UWA Solo Clasicos Vol 1

This is an IVP Videos compilation I've had for a while. As with all previous lucha reviews, I apologise for my ignorance about the genre in the following reviews...

Great Sasuke & El Matematico vs Rudy Reyna & Cassandro

Really dug the rudo team of exoticos here, especially Cassandro. Loved his vicious slaps to the chest of Sasuke when downed with a groin stretcher. Cassandro and Sasuke really pair up well in this one, both seem to complement each other well. Cassandro seems happy to bump big for all Sasuke’s offence, and they pair up well on the mat. Liked the dynamic of Matematico outsmarting the exoticos, until Reyna kisses him on the lips to confuse him. Technicos win the first fall with a Sasuke moonsault press on Reyna, which forces a change of tactics. In the second fall, the rudos are sneakier, using a double-teaming tactic of distracting and blindsiding, which works wonders for them. It allows them to isolate Matematico with a top rope legdrop/sideslam combo. Final fall sees the rudos continue to dominate, with a great German suplex by Cassandro to Sasuke, before both technicos are pinned and the exoticos win the bout. Dug this.

Los Espantos (Espanto IV & Espanto V) vs Los Estrellas Blancas (Estrella Blanca I & Estrella Blanca II)

Fun little bout here, with Los Estrellas Blancas clowning Los Espantos for most of the match, easily reversing their moves, evading any onrushing Espanto and causing Los Espantos to stooge around, before the Blancas win the first fall with a sunset flip. It takes a distraction from the referee for Los Espantos to take over, and their double-teaming is really fluid to behold. They lock in a swank double-team sub to take the fall. In the third fall, the teams split, with one pair battling inside the ring, and the other on the outside. Loved one Espanto doing an exaggerated sneaky walk to get in the ring and break up a sub, before the Espantos win the decisive fall by reversing a sunset flip. Good stuff.

Scorpio & Scorpio Jr vs Celestial & Transformer

This was a real blast, a nice pairing of dastardly rudos and really fun technicos. Scorpio Snr is an impressively ugly man, and I dug him protesting hairpulls every time he was taken over, as well as Jr just cheapshotting opponents from behind. They control the first fall with sneaky tactics, double-teams and cheap blows. Every time one of the technicos gets in the ring, they get worn down by the same cheap tactics, before a legdrop from Snr and a senton from Jr give them the first fall. This continues into the second fall, before a missed dropkick from Jr takes out his father, and the technicos take control. Loved Transformer’s spinning headscissors, and Celestial impressed with his fluidity and speed, working a nice sequence against both rudos at once. A seated senton and a sunset flip give them the equalising fall. The bulk of the final fall sees the rudos taking advantage of Transformer’s ill-advised scarf, taking it in turns to choke him with it. Everything swiftly breaks down, and the technicos win with a victory roll and an abdominal stretch. Really fun match here, really dug it.

Dr Wagner Jr & Espanto Jr vs Celestial & Coloso

This starts off with some nice mat exchanges between Espanto and Celestial, but the rudo team – and Wagner in particular – ensure this doesn’t remain a friendly contest. Coloso stupidly falls for a handshake and hug from Wagner (brilliantly assisted by Espanto Jr coming in the ring and gesturing, as if to say “Don’t worry, you CAN trust him”) and gets blindsided. The rudos use all manner of distractions and cheapshots to retain control, and soon pin both technicos for the first fall. They control the ring so easily that Wagner is confident enough to walk Coloso to the corner to tag in Celestial, knowing the referees won’t see it and won’t allow the tag. The technicos do finally comeback, and I loved the image of Celestial stalking Wagner outside the ring, who still find time to angrily gesture at the crowd. The technicos even things up with a count out, with Celestial getting backdropped outside by his partner at a great height onto Espanto Jr. Looked amazing. Things are pretty close in the final fall, and I dug Celestial stopping a pinfall by calmly grabbing the refs hand and, when Wagner looks up, slapping him in the face. Wagner has had a few close calls when attacking below the belt in the match, and him dropping Celestial bollocks first on the top rope in the final straw, earning a DQ. This was really fun, and they took advantage of having some time to give each fall plenty of time to breath.

Bull Pain, Zandokan & The Killer vs El Texano, Silver King & Enrique Vera

One of the nice things about wrestling is discovering someone you’ve never heard of, but appears to be awesome. Based off this one match, Zandokan falls into that category for me. Looking swank as fuck in black trousers and a nice shirt, hair slicked back in a ponytail, he looks like a drug cartel kingpin from an awesome 80’s straight-to-video action film. He does lots of things here that I dig, including getting fed up with Texano’s cutesy handshake avoidance and giving him a vicious headbutt in the clinch. I also loved him faking getting kicked in the groin by Vera in an attempt to win the final fall by DQ, plus he takes the biggest bump of the match by going over the top rope to the floor. Pain also looks good, dishing out a few headbutts to the arm of Silver King when in control. With the match poised at one fall apiece, The Killer proves himself to have quite the inaccurate name by running to the back from Vera, leaving his partners to eat the fall and give the match to the technicos. Fun stuff.

Fishman, The Killer & Tigre Canadiense vs Transformer, Gran Hamada & Silver King

Bit of a sprint this one, clocking in at just over ten minutes, but it’s pretty good. There’s a terrific opening section between Tigre and Silver King, just so quick and fluid, with both guys missing stuff with aplomb. Transformer fancies his luck against all 3 rudos at once, and manages to outsmart them all. Hamada wins the first fall with a rana on the Killer. Silver King hitting an RKO on Fishman is a bit of a surprise in the second fall. The rudos plan here seems to be to take out Hamada, crotching him on the ring post, then Silver King, thus leaving them able to isolate Transformer, which occurs pretty easily for the three. Final fall, and we get a good chunk of brawling all round the venue. The technicos seem in control, until a 3-way bulldog is reverse, sending all three crashing into each other and all three are pinned for the rudo victory.

Babe Face, Negro Casas & Dr Wagner Jr vs El Hijo Del Santo, Gran Hamada & Solar

Heck of a way to finish the disk. Love the real rogue’s gallery of rudos here. Opening section is Solar and Wagner working the mat, trying to force the other’s shoulders down for a 3 count. Casas and Hamada also matchup really well in their brief stint in the ring together. Casas has so much presence. The technicos take the first fall, but the rudos rebound in the second, isolating Santo and, via a double-team submission, forcing him to submit. The deciding fall sees the rudos isolate Solar, coming SO close to holding his shoulders down on a dogpile pin attempt. Solar fight back to allow Santo in, and he’s a house of fire. First he hits Babe Face with a big rolling senton, then hits a belly-to-belly on Casas for the victory. This was so fluid, all six guys looked great.

Best of El Hijo Del Santo Vol 1

Within the pro-wrestling, lucha libre remains a bit of a blind spot for me. Indeed, in the 4+ years this blog has run, I've only reviewed one lucha show. I decided to rectify this blindspot by easing myself in with the IVP "Best of El Hijo Del Santo" series, which at only $3 per disk seems a nice way into the world of lucha. By starting with one of the best known luchadors of the 80's-modern day, I'm hoping to learn a bit more about the main stars of lucha, the style and come to grips with how it works. Here goes nothing...

El Hijo Del Santo & Atlantis vs Fuerza Guerrera & Lobo Rubio
Loved the opening matwork here, especailly Santo's dedication to holding Rubio down with a headscissors. Atlantis and Guerrera also work a really fluid mat section. A little frustration seems to be setting in with Guerrera and Rubio, as the technicos are a little to good for them. Santo hits a beautiful spinning armdrag on Guerrera. The first fall goes to Santo and Atlantis, as Santo hits a rolling senton from the top on Rubio, held in place by Atlantis who pins him.

The second fall has Atlantis outsmarting the rudos, sending them crashing into each other. The aggression really gets amped up by the rudos, who aren't able to outwrestlethem, so go for more punches and nasty impact moves. They seem to be working over each opponent in turn, weakening both. Both technicos take nasty spills to the floor and the rudos win the fall by countout.

The rudos start the third fall by diving onto the already-downed Atlantis. Momentum shifts again as Santo fires back on Guerrera with a big punch to a loud cheer and, as soon as all four are in the ring, the technicos are able to outwrestle their opponents again. The ending sees a bit of poetic justice, as Santo and Atlantis both hit sublime dives to the floor and win the decisive fall the way the rudos won the second, by countout.

El Hijo Del Santo vs Black Shadow Jr
This starts off with some lovely matwork. It felt like the proverbial game of human chess, as you could sense both guys trying to think of a counter as soon as they were getting put into holds. It felt like Santo just about has the upper hand, so it was no surprise when Shadow decided to heat things up a little, nailing two bulldogs and an inverted crab/double-underhook for the first fall.

Shadow wisely stays on the arm to start the second fall, but things start to speed up again, this time with Santo nailing two flying headscissors in succession. Shadow misses a corner charge and gets nailed with a Swanton to give fall two to Santo.

The third fall starts with a bang, as Shadow nails a pescado on Santo. Shadow then takes a nasty bump to the floor before Santo hits a suicide dive. We return to the ring in time for Santo to hit a snapmere from the top and lock in the Camel Clutch for the submission victory. Altogether decent, but felt a little rushed after the opening matwork.

El Hijo Del Santo vs Espanto Jr
This is a mask-vs-mask match, and takes place is a very darkly lit arena. The first fall ends pretty quickly in favour of Espanto, who tries to remove Santo's mask during the early going before settling for an early submission.

The start of the second fall is golden, as Santo kneels on the floor outside for quite a period of time. Partly through obvious discomfort, but also with the sense that he knows that he's only one fall away from losing his mask. Dozens of kids come up to him as well with reassuring pats on the shoulder, which only adds to the scene. As soon as Santo does get back in the ring, Espanto is right back on him, locking in a half crab then a stump puller to try and earn a submission. He's also vicious in going for the mask again, ripping at it to leave it half-hanging off the face of Santo. Santo is able to fire back with some kneelift and, as Espanto gets sent to the floor with an insane bump, Santo flies right out after him. Back in, a senton evens up the scores.

There are a few cuts in the third fall, but they don't take away from the majesty of what is to follow. Santo goes for a pair of bulldogs, but is just sent to the mat on the second one. Espanto is getting more desperate, and nails him with a chair outside the ring, then gnaws at cuts on Santo (due to the exposed flesh where the mask is ripped) as blood gushes down Santo's face. A senton misses and we cut to Santo ramming his head into the ringpost from the apron. Espanto comes SO close with a roll-up before getting sent from the ring. Espanto follows with an amazing suicide dive taking him off the screen, as he appears to leap into infinity. Santo returns fire with a huge dive from the top rope and inside, the Camel Clutch picks up the win for Santo. Man, this was SO much fun, a really heated, gory lucha brawl, and the effort and story told really put over the match stip.

El Hijo Del Santo vs Negro Casas
Another stipulation match, this time with Santo putting his mask up against the hair of Casas. The first fall is pretty brief, but features a nice feeling out process, and I really dig some of the headscissors' by Casas. Casas gets the first fall early with a moonsault press and a La Majistral cradle for the pin.

1-0 up, and Casas is acting pretty cocky, as he is all over Santo. Casas nails him with some lovely punches, but Santo is able to suddenly come back with a kneelift and lock in a surfboard for the submission to equalise.

The third fall sees Casas in control early again after a Santo flurry, and you sense him getting his swagger back. He has to be held back by the referee as he goes for Santo's mask. Santo gets some nearfalls off a few desperation rollups, before a swank cartwheel elbow down him again. A Santo suicide dive rams Casas into the steel railings, before Casas slips off the top rope attempting a dive. Santo takes advantage with a top rope senton for two and tries the Camel Clutch, which Casas frantically fights off. You feel the match slipping awat from Casas, as Santo takes him out with a top rope dive to the floor. Inside, Santo is able to stop a Casas comeback with a second rope electric chair, before lockingin the Camel Clutch (again fought by Casas) for the win. Another really fine, heated match, and I loved the two embracing in the ring before Casas' haircut.

El Hijo Del Santo, Super Astro & Blue Demon Jr vs All Star, Rocky Star & Fuerza Guerrera
Curious bout this, as it's billed as a team match as above, but all six guys seem to be fighting each other with the match having battle royal elimination rules. Of course, this does mean we get to see some ludicrous bumps on the eliminations. Astro gets thrown out by All Star, and then Blue Demon is hurled out with a big backdrop. Guerrera chucks Santo out and the two Stars team up to eliminate Guerrera. This leaves both Stars in the ring and referees come in to declare them both winners, even though they seem to want to fight each other. I assume something is said on commentary to explain that is lost in translation to myself.

El Hijo Del Santo & Fuerza Guerrera vs Rocky Star & All Star

Intereting match here, as neither side seems to like their partner. Santo does not seem impressed with the heeling of his partner and conversely Guerrera wont tag in Santo as he gets worked over by Rocky Star. Star then works over Guerrera, and Santo now wont tag into the match. All Star works over Guerrera and puts him in a submission hold whilst simultaneously trying to remove his mask, causing Guerrera to submit for the first fall

The second fall kicks off with Rocky Star trying to do the same to Santo, who elbows his way free and tries to take off Rocky's mask. Guerrera ends up in the ring with All Star and everything breaks down. At one point, Rocky Star seems to be trying to unmask his own partner. Santo also gets involved, and All Star is a bloody mess at this point. In the ring, a rana by Santo on Rocky Star looks to even the scores, but the referees give the fall (and the match) to the star team. Replays appear to indicate DQ for Guerrera throwing All Star into a ring post. Santo is furious and whips off Guerrera's mask himself, throwing it into the crowd. Plenty of chaotic fun.