MASCARITA SAGRADA & OCTAGONCITO v ESPERCTRITO & JERRITO ESTRADA
By Ross Casey
OK. I hold my hands up. My knowledge of Lucha Libre is super limited. I mean, one of my favourite luchadors is Ligero - and he's from Leeds. I am looking forward to watching this PPV in order to improve my ignorance, despite it seemingly being recorded through a baked potato.
My match here is the minis match - and it is explained to me on commentary that all four are mini versions of AAA and IWC stars. So the mini versions of Mankind and Vader in 1997 actually make sense?! Awesome.
The ring mat is fully emblazoned with the Corona logo, which for some reason just makes me happy. For context, Mascarita Sagrada is the wrestler the WWF christened Max Mini - I used to love him back in the Attitude Era. Bring it on!
Oh and there are two refs here. Sure. Both look like they would be right at home playing bowls.
Espectrito gets thrown all over the shop to start - the pace they wrestle at is astounding. He bails out of the ring. Great decision. No tags needed here, so his partner Jerrito Estrada blindsides Octagoncito. Lad.
Jerrito is literally double the size of his opponents here and offers an incredible base for the high flying pair. It's jaw dropping at times and simply too quick to narrate. Their sequence ends with the Chris Hamrick whoopsie through the ropes though, which simply cannot be left out my review.
The heels do a double team of an axhandle to Sagrada whilst he is in a gorilla press position which begins the slam. It looks fucking mint.
We get an odd bit where Sagrada tags not once but twice but the refs refuse to let him in. Even the commentators are puzzled. Just go in yourself, throw your partner out and become the legal man, Octagoncito!
This is then followed by Espectrito inexplicably crotching himself on the ropes and a low blow from Jerrito. It's becoming a bit of a hot mess after a very accomplished start.
With a blink, we are right back into the swing of things as Jerrito and Octagoncito perform some incredible moves before the latter does a SECOND Hamrick whoopsie! HAHA.
All four men trade moves and reversals, ending with dives to the outside from the faces before Sagrada rolls up Espectrito for the win.
OK, that fucking ruled. The pace, the prowess and the timing of the Lucha style on show here was a sight to behold. Not only that, but both the faces and heels played their roles brilliantly, so we had a great, simple story that even a non Lucha fan was able to follow. And Chris Hamrick, presumably...
Thumbs up. Over to you, Luke!
WINNERS - MASCARITA SAGRADA & OCTAGONCITO BY MAX MINI ROLL UP
FUERZA GUERRERA, MADONNA'S BOYFRIEND & PSICOSIS v REY MYSTERIO JR, HEAVY METAL & LATIN LOVER
By Luke Heffernan
Mexican wrestling is weird. The rules of this match are that you must pin the team’s captain or both of the other competitors. Seems very unnecessary but there we go. On one side we have Fuerza Guerrera as skipper and on the other, Heavy Metal.
We are introduced to both teams: Madonna’s Boyfriend (yes, really) and Psicosis join Fuerza Guerrera and Latin Lover and some guy called Rey Mysterio Jr. team with Heavy Metal. Both Captian’s start the match before “two possible superstars of the future” good shout commentator Psicosis and Rey Mysterio tag in.
Flippy shit occurs including a top rope hurricanrana and Psicosis bolts. Madonna’s Boyfriend enters the ring, attempts to overpower Rey but gets embarrassed when Mysterio megs him with his body. Tag to Latin Lover. Commentators and fans are popping like it’s Goldberg vs Lesnar, the big boys are in! Latin Lover and Madonna’s Boyfriend!
Then they both start dancing. After a few (dance) moves are exchanged Latin Lover quickly goes on the offence until he’s hit with a clothesline from nowhere. Madonna’s boyfriend celebrates by dancing. Oh for f—he gets superkicked for his troubles. In comes Heavy Metal and the crowd are popping big time. Guerrera too scared to get in instructs Psicosis to do the dirty work.
As they start going at it Tenay informs us the ‘referee with the bandana’ is Heavy Metal’s dad. Hold the bloody phone, conflict of interest much?! Psicosis and Metal go back and forth in some cool flippy shit including somersaults and all that jazz, Psicosis looks a lot different than the guy I remember from 2006 WWE on his lawnmower. Bit racist from the E but what isn’t when it comes to minorities over there. Psicosis gets hit by a spinning wheel kick and exits the ring.
In this match you don’t actually have to tag a teammate in, just exit the ring so the match is following a pretty obvious pattern. Two guys get in, one gets kicked out, another two come in. Next up is Rey and Team Captian Guerrera. Rey, only 20 at the time is just ridiculously agile. Billed as 5’2 from the commentators he dashes round the ring at about 80mph.
He embarrasses his opponent with trickery and hurricanranas him to the outside off the apron. The match then kind of descends in to chaos. There’s about 20 tags, people are in the ring for about 20 seconds at a time doing flippy shit and everyone gets a chance to do something silly. There’s lots of over the top flips, turnbuckle flips, through the rope flips, everyone gets a flip. The match ends with a Kimura like submission from Fuerza Guerrera on to Heavy Metal. Los talones ganan!
FUERZA GUERRERA, MADONNA'S BOYFRIEND & PSICOSIS BY KIMURA LIKE SUBMISSION
THE PEGASUS KID, 2 COLD SCORPIO & TITO SANTANA v JERRY ESTRADA, LA PARKA & BLUE PANTHER
By Dom Van Dam
The story of this one seems to be dissension in the ranks amongst the heels. They are often balking at tags and it’s a bit like Drogba and Ballack trying to decide who is going to take a Chelsea penalty a decade ago; every one of these villains is convinced he is the best to ever step foot in a squared circle, even better than his partners.
Pegasus Kid refuses to sell anything in this one. It looks like he’s desperate to make a name for himself, even at the expense of the the other men in the match. This lack of selling at all leads to an absolute mish-mash of moves and a disjointed narrative. It’s a bit like watching an AND-1 mixtape. Loads of dunks and tricks but the score doesn’t matter.
The highpoint of the match is when LA Parka and Jerry Estrada seem to have 2 Cold Scorpio beaten after there was no water in the pool on a top rope moonsault by the tripod. However the heels can’t decide who will get the pinning combination and they continually break up each other’s covers. It’s amazing, and now they are throwing hands.
No one lands one though and it seems like they might just manage to stay on the same page. Pegasus Kid again comes in for no real reason to hit an offensive move right in the middle of the actual story and the breakup of the heels. Cheers Chris, get that shit in brother.
La Parka and Estrada are fully eliminated from this one when La Parka hits a Tope Suicida on to his own partner in a miscommunication for the ages and this allows Pegasus Kid to pin his opposite captain with a Hurricanrana and this one is over! A fun little sprint.
Drink lots of water; look after your mates.
WINNERS - THE PEGASUS KID, 2 COLD SCORPIO & TITO SANTANA BY BENOIT
OCTAGÓN & EL HIJO DEL SANTO v LA PAREJA DEL TERROR
By Matt Brummitt
Firstly, thanks to Ross & the guys at WSBF for letting me pick the NWW selection this week. I’m not sure if this match will live up to my previous 2 Nerd Watches of Scotty Riggs & Sylvester Terkay but let’s give it a go... For those of you that aren’t familiar with the 4 cogs that make up this beautiful wheel, I’ll give a quick rundown.
El Hijo Del Santo (“EHDS”) is not just a name; this young whippersnapper is the son of one of the most famous wrestlers ever (some would argue THE most famous wrestler ever, at least on a regional level). Though forever in his father’s shadow, Santito had an impressive and lengthy career in his own right. From his debut in 1982, to cementing his place on the wrestling scene with a stone cold banger in 1987 in WWA against long term rival Negro Casas (not to mention their brilliant Luchas De Apuestas a decade later in CMLL), to continuing having cracking matches into the mid-noughties and still wrestling today at 56, it’s been a pretty epic ride for the eleventh son of The Saint.
Octagón is my favourite wrestler to be legitimately named after a Chuck Norris movie (though the fact that no talent has named themselves Lone Wolf McQuaid is a blight on the industry). Octagón has had a similar career to his long time partner, EHDS, though not quite to the same acclaim. Though debuting slightly before Santito, his statement match was not until 1991 in CMLL against Juventud’s dad, Fuerza Guerrera. Since then, he has spent his career having entertaining 6 man matches; the most recent of which was only last week featuring his aforementioned career rival, Fuerza, now 65.
Eddie Guerrero is perhaps now only remembered for being the brother of Mando & uncle of Chavo, but my wrestling historian friends say he had a noughties run with WWE, feuding with Doug Basham.
Art Barr was a piece of shit. He was also a crazy promising talent that could have gone on to become a megastar. Like Polanski, Wagner, & Morrissey, I’m going to try separate the artist from the art. The main reason I suggested this for NWW was because of Art Barr. I recently read the Brian Pillman biography, “Crazy Like A Fox”, and the parallels between Pillman & Barr were clear. Both talented athletes & in-ring storytellers. Both a joy to watch. Both had chaotic personal lives, took a shit ton of drugs, and did some nasty things. Both were fucked around by WCW. Both were underutilized due to their size. Pillman died in 1997, at 35. Barr died 17 days after this match, at just 28.
Barr & Guerrero (despite Eddie’s heritage) formed an anti-Mexican heel team in AAA called La Pareja Del Terror. This eventually became Los Gringos Locos which, by the time of this event, was now a full blown stable. For ease, from now on I’ll refer to the terrorising pair as Los Gringos Locos (“LGL”).
For the luchaphobes out there today, the match under review is a Lucha De Apuestas match (Apuesta is Spanish for bet/wager). In this case the wager is the masks of EHDS & Octagón vs the lovely flowing locks of LGL. The match will also be 2/3 falls (& a fall only counts after both members are eliminated). It comes after a year of LGL becoming the most hated entity in AAA. The crowd want to see them torn to shreds.
Here. We. Go.
Before the bell, LGL heel things up. Whilst they taunt everyone in sight, Tenay explains a bit of the history behind the match; discussing the parallels between Eddie & EHDS’s prior tag team, & that of their fathers, Gory Guerrero & El Padre Del Hijo Del Santo, in which the formers felt in the shadow of the latters. Barr gets the crowd heated up by being racist. Eddie & EHDS start the match.
Some good back-and-forth, mainly on the mat between EHDS & Eddie. Eddie mostly on top but when the tables turn, Eddie brings in Barr and Octagón comes in too. Octagón picks up the pace with some flashy offence on Barr until Eddie’s had enough & interferes. LGL get hold of lil’ Santo and hit him with a sick Doomsday Rana followed by a 3 count! That was a bit botchy but it added to the brutality. Superplex on Octagón from Eddie & a Frog Splash from Barr (Barr named the move when 2 Cold Scorpio said he looked like a frog). That’s good for the 3! Three minutes in and we have our first fall!
BARR & EDDIE 1 - OCTAGÓN & EHDS 0
Crowd are pissed. The next fall starts like the last with Eddie on top of EHDS. Octagón enters and Eddie drops to his knees, puts his arms behind his back & offers a cheek. This is shown to be disingenuous as Eddie delivers an eye poke. This leads to a period of LGL control until EDHS enters and turns the match on its head. A minute of fun double team action ends in a double suicide dive which still meant something in 1994. Back in the ring & Eddie kicks out at 2.
Eddie has a resurgence and hits a top rope frankensteiner on Santo and gets another 3! Now all LGL need is a pin on Octagón to win the match! Octagón is in trouble but reverses a double back body into a double facebuster! Go on lad! Barr goes to launch Octagón in a double springboard powerbomb but Octagón catches Eddie with a rana midair whilst Barr is taunting the crowd & he gets the 3! Eddie eliminated from this fall! Barr realises & goes straight for Octagón but he reverses into a Russian leg sweep rolled into a modified Octopus stretch! Barr taps!!
BARR & EDDIE 1 - OCTAGÓN & EHDS 1
The lucha lads celebrate & the crowd goes wild! Well done Octagón, you sexy little Chuck Norris loving bastard. LGL are pissed. Barr says 187 to the camera, referencing a California State anti-immigration bill. Eek. Time for the final fall. The first couple of minutes are slow as the teams recover from the first 2 falls. Eventually Santo hits a top rope electric chair on Eddie. Barr breaks up the pin. It’s now time for an LGL double suicide dive. Barr’s is prettier. Eddie goes for another superplex but EHDS reverses; Eddie ends up outside & EHDS nails him with a plancha sunset flip!
Back in the ring & Barr blocks some Octagón offence &illegally tombstones him behind the ref’s back. That’s enough for the 3 & poor Octagón is out of the final fall & hence the match! It’s now 2 vs 1 with LGL only needing a pinfall or a submission to win the match. LGL go straight after EHDS & hit a smooth clothesline/ dragon suplex combo. EHDS kicks out! If that was 3, him and Octagón would have been unmasked.
Barr gets to the top rope preparing for the Frog Splash. Eddie takes EHDS up to a parallel one for the superplex. Hits it! Barr goes for the splash. Hits that too! 1… 2… and with the spirit of his father running through his veins, El Hijo Del Santo kicks out!!! Octagón is still selling the effects of the Tombstone on the apron and is being surrounded by medics and officials.
Barr signals for another clothesline into the dragon suplex, but EHDS ducks & Barr hits Eddie to the outside! EHDS with the dropkick to Barr. EHDS sprints to the top rope, Barr chases him but just misses as EHDS hits the Santo Dive to the outside on Eddie! Octagón & EHDS’s support for the evening, Blue Panther is so incensed with Barr’s behaviour that he piledrives him with the ref’s back turned! That’s slightly rudo behaviour in my eyes but who cares - Justicia Para México!
Crowd are going bananas! EHDS slowly gets back into the ring, crawls over to Barr on his knees and goes for the pin. 1, 2, 3 & Barr is out! Eddie vs El Hijo Del Santo one on one, sudden death! The second incarnation of La Pareja Atómica must now fight it out for their hair/mask; their partners’ hair/mask; the pride of their fathers; their personal pride; & the pride of their nation! Eddie looks the fresher man but EHDS has the crowd behind him & the momentum!
Octagón is finally put on a stretcher whilst EHDS goes for a rollup. It’s not enough. Eddie gets a two count of his own from a powerbomb. He then gets a closer 2 from a top rope belly-to-belly! Then a top rope rana from Eddie & 2 count again! Eddie is all over EHDS here as he now hits him with a dragon suplex into a bridge. Another 2 count!! Eddie goes for a second straight dragon suplex but EHDS reverses it into a pinfall attempt: 1, 2, 3! El Hijo Del Santo has done it! He & Octagón have just beaten Los Gringos Locos!
BARR & EDDIE 1 - OCTAGÓN & EHDS 2
Crowd goes wild! Octagón doesn’t look in a good place as he’s still being stretchered to the back. EHDS & Blue Panther celebrate with a Mexican flag. Eddie is crying whilst asking Barr to cut his hair. He bows to Eddie’s request. LGL give each other a trim whilst EHDS takes a clump of hair and display it to the crowd.
Summary: I loved this match. A year of build, a red-hot crowd, 4 workers on their game, emotional ups & downs, & a fairytale finish. With this said, watching this match 25 years later gives it another dimension; historical context. Knowing the varying paths of Los Gringos Locos as you watch them walk out of the ring leaves a bittersweet taste in the mouth. It would be both of theirs last match in AAA. Eddie would spend the next year becoming even better in Japan & ECW before going on to achieve wrestling greatness.
His death was still sad & premature but in the next 11 years he built a historical legacy (through his incredible work) & a physical legacy (through his family). Barr built neither. He never wrestled again & was dead within 3 weeks.
I could write more about these guys & this match but alas, I’m nearly 1,800 words in & you guys need to hear Pete’s thoughts on Konnan & then go to bed.
WINNERS: OCTAGÓN & EL HIJO DEL SANTO BY HEROISM, JUSTICE, & LIBERTY!
KONNAN v PERRO AGUAYO
By Pete Hitchcock
RIP to Perro Aguayo to start. It doesn't feel like it's been a long time since he passed away. I've just flicked on a hilariously blurry 90s VHS rip of the entire event on YouTube since I couldn't find this show on the Network. The sound is good though, and there's enough to get the atmosphere. Mike Tenay is doing the show, and is ring announcing the main event! This feels like a big deal. This may be my first time ever seeing Konnan wrestle in his prime, so I'm excited in that respect.
The commentary - Chris Cruise - sounds good from what I'm hearing so far, I'm not sure who's doing it, but they're doing a great job of establishing the history between the two wrestlers with Konnan losing his mask to Perro and Perro losing his hair to Konnan previously. The cage is being lowered...and there's pyro! Holy shit! That's so 90s. Explosions! Very cool. The crowd looks awesome, and you can see why this became such a legendary event. I must stress how blurry the footage is, it feels like I've had about 4 or 5 beers in short succession but I'm bone sober.
I like how they note how big a gate attraction Konnan is when he makes his entrance. Lucha's focus on money is an underrated aspect of the genre, and it can add a lot to a story. Tenay, who's back on the commentary desk now, fills us in on Konnan's championships, one of which is an IWC belt. I'd like to take the opportunity to shit on Carlos Colon and his operation. RIP Brody.
Aguayo looks like quite the character making his entrance, kind of goofy to be honest. Tenay is speaking quite positively of him here despite him ostensibly being the rudo. This is quite topical, as when he passed away recently Meltzer did note once he hit a certain age it was basically impossible for him to be a heel anymore. He's 49 here and it's difficult to boo someone in that position. Look at Jericho right now!
Page has no chance against him in terms of charisma and character. We'll see how Konnan fares. Commentary notes that Konnan's belts aren't on the line. Konnan tries running for the door like a coward immediately but it's not budging. Did I misread the technico/rudo dynamic? He gains the advantage briefly but Aguayo slams him into the corner and uses him as a stepping stone to try and climb over the cage. He's at the top but Konnan gets him and turns it into an electric chair drop back into the ring, or close to it. Tenay tells us about a recent PPV in Mexico called TripleMania.
I wonder what became of that. Konnan takes the opportunity to drop Perro into the cage and it looks brutal, Perro takes the opportunity to blade, or maybe it's hardway. This is not worked like how you would think lucha is worked- even the famous hate-brawls, this is much more similar to an NWA cage match like you would see between Blanchard and Magnum, for instance. Perro gets Konnan down and tries to cover him but you can't win by pinfall (or presumably submission) in this match, only escape over the top. That was a little weird. I hate when wrestlers don't know the rules.
Perro gets Konnan back down on his back and runs off the ropes before double stomping Konnan. There is a huge amount of claret on Perro's face at the moment. More futile pin attempts! What is the point? There's a lot to like so far but some stuff to hate. Konnan's less thans stellar reception here is mentioned by commentary? Is he an out-and-out rudo? I'll take it. Perro double stomps him again. The work's all basics here but it works. Konnan goes for a low blow to bring Perro down off the cage! I knew he was a douche.
There's an inset of Eddie Guerrero back in the locker room as Konnan and Perro get wrecked on a very dangerous looking suplex-thing in the ring, almost a tornado DDT. Aguayo is now over to the other side of the ring and straight up to the top but Konnan gets him back in scraping his face on the cage. Perro still has the advantage however but now newly shaved Eddie comes down to help that dickbag Konnan! I side with Vampiro on this one.
He throws in what looks like brass knucks, commentary confirms it and now Konnan is messing Perro up, wrecking his already-busted face and hitting a Niagara Driver! That move always looks good. This match is properly No DQ which is fair enough as the only thing stopping Eddie getting in to basically steal the match for Konnan is the locked door.
Apparently the police are here! Well, Perro looks like he's been murdered for a start. Konnan hits a dropkick but Perro doesn't go down and fires back, but he's lost too much blood to have the energy to do much as Tenay notes. What a genius commentator. Happy to have him two weeks in a row. Konnan is just slicing Perro up with right hands, and the camera gets a shot of how much muscle Konnan is packing here, it looks really bad actually and to be fair the commentary has called it out. BOOM! Music plays and the Dynamite Brothers run out - they're not even on the card! Cien Caras, that's a name I've heard before and I think I've heard the others but this is really all new for me. They're wrecking Eddie Guerrero and "Madonna's boyfriend" as the commentary keeps saying. Oh shit! Konnan is at the top of the cage but Cien Caras climbs up and punches him back into the cage...and into the grasp of Perro!
He gets him up on his shoulders and gives him a Samoan Drop! Perro up to the top rope and hits the diving double footstomp! Konnan is in trouble as Perro gets over the top and climbs down to the floor and wins! THE CROWD ARE GOING NUTS!
Perro is covered in blood, we are near the Muta Scale here. Even I can see it under the blur. A nice, fun ending, helped by the fact that the rock music the Dynamite Brothers have used has kept playing the entire time. I have just noticed the ring mat is sponsored by Corona Beer. Good for Perro! "I think the future of AAA lucha libre is ensured!" Well, it was a long and roundabout road but sure, I'll give it to you. Triplemania 2015 fucking sucked though. Perro is now trying to take out Eddie and Madonna's boyfriend with a suitcase!
They just give him a look of 'Mate, what the fuck are you doing?' and keep walking and I have to laugh. You know what, being parachuted into this this was a fun and easy watch, if the pin attempts were fucking dumb.
The MVPs have to be the excellent and informative commentary which really did fill in the blanks for someone like me tuning in just for this match. They were able to do that even in 1994 before this kind of cherry picking was even a pipe dream. Perro bled for our sins and Konnan was fine too. Good stuff.
WINNER - PERRO AGUAYO BY CAGE ESCAPE
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