LogFAQs > #948449379

NBIceman posted...

Santo vs Casas vs Dandy
First of all, thanks for the writeup, Bidoof. Definitely added to this match to understand some of those details you tossed out there.

I guess it's pretty well known at this point that I'm not much of a lucha fan and likely won't ever be, and while this match did feature some examples of a few of the reasons why (awkward spots here and there, points where there wasn't much flow from place to place), it also managed to avoid a whole lot of those pitfalls. Violent lucha, generally speaking, tends to grab me a little better than high-flying lucha, because there's usually such a stronger feeling of authenticity to everything. And that pattern definitely holds here. There's venom behind every strike thrown, which makes for a whole match full of great visuals, especially when mixed with all the blood that shows up later. Hard to believe Santo's even wearing the same gear at the end of the match as he was at the beginning for how different the color looks.

I know the meat of the match was always gonna be in the 2-out-of-3-falls section and all, but I would have liked to have seen the beginning sections go on a little bit longer. I was enjoying the interplay between the three where the Dandy/Casas alliance threatened to explode a couple of times before they got refocused on their plan, and it just would've been nice to see a little more Casas in general. I'm also just not a huge 2-out-of-3-falls fan in general. But again, I understand why those first parts had to be slightly rushed in favor of the latter.

Random additional thoughts: very good crowd, liked Santo's submission work a lot, the diving headbutt was brutal, really enjoyed the bits where Dandy was just tearing at the mask. Can't say I loved this match - my small issues with the structure and flow hold it back some, as does the fact that I just don't have enough investment in these guys to really get drawn all the way into such a personal, story-based bout - but for something that kinda had to fight against my typical taste as a wrestling fan, it was quite enjoyable. Certainly something I'd never have watched if not for this topic, which is exactly what makes the series so fun.

Triple-posting because I have no concept of board etiquette. <_<

Don't worry too much about not getting enough Casas here. He's a name that will come up from me more as this series progresses. Especially at this time, Negro was on fire and was a tremendous worker. Heck, he stayed a tremendous worker for years. He's another one of those lucha guys who somehow didn't completely fall apart as they got older.

Even though it was a deeply personal feud between these men, part of why I went ahead with recommending it is because I felt like their work could tell you how personal their issues were. You don't bloody a man so badly that you change the color of his clothes over nothing. I also thought it was fun to show this off because of how great Dandy was in his segment with Santo. Dandy is one of those names that has some respect with long-time lucha fans but to wrestling fans, he's kind of a meme because of a Bret Hart promo. Watching this match and seeing how smooth his work is as well as the height he gets on a couple of those bumps to the floor, I can actually buy that Bret would totally have wanted to work with the guy. For someone who never gets mentioned as one of the great luchadors of this era, he more than holds up his end on this match.

El Hijo del Santo has his own odd problem where he is largely held as one of the best of his generation, but he doesn't get discussed much by anyone outside of the lucha fanbase. You're lucky if the average fan has even seen the tag match he had with Octagon against Art Barr and Eddie Guerrero from When Worlds Collide and that's easily his most well-known match to the US fans. I think it's a combination of no real body of work outside of Mexico (he did nearly come to WWF in 1996 but backed out when Vince wanted him to drop his mask) and that he's not in good standing with either of the major Mexican promotions right now. Anyways, I'm glad you liked his submission work here as I loved the struggle he had to put the camel clutch on Dandy. Actually, I love a lot of the struggles they had with the submission work here as it helped sell that this was a fight. El Hijo del Santo is a guy I want to show off more in coming weeks and I hope he gets some more fans out of this.