And Still Watching 80s Lucha

El Faraón, Herodes & Mocho Cota v Lizmark, Ringo Mendoza & Tony Salazar (2/24/84)

So the rudo unit here is fucking awesome. I've already lumped a ton of praise on Cota, and he deserves all that and more, but Herodes is another guy that's just great. He's a short, tubby little bruiser, and his M.O. in this match is to kick the shit out of people. And he's good at it. I'm not really sure if there's a main match-up here that's setting up a singles match down the line, but if there is then I'll assume it's between Herodes and Salazar, if for no reason other than the fact they're the two that wind up bleeding everywhere and drinking each other's blood. First ten minutes are literally all rudos. Tecnicos get nothing. Shit, only reason the match even goes to a third caida is because the rudos get DQd in the second for gang mauling Salazar so bad. It looked like they were legit trying to kick him to death. Tecnico comeback is great, and one of my favourite things about lucha trios brawling like this is the way you can instantly tell when the big comeback is on. There are times where the tecnicos fight back and you'll be able to tell by the rudos' demeanour that they're not ready to let go just yet. When the switch is flicked and it's time for some real comeuppance, you just FEEL it. And the crowd do, too. Herodes being punted in the balls at the end was exactly the kind of receipt someone like that deserves. This ruled.


Solar, Ultraman & Super Astro v Sergio El Hermoso, Bello Greco & Rudy Reyna (2/26/84)

This was a ton of fun, like a house show version of your greatest southern US tags where everybody knows how to work with everybody else and there's a million and one things they can all do together to send a crowd home happy. Loved all of the exoticos' shtick in this. Reyna and Astro have an awesome exchange at the start where Astro does a bunch of super quick nip-ups. When Reyna tries one he messes it up and kind of flops like a seal, so he just throws his hand up like "fuck this" and tags straight out. Some of the sequences these guys are doing are exactly the sort of sequences fans of the MX and RnRs would dig the hell out of, so in that respect this is another match I could see non-lucha fans really liking. This also has a totally incredible Super Astro dive, and that's the kind of thing anybody can get behind. Halfway through I was hoping Hermoso would bust out his awesome armdrag bumps that he did on the New Japan set, then it gets to the third caida and he takes like five of them in a row. On a set full of piss and blood and guts, this is probably the most straight up fun that you'll get. And I mean that in the absolute best way possible.