Los Thundercats vs. Trio Fantasia (and other Dream Matches!)

LOS THUNDERCATS.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! And I have a TRUE atrocity for you today, as someone clued me in to more Monterrey, Mexico Indie Sleaze, as a team of guys dressed as the THUNDERCATS are masked heels and take on Trio Fantasia- three guys decked out to appeal to children as Pinocchio, a Doll/Clown, and MIGHTY MOUSE! So yes, it’s Thundercats fighting Mighty Mouse in not one, but TWO matches- a long Trios Match and then a Masks vs. Masks match to pay off their feud. It doesn’t get much more “outlaw mudshow” than THIS.

Next up it’s a look at the fathers of two current WWE superstars in the “Bloodline” angle as I take a look at both Sika and the Tonga Kid. Sika teams up with Kamala to face the Can-Am Connection shortly after WrestleMania III as a Wrestling Challenge main event, then it’s The Tonga Kid vs. The Masked Superstar! Tama vs. Ax! Finally, it’s one last look at Rusty Brooks and Jumbo Baretta in GWA, as they take on some truly amazing doughy jobbers!

MONTERREY TRIOS TITLES:
LOS THUNDERCATS (Lion-O, Panthro & Tigra) vs. TRIO FANTASIA (Super Muneco, Super Raton & Super Pinocho):
(Monterrey, Mexico, Dec. 8th 1991)
* Oh yeah, that’s right. LOS THUNDERCATS. So Monterrey was apparently always this den of Indie Sleaze and guys ripping off stuff from other media and naming wrestlers after it, so we have “Los Thundercats”, this being three guys in cheap Thundercats uniforms, complete with masks. At least they have the full bodysuits on, making everyone recognizable. Lion-O’s the biggest one and not Panthro, and Tigra has leopard print, but baby-steps. Trio Fantasia are a trio of children’s fiction-themed guys (I initially assumed Disney because of the name and the Mouse & Pinocchio, but it just means “Fantasy Trio”)- “Super Doll”, “Super Mouse” and “Super Pinocchio”, more or less. Super Raton looks like one of those horrifying Mickey Mouses seen at Disneyland in the 1950s, with the misshapen head fit too tightly around the face. Though actually he’s more obviously a Mighty Mouse rip-off, with red trunks over a yellow bodysuit. Pinocho looks like he’s in some kind of horrifying gimp-suit with a yellow shirt and suspenders. Muneco is just a generic clown design. Their whole concept is I guess to be child-friendly while dressing like the stuff of nightmares.

PRIMERA CAIDA: Tigra/Pinocho start us off, both showing actual training but like… they’re WAY too slow and clunky, at points going so loose you can see air through a guy’s arms on the headlock. It’s an interesting combination of “they’re obviously trained” and “they’re going so light nobody could possibly think this was real”. Panthro/Raton exchange those theatrical lucha snapmares and Raton works the leg. Panthro counters a grounded facelock with a short back body drop that still looks like it HURT (that ring looks concrete-hard), then takes a bump on it himself and sells it a while before they shake hands and are out. Muneco/Lion-O is next, with Lion-O working an “arm under the armpit” hold, then Muneco gets an armscissors that they work for a while. There’s a BIG to-do about Lion-O kicking free (I guess this is not allowed? Hey, this relates to the “NWA Rules” post a couple days ago! B.O.D. SYNERGY!). Panthro & Raton do a FAST lucha rolling sequence as I dunno what’s weirder- that I’m watching Panthro fight Mighty Mouse or that they both seem to be ACTUALLY TRYING. Panthro saves it by falling on his ass at one point, though. Tigra backdrops Pinocho to the floor, but when he runs off the other side HE gets backdropped, then Muneco backdrops Pinocho onto him! This sets up the final sequence, as Lion-O submits to a shitty sharpshooter/wristlock and Panthro eats a backslide from Raton at (9:38).

SEGUNDA CAIDA: Lion-O/Muneco do an elaborate, decent fake-out sequence, then Panthro gets into it with Pinocho and the refs have to separate everybody. ANOTHER fight breaks out, this one with some punches, but Lion-O & Muneco try a bit… then start clotheslining each other with their wrist/hands and get dumped, so we get a quadruple-headlock into Panthro & Tigra stopping before they’re whipped into each other and get Pinocho to dropkick Raton, and a Torture Rack/Grounded Octopus finish them at (3:45). Lion-O weakly shoves Muneco and hits the worst Stretch Plum I’ve ever seen in my life and I guess that counts, too? Dunno.

TERCERA CAIDA: Tigra works a hold on Raton, who of course no longer suffers from Magical Insta-Tap-Out problems since it’s the third fall, and hits a pair of nasty bulldogs. Backslide gets two, but Tigra gets a Boston crab and everyone hits the ring and it’s a pullapart brawl! Muneco nearly loses his mask! Lion-O drops an elbow on his dick and gets a warning from the referee as Los Thundercats are being DICKS here. Pinocho nearly has his mask torn off but Panthro eats a back body drop from Raton, who stretches him until Tigra puts him on the floor. Lion-O with another elbow to the dick! Tigra with one to Pinocho! Everyone starts trading off with weak half-missed dropkicks and Pinocho hits a TOPE on Panthro! Raton misses a slingshot attack and Tigra misses a move that couldn’t have possibly hit, but Raton goes for a victory roll and Tigra drops back in an electric chair drop for three! Lion-O then harmlessly jacknifes Muneco after a weak corner bump and that’s the pin at (6:06) for the whole match! Trio Fantasia raise hell about the various rules violations but get beaten down.

This was a weird one- not as bad or as botchy as I was hoping for, but instead pretty weak mostly because the guys involved just aren’t agile or skilled enough to work the “traditional lucha match” they’re going for and instead just ACTUALLY TRYING and failing at it because they’re a bit clunky, stiff and bulky. However, they pull out a couple half-decent sequences in the back of the first fall, making me think they were conserving cardio to avoid blowing up for their important bits later on. Spending the second fall just arguing with each other also saves them like five minutes of work. The last fall has Los Thundercats doing all this cheating, drawing heat but getting forgiven for mask-tearing and nutsack-based offense. This presumably sets up a Mask vs. Mask Match which comes later.

Rating: 1/2* (just for the fact that they TRIED sometimes. It was clunky and very not-good throughout, but Panthro & Raton in particular looked like they knew what they were doing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z-_N-53dD8&t=47s&ab_channel=LuchaClick

MASK VS. MASK
MONTERREY TRIOS TITLES:
LOS THUNDERCATS (Lion-O, Panthro & Tigra) vs. TRIO FANTASIA (Super Muneco, Super Raton & Super Pinocho):
(Monterrey, Mexico, Dec. 8th 1991)
* The legendary feud reaches a climax with a Masks vs. Masks match! Also this time you have to pin everyone on a team, not just the captain or his two seconds! Because reasons! The VHS transfer here is absolute ass.

PRIMERA CAIDA: It’s a big brawl to start, with Los Thundercats triple-teaming each opponent separately, Raton not selling a clothesline until well after it was struck as a particular highlight. Pinocho is easily pinned with a huge back body drop into a turning splash from Tigra, Raton is pinned with a Panthro flying cross-body (sorta) and Lion-O taps out Muneco with a camel clutch (2:36).

SEGUNDA CAIDA: Los Thundercats enact another huge beating, just eating these guys alive, but Panthro gets his mask shredded and Lion-O is tossed into the stands by Muneco, who hits the ring for a triumphant beating on Tigra, who gets double-backdropped and hit with Raton’s “flying headbutt” (Tigra’s still standing and Raton kinda hits him and lands at the same time) and backslid for three while Lion-O is tapped out, and Panthro is hit with Pinocho’s flying turning splash for three (3:30).

TERCERA CAIDA: We start with chaos as everyone beats on each other, guys interrupting other beatings to lay out their own. Guys are just RIPPING at Tigra’s mask, then ask the fans to move so they can launch him through the chairs on the ground. Oh my god did Tigra BLADE? Holy shit, Panthro did, too! It’s so gory I can even see it on this horrible VHS transfer! Tigra suddenly fires up like nuts as Lion-O goes on the nutsack attack! Ballshots galore! Which is PSYCHOLOGY~~ because it happened in the last match and he didn’t get punished for it! Sadly, the awesomeness can’t last because everyone has TOTALLY run out of gas and now they’re doing the “Royal Rumble Lazy Lean” on each other. Raton is so beaten-down he bails, returning and getting teabagged by Tigra. Raton accidentally nails Muneco and Tigra dives into Pinocho, and Panthro misses a huge flying move and nearly gets beat- Lion-O saves him. Pinocho misses a flying move now and Tigra hits a missile dropkick to Muneco, but he moves and Panthro’s hits Tigra. Pinocho with a huge plancha! Panthro climbs, but gets taken down with a Super Electric Chair Drop (Jesus Christ! In THIS ring?!) and Panthro is done! Muneco misses a flying move, but so does Lion-O and he gets wrapped up and submits at (8:16)! And that’s the match! Wait, did I miss Tigra get beat? Is it Captain’s Fall only? In any case, Trio Fantasia win and Los Thundercats unmask! Lion-O is now friends with Muneco, shaking hands after the fact.

haha, I like how this one is just a brawl. No flow to it at all- just guys punching each other and tearing at masks out of pure hate you can only get from a battle between Thundercats, Mighty Mouse & Pinocchio. Because the brawl is kept so simple, nobody was clunky enough to ruin it- it’s just that their cardio runs out early and so they end up doing the “Walk & Brawl”, get tired, lean on each other, etc. But shit like “someone missile dropkicks his partner and the babyface FLIES onto them on the floor” is good shit. Lion-O does all this cheating but gets his comeuppance, too. Tragically, he apparently dies three days after this match, according to translated YouTube comments. I can’t find out based off of Googling it. On the Pro Wrestling Only boards, there’s apparently disagreement about this, with the first couple who saw it LOVING IT and the others being underwhelmed, which fits- I mean, it’s just a bunch of guys punching each other with only a little excitement in the last fall- decent brawling and spots at points but hardly a masterpiece.

Rating: ** (100 times better than I expected it to be, especially after the first match)

Kamala/Sika appears to be a randomly-generated undercard heel team during 1987.

THE CAN-AM CONNECTION (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk) vs. KAMALA & SIKA (w/ Kim Chee & Mr. Fuji):
(WWF Wrestling Challenge, May 1987)
* From the main event of WWF Wrestling Challenge comes the Can-Am Connection taking on Kamala & Sika! Sika was verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry much a JTTS at this point, doing jobs for SAM HOUSTON of all people on the house show circuit around this time. He was a burly 300+ lb. monster by now. Kamala had done a run against Hulk Hogan early in 1987 but by this point was cycling through midcard guys and losing as much as he won. This match went around the horn for a month or so, so this is probably its TV blow-off.

Kamala jumps the Can-Ams before the bell and we’re off already- Sika is late coming in but the Can-Ams get dumped (the camera almost misses Fuji jab Martel with his cane). Sika holds Zenk so Kamala can just sandwich him between the two, but they try again in the corner and SPLAT goes Sika, who faceplants in front of a shocked Kamala, who then takes a great bump going over the top when Martel charges in with a dropkick. Martel unloads on Sika, doing an excessive amount of clapping between shots to the point where it looks like he’s flailing around, then does repeated armlocks, but Sika comes back with a headbutt on Zenk. Kamala adds two short thrust-kicks and immediately tags out- Zenk continues to take a beating but just kinda falls back into a tag to Martel, who is somehow able to take on BOTH giants at once, but a double corner whip sees Kamala flatten Martel. They set up Zenk for the finish (a slam/splash combo), but Martel’s on the floor and trips up Kamala, then goes up for a Flying Cross-Body on Sika and pins him at (4:19). Monsoon bemoans him not being legal, but he actually IS- Zenk made no tag to come in. To be fair the match was a mess after a point. The crowd loves that finish, but the heels attack to get some heat back, hitting that Splash on Zenk. Kamala GOES UP (!), but Martel decks Fuji and grabs his cane, wiping out the heels with it, complete with blasting Kim Chee on the top of the pith helmet! Great stuff- makes the heels look a bit weak, but they’re being de-emphasized so who cares? It makes the babyfaces look GREAT, which is the point.

It’s an interesting look at the “tag formula” when they do these short matches- Martel gets two separate hot tags and then saves Zenk a THIRD time, with the heels only getting a pittance of offense because it’s only 4 minutes long. It’s funny seeing two 300+ lb. guys bouncing around for the lighter weight babyfaces, but that’s how she goes when you’re on the low end of the pecking order. Everyone did okay- even Kamala had a really good bump in there and Sika was at worst kind of “interrupt-y”, throwing shots at the same side Zenk was.

Rating: ** (your everday tag match- short but sweet with no real chance to get boring or dreary)

THE MASKED SUPERSTAR vs. THE TONGA KID:
(WWF Superstar Championship Wrestling, Dec. 10th 1983)
* So I go looking for Tonga Kid matches, and the first thing I find is Bill “Ax” Eadie as the Masked Superstar! I’ve never seen him in this context before. I’ve seen so little of Tonga Kid I can’t remember if he’s a Koko B. Ware-tier job guy or a Jim Powers-tier job guy. He’s a generic, pretty undersized guy in black trunks and bare feet here, and wow does he look like Rikishi. Oh duh- I forgot he was his actual twin brother. I thought that was Tama! *reads further* Wait, this IS Tama! Goddammit- Samoan family relations in wrestling. So here he’s “Jimmy Snuka’s Cousin” from the Tonga Isles, but later gets repackaged as one of the Islanders alongside Haku. Superstar’s in a black “Andre singlet” with the one strap and a white & black mask. He’s way taller and stronger-looking than his lithe opponent.

Very standard opening with Tonga using speed to roll away and then dropkick Superstar down twice, leading the heel to beg off. Superstar blatantly grabs the hair to push Tonga to the ropes, but gets knocked down with a chop and begs off again as we see a group of fans with “masks” (brown paper bags with suspiciously similar designs on them) to “taunt” the Masked Superstar. HOLY CRAP these ropes are loose- Superstar kicks them to pout and the whole set-up ripples like limp noodles. Then Tonga Kid does the hugest bump off a simple back elbow I’ve ever seen, planting himself on his upper shoulders and rolling ass-over-teakettle and flailing around Steamboat-style selling the throat. Yeah, that’s “PUSH ME, Vince!” attitude, right there. He flails around while Superstar works the throat as Vince & Bruno discuss who the first masked wrestler was- Vince remembers the Golden Superman while Bruno thinks it’s the Masked Marvel. Tonga Kid comes back by dodging an elbow and hitting a headbutt, but flies onto the mat trying a dive out of the corner and the Masked Superstar dusts him off with a Swinging Neckbreaker at (2:57).

A very simple match, but still maintained a structure considering the shortened match time- Tonga Kid dominates to start, the Superstar catches him with a veteran move to work him over so the kid can sell, then Tonga gets a quick comeback but makes one risk too many and gets finished like a jobber. So he was a job guy but one who actually got offense.

Rating: *1/2 (a very quick little deal but solid for what it was)

RUSTY BROOKS & JUMBO BARETTA vs. GILL CANATELLA & RODDY BARNES:
(GWA, 1986?)
* I just had to- the last Rusty/Baretta match I found when checking. And it’s a squash! And OH MY GOD look at these jobbers- Canatella is a ridiculous dad-bod guy with a huge gut and light blue tights, while Barnes has a shapeless mass of a torso with low nipples- the saddest look. He’s got black tights with red stripes, and both guys have the most awful 1980s ‘staches with bowl-cut hair. The heels jump them before the bell just to be assholes.

Baretta hits a splash on poor Barnes and throws sloppy European uppercuts, and then Rusty GRABS A CHAIR and they get DQ’d at (0:49) as he wipes out Canatella, then babies a shot in on Barnes because he was out of position to take the shot- what a mensch. Everyone knows jobbers don’t have souls and he still wanted to protect the guy. The ref gets chased off and Brooks cuts an impassioned promo about how Boris won’t give him a title shot. Boris comes out and accepts the challenge, so long as the heels agree to never challenge for the belts again if they lose. That’s okay with Brooks. Hey, that’s kind of a babyface move- very confident and brave!

Rating: DUD (not even a match!)