Wrestling Observer Newsletter (August 8, 2005)
The Ultimo Guerrero vs. Mistico match on 2/25, despite some media reports at the time shunning it, had been talked by others as a potential match of the year. The match didn’t air in the U.S. until 7/30 on Galavision. It was a spectacular match for sure. It had heat. The crowd of 10,000 was actually the second smallest Arena Mexico crowd up to that point of the year. Lucha Libre, due to the style, as being more entertaining as a spectacle as opposed to psyschologically dramatic, as Japanese and U.S. wrestling often strives to being, usually comes up short in Match of the Year voting. Only one Lucha Libre Match in history has ever won. That was a match where the drama was at as high a level as the poduct could be, when you head legendary masks of Alantis and Villano III at stake five years ago. This match was shorter, didn’t have the high stakes, nor the drama. In some ways, it also hurt that a best of three fall match ended in two straight falls. Obviously the moves were more outrageous, particularly the spots leading to the finishes. The fact is, the local newspapers even reported the next day that the match wasn’t even a good main event. The first fall was built up for one spot. Mistico did a running tornillo (dive over the top rope with a complete body twist like a diver as opposed to a flip) and crashed on the floor. My first impression is that anyone who can do such a great move should never have to suffer the pain of crashing on an unpadded floor. After Mistico was rolled into the riing, ref Babe Richard called off the fall, basically saying Mistico couldn’t defend himself. When Guerrero then did a spectacular looking one man Spanish fly off the top rope, Richard reversed the decision and DQ’d Guerrero. The doctor came out to attend to Mistico between falls. Guerrero continued a second fall beat down, combining totally divergent not Lucha Libre styles, going from Wanderlei Silva (punches to the side of the head from the mount followed by soccer kicks) to Ric Flair (hard chops to the chest). Then he started hard Japanese pro wrestling style rapid kicks to the chest. Mistico made a comeback, and Guerrero did a flip into the turnbuckles, but more of a Dynamite Kid style bump than the Ray Stevens flip that Flair and Shawn Michaels copied. Misti co’s big move on the comeback was a high plancha off the top turnbuckle, over the ring post, to the floor, ending with an armdrag. Back in the ring, Mistico got a near fall with a huracanrana, and another with a Toyota roll . Mistico went for a huracanrana off the top rope, but Guerrero blocked it and jumped off, flying two-thirds of the way across the ring with a power bomb. Guerrero went for the pin, but lifted Mistico up at two. He then delivered a second power bomb, Liger sit out style, off’ the top rope. On that move, Guerrero started selling his right knee. The only problem was the later replay showed Guerrero took the entire bump on his ass, and his knee was never in a compromising position. Behind the refs back, Mistico unmasked Guerrero and then pinned him with an inside cradle. It wasn’t clear whether Guerrero allowed himself to be pinned to protect his unmasked face from being seen, or if he was pinned due to the “knee injury.” I didn’t see it as a match of the year, but more emblematic of another big night at this year’s top wrestling arena.
