Jose Casas Ruiz was born on 1/10/60 in Mexico City. Casas quickly stood out from the crowd through his slick ring work, but also because he was one of the only Mexican wrestlers who didn't start off under a mask. His in ring debut on 8/19/79 came unprepared, as his father supposedly didn't show up, so the promoter threatened to have him banned if Casas didn't wrestle in his place. Casas thus wrestled in his street clothes as "Pepe Casas Jr.", winning the match and finding out when it was over that it was a ruse perpetrated by his father and Raul Reyes, who trained aspiring wrestlers together. Casas eventually chose the name Negro Casas as his wrestling name (‘negro’ means ‘black’ in Spanish), but never donned a hood. He is the son of wrestler/trainer/referee Pepe ‘Tropi’ Casas, and the brother of wrestlers Heavy Metal (Erick Casas) and Felino (Jorge Casas).

Negro Casas’ main rivalry was againt Hijo del Santo, but one shouldn’t overlook his rivalry with Ultimo Dragon, which was another feud that produced some of Casas’ most memorable matches. Casas is, of course, much more at home in his native lucha libre style than the Japanese style, but with Dragon, who trained extensively in Mexico, they were able to bridge the gap and have strong matches both in Japan and in Mexico. Casas was one of the important luchadors helping to bridge the gap between lucha libre and puroresu, initially touring with Gran Hamada's pioneering purolucha league Universal, but quickly getting scooped up by New Japan, where he made several tours throughout the 90's and into the early 00's.

Casas was also important for training a wide variety of wrestlers from his family members such as brother Heavy Metal and nephew Felino Jr. to Mexican stars such as Konnan & Ricky Marvin to foreigners Chris Jericho, Rocky Romero, TJP to women such as Cinthia Moreno & Dalys la Caribeña.

Casas was one of CMLL’s biggest stars between 1992 and 2023. Prior to CMLL being his home league, he wrestled for various other leagues, including LLI (a.k.a. UWA). Not many wrestlers can headline shows that will sell tickets in their mid 50s, and far less can put on a reasonable match when they do.

After having been loyal to CMLL since 1992, Casas surprisingly started appearing in rival league AAA in 2023.

One of the biggest problems in researching his career is the fact that very little footage of Casas’ 1980s work is available for (re)viewing.

In spite of this problem, based on what limited footage is available of the first twelve years or so of his career, Casas appeared to be one of the very best Mexican luchadores (if not THE best) of the 1980s and early 1990s. Along with his reputation of being one of the top Mexican luchadores during his best years (1986-1996), he is also known for his tremendous longevity as an active pro wrestler.

Casas wrestled thousands of pro wrestling matches over a span of more than forty five years. He wrestled in six different decades. Even after more than forty five years of wrestling, at well past the age of 60, he’s still a relevant and legendary name in lucha libre. All in all, his longevity is certainly one of his strongest points when you look at the overall impact he has made in pro wrestling. 

That being said, it's debatable whether or not his work past 1995/1996 is overrated, but we'll have a closer look at the in-ring quality of his career a bit later on in this article.

Negro Casas’ nickname is ‘el 4:40’ (el cuatro cuarenta) because of his excellence as a luchador being the tuning standard everyone in lucha should aspire to tune to (just like 440hz has been established as the tuning standard in modern music). 

Now let's have a look at more than 40 of his best matches!

WWA 9/20/86 Los Angeles, California Olympic Auditorium, WWA Welterweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Fuerza Guerrera 17:19 (5:15, 3:09, 8:55). The match started off with some solid mat wrestling. They really kept taking it to each other. At some point, went for a quick sprint with some more spectacular stuff that resulted in Casas winning the first fall after Casas flipped backwards off the top rope, landed on his feet, executed a quebradora and then used la casita to score the pinfall. Fuerza won the second fall, which was a fall that was a bit slower and saw Fuerza pretty much dominate. The third fall initially didn’t have as much urgency and action as hoped, but they made up for it during the final minutes when they started bumping and diving wilder as the third fall went on. Casas hit a tope suicida and Fuerza hit a plancha off the top to the floor. There were several near falls towards the final minutes of the match. The match was going back and forth. In the end, Casas retained the title. Both men had given an excellent performance, and it appears these two were wrestling faster and more exciting than most luchadores at the time. Casas showed that he really understood how to make a match more dramatic by doing the right thing at the right time. Excellent match. ****  

WWA 7/18/87 Los Angeles, California Olympic Auditorium, Hair vs. Mask: Negro Casas vs. Hijo del Santo 15:37 (2:34, 4:23, 8:40). The match started off with a bang, as Hijo del Santo armdragged Negro Casas, and Casas bumped big for it and went underneath the bottom rope into the metal guardrail at ringside. Casas was great in his role as rudo, making sure that Santo got the opportunities to look like a superhero. Despite Santo doing well in the first fall, Casas pinned Santo to win the first fall via la casita. Casas celebrated, really putting over that he was now confident that things were going his way. When the second fall started, things were indeed going Casas’ way, as he was firmly in control for a few minutes. Casas got overconfident, and when he put his head down, this was an opportunity for Santo to fight back. Casas bumped big as he bumped off the ropes while upside down after being kicked into the ropes by Santo. This was a truly spectacular bump. Santo then placed Casas in la tapatia for the win in the second fall.  The third fall was the most action-packed fall. Casas executed a dropkick in a superb and gracious manner. Casas started becoming more aggressive though, as he tried to rip Santo’s mask. There were several pinfall attempts by both workers. Santo dropkicked Casas to the floor and followed up immediately with a tope suicida. Santo went for the camel clutch, but Casas resisted. Santo decided to put Casas in la tapatia again, but Casas got out of the hold. Casas took a bump over the top rope to the floor after being back body dropped to the floor. Santo immediately hit a tope off the top rope to the floor onto Casas. Finally, Santo managed to apply the camel clutch, despite Casas trying his best to fight it off, and Casas had no chance but to submit. This was an exciting and interesting match from start to finish. It’s the best lucha match of the 1980s that we have available. The match had excellent drama that was built up well. The match also had great athleticism and spectacular highspots that felt ahead of their time. Great match! ***** 

EMLL 8/25/89 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & Blue Panther & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Super Astro & Ciclon Ramirez & Apolo Dantes. Negro Casas bumped in a spectactacular way for Super Astro and Ciclon Ramirez. Astro gave a strong showing in this match, displaying his exciting high flying skills. Astro worked particularly well with Blue Panther. Apollo Dantes gave a solid performance. Emilio Charles Jr. was okay, as he took some bumps that looked quite decent. The tecnicos won the first fall. The rudos won the second fall, which was basically just the rudos being in control mainly through brawling. At some point in the third fall, after the rudos were once again in control through their brawling tactics, Casas attempted coming off the top rope, but Astro dropkicked him in midair. Ramirez hit a big tope con giro on Charles. Casas went for a dive off the top, but Dantes moved out of the way. Things were seemingly going well for the tecnicos, but the rudos quickly countered and scored the win. Good match. *** 

ACASA 1990 Juarez Gimnasio Municipal: Negro Casas & Blue Panther vs. Eddy Guerrero & Hijo del Santo 23:05 (10:10, 5:27, 7:28). This match possibly took place in the month of January or February of 1990, but this is simply a guess on my part. Some sources say 1987, but that doesn’t feel right. There was another match these two teams had against each other in Juarez, but that one took place in November 1989 prior to Eddy Guerrero defeating Negro Casas in a hair vs. hair match at some point around December 1989 or January 1990. Either way, I’m pretty sure this particular tag match I’m reviewing here took place prior to Negro Casas’ Universal tour in March 1990. This match started off nicely with Eddy Guerrero and Blue Panther displaying some good mat wrestling. Panther was a particularly smooth mat wrestler, but Guerrero certainly held up his own during the counter wrestling sequences. Once Negro Casas and Hijo del Santo were tagged in, they displayed arguably even better mat wrestling, especially because they put over the struggle more, as opposed to mostly just focusing on smoothly executed moves. Eddy had only been in the business for a couple of years at this point, but this second-generation wrestler clearly showed tons of potential already back in 1989/1990. Eddy’s father (Gori Guerrero) and Santo’s father (El Santo) used to be a legendary tag team known as La Pareja Atomica. When Eddy was in the ring with Casas, the pace quickened and there was less mat wrestling. Santo got to show some of his athletic ability, and it was the technico team of Guerrero & Santo that won the first fall. In the second fall, we got to see a bit more of the great Casas vs. Santo feud, and they showed a lot of resistance and struggle, really selling the idea that these two were in a competitive feud with one another. In particular Casas really made Santo try harder to apply a hold on him. The rudos eventually won the second fall. Eddy threw some well-placed kicks, which is something he wouldn’t really show much going forward in his career, as he seemingly would end up preferring to stomp his opponents instead. Some nice suplexes were being thrown. Guerrero went for a double-arm underhook suplex, but Casas made Eddy work hard for it, and Eddy eventually executed the move. Near the end of the match, Santo hit a tremendous tope suicida, and Eddy Guerrero hit a tremendous tope over the top rope to the floor. The wrestling displayed here was truly excellent lucha. Everything they did was done in such a smooth and well-executed manner. What probably kept this from potentially turning into a great match was the fact that the match had a relatively short finishing stretch, which was a finishing stretch that started kind of abruptly. This made it feel like the match had two parts, with the majority of the match featuring high-level wrestling that didn’t feel like it necessarily really led to anything and the short finishing stretch that served as a climax of sorts. Excellent match. ****   

Universal 3/2/90 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium: Negro Casas vs. Yoshihiro Asai 11:42. This was the semi-main event of the show (the main event was a good Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo match, which wasn’t as good as the very good Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo match from 3/5/90). Negro Casas and Yoshihiro Asai started this match off by two working several good lucha sequences together. Then there was a lot of random back-and-forth stuff that didn’t seem to necessarily lead to anything in particular. Things picked up again with the more spectacular lucha sequences a bit on later in the match. Basically any time they went to the mat, it felt more like they were killing time and/or just doing stuff for the sake of it. Things got a bit more heated when they engaged in a short but fired-up slap exchange. At least the pace was always consistently moderately fast, which ensured the match never felt dull, as there was always at least something happening at a more than acceptable pace. After Casas was knocked to the floor, Asai launched himself and hit a tope over the top rope onto Casas on the floor. After the action went back into the ring, Casas hit a cool-looking jumping spin kick. Casas also hit a cool-looking plancha off the top rope onto Asai on the floor. Once back into the ring, Asai was determined to take Casas out, as Casas was starting to get a bit too much of the upper hand in this bout. Asai hit a quebrada and was soon after able to beat Casas with a bridging German suplex. This was a solid match that really started taking off during the final minute or two. While it was enjoyable for what it was, it was at the same time also slightly disappointing when you consider these were on paper two of the best junior heavyweight workers in the world at the time. Luckily they would have a better match on 6/7/90. Good match. ***¼ 

Universal 3/5/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Negro Casas & Espanto Jr. vs. Super Astro & Lizmark 9:31. This match was a lot of fun. It was a Mexican lucha match in Japan in Gran Hamada’s lucharesu league Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre (Universal). Super Astro gave a strong showing here, displaying his tremendous high flying skills. Near the end of the match, Casas took a big bump to the floor and then got hit with a tremendous tope suicida by Super Astro. It feels like this match would have benefitted from a few more minutes of match time, but what we got here was certainly fun to watch. Everyone worked well here, but Super Astro was the true superstar here. Good match. ***¼ 

Universal 6/1/90, 2/3 Falls: Yoshihiro Asai & Kendo & El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas & Cuchillo & Fuerza Guerrera. Casas worked some good lucha sequences with Asai in the first fall, and he was on the receiving-end of an Asai moonsault. Asai and Santo were the most impressive workers of the match. Approx. 7 of 21 minutes shown. Decent match. **¾ 

WWA 1990 Gran Hamada & Yoshihiro Asai & El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas & Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera 7:20, 3:16, 3:45. This match presumably took place in WWA in the year 1990, as all sources simply say this took place in 1990. This match possibly took place in the month of April or May 1990, but this is simply a guess on my part. It was nice to see a Gran Hamada match from Mexico featuring other workers who could go in the ring. Hamada was able to work super fast lucha sequences with everyone, and showed that he was able to be an excellent in-ring performer in both Mexico and Japan at the time. The Mexican luchadores Hamada got to work with in this match were a lot more advanced than most of the luchadores he had to work with in the 1980s (at least, based on the matches that were available of Hamada's ‘80s work). We have to keep in mind that there's very little footage available of Hamada's work in Mexico from before the 1990s. Yoshihiro Asai and Blue Panther executed some beautiful fast-paced exchanges to start this match off in an excellent way.  Negro Casas and El Hijo del Santo stole the show in the first fall with their fast-paced lucha counters. One of the coolest spots in the match happened when Santo had Casas in La Tapatia (a.k.a. Romero Special), and Hamada jumped over them to execute a sunset flip on Fuerza Guerrera. Santo worked nice sequences with Fuerza. Of course, those two were pretty much arch-enemies. At some point in the match, Hamada and Casas worked at a lightning fast pace together. They didn't just show speed, they also showed intensity, and Hamada's headbutt on Casas certainly looked vicious. Overall, this was an excellent lucha libre match featuring six of the top names of 1990s lucha and everyone gave an excellent showing here. ****

Universal 6/7/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA World Middleweight Title: Yoshihiro Asai vs. Negro Casas 15:59. This was a more intense version of their 3/2/90 match. No matter whether they were on the mat or not, there was a certain sense of struggle, and things felt less random than in their previous match. The matwork here was title match-worthy. They were constantly trying to keep the upper hand and constantly trying to avoid letting the other get any real momentum. All the sequences looked smooth, and the execution generally was very good. At some point, Asai hit a nice tope over the top rope to the floor. A bit later on, Asai went for a quebrada, but Casas stepped aside. Casas was in control for the next few minutes and hit a plancha off the top to the floor onto Asai. Once back in the ring, the action started culminating into several near-fall sequences. Eventually, Asai hit a quebrada and pinned Casas via a bridging German suplex to win the match. Very good match. ***¾  

NJPW 12/26/90 Hamamatsu Arena. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Negro Casas 16:37. Casas started off with a bang, immediately attacking Liger with great urgency. Casas for some inexplicable reason was wearing the gear of his brother Felino. Speaking of unusual gear, this was the first time Liger wore black and gold gear. The match never really developed much beyond the initial urgency shown. Casas did hit a tremendous tope suicida though. This was wrestled like it was a lucha de apuestas match, with a lot of focus on selling and the feeling of this being a grudge match. However, this was in fact Negro Casas’ first appearance in NJPW. He came in with such a big reputation that he was allowed to challenge for Liger’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title (which was still quite a prestigious title back then) in his NJPW debut. On one hand, I love that Liger sold so much for Casas to make Casas look strong in his NJPW debut, but on the other hand, Liger could have pushed for a bit more of a dynamic match instead of this sort of straight-forward ‘my turn, your turn’ approach. The upside to this approach was that when Liger fought back, the fans went nuts (although the crowd was probably just particularly rabid to begin with that night). When Liger was on offense, this match was a lot more exciting, and this makes sense, since Casas at the time was stronger when there were lucha sequences that had him act more like a rudo base for a tecnico’s offense. This was kind of a unique and odd match, unlike most of the junior heavyweight matches in NJPW at the time. While it was disappointing considering the fact this was arguably a battle between the best Japanese wrestler and the best Mexican wrestler in the world at the time, the work was never less than good. And it was this oddness and unpredictability of this match that made it stand out in its own right. At times, the action was very good. However, it seemed the match rarely reached the excellence you’d hope for in this battle between these two international top stars. Still, there was enough sense of struggle to warrant viewing this match as more than just quite good. It’s not a pretty match, but what it lacks in prettiness, it makes up for in the grudge match aspect. Again, it’s odd that it felt like a grudge match when it was the first time they wrestled each other. However, this fits perfectly with the big introduction Casas got into NJPW by being presented like a top international star worthy of being a threat to Liger’s coveted title. Casas gave a good showing in his NJPW debut here, but it was Liger who truly stood out, as he adapted so well to Casas’ lucha style, understanding that he would have to approach this match in a different way than most of his previous big battles against guys like Naoki Sano and Pegasus Kid. This futher emphasizes the fact that Liger was a really strong candidate for Wrestler of the Year in 1990. By the way, watch the hand-held version if you want to see the complete version of this Liger vs. Casas match. Very good match. ***½  

LLI 1991 Nezahualcoyotl Arena Neza, UWA Middleweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Hijo del Santo 15:15 (3:22, 3:11, 8:42). This match was shown on a UWA Hijo del Santo commercial tape from the early ‘90s. It possibly took place in March 1991, but this is merely a guess on my part. Negro Casas really took to to Hijo del Santo on the mat during the first fall. However, being quite the accomplished technical wrestler himself, Santo was able to counter on several occasions. However, Casas was able to score a quick pinfall via la casita. In the second fall, Casas decided to keep going for a mat-based attack. Once again, Santo was able to turn things around, displaying his own grappling skills. After some more fast-paced action, Casas took a big bump, and Santo saw an opening to apply the camel clutch, which resulted in Santo winning the second fall. In the third fall, Santo was initially the aggressor, determined to make Casas submit once again. Towards the end of the match, Santo hit a tope suicida and a plancha off the top rope to the floor. Out of nowhere, Casas was able to find a way to apply a sasorigatame for the win. This was a very good match, but it wasn’t quite the classic you’d hope to see from these two. ***½ 

NJPW 4/15/91 Flying Scorpio & Owen Hart vs. Negro Casas & Black Cat 13:45. This was Negro Casas’ second match in NJPW. Scorpio showed lots of potential and was pretty good here, but not nearly as good as he would be in his best years (1992-1996). He still lacked the gracefulness that he would possess in his best years. This tour took place during the odd phase in Owen Hart’s career in which he no longer worked much in Canada since Stampede Wrestling had closed, so he was mainly doing random tours all over the place (Europe, Mexico, Japan and the United States). His career seemed to lack focus at this time, and he seemed to lack fire during this tour. Black Cat was a Mexican wrestler who could speak Spanish and Japanese, so he was useful for all the luchadores coming over to tour NJPW. As a worker, Cat wasn’t that special though. Some of the coolest moments of the match happened when Owen and Casas worked some interesting sequences together. The work in this match was generally pretty good, but it all felt random, and the match never really seemed to fully take off. Decent match. **¾  

NJPW 4/19/91 Okinawa Ounoyama Gymnasium, Top of the Super Juniors II: Negro Casas vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 6:52. Negro Casas did several cool-looking moves, and he tried to be more hard-hitting while mostly still doing lucha style offense. When Jushin Thunder Liger was able to fight back, he hit a tremendous somersault plancha to the floor. However, Casas scored a flash pin by using the ropes less than seven minutes into the match. The work was very good and the execution for the most part as well, but it was just a really short spotfest that was fun to watch. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 4/28/91 Omiya Skate Center, Top of the Super Juniors II: Negro Casas vs. Pegasus Kid 11:52. The work was very good, and this was almost twice as long as Negro Casas’ match with Jushin Thunder Liger nine days earlier, but the longer time didn’t result in more action. Pegasus Kid displayed some solid offense though. Pegasus hadn’t quite hit his peak yet, and he missed some of the intensity he would become known for. Good match. ***

WWA 5/17/91 Tijuana Auditorio Municipal, UWA World Welterweight Title: El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas. They didn’t rush things, as they took the time to really play out all the matwork sequences fully. Towards the end of the first fall, the pace quickened and they showed more of that tremendous chemistry they have together. Hijo del Santo ended up winning the first fall, and Casas won the second fall. In between the second and third fall, Casas gave Santo a low blow. Things got even more heated now. At some point in the third fall, Santo hit a tope suicida. Santo took revenge for what happened earlier and hit Casas with a low blow of his own. Santo tried to make Casas submit, but Casa showed his determination and hit a tope suicida. Both workers really put over the will to win. In the third fall, the referee disqualified Casas for repeatedly trying to choke Santo. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 12/5/91 Chiba Koen Taiikukan: Negro Casas & Katana vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Akira Nogami 13:48. Negro Casas and Jushin Thunder Liger started this match off at a fast pace. Katana was a Mexican wrestler who was also known as Leon Chino. Katana was getting involved while not being legally involved in the match, so Liger challenged him to face him man to man. Katana didn’t back down from this challenge and tagged in. Liger vs. Katana was fun, but Katana wasn’t anywhere near the level of Casas as a worker. Akira Nogami has always been an underrated worker, and he worked quite well against Casas. Casas and Liger worked hard. Nogami was a solid hand as well. Katana dragged the match down. This meant that this was quite an entertaining match overall, and they did a good job of making the final minutes the most lively ones, but the match suffered whenever Casas wasn’t in the ring. Pretty good match. *** 

NJPW 12/16/91 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Negro Casas vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 9:43. Negro Casas wasted no time, and started attacking Jushin Thunder Liger right away. What was cool about these Casas vs. Liger matches was that they were so different from Liger’s usual matches. Liger was in lucha mode here and did a bunch of lucha armdrags. Casas did his backflip off the top rope where he lands on his feet and tried to pin Liger with a surprise pin, but Liger kicked out. After a tombstone piledriver, Liger went for a flying headbutt, but Casas moved and went for la casita, but Liger kicked out. Liger hit a tremendous Asai moonsault. Soon after, Liger hit a top-rope huracarrana for the win. This was arguably their most action-packed match together, and it was probably their best match together. It was shorter than their 12/26/90 match, but it feels they made better use of their time here in this 12/16/91 match. Very good match. ***¾  

LLI 1/5/92 Naucalpan El Toreo: Negro Casas vs. Hijo del Santo. Tala Menendez interviewed both participants before the match, and they seemed fired up and ready to go. Both workers showed passionate matwork early on. Negro Casas was particularly aggressive. Not to be outdone, Hijo del Santo showed his own mat skills and even made Casas tap out to win the first fall. The second fall was a bit underwhelming with relatively less excitement compared to the first fall. Casas won the second fall via la casita. The third fall had a bit more grittiness than the second fall, and at least they showed that they were bitter rivals. We also got a spectacular finish. Santo hit a tope suicida that sent both Santo and Casas over the guardrail. While that was a cool moment, it also resulted in the referee declaring the match a draw. This was perfectly fine lucha overall, and the match had its moments, but it never seemed to reach the level you would expect from these two. Good match. ***  

LLI 1/19/92 Naucalpan El Toreo: Negro Casas & Pegasus Kid vs. Hijo del Santo & Villano III. The great rudo team of Negro Casas and Pegasus Kid showed a lot of viciousness in the first fall. Being the superhero that he is, Hijo del Santo didn’t back down from the challenges posed to him, and he fought back with his typically graceful lucha offense. Villano III was a step or three slower than the other three participants in this match, but he was solid in his role as Santo’s tag team partner here. The work Casas and Santo showed here was more exciting and fast-paced than in their singles match from two weeks prior. The final minutes of this match had the most excitement and culminated when Pegasus missed a flying headbutt, as Villano moved out of the way and scored the pinfall win. It was a pretty straightforward match with some fun and energetic action. Good match. ***¼  

LLI 2/16/92 Naucalpan El Toreo: Silver King & El Texano & Gran Hamada vs. Negro Casas & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Tigre Canadiense 4:30; 2:30; 3:25. Silver King was one of the best workers in the match, and as good as his performance was, the two most outstanding workers in this match were Negro Casas and Gran Hamada. Dr. Wagner Jr. seemed to be inspired by these three excellent workers, and tried his best to do his part in the match. Wagner was a solid base for the opposing team's offense. El Texano wasn't quite on the level of Silver King and Gran Hamada, but he gave a pretty good performance himself. Tigre Canadiense (Spanish for Canadian Tiger) was Canadian wrestler Mike Lozanski. He certainly isn't one of the 30 best Canadian wrestlers ever, but he was adequate and tried. He lacked the flexibility needed for a lot of the things he tried to do, making his work come off as very clunky. However, Lozanksi didn't drag the match down too much, since he understood his role as the odd one out and tertiary member of his team. Overall, this was a good 10-minute match with plenty of exciting action. ***¼

LLI 2/23/92 Naucalpan El Toreo: Silver King & El Texano & Gran Hamada vs. Negro Casas & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Rambo. 3:00; 4:10; 10:00. The work was good whenever Rambo wasn't in, as he was a luchador who was mediocre at best. Perhaps it was Rambo dragging down the match (and at least he wasn't as bad as he would become in later years), but it took a while for the match to get beyond just some brawling and triple-teaming. As a result of the brawling, Gran Hamada juiced. Eventually, this turned into a good match. Negro Casas was the worker of the match, and he worked exceptionally well against Hamada and Silver King. Casas' hard work and bumping stood out most. He added a lot to this match, but without overshadowing the others. Hamada's speed and agility helped add even more exciting action to the match. Dr. Wagner Jr. was on the receiving-end of some of Hamada's moves, including a huracarrana. Wagner and El Texano did well for themselves whenever it was their moment to do their part in this match. Texano was solid and reliable, and he was there when needed. Wagner hit some effective offense, and was also a solid base for the opposition's offense. The third fall had more fast-paced work than the first two falls. King showed his agility and his moves looked slick. They certainly made up for the somewhat generic brawling in the first two falls by pulling all the stops in the third fall. The referees eventually lost control and deemed it a no-contest. ***¼    

NJPW 4/16/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Top Of The Super Junior III: Negro Casas vs. Eddy Guerrero 7:28. This was Eddy Guerrero’s first tour of Japan, which happened thanks to Negro Casas recommending him to NJPW. This was definitely a big opportunity for Guerrero, who had yet to become an international star. They went back and forth in alternating the matwork with spots and sequences that were not mat-based. The matwork would see them try to counter each other, and the matwork was definitely quite solid, but it was often seemingly just there to provide an alternative to the non-matwork stuff. Guerrero gave a very good showing here in his Japan debut. He hit a missile dropkick into the ring, and he also hit a springboard plancha onto the floor. This was a short match in which Casas showed that he was Guerrero’s senior, because even though Guerrero showed lots of willpower and determination, Casas would eventually come back with an answer and have the last laugh. The action was short but sweet. Good match. ***  

NJPW 4/26/92 Oita-ken Hita-shi Sogo Taiikukan, Top of the Super Junior III: Negro Casas vs. Koji Kanemoto 9:15. Kanemoto did some good stuff, but this was before he became truly a good worker. Casas did a good job of carrying the match and setting Kanemoto up for success. However, the match never really turned out to be a collection of a few memorable spots amidst a lot of non-essential randomness. Although, things definitely picked up as the match progressed, as things became more urgent. Overall, it was definitely a match that was fun to watch. Good match. *** 

NJPW 4/30/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Negro Casas & Eddy Guerrero vs. Pegasus Kid & Fit Finlay 11:57. This was the day of the TOSJ III final. Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai would battle each other in a great match that night, but this tag match earlier on the card was quite an interesting one as well. The two Mexican representatives of the tournament, Negro Casas & Eddy Guerrero, teamed up together to battle Canada’s Pegasus Kid and Northern Ireland’s Dave ‘Fit’ Finlay. Needless to say, this match featured quite a mixture of styles that somehow meshed relatively well together, avoiding what potentially could have been a clash of styles. Casas was a great luchador, but he was pretty much only doing pure lucha. Guerrero was mostly still doing solid lucha, as he hadn’t quite incorporated more puroresu elements to his style yet. Pegasus had spent time in Mexico as well and had proven to be a superbly versatile worker, so anytime Pegasus was in the ring, the work was flowing excellently. Pegasus’ work was done in his typical Dynamite Kid-esque puroresu-inspired Calgary style that he was known for, but he allowed the lucha work of Casas and Guerrero to blend in with his work. Finlay was the odd one out, as he prefers to work stiffer and rougher than his opponents, and he is far less flashy than them. Still, Finlay was a very good worker overall, so his sequences were still quite good for the most part, but things seemed to slow down slightly when he was in. Nobody did any real matwork here, as it was just a non-stop series of workers leaping at each other in between some roughhousing. Guerrero executed a nice superplex on Pegasus. When Guerrero wanted to follow it up with a splash, Pegasus got his knees up. One of the coolest moments in the match was Guerrero hitting a springboard plancha over the guardrail to the floor onto Pegasus and Finlay. The sequences between Pegasus and Guerrero were among the best in this match, which was a sign of things to come in the future, as these two workers would have several memorable matches against each other. Casas did well, but he wasn’t thriving as much as Pegasus and Guerrero were in this match. No real stories were being told, but everyone worked hard, and this was quite a fun match at all times. Very good. ***¾ 

LLI 5/8/92 Nezahualcoyotl Arena Neza: Gran Hamada & El Hijo del Santo & Solar I vs. Negro Casas & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Babe Face 6:50, 2:25, 3:55. Dr. Wagner Jr. and Solar I started the match quite well, as they made a good effort to have an interesting opening matwork segment. When Solar is in there with someone who is in the mood to wrestle technically, Solar can be one of the more interesting luchadores to watch. Negro Casas was arguably the worker of the match, because he showed so much energy and he did his best to really put this match and everyone in it over. Gran Hamada and Negro Casas showed a lot of fire when they battled each other, even though their battle was far too short. Casas and Solar showed some top-notch lucha when they wrestled each other; everything they did was wrestled really smoothly. Hamada also had the opportunity to battle his old nemesis Babe Face for a bit. It kinda felt like Hamada wasn't in the ring as much as hoped though, but at least he got to score the winning pinfall in the third fall. Face's work was quite similar to his work in the late 1970s/early 1980s, as he certainly wasn't very graceful, and he was the least impressive worker in this match, but he was quite okay in his role of trying his best to put over the superheroes. El Hijo del Santo was the graceful tecnico he always is, and he really showed he wanted to beat the rudos here. In the third fall, the tecnicos showed more aggression, as they had to overcome the aggression shown by the rudos. This was a pretty good match and very enjoyable while it lasted, but it was too short to be really satisfying, since it would have been nice to see these six workers go at it a bit more. ***¼

CMLL 7/17/92 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & Felino & Bestia Salvaje vs. Ultimo Dragon & El Dandy & Blue Demon Jr. For the most part of Negro Casas’ career, LLI (a.k.a. UWA) had been the main league he’d wrestled in. However, in June 1992, CMLL became Negro Casas’ main league, and this would remain to be the case for the next 30 years. The first feud CMLL gave Casas was one against El Dandy. Their big CMLL World Middleweight Title Decision Match won by El Dandy on 7/3/92 was decent but not quite the great match some people claim it was, since it was a slow, low-impact, dragged out type of match. Casas was still booked opposite Dandy in several trios matches following the 7/3/92 match, and this is one of those trios matches. In this particular match, Casas teams with one of his brothers, El Felino. Casas and Dandy showed more speed and intensity than they had done in all their previous meetings thus far. Ultimo Dragon (Yoshihiro Asai) executed some spectacular moves with some help from solid rudo base Bestia Salvaje. Casas executed a really cool-looking dropkick on Dandy. However, the tecnicos ended up winning the match, because Dragon hit a quebrada on Salvaje for the win while Blue Demon Jr. made Felino submit after Felino missed a moonsault. Felino wasn’t a very sophisticated worker, but he was fun enough to watch thanks to him giving a good effort and occasionally hitting some spectacular moves. Demon was the weakest worker in this match, but he was okay enough to play at least his role in this match adequately, and he hit quite a nice tope suicida on Felino in the third fall. In the second fall, Casas made it clear he wanted to wrestle Dragon. His wish came true, and they worked some of the best spots and sequences of the match together. This match marked a switch from Casas’ program with Dandy to a program with Dragon, which was definitely an upgrade in in-ring quality. These two were familiar with each other from Casas’ Universal tours. Near the end of the second fall, a typical lucha brawl broke out, and everyone was just randomly beating each other up in and outside of the ring. The match remained quite chaotic from this point onwards, but at least not so chaotic that cool moments weren’t possible. Salvaje pinned Dandy to win the second fall for the rudos. The match ended when Dragon missed a quebrada after Casas side-stepped. Casas followed this up with la casita for the win. Overall, the work ranged from quite decent to quite good, but the best aspect of this match was that it set up Casas’ new feud with Dragon. Good match. ***

CMLL 8/28/92 Mexico City Arena Coliseo, UWA World Middleweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon 15:21 (7:22, 2:44, 5:15). After about a seven-week build-up in trios action, Negro Casas and Ultimo Dragon finally faced each other in singles action. This much-anticipated match was for the CMLL Middleweight Title, a title Casas had been holding since 1/29/91 when he won the title from Super Astro. Both contestants of this big title match had minis in their respective corners, as Casas had Piratita Morgan in his corner, and Dragon had Mascarita Magica in his corner. The match started off with a solid display of lucha matwork, as they were trying to tie each other up and trying to prove their superiority on the mat. The second fall merely served as a quick way to set up the equalizer, as Casas took revenge by making Dragon submit. In the third fall, Dragon hit an awesome tope suicida. As good as Casas was in this match, it felt like Dragon was the better performer in this match. Casas thought he was Bret Hart for a moment and scored the pinfall victory via an inside cradle that came out of nowhere. This match was enjoyable from start to finish, but it never reached the levels you’d hope this match would reach. Good match. ***¼  

WAR 9/15/92 Yokohama Arena: Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon 14:55. In case you’re curious what the main event of this show was, it was Genichiro Tenryu vs. Ric Flair. Right from the start, this Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon match was a lot more action-packed than their CMLL 8/28/92 match, which was merely good. Not only was there more action, the action itself was of higher quality, as there was more intensity and struggle shown by both participants. Both wrestlers were far grittier and more snug even during the early matwork. That being said, this match never quite reached the excellence you’d hope these two reach together. While it was clearly superior to the 8/28/92 match in terms of pure execution, the match felt disjointed in the sense that after a promising finish, it became less and less promising as time went on until we got to see some cool high spots during the last four minutes of the match, including Negro Casas executing the Silver King plancha to the floor, and, of course, Dragon’s very own Asai moonsault. It definitely feels like the 8/28/92 match was stronger in the storytelling department. Either way, it seems like Universal 6/7/90 was easily the best match these two ever had together in singles competition. Good match. ***¼    

CMLL 3/26/93 Mexico City Arena Mexico, UWA Middleweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon 23:41 (10:00, 5:02, 8:39). Negro Casas’ brother, Felino, was in his corner. Ultimo Dragon had El Pantera in his corner. The first fall mostly consisted of solid but slow-paced lucha matwork. They did a good job of making the final minutes of the first fall feel more dramatic, mostly thanks to going for more spectacular moves and near falls. This included Dragon almost scoring a pinfall after a quebrada. Dragon eventually scored the win in the first fall after a bridging German suplex. In the second fall, they continued where they left off with their solid junior heavyweight action. Casas started having the upper hand and tried to make Dragon submit. Dragon tried to reach the ropes, but Casas kept persisting, which resulted in Dragon tapping out to a sasorigatame. In the third fall, being the rudo that he was, Casas started showing more heelish behavior. In fact, he sneakily hit Dragon with a low blow just before the third fall when the referee wasn’t paying attention. Once Dragon was able to fight back, the match started reaching its most exciting portion. The action started culminating in more dramatic and spectacular fashion. Dragon hit an awesome tope suicida and a tremendous Asai moonsault. Dragon kept coming closer to victory. Casas wasn’t just going to let Dragon snatch his title away though, as Casas kept hanging in there and occasionally fought back. Ultimately, it was Dragon who executed a tiger suplex for the win. Dragon had become the new UWA Middleweight Title holder after Casas had been holding the title since 1/29/91! This was a wonderful culmination of their 8-month feud in CMLL. Better storytelling and a more satisfying overall product are reasons for this match being more memorable than their singles matches from 1992. Very good. ***½ 

CMLL 2/11/94 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Silver King & Ultimo Dragon & Atlantis vs. Negro Casas & Mocho Cota & Ishinriki 3:00; 5:00; 4:40. Koji Ishinriki was a former sumo fighter who had wrestled for the SWS and WAR leagues in Japan. He was a solid hand, but he was also kinda bland. Mocho Cota was an experienced luchador who had been wrestling since 1979, and he was okay-ish, but not very spectacular. The rudo team (Negro Casas’ team) got a quick victory in 3 minutes to win the first fall. Ultimo Dragon (Yoshihiro Asai), an excellent Japanese pro wrestler, was among the best to be able to blend the Japanese junior heavyweight style with Mexican lucha libre. It was a joy to see him in the same match as Silver King and Negro Casas, two of the very best Mexican luchadores. Despite Ishinriki doing everything in slow-motion, perhaps due to him being out of his element here, Dragon treated him with respect. Atlantis, a popular tecnico (babyface) luchador, was at least decent here, but he didn’t stand out much, compared to the outstanding performances of King and especially Casas. This match wasn’t one of King’s very best, but he showed that he was a very good worker nonetheless. Casas’ selling was phenomenal and helped make everybody look a bit more interesting. ***

MWF/CMLL 7/9/94 Los Angeles, California Olympic Auditorium, UWA Middleweight Title: Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas 16:07 (4:44, 4:23, 7:00). In addition to at least seven matches they had against each other of which no footage exists, these two had good matches against each other on 3/2/90, 8/28/92, 9/15/92, and they had very good matches against each other on 6/7/90 and 3/26/93. So, this was at least their 12th singles match against one another up to that point in time. The match started off in a strong manner, as the matwork was executed with care. They both put really good effort into the matwork right from the start, which is always nice, since that’s obviously a lot more interesting than guys doing matwork just for the sake of it. There were plenty of fast-paced counters, displaying not only their technical proficiency but also their junior heavyweight speed. While Negro Casas is definitely in rudo mode, his rudo act doesn’t take anything away from the quality of the match, and, if anything, it even adds to the drama of the story. Casas won the first fall with the help of some rule breaking behind the referee’s back. In the second fall, Casas continued to be merciless towards Ultimo Dragon, as he continued the beatdown. Casas would break the rules whenever the referee was distracted, which on one hand made Casas come across like a cowardly heel, but on the other hand also showed his desperation to beat Dragon. Once Dragon was able to finally fight back, Casas interrupted Dragon’s brief momentum by claiming Dragon hit him with a low blow (which wasn’t the case). Luckily, the referee didn’t fall for it, and the match continued. Dragon hit some cool offense, which culminated in a nicely executed bridging German suplex for the pinfall win in this second fall. In the third fall, Dragon would attempt the more spectacular type offense, while Casas would go for more of the weardown type holds. One of the more spectacular moments was a tope suicida by Dragon. This match wasn’t necessarily as spectacular as it could have been, but there was definitely plenty of interesting action, and the storytelling was truly superb. The 3-minute finishing stretch really added a lot to the match, as it gave us a satisfying conclusion, which also meant we didn’t just get a random finish out of nowhere. They really had the crowd going crazy thanks to dramatic near falls. Ultimately, after trying harder and harder to win the match, Dragon won the match via pinfall after hitting a beautiful moonsault. Excellent match. ****

CMLL 12/2/94 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Silver King & El Texano & Dos Caras vs. Negro Casas & Atlantis & Corazon de Leon 5:40; 4:30; 8:00. Corazon de Leon was Canadian-American wrestler Chris Jericho from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Jericho wasn't very well known to the majority of wrestling fans at the time (with Smoky Mountain Wrestling fans and CMLL fans being the main exceptions), and he was just a middling performer and easily the least impressive wrestler in this match. Negro Casas was the best worker of the match, because he made everything he did seem important, which made the moments he was in the ring most intriguing. Silver King worked hard and brought energetic action whenever he was in the ring, and despite being very good whenever he was in the ring, he didn’t feel like a featured star in this match here. El Texano was solid and reliable, as usual, and he may have been the most impressive one on his team. As much as King is one of the most underrated wrestlers ever, sometimes it’s easy to forget that his tag team partner Texano was also a really good worker. Perhaps somewhat ironically for a Mexican lucha libre trios match, the two masked luchadores, Atlantis and Dos Caras, didn’t really stand out as much in this particular match, but they didn’t do anything wrong either. This match, which was a pretty good one, eventually came to an end when the finish saw Silver King being the one to score the pinfall victory over Chris Jericho. ***

CMLL 9/8/95 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & Emilio Charles Jr. & Satanico vs. Ultimo Dragon & Hijo del Santo & Corazon de Leon. About a month prior, Hijo del Santo had left AAA and returned to CMLL. His interactions with Negro Casas were particulary interesting. Santo certainly was a strong addition to the CMLL roster, and this match was significantly more lively than most of the CMLL matches that year. Ultimo Dragon gave an energetic performance and was arguably the best worker, with Santo and Casas being second and third best in this match. Corazon de Leon (Chris Jericho) was decent, as he started showing signs of improvement around this time, since he was able to work faster and crisper. Emilio Charles Jr. was okay considering his limitations as a worker, and he just mostly bumped and sold for the tecnicos. Satanico was the least impressive one in this match, and he contributed least to the match. The tecnicos won the first fall after quite a bit of exciting action. In the second fall, the heated action continued. Santo and Casas, old rivals, continued to beat each other up in an intense manner. The heels got a bit more aggressive towards the second half of the second fall, as the tecnicos were running out of steam a bit. Unfortunately for rudos, they got a bit too aggressive and got disqualified when Charles and Satanico were holding Santo while Casas was kicking the living daylights out of Santo. The referee deemed this to be too barbaric and disqualified the rudos. This was a fun, action-packed match, and it truly served its purpose of making Santo’s arrival and his renewed rivalry with Casas memorable. The rematch the next week was unfortunately just decent. Very good match. ***½ 

IWC/CMLL 11/25/95 Los Angeles, California Sports Arena: Negro Casas vs. Hijo del Santo. The early minutes had solid lucha matwork, but it kinda felt like they were just doing their typical stuff. Things started picking up roughly around the halfway point of the match, as they did some more fast-paced sequences that saw Santo do stuff like flying headscissors and Casas do some bumping around. Santo also executed a cool-looking tope suicida after Casas took a bump off the top to the floor. This match was definitely more interesting than their disappointing 9/29/95 and 12/1/95 matches, which were only decent. Still, even this match was somewhat disappointing and not anywhere near the level of their best matches together. Good match. ***   

CMLL 12/29/95 Mexico City Arena Coliseo: Silver King & Shocker & Atlantis vs. Negro Casas & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Emilio Charles Jr. 3:33; 4:44; 4:35. This started out as more of a brawling type match that entertained the fans, but didn’t necessarily showcase these workers at their best. However, halfway through the match, the action picked up quite a bit. Negro Casas was the worker of the match, as he worked hard to make this an enjoyable match. Emilio Charles Jr. relied more on character work and generic brawling, so he dragged the match down a little bit. Dr. Wagner Jr. was solid, as always. Silver King was excellent whenever he was in the match, which wasn’t as often as hoped for. Shocker did well, especially when he was in the ring with Casas, who made Shocker look even more impressive. Atlantis was just kinda there and wasn’t memorable, as he simply seemed to rely on his legendary status. Overall, this was pretty good and fun to watch. *** 

CMLL 7/7/96 Mexico City Arena Coliseo, NWA World Welterweight Title: Negro Casas vs. The Great Sasuke. The first few minutes weren’t very interesting, because when The Great Sasuke does some random matwork, he is clearly just doing it to kill time, as he would much rather fly around than do matwork. And it was a high flying move, a moonsault, that got Sasuke the win in the first fall. In the second fall, we’re once again having to witness Sasuke’s random pulling of arms and legs in an attempt to satisfy the need for the prerequisite lucha matwork in a title match like this. Out of respect for Sasuke, Casas sells it and acts like he is in all kinds of trouble. In a clever but sneaky move, Casas pretended that Tiger Mask IV, who was in Sasuke’s corner, leg-tripped him. This gave Casas the opportunity to hit a low blow on Sasuke. This dastardly tactic got Casas the win in the second fall (or second round, as this Japanese commercial tape video version refers to it). In the third fall, Casas was quite aggressive and beat Sasuke up on the floor. Sasuke finally abandoned any attempts at matwork and hit an Asai moonsault. Later in the match, Sasuke hit a flying kick off the top to the floor. Despite Sasuke’s efforts, Casas won via la casita. A match like this really clearly shows that by this point in his career, Casas was significantly slower than previously in his career. As it feels like a younger Casas would have had a much more energetic match against someone like Sasuke here. The work was definitely quite good, but the match overall wasn’t nearly as good as it looked on paper. This match being pretty good overall was mostly thanks to Sasuke’s spectacular high flying. Good match. ***

NJPW 8/3/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, NWA World Welterweight Title vs. NWA World Light Heavyweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Shinjiro Otani 11:34. This was part of the J-Crown tournament, which was a tournament in which eight of the top junior heavyweight champions participated in a tournament with the purpose of unifying all eight titles to establish a J-Crown Champion. Negro Casas focused on trying to do lucha matwork early on. The interesting thing here was that Shinjiro Otani reacted in a far more urgent manner than what we’ve been seeing in Casas’ CMLL matches around that time. Of course, Otani isn’t the type of worker to see matwork merely as time killing. When applying holds himself, Otani tried to push Casas to at least show some sign of life and not lie around lifelessly. Otani’s performance and effort turned this into one of the most interesting Casas matches in a while. It felt like Casas got more in the mood to work a bit stiffer than usual thanks to the set and setting of this match. After the somewhat surprisingly interesting matwork, the match really started picking up, as both men started using the ropes as springboards, and we saw an increase in urgency. Casas springboarded off the second rope and hit his signature headscissors move. Casas went for la casita, but Otani managed to get out. Otani showed tremendous desperation and urgency when doing so. Otani dropkicked Casas to the floor and hit a springboard plancha. A bit later on, Casas hit a tope suicida. The match eventually came to an end when Otani springboarded himself into the ring and hit a spinning leg kick. This was the best match Casas had since the summer of ‘94, and it’s mostly thanks to Otani being able to push Casas to remember what he used to work like. Very good match. ***¾  

CMLL 10/18/96 Mexico City Arena Mexico, Hair vs. Hair: Negro Casas vs. Bestia Salvaje. These two did a really good job of putting over their dislike for each other. This was pretty much all about brawling. It was the typical hair vs. hair match in which two workers are not concerned with technical wrestling (like in title matches usually is the case, for example), but they were merely concerned to beat the crap out of their opponent in order to save their pride. There would occasionally be some high flying, like a top-rope dropkick by Casasas and a tope suicida by Bestia Salvaje, and they were executed in a way that showed that they were used to really take out the opponent. In the end, Casas won the match and saved his hair. This match mostly benefited from the ability of the wrestlers to draw heat and show the importance of this match through their energetic performances. Very good match. ***½   

CMLL 5/9/97 Mexico City Arena Coliseo: Silver King & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Negro Casas & Felino 10:54; 7:05. Less than a month after this match, Silver King would join WCW, which is perhaps how most wrestling fans back in the day first became aware of King. This particular CMLL match featured La Ola Blanca vs. Los Casas, two brother teams against each other. The final moments of the first fall had quite some spectacular action, after most of the first fall had been about heat and tension. In the second fall, the Wagner brothers dominated, and it almost seemed they would have an easy time. However, the Casas brothers fought back. We briefly got a glimpse of Dr. Wagner Jr.’s face, as his mask came off for a second after Negro Casas had tried to remove it. The action went back and forth. There were several covers and near falls. It really looked like the Casas brothers were going to win the second fall, but the Wagner brothers surprisingly ended up beating them in two falls straight. This was a pretty good match, and it featured four of the best workers in CMLL at the time. The focus seemed to be more on storytelling, crowd interaction and psychology, but not so much on pure workrate. Negro Casas showed that he was a worker who had an eye for detail, as he kinda had his own subplot going on of him selling the wound on his leg while everything else was going on during the match. This match was definitely pretty good and fun to watch. However, it never felt like they were out there to try to have a match that was anything beyond just a good and enjoyable match, but due to the quality of the workers involved, that’s still better than what most workers are capable of. Good match. ***

CMLL 7/4/97 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & TAKA Michinoku & Shocker vs. Black Warrior & Arkangel & Violencia. This was a fun match. It’s just basically everyone doing a bunch of random lucha stuff, but at least there is a lot of action, and the pace was relatively high. It was nothing exceptional, but it was enjoyable enough to watch for sure. As good as Casas still was in 1997, his work was definitely a step down compared to previous years. Good match. ***

NJPW 10/22/97 Fukuoka West Japan Exhibition Hall: Negro Casas & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & Norio Honaga 13:58. Jushin Thunder Liger and Shinjiro Otani were still great workers by this point. They definitely didn’t go all out here, though. The work of the other four ranged from decent to good. This is definitely not a must-see match, but everyone gave a good enough showing for this to be enjoyable enough to watch. Liger pinned Negro Casas. Good match. ***¼  

CMLL 11/7/97 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & Felino vs. Hijo del Santo & Scorpio Jr. An amazing tope suicida by Hijo del Santo on ‘el cuatro cuarenta’ Negro Casas had one of the commentators go: “enoooooooorme lance!” The interactions between Santo and Casas in this match were more energetic than in their underwhelming 9/19/97 match, which was merely decent. This trios match was fun to watch from start to finish, as they kept the action going, and everyone tried their best. Very good match. ***¾    

CMLL 4/24/98 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & Mr. Niebla & Atlantis vs. Hijo del Santo & Black Warrior & Blue Panther. Everyone tried hard. While this wasn’t exceptional, this was certainly better than the average wrestling match at the time, and it’s worth watching. Good match. ***

CMLL 11/20/98 Negro Casas & Hijo del Santo & Felino vs. Bestia Salvaje & Black Warrior & Scorpio Jr. It was a heated match with a lot of energy. Everyone gave a strong effort and was into what they were doing. This match had some pretty cool moves, which is always neat. This was one of Negro Casas’ most memorable matches of 1998. Felino was still super agile at this point, and he contributed quite a bit to this match. Good match. ***

CMLL 12/11/98 Mexico City Arena Mexico, CMLL World Trios Title Tournament Quarter Final: Silver King & Villano III & Villano IV vs. Negro Casas & Felino & El Hijo del Santo 10:15. Silver King, wearing a Latino World Order shirt, made a rare CMLL appearance here. It was a rare CMLL appearance because King had been working for WCW at the time, and he had also been working for Promo Azteca, a league that was folding around this time. It’s good to see a good 1998 Silver King match that took place in CMLL. He got lots of heel heat during this match, which was understandable since he was facing some of the most popular luchadores. King’s performance here was excellent, and arguably the best performance he gave since the last time he was in CMLL in May 1997. It’s good to see that his time in WCW and Promo Azteca hadn’t affected his ability to work at a high level. This was a good match, but I wish it would have gone longer and/or if they would have gotten more than just one fall. ***¼  

NJPW 7/3/00 Okayama-ken Taiikukan: Jushin Thunder Liger & Negro Casas & Kendo Kashin vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa 11:02. This is kind of a bizarro-world match, as it has Jushin Thunder Liger working as ‘Black Liger’ and Negro Casas was sporting a goatee. Everyone worked hard, harder than expected, since this was a random trios match at the start of the dark ages of pro wrestling. The match got gradually more exciting, as the finishing stretch was quite good. It was nothing to write home about, but it was worth watching. Good match. *** 

NJPW 7/7/01 Okayama City Gym: Negro Casas & Chris Candido vs. Minoru Tanaka & El Samurai 10:41. Negro Casas was still good back then, and he contributed reasonably well in this match. However, that being said, he was arguably the least impressive performer in the match. El Samurai's performance here was solid but unmemorable overall. Chris Candido and Minoru Tanaka were most impressive, as they worked hard, and clearly tried to give everyone watching their money's worth. There was enough action in this 10-minute match to make it worth watching. Good match. ***

For those who want to watch some more recent matches, here are some mildly recommended matches that feature later-day Negro Casas:

CMLL 1/3/14 Mexico: Negro Casas vs. Titan. Titan was born when Casas was still at his peak (1990). In spite of this generational gap, this was a good match. Casas used his knowledge and worked as hard as you can expect from a 54-year old man. Titan showed respect for Casas yet at the same time also showed why he has been one of the more interesting and spectacular Mexican luchadores of the recent past. Decent match. **¾ 

CMLL 5/23/14 Mexico: Dragon Lee & Negro Casas & Cavernario vs. Cachorro & Hechicero & Virus. Decent match. **¾ 

CMLL 1/2/15 Mexico: Negro Casas vs. Mascara Dorada. Maybe the most fun match Casas was involved in that decade. Dorada was extremely spectacular. This match was significantly better than their slow 6/2/13 match. Good match. ***

CMLL 5/24/15 Mexico: Negro Casas vs. Volador Jr. This would have been a dream match if it was possible for the 1990 version of Negro Casas to show up here. Still, this was interesting and pretty good overall, even though it's mostly thanks to Volador Jr. 55-year old Casas deserves credit for hanging in there at his age, though. Decent match. **¾

CMLL 2/19/16 Mexico: Negro Casas & Kamaitachi & Gran Guerrero vs. Volador Jr. & Dragon Lee & Stuka Jr. 8:50. Casas doesn't play a huge part in this very good, energetic sprint, but it's probably the best and most exciting match he's been a part of in ages. ***½         

1979-1985: N/A (hoping to find footage)

1986-1990: Great [9.0]

1991-1994: Excellent [8.0]

1995-1996: Very Good [7.0]

1997-2002: Good [6.0]

2003-2015: Decent [5.0]

2016-2021: Okay [4.0]

2022 and onwards: Mediocre [3.0]

Negro Casas’ very best years took place prior to 1991. As a matter of fact, based on the footage available, one could certainly say that Casas was arguably the best Mexican luchador of the 1980s.

However, after being excellent or better for several years, he slowly started declining as time went on from 1995/1996 onward.

The best and most famous match we have available is the 7/18/87 match against El Hijo del Santo. Not only was Negro Casas arguably the best Mexican luchador at the time, but he was arguably even a potential candidate for best wrestler in the world in 1987. Of course, we’re basing this on footage of one match against another all-time great luchador that he was incredibly familiar with, so it’s hard to say if this was a one-off or if Casas was this great on a regular basis that year. Of course, Casas’ performance was so great and smooth that it couldn’t have been a one-off, and the little footage we have of his 1986-1990 indicates that Casas was one of the best, if not THE best Mexican luchador of that time period (along with peers Hijo del Santo and Fuerza Guerrera among others).

This will be considered an unpopular opinion, for sure, but in the end, it feels like Negro Casas’ legendary status is based on people remembering his high-quality work from 1986-1994 mixed with some sympathy for him being able to stick around in an upper card position at a good to reasonable level for another three decades. While often a rudo, Casas has always expressed a joy for wrestling that makes him an endearing and popular figure, whether or not he's behaving properly.

However, we have to give credit to Casas for still being able to be involved in pretty good matches once in a while as late as the mid 2010s when he was over 50 years old, as his experience and passion continued to shine through during his performances in spite of not being able to move like he did in his younger years.

By the way, for those who are wondering why the famous CMLL 12/6/96 Hijo del Santo vs. El Dandy vs. Negro Casas match didn't get mentioned in this article, it’s because that match is mostly about Hijo del Santo and El Dandy. Casas is in the match for, like, six or seven minutes. It's quite a good match, though, and worthy of a 3.25-star rating. As for the lack of matches from the 00's, I wasn't enjoying them enough to feel motivated to wade through hundreds of trios matches to come up with a handful that were minor recommendations.

WWA 9/20/86 Los Angeles, California Olympic Auditorium, WWA Welterweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Fuerza Guerrera 17:19 (5:15, 3:09, 8:55). ****

WWA 7/18/87 Los Angeles, California Olympic Auditorium, Hair vs. Mask: Negro Casas vs. Hijo del Santo 15:37 (2:34, 4:23, 8:40). *****

ACASA 1990 Juarez Gimnasio Municipal: Negro Casas & Blue Panther vs. Eddy Guerrero & Hijo del Santo 23:05 (10:10, 5:27, 7:28). ****

WWA 1990 Gran Hamada & Yoshihiro Asai & El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas & Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera 7:20, 3:16, 3:45. ****

Universal 6/7/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA World Middleweight Title: Yoshihiro Asai vs. Negro Casas 15:59 ***¾ 

NJPW 12/26/90 Hamamatsu Arena. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Negro Casas 16:37. ***½ 

WWA 5/17/91 Tijuana Auditorio Municipal, UWA World Welterweight Title: El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas. ****

NJPW 12/16/91 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Negro Casas vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 9:43. ***¾ 

NJPW 4/30/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Negro Casas & Eddy Guerrero vs. Pegasus Kid & Fit Finlay 11:57. ***¾ 

CMLL 3/26/93 Mexico City Arena Mexico, UWA Middleweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon 23:41 (10:00, 5:02, 8:39). ***½ 

MWF/CMLL 7/9/94 Los Angeles, California Olympic Auditorium, UWA Middleweight Title: Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas 16:07 (4:44, 4:23, 7:00). ****

CMLL 9/8/95 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & Emilio Charles Jr. & Satanico vs. Ultimo Dragon & Hijo del Santo & Corazon de Leon. ***½ 

NJPW 8/3/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, NWA World Welterweight Title vs. NWA World Light Heavyweight Title: Negro Casas vs. Shinjiro Otani 11:34. ***¾ 

CMLL 10/18/96 Mexico City Arena Mexico, Hair vs. Hair: Negro Casas vs. Bestia Salvaje. ***½ 

CMLL 11/7/97 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Negro Casas & Felino vs. Hijo del Santo & Scorpio Jr. ***¾

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