[Simpsons Modern Life]

I'm kinda 50/50 in regards to whether I feel Tito Santana is underrated or not, I mean the guy is in the Hall Of Fame (rightly so!) and he had his fair share of titles also, however I can't help but feel that sometimes he doesn't really get the credit that he deserves.

I always found Tito to be very solid in the ring, I have never seen a bad match from Tito ... ever, he was quick, he was incredibly agile, he sold the matches well and he had such great speed, he always kept the matches incredibly fast paced.

One of Tito's matches that stand out for me is his match with Syhawn Michaels at Wrestlemania VIII, Tito was playing the 'El Matador' gimmick at the time (not the best gimmick, I know), however he absolutely lead the match and even though it was a loss on Tito's behalf, he carried that match so well out of the two and really made Shawn look good! (this is no diss to Shawn, it was earlier in his career and we all know how great Shawn became).

(This video isn't available for me in the UK but it may work for some of you guys)

He wasn't all that great on promo's, but he could cut them alright however once Tito got into the ring, I always felt he came across as such a professional at what he does, Tito truly is a great talent in the wrestling world, not a single doubt about it for me personally!

However what are your thoughts in regards to Tito Santana? Favourite matches? Favourite feuds? Best chemistry? Memories of Tito in general? I thought it would be cool to hear some vibes.
​

 

[Sword Of Justice]

all chico santana was was a failed pedro morales successor, he couldn't talk, average wrestler, didnt draw the fucking hispanic audience and ended his career as the precursor to los matadores

he got more than he deserved really, my favorite moment of his is when macho man called him a lucky tito

 

[MANTI TEO]

all chico santana was was a failed pedro morales successor, he couldn't talk, average wrestler, didnt draw the fucking hispanic audience and ended his career as the precursor to los matadores

he got more than he deserved really, my favorite moment of his is when macho man called him a lucky tito

Hispanics don't like other hispanics. Tito never really wrestled in a territory with a lot of Mexicans.

 

[WrestlingOracle]

Nothing terribly lengthy here unlike my usual because really I don't have that much to say regarding Tito, but I will say I thought he was a good, versatile ring mechanic whom I enjoyed and admired that unlike a lot of guys, Tito could either have a good short match and pack his stuff in well or he could fill in a broadway pretty well as well as being able to shift between being a good lead man against lesser or inexperienced workers or taking a backseat in the match and still being proficient. Perhaps an underrated facet to working versatility is a guy's ability to work different slots on the card given the slight variance in structure and at times psychology, and Tito could work pretty much aywhere from opening match to the sporadic main event and produce quality. Tito was really good at elevating his opponent I would liken Tito to a higher octane but less technical Del Rio of sorts. I think his best opponent was Randy Savage. I think his best wwe match was the one vs Macho for the IC title in 86. As a whole I would consider a number of good and underrated AWA matches. Overall, I would say Tito wasn't a franchise talent, but a good hand to have on a roster

 

[Kabraxal]

He was a solid hand in the ring and he had a lot of fun matches over the years. I still remember his tag run and his later matches against the likes of HBK. His character was either bland or a bit weird to be honest, but in that time it wasn't necessarily bad if you were just going to be a solid midcarder. His most consistent and best work was his early to mid eighties run, before he started getting overshadowed by the much larger than life characters starting to show up.

And it's weird.. I still remember his math with the Barbarian for some reason though I can't really say why.

 

[Palahniuk]

He was a solid hand in the ring and he had a lot of fun matches over the years. I still remember his tag run and his later matches against the likes of HBK. His character was either bland or a bit weird to be honest, but in that time it wasn't necessarily bad if you were just going to be a solid midcarder. His most consistent and best work was his early to mid eighties run, before he started getting overshadowed by the much larger than life characters starting to show up.

And it's weird.. I still remember his math with the Barbarian for some reason though I can't really say why.

At WM6? I remember it well, for that awesome top rope clothesline of Barbarian's where he nearly took Tito's head off.

Probably my fondest memory of Tito, which doesn't really say much tbh.

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

all chico santana was was a failed pedro morales successor, he couldn't talk, average wrestler, didnt draw the fucking hispanic audience and ended his career as the precursor to los matadores

he got more than he deserved really, my favorite moment of his is when macho man called him a lucky tito

I was waiting for your input lol

He was a solid hand in the ring and he had a lot of fun matches over the years. I still remember his tag run and his later matches against the likes of HBK. His character was either bland or a bit weird to be honest, but in that time it wasn't necessarily bad if you were just going to be a solid midcarder. His most consistent and best work was his early to mid eighties run, before he started getting overshadowed by the much larger than life characters starting to show up.

And it's weird.. I still remember his math with the Barbarian for some reason though I can't really say why.

Yeah, funny you say that I was watching his match with The Barbarian at the time of this thread but I agree about the larger than life characters, I feel if you watch the Royal Rumble's Tito is in during this period, watch his work ethic or take notice of him more, you see how good he is a worker too (that is of course if you have time to watch any of course).

At WM6? I remember it well, for that awesome top rope clothesline of Barbarian's where he nearly took Tito's head off.

Probably my fondest memory of Tito, which doesn't really say much tbh.

Have you watched his match with Shawn at Wrestlemania 8 recently, I think you'd really appreciate that match

 

[Barry Horowitz]

You feel like this guy is slighted? Try being a Barry Horowitz fan. Very few people have had a career as successful as his, yet he gets less respect than Rodney Dangerfield simply because of how he was booked.

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

You feel like this guy is slighted? Try being a Barry Horowitz fan. Very few people have had a career as successful as his, yet he gets less respect than Rodney Dangerfield simply because of how he was booked.

I don't doubt that, when I think of Barry Horowitz, it reminds me of people like Louis Spicolli, just some random jobber no one really knows, I don't mean that as a diss by the way, I just mean that that's how he seems to be for me which probably confirms what you're saying here.

 

[ByTor]

However what are your thoughts in regards to Tito Santana? Favourite matches? Favourite feuds? Best chemistry? Memories of Tito in general?

Didn't care about Tito as a kid but he really grew on me when I got older. He had great intensity in the ring.

Matches- vs. Perfect- SNME 4/90- One of the two matches that made me go, "Damn! Tito was good!"

Feuds- Probably Valentine. They work well together. I haven't seen/don't remember much of the Savage feud. The Martel feud should have been better though.

Chemistry- Valentine

Memories- Getting turned on by Rick Martel

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

Didn't care about Tito as a kid but he really grew on me when I got older. He had great intensity in the ring.

Matches- vs. Perfect- SNME 4/90- One of the two matches that made me go, "Damn! Tito was good!"

Feuds- Probably Valentine. They work well together. I haven't seen/don't remember much of the Savage feud. The Martel feud should have been better though.

Chemistry- Valentine

Memories- Getting turned on by Rick Martel

The Martel/Tito thing reminds me of the Shawn/Marty thing, they could have made more of it, but they just ... didn't.

They had a fair amount of matches but with no build behind it, it could have been some sort of PPV match.

I forgot about Tito's match with Perfect but I do remember thinking this match was really good when I watched it, I need to re-watch this.

And yeah I hear ya about looking back on Tito and realise just how good he was! This seems to happen with many talents, Bam Bam Bigelow is another that comes to mind for me as does Ted Dibiase, who I feel is absolutely awesome!!!!!

 

[yeahbaby!]

Tito is absoutely underrated. Great worker, great seller, an expert at making his opponent look good and especially making big guys look like monsters. He got babyface sympathy so easily and put so many guys over.

Plus I've always maintained his flying forearm finisher is easily one of the top ten finishers of all time. It always looked pretty and came out of nowhere.

 

[The Rod]

Didn't he have the first match at Wrestlemania? Thought the flying forearm as a finisher was awesome, use to hit that out of nowhere. Come to think of it, it would be a nice finisher for someone today. Also, he was good fodder for Heenan & Ventura.

Didn't care much for the El Matador gimmick though. Has anyone read his book?

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

Tito is absoutely underrated. Great worker, great seller, an expert at making his opponent look good and especially making big guys look like monsters. He got babyface sympathy so easily and put so many guys over.

Plus I've always maintained his flying forearm finisher is easily one of the top ten finishers of all time. It always looked pretty and came out of nowhere.

Yeah, I always thought he was great at selling the matches, I also LOVE that flying forearm too, the way it just strikes out of no where is beauty, it's just like 'Boom'.

Didn't he have the first match at Wrestlemania? Thought the flying forearm as a finisher was awesome, use to hit that out of nowhere. Come to think of it, it would be a nice finisher for someone today. Also, he was good fodder for Heenan & Ventura.

Didn't care much for the El Matador gimmick though. Has anyone read his book?

I haven't though I have seen it listed on Amazon and places like that, I wasn't sure if it was ghost written a lot though, have you read it?

 

[Steve-a-maniac]

My biggest memory of Tito Santana was when he and Shawn Michaels were face-to-face at the start of the opening match at Wrestlemania 8, and you can clearly see Tito say, "You've got a booger in your nose," after which Shawn quickly turns away and attempts to clear out his nose.

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

My biggest memory of Tito Santana was when he and Shawn Michaels were face-to-face at the start of the opening match at Wrestlemania 8, and you can clearly see Tito say, "You've got a booger in your nose," after which Shawn quickly turns away and attempts to clear out his nose.

Really? I'll have to look out for that haha, that is such a great match!!!!!

Edit : Just watched it now, ah yeah hahahaha, it's clear as hell too Tito saying that lol

Sherri looks hot when she does her pose behind Shawn, she puts her hand on her ass and turns round to face the camera as she poses.

 

[SpocksEvilClone]

What are your thoughts in regards to Tito Santana?:
He was a solid, solid midcard wrestler, had great in-ring psychology.

Favourite matches?: Tito's career was full of great matches. Against Savage for the Intercontinental title, Shawn Michaels at WM8, Barbarian at WM6, anything with Rick Martel, Intercontinental title tournament finals against Curt Hennig. I don't think I've ever seen a bad Tito Santana match.

Favourite feuds?: Whew. The break up of Strike Force comes to mind. The feud for the Intercontinental title with Savage was really good.

Best chemistry?: He could work with anyone & had a great match. He and Martel did a great job with Strike Force. They were generic babyfaces & they played it with perfection.

Memories of Tito in general?: He was involved in the first match I ever saw - the Hart Foundation vs. Tito Santana & Dan Spivey on Saturday Nights Main Event.

The comments Jesse Ventura made about him during matches, especially calling him 'Chico' Santana. Tito was great, but those comments by Ventura... Just listen to the commentary on Wrestlemania 6. Jesse talks about how the best way Tito could beat the Barbarian was by giving him one of Tito's special burritos, he'll win by count out. He asks Gorilla if he's ever eaten one, Gorilla says no, and Jesse tells him he wouldn't be right for a week.

Tito was really, really good. Solid in the ring, had great psychology. The only thing that held him back would have been his mic skills. He was average at best. But if you look at where he was placed at times, it's easy to see that Tito was placed in positions at time to guarantee that the opponent would have a good match, or he was placed in a match that would get the crowd going.
I always felt that Tito should have had a 3rd Intercontinental title run after Hennig won it. That could have been an amazing feud.

And I've never heard anyone say a negative comment about Tito, ever. That says a lot about what kind of guy he was to work with and how he carried himself outside of the ring.

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

What are your thoughts in regards to Tito Santana?:
He was a solid, solid midcard wrestler, had great in-ring psychology.

Favourite matches?: Tito's career was full of great matches. Against Savage for the Intercontinental title, Shawn Michaels at WM8, Barbarian at WM6, anything with Rick Martel, Intercontinental title tournament finals against Curt Hennig. I don't think I've ever seen a bad Tito Santana match.

Favourite feuds?: Whew. The break up of Strike Force comes to mind. The feud for the Intercontinental title with Savage was really good.

Best chemistry?: He could work with anyone & had a great match. He and Martel did a great job with Strike Force. They were generic babyfaces & they played it with perfection.

Memories of Tito in general?: He was involved in the first match I ever saw - the Hart Foundation vs. Tito Santana & Dan Spivey on Saturday Nights Main Event.

The comments Jesse Ventura made about him during matches, especially calling him 'Chico' Santana. Tito was great, but those comments by Ventura... Just listen to the commentary on Wrestlemania 6. Jesse talks about how the best way Tito could beat the Barbarian was by giving him one of Tito's special burritos, he'll win by count out. He asks Gorilla if he's ever eaten one, Gorilla says no, and Jesse tells him he wouldn't be right for a week.

Tito was really, really good. Solid in the ring, had great psychology. The only thing that held him back would have been his mic skills. He was average at best. But if you look at where he was placed at times, it's easy to see that Tito was placed in positions at time to guarantee that the opponent would have a good match, or he was placed in a match that would get the crowd going.
I always felt that Tito should have had a 3rd Intercontinental title run after Hennig won it. That could have been an amazing feud.

And I've never heard anyone say a negative comment about Tito, ever. That says a lot about what kind of guy he was to work with and how he carried himself outside of the ring.

Yeah, have you heard at the Hall Of Fame induction when they spoke about the wrestlers all wanting 'The Tito thing'?

I want to watch these matches with Savage and Perfect now too.

 

[The Rod]

Yeah, I always thought he was great at selling the matches, I also LOVE that flying forearm too, the way it just strikes out of no where is beauty, it's just like 'Boom'.



I haven't though I have seen it listed on Amazon and places like that, I wasn't sure if it was ghost written a lot though, have you read it?

No haven't read it. I think it's only a short book and more about road stories than anything else.

 

[Simpsons Modern Life]

No haven't read it. I think it's only a short book and more about road stories than anything else.

This one?