Every since I saw the all-time classic mask match between Villano III and Atlantis, I have been fascinated by Villano III. He was so amazing in that match, and him wearing pink while his brother’s wore black is endearing to me. One of my biggest regrets about the Greatest Wrestler Ever project on Pro Wrestling Only was that I didn’t put enough time into watching the rest of Villano III’s career. Hopefully I can find the time now, with this blog.
“Pink Panther” Villano III had a long feud with Rambo and it culminates here in a “luchas de apuestas” match where Villano puts his mask against Rambo’s hair. A weird touch to start is Villano has a Pink Panther mascot with him, while Rambo has a Catwoman.
1st & 2nd Fall:
The first two falls were very traditional lucha, but very quick. Rambo ambushes and beats Villano to a bloody pulp then makes him submit. In the second fall, Villano makes his comeback in really quick finish to tie this up..
3rd Fall:
This is where the bulk of the match takes place and it’s a dramatic, bloody, and violent fall with a really great finish.
Villano gets really close to retaining with a super top-rope DDT. A really great spot, you don’t see often. I don’t know why I love that move in particular, but it always looks deadly!
Afterwards, Rambo got really mean in this fall, tearing Villano’s mask almost off and just beating him down. He easily looked in control and then we got a Savage-Warrior, WrestleMania 7 tribute spot, as Rambo hits a series of flying elbows off the top for a really close fall.
After some more intense brawling we move into the best version of a Dusty finish I have ever seen. Rambo hits a series of butt attacks, until Villano finally dodges one. However, Rambo’s butt wipes out the referee. Rambo misses a squash in the corner, and Villano goes to the top for a finishing move. Rambo sneaks up behind, hits the illegal low blow and hooks on a deadly submission. Referee gets up and calls for the bell.
The crowd is shocked as Villano seemingly submitted and lost his famous mask, but the referee, it turns out, saw the low blow and disqualified Rambo. Giving Villano the win and forcing Rambo to lose his hair.
In Conclusion:
Another good apuestas match to add to Villano’s resume. A really good outing if you like a dramatic brawl, but not one of those all-time classics. A really good match that would be borderline MOTYC.
Rating: **** 1/4
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