Assorted Lucha Libre

 

Hassam el Genio/Lamparin/Super Muneco vs Los Desastres (Terremoto, Marimoto & Hecatombe) (AAA April 25th, 1993)

You know I love serious no frills wrestling but sometimes I just wanna watch a bunch of super athletic guys with distinct characters do highly athletic wrestling with a bunch of amusing shtick. No clue who Hassam and Lamparin are but they looked really good here, Hassam is a tubby looking guy who despite his really uncomfortable looking blue genie suit moves really well and has great fatboy athleticism, Lamparin may be Kendo, really light footed wrestler with cool spin kicks and lots of amusing mannerisms. They are billed as Nuevo Trio Fantasia but I guess that didn't last long. Los Desastres have really rough put together outfits in comparison but they are very competent rudos. Lots of really cool unique armdrag variations in this match and fantastic rudo stooging and bumping, just one cool exchange after another. I especially liked the bit where one rudo accidentally leapt into his partners arms and then accidentally got dropkicked over the top rope. Rudos also had interesting ways to beat on their opponents, such as a nasty Marimoto dropkick through the ropes. Third fall had some intense brawling, big dive train with tubby Hassams plancha being the highlight and a cool finish. Even Super Muneco was bringing it hard so you know it has to be a good match!

Winners/Super Calo vs Dr. Maldad/Mr. Maldad (AAA June 8th, 1992)

Dr. Maldad and Mr. Maldad, what a team. They totally carried this match though. Not that Winners and Super Calo are bad, they are perfectly good athletic technico fodder with fantastic dance moves, but the rudos did a supreme job here. The opening fall stooge a ton was a ton of fun, just two evil guys in goofy masks bouncing themselves around to make these two dancers look awesome. They also displayed some cool rudo tactics such as a 2 on 1 gory special and a spot where one Maldad stepped on the others back to land a cool diving stomp. Technicos also bumped big for the beatdown. This seems to be Super Calos first ever match on tape, and he had a kind of cursed protooutfit where he doesn't have his cool mask and hat but just a mask that looks like a pair of sunglasses and a puffy broccoli haircut. He would be trendy in 2023. Still a fun match. Third fall was brief but culminated in an awesome dive.

El Matematico/Goldman/Matematico II vs Dr Maldad/Juventud Guerrera/Mr Maldad (AAA April 4th, 1993)

This was pretty great. Matematicos are just amazing technicos, their agility and body control is really next level, and with a pair of truely dedicated rudos like Hermanos Maldad you got a dynamite match up. Juventud was barely 18 here and he looks 5 years younger than that, but he was a strong addition to the match. His match up vs. one of the Matematicos was really fast and athletic, maybe like something his dad would have done in the early 80s. Goldman is the grandson of El Santo who wound up having a sort of not super spectacular career, this is his 2nd match ever and while he is predictably green executing some spots a bit sloppy, he pulls off a lot of difficult stuff and one of the Maldads has the grace to work a segment reminiscent of Hijo del Santos 80s work against him. The first fall of these matches is kind of always the best since you get a bunch of high end sequences plus rudos complaining and being bumbling, but the rudo beatdown was also top notch here and the match built to a crazy dive train in the last fall and a brief but good finishing sequence.

Assorted Onita Pro

 So someone put up a boatload of Onita Pro shows from 1999-2002 up on the internet archive. While I don't care a ton for Onitas late career work (although it is solid in the sense that you always get a fast paced brawl with a bunch of dudes bleeding, flying through tables and Onita doing almost nothing but hitting powerbombs and DDTs) the man was booking all kinds of weird and cool matchups on his cards using DDT guys, random luchadores and various indy scum, so that is excellent blog material.

MIKAMI & Sanshiro Takagi vs. Takashi Sasaki & DAISAKU (Onita Pro 12/26/1999)

 I see matches like this as the equivalent of a great WCW syndicated match. 6 minutes in length, and all these guys roll out their cool stuff, while maintaining a tight pace and a good level of stiffness. Lotsa stealworthy speats, my favourite being the running spin kick from Sasaki that really bent MIKAMIs spine across the ring apron. DAISAKU is a CAPTURE regular with a cool style largely based around kicking his opponents really hard. MIKAMI looked really good here as well, a guy who was comfortable both hitting slick ranas and slapping the shit out of his opponents. All his exchanges with Sasaki were really good, he hit a great dive and got turned inside out by a nasty Sasaki lariat for his troubles. Takagi is the least guy in the match but manages not to fumble anything. Full japan indy point.

Tomoya Adachi & Asian Cougar & Starman vs. NOSAWA & Heaven & Arkangel De La Muerte (Onita Pro 7/20/2000)

Bless Onita for bringing in these random luchadores. This was like a slightly sleazier approximation to an M-Pro tag. I dug Adachi here, cool dude who could both do smooth matwork and hit big dives. NOSAWA was already comfortable in his stooging role. Asian Cougar also looks good without even hitting his crazy highspots, mostly doing swank lucha armdrags instead. I was expecting them to have Arkangel and Starman married to each other, but instead they shuffle through all kinds of possible matchups, and everything went smoothly.

Takashi Sasaki vs. GENTARO (Onita Pro 3/14/2000)

Cool 8 minute match where they showcase their stuff. Starts with some cool matwork before both guys go through their bread and butter. GENTARO has some fantastic athleticism and Sasaki mostly just smacks him hard with kicks and lariats. GENTARO blows a Space Tiger dive but redeems himself immediately by hitting a springboard senton with amazing height. Full japan indy point.

Tomoya Adachi & Asian Cougar & El Matematico vs. Babe Richard & Heaven & NOSAWA, Onita Pro 5/21/2000)

 Ahhh what the hell, they flew in Matematico and Richard for one match? I assume they went on an extensive tour with ZIPANG that month in Japan. To be honest, Matematico is old as hell here and his exchanges with Richard weren’t great, but I loved his big plancha to the outside and him picking up the victory with the Muscle Hold. They also clipped this in half (whole thing went 18!!! minutes), probably for the wiser.

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Kengo Takai (Onita Pro 6/27/1999)

Kurisu beats the dogshit out of this DDT boy with the most violent headbutts, stomps and chair shots you’ve ever seen. Takai retired to Osaka Pro shortly after.