Lucha TV Report for August 7th, 2001

Only one new match here to report on, but what a match it was… they start it off with niebla and Hijo del Santo going to the movies to see Shrek. Niebla tries to get advice on their opponents, but Santo shrugs it off and just wants to have a good time.

Shocker, Blue Panther, Black Warrior vs. Hijo del Santo, Negro Casas, Mr. Niebla- How can you complain with a lineup like this? The matwork is edited out of the match like every match on Televisa. Luckily that’s about all there is clipped. Warrior and Casas, Hijo and Blue, Shocker and Niebla all take turns showing why they are the lucha elite at high-speeds in front of a hot crowd. After Shocker gets decked off the ring apron, Warrior takes a segadora bump from Mr. Niebla, then a pretty over the top rope tope. Casas dropkicks Shocker in the knees and uses a casita to pin him, then Hijo del Santo rolls up Blue Panther with the over the shoulder sunset flip. Panther and Santo go straight into it at the start of the next fall, continuing the fast, fluid and pretty stuff they do so well, that they did last fall. Santo takes him out of the ring with a gorgeous flying crucifix into a pinwheel armdrag that only Santo could do. Casas gets tagged in and as he gets into the rudo corner, all three men jump him and take him out. Niebla ends up on Blue Panther’s shoulders, then Warrior leaps in and uses a Steiner Bulldog. Then, to add onto that, Warrior tosses him out of the ring and uses the 90 mph. Bullet tope of DEATH. Shocker gets Santo on his shoulders and uses a 360 firemans carry driver, then a splash to end the fall. The Laguneros work over Casas at the start of the third, with a Warrior dropkick to the face and assisted ribbreaker over Panther’s knee. Panther then holds Santo in the ropes so Warrior can drop a guillotine on him, but the rope spring is so much Santo goes flying out of the ring! Casas then starts the tecnico comeback, however they don’t double team at all and the match goes back to normal. Warrior takes a wicked bump off the turnbuckles, Blue Panther uses a big old man tope on Niebla, then Santo takes Shocker out with a plancha. Casas and Warrior get left alone, and trade a few nearfalls, but Negro 4:40 gets the better of him with the dropkick to the knees/casita combo.

Overall, this was a very good match, around ***3/4. It had what you’d expect from six of the best- fast work that looks fluid and traps you in the moment with it’s speed and grace. Warrior was the best in the match, hitting most of the big spots and taking some killer bumps plus setting the pace most of the time. The crowd heat was wild as they were happy to see Santo and Casas back from their travels. I wish it could have been longer and had a more creative finish, but these are minor gripes. Check this one out.