IWRG 1/10/10

2. Imperial/Dinamic Black v Comando Negro/Alan Extreme

TKG: Alan Extreme and Dinamic Black are clearly guys who trained together, perhaps brothers and they have their stuff against each other down. I haven’t had much good to say about either one against anyone else but they had a Willow Wisp v Surge level of polish. I’m not a big fan of touring matches but they structure the tag match around their stuff really well. The structure of the tag match means they do some switching up but it’s kind of kept to a minimum and really is done in a way that keeps both of them from being exposed. There is some goofy stuff in this match, Imperial being the guy who deadlifts Comando Negro for Dinamic Black’s front cracker feels like the wrong guy in the wrong position on a double team but this is the best “second match on the card” that we’ve seen in 2010.

PAS: This class of young guys have had individually strong moments, or good secondary performances, but this is their first really good match. Tom was right about Alan Extreme and Dinamic Black, they really have their stuff down and it is some nice looking stuff. I also liked how Negro and Imperial matched up, they also worked well together in a way which didn't look as rehearsed. Good building first fall with nice matwork and standing exchanges, solid beat down second fall, building into a big move third fall with some crazy dives (Alan Extreme does a twisting spinning top rope quebrada which was Flip Kendrick crazy), this is lucha libre right here.

3. Hijo Del Diablo/ Gringo Loco/ Masada v Chico Che/ Eragon/ Hijo del Pantera

PAS: This was really a match of peaks and valleys. When Chico Che is on, he is one of the most fun wrestlers in the world to watch. I love an agile fat dude, and his flying spots look great, floats in the air on his headscissors and splashes and moves shockingly quick for a big dude. I can't remember the last time I have seen Masada, but he is a welcome addition to the Gringos team, he is really expressive and charismatic, and he pulls off simple stooging and shtick so well. He also isn't afraid to take a weak Eragon tope by flying backwards through six rows of chairs. So a lot of good in this match, still there was some bad, a couple of spots near the end of the first fall get blown badly, and the big comeback face brawling didn't look good at all. El Hijo Del Pantera has some strenghts, but asskicking is not one of them.

TKG: Yeah I can't say enough about how fun this rudo team is. On the 1/7 show I described Eragon as a guy who is awesome at primera caida technical exchanges and not knowing what to do in the other two falls. The more I watch I think it’s less that he doesn’t know how to fill time in caida 2 and 3 then it is that he actually is uncomfortable drawing attention to himself there and kind of works tentative trying to fade into the background. Gringo Loco, Hijo del Diablo, and Mazda are super shticky stoogeing bumping guys who really do everything to make the technico look effective and won’t allow him to fade into the background. Eragon does do the really odd move of being the tecnico who looses all chop exchanges, which only works if you’re doing really underdog tecnico and I don’t think he’ll ever be able to pull off. I really like the pairing of Chico Che and Eragon but this could have used Rigo. Maybe they could regimmick Eragon as Perez Prado or replace the dragons on his mask with Farsifa Organs.

4. Dr Cerebro v Bushi (IWRG IC light title)

PAS: This was a really odd match, I am not 100% sure how I feel about it. Dr. Cerebro is an amazing performer, but this is the second singles match in a row which has felt really strange. For most of this match Cerebro was just squashing Bushi. It almost felt like a guy on his way out Mid-South wrestling. The handhelds which Black Terry Jr. are really awesome, you get a great close up look at how lucha is performed, when Cerebro applied his crazy upside submission to win the first fall, we really get a great view of exactly how it is applied. The first half of the second fall is also dominated by Cerebro, but then they go into a weird 2.9 section. Cerebro hits an insane top rope uranage for a two count, and Bushi hits the next move, all of a sudden this was a 2002 Chris Daniels match. Finish is kind of odd too, Bushi hits a tope, just smashing Cerebro into rows of chairs, while Cerebro is selling his thigh and the ref is distracted, El Hijo Del Diablo hits a martinete on Bushi, rolls Cerebro into the ring and he wins in two straight falls. So after being eaten alive by Cerebro for most of the match, Bushi leaves the country looking strong because it took two guys to beat him. You would also think this would lead to Bushi v. Diablo in a hair match or something, but Bushi is on a plane the next day. Lots of good stuff in the match, but this wasn't a good match.

TKG: I dug this more than Phil but it still is problematic match. I described Avisman as working like a “poor man’s Dr Cerebro”in his title match with Bushi so I was expecting a lot more from this. Dr Cerebro really dominates the first fall and it’s a really cool matwork fall as everything feels less cooperative than it often does (Cerebro and Bushi appear to be forcing their ways into and out of holds) and you don’t see either releasing holds on their own. Dr Cerebro isn’t Avisman (guy who can be beat off the ropes) as Dr Cerebro is a pretty solid highflyer himself. And it felt like the rope running fall was being worked as the highflying equivalent of volume puncher v power puncher where Bushi would try to overwhelm Cerebro with the speed and volume of his aerial stuff while Cerebro would slow Bushi down with harder stuff.. It’s more complex story than the Avisman one and I don’t think the match fully accomplished getting it across. For a match that was really one sided, it did accomplish giving you the sense that both Dr Cerebro was tough for being so dominant and Bushi was tough for surviving that level of beating.