JJZ: If I didn't know better and just put this on cold I would think this was a 1999 ECW fan cam. Besides the ECW alumni just the feel of the match and crowd would do it. Now I don't recall La Parka ever wrestling in ECW but he would have fit in just fine. I fucking loved this match. Chris you know me as well as anyone and you know my eternal love flame for the original ECW. I felt like I was sitting at the Arena one more time and just got totally lost in the action. I've never been crazy about La Parka so I wanted to find a match of his I liked but I found one I loved instead. Really hope you feel the same.
CJD: Damn that's a svelte La Parka. This match had serious ECW vibes indeed, which early MLW was clearly going for. So many promotions were. I'm surprised how successful they were here though and I have to credit La Parka for the majority of that. He came into this match like it was the chance of a lifetime. I don't know if it was respect for Sabu, faith in Court Bauer, or wanting to give the hundreds and hundreds in Fort Lauderdale their money's worth. But boy did he. Sabu is more than game as well and Joey is great on commentary. This really should feel like an ECW rehash but they captured some of that magic. This had that "what is going to happen next??" atmosphere that takes a dream match from a novelty to something special.
CJD: This match is the reason PIF is the gift that keeps giving. When I get a match in my inbox from you it brightens up my day, but when I research a match to play forward it also pushes me to dig deeper in certain areas than I would normally. This is one of those times, I watched some good Rey that I'd be happy to share, but I've been really digging older lucha lately and I decided to go in that direction instead. I mentioned last week that I avoided lucha in the 90s. It's not that I didn't try, Rey/Psicosis was one of my favorite feuds. So I bought a three volume Best of AAA tape set because it only stood to reason that if they were having these great matches in ECW, in WAR, in WCW, well then the original stuff in Mexico was going to blow my mind. And I kept reading about how revolutionary AAA was around the time. And man I tried. This match might have even been on one of those tapes. And if so, when there had seemingly been 5 arbitrary falls with no rhyme or reason by the time the 3rd fall started, with two refs who barely can make a 3 count, and hardly any dives, I probably would have thrown my hands up in disgust, popped it out, and switched over to some quality wrestling like a Matsunaga VS Great Kojika poison blowfish deathmatch.
But now it's 2020! And I understand that a captain dropping a fall trumps all 3 team members needing to go down. I understand that yes, 95% of the time when one team member drops a fall, they all coincidentally happen to. I understand these refs are probably former technicos and rudos and showing them respect as part of the performance is part of the culture. I understand that high flying is the highlight, not the rule. And I understand not to overthink lucha so damn much, not to question, just to enjoy and go along for the ride.
And yet still, I'm not going to lie, this match had me saying "what the fuck?!" up until the last possible second, but in the best way possible. This match has stories within stories. It has hijinks galore. It has jaw dropping spots. It has stuff that will frustrate you. It has stuff that will make you laugh. It was a revelation I'm so glad years of match sharing brought me to this week. I wasn't ready for 90s AAA in my parents' basement as a teenager. But damnit I'm ready for it now with my daughter napping on my chest as a grown ass man. Well maybe not three VHS' worth. And now that he's on my mind, I wonder how I can lead us back to some Great Kojika matches soon...
JJZ: Man, this match was much more vicious than I thought it would be. I was definitely expecting a car crash but this was a seven car pile up that shut down 95. I will echo some thoughts of your review. More than a few times I thought what the fuck is going on. But in between my head scratching these holy shit moments keep taking place. I know I could rewatch this match right now and catch serval new things I didn't pick up on last time. The agression between Lizmark and LA Park jumped off the screen. Eddie and Rey's smoothness shined through even during the confusing parts of this match. Heavy Metal and Psicosis were nice bases that played their roles perfectly. With all of this talent in the ring you couldn't take your eyes off the screen for a second. Matches like these are made to be rewatched over and over again.
