Video link to the match over at Youtube : https://youtu.be/8TYUd26JFaI



Cagematch page for this match/event.

Who’s Who?

El Felino



Felino is one of three sons of wrestler Pepe Casas who became wrestlers as well. Negro Casas being the oldest of the three and considered the most legendary, then Felino the 2nd oldest and Heavy Metal being the youngest and probably least well regarded, but still considered a legend in most lucha circles.

The brothers paint an interesting picture with how they reacted to the AAA formation in 1992. With Heavy Metal making the jump in 1992 while both his brothers stayed CMLL loyal. Where Negro Casas would be positioned high on the card. To many, being considered the best luchador or wrestler to ever lace up a pair of boots. He got his start the earliest as one would assume being the oldest brother he started in 1979, Felino in 1982 and younger brother Heavy Metal getting his start in EMLL as Canelo Casas in 1988. The same name his nephew now uses, his nephew being son of a none wrestling brother.

I think Felino on his best days is better than Negro Casas in the ring, but he wasn’t positioned as big of a star in general. This fued with Ciclon Ramirez was one of his first big breaks to becoming the legend he is today. The feud was kicked off with Ciclon Ramirez ending Felinos 1st reign as CMLL World Welterweight Champion. Which was only Felino’s 2nd reign with any singles title the first being his Mexican National Welterweight reign the year prior.

Felino’s Luchas de Apuestas record at this point was 2-0-0 from what I can tell. It might have been higher since so many of his record has no dates. There are 2 verified dates before this, but they were hair vs hair before he took on the Felino gimmick and was instead Bebe Casas. So really as Felino he is 0-0-0 at this point in time… AFAIK of course. I don’t think it’s too hyperbolic to call this the biggest match of either man’s career at this point.

Ciclon Ramirez

A few days ago we talked about Huracan Ramirez, this is from that, but the info is important for talking about these Ramirez gimmicks. So here is that again.

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. We talked about Huracan Ramirez(II) who changed his name to Huracan Sevilla after losing his mask. This version of the Ramirez character had the right idea of not using the exact name. Still, it was a doomed concept to start. With the II who lost his mask to Octagon, I think EMLL may have been trying in earnest to make a 2nd coming of the beloved character and decided instead to invest in a new one. While with this incarnation, I think CMLL knew they were going to unmask him before putting the mask on him. Though, that might be the case with II as well. It’s hard to know without talking to people running the company at the time.

Just like the Sevilla version, Ciclon would work with CMLL for a few years after losing his mask. He worked briefly in Promo Azteca while that company was alive before going to IWRG in the early 2000′s. Then from 2006-2017 he was mostly AWOL, but in 2017-2018 he has done special appearances for Tortas Super Astro… which as the name implies is an indie promotion founded by Super Astro who we have seen 2 times this month. Ciclon’s son is apparently wrestling/preparing to wrestle under the Ciclon Ramirez Jr. name.

I think both Sevilla and Ciclon were sorta sent on a suicide mission with taking the Ramirez name because of how infamous him getting shafted by the people who owned the rights to the character. Hopefully both men got a choice or were asked and not forced to take the name, but knowing wrestling and how a work/job is I doubt that was the case. Both men were very talented, if these matches are to be believed, but were basically shot in the foot as soon as they started the race for fame and glory in CMLL.

How is the match?



Fantastic, In fact it’s one of the best out of these 17 matches so far. I’d hazard to say it’s the best, but it might just be edged out by Dr. Wagner vs Solitario for me. It’s hard to choose between the two, this match has more mark out moments, but that’s partially because it’s a few years later and of course match work evolves with time as new tricks have to be used to get the crowd into a match.

This match is lucha libre defined for me. I don’t really know what else you could add to this match to make it more lucha libre. You have submission work with both men picking up falls via submission, mask ripping, an unmasking, dives from Ramirez and a celebration post match with a family member.

One complaint I might lodge, is the ending coming via a leg submission, when the arm was worked instead. Still, I think that’s a minor complaint that is very much a smart fan complaint lodged against one of the best matches you’ll ever see. That’s high praise, but I really really enjoyed this match. Like I said though this is the epitome of Lucha Libre for me. I like Felino and here he just felt like he was on another level. Ciclon too did a good job.

I’d be hard pressed to say he did a better job than the Huracan Sivilla from the Octagon/Fuerza/Huracan mask match. They both did a good job in their unmasking matches. I don’t think these two ever met, they did team up in CMLL before Sevilla. It’s probably too late for either to meet in AAA/CMLL since they aren’t big names in either of those promotions, but it could have been a great match back in the day. You’d think a hair vs hair match between the two would have been an obvious place to go with them after being unmasked.

So yea… check this out. If you are at all interested in lucha libre this is a must watch. I also think it’s not as complicated as some matches can be. I mentioned yesterday the trios match we looked at happened on the same day 20 minutes south of Arena Mexico in another Mexico City arena. I’d have to say comparing these two main events AAA’s had much more star power, but the better match was certainly this mask vs mask. Though, I think in most cases a singles mask vs mask match is going to be better than a trios match with nothing on the line. Still, I liked both matches, this one would be the higher rated for me even if Infernales vs Dinamitas is a great feud and brawl.