IWRG 8/06/09

Our friend Luchalibre Nation is still AWOL, but into the breach comes WarriorsX2000 who is posted this awesome looking show.

Heavy Boy/Carta Brava Jr. v. Star Boy/Eragon

TKG: Apparently Carta Brava Jr and Eragon are feuding. Basic premise here was Eragon wants Carta Brava Jr. Carta Brava won’t match up with Eragon until heels have advantage. Simple structure but more actual heated match than you expect for segunda. And I really liked this a lot. For “innovative” guy teamed with Carta Brava Jr , Heavy Boy didn’t look anywhere near as good as Vampiro Metalico. I like Heavy Boy’s Vegomatic variations but outside of those he dragged this match down. Meanwhile Carta Brava Jr was on fire. For a guy who I think of as being pretty vanilla he came away like a RUDO STAR who I want to see again. The match actively made me want to see an Eragon v Carta Brava superlibre singles match. That’s something I can’t imagine saying.

PAS: Solid undercard tag, match had its moments of good including a good looking headscissors from Star Boy and a giant swing into a dropkick by the rudos. Heavy Boy is without Epidemia but Carta Brava Jr. fills his part of the innovative indy double teams fine. There were definitely some awkward parts too, the rudos had stuff in mind, which didn't play out in practice. Still no beef with this.

TKG: I haven’t seen Starboy in years. He used to be a guy getting a pretty big IWRG push who I didn’t think much of. Here he came off as a really solid tecnico and his section with Carta Brava was a blast. There was a Baywatch episode I think called “Broken Windows and Broken Waves” that dealt with homeless problem on the beach where CJ volunteered at a soup kitchen where she taught the homeless to surf while Mitch implemented broken windows theory to combat aggressive panhandling. Both the “bad” homeless panhandlers and the good homeless families all had really cut bodies with perfect skin, coifed hair, implants and perfect teeth. IWRG isn’t Baywatch. There is no romanticism in IWRG, not just your homeless are ugly but also your strippers. StarBoy is a guy working a stripper gimmick, but this isn’t your romanticized Hector Elizondo/ Antonio Pena style stripper. StarBoy is kind of chubby greasy scummy looking small town male stripper. He looks like Tom Brandi gone to seed. Doesn’t work the bachelorette parties for the money so much as for the creepy pleasure it provides him. Compared to Leono or Kozlov, and Star Boy just comes off as better worker and more charismatic. You get the sense that if he took up ab crunches and bulimia for a couple months he could get a nice push in a bigger fed. I don’t know if the ab crunches and vomiting would hurt his charisma. Watching Star Boy I kept on thinking how someone should run an IWRG/AAA invasion that’s set up when Floyd Gondolli brings StarBoy, Diva Salvaje Judas, Flor Metalico, and Freelance over to the party Konan is throwing.

El Fantasma de la Opera/Avisman v. Exodia/Bushi

TKG: The story here is that Fantasma is working a gimmick of heel that no one can trust and get along with. He turned his back on fellow rudo Buschi, so Buschi has turned face and grabbed Exodia to feud with Fantasma. Over the course of match Buschi earns Exodia’s trust and cements his status as a face. This is all really amusing and convoluted since I think the whole explanation of Buschi’s original heel turn was “ This is Buschi’s debut working as a rudo, I guess he felt like trying that out”. This was kind of a mess and not something they pulled off at all successfully. I have no desire to see Fantasma v Buschi in a superlibre match. It feels like Buschi either needs to be hidden more in trios or working more technical exchanges. Exoida looks more comfortable in the ring than he did the first time we saw him, and he takes an insane bump on Fantasma's dangerous DDT variation. Still Exodia is a guy who very clearly needs to be wrestling Radamantis, Judas El Traidor, and Commando Negro in openers for the next eight to ten months.

PAS: I guess Exodia looks more comfortable then last time, he is definitely a good athlete, but he face plants the floor on his dive and I imagine they will bury this guy and repackage Goledor next week as the new Exodia. I thought Fantasma had a really good performance but I really don't want to see him against either of the technicos.

Barba Roja/Pirata Morgan Jr./Hijo del Pirata Morgan v. Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro/Black Terry

PAS: Really fun trios match. The Jr. Piratas look a little outclassed during the opening mat sections, as their was some nice looking stuff, but they were clearly being led by Terrible Cerebros. They were definitely more comfortable in the second and third falls when they stood up. I really liked all of their triple teams, as they looked more like classic lucha trios moves, as opposed to the more Young Buckish shit that many current lucha teams will do. I also dug the finishes of the second and third falls, as the rudos attempted to out rudo each other. That is one thing I love about lucha, when you match up two rudo teams, their isn't a de facto techinco, they just battle to see who truly represents the spirit of rudismo.

TKG: I get the sense that the Piratas v Officiales is the match up that would play to their strengths better. Still kind of neat to see them forced to work this type of matchup. They seemed really out of sorts as to what to do with the first fall. but they never embarrassed themselves and hung along for the ride. Also amazing how much Terry felt like the real general/anchor of this matchup. One of these days I'd love to write up something on the period of EMLL between the crowd turning on the attempt to make Tarzan Boy a top face at turn of century and the beginning of the success of making Mistico. The real engine of EMLL booking during that period was these rudo v rudo feuds that were anchored by veteran rudos. The IWRg crowd was packed with kids from either the local Buccaneers youth futbol team or the youth booster club for a Buccaneers futbol team. Either way promoting a trio to local youth group with similar name is cool way to sell more tickets and get involved crowd.

Los Oficiales v. La Dinastia de la Muerte

PAS: This was a little disappointing as it only really kicked into gear when Navarro starts kicking ass in the third fall. Oficiales controlled most of the first couple of falls, and looked fine, but nothing they did really stood out, and Navarro was in the background. When he decides to unleash an ass whooping in the last fall though it was pretty spectacular. He just stomps the Oficiales into oblivion, and pounds them with punches. Navarro may be the most badass brawler in wrestling right now, which is strange for a guy who has primarily been known as a technical mat worker.

TKG: Pre match the Traumas and Navarro doa promo. Boy are the Traumas young. At worst they sounded like the pimply faced boy who works at Krusty Burger on the Simpsons, at best they sounded like Joel Watts. Fierro is back after a four month injury and didn't seem to miss a step, as he's really fun as guy beating on folks and eating a nasty beating. 911 was almost understated while AK47 continues to look awesome. AK47 steps up to have really good match ups with all three Navarros (I left this thinking that him v Trauma I might be actively good singles...which is probably wrong but whatever). But he also is the guy who won't let an opponent just stand around and do nothing. One of problems with heel triple teams is the question of why isn't technico breaking them up. There were a couple points where the either one of the Traumas seemed to be either out of place or standing around just watching while the other was getting beat on. AK47 seemed to always find a way to knock down the guy milling about aimlessly and then get back to triple team.