Mascara Año 2000 vs. Mogur
September 23, 1988
CMLL
Mask vs. Mask
***
A year after unmasking As Charro, Mogur drops his mask to Mascara Año 2000 at the CMLL 55th Anniversary show.
Unlike the As Charro/Mogur match, which had a surprisingly action-packed first fall, this match was really all about the third fall. The first couple of falls were compact and the finishes felt abrupt. Mogur took the first off of a sit down power bomb. The move looked good but I am not sure they did enough before it in order for the power bomb to make sense as a finish. The same goes for Mascara Año 2000’s use of an Alabama Slam to win the second fall. In general, I prefer submission holds or pinning holds to end non-lengthy falls just because it is easier to buy those types of moves as instant finishers. I know its nitpicky, but the less-than-ideal finishes combined with the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot to sink my teeth into before the finishes left me underwhelmed by the opening rounds.
I enjoyed the final fall. Año Dos Mil continues going back to the Alabama Slams and I liked that offensive continuity. Things get more heated in the third fall and even though there isn’t any blood, there is enough intensity and high impact offense in the third fall to get across the high stakes. I thought they might have gone a little long in the third, but that was probably intentional. They were seemingly going for the “what is going to take to end this?” psychology, not all that dissimilar from what Mogur and As Charro did a year earlier. They weren’t necessarily getting great near fall reactions, which hurt a bit. They threw a ton at each other but that doesn’t mean much when it doesn’t translate into near falls that the fans buy into.
The finish was clever, although not perfectly executed. Mogur puts on a submission hold and thinks that Mascara Año 2000 submits. He lets go of the hold and starts jumping up in down in celebration. The problem was that I couldn’t see any reason why Mogur would have thought Dos Mil submitted. The referee does not give any indication and Dos Mill doesn’t seem to be in great pain. Mogur drops the hold really quickly and it all came off rushed. I like the “tecnico loses his mask due to dumb mistake” trope – Love Machine losing his mask to Blue Panther for example – but the tecnico’s dumb mistake needs to be justifiable in some way. I am not sure Mogur’s was, at least based on how it was executed and shot.
Anyway, they sort of make up for that with an absolutely brutal finish. Dos Mil delivers a backdrop suplex to Mogur and Mogur takes it right on the back of his neck like he’s Misawa. Its as devastating of a back drop driver as you’ll see anywhere and I am sort of surprised that Mogur came out the other end okay. The move also gives us the awesome visual of Mogur being out cold, which necessitates that the referee removes his mask for him. The crowd is not happy with the finish, pelting the ring with trash to show their displeasure. They were likely just upset that the tecnico lost but I wouldn’t completely rule out the idea that Mogur dropping the submission hold for no reason didn’t also negatively impact their mood. Maybe Mogur being forcibly unmasked while out cold also bummed out the crowd. That one I can agree with from an emotional standpoint – they at least could have let the poor guy unmask with a little bit of dignity.
Like Mogur’s mask match with As Charro, I thought this was a good match but well below that “great” threshold. The lack of blood didn’t bother me because I think they did enough other stuff – the high impact offense, mask ripping, general intensity – to get across both the high stakes and hatred. The wrestling was only so-so, which is what you usually get with Mascara Año 2000. As mentioned, I wasn’t a huge fan of how Mogur dropping the hold played out. If you like high impact, dangerous looking finishes than you at least need to check out the end. Mogur taking a suplex like that right on his neck in 1988 is quite the sight to see.
