IWRG 11/29/09

Freelance v. Oficial Fierro:

TKG: Looking through IWRG results from the months we’ve missed, IWRG has been pretty stips heavy lately. IWRG on Teleformula is all about the stips matches. This was another parejas increibles match where the losing team faced off in a hair match. We get mic work from all four workers (Yack, 911, Freelance and Fierro) but only get the actual stip match.It is a really counterintuitive match as its kind of worked like a Dean Malenko v Rey match except here Dean is the face and Rey is the heel. Freelance is awesome as dominant guy sadistically working over opponents body part (Fierro’s taped arm). Everything he does just looks nasty and violent, and he has lots of varieties of ways of working over Fierro’s busted wing. I especially liked the lariats to the arm he threw in the third fall. Fierro works as heel selling arm, fighting back from below, throwing out heel hope spots, trying to exploit quick openings, going for the desperation make or miss moves ( a huge tope which Freelance sidesteps), and pulling out the against the odds small package victory. And at no point in all that did you forget that he was the heel. Fierro is the underrated Oficial. He is the natural power forward working power forward and thus doesn’t stand out as much as his partners. He’s pretty basic punchy kicky worker and can be forgotten next to the flashier 911 or the larger AK-47. But he’s the one I trust to bring something out of a big singles stip matchup.

PAS: Not a IWRG classic, but a pretty interesting match up, and a pretty tremendous performance by Freelance. He is a guy I have loved for a while, but I never predicted this kind of Black Terryish asskicker performance from him. No highspots, no fancy armdrags, just trying to take someone arm home with him. Also man alive was Fiero's missed dive crazy, just a full on head first crash and burn. Freelance isn't normally in a match where he is out spectaculared, but he sure was here.

Rayo de Jalisco Jr./Scorpio Jr./Angelico v. Veneno/Toxico/Oficial 911

TKG : It’s weird to watch Scorpio Jr. as a gregarious smiling to the crowd veteran babyface. It’s not just that he’s a face, he’s a guy working “crowd favorite face”. It’s the late 80s in Memphis and the Fabs can’t bring in Jackie so they bring in his Mexican cousin. That’s how he’s working and I have a difficult time adjusting to it. It’s fucking "El Principe Feo"; I keep expecting a heel turn. This is the 34th anniversary of Rayo as a wrestler. Rayo looked really awesome in 2008 but haven’t gotten to see much of him in 2009. This was him pretty much going through all his signature spots and doing his basic formula. No out of ring dive or slap to back of opponent bent over by apron and he fails to fully get Veneno up for the Romero special inside the star. I have no idea why Angelico is in this match. There is a real “Royal Stud” Adam Windsor feel to his push. Outside of Angelico’s shittyness this is fun by the numbers match.

PAS: I kind of dug your opening mat section with Angelico and Veneno, but man alive was Angelico's segunda caida kick offense atrocious. It looked like a little kid practicing Kung Fu on youtube. Man Angelico has some moments which need to be seen, he feels like he should become an internet meme. Rayo running through his signature stuff is always fun. Athletically Rayo and Scorpio are pretty shot, but they have a ton of charisma and really come off as stars.