[1990-09-21-EMLL] Rayo de Jalisco Jr vs Cien Caras (Mask vs Mask)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Caras smashing Rayo over the head with a guitar during entrances is awesome. Loved the headbutt-centric offense from Rayo to bring home the second fall. In the final few minutes, there were some really great nearfalls. Good match. I don't know that I loved it, but it definitely felt big and was worked well for its audience. The thing I was most looking forward to was seeing Caras's reaction to losing his mask, and that delivered in spades. This had so much heat that fans apparently BROKE Arena Mexico. Quite the scene.

[Childs]

I liked the same stuff about this as you -- the start with the guitar, Rayo's headbutts, Caras' reluctance to give up his mask. But it struck me as a letdown overall for a big mascara contra mascara. Not enough blood or desperation.

[Bix]

What happened was that the fans who were supposed to be turned away broke past security and into the building. The upper decks were damaged from the weight of the extra few thousand people.

[Graham Crackers]

I liked the same stuff about this as you -- the start with the guitar, Rayo's headbutts, Caras' reluctance to give up his mask. But it struck me as a letdown overall for a big mascara contra mascara. Not enough blood or desperation.

I don't think this is as great as your classic violent mask matches but this is an incredible spectacle and so much fucking fun.

[ohtani's jacket]

This match is a total blast. Neither guy is a good enough worker to expect a truly great mask match, so it tends to get judged by different standards.

 

Here's what I wrote about it back in 2008:

 

"This has got to be one of my favourite lucha matches of all time.

 

I don't know if either guy could ever work; the stuff they do here is really simple, but the heat is amazing. One of the greatest things about lucha is that two 40 year old guys can have a mainevent with this much at stake. Where losing the mask really means something. The match is beautifully laid out... Caras attacks Rayo on his way to the ring, smashing him over the head with a guitar & from there it's just heat building. Slow, methodical rudo work & crowd inspired comebacks from the technico. Great lucha. And the finish is fantastic -- it comes from nowhere & may not have been an actual three count, but it means the rudo has to unmask & there's a fucking swarm of photographers jumping over each other's backs. Caras has one of the great unmaskings, as he simply refuses to take his mask off & they end up brawling while the photographers scurry for their lives. Magic."

[PeteF3]

I thought I was going nuts until I got to OJ's recap...because all I saw was a MOTYC. Not THE Match of the Year, maybe, but on the short list. Maybe because this is easily the most "American" lucha match of the set, but this is definitely an argument for a well-laid-out match trumping High-End MOVEZ. I know Rayo's rep as a respectable worker is pretty much nil but he seems to bring it in the right settings. He's not a great seller or bumper but he and Caras know how to pace a match and his headbutt-centric offense is just fine. Plus Caras is just such a gigantic cocksucker doing the Tully Blanchard strut after El Kabong-ing him to start the match that the selling is really secondary. Each Rayo comeback feels like an enormous feat of endurance while Caras gets some nice cut-offs of his own in the third fall. A psychotic crowd helped, too--evidence for a crowd possibly elevating a good match to greatness. The post-match just adds to the atmosphere with Caras throwing a tantrum over the result and being swarmed by both fans and photographers trying to get the first glimpse of his real face.

[soup23]

Everything I could want out of a mascara match to me. Maybe the best match opening ever with the guitar shot. Good despearation, vicious headbutts, rabid crowd, and Caras having the shame of being unmasked. MOTYC.

[Kevin Ridge]

Now that’s how you get the advantage to start the match. Poor Rayo is getting his ring jacket pulled off why he’s all knocked out. Rolled in the ring while still not looking too good. That’s a new submission. Putting a guy in the tombstone but just holding him upside until he gives. Ha, crazy repeated headbutts for the second fall. Love that. I’ll give these guys credit for doing things different. Third fall is great. The crowd seemed absolutely crazy into. Lots of good action. Really liked this one.

[Zenjo]

Neither were good workers although Caras was super over as a rudo. The crowd were wild in more ways than one. It did have drama and intrigue because of the big match format and importance of the masks. Kind of like an 80's Hulk Hogan match which drew big and entertained the crowd. Not what I look for as the quality of the wrestling was quite low.

[garretta]

This wasn't a wrestling match as much as it was a happening. I'm not exactly a lucha expert, but Cien Caras had to be one of the best rudos in lucha history for his unmasking to be this big of a deal. I've never seen a ring so full of photographers and media people.

 

As for the match itself, the opening guitar shot from Caras was probably the greatest one ever given to another wrestler; Wayne Ferris wishes he could have swung a guitar so well. Jalisco certainly needed to drop that fall as quickly as he could to give himself time to recover, which was undoubtedly one reason for the odd tombstone submission.

 

The repeated headbutts used by Jalisco to gain the second fall looked tremendous, but how in the world do you explain a man who'd most likely been concussed by a guitar using headbutts to beat his opponent? Wouldn't that simply hurt the guy who was giving the headbutts and had been hit with the guitar even more? Obviously, whoever booked this match chose to ignore that question.

 

The third fall was pretty standard stuff, but the postmatch was unbelievable. I've seen luchadors refuse to get their hair cut when they'd lost a hair match, but I'd never seen one refuse to take their mask off when they'd lost a mask match before. Even Jalisco's attempts to beat Caras down and tear the mask off of him didn't succeed; it pretty much fell off because it had already been untied. Even to the end, Caras was defiant and surly, which is what you would expect from a dyed-in-the wool rudo. The celebration, with Jalisco accepting a beer from a fan at one point and then being carried out of the arena on the shoulders of his admirers, was something to see; you very seldom get that type of emotion in the U.S, or even Japan.

 

This is my second choice for lucha match of the year, behind the Dandy/Azteca match from 6/1. Now, if only I can come to understand the tag/trios style a little better, I'll be all set.

[drew wardlaw]

Oh man that strut after the guitar shot was so good. Insane atmosphere for this. Interesting that the first two falls were fairly quick, leading to a longer third fall with great nearfalls. I've never seen a real mask match before so I don't know if this is typical but the fans rushing up to the ring after the third fall to see the unmasking and Cien Caras really heeling it up when taking the mask off was really good.

[dawho5]

I'll echo a lot of the above. The guitar shot and strut, the well-timed comebacks, the crowd and Caras being a complete dick about taking off the mask. Not the most technical or spectacular match, but it works.