El Signo vs. Villano V, UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, UWA 4/3/92

I first saw this many years ago when sharing lucha online was still in its infancy. I may have written about it for this blog (I have a cold today and can't be bothered trawling through the archives.) The version I remember didn't have the pre-match interviews or workout footage, and really, who doesn't like watching luchadores train? Villano's neck-strengthening exercises were so freakin' cool. This was 13 minutes or so of what was probably closer to a 20 minute bout. It was shortened for television, which hurt the rhythm of the bout, but aside from that it's hard to go wrong with an early 90s title match where Villano V (not III or IV) gets to show his wares. He showed tremendous pedigree on the mat, and if you admire the Mendoza mat mentality (which you should), you'll enjoy the performance he gave here. Signo wasn't quite as dynamic as I remember, but revisits will do that to you. Would've liked a gap between falls to digest what was going on, and the tercera caida being joined in progress was a bugger, but bell to bell it felt like the same three-and-a-half star title bout I remembered. Worth checking out if you haven't seen it.

El Dandy vs. Ultimo Dragon, SWS handheld, 3/92

Dandy vs. Dragon touring match that could have easily happened in Los Angeles and probably in a few Mexican states as well. It was laid out pretty much how you'd expect from the early mat showcase to the dives and didn't deviate from the script that other luchadores had brought to Japan from the late 70s onwards. The Japanese crowd reacted as they always did to lucha (as though they were watching something foreign) and threw money in the ring at the end for no reason other than they read about the custom in the magazines. Dandy fans will probably be curious to see him in Japan. He certainly looked like he could have been more of a regualr over there if he'd gone down that path. There were also glimpses into what a Dandy vs. Dragon program might have looked like in Mexico but it was fairly obvious stuff and there was nothing unpredictable about the exchanges they did. Mildly interesting.