Video link to the match over at Youtube : https://youtu.be/BGUSO2D8F8A



Cagematch page for this match/event.

How does this match work?

It starts as a 3 way, then whoever gets pinned/submitted then goes onto t final 2/3 falls proper mask vs mask match in the main event. This took place at Juicio Final(Final Judgement) which is a on again off again event for CMLL who have held it in 1990, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2011 & 2014. We will probably look at another match from this event, as it’s often had big matches. I’d recommend Satanico/El Dandy which happened at this 1990 event, but I won’t be covering it cause neither of those men had a mask.

Who’s Who?

Fuerza Guerrera

Making his debut in 1978 working primarily with EMLL from what I can tell. He became a bigger star towards the late 80′s and early 90′s. About a year before this he had taken the mask of Rocky Star who we covered in that brazos trios match from the other day. To many fans in the states Fuerza Guerrera may be a bit of an unknown with his son being a more well known name. His son of course being Juventud Guerrera and getting mainstream exposure thanks to WCW and his fantastic feud/rivalry with Rey Mysterio Jr. His father though was a great luchador in his own right and is considered a legend even if he never became a well known name in the states.

In the late 80′s he captured the following titles, arranged in the order he worn them from his first title to the latest before this match : Mexican National Lightweight Championship, Mexican National Welterweight Championship, NWA World Welterweight Championship and WWA World Welterweight Championship.

At the time of this match Fuerza Guerrera was in his 2nd reign as NWA World Welterweight Championship, which would be his longest singles reign on record. Holding the belt for over 800 days which encompassed the entirety of 1990.

Of course with this being a mask vs mask match, I have to go over his Luchas de Apuestas record which at this time was 2-0-0 with him taking the mask of Rocky Star in 1989 and with his first win coming in 1985 when Los Bravos : Fuerza(Mask) El Dandy (hair) and Talisman (hair) won a trios betting match over Los Destructores : Lemús II (mask), Tony Arce (hair) and Vulcano (hair).

So at this point Fuerza and his mask were far from untouchable. His son mentioned earlier would have been only 16 at this time and unlike many luchadores who start in their mid teens Juvy would not debut until he was 18 in 1992. Though he may have started training before that obviously.

Octagon

Octagon made his debut in 1981 working mostly with EMLL as well. He didn’t become the Octagon character until the late 1980′s though when Octagon came to EMLL booker Antonio Pena with the idea of incorporating his legit martial arts training into a character. Octagon was the name based on the Chuck Norris film of the same name. This character took off and become a big hit. Octagon being in a couple of movies in the early 90′s which had become rare as the height of luchador movies had ended in the 70′s. Octagon was also of course sorta a proven gimmick as both Kung Fu and Kato Kung Lee had success, but most would agree that in the 30 years since Octagon debutted, that he has eclipsed both men’s success with his take on the gimmick.

Octagon had not captured any gold by this point in his career, or any masks. So he hadn’t really hit the ground running yet despite being popular. He has famously always had some attitude issues. Some people saying his ego was big with many old school talents looking down upon him, calling him “Muchachito” (the Spanish equivalence of “Little boy”) in a derogatory tone.

Octagon would become the posterboy for leaving EMLL for AAA when that company launched. Antonio Pena walking out to form AAA with Octagon and many talents following him. Octagon is famous for being the hold out. Working strong with AAA even after the peso crashed in 1997 and most people left AAA. Octagon stayed being put in their HoF in 2011. Though strangely Octagon left AAA 2014 and sued them for money owed. Even working with CMLL again in 2017 after leaving the promotion 25 years earlier… a sight literally no one thought we would see.

Huracan Ramirez(II)

Huracan Ramirez was originally a great luchador based on a film character who was created to be in said film. In fact the original Harazan Ramirez, Daniel García Arteaga didn’t play the character in the original film. That was Eduardo Bonada who was contracted to wrestle as the character after the film released. He was heading towards retirement though and so they held an audition for a new Huracan Ramirez. Which Daniel García Arteaga(who had a bit role in the original film) won and became the ‘Original’ Huracan Ramirez and innovated the Huracarrana. He was allowed to use the mask/name without paying the producers of the film, but by the same margin didn’t get a cut of the film/merchandise money the producers made. He would take the name/character in 1953 and from 1962 to 1973 García appeared in five “Huracán Ramírez” movies.

It’s hard to overstate the success the Huracan Ramirez had in lucha libre. At one point he was billed as a 4 belt champion(which was legitimate), when Santo turned tecnico in the early 60′s he and Huracan became a very popular tag team and life long friends. He also invented a move that is synonymous with the art of lucha libre. In the end though Huracan sadly couldn’t pass down his legacy to a son/nephew/protege because at the end of the day… he didn’t own the character. He tried to fight this, but was met with threats of them casting a new Huracan Ramirez to which Huracan just unmasked himself and forever made himself unanimous with the character… which to be fair he had made a success through 30 years of hard work. Even wearing the mask as a pallbearer for El Santo at his funeral in the 1980′s.

So… this is one of many failed attempts to make a new Huracan Ramirez. There isn’t too much about this guy out there. He worked in CMLL in late 80′s early 90′s and has made a AAA appearance once in 2017. As far as I can tell, he didn’t hold any belts or win any masks before this match. Names he used before this match and Huracan gimmick in EMLL Darth Vader, Guerrero Inmortal, and Interceptor. Huracan Ramirez is likely the most infamous names rights controversy in Lucha Libre history with his unmasking to ruin future attempts at making it work a big cliff note to take away from lucha history.

How is the match?



Pretty good, probably not the best match on the card because this card also had El Dandy vs El Satanico. Still this match isn’t bad by any means and shouldn’t be forgotten, just because it includes a false Huracan Ramirez. Who didn’t do bad in this contest at all. You really feel bad for guys that get stuck with a gimmick like this. Where no one is going to bite on this idea of a false/pirate gimmick as they often get called. It sometimes works out, for instance La Parka(II)’s entire career. So it’s hard to say it’s always a bad call, but it’s never really turned out positively for these 2nd chance Huracans. The shoes are just too big to fill and the ending for the original guy is just too unkind that I don’t think a Huracan Ramirez that isn’t legitimately related to the original will ever get over after how the people who owned the gimmick screwed the original out of all the hard work he had put into the character’s legacy was unrewarded.

Anyways, the match itself is good. I have an issue with Octagon just being AWOL for the triangle portion of the match. I get that it’s so Fuerza/Huracan can work a singles match basically, but I don’t like it. I hate when that happens in any company cause it made Octagon look like a joke. He takes a few punches from Fuerza, piece out for the whole triangle part of the match. Huracan takes a fall and then Octagon and Fuerza have basically a singles match. With way less heat than the Huracan/Fuerza bit.

I’m not a big fan of how quickly the 1st two falls happen in the 2/3 falls match that happens with the losers of the triangle match that starts this main event. I get why as they have basically 2 matches right before, but I still think it should be noted. I think EMLL booking is pretty good here though. They made the two winners here feel like great talents. Particularly Fuerza who has 2 matches back to back and wins them both. Even though Octagon was napping on the outside for that first match so, theoretically he should have beaten Fuerza, so when Fuerza instead reversed the submission to send Octagon to the final round he looked like a million bucks.

I even think the false Huracan looked good and somewhat protected in this loss. He took a nasty missed dive to the outside and his first round match with Fuerza was more heated and nasty than the same first round match Octagon had with Fuerza. I feel like being given the Huracan gimmick was a curse anyways. After this the guy went by Huracan Sevilla, but never reached the heights Octagon/Fuerza did and obviously never reached the heights the original did, but that’s a high bar for anyone to hit.