Winners vs. Marabunta
MASK VS. MASK
AAA
06/18/1995
Year: 1995
Type: Mask vs. Mask
Other: n/a
Synopsis:
The second of the three Cuadrangular de la Muerte mask matches on the three-stop 1995 TripleMania tour is also the best of the bunch. Dave Meltzer raved about the match upon seeing it live (**** 1/2). While I doubt very many people would rate the match as highly as that today, it is still easily the best of the trio. Marabunta gives a great rudo performance and Winners wrestles a very polished match.
Additional Reading:
- Cross Arm Break Review
Wrestling Observer Newsletter - June 26, 1995
Winners, with Super Calo in his corner, defeated Marabunta, with Angel Mortal in his corner, in a mask vs. mask match in 23:26. They announced that Mortal had lost his mask in a match with Calo in Orizaba eight days earlier and ordered him to remove his mask. Since traditionally this match would take place before Konnan and Perro and because the show was already three-and-a-half hours long, people did leave before this match but there were still 17,000 left for the finish. This match was a shocker because the two were in a terrible position following the previous matches. Marabunta bit Winners head and gave him two post shots and he was bloody within 2:30. After two low blows right in front of Tirantes, Marabunta won the first fall with a submission. Marabunta opened the second fall doing a Jumbo Tsuruta high knee off the apron to the floor. He missed a tackle and took a great shoulder into post bump. Calo and Mortal went at it after Mortal interfered. Tirantes kept slow counting as Winners got near falls until finally Winners used a Dandina cradle and held him there as Tirantes did the slowest count imaginable. Third fall saw Winners rip Marabunta’s mask and Marabunta juiced heavily after a wicked post shot. Winners did a tope through the ropes with a mid-air flip followed by a running somersault bodyblock off the apron. This fall consisted of Tirantes doing ultra-fast counts on Winners and ultra-slow on Marabunta. Marabunta did a running dive where he springboarded using his knees to do the flip dive. It was weird in the finishing moments as whenever Winners went to the top rope the crowd screamed for him to get down as they all figured he’d miss a splash and get pinned. They screamed at him not to do a moonsault but he did anyway and missed but broke the bow-and-arrow submission. Marabunta did a plancha. When he got to the top rope, Winners arm whipped him like a superplex off the top. At this point the ring was filled with cups thrown at Tirantes and when Winners covered Marabunta, Tirantes started cleaning the ring of the cups as the crowd screamed for him to count the fall. Winners went up to the top with the fans screaming at him to get down, but he jumped anyway and missed a senton. Marabunta then missed a senton off the top and when Winners went for the pin, Tirantes again started cleaning the ring. Winners hit a plancha. Back in the ring, Marabunta got a submission but Winners reversed it. Mortal interfered to break it up while Tirantes was cleaning out the ring. The two went back to trading near falls with the fast and slow counts. After a double knockout, Winners hit the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and caught Marabunta in the Inoki Octopus submission for the victory. After the match the two shook hands since they had a classic to a great ovation. Mortal tried to keep Marabunta from unmasking but Marabunta shoved him and pulled his bloody mask off and handed it to Winners as a token of his victory. ****1/2.
Accolades:
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter – **** 1/2
