IWRG 5/21/09

PAS: More IWRG, r0b3rt0x3L14S for El Presidente

http://www.youtube.com/user/r0b3rt0x3L14S

Eterno/Galactik v. Mixteca Jr./Vampiro Metalico

PAS: One of the better openers of 2009. Mixteca Jr. is totally garbage, but Metalico is real good and he had good exchanges with both technicos. The first fall was as good as any first fall on this show, there were some really slick Eterno v. Vampiro armdrag exchanges, and Galactik did a really awesome wrist and elbow lock. 2nd and 3rd falls weren't as good, but there was a crazy Eterno bump off the apron. Eterno looks like a guy who should be moved up to the Freelance trios.

TKG: Mixteco Jr didn’t look this shitty last week. Was that all a Jack carry job? WTF? This is a IWRG undercard reunion show as its been years since I’ve seen either Galactik (I or II) or Vampiro Metalico on a Naucalpan show. I’ve made lots of jokes about IWRG undercarders who study JAPW, PWG and IWA-MS tapes: guys with lots of goofy innovative Us indy type offense. But watching this match, I came away thinking that Vampiro Metalico is a guy I’d really like to see in a U.S. indy. He has a bunch of neat standing switch variations, facially sells anger of landing on his ass for arm drags well, his innovative offense is cool without being really overcomplicated (especially liked the double stomp into leg drop combination, his cross arm drop thing seems really safe), eats a front cracker really well and I assume the big bump spot was something he put together. I don’t get the impression that he’ll ever become a great lucha rudo, but I imagine he could carry Kenny Omega, Jack Hades or Chris Sabin to a really good US indy match.

Freelance/Miss Gaviota/Diva Salvaje v. Xibalba/Carta Brava/Avisman

PAS: Pretty much a Freelance show, but it was a heck of a show, only one crazy dive, but all of his armdrags and rana's were breathtaking. Diva Salvaje isn't good in the ring, but he is such a grotesque that you can't take your eyes off him, he looks like Taxi era Judd Hirsch in a bad wig.

TKG: Diva Salvaje isn’t good in the ring in this context but I imagine him and Goleador vs. The Junior Pierroths could be an awesome brawl. But enough fantasy booking. Carta Brava Jr is back too. I kind of like him as a solid if unspectacular rudo. This was the most impressive Freelance has looked in 2009; as he’s the captain here and works like a captain. Freelance’s teammates aren’t much, and the rudo team at best is Carta Brava Jr who is really solid if unspectacular and at worse is Xibabla who is really mediocre but competent. Somewhere in between those two lies Avisman who can be completely hit or miss. And this essentially becomes a one man show as Freelance does all the work to make this match you want to see. Nice opening mat work with Avisman ( Avisman’s normal lost facial expression of “oh fuck what am I supposed to do next” actually works here as it looks like increased frustration), good bumping as FIP for the rudos and his normal highflying. Rewarding one man show.

Negro Navarro/Captain Muerte/Durango Kid v. Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/Black Terry

PAS: This is the most Navarro v. Terry we have seen so far in 2009, and it was damn good, but not great. They have two mat sections, one at the end of the first fall, and one in the second fall. Both had some super slick stuff, but were done in the hold, release, hold style that most of these matches have been. I think the battle of technique stuff is pretty cool, but there is a point in the second fall where Navarro does a totally sick reversal of a Terry hold, and I remembered how much I miss reversals. The third fall is the brawl fall, with Terry and Cerebros doing a bunch of triple teams, there is this point when Navarro gets back into the ring and the intensity is palpable. He is like Kobe in the fourth quarter, the match really kicked into gear then, with two nice dives by Durango and Muerte, but the fake foul was a bit abrupt. Lots of promise here, but not a great match

TKG: I think Durango Kid is the La dojo guy who taught lucha to Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov but I’m not going to hold that against him.I really liked the dynamic in the Navarro family matches (especially the Xochimilco revancha) where you have this bad ass father who is both proud and very protective of his sons. He’ll attack guns a blazing if he feels they are being taken advantage of. You need to isolate Navarro to beat his kids. There is a neat reverse mirror image in the relationship between the Cerebros and Black Terry. The Cerebros are really proud of their mentor and have his back at all times. First fall ends with them running into ring to protect their mentor after he’s been submitted, second fall really is about them coming in to defend their mentor and support him in the fight, third fall has them taken out and Black Terry left looking (like a guy who starts fights knowing if shit goes wrong he always has tough friends who will back him up) suddenly alone. “Aw shit noone has my back now”. It should be said that the dives that took out the Cerebros in the third fall were just nasty dives that really looked like they’d take a guy out.Both had the hard look of someone dropping a heavy table on you.My guess is that Navarro never gets the trios title but there is a real awesome Dusty chasing Flair feel to this whole series (well back when Dusty chasing Flair was fresh) and this is easily the most exciting feud of the year.

Los Oficiales v. Trauma I y II/Zatura

PAS: This took a while to get going, but by the end it was pretty fun. I had been rough on Zatura last week, but he was pretty great here. Oficiales break out handcuffs and rip open his mask and bloody him. He comes back with some big highspots including a rana into the crowd and an awesome quebrada. Oficiales were bumping around great, baseball sliding, getting ranaed, bleeding. Traumas really are at their best when they are working the mat, and that wasn't going on here, but they were perfectly fine as place holders

TKG:Last week Zatura was he guy who was supposed to bring the fight. And well he can’t do that. Here he’s guy getting beat up which he’s a lot better at. This match made me want to rewatch the two Cerebros/Terrry v Dinastia Navarro revanchas as the Navarros boys were real hit and miss in their brawling. Odd how different both guys are with their strikes. Trauma I in the first fall is all about throwing these real Ron Fuller wild haymakers while Trauma II does lots of handspeed peppering with volume and accurate combinations. In the first fall Trauma II’s stuff looked like he wasn’t putting any force behind it , as though he thought he could win a brawl on Olympic style boxing points, by the end of the match he throws some power shots but for the most part he’s volume accuracy guy. But overall this was Officiales having a brawl against some technicos and they could have worked this match with anyone. I imagine the title match that this sets up will allow this set of technicos to play to their own unique strengths…long term if this is building to Zatura v AK47, I don’t have a lot of hope for that.