El Dandy

[Bierschwale]

I say we send everyone on the board under 25 out into the wilderness to go tell people about El Dandy

 

I beat the drum, man.

[Grimmas]

You can count on one hand the number of people who write articles, run websites and do podcasts about lucha. It's always been the poor cousin in hardcore fandom.

I don't care if you do those things about lucha or just wrestling in general. It is unacceptable to do those things and just bash Dandy based on that joke without looking into Dandy at all. If you are just going to do that, then don't have a blog, podcast, etc.. because obviously you don't know shit.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm sure there are a lot of workers whom WWE/North American focused types don't know shit about. I doubt they give a shit, either. Again, I don't see why the Dandy thing is a big deal just because he was the punchline of a great promo. Bret got in a great line, that's all. Why should we care that Dandy was the butt of some joke in a promotion that misused Mexican talent? From a worker who shares the same dismissive views of Mexican wrestling that most of his fanbase do. None of those things mean shit in the context of Dandy's real career in Mexico. The only time WWE types seek out a match from Mexico is to see some generic crap like When World's Collide because it's Eddie. They're not worth worrying about. It's like being a metal fan and caring that people think metal's a joke because or some hair band, or that they think it's a joke in general.

[JerryvonKramer]

Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy (9/23/88)

 

I really wasn't into this match. Something about the action seemed sort of floaty and weightless. As an example, the first backdrop Pirara delivers, and Dandy's form and elevation in taking the move is almost too gymnastic. And this "floaty" feeling took me out of things a bit, almost like when you watch a fight with a CGI character in it, there isn't enough heft.

 

The storytelling is very basic here: Pirata kicks the shit out of Dandy, takes the first fall; the ref keeps stopping Dandy from punching, eventually Dandy is able to transition and hits a big move off the top and the figure four for the second. Final fall is more of a brawl with some big bumps to the outside. Pirata clearly wasn't worried about AIDS or Hep B here either.

 

Don't really see much of note here. It's a thirty minute match, there's a lot of blood, but I didn't find very much of the work or storytelling very compelling.

 

***1/2

[goc]

Pirata Morgan spitting Dandy's blood in that match was truly one of the more disgusting things I have seen in wrestling. I mean, we've all seen a guy bite his bleeding opponent and then spit blood but Pirata Morgan is like a damn fountain with it to where you just know his whole mouth is full. It's fucking gross man.

 

As far as a match, I thought it was too long and I got pretty annoyed with El Dandy constantly being cut off by the referee. Unfortunately I think this was just something El Dandy started to rely on a lot in his singles matches at this time period because I had even more issues with it in 89.

[Ryan Faulconer]

I'll never understand why people are bothered by this. It was a great promo by Bret.

You know how it is though. A lot of fans can't see past one promo. With a name like El Dandy along with curly hair and tights from the 1980s destroys any credibility or buzz that other fans attach to him. The fact that he rarely won matches in WCW plays too much of a role in a wrestler's reputation as well. Then there are some people like Cornette or Bret or so many more who can't think past what they saw on some random tour or promotion that they came up in.

 

I look for lucha articles online all the time. From what I've read most of the fans who know him from WCW think he sucks for any of the reasons I mentioned above. A lot of fans still think all luchadores wear masks and do crazy highspots. El Dandy doesn't fit that mold either...so he must REALLY suck

[goc]

El Dandy, Talisman y Guerrero Negro vs. Los Javieres (EMLL 3/21/87)

 

I have had more time off lately than I would have liked so I've been trying to go through some of my unwatched comps. This match was really good, I'm not really sure how it didn't end up making the lucha set. It's got your standard trios tropes like the heels holding the ring and dominating for the first fall They put a cool little twist in it though where all three of the babyfaces climb different turnbuckles and jump into the ring at one time as the heels hold the center. The heels all eat dropkicks but roll outside and regroup and end up retaking their advantage and winning the first fall with a triple submission on one of the Javiers (seriously, you expect me to tell them apart when they all have the same first name and the same outfit?)

 

The big story of this match is Guerrero Negro and uhh I think Javier Valaquez . Guerrero Negro is doing a lot of gnawing on his forehead. And Javier is doing a lot of bleeding. Javier's white pants are covered in blood. Everyone else is definitely in the background here. They do this funny sequence where EVERYONE misses some kind of senton or splash as they all trade attempts and rolling away. This is followed up by a Talisman dive that is anything but graceful but that just makes it feel more dangerous. We are left with Guerrero Negro and Valaquez in the ring and Guerrero Negro reverses a rana and locks on a boston crab for the win. I think that's two straight falls for the heels.

 

Afterwards we get some celebrating by the heels followed by what I believe is the ring announcer informing us that Valaquez has challenged Guerrero Negro to a hair match. I could be wrong on that however. This was a lot of fun and I could have seen this finishing somewhere in the 65-75 range on my ballot if it'd been on the set.

 

El Dandy, Talisman y Guerrero Negro vs. Los Javieres (EMLL 1987)

 

Everyone still has their hair in this match so either I was wrong about what was going on at the end of the last match, this match actually takes place before the other one, or this is like a lot later in 1987. Perhaps someone else knows and can clear up the confusion. This starts out totally different than the other match with a ton of action and the babyfaces winning the first fall in about 3 minutes. This was a really fast and fun first fall. The Javieres have changed from their white pants to red so I am going to predict no blood in this match

 

In between falls we have a commercial for a brand new 1987 Dodge Colt selling for $5887. Old car commercials really make you appreciate the joys of rampant inflation and stagnant wages. The second fall starts off hot and heavy with Talisman and uhh Javier trading reversals which ends with Talisman bouncing on the ropes to come down on Javier in the corner and Javier pushing his feet up and sending Talisman over the ropes and into the lap of an old woman in the front row. We get some more babyface dominance as Guerrero Negro & Dandy both fail to turn the tide until Talisman comes back in. He complains about being sent over the top rope and wants a handshake but attacks as Rocca looks to his corner for guidance. I love Talisman. At this point the heels take over the ring and we get some double and triple team moves. Rocca and Cruz eat pins and then El Dandy hits a fucking monster top rope senton on Valaquez and all 3 babyfaces eat pins to send this into the 3rd fall.

 

Dandy continues his attack on Valaquez in between falls and the refs do a lot of hair pulling on him and Guerrero Negro to break that up. After a commercial we come back to the 3rd fall having started and the heels holding the ring with Rocca taking a beating with Valaquez and Cruz being kept outside. This settles back down and we get back to Guerrero Negro vs. Valaquez. We get a cool spot where Rocca leapfrogs Dandy and then dives out onto Talisman followed by Dandy diving onto Cruz to clear everyone away from the Guerrero Negro/Valaquez battle. And this in a disappointing fashion as Guerrero Negro fouls Valaquez and tries to cover him like nothing happened but the refs are both all over it and call for the DQ. This was fun but the other matchup between these two trios was definitely better.

 

Next match on the disc is a match I didn't care for on the 80s set but everyone else did so I will give it another chance and rewatch it. But I don't feel all that excited about it so I'm going to go watch something completely different first.

[goc]

El Dandy, Magico y Superastro vs. Gran Cochise, Javier Cruz y Javier Rocca (EMLL 11/11/87)

 

Yea, I still didn't really care for this match. I liked it better than the first time I saw it, but there are just so many things in this match that I do NOT want out of my lucha watching. Like handshakes, sportsmanship, helping your opponent up while he's outside the ring. Gross. I want asshole rudos suckering you into a handshake and then punching you in the mouth. Plus, Magico is fucking terrible and does more ugly botches in this match than anyone else I remember on the lucha set. El Dandy does have one of the craziest looking dives at the end of the 3rd fall where he's almost totally vertical on a suicide dive but he needed to do something to make up for him and Javier Cruz doing mirror spots where they both miss a crossbody and then go for a dropkick at the same time and get back up into a face off. I thought I was watching a Jerry Lynn match and was waiting for a "Esta es lucha!" chant.

 

Super Astro & Gran Cochise were the MVPs here, doing nothing that annoyed me and actively doing good stuff like Cochise playing possum on Astro and suckering him into missing a dive at him out of the corner leading to Cochise getting a submission on Astro to end the first fall. Astro's dives and moves off the top rope are in their own category for how graceful he makes everything look.

[goc]

El Dandy, Super Muneco y Texano vs. Atlantis, Blue Demon Jr y Angel Azteca (EMLL 3/24/89)

 

UGH. This is a 30 minute all babyface trios match. I found it to be a real chore, the whole first 15 minutes is pretty much just two guys mat wrestling, exchanging moves & counters until they do a faceoff, shake hands and tag out. Fuck that noise. The highlights of this were the end of the 2nd fall where Angel Azteca hits an awesome top rope dropkick and Texano's matwork throughout. But I really do not want to ever see another all babyface trios match in my life. I'm skipping ahead a bit to something with Satanico to wash all this exhibition style, hand shakey bullshit out of my mouth.

[goc]

El Dandy, El Satanico y Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Atlantis, Javier Cruz y Angel Azteca (EMLL 5/11/90)

 

Satanico or not, I think this is another damn babyface vs. babyface trios match. I'm gonna hold out hope that this is less of an exhibition though because although El Dandy & Atlantis shake hands before the match, Satanico & Angel Azteca are talking all kinds of shit to each other. Ok so even if this is an all babyface match they definitely work this with a lot more urgency and fire than the last 2 trios I watched. Satanico & Atlantis do some fun matwork and then worry me with a sign of respect afterwards but that doesn't last long as Dandy & Emilio Charles do a little cheating leading to Dandy's team winning the first fall in a somewhat abrupt fashion.

 

Second fall is short and not all that good especially the Dandy/Atlantis exchanges that looked like they were working at half speed for some reason.

 

Third fall starts with Satanico dropping Atlantis with 2 DDTs and then we get a weird cut and El Dandy is in the ring with Atlantis. Not sure what was up with that, doesn't seem like they usually do a lot of clipping in lucha TV matches. Everybody is kind of fired up now and we get some hot exchanges leading Satanico pinning Angel Azteca only to immediately get pinned by Atlantis. Atlantis rolls out leading to Dandy diving on Atlantis and then Emilio Charles and Javier Cruz wind up in a double pin situation and this match ends in a draw. Didn't care for that ending at all but this at least washed out the "we're all friends here!" bad taste of out of my mouth that I had from the past 2 trios.

 

El Dandy & El Texano vs. Atlantis & Angel Azteca (EMLL 3/31/89)

 

The only thing that impressed me about this match is that I didn't fall asleep during it. More exhibition style "hey let's shake hands and be buddies" bullshit. The 3rd fall was interesting with Atlantis getting "injured" and Angel Azteca being left to go it alone. But he just ends up pinning Dandy pretty quick and then wrestling Texano a few minutes before pinning him too. Where have all the rudos gone!?

[goc]

El Dandy, Atlantis y Ringo Mendoza vs. Perro Aguayo, Kung Fu y El Satanico (EMLL 10/19/90)

 

I was looking at the match listings for this comp and decided that this would surely be devoid of handshakes and sportsmanship and all the shit I don't want to see in my lucha. Perro Aguayo is going to kick you in the face not shake your hand so surely this match will find it's way into my good graces. Aguayo & Satanico on the same team can't possibly disappoint can it?

 

Oh yea, this is definitely what I'm looking for. The rudo team is just the best here, running interference for each other with cheapshots from behind, being total smug assholes, Kung Fu trying to rip Atlantis' mask. The rudos win the first fall after being a bunch of cheating bastards and Aguayo hits some kind of piledriver type move during the finishing stretch that looked real nasty. The fans are throwing trash at Aguayo in between falls and that is definitely a sign that we're NOT in exhibition mode anymore.

 

It looks like the rudos just kept kicking ass all through the commercial break in between falls because Atlantis now has half his mask totally ripped off and he's bleeding while Aguayo is kicking the shit out of Ringo outside the ring. It turns into 3 on 2 for a while with Atlantis still recovering outside the ring and the rudos pretty much dominate. Atlantis finally comes back but his fiery comeback doesn't last very long as Kung Fu goes to his eyes. Everything gets cleared away for the finish as Satanico hits a senton off the apron to the floor on El Dandy and Aguayo hits a dive on Ringo Mendoza that sends him into the 2nd row leaving just Atlantis & Kung Fu. Kung Fu doesn't take long in securing a submission victory for his team and the awesome team of rudos wins this in 2 straight. I am fairly certain this was building to an Atlantis vs. Kung Fu mask match.

 

I enjoyed this a lot and absolutely LOVED the rudo trio here.

[goc]

Negro Casas/El Dandy v. Mocho Cota/Silver King (3.18.94)

https://youtu.be/p3FeLtdBnk8

 

So we're off the DVD comp and into the youtube rabbit hole now. This comes from the very well stocked youtube channel of dataintcash. Mocho Cota doesn't even have enough fingers to do a proper handshake so I think we're safe here. Cota and Silver King aren't really getting along at all here, as Silver King kind of trash talks him about not starting the match and then they get into a bit of a shoving match once Cota eventually tags out. I am guessing this match is building towards a singles match between Cota & Negro Casas as that seems to be where the real issue is. Cota has Casas up in the fireman's carry position and then just dumps him over the top rope. I can't get over what a sleazy, scuzzy looking dude Mocho Cota is. Dandy is getting ready to bounce off the ropes to dive onto Silver King but Cota opens the ropes and Dandy spills to the outside. Can't remember seeing that in my lucha watching before although I'm sure it's not THAT infrequent. Cota puts some really nifty looking submission on Casas to end the first fall.

 

We end up with Casas & Cota battling in the corner and Casas knees Cota in the thigh which Cota does his best to sell as a foul and the refs do a lot of "did he or didn't he?" with Casas & the crowd before eventually deciding to let it go. Mocho Cota winds up holding El Dandy for Silver King to hit but Silver King takes WAY too long to climb the top rope and ends up hitting Cota with the top rope dropkick after Dandy moves. Mocho Cota rolls out and starts bitching about how it's 3 on 1. And then he runs back to the locker room! Silver King holds his own against Dandy & Casas for a bit, including dropkicking Casas as he's up on the top rope and sending him to the outside. Mocho Cota comes back with his hand in his singlet and he's obviously got some kind of plastic knucks. He comes in and kidney punches Dandy with it and then lays out his own partner Silver King! Casas ducks Cota's punch, takes the knucks from and then blasts Cota and the stupid refs finally see it and DQ Casas. And that's the end of the match.

 

Mocho Cota is busted open now and Negro Casas has had enough of his lecturing by the blind refs so he says "fuck it" and attacks Cota and just starts kicking him in the face. El Dandy holds one of the refs in the corner to let his partner continue beating on Cota and I'm loving this. Cota gets tossed into the front row and Casas just keeps kicking him in the face as he's laid out in one of the first row seats. Dandy continues to stop the refs from breaking it up, this time by pulling them both by their ears haha. Mocho Cota gets sent into the ringpost and he eats it like a champ. One of the refs is holding Cota from behind to keep him from getting back in the ring with Casas and then Casas hits him with a baseball slide sending the ref into the first row! Mocho Cota makes a lap around the ring continuing to complain about how this match was 3 on 1 before finally taking off for the locker room.

 

This wasn't a very good match but it was a great performance by Mocho Cota and definitely made me want to see the eventual Casas/Cota singles match. This is definitely one for Mocho Cota fans to check out.

[goc]

Atlantis/Rayo de Jalisco Jr./El Dandy v. El Satanico/Emilio Charles Jr./Gigante Kamala (3.8.91)

I couldn't resist seeing Kamala in Mexico teaming with Satanico. I wonder how far he's going to go with the "savage who doesn't understand tag rules" in this trios format. Atlantis is selling the fuck out of Kamala's chops and headbutts and that combined with the size difference is making him look like a real monster here. Kamala is talking a lot of strategy with his partners so I suppose that Spanish must be really close to his native language as he never was able to get English down at all. Oh my god Kamala doing the disingenuous handshake attempt makes this totally worth the watch even if does not fit him AT ALL. And now he is mocking Rayo and I like this version of Kamala.

Damn it Dandy you should know better than to fall for Satanico's handshake by now. Dandy & Satanico are really bringing the heat again each other in their sequences, I'm gonna have to dig into their feud soon. Oh man Rayo actually shakes Kamala's hand after a whole lot of "should I shouldn't I?" with the crowd and that works about as well as you'd expect. Atlantis comes in and stomps Kamala's feet and then dropkicks him and Kamala bumps and stooges for a guy half his size very well. The babyfaces win the first fall as Dandy & Atlantis get some fancy cradles on Satanico & Emilio Charles and Rayo keeps Kamala from breaking it up.

I still don't really understand that Rayo thing where he charges at his opponents and is doing some kind of leg trip thing that they all run from but it's always really over and Kamala mocking it was hilarious so I guess I can't complain. He keeps trying to psych out Charles with it and Charles just uncorks a nasty right hand that takes him down. Holy shit Kamala wants to box El Dandy and watching Kamala bounce around the ring in a boxer's stance is something else. They do some fun cat and mouse stuff and Dandy gets the better of this exchange as keeps catching Kamala with punches and running away. Kamala sells the hell out of the punches too. Heels end up taking over the ring and winning the second fall after Dandy eats an Alabama Slam out of the corner and gets pinned and Satanico makes Atlantis submit. Kamala splashes them both between falls then Charles & Satanico pick the bones.

The babyfaces try and mount a comeback in the 3rd fall as Dandy tosses Charles into the post. Satanico tries to claim a foul to get out of an ass kicking but the refs aren't buying it. We wind up with all 3 babyfaces working together to cut down the tree that is Kamala before he finally goes down. His partners help get rid of Dandy & Atlantis though and Kamala ends up slamming Rayo and splashing him to get the win for his team. It kind of ran out of steam in the 3rd fall but this was SO. MUCH. FUN.

[goc]

El Dandy, Angel Azteca y El Texano vs. Fuerza Guerrera, Pierroth Jr. y Jerry Estrada (EMLL 3/2/90)

 

If this was a planned angle it's an EXTREMELY good one. If this is an improv effort then well it's also really damn good. Pierroth Jr. is running the ropes and the top rope breaks sending him spilling to the outside and he has to be taken out of the match. This led to the babyfaces arguing over whether one of them should bow out of the match. I loved how the issue grew and how it really ramped up after Azteca got pinned in the 2nd fall after Texano & Dandy had agreed with each other that Azteca should leave. As a match it's just ok.

 

There were things I liked in the match itself though like Jerry Estrada being a bumping lunatic especially the exchange where he misses all these big haymakers he's throwing at Texano and then Texano connects with one punch that sends Estrada out of the ring with his signature insane bump. I also liked the exchanges between Estrada & Dandy with Dandy clearly thinking Estrada is a piece of a shit (and he is, I mean look at that outfit)

[goc]

El Dandy, Chavo Guerrero y El Texano vs. Angel Azteca, Americo Rocca y Javier Cruz (EMLL 3/9/90)

 

Right now I'd like to get through the Angel Azteca stuff before I get to the Satanico feud, especially after how much I liked the angle from the last match. That could change depending on the number of handshakes we do or don't get. I have no idea what is going on at the start of this as they are still putting the ring ropes up while both teams are already in the ring. That's odd. This is finally a trio where Dandy's feud is the focus, as they spend a lot of time at the beginning building up the tension over who is going to start the match and the crowd clearly wants the Dandy/Angel Azteca match up that Javier Cruz keeps trying to ruin. But the crowd gets their wish and the entire first fall is essentially a singles match between Dandy & Azteca.

 

I liked the first fall a lot, 'ticked off with something to prove' El Dandy is much better than 'we're all tecnico buddies here' Dandy. He seems to cinch on his holds more here and he hits a really hard slam on Azteca that led to the submission. Dandy looked almost dominant over Azteca at the end there. I liked the tease of breaking up the Dandy/Azteca pairing after Azteca spilled outside of the ring with Cruz continuing to be a little shit.

Second fall starts off with Chavo vs. Rocca and Chavo is looking kinda old and fat here. Then we get Texano/Cruz for a bit and Texano is a guy I'm starting to like. Not sure why I find his tecnical stuff more interesting than most. We get back to Dandy/Azteca after that and their timing seems a little off as they try to run through a whole bunch of stuff and then Azteca takes a swing at Dandy that misses and everyone rushes in to separate them before they start brawling. We go back to Chavo/Rocca and then Dandy/Rocca have some nice exchanges until Rocca gets Dandy up on his shoulders and Cruz comes out of nowhere with a top rope dropkick and pins Dandy to end the 2nd fall. Man that came out nowhere and looked good. Chavo & Texano complain about the way that went down between falls.

Everyone gets a new dance partner in the 3rd fall as we get all the pairings that we haven't seen yet and then after a Dandy/Cruz exchange, Dandy calls Angel Azteca to get in the ring. This time Dandy gets the worst of the exchange as he ends up in a Boston Crab but starts pulling himself to the ropes and then...Azteca just lets go of it. Ok. Then he switches out with Rocca who comes in and gets pinned by Chavo after a little bit. Then we get Texano/Cruz and Cruz ends up getting his ass handed to him. Now I know why I like Texano he will slam and powerbomb the shit out of you. They make you think Texano is gonna finish off Cruz and rob of you a finish to Dandy/Azteca but then Azteca makes a save for Cruz and Texano & Cruz end up outside the ring getting us back to El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca. The crowd has been into this pairing all match. They exchange a bunch of nearfalls and then Azteca pulls Dandy into a cradle as he's going for a submission attempt and gets a 3 count.

This was very good and the first trio I've seen so far where El Dandy was clearly the star. Part of that is that they gave him and Angel Azteca so much of the spotlight but I thought Dandy looked like the better of the 2. I am definitely going to just keep watching Dandy's 1990 in order now and not skip ahead to the Satanico stuff.

[ohtani's jacket]

Dandy is a rudo in that match, fwiw.

[goc]

It didn't really seem that way since he never cheated at all and his partners kept trying to keep the match clean but I'll take your word for it.

[ohtani's jacket]

It's been a long time since I watched that stuff, but my recollection is that Dandy switched to the rudo side during his feud with Azteca and then back to the tecnico side against Satancio. Satanico also turned from tecnico to rudo that year.

[goc]

He may end up doing a full turn but it doesn't seem like he's gone past working aggressively with Azteca because of their issue. He's definitely not outright cheating yet. The crowd is still treating him like a tecnico so far too.

 

Those 2 teams have a rematch I'm going to get to next, maybe he starts to turn in that one.

 

EDIT: According to the little TV graphic for the next match that includes his height, weight & place of birth he's got "Estilo: Tecnico" still listed.

[ohtani's jacket]

My timing is probably off.

 

Cubsfan has Dandy all over the place in 1990 -- http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/wcards/eldandy.php

 

It's probably just the vagaries of CMLL booking.

[goc]

El Dandy, Chavo Guerrero y El Texano vs. Angel Azteca, Americo Rocca y Javier Cruz (EMLL 3/16/90)

 

Well those graphics aren't gospel because Chavo Guerrero had been wrestling longer than 10 years in 1990 despite what his graphic says. This starts with about 5 minutes of Dandy vs. Angel Azteca and I still really enjoy watching these two. I don't dislike technical lucha, I dislike technical lucha that looks like an exhibition or a sparring session like some of the stuff I complained about in the earlier tecnico vs. tecnico matchups. Here everything between Dandy & Azteca feels like a real struggle to counter and maintain control. Things look they are about to get scrappy between Dandy & Azteca so their partners are in again like the last match to get them separated. After that we go back to the Cruz vs. Texano matchup from the end of the last match (I had Cruz & Rocca mixed up that whole review, I just edited it to fix it) and Cruz seems like he wants to redeem himself for getting tossed around by Texano because he drops Texano with a nasty one hand armed body slam. Yea, I am still really digging Texano who does what looks a lot like a kimura and then an STF. Texano continues to be a little bruiser as he kind of dominants the Cruz exchange again and ends it with another big slam on Cruz and the crowd seems to kind of turning on him here as there are some boos now. I guess the lucha funs don't like a bully. Chavo & Rocca get in against each other and then Rocca gets sent outside as he and Chavo are rolling through an arm bar and Rocca lands hard. Cruz doesn't like that and continues his role as the shit starter of his team by coming in and getting into a shoving match with Chavo but this ends up getting smoothed over as Chavo shakes hands with Rocca.

 

After the dust up Dandy & Azteca get back in against each other. They run through some stuff for a little bit until Dandy shoves Azteca down in find of a pie face way and we get all the partners in to break things up again. I'm ready for this to break out into the fight they keep teasing already. Cruz & Texano get paired up again and this time they try and work really fast and end up fucking up some of their timing. After a short Rocca/Chavo pairing we get Dandy/Rocca and then it quickly breaks down into everyone in the ring and Cruz just drilling El Dandy with a top rope dropkick and a pin for his team to win the first fall.

 

The second fall starts with a few minutes Chavo/Azteca that I really liked. Chavo as a heavyweight bully works better than Chavo trying to do these fast exchanges. Things are heating up as Dandy clotheslines Cruz in the throat and the crowd starts booing him for that. Rocca and Cruz both start with some running knees and kicks after that and things are escalating now because Dandy & Texano just start double teaming and take out Rocca & Cruz. The crowd does not appreciate their tactics either. Angel Azteca takes exception to it and he and Dandy face off. Texano has a crisis of conscience moment as he runs in to do a cheapshot from behind on Azteca but stops himself. The announcer is doing a lot of talking about what is and isn't "limpio" here especially when Chavo holds Cruz for Texano to hit but the crowd & the refs talk Texano out of it. Things break down and everyone but Dandy & Azteca wind up down outside the ring. Azteca dives at Dandy in the corner but Dandy moves and Azteca takes a nasty crossbody bump into the turnbuckles. I like how invested the crowd is in these guys wrestling clean as they admonish both Dandy & Azteca when they go up to the top rope to come down on their prone opponent. Azteca ends up catching El Dandy in the rana that usually signals a 3 count and that does end it, and Angel Azteca's team wins in 2 straight falls.

 

I liked this a lot and Azteca's team winning in 2 straight falls really caught me off guard. I really liked how this started to get more and more heated and guys started caring less and less about breaking the rules but didn't go all the way into not caring at all. Next match is a singles match between Dandy & Azteca and I expect that to be really good.

[goc]

El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (Shaky) (EMLL 3/23/90)

 

This match kind of defies your usual tecnico/tecnico matchup as these guys just don't like each other and they are both throwing hands in the first minute of this match. When they wind up outside Dandy misses a big punch and Angel Azteca tosses him into the boards twice. I guess I could see where people would say Dandy is the rudo in this, but he just has a very frumpy face. This is a pretty short first fall that Dandy wins after a fancy cradle.

 

Dandy starts to maybe cheat a bit here as he stalls in the ropes after a break playing possum and then comes out with a headbutt to Azteca's gut. Now Azteca is the one bending the rules as the ref decides his chinlock is more of a choke and he pulls Azteca off rather forcefully. Azteca hits like a modified russian leg sweep into a submission to win the second fall and this fall wasn't much longer than the first.

 

The crowd is still very invested in both of these guys not cheating as they seem to boo both of them at different times depending on their tactics. They wind up outside the ring almost immediately into the third fall and Dandy sends Azteca into the boards to extract some revenge from earlier. The announcer is talking about Azteca wrestling for the people but Dandy wrestling for himself and then Dandy starts dragging Angel Azteca around the ring by his mask so yea, Dandy is getting to be a real dick now. Dandy drops an elbow on the back of Azteca's head to the disapproval of the crowd. They definitely seem to be telling a "the crowd is turning on Dandy/Dandy is turning his back on the people" story with a lot of cutaways to the crowd here. Dandy drills Azteca for a german suplex for what looks like a 3 count but the ref calls it only a 2 so Dandy starts to argue with him. It DID look like a 3 count, for posterity's sake. One of my favorite tropes in wrestling occurs as Dandy turns around from arguing with the ref and gets pulled into a small package. Dandy ends up missing his senton off the 2nd rope and then he gets hit with a dive that sends him into the 3rd row! He ends up back in before Azteca though and dropkicks Azteca off the apron and goes for a plancha but Azteca sticks out his knee and Dandy comes down in like a nasty gutbuster. That was cool. Azteca is selling his knee after in a nice touch. Dandy gets hit with ANOTHER dive that sends him into the 2nd row this time. He pulls Azteca back from behind as he's trying to get into the ring then Dandy rolls in and what happened? The refs calls it a draw. Maybe they were both counted out? This was getting hot but the finish sucked.

 

Dandy calls for more, I suppose this is the lucha equivalent of asking for "5 more minutes" as they tease them both wanting to continue the match but the ref is wagging his finger off to let us know it's not going to happen. Dandy hits a cheap shot on Azteca as they get face to face and then challenges Azteca to get up and hit him back. He does, but Dandy drops him on his ass again with 1 punch and then lets us know with his facial expressions that he thinks Azteca is a punk who can't take a punch. This was good but not great but it definitely left me wanting to see more of this matchup.

[goc]

El Dandy, El Gran Hamada y El Satanico vs. Pirata Morgan, Angel Blanco Jr. y Emilio Charles Jr. (EMLL 4/6/90)

 

This was a fun little trio, not a real memorable one though. The biggest takeaway from this is that Pirata Morgan is a bump freak taking a totally unnecessary flip bump off the apron to the floor and then splashing himself into the post outside after Satanico moved. Satanico's fist pump afterwards was pretty awesome too. Charles had a lot of fire against Hamada for some reason and that was fun. The tecnicos win the third fall after they all hit dives and get back in the ring before the countout. Oh, also Dandy is still pure tecnico here so it looks like him teasing going rudo was just him really not liking Angel Azteca.

[JerryvonKramer]

El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (6/1/90)

 

I just don't get this or the love for it. I hate to be at odds with Chad, PeteF3 and Charles, three guys I genuinely like and agree with a lot, but I didn't even LIKE this match.

 

First two falls were very dull, all matwork, but nothing I found interesting. It was missing the wrinkles I see in 70s matwork or the struggle and intensity of Bock or Robinson. El Dandy is quite good at selling, but I thought some of Angel Azteca's limb work was actively bad. There was one point where he was pulling on El Dandy's arm and I was thinking "even allowing for wrestling logic, how in the hell am I meant to believe that hurts?" Looked pathetic. Other holds seemed improbable to me, and the backslide finish to one of the falls people were raving about looked sloppy to me.

 

I was disappointed with El Dandy too though, he's meant to be the babyface. But I thought he lacked fire and came across as being a bit bland and lacking in charisma, kinda like young Bret Hart. The match seemed to have no feeling in it. Third fall action picked up a bit, but I didn't feel like they'd carried me through a build to those high spots, so the plancha comes off as being just choreographed.

 

As I said, I hate being against the tide of opinion like this, but this didn't click with me at all. When I think of stuff like Bock vs. Hennig or Flair vs. Steamboat, and then I think of this, I'm legit shocked people can mention those matches in the same breath. Different strokes I guess. Heading over to 1990 forum to read over everyone's comments, but man. This is like trying to get into abstract modern art or something.

 

**1/2

[JerryvonKramer]

El Dandy vs. Satanico (12/14/90)

 

On the one hand, this was a lot easier to get into than the Angel Azteca match. Who doesn't like a double juice brawl? This was heated for sure, and El Dandy showed good spirit especially after the early assault where he started bleeding profusely early.

 

However, I wasn't feeling the hatred like others seem to. It didn't come through to me and I simply can't in good conscious rank this with those brawls I think transcend wrestling like Magnum vs Tully, Funks vs. Sheik / Abby '78, Patterson vs. Slaughter. I am closer to understanding what people are loving with this match, but I still don't think it really holds a candle to the high end brawls I've seen in American or Japanese wrestling. People were putting over the near falls in the third fall, but I didn't find myself invested in them for whatever reason.

 

I was also, admittedly, very confused by the finish. Satanico collides with the ref who falls out of the ring. El Dandy misses a kick, and then ... Starts a chicken dance?! What the fuck was happening? Then the ref comes in and raises El Dandy's arm, for what, a DQ? Seemed totally bizarre to me, and someone will have to explain that.

 

I did enjoy this, but I really didn't think it was one of the best matches I'd ever seen, or even close to that.

 

****