Bellhops

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Hijo Del Santo & Negro Casas & Felino vs. Silver King & Villano III & Villano V

This would be from late ’98 early ’99, and is a rematch from the trios tournamemnt covered in TTT Recap #4. I think Casas and III are the respective captains, but don’t quote me on that.

The Villanos come out dressed like bellhops for some reason. Silver King comes out to “Wanted Dead Or Alive,” which is doubly cool since his brother also uses a Bon Jovi tune for entrance music. Felino has a bitchin’ robe with his picture on the back. Casas grabs a child from the crowd (hopefully his son) and holds him up. Santo does nothing of note making his entrance other than getting jumped as soon as he gets in the ring.

Primera Caida: Rudo beatdown to start, and not a terribly exciting one. A hearty helping of kicks, punches, and chokes carry us through the first few minutes. Then Santo grabs Casas as he’s thrown into the ropes (a common transition involving those two), baffling the rudos and allowing the Tecnico comeback. Felino chases King all the way up the rampway as his partner take care of Los Villanos. These settle down into a regular match momentarily, until King and III try a double kick to Felino’s gut, only to have him grab both the rudo’s legs, allowing Santo to come off the top with a double cross body. Felino pins King with a fugly second rope ‘rana, while Santo takes out III with la Caballo. (4:10) Casas rams V into the post afterwards for good measure.

Segunda Caida: We join the rudo beatdown in progress as Casas gets tossed into the seats and V looks to have Santo’s mask almost completely ripped off. Not much to speak of here. A Villano (let’s say V) gets Santo with a Gory Special while King takes out Felino with the Whirly Bird Slam (2:30).

Tercera Caida: Things settle down Casas is getting beat on by Villano III, until he sticks a boot right in his face and things break down again. Santo and Felino storm the ring as Casas tries to remove III’s mask. Felino and Santo team up and reduce V’s mask to ribbons. We get a brief King/Felino segment that ends with King missing his double jump moonsault. Felino goes up top for a somersault senton on King, and misses. Villano V goes up top for a somersault senton on Felino, and misses. Santo goes up top for a splash on V, and misses. Villano IV goes up top, and well, crotches himself, so that’s the end of that. V and King try to whip Santo and Felino into each other, and it works! Then V holds Felino as King tries a dropkick, and that, well, doesn’t work out as well for the rudos, as V sails out of the ring to the floor. Felino shows the rudos how to double team, as he holds down King so Santo can hit his somersault senton from the top and follow it up with a dive to V on the floor. Felino hits a victory roll from the apron to the ring on King, but only gets two. He tries to follow up on Silver King, but the end result is both men tumbling to the floor. Now we’re left with Casas and IV. Casas makes a quick try for the Casita but IV escapes and counters with a powerbomb for two. Spinebuster gets two, as Casas tries to get support from the crowd. IV tries a powerbomb, but Casas escapes, hits a drop toehold, and this time scores the Casita for the win (4:33). Santo blocks V before he can break things up.

Santo lifts Casas on his shoulders to celebrate the big win. We get replays of Santo’s dive and the finish. We come back as V is taping up his mask (while he’s still wearing it). Santo was apparently unmasked by the rudos as Felino helps him put it back on. Taunts are exchanged, challenges made, the usual post-match lucha shenanigans.

Good match. Most of the good wrestling was reserved for the final caida, but the brawling was heated and the crowd was way into it. Casas’ repeated attempts at the Casita were a nice storyline touch. Not a classic but a rock solid match with everything you like about lucha.

Up next: rudos contra rudos.

PWI’s 2004 500 list

Lucha entrants, courtesy of the Shrine, via the W

14. El Hijo Del Santo
38. L.A. Park
46. Latin Lover
52. Jeventud Guerrera
67. Shocker
70. Nicho El Millionario
86. Essa Rios
91. Abismo Negro
97. Atlantis
102. Perro Aguayo JR.
115. Black Warrior
127. Blue Panther
130. Mascara Sagrada
134. Ultimo Dragon
144. Negro Casas
153. Black Tiger
162. Dr. Wagner JR
173. Damien 666
174. Halloween
184. Heavy Metal
188. Alebrije
189. Rockey Romero
194. Ricky Reyes
200. Felino
201. Skayde (well, he is lucha)
212. Rey Misterio SR
224. Mike Quackenbash (well, if we’re including Skayde)
227. Bobby Quance
240. Masada (well, who knows which one, but since Nosawa and Takemura aren’t here, I’m thinking I’m off)

Did I miss Puma? Did he switch to another name again?

I like that Park is one spot ahead of Matt Hardy, because that’s the kinda debate that would drive me nuts trying to figure out how to have both sides win. (I think they’ve got it right, though – unlike Damien and Halloween)

They just take the same Mexican names each year and just cycle them around, right? Not updating Aguilla’s name or including Ultimo, Rey, Tarzan, Volador, Virus, Garza or tons of other canaditates kinda lends that impression.