Sin Cara Azul vs. Sin Cara Negro mask vs. mask match taped for Smackdown

Less than two weeks after Joey Styles posed the question "Who deserves to be called Sin Cara?", an answer was already given by WWE at their Smackdown tapings in Mexico City on October 16th.  In a shortsighted decision, with just one day build in the local market, WWE booked a mask vs. mask match between Sin Cara Azul (Luis Ignascio Urive Alvirde) and Sin Cara Negro (Jorge Arias).  Although this is, to the best of my knowledge, only the second mask vs. mask match in WWE history (Kane beat Vader in the first one at Over The Edge '98, but it was a pointless stipulation as Vader unmasked for one night only), it's the most successful gimmick match in Mexican wrestling history, having been used as a blowoff to a lengthy feud between two masked luchadors for over 60 years.  Given that Mexican fans are well aware of the real life backstory to this feud, where Arias lost a legal battle to CMLL and Alvirde over the rights to the Mistico gimmick he originated, with a few weeks of hype WWE could have easily sold out the 20,000+ seat Palacios de los Deportas arena at record ticket prices for the market.  Instead, thanks to their penchant of booking Raw and Smackdown on a week to week basis nowadays, they fell significantly short of what should have been an easy sellout had they promoted the match properly in advance of their Mexican tour.

After the jump, I'll reveal who won the match and discuss what this means for the loser.  Please don't click on the jump link, if you want to watch the match unspoilt.

To no surprise, prowrestling.net reports that Sin Cara Azul won the match and Sin Cara Negro had to unmask afterwards.  Finally Alvirde can breathe a sigh of relief, as this is a sure sign that his position in WWE as one of their top Mexican stars is secured for the years ahead, barring any further screw ups.  However, what this means for the career of Jorge Arias within WWE is unknown at this point, but it is unlikely to be a positive sign.  Having screwed up his opportunity to replace the arrogant Alvirde under the hood of Sin Cara by his sloppy, error prone performances and then failed to get over as his heel impersonator, losing a mask vs. mask match with such little build could be WWE's way of blowing off the Sin Cara Negro character, before sending Arias back to Florida Championship Wrestling or firing him.  The latter would be unfair as Arias was put in a nigh impossible position, as Alvirde has such a unique aura and high flying style that he would be difficult for anyone to duplicate, and the heel impersonator gimmick has always flopped in WWE.  Arias will have to cross his fingers and hope that he'll be repackaged and given a renewed push by the WWE creative team, but they usually don't give performers a second opportunity, yet alone a third one, especially to someone deemed such a high profile failure, so the odds are against him.