MOTW 74: Gran Hamada & Satoru Sayama vs. Perro Aguayo & Baby Face

"M.O.T.W. #74: Gran Hamada & Satoru Sayama vs. Perro Aguayo & Baby Face - ink & digital illustration

Hi pals! Back again for the 74th edition (oh boy, this thing is growing legs!) of our regularly scheduled 'Match of the Week' illustration series & this weeks' a special one!

This week we travel back to April 13th, 1980 to the bustling, super talent rich hub of incredible Lucha Libre that was the Universal Wrestling Association, at the absolutely beautiful wrasslin' venue that was 'El Toreo' in Naucalpan de Juarez - to celebrate the very, very special & influential career of The recently passed Gran Hamada.

I really do love this match oh so much. The real heart of it is the truly magical chemistry between 2 of the best to ever do it; Perro & Hamada. I have so much love for Perro (another key guy in my ongoing love affair with the world of Lucha Libre Mexicana) so it was very cool to get to draw him for this series. Such an amazing in-ring wrestler, electric character & super cool look!

We get to see a pre-Tiger Mask Sayama here who is clearly just bursting with raw talent. And for anyone not well acquainted with the tremendously named 'Baby Face' - please do yourself a favour & go down a Baby rabbit-hole. Just the most fun, totally great stooging roughhouse classic rudo!

Thus match is also particularly wonderful as you can see just how beloved Hamada was in Mexico. Here we see such an interesting dynamic of the hated Mexican rudos against the fiery, young Japanese tecnicos. And the often staunchly nationalistic Mexican crowd LOVES IT; getting behind our Japanese boys like nothing else!

There's so much more I'd love to say about how much I enjoyed this on every level but I only have so many words here. But please do yourself a favour & watch this right away! Such a treat to get any El Toreo UWA footage - especially of this classic period, jam packed to the rafters & in amazing quality to boot!

R.I.P. Hamada-San, the Pro Wrestling world is clearly a better place for you having been a part of it. Your influence can never be underestimated.

ENJOY!

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