Television Time Remaining: Pirata Morgan in Hidalgo and my own personal history with wrestling.

Pirata Morgan spanking Corazon de Barrio.

It was Mexican Independence Day this past Saturday, and Promociones Salinas presented a free lucha libre event at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. The main event featured Pirata Morgan, or as he’s been calling himself “El Mejor Luchador del Mundo” (“The Best Wrestler in the World”) for decades, teaming up with Super Parka, who is the uncle of the famous L.A. Park (the original La Parka that was in AAA in the early 1990’s and WCW in the late 1990’s). The two rudos took on the técnico team of Corazón de Barrio and Hijo de Mascara Sagrada.

In his prime during the 1980’s and 1990’s, Morgan was legitimately one of the best wrestlers in Mexico, and someone who could do a little bit of everything. He’s best known for his blood soaked brawls with El Dandy, El Volador, El Faraon, Masakre, and Los Brazos. Now at 55 years of age, he gets on by with his tremendous charisma, beyond vulgar trash talking, great looking and sounding strikes, and a unique connection with his audience. Legends who gave their body and dropped buckets upon buckets of blood during their long and storied careers will always have a special place in the hearts of lucha libre fans.

As is the case with traditional lucha libre, the técnicos and rudos were one fall a piece as they entered the third and deciding fall. Morgan started using weapons he found at ringside, including a “Caution: Floor Is Wet” sign to batter his foes, even spanking Barrio with it. The kids screamed when the rudos were in control, and went wild when Barrio and Sagrada made their comeback, punishing Morgan, Parka, and the corrupt referee with the very “Caution: Floor Is Wet” sign that was used against them. “Una sopa de su propio chocolate” (“A taste of their own medicine”) is something always pleases a crowd. The good guys one, the bad guys lost, and most importantly, the kids went home happy.

After the match, the rowdy Morgan turned into a gentleman as he sold shirts, cute little dolls of himself, and took selfies with anyone that was interested. One shirt had a Spanish saying that basically translated to: “Today is a good day to [expletive] you up.” An older woman near me laughed and shook her head when she read it. The crew packed up, and did it all over again for another crowd of fans at Rio Grande City later that day.

It’s been a great year for professional wrestling in 2017, and I’ve been lucky enough to go to many shows this year, from local lucha libre events to EVOLVE, NXT and the WWE Royal Rumble in San Antonio to the Scenic City Invitational in Tennessee. It’s been a blast and it’s been making me think of my own personal history with wrestling. I’m a fan of a lot of things, and share many interests, but nothing has caught my attention quite like wrestling has for the past 20 plus years. 

Recently I was talking to my dad on the phone and I brought up how I was watching WWE Monday Night Raw, and he asks, “Te acuerdas cuando fuimos a ver Andre The Giant y el Ultimate Warrior.” (“Do you remember when we went to see Andre The Giant and the Ultimate Warrior?”)

He was referring to a WWF (now called WWE) event in Edinburg, at the Pan American University Fieldhouse on September 1, 1989. The card featured Mission native Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Jim Duggan, Haku, The Rockers, and a short 30-second main event between the Ultimate Warrior and Andre The Giant. The Ultimate Warrior quickly beat Andre The Giant, who was near the end of his Hall of Fame career.

I laughed and answered, “No pos, tenia no mas 3 años, no me acuerdo.” (“No well, I was only 3 years old, I don’t remember.”)

He laughs and confirms I was sleeping next to him and my older brother Angel Pablo for most of the show. Decades later I very much regret that I slept through that experience.

I caught various glimpses of wrestling over the early 1990’s, and loved playing with my older brother’s WrestleMania NES video game, action figures, and a pair of board games that WWF and the Texas-based WCCW released during the 1980’s. My dad and older brother were big fans of “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and when my little brother Christian was born in 1990, he got the middle name “Randy” because of that.

In 1993, I started watching a little bit of wrestling on my own, specifically WWF, and bought some trading cards of WCW, that I still have lying around somewhere. But it wasn’t until 1995 where I just got hooked, and never looked back.

One Thursday night, October 19, 1995 to be exact, I was channel surfing and came across the USA Network. They were showing a replay of a WWF Monday Night Raw episode that had originally been broadcast on October 16, 1995. The main event was a steel cage match between Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Isaac Yankem, DDS, an evil dentist that Jerry “The King” Lawler brought in to do his dirty work. Lawler’s interfering led to him being placed in a ‘Shark Cage’, and eventually Hart overcame Yankem by escaping the big blue cage. For whatever reason, this really silly match just resonated so much with me as a kid. From that point on, I kept watching wrestling week after week, catching Raw, WCW Monday Nitro on the TNT Network, and lucha libre.

During an episode of Raw, commercials began airing for a local wrestling event that was taking place in Harlingen, at what was then called the Harlingen Field. I convinced my dad to buy us tickets at the local HEB, and I ended up attending with him, and my two brothers. This is what I constantly refer to as my first live wrestling experience. The card consisted of mostly regional talent like Scott Putski, Black Bart, but the real draws of the show were the Guerrero Brothers  — Chavo and Hector Guerrero.

By that point, I had already become a big fan of Eddie Guerrero on WCW television, so I was excited to go see his older brothers wrestle in person. But what I didn’t know at the time was how experienced and great Chavo and Hector were, both as a tag team and in singles competition. That was the highlight of the night, seeing the Guerrero’s tear it up inside a ring that had the “Valley Morning Star” logo on the apron skirt. The peak moment for me was when the Guerreros busted out the “Estrellita” llave, a hold that is usually only seen in Mexico or in lucha libre influenced Japanese promotions. Just like my most recent experience, the wrestlers all hung out afterwards, and I got an autograph from the Guerreros on a program I had bought at the event.

Since then, I’ve been blessed to continue to go to so many wrestling events, seeing everyone from El Hijo del Santo to Ric Flair to Eddie Guerrero to the Undertaker to Perro Aguayo to John Cena. Like Miguel Angel Salinas was telling me right before his event this past Saturday, it’s a very addicting experience. From that first show I went to with Los Guerreros to this last one with Pirata Morgan, there’s nothing quite as fun as going to a wrestling show. I’ve been to a major UFC show, to big boxing fights, to Spurs games, and I’ve had a great time at all those events, but there is something special when it comes to a wrestling event, whether it’s in front of 50 people at the pulga or in front of 50,000 people at the Alamodome.

In the coming weeks, I’m going to be sharing more and more about the current independent wrestling scene here in the Valley and beyond. There is just so much great stuff happening in 2017, and I think it deserves to be documented and covered. As for now, time has run out, but tune in next week for more on the independent wrestling scene of 2017.

Los Guerreros in Harlingen back in 1996.