Author: joegagne

I’m alive yaaaaay

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.

Wow, I suck. Sorry I haven’t posted in forever. Actually, I was working on a big writeup for H2 wrestling for their first show, which I was planning on attending. It was funny and informative and it was going to rock. Then the company went out of business. Sucks to be me.

Rayo de Jalisco Jr. [c] & El Dandy & Hector Garza vs. Vampiro [c] & Fuerza Guerrera & Juventud Guerrera (12/8/98)

Rundown:

Rayo: Still the same
Dandy: Same, actually in WCW at the time
Garza: Same, in WCW also, wearing lWo trunks
Vamp: Still has his dreads here
Fuerza: Same
Juvie: This is after he lost his mask, and before he put on a bit of muscle.

Garza actually wears a Zorro outfit to the ring, which the ladies seem to love. Rayo and Vamp seem to have some sort of issue here.

Primera Caida: A lot of yelling and jaw jacking starts us off. Finally we get Rayo and Fuerza. I never realized how tiny Fuerza must be, because Rayo looks like Andre the Giant next to him. Vamp jumps Fuerza from behind the rudos take over. Weird spot as Vamp hits a superkick, we get a crowd shot in slow motion, and then Rayo is back on his feet. Vamp’s now having his way with Garza until Rayo decides it’s his turn for a sneak attack. Juvie and Fuerza come in and start flailing away at Rayo, until Rayo steps to the side and they blindly flail away on each other. Garza and Dandy come in to clean house, Garza getting Fuerza with a standing moonsault and Dandy punching out Juvie with an armbar. (4:43)

Segunda Caida: We’re back with father and son beating down Garza. Hey, Juvie did some crotch chops! Garza manages to escape and tags Dandy. Vamp gets in the ring for the rudos, but Dandy wants Juvie, dammit. Vamp’s drawing some great heat. Juvie tags in and he and Dandy work an awesome little sequence that sees Dandy come out on top. He tags in Rayo, who does a chop, then tags out to Garza. Garza goes to pin Juvie after a flying clothesline, but Fuerza breaks it up, and it looks like the beatdown is on. That is, until Vamp comes in and goads Rayo into the ring. He gets the advantage, rips Rayo’s mask, and sends him to the post outside (no blade job, sadly). Now Juvie and Fuerza run in and now we’re got a rudo beatdown. Juventud gets Dandy after the old Billy Kidman powerbomb reversal, while Fuerza pins Garza after an Iconoclasm of sorts and a senton (7:23).

Tercera Caida: Vamp takes some time to yell at the announcers. Rudo beatdown continues, this time concentrated on Rayo. He finally makes a comeback against Vampiro and splats him with a tope. Garza clothesline Juvie to the outside, while Dandy takes out Fuerza with a piledriver (hello, DQ?). Majistral cradle eliminates Fuerza. Juvie’s back in and he and Dandy work another great sequence that sees Juvie get revenge with a Juvie Driver (hello, DQ?). Garza comes in and blocks the Juvie driver, only to get felled with the Kidman DDT. Juvie goes up top, only to be knocked off balance by Garza. Garza attempts a frankensteiner, but gets pushed off the top, but rebounds by dropkicking Juvie when he tries to come off the top. Garza locks on the Gorry Special, and when Vamp comes in Rayo takes him out with a cross body. Vamp retaliates with a mule kick low blow for the DQ (6:02)

Vamp gets a few more stomps in on Rayo, then everyone yells at each other on the mic. And that’s it.

Match went a bit longer than your usual trios match, and some great heat and some fine wrestling. Juvie was awesome in this. I wonder if he and Dandy ever had a singles match? I’d get that.

Back soon, I hope.

Hey, I’m alive! And we’re back with match #4.

Silver King/Villano III/Villano IV vs. Felino/Negro Casas/El Hijo Del Santo (12/11/98)

Breakdown:
Silver King (pre-Black Tiger, other than that, the same)
Villano III (still has his mask)
Villano IV (same)

And we already covered the tecnicos.

This is the first round of a one-night, four team tournament that also included Atlantis & Emilio Charles & Lizmark Jr. and Dr. Wagner Jr. & Blue Panther & Black Warrior. All twelve men come down to the ring to decide who fights who first. As you can expect, there are tensions with twelve wrestlers in the ring. Warrior and Felino get into a shoving match on the floor while Wagner and Charles exchange some punches. Finally everyone is separated and we get a coin toss, leading to the above listed match.

As are most tournament matches, this is one fall only.

Interesting story: King and the Villanos were in WCW at the time (King even wears an lWo short for the early portion of the match), while Santo, Casas, and Felino were set to work the WWF’s Super Astros program, so this is actually an interpromotional match years before the Invasion.

I’m sure I mixed up the Villanos about a thousand times in this match. You’ve been warned.

A Una Caida: The other two teams take their sweet time leaving the ring, and when the do, the rudos attack to kick off the match. King takes out Santo and Felino while the Villanos take Casas outside and ram his head into the announce table, then drop a row of stairs on him. This injury is so devastating, Santo actually goes outside the ring to cover up his partner. Then they go back in the ring and leave Casas lying on the floor (?). Felino gets in the ring with Silver King but is quickly beat down by all three rudos. Santo comes in and fares no better, getting planted by a DDT from Villano III.

Santo ends up in the rudo corner and gets a beatdown of his own. Silver King tries a move where he jumps onto the second rope and spin kicks Santo in the corner, but hits more of his partner than Santo. Villano IV tags in and hits Santo with a back elbow, which allows him to tag Felino back in, who promptly gets beat down some more.

Villano IV, apparently bored, heads outside to beat up Casas some more. He’s joined by III, and they ram Casas into the steel pole battering-ram style. Santo checks on his partner while Casas makes the questionable decision to get in the ring, where he is promptly met by the Villanos. After a slam, Silver King comes off the top with a big elbow, but only gets two.

Casas tries fighting back with chops, but King trips him with a drop toehold and tags in Villano IV. IV tries a back bodydrop, but Casas hits him with a kick and clkothesline him to the floor in a nasty bump. King comes in and takes out Casas with a dropkick, which brings in Santo to dispose of SK with a satellite headscissors. Now III is in the ring and takes out Santo with something, bringing in Felino who tries a dropkick and misses. Felino gets whipped to the ropes but counters with a jumping armdrag to clear the ring.

Rudos regroup on the ramp and tease walking out, but eventually come back. We get Santo and Villano IV, and Santo inexplicably turns his back on Villano, and the end result is another beatdown. Felino gets the tag, but Silver King gets the advantage with the Rick Steiner “catch the guy in a leapfrog and powerslam him” spot.

Santo gets tagged back in and beat down some more, until his partners grab him in the ropes during a whip, allowing him to hit both Villanos with a double facebuster. Silver King tries a corner splash but misses, allowing Felino to flatten him with a moonsault press. Now it’s the tecnicos turn for a three way stomping. Villanos IV comes in and gets the same result. III charges at Santo, only to miss and splat on the floor. King’s back in the ring, and he nails Santo with a superkick, only to get back bodydropped himself onto III on the floor. IV tries to whip Santo into the ropes, but he flattens III with a tope on the floor! Felino knocks IV to the floor with a spinkick, but when he tries a somersault dive from the apron, he flattens Santo!

Now we’ve got Casas and King in the ring. Casas quickly drops King with a drop toehold and locks in the Casita, but Villano IV makes the save. King hits a big powerbomb but only gets two. He puts Casas up top and tries a top rope Frankensteiner, but Santo grabs his partner and King does a header off the top. A second casita with Santo on top of the pile seals the deal (10:49).

Tecnicos celebrate as the rudos ask “Wha happn’d?” We get replays of the ending.

Interesting match. Usually these one fall tournament matches are compressed down to three-four minutes, but this one got some room to breathe (because it’s only a four team tournament?). Didn’t follow the usual formula—rudos control a fall, tecnicos make a comeback, go the finish. Rudos controlled a good portion of the match, but the momentum switched back and forth quite a bit. And I liked Negro coming back from his earlier beatdown. Good action overall.

I’ll continue with the rest of the tournament, uh, later.

Continuing with #3 in our series

El Hijo del Santo [c] & Negro Casas & Felino vs. Bestia Salvage [c] & Scorpio, Jr., & Black Warrior

This would be a revenge match from last week where Bestia ripped off Santo’s mask to score an illicit pinfall.

I can’t be sure, but I think Bestia Salvage comes out to the Miami Vice theme music. Tecnicos come out one-by-one with all three rudos in the ring, which is just plain dumb, and Felino gets jumped as soon as he enters in the ring. Casas runs out, same result. Santo, ditto.

Primera Caida: Lots of kicks, punches, and chokes. Santo gets strangled with his own cape, with has to suck. Tecnicos get knocked to the outside, then try attacking ninja style, with Casas and Santo getting knocked right back outside. Felino comes and Warrior holds him, but Bestia and Scorpio accidentally clothesline their own partner. Santo and Casas come in to clean house while Felino flattens Warrior with a Silver King dive. Casas gets Scorpio with a Yakuza kick, and while he’s pinning the rude, Santo jumps off of them and hits Bestia with a dropkick. Caballo seals the deal. (2:19)

Funny bit in between falls, as Felino wants to dive from the apron onto Warrior on the floor, but Bestia’s corpse is blocking his way on the apron, so he gives up and just jumps to the floor.

Segunda Caida: Scorpio and Santo start us off, and end with Santo sending Junior to the floor with a satellite headscissors (by the way, no one does a better headscissors than Santo). Felino and Warrior work a light-speed segment, which sees Warrior take this crazy knee-destroying backdrop to the floor. Bestia comes in and he has these awesome “awww shit” expressions when he sees Casas coming in. He feigns a handshake but opts to kick Casas right in the face with this awesome jumping kick thing. Casas fights back with a Yakuza kick, but makes the mistake of trying to attack the rudo corner, which segues us nicely to the rudo beatdown. Santo comes in but Scorpio overpowers him while Warrior sends Felino to the floor with a dropkick. Bestia gets Casas with a folding powerbomb while Santo gives up to a wacky submission from Scorpio. (3:03)

Replay shows Warrior DDT’ing Felino on the floor.

Tercera Caida: More rudo beatdownery. Bestia makes a half-hearted attempt to tear off Santo’s mask, only making a slight rip. We see a replay of Bestia attacking a downed Felino with a soda (honest). Tecnicos start their comeback when Felino grabs Casas coming off the ropes, confusing the heels and allowing Negro to flatten Scorpio with a big boot. Bestias, who I love way too much in this match, has these great “what the hell is going on?” expressions. Santo shows Scorpio how to rip a mask by opening a nice gash in Junior’s mask. Things settle down and we get another Felino/Warrior segment that again sees Warrior sailing to the outside. How does this man still walk? Scorpio comes in and powerbombs Casas, but Negro slips out of a second attempt and hits a lariat for the pin, only to have Bestia come in and eliminate him after the jumping kick and a senton. Then Santo comes in and dropkicks Bestia to the outside, then flattens him with a HYUGE plancha. That leaves Warrior and Felino, and while Felino’s on the top rope, Warrior pretty much runs at him and tries…something, only to end up in the perfect position for a top rope Niagra Driver. Jackknife cover from Felino and there’s the 1-2-3 to a big pop. (4:04)

Santo yells into the mic post-match. Warrior does a stretcher job, and Felino tries to attack him while he’s on the stretcher! Not a very tecnico thing to do. We get a nice view of Scorpio’s bacne to take us out.

Interesting booking as its Felino that scores the big pinfall, and actually the Felino/Warrior situation was pushed just as hard as the Santo revenge story. This match wasn’t much longer than the last one, but there was a lot more wrestling packed in. Good stuff all around, especially Bestia, with his awesome facials and fantastic rudoism.

Next time: an lWo sighting!

OK, we’re back. Match #2 in the Trios Trios Trios tape review:

El Hijo Del Santo [c] & Negro Casas & Felino vs. Bestia Salvage [c], Scorpio Jr., & Black Warrior (sometime in 1998)

Breakdown:
Santo (still looks the same today)
Casas (same)
Felino (wears long sleeves, other than that, the same)
Bestia (same)
Scorpio (still has his mask, which increases my enjoyment of his matches 1000%)
Black Warrior (looks a little skinnier, other than that, the same)

So besides a few things, this match could take place in 2004 and you wouldn’t blink. God bless Lucha.

Primera caida: Warrior and Felino start us off and work a quick sequence that ends with Warrior taking a huge Jerry Bump to the floor. Casas comes in and hits some clotheslines on Bestia. Santo’s next and he flattens an unsuspecting Bestia with a tope to the floor. Man, this is all going at a lighting pace. Casas hits Scoprio with a DDT for a pin and Felino powerbombs Warrior out of a ‘rana attempt to win the fall. (1:15)

Segunda caida: Negro and Scorpio start again and Casas hits some more clotheslines. Cripes, is he El Hijo de Duggan? We get teased with Santo vs. Warrior but the other rudos jump in for the beatdown. Scorpio almost unmasks Santo, but other than that, not much else of interest. Bestia gets Casas with a standing senton and Santo submits to a 2 man half-crab/armbar deal. (2:19)

Tercera caida: Casas makes a comeback with, you guessed it, some clothesline to end the beatdown. A pretty lengthy Felino/Warrior section starts us off proper that ends with Felino taking a spill to the floor and Warrior following with a HYUGE somersault plancha. Casas soon gets Scorpio with a sharpshooter but Bestia rips off Santo’s mask for the pin and the match. (2:30)

Post-match, Casas does a double take when he sees Santo face down on the mat without his mask. Tecnicos protest to the rudo ref to no avail. Both teams brawl some more, but then get separated and yell at each other over the mic.

More of an angle set up than an actual match (with six minutes of total action, you’re not getting a lot of content in your match). It did make me want to see a rematch—hey, the next match is the rematch. Sweet. Hope they bring the wrestling next time out.