IWRG 11/5/09

Ruleta de la Muerte – Quarterfinals: Capitan Muerte & Miss Gaviota vs. Ultraman Jr. & Arlequin Negro

TKG: This a ruleta de muerte tag tourney where each tag team is made of one face teamed with one heel. The loosing team has to face each other in a singles match with the hair/mask on the line. This match was pretty long and not very good. It had a couple moments with Ultraman hitting a big tope, some stiff clotheslines, and Miss Gaviota reversing amateur riding sections with his eagerness to be rode.

PAS: The problem with these lucha tourneys normally is that all of the matches are too short, may not be an issue in IWRG as this actually goes way too long. Not as much cool Captain Muerte as one would hope.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Quarterfinals: Pendulo & Barba Roja vs. Chico Che & Gringo Loco

TKG: First quarterfinal was mostly worked with faces working faces and heels working heels. This one was done for he most part with the face on each team working the heel on the opposite team. This was all quick exchanges. Some really brief Che v Pendulo exchanges but everything else was face/heel and all four are guys who can do this stuff well.

PAS: Yeah this was pretty solid, Chico Che is worth watching even in short throw away matches like this. Barba Roja's finishing DDT was really nasty.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Quarterfinals: Eragon & Menfis vs. Cerebro Negro & Exodia

TKG: Never seen Menfis before but he really looks like a garbage wrestler with Slipknot mask, Pantera shirt and ill fitting baggy jeans. I kept on thinking he was going to step in his own hem. This was mostly a one man show with Cerebro Negro throwing out a huge tope on Menfis before match starts, teaching Exodia how to throw a chop, taking a giant posting, eating Eragon's too short tope,and going two on one against Eragon and Menfis (after his partner was eliminated) and only loosing in a really lucky BS fashion.

PAS: This was only about five minutes and everyone threw way too much stuff at the wall, there was four dives, crazy headrops way too much shit. You would think Menfis would be a slow starter who did some stalling and built to hot finish, but I guess not.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Semifinals: Ultraman Jr. & Arlequin Negro vs. AK-47 & Hijo del Pirata Morgan

TKG: We didn't get to see AK47 and Pirata's quarter final. They are the only team with two rudos (although feuding rudo factions) and weirdly they are the only team where you get the sense that partners don't get along, like they actively want to have a mask match against each other. Most of the match is Ultraman Jr and Arlequin Negro double teams and they team well. Arlequin Negro hits a huge tope. And there is an elaborate finish. Depending on where the ref was standing he could have DQd either team. The ref instead notices no chicanery and counts the pin straight. AK-47 and Pirata loose and unfortunately I don't think we ever get to see Arlequin Negro again. It is a shame as I enjoyed his work and imagine he would have allowed for long digressions into the relationship between Comedia Dell Arte and Minstrelsy.

PAS: In his brief appearances in this tourney Arlequin Negro looked like the best of the Arlequins, although he is pretty far down the list of lucha Negros. I really enjoyed the AK-47 and Pirata team as they were one of the few teams actually working the feuding partners gimmick. You knew they wouldn't end up in a mask match (having only one team put up their hair kind of telegraphs the booking), but you wanted to see it.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Semifinals: Cerebro Negro & Exodia vs. Chico Che & Gringo Loco

TKG: Chico Che comes into this match like he's Tenryu just absolutely beating the shit out of his opponents. Just hitting them crazy hard and tossing them recklessly. Even normal comedy stuff looked super violent. He does a bronco buster where it looks like he penetrated through the back of Cerebro Negro's skull. He hangs Exodia in a tree of woe and then he and Gringo spilt Cerebro Negro's leg around Exodia's face and the post which should be a "Ha Ha, we made you suck his dick" RnR Xpress v MX spot"s but instead is super violent. Post match Cerebro Negro slaps Exodia arond for stealing his pin, and Exodia stomps on Chico Che for no reason.

PAS: Exodia stomping on Chico Che was pretty weird considering they are both faces. It really felt like Exodia was legit pissed off at being chucked around. "Motherfucker you know I am fragile like a crystal vase, stop potatoing me." I cannot emphasize how awesome Chico Che was in this match, we already know what an awesome face brawler he is, great at bleeding, great at fiery comebacks, can go toe to toe with anyone. This match is the first time I have ever seen him brawl like a rudo and it was totally mind blowing. He is just vicious, running through both guys like a buzzsaw. This Chico Che Run in the end of 2009 was eye opening, he really looks like a top ten guy in the world.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Finals: AK-47 & Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs. Chico Che & Gringo Loco

TKG:This wasn't a ton. Ak-47 and Hijo del Pirata are still feuding but both willing to beat on Chico Che. Chico Che apparently decided to work each tourney match like a different fall. We've gotten to see his fast exchange fall and his stiff brawling fall. This was the sympathy selling into elaborate finish fall. And the elaborate finish is an awesome one. The heels move out of the way of a huge Chico Che in ring shoulder block tope where he accidentally topes his own partner. Chico Che then goes for the top rope to hit the big splash only to be hit by a AK-47 seated dropkick in a "HOLY SHIT!" finish.

PAS: Yeah the finish of this was really good, but the match was a little disappointing, they built the tourney really well, and made me desperately want to see this match, but the match itself was a little short, and didn't have the crazy brawl feeling I was hoping for.

Caballera contra Caballera: Gringo Loco vs. Chico Che

TKG: HOLY SHIT!! So this starts with Chico Che still selling the finish from last match and being unable to fight back against Gringo Loco. Loco busts him open on the metal container that holds the sodas in back of arena. When Chico Che regroups he again turns into Tenryu and just beats the absolute shit out of Gringo Loco. Busting him open, hitting him with stiff clotheslines, throwing Hotta style indifferent kicks, reckless slamming and kicking him on the ring ramp, and hitting the stiffest face wash I've ever seen. The two fight to apron where Che unsuccessfully tries to fight off a nasty powerbomb from the apron to the floor.

PAS: This was tremendous, both guys totally bring hell. This was violent in the way truly great violent lucha matches are, but it also had a really puro violence feel to it as well, with Chico Che facewashing and soccer kicking the living fuck out of a bloody Gringo Loco. Loco needed huge nasty offense to fire back from that, and he really did with a martinete and the apron powerbomb which Chico Che took like Foley. Loco was pretty great in this match, as this was his first really great performance of his IWRG run, but Chico Che motherfucker CHICO CHE!!

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