[1990-10-26-EMLL] El Dandy vs El Satanico

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

It's really cool that they worked a bloody brawl. I wasn't expecting that, since they have the hair match later in the year. But it's also unfair to *just* call it that, as it's far more dimensional than a typical brawl. There is also some great wrestling that builds to the brawling, and they go back to flying and working holds in pivotal parts of the match, when the brawling alone can't get the job done. So in that respect, the match gets over both the feud and the wrestling style. I loved Satanico's moment of desperation where he faked a groin injury to win the first caida, and also the payback of the second fall going to Dandy when Satanico gets overzealous and accidentally pokes the referee in the eye, and just when he has victory in sight to boot. The anger only seems to drive Satanico to find new ways to torture Dandy as the match comes to a close. He throws all of his skill and dirty tricks at him, but Dandy manages to rally a comeback. This is as fundamentally strong, dramatic and hate-filled as anything I've seen all year, and it's a pleasure to watch the two best luchadores of 1990 do their thing. Dandy gets the win, but it doesn't seem like the feud is settled by any means. Bring on the hair match!

[soup23]

This sounds like a great three match run that I can't wait to get to.

[PeteF3]

The contract signing really gets the importance of this bout over--even with the language barrier Satanico comes off as a confident, proud motherfucker. You get a little bit of everything here. Dandy continues his run as the most versatile man in wrestling in 1990 by adding sympathy babyface to his repertoire of roles. Just when Dandy starts to make a comeback, he has to shove the referee out of position and Satanico takes the opportunity to fake a blow to the groin and that draws a DQ for the first fall. The second fall goes all blood-like as at the opening, the technical stuff is tossed out the window. In addition to the brawling and mat skills you probably have the two best guys in the country at throwing big bombs at each other, as both guys try to figure new ways to pick the opponent and drop him. Great payback spot finish as Satanico casually throws Dandy's arm over his head for a suplex and pokes the referee in the eye, and that's enough to draw another cheap DQ. Dandy manages to weather the storm from an angry Satanico in the third fall and gets in a Dandina Cradle for the victory, but nothing really seems settled. The DQ finishes were cheap but brilliant at the same time as now we're all left wanting another match.

[soup23]

Fuck me another great match that I liked even better than the UWF stuff. This is my #3 match so far this year. If you ever want to see a match that weaves vicious brawling with beautful wrestling and even includes a few comedy moments (the low blow fakeout to end the first caida), this is it. Dandy was really great here as he has been all year. Satanico was amazing and is shooting up my WOTY rankings along with Fujiwara. Majestic string of matches and all are different.

[Childs]

Finally back to watching wrestling after a few weeks of Super Bowl madness and what a way to dive in! These were probably the two best wrestlers in the world in 1990, and when they finally hooked up, they didn't disappoint. This is how brawling should look -- punches to the back of the neck, biting an opponent's fingers during a wristlock, copious blood, no space to breathe. I liked that the first two falls were decided by Satanico's cheating. It really locked him in as the rudo after a year of them both playing tweeners to some degree. And as Loss mentioned, these guys were so damn good that they interspersed some beautiful wrestling with the brawling. This was awesome without feeling definitive, which is what you want with a caballera contra caballera on the way.

 

I had never quite gotten the GOAT praise for Satanico -- thought he was a very good older wrestler with a few brilliant performances from the '80s and a largely undocumented peak. After watching his 1990, though, I can see why he inspires such devotion. That just makes it all the more maddening that we have so little of his '80s stuff.

[ohtani's jacket]

I think it's only me who rabbits on about him being among the greatest of all-time. I'm glad more people were exposed to him on this yearbook. He'll feature heavily on the Lucha 80s set and ought to be on the '91 yearbook as well, where hopefully the greatness of Los Infernales will shine through.

[Kevin Ridge]

Satanico with a gusher which Dandy bites away at. First fall I’m not sure what happened. Satanico seemed to be saying there was a low blow but I didn’t see it. Dandy did push the ref so maybe that is what caused the DQ. Ref gets accidentally hit and then disqualifies Santanico. I guess we are even but both falls have been cheap. Good match overall though I’m hoping they take it up a notch in future matches.

[Zenjo]

I went in with high hopes and was certainly not disappointed. Early on Satanico got busted and you could just see him thinking 'You bastard, I'll get you right back!' or something along those lines. Both men were heeling it up, no sportsmanship on display here. There was a nice mixture of both moves and brawling. The blood wasn't the sole focus like normal. From start to finish a high quality affair with the level never dropping. Strange though it may sound that was the only problem with it. Great matches need peaks and this was at the same level throughout. Regardless it was terrific stuff and the rivalry notched up to boiling point. Can't wait for the hair vs hair, I'm going to save it up and watch it last.

[garretta]

I didn't care for this one. I understood it fine, unlike a lot of lucha matches, but I didn't like it. The terrible DQs in the first two falls ruined it for me; if you're going to book two screwjob finishes to build to a future bout, at least make them good. Have one of the guys use a chair or the ring bell, or clothesline the referee, or have four guys come out of the audience and interfere. The second fall was actually worse than the first; you couldn't even manufacture intent on Satanico's part, and to make things worse, what ref hasn't taken blows ten times worse and never faltered? If you as a booker only want to give the audience one fall of decent action, book a one-fall match. Don't pad the match with two extra "falls" that you're only going to ruin through paper-thin DQs. The third fall was decent enough, and I applaud Satanico for bleeding to help the cause, but this was a major disappointment.

 

Even though I didn't understand much of the prematch, I could feel the scorn coming from Satanico as he addressed Dandy. By the way, what was Atlantis doing there? Dandy didn't use him as a second for the match or anything, at least as far as I could tell.

 

Nice devil outfit on Satanico's ring girl. It seems like something Vince would have come up with so the audience knew that Satanico really was Satan himself come to earth.

[Microstatistics]

I am probably on an island in thinking this is actually better than their December hair match. It is an impressive amalgamation of styles and I can count on one hand the people in wrestling history who could have had a match like this. The DQ falls are also awesome and logical in my opinion. 

[drew wardlaw]

The DQ finishes really worked for me. I don't think I've seen a DQ finish in lucha yet, and I guess I kind of assumed they didn't really exist since the refs are so lenient in the trios matches, so I thought this was really cool. This was a pretty straight forward bloody, awesome brawl. El Dandy is so impressive when comparing his performances throughout the year. I've heard for a long time now that El Dandy was the best wrestler in 1990, so I was excited to see for myself, and it's no joke. I'd say this was below the Azteca match, but not by much.

[JKWebb]

http://placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-150-101/

 

#149

 

My favorite match in October of 1990, and I had it around ****3/4 when I first saw it. Count me in as one that prefers the December match (*****), but it shouldn't take away from how awesome this is. This was actually my favorite lucha match of 1990 until the Morgan/Faraon match on 11/16 (****3/4) then of course #1 12/14/1990. For what it's worth, I have Dandy/Azteca 6/1/90 at ****3/4 as well. So, it would be my #4 Lucha MOTY.

[dawho5]

I would like to add something to the discussion, but it's a struggle given how well this match has been covered. Satanico and Dandy are both so damn versatile and seemingly the most fluid wrestlers to ever live. All while making their shit look brutal. Amazing stuff.

[Chess Knight]

Satanico turned on Dandy about a month earlier and is largely the actual rudo rudo of the two here, with Dandy from what I can tell even being announced as “rudo tecnico.” And they apparently don’t piss about with a basic singles match leading up to this and go right into the heated forehead biting. I’ve always been under the impression that “super libre” just meant “no dq,” so I’m not sure how the ref cared about a low blow to end the first fall (even if it wasn’t real and Satanico was a liar), but it was amusing either way. The second fall had an even more bizarre ending but watching the ref flail after getting hit in the face like that, again, amusing. You know I always assumed Dandy would remain my 1990 WOTY but Satanico felt like the stand out between the two here. Super vicious in throwing his offense, and makes even the most basic of moves look like they have the malice of the actual Satan behind them. The vq is bad and all but I can just see the guy grimacing on everything like he’s an aging gangster rubbing a cigarette in a guy’s face. I mean it takes a special kind of wrestling sadist to think of ripping armpit hair out during an armbar. Not to mention this bit - when Satanico starts bleeding in the first fall, he only recognises it when he wipes his forehead and checks his hand, and once he realises it, sprints for Dandy and starts chewing the forehead. One of the best damn things I think I’ve ever seen in a match. I obviously have praise for Dandy too, as all of that Satanico viciousness had to be for a reason, and the match was gradually Dandy being built up as a more sympathetic tecnico despite his own remaining viciousness. I’ve already rattled on about him being a great seller while talking other matches. Serious contender for top ten match of 1990, and I am damn hyped to see that hair match again.