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December 18, 2001

The drunken ramblings of Northern California's lucha enthusiasts.

Lucha Libre's official message board.

The Official Site of El Santo.

The Official site of Blue Demon.

CMLL's official home page.

Photo Archive of lucha toys!

From Parts Unknown Magazine's site.

Great Eddie Guerrero fan site.

Visit La Mosca de Francia. He rocks the ass.

Ayyyyyyy, Magadan!

If this report comes across as jumbled, it's due to the dangerous amount of coffee I have consumed. I'm unable to type as fast as the words are coming to me, so expect typos a-plenty!

So, this week we get a show that not only kills the buildup to Sin Piedad, but is a few weeks old. It's not that bad, since the show is actually pretty good, but I dread watching two weeks of buildup to a PPV that has already happened. Regardless...

The show opens with a Guerreros Del Inferno vignette, which leads to...

Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero & Tarzan Boy VS.
Villanos III, IV, & V

Can Los Guerreros carry all of the Villanos to a good match? The smart money is on 'no.' Los Villanos dominate the first fall, which prevents the former-Infernales from hitting their trademark submission falls. Luckily, they're able to reverse the momentum during the second fall, where they get the chance to apply a 3 man leglock/crucifixion-type hold on Villano III for the win. Back and forth action during the third fall, with the Villanos eventually getting Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero in double octopus stretches. Just as Los Guerreros del Inferno are about submit, Mascara Magica in steet clothes runs in and attacks the Villanos, prompting the referee to award the fall, and match, to the tecnico team. During the post-match mic work, Tarzan Boy is upset with Magica for costing them the match. Magica accuses Tarzan of not being 100% healthy, and says that they needed him to interfere. I'm not sure to read into this, since it's an old show, but I believe that Tarzan will leave the stable in the not-to-distant future.

Promos air for the Leyenda de Plata tournament. Mascara Magica, Felino, Blue Demon Jr., and Ricky Marvin express their desire to win the Santo plaque awarded to the winner.

The format of the Leyneda de Plata is that 16 luchadores will participate in a battle royal. The first 8 men eliminated will become a team, and they will oppose the 8 men who weren't eliminated in a survivor series style match. The last two surviving wrestlers from that match will have a one on one match against each other, and the winner will go on to wrestle the winner of last years tournament, Negro Casas, for a plaque adorned with a Santo mask. Got it? The good thing about the Leyenda de Plata is that only the best workers seem to be involved, so no Capos, Villanos, Gigantes, or Porkys.      

Macara Magica, Black Warrior, Fuerza Guerrera, Averno, Juventud Guerrera, Mephisto, Virus, Doctor Wagner Jr, Atlantis, Felino, Blue Demon Jr, Black Tiger, Safari, Antifaz del Norte, Ricky Marvin and El Hijo del Santo participate in the Leyenda de Plata battle royal.

The 8 eliminations:
-Averno and Mascara Magica(who where feuding at the time) can't control their hatred for each other, and while brawling with each other, go over the top ropes onto the floor.
-Averno's partner, Mephisto decides to join their fight outside, and eliminates himself (which would be statregically smart, since he would now be on Avernos team for the elimination match)
-Blue Demon clotheslines Juventud over the top rope, eliminating him.
-Much like Averno and Magica, Black Tiger and Black Warrior eliminate each other.
-While Fuerza is attempting to hold on to the ropes after nearly being eliminated, Felino kicks him off of the apron, eliminating him.
At this point in the match, Ricky Marvin attempts a armwrench/ropewalk (a la Undertaker) on Wagner Jr, but Wagner yanks him off the rope and powerbombs him hard.
-Atlantis eliminates Dr. Wagner Jr with an armdrag. Once eliminated, Wagner pulls Atlantis outside of the ring, but since Wagner is the eighth man out, it doesn't count as an elimination.
Black Warrior, Fuerza Guerrera, Juventud Guerrera, Black Tiger, Dr. Wagner Jr, Mascara Magica, Averno & Mephisto VS.
El Hijo Del Santo, Felino, Antifaz Del Norte, Atlantis, Safari, Virus, Blue Demon Jr & Ricky Marvin

I will list the order of elimination below, but first, a few notes about the match. A lot of feuding occurs during the match, with my favorite probably being Wagner Jr, and Atlantis. When they are matched up during the match, they immediately begin tearing at each others mask, with Wagner ripping most of Atlantis' mask off. Atlantis quickly responds by tearing off nearly all of the bad doctors' mask (which features a new 'tribal' design). So much of their masks were torn off that the two luchadores cling to each other in order to hide their faces. Once they have their faces somewhat covered, they make battle outside of the ring, for an apparent count out. Fuerza and Juvi work their father/son gimmick, with Fuerza babying Juventud at the start of the match. With all of the talent in the ring, I wondered who would steal the show. While Santo Ricky Marvin and Antifaz all looked especially great, Virus gets my MVP vote for the super-crisp execution of his moves. He looked great throughout the match. Antifaz also hit a picture perfect lanza on Black Tiger during the match (although he looked a little too ripped tonight.)

Eliminations:
-Dr. Wagner Jr and Atlantis eliminate each other in a count out (?).
-Mascara Magica gets Safari to submit.
-Blue Demon eliminates Mephisto with his Sharpshooter variation.
-Averno locks Antifaz in a cool leg lock hold for a submission.
-Felino pins Averno after a top rope Razors Edge.
-Black Tiger pins Virus following a death valley driver.
-Black Warrior covers Blue Demon Jr. for the elimination.
-Juventud submits to Santo's camel clutch. Juventud throws a tantrum outside afterwards.
-Mascara Magica reverses a Ricky Marvin hurricanrana into a powerbomb, and gets the pin (note to Ricky Marvin: stop trying to hurricanrana the big kids. It won't work ;])
-Santo locks Mascara Magica in a tapatia for the submission. When he applied the hold, he rolled forward, rather than lean backward. It looked great, and the crowd popped for it)
-By my count, Fuerza Guerrera should be in the ring, but he's not there. I am assuming that I missed him getting eliminated. So Black Warrior and Black Tiger are on one team, with Santo and Felino on the other. 
-As Felino dominates Black Warrior, Black Tiger refuses to tag in, which frustrates both Black Warrior, and Felino! Felino releases Black Warrior, and berates Black Tiger for not tagging. The referee then gets involved, and in the confusion, Black Tiger low blows Felino and gets the pin.
-Black Warrior makes Santo tap, after Black Tiger hits him from the apron.

These leaves Black Warrior vs. Black Tiger for the finals, which have ironically enough, already aired. If you missed it, Black Warrior wins in a damn good match.

I Was A Fake Santo!: An Investigative Report
CMLL airs a report on Ismael Ramirez, who once proudly portrayed a Santo imposter. I didn't catch why he was a Santo imposter, but I did notice that they referred to Ismael as, "the Charles Bronson of Mexico." 

Momentos Estalares
After a stellar performance in the Leyenda de Plata tournament, Virus shows up again for a few highlights in this weeks 'Momentos.' We also see some highspots Pantera, and a pretty average looking german suplex by El Guerrero del Futuro.

Next we get a Shocker vignette where he runs into Emilio Charles' fan, Ana. 'Disculpame, yo soy 1000% guapo!' Classic. This leads up to a prequel from last weeks matchup between...
Shocker, Apolo Dantes & Satanico VS.
Los Guaops

Los Guapos dominate the first round. Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio hold down Shocker, while Emilio executes a top rope splash. Afterwards, Los Guapos refuse to stop their attack on Shocker, which prompts the ref to award the match to Shockers team. The second fall is all over the place, with a hair-headed Apolo Dantes winning the fall for his team. Shockers team celebrates the win, when Los Guerreros Del Inferno run in and attack Satanico (old feud, remember?). All three teams break into random fights, highlighted by Apolo Dantes and Tarzan Boy brawling in the crowd for some reason. Once the teams are separated, Emilio Charles vents his hate for Shocker during the post-match promo, which closed the show.

They Leyenda de Plata tourney was very entertaining, and made up for the show being old. The opener and the main were pretty forgettable, though. As usual, no AAA recap. I'll be back next week with another results report for what will hopefully be a current episode.