One of the most significant events in modern lucha libre was the talent raid of AAA in the mid-90s. The company was still ahead of EMLL, when Konnan came to WCW in early 1996. Before the end of the year, he'd brought in all the top talent, namely: Rey Misterio Jr, Psicosis and Juventud Guerrara. Other lucha talent like: Super Calo, La Parka, Silver King, Hector Garza, Lizmark Jr. and El Dandy crossed the border as well. This talent bank devastated AAA and by the time WCW began letting talent go it was too late for them. The upside was that the WCW Cruiserweight Division got a major surge of talent and the luchadors, while not as well-paid and booked as the higher ups, were having the showstealers every night! I sandwiched this tape with (in my opinion) the two best lucha-style matches WCW ever gave us and not surprisingly they both feature Rey Jr. Then I have 2 excellent singles matches, 2 trios matches and an eight-man tag.

1. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis (Bash at the Beach `96)
Arguably the greatest workrate program ever in AAA, though that's certainly debatable. I've never seen a bad match between these two, in fact I don't think I've ever rated one below 3-stars, so we know this'll be hot. The early matwork is strong and suits the style. They go into the acrobatic teases, which quickly turns into some flying. Psychosis' offense is good, but when Rey takes over things pick up. All the highspots are between good and great, but the Florida fans go nuts for them. The finish is spectacular and the place goes nuts. Kind of spotty, but this match (IMO) turned a lot of people onto the more pure lucha, myself included. This showed how great the cruisers could be even in the wake of the nWo's formation. I remember watching this immediately after the PPV ended and to this day it remains a personal favorite.
Rating: ****1/2

2. Konnan vs. Juventud Guerrara (Fall Brawl `96)
The man who brought in all the luchadors for AAA in what was one of his best WCW matches with one of the hot luchadors, the Youth Warrior. Konnan had recently joined up with the Dungeon of Doom and picked up some homeboy garb. This is the type of match you'd never see in AAA actually because of the weight differences, but they meld really well here. Juvi plays Konnan's wreslting dummy, bumping big time and selling a beating well. They take advantage of the two rings interestingly enough. Juventud really busts his ass to get himself over and while the fans don't get behind his underdog role (that didn't work in Rey Jr's debut either), they eat up the highpsots. A few flaws, since Konnan looked selfish at first, but really gave Guerrara a lot of offense towards the end. The finish is hot as the action has been really good, then Konnan's Powerdrop gets the win. Non-stop moves and holds, there isn't much here you can complain about.
Rating: ***3/4

3. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Super Calo (Fall Brawl `96)
Calo was one of the few luchadors, who wasn't totally misused as WCW at least threw him in a few good matches before he headed back South. His offense is quite unique and not just to the US, his missile dropkick suicida was especially cool. Rey takes all of the moves well and sells well as Calo even attacks the arm quite a bit, which was interesting from a luchador. In the end, Mysterio gets in most his stuff, which looks great as always. The crowd wasn't really heated for much of this, despite it's excellence. One of the lucha-style gems of WCW.
Rating: ***3/4

4. Konnan, La Parka, Villano IV vs. Juventud Guerrara, Super Calo, Ciclope (SuperBrawl VII)
A little too far North (San Francisco) to pull in good lucha crowd, but I'm sure there are a few. Villano IV and Ciclope have a nice early exchange, Konnan and Juvi do some cat-and-mouse, until K-Dawg has enough of that and brutalizes the whole smaller team. La Parka and Super Calo have an awesome exchange with cool dives and hard bumps. Ciclope and #4 check back in and really drag things down with sloppiness. Guerrara after half-botching a 450 Splash, goes into some smooth moves including a nice springboard rana. Then they go into some weird team submissions and then triple dives, but Konnan gets Juvi back inside with the Powerdrop. Fast action with more lucha influence than I've seen in other WCW six-mans, but it also had it's share of sloppiness.
Rating: ***

5. Juventud Guerrara, Hector Garza, Lizmark Jr. vs. La Parka, Psychosis, Villano IV (Bash at the Beach `97)
Psychosis and Lizmark do the feeling out, which is short. Garza really shows off a lot of skill in mere minutes against Villano with all the lucha jumps, flips and takedowns. Juvi comes in again La Parka and gets some excellent offense going, until Sonny Ono (the rudos' manager) injects himself. We get a taste of lucha comedy with La Parka fighting with his partners. The technicos do the the triple tope spot, which gets the fans up. Psychosis and Juvi, former AAA partners, go at it, Psych hitting a vicious top rope sunset flip. The technicos come back with some sweet highflying and then apply The Star. Then they go into the flying misses spot. Things get a little hectic as they transition into the dive-after-dive sequence, ending with Garza's Corkscrew Plancha. Then we see a run-in by Villano V, who messes up and loses it for the rudos. Really, really good WCW lucha match with just about all the typical spots and not some of the sloppiness we often see. Perhaps the best of the WCW Cruiserweight six-mans.
Rating: ***3/4

6. Juventud Guerrara, Super Calo, Lizmark Jr., Chavo Guerraro Jr. vs. La Parka, Psychosis, Silver King, El Dandy (Souled Out `98)
Calo and Psychosis get this match started very well and King and Lizmark take it to the next level. Chavo, the only non-luchador, faces off with Dandy, who makes the youngster look dynamite. Parka and Juvi do some comedy and than Guerrara tries to pick it up with highflying, until Psych cuts off a dive with a big lariat. The mid-section of this has a lot of fast replacements and faster action. Silver King and Juventud have a sloppy exchange, due to the latter man, but it is quickly forgetten with the pacing. Silver King misses his Springing Body Press Suicida, which is pretty sickening and that begins the dive after dive sequence. Chavo Jr. and Psychosis are left in the ring, where Guerraro hits his Tornado DDT for a big upset win. La Parka cleans house taking out both the technicos and the rudos with his chair, before dancing on it. Fast action and a hot crowd, though the length and extra two men sort of hurt things in my opinion.
Rating: ***1/2

7. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddy Guerraro (Halloween Havoc `97)
The culmination of Eddy's rudo days in WCW. After his turn in late summer, he is finally the complete package: the rugged, yet sleazy look, the perfect music and all the rudo tactics that he and Art Barr used a few years ago to get dangerous levels of heel heat. Mysterio is in an uncharacteristic body suit that is connected to his hood and looks the Phantom. Things start very well with Eddy running his mouth then try a slap and being met with a flurry of Mysterio offense, before stopping Junior dead! Then we see arguably not only the best Cruiserweight match, not only one of the best WCW match, not only one of the best matches in the States, one of the best ever. Rey pulls out a nice bit of innovation we haven't seen since his early matches. Eddy goes into full rudo mode with arrogant sneers, vicious offense and even mask-ripping! The pacing is excellent, the crowd is totally into it, we get a really well-rounded match, no obvious mistakes and a great finish. This is a must see match if there ever was one.
Rating: *****