of offense. Super Astro's flying looked as beautiful as it usually does. I like all of his tope variations. I'm surprised I don't see indy guys do the tope en reversa more often. Speaking of his headbutts, that one where he's on his knees and bridges back before unloading a headbutt was pretty cool. Still, this lacked the kind of big moments that push a match from good to great.

[Curt McGirt]

Satanico bellies up to Astro and acts like a bully, then he goes for the Fuerza handshake while referencing he's got the belt (and obviously the champ is a nice guy). He doesn't jump Astro and acts like, "was that so hard?" Then he goes ahead and jumps Astro anyway. Fantastic. 

 

Pretty methodical beatdown on Astro before he recovers for a burst of speed to end the fall. Satanico beats him down again and goes for the mask, including dragging him across the ring by it, which was cool. Super Astro is pissed and decides to brawl resulting in both guys bleeding, then we get the great "punching on your knees" spot which is made greater by Astro's headbutts. 

 

I can see people complaining about the pacing but I thought it worked. Super Astro has the talent to both beat the rudo at his own game with the brawling and then win with his superior technical abilities. This is another feather in Satanico's cap, he's such a bastard here. 

[Exposer]

This is similar to the other Satanico bloody title matches and it’s another great one. Satanico seems like he’s pretty good on the mic. His charisma is really engaging when I talks and I want to know what the hell he’s saying. Satanico begs for a handshake then blindsides Astro with a knee. He just knees the fuck out of Astro and throws him head first into shit. Satanico is so great at casually being a dick. Astro’s comeback in the first fall is awesome as they just go a hundred miles an hour and Satanico keeps up Astro. The ending of the fall is great with Satanico moving out of the way of an Astro move, gloating about it, then getting hit with a flying head butt for the pin. The second fall is great with Satanico bloodying Astro and punching, kicking, and biting the cut. Then he starts ripping up Astro’s mask to expose the cut more. He forces him to submit to tie it up in the second fall. The last fall has Astro making a comeback and bloodying Satanico. Astros head butts are fucking awesome and I loved the sequence where both guys were brawling on their knees and Astro kept bouncing back from those vicious kicks to head butt the fuck out of Satanico. The last few spots are tremendous with Satanico awesomely stepping out of the way of an Astro aerial attack and watching him splat on the mat. The finish is good with Satanico mocking the crowd in shit with Astro in a hold only to get caught in a hurricanrana cradle for the Astro win. Satanico is livid post-match and his reactions are great.

This was another tremendous Satanico performance and great match on his banner 1984 year. After some thought I don't think this was much better than the previous match. It's about four stars but I'm putting this at B+. It's still a very good to great match.

[KrisZ]

Super Astro vs. Satanico (October 1984)Satanico is just a nasty fucker here as he just beats Astro's ass whenever he was on offense but Astro was tough as shit as well as he would bring the fight back to Satanico just in a different way as he used his aerial moves and quickness to get the best of him. Astro's bumping here was pretty great and then you add in the blood which gave this match an even bigger feel. God I loved the constant ramming of Astro's head into the bottom turnbuckle and Phil hit it dead on with the Sons of Anarchy comparison. Astro's bleeding like crazy and Satanico gets even hungrier as the blood motivates him to be more vicious but Astro would eventually taste his blood and decided to taste Satanico's blood as well so he bites his head forcing the juice to flow. This is now getting really awesome as it has become a war of atrition with both guys pulling out what they could to win. Satanico hitting a great gourdbuster then getting countered by an Astro rana to win was a great finish.

[Matt D]

I love the clean handshake followed up by Satanico kicking the crap out of Super Astro, never even really looking back. He just demolishes him with the knees. Super Astro is eating all of this offense really well too. I kind of agree with other people that it's a testament to the rest of the set that this mauling in the first fall isn't going to count for more. Regardless, I think Satanico is really masterful here in just timing and spacing out the beating. One thing leads into the next and it's all great and varied. He has the kick outside almost immediately followed by biting. Then Super Astro unloads and Satanico keeps up and eats all of his stuff perfectly. He's really tremendous. Don't get me wrong. Super Astro looked amazing there, but that Satanico can do all that he does and do THAT too, it's just great. I liked that first fall more than most of you.

 

The camera shot on Satanico stepping on Super Astro's throat on the first rope was tremendous and it's followed up by the brutal mauling into the turnbuckle. This is probably the best mask-focused offense we've seen so far, and then he just bites away. He follows up with an awesome senton, and another slam with the knot to cruelly finish this. It was a perfunctory second fall but I liked it a lot. Straight-forward but so mean and I'm ready for Super Astro's third fall comeback so it did its job.

 

Third fall starts with more brutality by means of a King of the Mountain. Super Astro finally comes in and starts to unload, biting back and they're just killing each other now but they're doing so with a ton of character. Oh god, the bounce back headbutts are amazing. Satanico's bites and punches and knees are so Satanico and Super Astro's headbutt off the rope and the ground weeble wobble headbutts feel so Super Astro. Then Satanico's facial expression during the submission was just off the charts, as the blood runs down. My favorite thing might be how Satanico just casually walks away to avoid the top rope move though, and he follows it with one of the hugest goardbusters I've ever seen. Then a great finish.

 

Yeah, I loved this. I wish Satanico was my uncle. 

[Robert]

I could easily see a lot of people being disappointed by this seeing Super Astro in it and not getting all the usual Super Astro shtick. But I really liked it. Satanico was great bullying the little guy and Astro was even better at his comebacks. The leaping headbutts out of nowhere were great. Also loved when both guys were on their knees and Satanico would hit Super Astro who would just bend backwards and bounce right up with a headbutt. You don't see that spot any more these days. The blood caught me off guard but only added to the drama. The announcer kept pointing out the idea Satanico was turning the match into one right up his alley since that's the way he knew he could beat the lil' dude. Astro misses a big flying move and Satanico gets too cocky thinking he's got the match won only to be rolled up and pinned. The actual roll-up was great and the crowd knew Astro was gonna win with it as you can hear them getting excited as the refs counts. Satanico's selling post-match is fantastic. Wish vets like Satanico were still around to work with the current generation Super Astro type wrestlers and help them pull off matches like this. Will be high on my list for sure.

[Lee B.]

I loved this match, more than the Perro/Villano match.  Satanico's punches, especially the combination shots on occasion, are superb.  The mask-mangling and blood were great.  Astro was on offense for so little of this match, but it still held together and kept my interest, mostly due to Satanico's sadistic offense.  I too loved the pop-up headbutts and the gourdbuster in the third fall.  For a mostly one-sided bloody beatdown and brawl, I think this rivals the first Sangre Chicana/MS-1 match-up.

[soup23]

Yeah, I loved this. I wish Satanico was my uncle.

 

Preach on Matt. I am shocked with some of the lukewarm reviews for this even more so than Ultraman vs. Estrada. This had a serious hate to it and featured a lot of heel on top controlling but allowed Astro a ton of moments to shine like his first fall comeback. Satanico took over and was smart when he had to be throughout this match. He wasn't going to allow the second fall to slip away from him like the first so he stays on the offensive and doesn't let up. Third fall gives Astro and opening when the hatred gets Satanico away from his game plan a bit. Astro takes full advantage and you have an epic finish. THis was a spectacular Satanico performance and may only be at best his third best of 1984. The dude is incredible. Sneaky top 25 candidate. (****1/4)

[goc]

Maybe I am going to be the outlier for this one, because I might just have this as my working #1 so far. Satanico was amazing in this match, for me this is the single best performance of anyone on the set so far. From the best I can tell Super Astro doesn't have a lot to offer but I can't quite tell because Satanico keeps him limited to doing very little outside of taking a beating and hitting a very small set of moves on his comebacks. Loved Satanico being total control in the first fall and getting over confident allowing him to get caught during Super Astro's comeback. Satanico shows his disapproval by beating the shit out of Super Astro for the entire second fall, ripping his mask up and biting him until he's bloody. I was actually very upset at the finish as I was rooting hard for Satanico to win, but that only helps the ranking because it's been a while since I got that emotionally invested in the outcome of a match.