RIP Gran Hamada

Gran Hamada & Rey Misterio Jr & Latin Lover vs Psicosis & Pentagon & Vegas, AAA 1/26/1996

The obvious main match up here is Rey vs. Psicosis. Instead, Gran Hamada walks over and spits in Piscosis face. They get in the ring, they slap each other, and proceed to deliver some awesomely intense, scrappy wrestling. Totally unexpected and great. The rest of the match settles into more typical trios action, but it still rules. Pentagon in 1996 is just as impressive as a sleazy rudo who stooges really well. With guys like Psicosis, Pentagon and Vegas on the rudo side it’s not hard for anyone to look good, so even someone like Latin Lover gets to have his moments in between comical amounts of gyrating. Of course Rey Jr. was setting the world on fire in 1996 and he’s pretty spectacular here. Still, the main selling point in this match is that opening exchange between Hamada and Psicosis.

Gran Hamada & Silver King & El Texano vs Negro Casas & Rambo & Dr. Wagner Jr. (UWA 2/23/1992)

Absolute crack cocaine firehouse of a trios match. The kind where it starts blazing hot and they just keep going and going and never slow down. That stadium must have been melting that night. They basically start throwing down right away with Rambo jumping in the ring beating on people, and it’s absolutely on. There’s something visceral about lucha brawling, and this feels like an epic fight from the get go, even with the physical comedy spots here and there. Hamada ends up bleeding, and he matches up with Negro Casas a lot and these two guys throwing fists at each other is just beautiful. Man alive is everybody here a great athlete, everyone here has so much velocity and snap in their stuff, makes all other wrestling look like a joke really. King and Texano are great, they are the technicos here but they have such a pissed off vibe to them that matches the general intensity of the match. Casas always looks like the greatest wrestler in any match he’s in, bumping so hard and fast, dominating almost every sequence he’s involved in, and it’s really fun to watch Rambo try to steal the show from this giant. The grand stand exchange between Hamada and Casas in the end was brief but felt epic, and then you have Rambo trying to top it by going out of his way to get snap armdragged on the floor. Crazy crazy match, one of those ‘touched by the wrestling’ gods performances that would be impossible to recreate.

 Gran Hamada & Ayako Hamada & Tiger Mask IV vs Gran Apache & Fabi Apache & Pentagon Black, Michinoku Pro 3/25/2001

This was shortly after the infamous Korakuen Hall match where Pentagon attacked Ayako and Gran Hamada bloodied him and ripped his mask in a trios match. Right at the bell Hamada goes after Pentagon again, punching him in the face and making him take an insane posting, so the Gran Hamada vs Pentagon Black feud is something hot in 2001. Watching this, the main thing I thought is that you nowhere see lucharesu at this level anymore. Sure, you had 6 absolute masters, but this felt on another level. Every exchange here was breathless, original, tight, so fast. The most outstanding thing here is the rudo work from the trios of the Apaches and Pentagon Black. So many great cutoffs, and they really put in the work stooging and basing. Gran Apache is an absolute truck in this, always there to punch people in the face. It builds really well to the eventual comeuppance. G.H., Ayako and Tiger Mask IV all get to look great. Quite a different look for Tiger Mask IV when he matches up with a bunch of luchadores too but he is very good in the technico role without much martial arts. And Pentagon Black is an excellent sleazy foil, really making Hamadas big frankensteiner look amazing. After the match Pentagon spits at Ayako and Papa is right at him again. Pro Wrestling can be great.

Gran Hamada vs Pentagon Black, Michinoku Pro 8/19/2001

This is the match the feud was building, and it pretty much delivers what you want. Pentagon busts some chairs in the old mans face, bloodying him, and Hamada comes back ripping his mask and with fired up headbutts and tornado DDTs. Pentagon Black is no Perro Aguayo but he looked pretty circling around a bloody Hamada and kicking him in the face. Since this is Japan they overdo the kickouts a bit with Hamada getting out of 2 spinning tombstones, but other than that this was pretty great. I also love how Hamada uses that cross armbar as a kill move.

 

Gran Hamada vs Jushin Liger, Michinoku Pro 4/9/2000

This is from the 2000 Super J-Cup. Since this is an opening rounds match and Liger always goes to the finals it easily could have been forgettable, but we get something fairly memorable here.  Hamada is aggressive, working Liger over on the ground with his cool little half-knee drops and attacking his arm. Hamada wins a fair number of matches with a straight armbar so him attacking the arm is a credible strategy. Liger mauling Hamada with open hands and doing some great arm selling reminded me how great he can be. They delve into bomb dropping, and both these guys can drop bombs with the best of them, even with Hamada being 50 years old here. Liger doesn't hold back at all and just goes for the kill. Some great hope spots for Hamada, and a great going out on his sword-style finish. Miss this kind of junior wrestling that has no jokes and no superkicks.

Assorted Lucha

Gran Apache & El Mestizo vs. Escudero Rojo & Reyes Veloz (CMLL 9/12/1993)

It‘s a double hair match, baby! And this was pretty great. We move straight to brawling with the rudos Escudero Rojo and Reyes Veloz lazing into the technicos with cool big boots and clotheslines. Gran Apache looks great here, throwing his awesome punches and flying, and there was one absolutely ridiculous base spot from the rudos where Veloz (?) sprinted into the ring and halfway across to catch an Apache moonsault. Fun layout here with the technicos turning the 1st fall around but getting DQ‘d in the second due to not being able to hold back their hatred for their foes. It builds to an inferno of a 3rd caida where Apache and Mestizo bleed like hell and the rudos make several edge-of-your-seat comebacks. It comes down to Apache vs. Escudero and it‘s everything you want from a hair match with Apache throwing out huge dives, both guys going splat hard on missed flying moves and some big nearfalls. Apaches selling after the tope rope dropkick was epic and so was Escudero Rojo desperately trying to get away.

Blue Panther vs. Dos Caras, AWS 9/25/2004

I had no idea this match ever happened, let alone at a random US indy show. Of course, these guys are way too proud to dog it in such a setting. This was quite the clinic. Both guys did it all. Dos Caras was pretty old here, but he had no problem going hard. It made me wonder what else he was doing during this time period. The crowd responding nicely to this kind of maestros match was cool. Dos Caras is a different weight class, but the match wasn‘t affected. Really good stuff, exactly as good as it looks on paper.