Mascaras v Cabellera Lucha Rules Tag Team Match (2/3 Falls): El Hijo del Santo & Octagon (w/Blue Panther) vs. Los Gringos Locos (Eddie Guerrero & Love Machine) (w/Madonna's Boyfriend)
A complicated match for new viewers of Lucha. However this is a pretty good gate way for getting into lucha libre still because it captures the magic of the lucha style but does it in a slightly different style. Typical for lucha matches, this is done in a two out of three falls match. In this case, you need to pin both partners to end the fall. For example, Santo and Octagon get pinned in the first round so Los Gringos Locos win the first fall. So naturally this can be confusing if you’re not away from the rules. Apparently, this was supposed to be a singles apuestas match between Hijo del Santo and Eddie Guerrero which would’ve been the first (and presumably only) singles match between the two. That sounds pretty amazing because both are world-class wrestlers on their day but Art Barr changed Pena’s mind and got himself and Octagon put in the match. And it benefits from it because Art Barr is so hated by the crowd and his history with Blue Panther (Santo & Octagon’s second) is played off in a big way in this.
The match had everything you can want in a match. Excellent tag wrestling with Los Gringos Locos working over the tecnico team, maximising their heat before Santo and Octagon worked together to overcome the double team work, at one point sending Eddie and Barr into each other which lead into a pair of expertly executed synchronized topes on the outside. The story was excellent with the tecnico team having to work their way back in falls with Gringos Locos going ahead almost always, both in the second fall and last with Octagon and Santo each getting their shining spots in those falls. Art Barr taking out Octagon with the piledriver (a banned move in Mexico) while the ref wasn’t looking was amazing. The crowd went nuts at it. And it made it so much more sweeter when Blue Panther came in and did a piledriver to him, allowing Santo to eliminate Barr from the match. It was an excellent call back to the Panther/Barr apuestas match where Barr lost his mask via dq after a piledriver, as well as it being a revenge spot for Octagon, who was being carried out on a stretcher. Santo and Eddie were the main focus of all the hot stretches of the match so naturally there was a lot of tension in the final stretch. Santo is battered and bruised and takes some nasty suplexes, including a dragon suplex on the hard canvas before Santo catches Eddie off guard and pins him with a roll up to a tremendous ovation. Viva la Mexico. ****3/4
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