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* The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
In a similar way to Super J ’94 and Puroresu, this is the tape that gets many wrestling fans into watching Lucha Libre, myself included. It features many American superstars aswell as the Mexican wrestlers you would expect.
It is an easily watchable tape as it has commentary by Chris Cruise and Mike Tenay (current NWA:TNA Commentator). Also, a lot of the wrestlers will be common to anyone who has watched mid to late 90’s WCW . Benoit, Guerrero, 2 Cold Scorpio, Tito Santana and Rey Mysterio Jr all feature as part of this show.
I’ll take this opportunity to explain the rules of the Six-Man Tag matches. Each team has a Captain. To win the match, you must either pin the Captain of the opposing team, or both of the other competitors. Simple!
I picked this tape up from the always excellent GoldenBoyTapes.com.
Octagoncito & Mascrito Sagrada vs. Espectrito & Jerrito Estrada.
This match is a Lucha Libre Mini’s match featuring mini versions of 4 of Mexico’s top stars of the time. Unlike a lot of Mexican matches, this is a standard one fall to a finish match. Match started out as you would expect at a very fast pace with plenty of Flying Headscissors and Flying Armdrags. The match stayed at this high tempo throughout, but the offence didn’t vary much at all from the Flying Headscissors and Armdrags. All of the offence was well executed by everyone, a highlight being a good Tope Suicida from Octagoncito. Finish came from a Moonsault Press by Mascrito Sagrada on Espectrito for the fall. Good way to start the show, but not a real good match.
Psicosis, Louie Spicolli & Fuerza Guerrera vs. Latin Lover, Heavy Metal & Rey Mysterio Jr.
The Captains for this match are Fuerza Guerrera and Heavy Metal. Match started out high paced with quick in and out of the ring work from both teams, featuring a real good trade between Heavy Metal and Psicosis. Match kept the high pace throughout with both teams going back and forth gaining the advantage. Good work from most of the competitors excluding Louie Spicolli who barely got into the match and Latin Lover, who just didn’t seem to suit the match. Finish to the match came when Guerrera applied a reverse Hammerlock onto Heavy Metal following a Body Slam. Average match.
Tito Santana, Pegasus Kid & 2 Cold Scorpio vs. LaParka, Blue Panther & Jerry Estrada.
Captains for this match are Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) and Blue Panther. Match started out with some good, fast paced technical wrestling from 2 Cold and Blue Panther, followed by some by Pegasus Kid and LaParka. Match then really picked up the pace with back and forth action throughout and excellent showings by Benoit and 2 Cold Scorpio. Overall, good performances all round, except Santana who seemed to be off the pace a little. Good moves and execution from everyone, good pace and timing throughout also. Finish came from a Hurricanrana from Pegasus Kid on Blue Panther for the victory. Good match.
Octagon & El Hijo Del Santo vs. Eddie Guerrero & “Love Machine” Art Barr.
This match is a “2 out of 3” falls match, Masks vs. Hair. A fall can only be won when both members of the opposite team have been beaten. The rules to this match helped this match win match of the night, easily. With a total of EIGHT falls in the match and a bunch of near falls this match had everything you could want. Fast paced action, perfect execution of moves, excellent timing and an awesome finish, this match was great top to bottom. Guerrero and Art Barr gave an awesome performance as the American heels, even to the point where the fans started to rush the guard rail and try to attack them. The falls came like this:
1st Fall:- Doomsday Hurricanrana (Eddie pinned El Hijo Del Santo), Superplex followed by a Frog Splash (Barr pinned Octagon)
2nd Fall:- Top Rope Hurricanrana (Eddie pinned El Hijo Del Santo), Hurricanrana (Octagon pinned Guerrero), Russian Leg Sweep into an Octopus Stretch (Octagon submited Barr)
3rd Fall:- Tombstone Piledriver (Barr pinned Octagon), Piledriver by Blue Panther (El Hijo Del Santo pinned Barr), Roll Up Counter to a Dragon Suplex (El Hijo Del Santo pinned Guerrero).
This is one of my favourite tag matches ever and is easily my favourite Lucha Libre match ever. Everything was done to perfection, with top-notch performances from all four competitors.
Perro Aguayo vs. Konnan.
The main event of the show was this Cage Match. Konnan at the time was one of the most hated heels in all of Mexico. Match was just a generic cage match with limited offence from both guys. Lots of use of the cage by Konnan to open up Aguayo, who lost a lot of blood during the match. Eddie Guerrero and Louie Spicolli came down to assist Konnan by giving him some Brass Knuckles, which he used to wear down Aguayo. The sides were then evened up when The Dynamite Brothers came down to help Aguayo. Finish came when Aguayo nailed a Samoan Drop followed by a Double Foot Stomp, before escaping the cage. Overall, the match didn’t have a good pace, the moves were poorly executed, but the crowd were really into the match. Eddie Guerrero got into a fight with a fan and Konnan also jumped the guard rail following the match. Poor Main Event.
Now…
The Good
The tag match was easily match of the night with some of the best performances I have ever seen. Eddie Guerrero and Art Barr were nothing short of amazing and El Hijo Del Santo and Octagon were outstanding also.
The Bad
The main event may have been a good pay off to the storyline between Aguayo and Konnan, but it was a bad match. For anyone who got the show at the time (as it was shown P.P.V. in the USA) they wouldn’t have known the background to the match either.
The Ugly
Perry Aguayo’s blood loss in the main event was horrible. He started bleeding really early in the match, so he lost an awful lot of blood. Also, the involvement of the crowd in the main event (Eddie punching a fan and Konnan jumping the guard rail) is not something that every wrestling fan wants to see on P.P.V.
Overall, I do really like this show. A decent opener and good mid-card held the show together, even with the poor main event. I don’t like cage matches anyway, so a lot of people will like this show top to bottom. As an introduction to Lucha Libre, you can’t go wrong as there is one awesome match, one good match, two average matches and one poor match.
Grade: B
Christopher Locke