[1994-02-22-CMLL] El Dandy vs Javier Llanes

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Gregor]

I think my favorite spot from this is when Llanes gets mad at Dandy for slapping him and then starts to argue with the referee. Llanes is screwed, because they were legal, open-handed shots, and his complaints about violence in a title match are pretty ridiculous in light of his attempts to rip Dandy's arm off in the second fall. As Llanes continues to plead his case, Dandy just dropkicks him to put an end to that nonsense. It's a funny little spot, but the match doesn't lose any of its seriousness or intensity as it occurs. Maybe that means that I simply misinterpreted what was going on, but I like how they can do a funny bit in the middle of the match without taking away from it at all.

 

When some people were explaining why lucha didn't click with them a couple of weeks/months back, one of the things brought up was the cooperative-looking matwork. With few exceptions, the individual holds used in this match are pretty much all holds that you'd see in American wrestling. There's a sequence in the first fall, when Llanes holds on to an armbar throughout all of Dandy's clever counter attempts, that would fit right in with the opening segment of a Bret Hart match. The match is still wrestled in a lucha style, but there are maybe two intricate or ornate holds. Lucha matwork doesn't really bother me or anything; it's just something that stuck out about this one.

 

One last thing: if I were defending my championship of the world, I'd be pretty annoyed if my second showed up in a zebra-striped jumpsuit.

[Loss]

The grittier younger sibling of the '92 El Dandy vs Negro Casas match. If Dandy/Casas was smoother in execution -- and even if it was, the gap isn't huge -- this was more of a competitive fight. I love how there was a battle for pretty much every hold. The way the match is worked, the holds have a huge impact on the momentum of the match and are mostly inescapable, which is why each guy fights so much to both stay out of and apply holds. Nothing came easy. Dandy applies what is probably the most snug headscissors in wrestling history. Each fall has a perfect finish. A classic match -- one of the best I have ever seen. The shenanigans with the finish were NOT welcome and cheapened the match a little, which is a shame, as it is pretty flawless outside of that bit of needless booking. This is deserving of a more in-depth review than I am able to give it at the moment, but this is a beautiful mat clinic. My working MOTY.

[FLIK]

Yeah, I really need to re-watch this. First viewing a few weeks back I thought it was pretty good but wasn't blown away by it at all and didn't get the hype.

 

To be fair it was probably hurt by the fact that I was exspecting a much diffrent style & I was also partially distracted while viewing it so upon 2nd look maybe i'll dig it more.

[shoe]

This was really some great stuff. The matwork was so damn great. The little nuances were on display. Moving over to the arm had some neat stuff as well. I'm a little confused on the finish and didn't think it was needed to muddle up such a tremendous bout.

[FLIK]

Gave this another look today. Still not enamored with it as much as Loss or some others but I enjoyed it more then I did last time. I got what they were going for with the finish, double pin whear 1 guy thinks he won but the other got their shoulder up last second is a pretty common ending but the execution was shit, Dandy didn't really get his shoulder up and Llanes did either right before or right as the ref was counting 3. The events leading up to the finish I actually liked, didn't mind the run in and I dug Llanes resorting to other cheating moves out of desperation. I actually thought Dandy was the rudo for most of this but wasn't 100% for sure so it was nice to get things clarified. I think the thing holding this back for me is that I tend to look at a lot of matches as a rollercoaster ride and I would have liked a bit more up and down action to the flow if that makes sense so what stuff we did get near the end I apreciated from that aspect.

[Exposer]

Now this is a mat classic with phenomenal pacing and terrific performances from both individuals. Right now this is the best lucha match for sure and possible the best match so far. It's close with Hash-Liger. But man this was such a great lucha match.

[soup23]

Tough match to really comment on. Great mat work and every hold was maximized. the visual of Llanes sweating and gasping in the headscissors was amazing. I did think the finish was extremely underwhelming and weak though which will prevent it from breaking into the upper echelon of top stuff of the year.

[PeteF3]

Definitely a contender for lucha MOTY, I don't know if it will be a serious top 10-5 candidate overall. The work here was gritty as everyone mentioned, but it was very psychologically sound on top of it with some cool payback spots in the third fall when Dandy tries to rip up Llanes' arm the same way Llanes went after his. I actually really liked Panico's interference, as it was a well-timed spot and not something you see in a lucha title bout, and as a mere tease of a finish rather than a real finish it worked fine. The actual ending did not work fine. There are a lot of parallels here between this and Arn vs. Regal, but for whatever reason that bullshit finish worked better, if only because we still got a real winner out of it.

 

I never really thought about it, even after reading the Worst Blowjobs thread, but Dandy with the short hair really *is* an ugly motherfucker. But Llanes' Very Hungry Caterpillar tights may be enough to tack on an extra 1/2-* or so.

[ohtani's jacket]

People who love this match really need to check out the trios from the week prior.

[Zenjo]

In spite of the numerous close-ups of Javier's nose, this was such a beautiful (and great) match. There were no dives and few frills as this was all about matwork, glorious matwork. Three longish falls all packed to the brim with ground based combat. The moves were applied with grace and artistry, though it was the brutality that stood out. Everything was cranked in and applied hard with a maximum of effort. I loved how body part work from one fall carried over into the next. Llanes had the most offence, but Dandy was the younger man with more stamina. This evened things out with the result in the balance. It was gut check time for Llanes, who gave a performance incomparable to any other that I've seen from him. In Dandy he had one of the greats at the top of his game. The tecnico had huge fan support throughout. CMLL would never be able to do a match anything like this anymore for several reasons.

 

So many golden moments in the tercera. Dandy wanting to counter a Sunset Flip, but he couldn't use a closed fist in a title bout. A lengthy and exciting battle over a figure-four hold. Close calls with submissions and mark out 2.9ers. Rangel was awesome on one near fall where it looked like Llanes had stolen it. The double pin was a poor finish and my only criticism. Yet who could argue that both men didn't deserve to have their hands raised in victory? A supreme technical masterpiece.

[Matt D]

This match is awesome. The sense of struggle is amazing. You guys hit a lot of the points already, how there was nothing too complex but everything was so tight and painful looking and sold like death. The competitiveness. The palpable dislike. The way that Llanes really honed in on the arm in the segunda. Not every lucha title match has limbwork. When we get it, it's like a gift. I wish that Dandy ultimately sold it a bit more but it was a great use of the time and a great way for Llanes to control him in the middle part of the match. And yeah, that Headscissors to ultimately get out of it! I have to go back and watch that trios. I like Llanes a lot and Dandy looked every bit as good as his reputation here.