IWRG 1/31/10

First two matches are on Cubsfans Dailmotion page

Second two matches are on Black Terry Jr.'s Youtube

Eragon/Heros v. El Hijo Del Signo/Heavy Boy

PAS: You have to love IWRG, as they go ahead and put a 25 minute tag match between rookies on TV. The first fall was really good, with a long exchange between Heros and Signo being the highlight. Heros has really cool ankle pick takedowns, and these two guys work really well with each other. Eragon was stuck mostly matched up against Heavy Boy which can be rough. Middle of the match dragged a bit, but they picked up for a nice exciting ending with a really good looking double tope by the technicos. Very good stuff, and the 2010 undercard tends to be better then similarly placed matches in 2009.

TKG: There really is no explanation for airing these matches and not the two mains. Teleformula had been moving in an all stips/big match direction and happy to see them get in touch with the bizzaro spirit that makes IWRG Tv such a pleasure. I am not anywhere near as sold on the Heros/Signo section and thought the first fall was pretty disappointing. Heros/Eros and Signo had some interesting ideas (I especially dug Heros/Eros knucklelock flip thing and Signo’s rolling half nelson) but there was a real herky jerky pacing to it as I didn’t think they knew how to sell those ideas to make them meaningful or what to do between neat ideas. Where Heros really impressed was in his lucha face in peril stuff, as he sells and crumples and falls and fights to his feet in ways that really made the heel double teams work. Really disappointing Eragon outing as this may be the worst primera caida I’ve seen him in. He did a face wins every exchange section, which might work with a rudo like Commando Negro who knows how to work heel who begs off and looses but Heavy Boy can’t do much. The Eragon German was pretty nice looking and he should really use that as a finisher more often.

Angelico/Hijo Del Pantera/La Pantera v. Veneno/Trauma II/Gringo Loco

PAS: Bad match with a couple of nice moments. There is two minutes of nifty Pantera v. Trauma II matwork at the start of the match, Veneno has a couple of nice DDT's and I really liked Angelico's miming of a low blow bullshit finish. Everything else in this sucked though. Gringo Loco KO's himself on a 450 splash, so the second two falls are 3 technicos vs. 2 rudos which is pretty difficult to work sensibly. Plus this had tons of awful looking Angelico garbage.

TKG:There really wasn’t much to that Pantera v Trauma II matwork. Just veteran domination till everyone starts throwing fists. They then go into long three on one heels beat up a face while keeping the other two faces out of the ring. Unfortunately, none of the faces can do Heros/Eros level face in peril selling ( well Pantera probably could but he was working “Walking Tall” face) . The heels beating on faces two on three section wasn't much better. It should also be said that you are a shitty face team when you're comeback three on two offense doesn't look believable. It's a power play and I don't buy the Pantera's and Angelico as guys who can take advantage of the handicap matchup. Angelico’s fake foul may be the best thing I’ve ever seen Angelico do. Angelico always does really bullshit looking “wrestling is fake” selling. Everything about him feels "fake". Him as douchebag who points to his head self satisfied while faking a foul really played to his strengths.

El Hijo Del Diablo v. Dr. Cerebro

PAS: Great match, the best singles match of the month and the best Cerebro singles since his Santo series. Did a very cool job combining a traditional lucha title match with a chapter of a bloody feud. Despite the bad blood, both guys started working the mat, that is how you wrestle a title match and the rudos are going to try to prove their technique. Diablo isn't a maestro, but he did a good job using his bulk to hold down Cerebro. I also really liked the finish of the first fall, Cerebro gets conked on the head going for a dive and is stunned and submitted. All hell breaks loose in the second fall with Gringo Loco popping Cerebro and busting his head open, but Cerebro fires back. The third fall was awesome, crazy dives, great looking brawling and Terry cheap shotting Diablo every chance he gets. Then you get a totally awesome Dusty finish with Loco cracking Cerebro with a chain allowing Diablo to get the pin. Then Terry grabs Loco, digs super deep into his trunks and pulls out the chain to show the ref. I really wish we had a copy of the first tag match, because every other match in this feud has been total money.

TKG: This was awesome. This wasn’t IWRG doing a great IWRG straight up traditional title match, this was IWRG doing a great AAA style title match. And doing it amazingly well. The match is shaped by idea that Hijo del Diablo is the bigger and stronger of the two. That whole story is made by Dr Cerebro spectacular selling. First fall Hijo Del Diablo’s slowed with age mat work felt really deliberate and forceful which helped get the story across. Cerebro really sells that he has to struggle against Hijo Del Diablo’s size. Second fall was all about Diablo’s power bombs and Cerebro just made these look amazingly devastating. Third fall was reminder of what an awesome highflyer Diablo once was and just is out of control crazyness, with lots of second/ commissioner horseshit. Often times second commissioner horseshit will slow everything down, set off the pace, interfere with the flow and just kill a match…but here it totally played into and added to the drama.

Dinastia Navarro v. Dinastia Morgan

PAS: Another really great match, a tremendous end to a tremendous month. This is set up mostly father v. son, and we only get moments of the two veterans. Both opening mat sections were really good, Pirata is a big dude and he does matwork like a heavyweight MMA wrestler. Navarro is Navarro, really doing a nice job dancing around Hijo Del Pirata, at one point he breaks a submission by twisting a finger like Steven Segal or something. I loved the first fall submission he put on too, it looked like he said "fuck it, I always wanted to try this." Second and third falls were more brawling, and all four guys are great brawlers. Trauma I has become such a beast, he just lays into Pirata with headbutts, there is also a great moment where, Navarro just runs across the ring and drops a thudding body shot. Finish was really cool with Pirata and Navarro locked into a figure four, both sons dive onto the other fathers and eliminate them, then we get a really well done Trauma I v. El Hijo Del Pirata one on one battle.

TKG: All three falls here had spectacular finishes but a lot of this match just felt messy. I really liked the opening section between Trauma I and Pirata Morgan. It had a real “battle of the bulls” feel to it as two heavyweights just slamming into each other and looking completely worn down by the end. Navarro is a guy who can work brawling tank but I think he made the decision to allow his son to play heavyweight tank tag partner and reduced himself into role of technical tag partner. I thought the Hijo del Pirata v Navarro primera caida had some problems. Navarro’s released-submissions felt far more heelish than they usually do. Pirata would put Navarro into submission, Navarro would reverse/escape it then slap on his own submission and then dismissively let it go. This was a heel v heel match with Navarros essentially being the faces. I’ve seen Navarro as face v heel, seen him as heel v heel, seen as heel v face. I’ve seen Navarro dismissively manhandle folks before, but this really felt like the way he does it opposite someone who he’s trying to get over as a face. It should be also said that Hijo’s comeback to earn Navarro’s respect wasn’t a move that forced Navarro to ropes or anything like that, instead it was Hijo being able to roll out of a hold on own without Navarro releasing it early. Navarro “Oh you can roll out, I respect you. Here’s my hand”…is odd. It all came off as a neat idea that didn't really work. Hijo del Pirata’s stuff often looked off. But I came away from this wanting to see a Trauma I v Pirata Morgan match, which is a weird thing to want.