El Dandy v Antifaz del Norte (Monterrey 9/17/00)
--"A lengthy Dandy apuestas match from 2000? How come I've never heard of this?"
40 minutes later: "oh nevermind"
This
only goes 40 minutes if you watch the pre-match interview/Antifaz
weight training stuff, but even at like 33 minutes it can be a complete
drag. Antifaz gets busted badly really soon, and by the time
Dandy's...doing something to him (poking eye? pulling hair? JUST
POINTING AT HIS HEAD?) you can pretty much see his entire face anyway.
Kind of makes me think "who gives a shit if he loses his mask tonight
now? we all fucking saw him." Dandy's buddy with the shitty-ass haircut,
who if I understood the commentators right was Zumbido, was a shitty
shitface shithead that was shitty at everything. He interfered a few
times and just made the match longer with everyone standing around in
confusion. I must have checked on my DVD player 15 times how long the
match had until it was over. Shithead Zumbido sets up Antifaz on the top
rope and literally turns around just waiting to be flipped. I could go
on about this but I won't. It's just not really worth watching.
El Dandy v El Hijo del Perro Aguayo (AAA 8/31/02)
--I guess I
expected more AAA clusterfuck bullshit, but this was surprisingly good.
It pretty much went swimmingly like a good title match with Dandy
getting help from other rudos and stuff. Finish was shitty, though, and
it didn't exactly come deep into the third fall. If they had been let go
for 10 minutes in the last fall this could have entered that "very
good" territory, me thinks.
El Dandy v El Hijo del Perro Aguayo v Mr. Aguila v Electroshock (AAA 9/2/02)
--Aguila
comes out to the DeGeneration X theme here and is almost a bona fide
Jeff Hardy imitator. So each guy has to escape the cage separately
and....you know what? No. I will not talk about this. It. Was. Fucking.
Bad. You will not watch this- say it with me, "I will not watch this."
None of this "oh maybe different strokes" or "I want to watch everything
talked about" or "I've wanted to watch some more Mr. Aguila so.." NO.
Don't watch this. DO. NOT. WATCH. THIS.
El Dandy v El Hijo del Perro Aguayo (AAA 2/28/03)
--Looked
ok. I say "looked" because I was more fixated on the watermelon I was
eating. Wasn't long before this turned into a fuck of the cluster kind.
Not as much as the stuff on the 1996 yearbook, but it's just confusing
and unneeded. AAA was a shithole around this time.
El Dandy v Heavy Metal (AAA 5/3/03)
--"Bull
Terry" match, and since they had chains tied to ther necks which
connected each other, I can assume "terry" is Spanish for "collar" or
something. I don't care. This wasn't good either. Death to Pena. {*} = NOTE
El Dandy/Super Crazy/Ultimo Guerrero v Nicho el Millionario/Damian 666/Halloween (LLA 7/11/04)
--Finally
AAA fucks off and I can look at something really worth watching. Thank
you Lucha Libre Azteca. This won't stick out with great trios, but it
def sticks out on a disc of shitty AAA. Is pretty much a really cool 90s
trio match. Super Crazy looked pretty awesome in the exchange with
Damian. Or Halloween, IDK. They look similar and I don't care for
either. I hope there's more footage of Super Crazy in trios like this
because he looks like a guy who really fits in with the sort of stuff
you see in the really great lucha tags. But yeah, THIS was good.
El Dandy v LA Park (ENESMA 10/29/04)
--Park's
outfit really is cool. Reminds of when Jushin Liger wore those actual
anime-inspired outfit before settling on "Thunder." This has everything a
good little lucha match should have and without going into depth, it's
really good. Not a MOTYC like I've seen it called, but as far 2004 goes I
think I prefer this to Kobashi v Akiyama.
{*} = NOTE: I wrote this before having the knowledge Antonio Pena died years ago. I feel like a piece of shit, obviously.
Friday, 22 June 2012
Lucha. That's It.
Negro Navarro v El Engendro (NWG 2/16/03)
--Man I could see people who don't like lucha very much thinking nothing of this. First of all, it's almost entirely mat work, like, 99 decimal point %. Second, it's a little take-turn-ish, but if you're going to go your turn/my turn, I'd much rather it be used while exchanges some really sweet looking holds instead of 50 second periods of beat down, which none of this was. The ref was terrible with slow counts, too, but that's something even a lucha diehard would pick at. This is one fall for the Intercontinental Title and Navarro's the challenger, but he still manages to come across as the maestro of the two. Engendro held his own really, really well and they worked tremendous with the idea that "there's a hold for every counter and a counter for every hold," but Navarro would seem much less trouble when Enegndro had him working from the bottom. Some of the submissions were sublime; there just can't be a name for the cross-legged things Navarro pulls out here. I actually paused it to try to figure out which way who's leg was going where at times. One of the submissions had Navarro tie up Engendro's leg with his own and then pull his up upwards so they were both above the mat (terrible explanation but it was awesome). Looked hard as hell to hold and that was confirmed when Navarro himself had to drop him because he couldn't keep the weight up. There sure as shit aren't names for the counters whipped out. During another leglock thingy they both wind up sitting up and sort of trying to grasp each others hands while still having their legs all bundled. This was an ideal chess game, and you got the sense Engendro had to stay on the mat because Navarro had a counter for everything anyway and would have more freedom to wrench him when upright, but Navarro's clearly got him outclassed, so he pops up with lariats and stuff. THAT left him more open to attacks and got wrangle up in Navarro's rolling keylock move thing. He was the pawn getting destroyed by the knight either way, I guess. Really good match in a quiet year for lucha.
Negro Casas v Perro Aguayo Jr. (CMLL 9/25/04)
--Perro's cocky and attacks Negro and pulls his head up for the pin in the first fall, which becomes his stupid mistake when Negro flash-pins him with la magistral a minute later. Only one more fall after that, but it's mostly Perro booting Negro here and there. He uses the block thing that's a step in modern day CMLL, and sits Negro down in the stands, etc. Bunch of nothing, really.
--Man I could see people who don't like lucha very much thinking nothing of this. First of all, it's almost entirely mat work, like, 99 decimal point %. Second, it's a little take-turn-ish, but if you're going to go your turn/my turn, I'd much rather it be used while exchanges some really sweet looking holds instead of 50 second periods of beat down, which none of this was. The ref was terrible with slow counts, too, but that's something even a lucha diehard would pick at. This is one fall for the Intercontinental Title and Navarro's the challenger, but he still manages to come across as the maestro of the two. Engendro held his own really, really well and they worked tremendous with the idea that "there's a hold for every counter and a counter for every hold," but Navarro would seem much less trouble when Enegndro had him working from the bottom. Some of the submissions were sublime; there just can't be a name for the cross-legged things Navarro pulls out here. I actually paused it to try to figure out which way who's leg was going where at times. One of the submissions had Navarro tie up Engendro's leg with his own and then pull his up upwards so they were both above the mat (terrible explanation but it was awesome). Looked hard as hell to hold and that was confirmed when Navarro himself had to drop him because he couldn't keep the weight up. There sure as shit aren't names for the counters whipped out. During another leglock thingy they both wind up sitting up and sort of trying to grasp each others hands while still having their legs all bundled. This was an ideal chess game, and you got the sense Engendro had to stay on the mat because Navarro had a counter for everything anyway and would have more freedom to wrench him when upright, but Navarro's clearly got him outclassed, so he pops up with lariats and stuff. THAT left him more open to attacks and got wrangle up in Navarro's rolling keylock move thing. He was the pawn getting destroyed by the knight either way, I guess. Really good match in a quiet year for lucha.
Negro Casas v Perro Aguayo Jr. (CMLL 9/25/04)
--Perro's cocky and attacks Negro and pulls his head up for the pin in the first fall, which becomes his stupid mistake when Negro flash-pins him with la magistral a minute later. Only one more fall after that, but it's mostly Perro booting Negro here and there. He uses the block thing that's a step in modern day CMLL, and sits Negro down in the stands, etc. Bunch of nothing, really.
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Well look at that, El Dandy and Negro Navarro are a good match-up. SURPRISE~!
So I haven't updated this thing since November, but it struck me that people may actually read it. I have a lot of stuff to post, but I'll take it one at a time. First up, el Dandy and Negro Navarro~!
Negro Navarro v El Dandy (IWRG 11/8/01)
--This is pretty much everything I could ask for. Three satisfyingly timed falls of excellent work in one of the best matches of 2001. Really, this feels better than the awesome Santo v Parka bloodbath on first watch. First fall is ten minutes, and it really looked to me that it was based around Dandy not being able to top Navarro on the mat no matter what he tried. He thought he caught a break when he hits a figure four and goes for some leg-directed attacks in general, but Navarro has a counter for every hold and a hold for every counter. Eventually Navarro tries a pile of them fancy schmancy holds and manages to keep Dandy down. The challenger's a fall down and might need a new game plan. Negro's like "fuck you we're sticking to the mat," and in a reasonably short second fall, Dandy manages to get the pace up. Literaly under a minutes before the pace is quickened and both guys are on their feet, Dandy gets a flash crucifix to even the score. Third fall had a total chess game aura and neither guy really stood out as the leader for much of it. Greatly back and forth and even if the lacked the suspense it could have otherwise had, the final few moments were truly fucking awesome. Dandy was trapped and the crowd burst into a chant for him while Navarro had sweat rolling down his whole body trying to make him give it up. It's no srurprise that once they get on their feet, Dandy can escape any chance of Navarro's holds, and Navarro makes the bigget mistake of the match by plunking himself on the mat so Dandy might trip, because it leads to la MAGISTRAL. LA FUCKIN MAGISTRAL. This match really feels must-see. Yeah, this is fan-tucking-fastic. Fan-tucking-fastic, I say.
El Dandy/Ultimo Vampiro/El Fantasma v Negro Navarro/El Pantera/Bomber Infernal (IWRG 3/19/02)
El Dandy/Ultimo Vampiro v Negro Navarro/El Pantera (IWRG 4/4/02)
Neither are list-worthy, but the first is really bloody good and the second isn't THAT far behind it. Dandy/Navarro are obviously the best parts, and the mat work still rocks, but what separates these from anything else is the quasi-boxing segments. Navarro's punches fucking rule and Dandy stays down and out before making his big-ass tecnico comebacks. The other guys in the match do nothing to drag any of this down and these are certainly worth watching. Prefer them to the 2007 Monterrey match I watched yesterday.
I went to upload Dandy/Navarro on its own, but accidentally uploaded that and the two tags in the one file. Check them out: http://ifile.it/we1kfji
Negro Navarro v El Dandy (IWRG 11/8/01)
--This is pretty much everything I could ask for. Three satisfyingly timed falls of excellent work in one of the best matches of 2001. Really, this feels better than the awesome Santo v Parka bloodbath on first watch. First fall is ten minutes, and it really looked to me that it was based around Dandy not being able to top Navarro on the mat no matter what he tried. He thought he caught a break when he hits a figure four and goes for some leg-directed attacks in general, but Navarro has a counter for every hold and a hold for every counter. Eventually Navarro tries a pile of them fancy schmancy holds and manages to keep Dandy down. The challenger's a fall down and might need a new game plan. Negro's like "fuck you we're sticking to the mat," and in a reasonably short second fall, Dandy manages to get the pace up. Literaly under a minutes before the pace is quickened and both guys are on their feet, Dandy gets a flash crucifix to even the score. Third fall had a total chess game aura and neither guy really stood out as the leader for much of it. Greatly back and forth and even if the lacked the suspense it could have otherwise had, the final few moments were truly fucking awesome. Dandy was trapped and the crowd burst into a chant for him while Navarro had sweat rolling down his whole body trying to make him give it up. It's no srurprise that once they get on their feet, Dandy can escape any chance of Navarro's holds, and Navarro makes the bigget mistake of the match by plunking himself on the mat so Dandy might trip, because it leads to la MAGISTRAL. LA FUCKIN MAGISTRAL. This match really feels must-see. Yeah, this is fan-tucking-fastic. Fan-tucking-fastic, I say.
El Dandy/Ultimo Vampiro/El Fantasma v Negro Navarro/El Pantera/Bomber Infernal (IWRG 3/19/02)
El Dandy/Ultimo Vampiro v Negro Navarro/El Pantera (IWRG 4/4/02)
Neither are list-worthy, but the first is really bloody good and the second isn't THAT far behind it. Dandy/Navarro are obviously the best parts, and the mat work still rocks, but what separates these from anything else is the quasi-boxing segments. Navarro's punches fucking rule and Dandy stays down and out before making his big-ass tecnico comebacks. The other guys in the match do nothing to drag any of this down and these are certainly worth watching. Prefer them to the 2007 Monterrey match I watched yesterday.
I went to upload Dandy/Navarro on its own, but accidentally uploaded that and the two tags in the one file. Check them out: http://ifile.it/we1kfji
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