[1993-01-29-AAA] Rey Misterio Jr & Winners & Super Calo vs Heavy Metal & Picudo & Psicosis

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The first fall has a lot of Midnight Express-style heel schtick where the rudos take all sorts of fun bumps and generally get outclassed at every turn. This is mixed in with some excellent daredevil spots and one of the best dive trains ever (at least until the third fall of this same match), with Rey capping things off with a moonsault from the top rope to the floor. I also appreciate that the crowd is way more audible than in a great deal of lucha. This match was also a bit hard to follow at times logically though. First of all, Picudo and Psicosis do some great "teammates tease getting in a fight" stuff, but after rewinding like three times, I still couldn't figure out why that was. Also, I have no idea why Rey's team won the first fall, as there was no pinfall and no submission from what I could tell. Just the dive train, and then the fall was over. Same for the second fall and third fall actually. It's almost like the finishes were an afterthought and the goal was to display what these guys could do, which is admittedly a lot, and that's a noble goal, but it's not necessarily a great match. But in the second fall, Psicosis does the backdrop on Rey from the middle rope, then the fall just ends and they are declared the winners. Great match in terms of the ideas, but they don't really go from one idea to the next very seamlessly, so it feels like a highlight reel instead of a match. I wouldn't fault anyone for loving that, but it's missing something for me. It's possible I'm getting this confused with the second match, which I'll watch later. I don't know that I realized there were two matches until putting together this yearbook. But whatever match I did see was one I gave ***** originally that blew me away. If that's this one, this doesn't hold up, even if it is a very good match. If it's that one, the rematch will hopefully be much better. I do think this is good, but not really deserving of the high praise.

[benj]

Uneven match but with GREAT dive sequences and a funny/awesome finish. I liked the first AAA match on the set better.

[Kevin Ridge]

Super Calo battling with Mr Hughes for wearing the tightest glasses in the ring. Psicosis did a dive where he was close to landing head first on the floor.

[PeteF3]

I'm really not a fan of these long shticky, working-the-crowd segments in AAA. I mean, I can't deny that it's effective, because the crowd's way into it, but it's very WWF house show-y and not 1/10 as entertaining as the Brazos doing the same idea more creatively. But once that big dive train started, I was hooked. Not only did the dives look great, but they all hit 100%--even Rey's moonsault to the floor was dead-on, which is hard to do. I don't get what the finish was either--my only guess is that two of the rudos were counted out, but that only makes a modicum of sense. The referees kept on counting, though. Anyway, the second and third falls have more intense work from the rudos with some fierce brawling on the floor and that sick Samoan drop off the second turnbuckle that absolutely crushes Rey. Then we get another different kind of dive train, with everyone trying to jump off the turnbuckle into the ring and everyone missing. Psicosis is the man of the match here but Winners also turns in a great performance--knowing his reputation that he's not exactly a guy to be confused with Casas or Satanico as far as great workers go, I wonder if this may even be a career performance for him. Misterio and Heavy Metal both try to dropkick each other and both get nailed in the groin. The referees disagree over who fouled whom and I guess that leaves this as a draw. I don't mind the cheap finish because it was a complicated idea that was executed perfectly. Slow start but turned into a very fun match, possibly the best AAA trios match yet since the departure from LA.

[WingedEagle]

Man Rey is so skinny here. Fun stuff from the heels getting in each other's faces early when things don't go their way. Business in the first fall really picks up with the dive train, especially an awesome one by Psicosis. The faces seem to win the first fall by countout but as noted by others its not entirely clear. The rudos dominate the 2nd fall in typical fashion, then the 3rd fall hits and that's a bit more disjointed. Yet another great dive train with everyone missing their spots but remaining well protected throughout. I couldn't explain to you how the 3rd fall was decided, but between the flying in the opening and closing falls and the heel dominance in the second, I was not disappointed. But I am still waiting for the AAA triot match from this era to absolutely blow me away. Hasn't happened yet.

 

***1/4

[soup23]

This did have a lot of schtick that detracted a bit but this was a good showcase to me and it is fun to see really young Rey show what he has. That dive sequence was great and completely out of control feeling. Finish felt a little flat. Good intro to these guys but I hope for more substance in the rematch. ***1/2

[garretta]

This was a little better than the first match I saw between these two teams, and Psicosis busted out a few nice moves on Rey, particularly the Samoan superdrop, which must be all the rage this month. Still, this is another trios match that felt too much like a six-man battle royal, and to have the rudos lose two falls on a countout and a DQ really feels like a copout.

 

I think the dive trains look great just like everyone else does, but did we have to have two and a half of them here (one in each fall, with the one in the third fall counting as half since only three guys participated). What looks spectacular once in a match can quickly become humdrum if it's done three times.

[puropotsy]

I'm surprised there wasn't already a thread on this. I have just reviewed it for my five-star match reviews as Dave rated it as such and said it was the best lucha match he'd ever seen at the time. The match was great but might not translate as well to a modern context considering all that has come since, especially with Mysterio and Psicosis. The dive segment at the end did feature some outstanding spots and the rudos were great at being rudos with triple-teaming.

What do people think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TMDdVeCrE

[cad]

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/12069-rey-misterio-jr-winners-super-calo-vs-heavy-metal-picudo-psicosis-aaa-020793/

 

It does have a thread, just listed under the airdate. Looks like most people who watched both were more into the rematch.

 

The linked video is to the rematch, by the way. Agree that it's one of Mexico's best matches of 1993.

[Makai Club #1]

Crazy and lengthy bout. I won't say that I was blown away by this because I wasn't. It had a good mix of Southern Heel influenced schtick with incredible aerial moves that this era of AAA trios matches are known for. Mysterio and Psychosis show some of their fab chemistry that'll carry them into WCW 3 years later. There were a lot of cool ideas and neat DQ and count out finishes. A bit disjointed but it's an enjoyable match. ***1/2