XCW Midwest Legends of the Garden 3/2/10

XCW MIDWEST ON SEGUNDA CAIDA

Knuckles and Knives v. Ted Trailer McNaler/Ricky Morton

TKG: Knucles and Knives come out in late 90s pop punk gear with white belts and black vests and guitars (with guitar straps with names on it). Trailer McNailer brings out Ricky Morton as his surprise partner. I didn’t have anything positive to say about Knuckles and Knives when I last saw them, but enjoyed Punch’s shtick (and he takes a crazy bombs away knee bump to nothing for a match this short) and Switchblade didn’t look as loose as I remembered him being. Morton looked pretty fast working opening section and hot tag. This was a lot of fun but too short to say much about.

PAS: I thought Morton looked like he was in good shape, and his execution looked good. This is a Ricky Morton tag match you wanted it to stretch out a bit, enjoy the journey. It doesn’t work nearly as well when it is cut short like this.

Real Deal Derrick Neal v. Simon Sezz

TKG: Last time we saw Derrick Neal work he was working undercard babyface. He works heel here and makes some really amusing pouting heel faces. Closer to Orndorf level pouting than Tatum pouting. He has some nice looking punches and this was fine outside of him having a bunch of really distractingly bad missed clotheslines for a guy who is using the missed clothesline a lot. I mean it wasn’t like he had just one way to throw a clothesline way over opponents head. He had a variety of ways to throw his arm out and make you go “Was that supposed to be a clothesline?”.

PAS: Yeah one of his missed clotheslines looked less like a clothesline and more like he tried to throw a fastball. Simon Sezz is pretty good at working generic babyface, although we saw less of his 2002 indy highflying and innovative offense then we normally do. I enjoyed Neal loading a boot for a basement dropkick which is an amusing 2010 variation of a old school spot.

Todd Morton v. Road Dogg

PAS: I was pretty excited about this match on paper. I have enjoyed some indy Road Dogg, and Todd Morton is pretty infallible. And for the three minutes we got it was pretty good. Still Road Dogg’s mike work was longer then the match

TKG: Yeah this was super short. Road Dog gets in his signature stuff and Bull Pain walks out to distract Morton for the rollup. This is the first XCW show where the sound is really clear on the DVD’s so we can make out all the mic work. But I’d rather see longer matches.

Dangerous Dougie Gilbert v Headliner Chris Michaels

TKG: This was being run face v face and both guys looked really good while it lasted and this really felt like it was building to go longer (with the announcer counting down time) then Michaels gets an out of nowhere pin.

PAS: Yeah this was also too short. Dougie looked really comfortable in there, and is a guy I would like to see them use more of. Still the finish of this really came out of left field. It felt less like a complete short match, then a long match which ended abruptly.

JD Maverick v Mitch Ryder

TKG: I have really disliked Maverick in the past. Last couple times I saw him I remember him working a real indy Shawn Michaels guy who did lots of elaborate self controlled bumps and flopping when he wasn’t being touched and then had really loose offense. He looked really good here. Mitch Ryder throws a series of nasty punches on Maverick in the corner where Maverick sells them standing and Maverick drops a knee really hard on Ryder and Maverick throws a bunch of mean looking strikes. Super fun fight in and out of ring which ends with Maverick slipping in to escape a ten count. Really satisfying finish that Mitch Ryder uses to set up a lumberjack match.

PAS: Yeah I thought Maverick looked really good here too. Maverick was simultaneously landing nasty punches and kicks and pulling off pussy heel. Ryder is one of the best in the world as these kind of around the arena brawls, and Maverick was right there with them.

Simon Dean v. Bull Pain

TKG: Wow Simon Dean has gotten fat. I mean he looks less like a personal trainer and more like a fat guy in sweats. And he works this entire match like he was a fat Jim Cornette. Chickenshit guy running and hiding from face, eating abuse, begging off and then getting a bunch of cheap shots in. He does one neckbreaker. Not a Novaesque pumphandle inverted neckbreaker. Just a neckbreaker. And this is the most I’ve enjoyed Nova ever. Bull Pain is a guy who is great at beating up a fat Andy Kauffman. The post match booking is reall fun and got me excited to see the follow up.

PAS: I am in shock at how much I enjoyed Simon Dean here. His pre match mike work was great, threatening to win a kids replica belt. Deciding that he wouldn’t have a title match because there was no ref, then punching the ref. He was also shockingly fun as Andy Kaufman, running, crying and cheap shotting. The whole match seemed to be setting up one thing and I liked how they did something else. A lot of time wrestling swerves sacrifice common sense for surprise, we were all expecting Chris Michaels to turn, but when Bull Pain turned instead it made sense. Plus I am amped to see Pain and Morton back together

Read more!

IWRG 3/4/10

IWRG on Segunda Caida

http://www.youtube.com/user/tvluchadelpasado

Alan Extreme/Samot vs Heros/Brazo Metalico Jr.

TKG: They do a 1980's All Japan brawling on the floor double-countout finish in an all rookies opener!!! IWRG booking can be awesomely ridiculous! Heros and Alan Extreme tried to do a slower more deliberate version of their opening technical fall and it didn’t really work. Slow and deliberate technical exchanges require more struggling for holds, more selling and less appearance of cooperation. They pick up speed later and you don’t notice the cooperation as much. As per usual Heros is the star of the rudos isolate and double team tecnicos section. That said, I thought Brazo Metalico Jr really had a stand out performance here. Samot is a pudgy guy who will bump for anyone and anything. But Metalico worked a match opposite him that made a ton of sense given the size difference. Samot is a guy who will eat an Irish whip or a suplex from anyone but Brazo Metalico Jr. isn’t going to do that. I imagine Brazo has had plenty of experience at family picnics where relatives get drunk and challenge him to a fight. He knows what works. The first fall he works a speed and leverage game opposite Samot’s size and it’s super entertaining. At one point Samot aims his clothesline too high and the Jr Brazo does a really neat cover where he sells as though his eyes were grazed. Brazo Metalico Jr also gets ridiculous hang time on his tope where it feels like he is suspended in the air. In the third fall street fight section Brazo Metalico does deadlift Samot and whip him into post, but he pulls it off in a way where you totally buy Brazo Metalico Jr as being super fired up and angry and buy Samot as super worn down by the match.

PAS: Pretty strange to see a Brazo work as fast highflyer against agile bumping fat man. I wonder if Samot is an illegitimate cousin or something and that is why they work so well together. It could be that he is just super excited to work an Alverado, the way I imagine your current batch of Mid-Atlantic indy wrestlers get really amped up to wrestle David Flair. Samot was just great in this, his eating of Metalico's tope was just nuts for such a big dude, and I loved the impact of his top rope splash. Heros v. Alan Extreme wasn't as good as has been in the past, but these guys work each other enough that a 70% version of their match is going to work fine. Match of the show, which doesn't mean as much on this day as it would on another day.

Hijo del Diablo/Hijo del Signo/Maldito Jr. vs Eragon/Freelance/Zatura

TKG: They do a 1980’s NWA over the top rope DQ finish!!!! IWRG booking can be awesomely ridiculous! IWRG booking can also just be out and out bizarre. I’ve mentioned before that IWRG have a bunch of really cool rudo stables while the tecnicos are often just mixed into trios randomly. Here the rudos are guys from three different stables mixed together randomly. Maldito Jr normally is partnered with Samot and is one third of Ola Maldita. Hijo Del Diablo is one third of the Gringos Locos VIP who have been feuding with Black Terry and Dr Cerebro on the Sunday shows. El Hijo del Signo has been teaming with Black Terry and Cerebro (and seconds Cerebro later) on the Thursday shows where they feud with Pantera and son. I mean it isn’t that the Sunday and Thursday shows are running in different towns (Evansville and Memphis or somesuch). But they are in the same arena. Hijo del Signo and Eragon have been married in ring for too long, and this was one of their lesser Tim Horner v Terry Taylor technical Georgia wrestling exchanges. They need to start working other people. On the other end, Zatura v Maldito Jr ‘s opening section was a blast. Zatura has a whole bunch of different ways to figure four an opponent’s legs (grabbing the leg and nastily leaping it into position, forcing with his arms, as part of a ceiling hold, etc) while Maldito Jr tries to respond with a series of heavy roll ups. Maldito Jr isn’t Samot and kind of struggles at eating the faster exchanges. But he’s fun on offense and that opening section earns him some points. I left this wanting to see Zatura, Brazo Metlaico Jr v Samot/Maldito Jr match.

PAS: I really liked Maldito Jr. in this, I thought his opening matwork against Zatura was some of the most interesting matwork we have seen in IWRG this year. Not as technically crisp as your Navarro v. Solar, but the technique was pretty cool, and I loved how Maldito used his size to counter and dominate holds. He also worked really well with Freelance, in a real Mike Knox v. Rey, speed v. power match up. I agree with Tom about the underwhelming nature of the Eragon v. Signo match up, and for a guy who is having such a big year, Diablo did nothing here. More a match with cool moments, then an actual good match.

Hijo Del Pantera v. Dr. Cerebro

TKG: I was super dreading this match up. Hijo del Pantera really brings very little to the table at this point and had no idea how you can work a title match around him. He doesn’t work the mat or sell or do any technical exchanges well and his dives are hit and miss. I mean you’d need at least 3 Ephesto v Sombra dangerous headbumps before I buy him. Hijo del Pantera is a guy who just never comes across as credible. They actually worked a pretty smart match around hiding that fault. As on some level this really came off like a really smart lucha version of Sam Houston v Flair or Scorpio v Windham type of match (Guy out of his league putting in a noble effort against an A1 guy). Not a real accurate description as Sam Houston and Scorpio are both more credible than Hijo Del Pantera. Maybe Genius v Hogan is better comparison. But that has the whole face/heel structure different. This is a surprisingly dramatic match built around non credible guy trying to get moral victory of one pinfall and lasting in ring for a while. Hijo del Pantera knowing outmatched goes after Dr Cerebro before Cerebro can even get in the ring (hitting Cerebro with two quick dives a throw on the floor and a 2nd rope moonsault) for a quick flash pin. Cerebro looks at the ref with a “what the fuck is this shit” look and reminds the ref “Hey man this is supposed to be a Championship match”. Second fall starts with Cerebro still selling wind and reluctantly playing along with Hijo’s fast exchange gameplan. When Cerebro wins this with submission with thumbs pointed to himself you know the inevitable end of this match. Cerebro can beat Hijo del Pantera at his own game, it’s jut a question of how long Hijo del Pantera can hang on. And the third fall is just Hijo del Pantera throwing out all his dropkicks and dives trying to hold it off as long as he can, until Cerebro dispatches him with Fujiwara armbar into Cerebro driver.

PAS: The structure of this was pretty cool, but Pantera real didn't deliver his part of the match. I liked the idea of him jumping Cerebro at the bell and hitting topes, but the topes sucked and I just didn't buy any of his offense breaking an egg. I liked the finish a lot, and if Cerebro had worked the same match move for move with Heros or Pelle Primaeu I could see liking it, but the execution was too ass for this type of match. I am not sure what else Cerebro could have tried, but this wasn't it.

Barba Roja Jr./Trauma I/Trauma II v. Pantera/Angelico/Angel

TKG: Maaaaaan, Pantera tries, but he can’t save this ass tecnico team. He has a nice section where he gets beat on by Trauma I in first fall and does two different types of topes in next two falls, eats triple teams well and has a fun tecnico chases and delivers belt shots to rudos section. But then there are the other two tecnicos. And unfortunately Pantera is being booked as a backup character in an Angelico centered match. I was kind of hoping for Pantera to come after Trauma I for the hair loss. Instead we get Trauma I wanting Angelico’s belt and those two pairing off. They do some really nice “two guys who trained together” standing technical exchanges and then Trauma I does an impressive job of selling/eating Angelico’s laughable goofball quick stuff. And then thankfully Truama gets to work with Pantera a bit. Unfortunately he has to work Angelico again and gets hurt.

PAS: The first couple of minutes of this match were pretty entertaining, as Trauma I is really great at working around Angelico's horseshit. His fake Alex Shelly stuff is awful when it is attempted against anyone without Navarro blood coursing through their veins, but Trauma I kind of makes it work. Match falls completely and utterly apart when Trauma I gets hurt, and I am happy that Angelico headed back to Pretoria before he could hurt more good wrestlers.

Read more!

At Black Terry's Feet They Will Cast Their Golden Crowns

Black Terry/Shu El Guererro v. Kendo/Blackman UWF 3/2/90- GREAT

PAS: This was exactly what you want from a fourth from the top tag. Kendo and Blackman have some really fun spots, and both rudos bump and stooge like champs. Kendo is a guy with out a ton of substance, but has some serious flash. Black Terry is such an asskicker, there is a section where they trap Blackman in the corner and you have some black on black violence so bad that someone should call Bill Cosby.

TKG: Kendo is super super fast here. He isn’t as good as guy eating opponent’s offense as he is as guy running through his own spots. But majority of match was spent with the rudos eating stuff and getting outwitted, so not much of a problem. Kendo does a spectacular dropkick where he spreads his legs and simultaneously knocks both Terry and Shu out of ring. It looks like no one has tightened the ropes and Shu does a nice job protecting Blackman from dieing on his top rope arm drag. Shu grabs at Blackman’s legs and makes it look like he’s trying to prevent Blackman from hitting his spot, while actually holding Blackman up.


Black Terry/Asesino Negro Jr./Dr. Mortus v. Ave Fenix/Kid Tiger/Star Boy IWRG 7/12/07-FUN

The rudo team in this was a lot of fun. Dr. Mortus and Asesino Negro Jr. are both big fat dudes, and both are good at fat rudo spots (similar to Samot and Maldito Jr. in 2010), both of them bumped pretty good too. Terry had more of a minor role, hitting some fun cheap shots. Technicos really didn't contribute much to the match though, Kid Tiger and Ave Fenix were both pretty green, and there were points where they were clearly out of place or flubbing spots. Not a bad match, but not a memorable one either.


Dr. Cerebro/Black Terry/El Hijo Del Signo v. Pantera/El Hijo Del Pantera/Zatura IWRG 2/11/10-GREAT

PAS: Really great match which was a step below epic. We get a long opening mat section (which we are getting in a ton of lucha matches lately, not just in IWRG, WELCOME BACK LUCHA MAT WRESTLING! FUCK YEAH!) with some really beautiful stuff being done by Cerebro and Zatura. Then it breaks down into pretty damn great brawling. What was really strange is that your technicos were acting really dickish. Terry and Cerebro are coming off this bloody feud defending Mexico, and the Technicos are smacking Terry on his bad neck and trying to bite open wounds. Terry does an amazing job as a wounded Rottweiler, still dangerous and violent, but there is both a hurt paw and hurt pride. Hijo Del Pantera is not ready for this kind of match, he hit his signature spots fine, but this required more, and he didn't really have it. Signo was better, he took an insane bump into the chairs for example, but this match needed Cerebro Negro and Freelance.

TKG: I liked Hijo del Pantera and Hijo del Signo in this. In the past I’ve thought of Hijo Del Pantera as a guy who is ill prepared for the push he’s getting. But he actually worked fine here and this was the sharpest his brawling has looked. I actually liked the dynamic where you had those two almost always working against each other. It almost had the feel of Japanese tags where rookie or junior teams with heavyweight. I mean neither of these guys are (or will ever be) Kikuchi or Fuchi but I liked the way that role worked in the match, thought there exchanges all were nice and thought the final Hijo del Pantera submission on Hijo del Signo looked awesome. Phil has mentioned the Zatura v Cerebro mat exchanges which were super tough looking, but the opening Pantera v Terry matwork was also a blast as Terry continued to sell the neck and head (from martinete on chair in last match) throughout the matwork…and you had this neat story of when is Pantera going to decide to exploit that injury.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

Read more!

New Japan BOSJ 2010 Pt. 7

Tama Tonga v. AKIRA 6/5

This started with the ceremonial working of the leg. Both guys desultorily kicked at the knee a bit. I did like AKIRA stomping on the instep of Tonga's bare foot, but it was pretty meaningless. AKIRA has pretty good execution, but this match did nothing to engage me. I did like Tonga no selling the enzigiri because of his hard head, I hope he finally embracing his inner Samoan

Taiji Ishimori v. Nobuo Yoshihashi 6/5

I have to admit that these matches are starting to blend together a bit. It really hurts Yoshihashi's tough guy gimmick to lose a chop battle to a thai ladyboy. This was another work the leg match, Yoshihashi sold it fine, Ishimori did some ok stuff to it including a version of Trauma I's spinning leglock finisher. Of course that just made me wish I was watching IWRG, and got me bummed out about the Black Terry Jr. hiatus.

Davey Richards v. La Sombra 6/5

I was pretty surprised at how perfectly watchable I found this. It was a whole lot of cartwheels and backflips, but after watching all of these dull stomp the knee matches, I appreciated a little sizzle. Richards toned down his hamminess a little bit, it was kind of like watching Robin Williams doing a dramatic acting role, it isn't really good, you are not really excited to see it, but at least he won't ruin a serviceable script with dumb voices and shtick. Two cool dives, some flashy shit, went down OK.

Prince Devitt v. Jushin Thunder Liger 6/5

This tournament is my first long look at Prince Devitt and he kind of looks and wrestles like a Potatoe famine John Walters. Nothing offensively wrong with him, but pretty simple and dull. I have no beef with watching Liger work through four minutes or so of his basic juniors matwork, and I though Devitt was a competent antagonist for that. They run through a decent finish run, and Liger has gotten the Thez press over with me enough, that I kind of snorted in disgust when Devitt kicked out of it. Pretty much a textbook example of an average wrestling match.

BOSJ on Segunda Caida

Read more!

Black Terry Hits Like A Phillips Head Into My Brain

Monkey Magic Watika/El Hijo Del Santo/Villano III v. Black Terry/Solar/El Texano UWF 3/8/91 - GREAT

These UWF Japan matches are typically one fall lucha matches which are worked like three fall matches squished together. Not a lot of pauses, and contemplation, six guys going full bore. These are six pretty great guys to watch go at it. We get a bunch of different combinations of guys, Watika is incubatory Super Delfin and he successfully hangs with Solar on the mat, and he also avoids getting smoked in standing exchanges by Texano and Terry, he is clearly the least of the six, but acquits himself well. The stand out matchup was definitely Terry v. Santo, it isn't long but they move at breath taking speed, it looks like the first FF button on a DVR. Not long enough or substantive enough to truly be a classic, but a total blast to watch.

Black Terry v. Fantasma Del Opera IWRG 12/2/07-SKIPPABLE

These two had a bloody feud with a bunch of fun matches against each other around this time. This was a title match though, and never really came together. Terry working the mat is always going to have some cool moments, but Opera didn't seem comfortable, and outside of a nice knuckle lock sequence, nothing stood out. Third fall had some desultory brawling and ended with Terry's second (some All Japan rookie) nut shot Fantasma behind the refs back. I have seen Terry have some corkers with limited opposition, but this was not one of them.

Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco/El Hijo Del Diablo IWRG 1/24/10- EPIC

PAS: This was a Super Libre match and an old fashioned bloody brawl. It reminded me of the kind of brawls we saw on the Memphis set. This is as basic as it gets, four guys beating the shit out of each other and painting the canvas red. Really cool start with Terry and Cerebro trying to rush the USA team in the aisle, but end up getting faked out and jumped from behind. The Gringos get the advantage and Cerebro and Terry are bloody, and they go back and forth, punching each other and slamming each other into things. Gringo Loco brings out his bag of cactus, that felt like a comedy spot other times we have seen it, here it had a real Abby feel as he drove a Cactus into Black Terry's bloody head.

TKG: This was a blast. Brawling asskicking Black Terry is awesome as he is always super tough and vulnerable at the same time. I saw Hijo Del Diablo working as a main event babyface teamed with Santito on one of the Juster shows. You watch this match and that just feels completely unbelievable. That scumbucket worked as a main event face? I’d recommend watching the handheld version. The HH misses some of the nasty hammerfists where Dr Cerebro and Hijo Del Diablo appear to be trying to break each other’s cheeks. And I think the wider TV shot of Diablo and Terry trying to bathe the audience in their blood is probably cooler, and there are a couple of other things you miss with the hand held. But you miss a ton with the TV. One of the things that lucha fans always have to explain to people is how much heat lucha matches can have and how poorly the television gets that across. I mean the TV never captures the heat of stuff in Arena Mexico as well as the handhelds capture the heat for this in Naucalpan.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

Read more!

I Will Cause all My Goodness to Pass in Front of You, and I Will Proclaim my Name Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Killer Khan NJ 5/24/83-GREAT

This was a total blast, two of the most expressive wrestlers working a great shtick filled mid card match. Khan is so awesome here, Fujiwara uses his speed and elusiveness to get the advantage on Khan early, cheap shotting him on the break, eluding the bull rushes, ect, you can watch Khan get more and more frustrated. When he finally lures Fujiwara into the corner and takes over he is great as a strutting douchebag getting the advantage. He works over Fujiwara until he smashes his head into the ring bolt, which of course Fujiwara no sells. Khan has this great "What the Fuck" look on his face as Fujiwara smashes his own head into the bolt multiple times, Khan even tries to call time out which just killed me. Fujiwara fires back with Mongolian chops which even pisses Khan off more, Fujiwara is great as a fired up babyface taking the advantage while taunting the heel with his own move, it almost felt Dustyish. This is from the weird hand held site with the low quality DL's but despite that everyone should go download it, I promise a smile.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Nobuhiko Takada UWFI 5/27/96-SKIPPABLE

Really disappointing match. This was the main event of an Anniversary show for UWFI, with two guys who have a history of working really well together. This is clearly working it's way towards a big main event. They start up hitting the mat pretty hard, with both guys doing some interesting things. I really liked how Takada worked his way into a kimura, and how Fujiwara twisted his way out of it. Unfortunately on the first big strike Takada cracks Fujiwara with a Sano kick, clearly fucks him up and the match ends on a KO. Takada did a really poor job reacting, if he acted like he had scored an out of nowhere KO, it might have worked. Certainly flash knockouts can add to the excitement of Boxing matches and MMA fights, Instead he looked like he ate a bad nectarine. Really huge missed opportunity, as it would have been cool to see what kind of match these guys would have had with Takada being a legitimately big star as opposed to the up and comer he was when they matched up in the UWF.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Ultraman Robin F*UCK 10/9/06- FUN

Amusing match, basically Fujiwara playing around with a guy who feels like a backyarder. Fujiwara teasing this guy is pretty fun to watch. He takes him down at ease, and can put on any submission he wants. Robin only does what Fujiwara allows him to do. There are a bunch of times when Fujiwara slaps on a submission hold, Robin taps, but Fujiwara releases the hold before the ref can see it. There is a moment when Robin finally gets a reversal and hold, and Fujiwara just breaks it with ease and gives him this spectacular condescending little clap. I think Robin is the money mark for F*UCK and I have no idea why he would pay someone to come in and screw with him like this, but I enjoyed watching it.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

Read more!

IWRG February Awards

Wrestler of the Month

TKG: Black Terry. Between the two cage matches this month and the title match in January, Hijo del Diablo is having quite the run but still this award goes to Terry. There were two major feuds going on in IWRG in the February IWRG we watched. The Thursday feud: Pantera and son v Terry and co. And the Sunday feud of Gringos Locos VIP v Terry and co. And Black Terry was the star of the MOTM candidates from both feuds, the key to most of the matches and played a whole bunch of different roles in each feud.

PAS: Black Terry. He is going to be racking these up all year, as he is having one of the best years any wrestler has had for decades. He was the star in every match he was in, and played different roles in each feud. El Hijo Del Diablo had a pretty great month too, ruling it in both the tag cage match and the hair cage match against Chico Che. He is quietly a top guy in the world.

Match of the Month:

TKG: Dr. Cerebro/Black Terry v. Gringo Loco/Hijo del Diablo 2/7. Do you want a NWA cage match, do you want a workrate escape the cage match, do you want a Bruno escape the cage match? This is a cage match where every part of it worked. The opening ten minutes of guys beating each other before they are allowed to attempt an escape was great. The next section of guys fighting for escapes was great, and the final epic two guys no longer fighting to escape but fighting to finish each other off so badly they won’t be able to escape all were great. It was the best of all worlds.

PAS: Dr. Cerebro/Black Terry v. Gringo Loco/Hijo del Diablo 2/7. No doubt, all three of the Panteras v. Cerebros team match were very good, but the cage match was a true epic. Everything you want a violent blow off to a feud to be, it felt like the Battle of Greensboro which is not the kind of thing we get much of in 2010.

You Got It (The Right Stuff):

TKG: Heros/Eros. I was hoping we’d get to do Hanging Tough for our second month of New Kids on the Block and get to talk about a rookie continuing to improve and carving out a niche. Instead, February was all about Heros/Eros. He’s a guy who debuted at end of January is super raw but has a bunch of impressive tools. He has some interesting matwork ideas (and is very flexible), sells really well and has some huge big aerial spots. He is super raw and it is possible that as he becomes polished some of his cooler edges will get rubbed off. But for now he looks like a guy with a ton of potential.

PAS: Hijo Del Signo: He had some questionable performances, and isn't there yet. However he stepped up and hung with the main eventers when given the opportunity, and was one of the stars of the beginning of the month Cibernetico. I like Heros a lot too, but it is easier to be a flashy technico then a solid rudo and I have to give Signo points for getting there.

Read more!

IWRG 2/28/10

HH of opener at http://www.youtube.com/user/tvluchadelpasado

Rest of show from Teleformula Tv show can be seen at cubsfans dailymotion page

http://www.dailymotion.com/search/IWRG#hp-h-9

IWRG on Segunda Caida

Alan Extreme/ Avisman v Eragon/ Pegasso Kid

TKG:First fall had a nice long section of Eragon and Avisman fighting for submissions, for pinfalls, for top wrist locks, etc. They really cranked in their stuff (including an awesome spot where Avisman cranked a ceiling hold) as they really got across the idea that they weren’t just putting on cool looking things but actually fucking with each other. Unfortunately, their opening fall interaction is really all you need to watch. Avisman had some nice stuff in the rest of the match too: his elbow drops were better than I ever remember them being; his stuff working over Eragon in corner was nice; the techincos do the second rope dropkick to taint double team (this time not as a receipt spot but as comedy one) and Avisman is really amusing doing the MX style rubbing of partner’s hurt ass to elicit anti-gay heat. But you got to slog through bad messy couple falls to find those couple bright spots.

PAS: In this match Avisman is back in his traditional role of veteran rudo to work long mat sections with younger guys. He has spent most of 2010 as a Gringo VIP working brawls, which he is fine in, but this is the best of Avisman. He and Eragon absolutely rip the mat to shreds, so many cool twist as both guys very realistically twist their opponent into ludicrous knots. You can safely stop watching after the first youtube section, as none of the rest of the match is worth watching. There is a long tradition in lucha libre of elaborate gimmicks and names, however for them to work I have to buy the wrestler really personifies his gimmick. At his best Satanico can truly feel like Satan himself has come to the ring to wreck havok, Blue Panther wrestles with the lithe speed of a jungle cat, if someone is going to work as Pegasso Kid in 2010, you had better make me believe you are crazy enough to choke your family to death, maybe prime Emilio Charles Jr. could pull it off, not the chump under this gimmick.

Chico Che v Gringo Loco v Tinieblas Jr v Zatura v Scorpio Jr v Hijo Del Signo v Veneno v Hijo De Pirata Morgan

TKG: This type of cage match is built around guys brawling and slapping each other around for ten plus minutes until the numbers get low enough to create some match structure. For 15 + minutes of guys smacking each other this was a good group of guys. Tinieblas Jr was once a guy whose appearances I used to absolutely dread. Some point around 02/03 he briefly worked heel and became a fun heavyweight who I look forward to seeing. And he’s pretty fun in the first ten minutes of pre-escape brawling. Just all of his offense looks good (well there is one awkward quebradora), a great drop kick, and has fun interactions with Veneno, Zatura, Scorpio Jr, Hijo del Signo and pretty much everyone in the ring outside of Hijo del Pirata (who spent huge chunks of match gently unlacing opponents masks). They did two sections of guys standing on top of third rope exchanging blows (one with Zatura v Hijo de Pirata and one with Veneno v Chico Che) and for a spot that can often come off contrived and awkward, I liked both of those sections. Eventually half of participants escape and we get two tecnicos and two rudos.

PAS: Really fun Chico Che performance, he was losing the match so he was going to take a beating, fight the odds and come close to escape before failing. He did all of those things well. His brawling with Veneno is some of the better Veneno in recent memory. I loved how they would exchange headbutts, and smacking the back of each others heads into the steel. Finish came down to Gringo Loco v. Chico Che, which is a long running feud and it was a pretty great finish run. I loved how Loco got beat around in this, even other rudos weren't going to team up with a guy in American flag pants.

Hijo Del Diablo v Oficial 911 v Angelico v Arlequin Amarillo v El Angel v Pirata Morgan v Jack v Mascara Ano 2000 Jr.

TKG: We don’t get the first ten minutes of this and well this isn’t a group of guy who you want to see trade blows as much as the last one. Well let me rephrase that cause I did enjoy Pirata and Oficial 911 trading blows. There are three tecnicos in this match (Angelico, Angel, and Jack), none of whom are particularly good brawlers. And for a match with eight guys squeezed in a small space there was way too much irish whipping and running exchanges. It’s an ugly mess. It eventually forms into something watchable once we’re down to three rudos and one tecnico. And then it becomes pretty awesome when it’s down to 911 and Hijo del Diablo. We get about six minutes of those two having a cool cage singles match filled with stiffness, mask ripping, blood, finish teases and big cage bumps.

PAS: I think I liked this more then Tom did. Angelico is awful here, but I think the match is pretty great when he gets eliminated. I like Jack in the role of the fast technico darting around avoiding the brusiers, and I also really dug the Pirata v. MA2K Jr. exchanges. Pirata wrapping his fist with Mascaras mask was a totally awesome little moment. This was another great performance by El Hijo Del Diablo as the last violent mini match with 911 was truly tremendous. I like how they weaved in the Cerebros v. Gringos Locos VIP feud by having Cerebro interfere.

Chico Che v Hijo del Diablo

TKG: This is a weird heel/face match structure. As Chico Che has had plenty of time to recover while Hijo Del Diablo is coming into this a bloody mess. So Hijo del Diablo works desperate underdog while Chico Che just whoops on him. Chico Che just hits Hijo Del Diablo with one big unanswered offensive move after another and then Hijo Del Diablo scurries desperately to fight to keep Che in the cage. Hijo del Diablo is struggling to get off the floor and then just digs deep to attack Che’s legs as Che tries to scurry out. Diablo tries to get the martinete on Che but doesn’t have the strength. Che goes for a martinete of his own but Diablo on his last legs wills himself to fight out. Diablo smartly gets Che next to ropes and uses the ropes to help lift and prop up the big Che for a martinete and then has to evade the outside interference of Dr Cerebro to escape. It is an a really dramatic "man fights against the odds to keep his hair" performance, although weird one for a rudo.

PAS: Don't get the booking at all, but it was pretty great stuff. Chico Che is awesome as a guy laying in a beating, and he really pummels the bloody Diablo. There is one point where he soccer kicks him in the face and you see the blood spray which was just a great visual moment. All the fighting for the martinete was really cool, and I would love to see these two guys in a longer proper hair match.

Read more!

IWRG 2/25/10

From http://www.youtube.com/user/tvluchadelpasado

There is additionally about four minutes of the Flor Metalica/Tiger Fuka v La Diabolica/Lady Metal match available from estrellas del ring blog at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej3Pz__RVa0

IWRG on Segunda Caida

Alan Extreme/ Keshin Black v Dinamic Black/ Heros

TKG: This is the first time we get an all recent nuevo figuras tag. No Eragon, Signo, Comando Negro (guys who have worked in front of this crowd for 1/1+ years) or Avisman (actual trainer/veteran). This is guys with under 6 months in front of this crowd being left to their own devices (I mean I guess Keshin Black has been around for over a year but he may as well be a 2 month rookie) going really long…and that’s what it felt like: guys being given a lot of time that they couldn’t fill. Heros had a bunch of neat highspots in the second and third fall. Would have made for nice momentos estrellares but everything else was just dull, uninteresting and messy. Alan Extreme is a guy who at one point worked really well opposite Dinamic Black. Here the two struggled not to blow all their fast exchanges, and Extreme has dropped the more idiosyncratic stuff that made them an interesting pairing in favor of a more generic heel formula that he can work with anyone. That may be a wise career decision. But in the end there was nothing memorable about his stuff opposite either technico. And well outside of eating ranas/catching dives, Keshin Black doesn’t bring much to the table.

PAS: You need rudos to contribute more then they did for a match this long to really be something worth recommending. Still Heros was delivering some crazy shit in this match, the in ring first rope springboard flip to the floor is a dive of the year candidate and he hit some other crazy ranas and armdrags. I thought his first caida matwork was pretty good too. If he becomes something special in the next couple of years this will be an interesting match to look back on. Not a particularly interesting match to look at now though.

Avisman/ Hijo Del Diablo/ Gringo Loco v. Eragon/ Freelance/ Suicida

TKG: This is the rarest creature in the world, a short IWRG match. The all rookie opener got 25 minutes while this gets maybe 13. These are six guys I like who really don’t have enough time to do do anything. I mentioned that Eragon was missed from the opener, and you see this on paper and are hoping for Avsiman v Eragon technical exchanges. Having Eragon weakly do fast exchanges instead is a poor use of him. Gringo Loco looked oddly off. There may have been one nice Freelance backdrop eat and a nice Sucida arm drag but this match was a nothing.

PAS: This was definitely the abbreviated CMLL style trios match, but Freelance was totally on point in his brief appearances, everything was done with the little extra speed, flash and height that an all cylinders Freelance brings to a match. He rips off some of the pretty armdrags and headscissors you will see. Totally disappointing match, compared to how it looks on paper, but Freelance's performance was worth checking out.


Dr Cerebro/ Hijo Del Signo/ Trauma I v Hijo del Pantera/ Pantera/ Zatura

TKG: This is a captain’s hair mask (the captain of whichever team loses, loses his hair) and a really strong performance by tecnico captain Pantera. He wrestled with a little extra oomph, like something important was on the line. I also don’t know what hair care product Pantera was using but I can’t remember his hair ever being as expressive as it was here. Wrestling is a visual art and there are lots of neat visuals that scream “these guys are in an epic battle": post blade job dried blood, face paint peeling due to erosion from sweat or blood, blood mixing with sweat and peroxide in hair to flat iron curly hair and then surround it with a glow, etc. And then there is just guys who have hair that can go from controlled and neat to matted and out of control over the course of a match. The late Jack Brisco had great wrestling hair where at the beginning of a match it would look thick and wavy (like he just came from a stylist) but over the course of match it would matte down in sections and form little bushes in other ones and at the end of match you’d go “that hair has been through a war”. Pantera’s hair worked that way here at start it was a really tight noble perm and over the course of match it would just frizz out and fall apart as the match went on. As Pantera became more frantic and pissed his hair matched hid mood. This was a match where you really felt the absence of Black Terry. For a guy who has been wrestling a little over a year this was a really assured performance from Hijo del Signo as third guy on heel team. Knew where he should be, was surprisingly good as guy opposite Zatura, was a guy who could never win an exchange with Pantera unless it was a two on one exchange, and matched up evenly with Hijo del Pantera (who was a real problem in this match as he had to be second most important guy on face team as any shot at Hijo is essentially a shot at father, and really felt like a guy who isn’t ready for his main event push). Dr Cerebro was also just awesome workhorse. Awesome opposite Pantera. Fun fucking with Hijo del Pantera including a really stiff low blow. And he has some nice interaction with Zatura including at one point a springboard step onto Zatura’s neck that was just vicious. Cerebro is all over the ring attacking everyone and making saves. The first time through I thought Cerebro was the heel captain until he was eliminated. When I thought he was heel captain, I thought he was weirdly deferential at times taking back seat to Trauma I. He really worked here like he would with Terry, where Cerebro does one of these big workrate performances and leaves Terry to do some of the more subtle character stuff. Trauma I was the captain and he is great opposite Pantera and Zatura…there are some really cool moments opposite Hijo del Pantera (including the point where Hijo is in mount and Trauma I defends from blows) …but there was no point where I felt like he was working as captain, like he had his hair on the line.

PAS: I agree that this match was desperately missing Black Terry, the entire feud seemed focused around Terry. In the first match it felt like the technicos were taking liberties with him, in the second match he was truly delivering a rudos rudo performance, like he was reminding everyone just how nasty he can be. It felt very wrong for him to be absent here. Still a really fun match, man is Trauma I a tremendous performer in this kind of streetfight, I loved him coming out throwing huge vicious headbutts, such a cool visual. Him cutting off Zatura's dive to sink in his awesome spinning ankle lock was also great. I loved the finish, ref getting wiped out on a tope is a really cool ref bump, and you have to love powder in the eyes. This period of IWRG was all about the creative Memphis finishes, it felt like Bill Dundee was on vacation and booking IWRG for a month. They did a nice job of setting up Cerebro v. El Hijo Del Pantera, unfortunately El Hijo Del Pantera is still a couple years away from being able to live up in the ring to the booking.

Read more!

WWE Superstars 2010: The First 4 Months, #5-1

5. Rey Mysterio vs. Mike Knox (2/18/10)

Sometimes wrestlers match up really well with each other, and really know how to make the other look great, and this is one of those match-ups. Rey makes Knox look more dangerous than just about any other wrestler, and Knox really takes Rey’s offense great. Naturally, Knox controlled this one with Rey getting in some great comeback spots. Knox takes headscissors really well for such a big dude, and Rey really knows how to lean into big boots and just be absorbed by Knox’s crossbody. I wish Rey didn’t kick out of it though and they could’ve done it closer to the ropes instead. I really think that move is one of the more awesome moves ANYwhere over the last few years, but it’s usually just treated as a nearfall. I’m not even sure what Knox’s actual finisher is (pumphandle slam?) but I know it’s not as devastating as the Flying Bear. This is 9 minutes of awesome, though, with Rey getting his body worked over (Knox running him into the ringpost was made to look especially painful) and coming back to win. I could watch this match-up a bunch.

4. Rey Mysterio vs. Tyson Kidd (3/25/10)

I was here live for this one, and on a looooooong night (it was the supertaping before WM, so they taped all four shows for the week in one night, and man did it drag in spots) this was the easy highlight. Rey usually works even with guys his own size, but here he gives Tyson about 80% of the offense, and really spends most of the match selling. Smith and Natalya are great seconds at ringside (Natalya is especially underrated) and both really play into the reason why Kidd is able to control so much of the match. Natalya would always be there with a leg trip or a distraction and Kidd would continue to dominate. The end run went really great, as Kidd botched a springboard move (that was done well enough that I have no clue whether it was on purpose or completely accidental) that if it WAS supposed to happen, was the perfect way to give control back over to Rey. Rey sees it as his opportunity to start whipping around the ring, and off we go to the finish. This was classic Rey, and I imagine anytime he gets 11+ minutes to do his thing, it’s going to be worth watching.

3. Chavo Guerrero vs. Primo vs. Chris Masters (1/28/10)

Triple threat matches are usually dumb beyond dumb, worked as an endless series of singles matches while one guy disappears for minutes at a time and just like “escape rules” cage matches are dumb because it takes the focus off cage violence and onto a climbing contest, the focus of three ways are usually a “breaking up a bunch of pinfalls” contest. But this match right here did it mostly right. The action was constant, it was kept to just 7 minutes, and the two times it got turned into a singles match was because of the 3rd guy taking a big bump to the floor.

Masters has been working real smart in 2010, as after a few years of few people breaking it, the Masterlock has gotten legitimately over with WWE fans. So why waste time doing other stuff? He just goes after the Masterlock constantly, knowing that if he gets it on then the match is over. So there are a bunch of fun spots where he’s trying to turn the Masterlock into a Diamondcutter “out of nowhere” kinda move and the crowd loves it. Primo jumps off the top, Masters tries to catch his arm; Chavo tries a clothesline, Masters tries to catch his arm. He gets taken out of the match for a bit when he bumps to the floor and lands on his shoulder, really selling it nicely. This does lead to our only minor awkward moment in the match, as Chavo and Primo punch it out mid ring and both of their punches look pretty lousy.

But Masters makes it back in, tries a Masterlock when Chavo is preoccupied, then when Primo rushes both of them Masters ducks while holding Chavo in the ML and backdrops Primo to the floor. Then he drags Chavo to the center, locks it in tight (the crowd pop for when he finally locks his hands is ridiculously loud) and gets the win. Really the right way to do a 3 way dance.

2. Fit Finlay vs. Mike Knox (1/7/10)

Somehow this is the only Finlay match to make tape in 2010 (not counting the 1 minute Batista match). He was in the WM battle royal, and I’m pretty sure that’s it. Vance Archer has been on TV more than a healthy Fit Finlay in 2010. What is wrong with this company!? Not too much needs to be said about this, as in my opinion if you put Finlay in the ring with anybody for 7 minutes, you’re going to get a pretty awesome match. I’m still at the point in my wrestling viewing where I haven’t seen a bad Finlay match. There are always things he does that make a match memorable.

He and Knox always match up great, though, so of course this is awesome. Finlay always leans into everybody’s kicks and forearms, so you know if you’re a guy like Knox who can throw nice kicks and forearms, you’re gonna come off looking like a beast. Knox works Finlays ribs and back the whole match (including giving him a powerslam on the floor! On a syndicated show!) and I’m nore sure if there is anybody who can put over body work better than Finlay at this point. Finlay peppers in some nice comebacks and Knox cuts him right off with the Flying Bear out of the corner. Knox’s crossbody is maybe the coolest looking spot in the WWE, but sometimes he does it at kinda pointless spots in the match. Here it was used right where it should be used, as a false finish that Finlay barely kicked out of. Knox undoes a turnbuckle pad, the ref notices, and while his back is turned Finlay clocks Knox with the shillelagh. Almost 5 months now without a Finlay match. What the fuck?

1. William Regal vs. Christian (1/14/10)

Christian has been the 2007/08 Matt Hardy of 2009/10, getting to put on a bunch of free TV 10 minute matches with a variety of opponents, and just like Hardy he’s really got a nice successful formula to keep them regularly engaging and without them ever feeling repetitive. Regal in a 10 minute singles match against anybody is a gift from above (fuck, Regal in a 5 minute singles match would be just fine with me), so you knew this was going to be awesome and it did not disappoint.

They start with some cool mat work, exchanging wristlocks. Regal has a cool arm drag/trip sending Christian over his back, and they get back to their feet continuing to exchange wristlocks….until Regal ramps it the fuck up by headbutting Christian right on the noggin. You can tell by the way he keeps touching his forehead that Christian thought he was busted open for sure. Regal starts to control with some nasty forearms (his shots to the back of the head looked especially nasty) and Christian would get brief flashes of offense back in (I must say that Regal’s facial expression when getting kicked in the back was one of the most awesome wrestling facial expressions I’ve ever witnessed), until Christian goes up top to hit some sort of tornado DDT or something, and Regal just SHOVES him off to the floor, with Christian landing crazy awkwardly on the ring apron before tumbling to the floor. That takes me back to 2002/2003 where Christian and Rey Buccanero were having weekly contests to see who could take the stupidest over-the-top rope to the floor bump in a TV match.

Regal busts out some more forearms to the face, and just chucks him with his half nelson suplex. When he locks in the Regal stretch it looks particularly snug, and Christian admirably elbows his way out. Like Finlay, Regal always finds new twists to old spots, and in this case he actually counters Christian’s corner sunset flip spot. It’s the only real problem I have with his regular long TV match formula, in that he hits the spot in every single match, and it always required his opponent to miss a running shoulderblock to the abdomen. It’s quickly turning into his “powerbomb Kidman” or “sunset flip Brazo de Plata”. But Regal senses it coming (as well he should) and leans forward for a great nearfall (only broken up because the ref noticed him holding the ropes with all his might). Not too long after Christian hits the Unprettier and we’re out. Awesome match.

Read more!

Come Not Between Yoshiaki Fujiwara and his Wrath

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Mark Rush PWFG 8/15/92-GREAT

PAS: When I got all of this Fujiwara-Gumi I was hoping that the promotion would be like WAR, a fun undercard headlined by a big main event, with Fujiwara in the Tenryu role. Instead for the most part Funaki and Suzuki have been main eventing and Fujiwara has been working mostly fun midcard matches. This however was a midcard match worked like a big main event. Rush is an amateur guy who kind of has a circus strongman look, and this was worked like a match against a circus strongman amateur. Rush could take Fujiwara down at will, and really punish him on the ground with strength holds, chokes, body vices, bear hugs. While Fujiwara would be trying to maneuver him into joint locks and submissions. Very cool story and really well executed, the first time I have seen Rush in a complete wrestling match, and a really hidden gem for Fujiwara fanatics.

TKG: Yeah this had a real main event feel. And I like Phil's mention of carny circus stuff as this was built all around chokes/sleepers/front chanceries like a battle for Weaver lock. There is this one odd section in it where Fujiwara is caught in a choke tries to escape and then just starts to drool, and it's amazingly dramatic and you think that its a finish but for some reason its counted as a down and Fujiwara is given a ten count to get back to his feet. Fujiwara gets back up and its on again. Odd to count passing out in a sleeper as a down but once you get past that, it really works nicely in this.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami v. Hiroshi Hase/Masahiro Chono/Shinya Hashimoto NJ 6/8/94- FUN

Enjoyable six-man match with everyone looking good. Hashimoto was definitely the standout on the 90's stars team, his interactions with Choshu were totally awesome. They are a pair of thick barrel chested dudes beating the snot out of each other. I loved Hash getting cracked by two Riki lariats and then countering the third with a sick superkick. Our man Fujiwara was a supporting player in this match, but he had some nifty moments, a couple of gritty scraps with Hashimoto and a very cool moment where he clocks a dizzy post Giant swing Hase with a headbutt. Match never really reached the crescendo which would separate it from the pack, but despite that it was well worth seeing.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Jushin Liger v. Antonio Inoki/Tiger King NJ 5/3/97-GREAT

This was a Tokyo Dome match, and was basically an opportunity for the four legends to do their signature stuff for a big audience. For that kind of match this is about as good as it gets. Sayama was on fire here, he hadn't fully porked out, but was definitely on his way, he still hit all of his signature stuff with as much speed and even more precision then he did in his prime. He really had great chemistry with Liger, and of course with Fujiwara who his all time greatest opponent. I really enjoyed the Fujiwara v. Inoki match up as well, as they really grappled hard for their initial section, and the finish had Fujiwara doing some awesome selling for Inoki's big moves. Not a long match or a deep match, but a great match.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

Read more!

New Japan BOSJ 2010 Pt. 6

Koji Kanemoto v. AKIRA 6/2

Two of my favorite guys in this tournament match up in a battle of dicks. AKIRA jumps Koji before the bell with a tope, but his advantage is short lived as Kanemoto kicks the shit out of him. He really worked over the body of AKIRA with spin kicks and nasty liver shots. Kanemoto has really good handspeed and it was in display. There was one moment of awkwardness, where Kanemoto landed weird on a slam, but they recovered to have a fun finishing run with AKIRA whipping out multiple super fast roll ups until one held Kanemoto down for three

Kenny Omega v. Ryusuke Taguchi 6/4

I weirdly continue not to hate Kenny Omega in this tournament. Taguchi is pretty dull, which is probably why Omega did more of the goofy horseshit which makes much of his indy work unbearable. Still after some early crap, both guys kicked it in and had a pretty exciting end run. Fast complex, counter wrestling with both guys doing cool shit and landing big shots, Omega turning a cross armbreak into his electric chair german suplex was really awesome. Probably the best finish run of the tournament so far, and it took an average match and made in pretty damn good.

BOSJ List

Read more!

New Japan BOSJ 2010 List

Since stuff is being released out of order, this post has a list of the matches, and will be updated with links when I review them

5/30

Block A: Nobuo Yoshihashi v. AKIRA
Block A: Jushin Thunder Liger v. KUSHIDA
Block A: La Sombra v. Tiger Mask
Block B: Taiji Ishimori v. Ryusuke Taguchi
Block A: Prince Devitt v. Davey Richards
Block B: Koji Kanemoto v. Fujita “Jr.” Hayato

6/1

Block B: Fujita "Jr." Hayato v. Nobuo Yoshihashi
Block A: KUSHIDA v. Prince Devitt
Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi v. Tama Tonga
Block A: Jushin Thunder Liger v. Gedo
Block B: Kenny Omega v. Koji Kanemoto
Block A: Kota Ibushi v. La Sombra

6/2

Block B: Tama Tonga v. Nobuo Yoshihashi
Block B: AKIRA v. Koji Kanemoto
Block A: Davey Richards v. Gedo
Block B: Fujita "Jr." Hayato v. Kenny Omega

6/4

Block A: La Sombra v. Gedo
Block B: Fujita "Jr." Hayato v. Tama Tonga
Block B: AKIRA v. Taiji Ishimori
Block A: Kota Ibushi v. KUSHIDA
Block B: Kenny Omega v. Ryusuke Taguchi

6/5

Block B: Tama Tonga v. AKIRA
Block B: Taiji Ishimori v. Nobuo Yoshihashi
Block A: Davey Richards v. La Sombra
Block A: Prince Devitt v. Jushin Thunder Liger

6/6

Block B: Kenny Omega v. Tama Tonga
Block B: Koji Kanemoto v. Nobuo Yoshihashi
Block A: Davey Richards v. KUSHIDA
Block A: Prince Devitt v. Gedo
Block A: Jushin Thunder Liger v. Kota Ibushi

6/8

Block B: Kenny Omega v. Nobuo Yoshihashi
Block A: KUSHIDA v. Gedo
Block B: Koji Kanemoto v. Taiji Ishimori
Block A: Kota Ibushi v. Prince Devitt

6/10

Block A: KUSHIDA v. La Sombra
Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi v. Nobuo Yoshihashi
Block B: Taiji Ishimori v. Kenny Omega
Block B: Koji Kanemoto v. Tama Tonga
Block A: Kota Ibushi v. Gedo

6/11

Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi v. AKIRA
Block B: Taiji Ishimori v. Tama Tonga
Block A: Prince Devitt v. La Sombra
Block A: Davey Richards v. Jushin Thunder Liger

6/12

Block A: La Sombra v. Jushin Thunder Liger
Block A: Kota Ibushi v. Davey Richards
Block B: AKIRA v. Kenny Omega
Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi v. Koji Kanemoto

6/14

Semi Final: Prince Devitt v. Taiji Ishimori
Semi Final: Kota Ibushi v. Ryusuke Taguchi
Final: Prince Devitt v. Kota Ibushi

Read more!

New Japan BOSJ 2010 Pt. 5

AKIRA v. Nobu Yoshihashi 5/30

I liked this a bunch, really basic story with each guy working over his opponents leg. AKIRA was great here, really basic nasty stuff, some of the better stomps to the kneecap I can remember seeing. His selling was also solid, while Yoshihashi would kind of fade in and out. AKIRA just feels like a pro, a guy who has been wrestling for 20+ years and knows all the subtile nuances that kind of experience can give you. It is the same kind of thing you see in this tournament with guys like Gedo, Liger and Kanemoto and the kind of thing visable missing from the younger guys. Finish run paid off pretty well, I loved Yoshihashi sliding forearm smash to the knee, and his final swanton looked rib crushing. Best Yoshihashi has looked in the stuff I have seen.

Jushin Liger v. KUSHIDA 5/30

I would say about 50% of the matches in this tourney are based around guys selling the leg, it is kind of a dumb way to work a juniors match actually, either people can't do their spots or they have to shit on the storyline and no sell. KUSHIDA does the worst job of selling I have seen so far, he goes immediately from agonizing pain to running full speed and doing a dive. Nothing connected the two parts of the match at all, they might as well been a month apart. I liked KUSHIDA's KO kick, and when he caught Liger's shotay only to get shotayed by the other hand, but outside of that this wasn't much

La Sombra v. Tiger Mask IV 5/30

Tiger Mask is a guy who is pretty hated by most US puro fans, I really don't watch current Japanese wrestling, and he was a part of mid 90's MPRO so he has some built up good will from me. I thought this was perfectly fine wrestling, Sombra hit all of his stuff cleanly, and Tiger Mask had some moments where he showed off his speed. I liked both dives. I watched a shit ton of Tiger Mask Sayama in preparation for the NJ 80's set, and he had way worse matches with way better luchadores.

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taiji Ishimori 5/30

This match was worked with both guys countering virtually every move. It isn't my favorite style of wrestling at all, but I thought it was done ok. I liked how both guys landing really awkwardly with their big dives on the knees of their opponents. Taji's springboard backflip spinny elbowdrop is really dumb looking, but it is better when he lands his ribs into a dudes knees. I also kind of liked Taguchi's superplex into rolling vertical suplexes, I have been watching a bunch of WCWSN from 2000 lately (for the upcoming WCW B-Sides comp which is going to be fucking epic) and I this was a fine poor man's Kid Romeo v. Jeremy Lopez.

Fergil Devitt v. Davey Richards 5/30

This was a really terrible poor man's Kid Romeo v. Jeremy Lopez. Richards is the fucking worst, nothing he does looks natural at all, he is so hammy in this, growling, flipping off the crowd, looking surprised, selling pain. It is like watching Eric Roberts at the nadir of his drug abuse chew his way through an erotic thriller. He has some nice athletic spots, but there are parts of this where he is clearly and obviously setting himself up for spots, at one point he gets crotched on the top rope, and he just obviously moves his leg into position for the next move. At no point does he ever allow you suspend disbelief, you are always painfully aware that this is a fake fight. Devitt really made no impression on me at all in this, he had a nice dropkick, but this was Davey at his Daveyest.

Hayato Jr. Fujita v. Koji Kanemoto 5/30

Oddly put together match. Their match last year was one of my favorites and based around Koji Kanemoto, one of the greatest dickish asskickers ever, kicking the ass of Hayato Jr. Fujita who is totally awesome at being a spunky underdog babyface. Classic wrestling story told well. This match had all the cool execution, nifty moves, stiffness and violence of the first match, but the casting was all screwy. Fujita really kicks the shit out of Kanemoto in this match, dominating probably 70%, Fujita is perfectly fine at kicking someones ass, and Kanemoto is pretty good as a Fujiwarish veteran being overwhelmed role, but it still seems upside down. This wasn't the match I expected it to be, but it was still pretty great, nasty toe to toe exchanges, really great kneebar counters. I loved the finish, Fujita cuts off a rare Kanemoto offensive run, and starts hitting him with big shots getting ready to finish him off, Koji however counter the running knee with a nasty kick to the kneecap and sinks in a ankle lock figure four for the tap. It was abrupt, but I kind of liked the out of nowhereness of it.

Read more!

IWRG 2/21/10

Comando Negro v. Imperial

TKG: It’s another Imperial loses a singles opener in two straight falls. I don’t know a ton about the heel “militant negro” v face who “represents the yearning nostalgia for feudal Middle Ages” formula. I don’t remember a ton about Bad News v Inoki, and think I’ve only seen mic work from Mr. Kareem Muhammad v Lawler. So don’t really have a baseline to compare with, still really dug this. I’m a sucker for spots worked out of a knuckle lock and really liked the knuckle lock into roll up section here. Imperial is a guy who can be stretched out and his own mat stuff was neat. I think what I liked about his mat work was just the way he would move in and out of matwork. It wasn’t that the mat stuff here was particularly elaborate so much as liked the escapes, liked the application of stuff, liked the slow way they went from leg lock to forcing a surfboard, liked Comando punching his way out of stuff. One of the problems with these opening mat sections in rookie matches is when there is a big difference in size/strength of guys is that they choose to ignore it. Here you couldn’t forget it and I can only think of one time where felt that Imperial was doing strength based move that didn’t make sense. All of these 2010 rookies matches have these chop exchanges and this was one of the better ones. Imperial’s chops (and forearm) looked actually stiff and the exchange built to stiffer and stiffer chops; instead of building to bigger and bigger flourishes before the chop). I also really liked the first fall finish with the superplex attempt reversed into the giant desnucadora.

PAS: This was a really good opening match. I have seen legitimately days and days of IWRG undercard matwork, and this is some of the most solid of the bunch. It didn't feel like two guys showing off their holds and then releasing them. They were doing a great job of chaining moves together. They were really struggling and shifting positions. If this kind of thing happened in the opening part of a CMLL match people would be freaking out, this was better then any matwork Kurt Angle has ever done, this is weekly stuff in IWRG though, which is why it so awesome. Rest of the match was fine although it wasn't at the level of the early stuff. Imperial was really dominated for lots of this, and I felt like he needed a comeback or two. Two straight falls is unusual enough that it really felt like a squash, even though it wasn't. He sure got crushed on both finishers.

Alan Extreme/ Hijo del Signo v. Eragon/Heros

TKG: This was disappointing next to the opener. The first fall alan Extreme v Heros matwork came off really mediocre (not as interesting, directed or polished) next to the matwork in Comando Negro v Imperial. There was one neat sequence where Alan Extreme attempted an inverted Nudo Lagunero which Heros reversed into an inside cradle but outside of that it was all executed really disinterestedly. I kind of dug the Signo v Eragon Mid-Atlantic matwork that started built around short arm scissors with Eragon dominating and then Signo taking over with a deep spinning toe hold. Eragon does a bunch of Mid Atlantic leg selling as Signo goes into one half crab after another. Unfortunately all the leg selling is forgotten when Eragon wins the fall with a back-cracker into a front-cracker. Rest of the match is mostly rudos beat down on faces and again this wasn’t as interesting as the rudo beat down in the second fall of the opener. Really nothing as cool as Comando Negro’s back elbow, kicks in tree of woe, high back drop, or stomps on Imperial’s taint. There were a couple of nice moments in the third fall as the faces looked good brawling back into offense. I liked the second rope dropkick to taint as receipt for earlier seated dropkick to taint, and this was the best Signo’s signature throw has looked. Still this was a super underwhelming match.

PAS: I liked this a lot more then Tom did. I agree that the matwork section wasn't as good as the opener, but I thought the opener is kind of the gold standard for opening match IWRG rookie matwork. I really thought Heros and Alan Extreme worked very well together all through out the match. I enjoyed their opening matwork, as it felt like both guys working interesting holds built around an Indian deathlock. I thought the symmetry of them both using the same base, but doing different from it was ascetically interesting. Alan Extreme did a really nice job eating all of Heros impressive fast ranas and armdrags too. They even had a nice bit of outside the ring brawling. The rudo beatdown was nothing special, but I thought it was fine, and Heros comeback dive was pretty spectacular. Didn't think this was underwhelming at all, thought this was an above average undercard match, which most IWRG fans would enjoy.

IWRG on Segunda Caida

Read more!

SLL Gets Drunk and Watches Even More ECW Fancams

Kronus vs Shane Douglas (5/5/96)

This was about nine hours long and really sorta died in the opening minutes. Kronus eats armdrags like he's doing a cartwheel. I know he is a guy who likes to do handsprings, but that's not really how you eat an armdrag. Still, Kronus comes across as the better worker in the match. He had a nice clothesline charging out of the corner, and his shoulderbreakers looked good. Also, being retarded, he at least has an excuse for his flaws. Shane Douglas' excuse is that he kinda sucked. Shane does really quick takedowns and "evasive guy" spots like taking him down from behind and running across Kronus' back to get over the speed advantage he has over the larger, lumbering Kronus. This story has a few flaws. For one thing, immediately after running over Kronus' back, he taunts him, and quick, evasive Douglas gets charged in the corner by slow, lumbering Kronus. Not like he was looking away, or that Kronus' charge was particularly sudden. Douglas stood in the corner with a fair amount of distance between himself and Kronus, locked his eyes on Kronus, and stood perfectly still as he watched him get up and charge towards him. No distraction, nothing that would suggest that he wouldn't be able to dodge the attack. Quick, evasive Shane Douglas knowingly and of his own free will allowed himself to be charged by Kronus.

Then there's the second obvious problem - while Kronus is bigger than Douglas, he doesn't seem drastically bigger to the point that you can really do a "quick evasive small guy vs. slow lumbering big guy" storyline. This is compounded by the fact that, for a big guy, Kronus wasn't ever really known to be slow or lumbering. On the contrary, Kronus was a big guy known to do handspring elbows and Sasuke Specials. If anything, he's better known for his speed and agility than Douglas is. Yeah, you can have agile big guys work as comparitively slow and lumbering guys trying to keep up with quick evasive guys, but then you need a bigger size difference than this. Douglas busts out a bunch of headscissor takedowns that I never saw him do before, I guess because that's something quick, evasive guys do, but he's not really convincing me that he's Iceman King Parsons and that Kronus is One Man Gang. I mean, I might be reading too much into this. This may not have been meant to be the story of the entire match. It's still how it opens, though, and that's still stupid. There is also a really egregiously bad ref bump here, as the ref just sort of chooses to stand between Douglas and Kronus, when Kronus is going for a handspring elbow. I guess maybe Douglas pulled him in the way, but it's not like it happened at the last second, and Kronus' handspring elbow is a move that takes a little while to get to it's destination. What's even the point of a ref bump in an ECW match, anyway? Maybe if you wanted a visual pin, but that doesn't happen here. Instead, Saturn runs in, and Shane takes apart "The World's Greatest Tag Team" by himself years before Triple H made it fashionable. OK, that's a little unfair. Saturn was bandaged up and bleeding pretty bad. Still, it stood out to me. But again, did the ref need to be out for this? It's ECW! It wasn't Fonzie in there. What was the point? And well, "what was the point" is really the theme of this entire match, anyway.

Mikey Whipwreck vs Chris Jericho (5/10/96)

That's more like it. I am digging stiff ECW Jericho, although I'm disappointed that he wasn't as stiff here as he was against Damien. I mean, who is going to eat a bigger beatdown in this company than Whipreck? Well, apparently, it's Jericho himself. Mikey doesn't really take any truly Whipreckian bumps, but he does duck a Stinger Splash from Jericho that sends him tumbling over the top turnbuckle to the floor. Crowd chants "you fucked up", I guess because pulling off a spot exactly as planned constitutes "fucking up". Shortly thereafter, Whipreck baseball slides between Jericho's legs while Jericho is on the apron, and sweeps them out, leaving Jericho to faceplant on the apron. Mikey looks fine here, but this was basically The Jericho Show, which I would not have expected.

Sabu vs Damien (5/10/96)

This was kinda amusing, just because the only thing the audience seemed to care about at all was calling out requests for Damien's impressions. Damien once again largely ignored them, though he did give in to a Misawa request. He also did Jinsei Shinzaki on his own accord, and after a false start, the resulting armdrag was nifty. Still, this was pretty bad overall, with a lot of awkward, mistimed, overly cooperative looking shit from Sabu that Damien didn't really play along with well. When Damien was in charge, it wasn't so bad, but he definitely struggled as a base for Sabu, whose best stuff in this match was kept fairly simple (out of nowhere dives and quickly executed table spots). Not as interminably bad as Douglas/Kronus, but it was down there.

Rob Van Dam vs Shane Douglas (5/10/96)

Hey, this was actually really good. So I have watched a shit-ton of World Class the last few years, and in that time, I really came to hate Magic Dragon. He had this finisher where he would throw his opponent in the corner, climb to the top rope, superfluously backflip off, and do a superkick. I joked that RVD would shake his head at it, but at least he would do it gracefully. Well, guess what? He does do it gracefully. Gracefully, and more logically, as Douglas was chasing him into the corner, and RVD was backflipping over him. RVD looked really good here. He wasn't really into the meaningless flippy shit yet, and all his fancy highspots were restrained by his standards, which made them look a lot better and more credible. Worst thing he did was the Van Daminator. I can work with that. Even his strikes looked OK. I totally dug the one-inch punch early in the match. His crowd brawling was good, too. Douglas threw some big dropkicks and basically held up his end of the bargain. It kinda falls apart near the end, and you don't need to go out of your way to see it, but this didn't suck nearly as much as I expected it to.

Read more!

There Ain't No Grave Can Hold Black Terry Down

Guerrero Maya/Guerrero Del Futuro/Damien El Guerrero v. Cachurro Mendoza/Ringo Mendoza/Ciclon Ramierez CMLL 1/10/93- FUN

This is the kind of solid lucha libre six man which CMLL kicked out a half a dozen times a week throughout the 90's. Everyone looked professional and talented, and the structure was classic lucha libre. This didn't have the kind of stand out moments which would push a match beyond that point, but this is the kind of thing I wish CMLL still did more of. Terry is under the Guerrero Maya mask and he felt a bit in the periphery, there was a nice punch exchange with Ringo and all of his bumps looked good, but he wan't the focus. We got a fair amount more of Guerrerro Del Futuro and he looked pretty great, especially in his match ups with Ciclon Ramierez, still I can only get so enthusiastic for a Ciclon Ramierez match without a tope.


Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Negro Navarro/Captain Muerte/Durango Kid IWRG 5/21/09-FUN

PAS: This is the most Navarro v. Terry we have seen so far in 2009, and it was damn good, but not great. They have two mat sections, one at the end of the first fall, and one in the second fall. Both had some super slick stuff, but were done in the hold, release, hold style that most of these matches have been. I think the battle of technique stuff is pretty cool, but there is a point in the second fall where Navarro does a totally sick reversal of a Terry hold, and I remembered how much I miss reversals. The third fall is the brawl fall, with Terry and Cerebros doing a bunch of triple teams, there is this point when Navarro gets back into the ring and the intensity is palpable. He is like Kobe in the fourth quarter, the match really kicked into gear then, with two nice dives by Durango and Muerte, but the fake foul was a bit abrupt. Lots of promise here, but not a great match

TKG: I think Durango Kid is the La dojo guy who taught lucha to Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov but I’m not going to hold that against him.I really liked the dynamic in the Navarro family matches (especially the Xochimilco revancha) where you have this bad ass father who is both proud and very protective of his sons. He’ll attack guns a blazing if he feels they are being taken advantage of. You need to isolate Navarro to beat his kids. There is a neat reverse mirror image in the relationship between the Cerebros and Black Terry. The Cerebros are really proud of their mentor and have his back at all times. First fall ends with them running into ring to protect their mentor after he’s been submitted, second fall really is about them coming in to defend their mentor and support him in the fight, third fall has them taken out and Black Terry left looking (like a guy who starts fights knowing if shit goes wrong he always has tough friends who will back him up) suddenly alone. “Aw shit noone has my back now”. It should be said that the dives that took out the Cerebros in the third fall were just nasty dives that really looked like they’d take a guy out.Both had the hard look of someone dropping a heavy table on you.My guess is that Navarro never gets the trios title but there is a real awesome Dusty chasing Flair feel to this whole series (well back when Dusty chasing Flair was fresh) and this is easily the most exciting feud of the year.

Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Trauma I v. Hijo Del Pantera/La Pantera/Zatura IWRG 2/18/10-EPIC

PAS: Merciful Mother of Fuck is Black Terry awesome in this match. This was pretty much a three fall brawl, and I don't know if there is a better brawler in the world. He is just kicking everyones ass here. There was a moment in the first fall where he is faced off with Pantera and yells something at him and just cracks him with a headbut. It was a total barfight move. There is also a great point in the post match, Zatura is protecting a downed Hijo Del Pantera and Black Terry lifts his had as if to say "OK the match is over, we are good" and then he just sneak shots Zatura in the chops. I am reading a biography of Gene Tunney and Terry reminds me of the Pittsburgh Windmill Harry Greb. Greb was the master of dirty fighting, he is described as a guy talented enough to win cleanly but his temperament caused him to take every advantage in the ring. That is how Terry felt to me here. For this kind of brawl, Trauma I is a way better third rudo then Hijo Del Signo, he is such a nasty bruiser and totally the guy you would want watching your back in this kind of bar fight.

TKG: This was a blast. Pantera is a guy who normally does lots of Walking Tall selling, here he did more Dusty beat down struggling to walk tall selling. He constantly had this “what the hell did I do to deserve this” look on his face. After he had already been isolated and triple teamed in the ring and forced to roll to floor to try to regain composure, Pantera crawls back in a second time to go through whole process again. Pantera’s selling of the whole Sisyphean nature of reentering a brawl after you’ve taken a beating is awesome. I have mixed feelings on the Hijo del Signo v Trauma I question here. This is a superlibre match and yeah you want Trauma I in a no DQ match beating people down. And he did a ok job (although not as impressive as last time) at selling for Hijo Del Pantera’s flying. But there were moments where I though we missed the Hijo del Signo/Hijo Del Diablo “young guys as equals dynamic”. As I had a hard time buying Hijo del Pantera when he wasn’t playing victim role. Pantera trades punches then headbutts and posts Dr Cerebro. And it’s only after that, that Hijo del Pantera gets in his offense run against Cerebro. And Hijo del Pantera as a guy who can only get in cheap shots on a hurt opponent makes for a weird baby face. Oh yeah let me echo Phil here: Merciful Mother of Fuck is Black Terry awesome in this match.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

Read more!

Been Talking About Black Terry Ever Since The Fire Went Out

Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Mano Negra Lucha Libre VIP 3/10/07- EPIC

God bless the internet, because in previous years all of these spot show matches with old fat luchadores ruling it on the mat were lost forever. Now they are starting to seep out and end up on the computer where I can watch them. This isn't as great as 2006's "let's show these punks how lucha libre is supposed to be" match (Villanos/Negro Navarro v. Heavy Metal/Dos Caras Jr./Solar) but was still pretty brilliant. The match starts out matching Solar and Navarro, and we know what those two bring to the table, surprisingly their first caida matwork is out shined by Black Terry and Mano Negra ruling it.

I knew all of the other guys could still go, but I had no idea Mano Negra still could work at this level, he had this awesome poofy hair that made him look like the corporate villain in an 80's sex comedy ("This is the only mountain that will let us snowboard, and they want to shut it down), and he and Terry do some awesome leverage standing stuff, and some great matwork counters. The second caidia mixes up the pairings and again both matchups are great. Black Terry is amazing, he is 54 years old, but in great shape and moves and bumps like he is 30 years younger. I think you could throw a mask on him and stick him Guerreros Del Inferno and people would think he was some hot shot young indy guy CMLL repackaged. The third fall, they match Navarro and Solar up again and they do a fast roll up section which was incredible, slick, quick and amazing. I also liked how they ran a draw finish with two double eliminations, rather then a time limit or a double DQ. At one point Coloso Colesetti on commentary yells out "They wanted the lucha, here is the lucha." Can't say it any better then that

Black Terry/Shu el Guerrero v. El Signo/Negro Navarro IWRG 8/20/09- GREAT

TKG: This is Temerarios v Missioneros. Signo looked a bunch of steps off but if there is anyone who can walk a guy through a good looking brawl it’s Black Terry. I will also never tire of Shu’s signature mat stuff. They need to find two young guys to put in trio with Shu, cause I enjoy him way too much to only get to see him once a year. The finish to the third fall had both Signo and Shu eliminated and Terry and Navarro facing off and fuck these are guys I enjoy facing off.

PAS: I think I enjoyed this more then Tom, we are clearly spoiled in 2009, as this kind of thing showing up two years ago would have blown us away. The Navarro v. Terry sections were so amazing, the punch exchanges felt like Lawler v. Mantel awesome, and I loved how the matwork moved from competitive one upsmanship, to really violent cranking. At one point Navarro has this neck strecth submission while fishooking a bloody Black Terry, if I ever get a tattoo, it will be that. Shu and Signo were fine, Signo has a cool looking mask, and I liked the punches on Terry's cut a bunch, but damn Terry and Navarro need to grow their hair back so I can see the epic hair match already.

Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Ultraman/Solar Arena Neza 5/1/10-GREAT

This is your touring maestros match, which is always a pleasure to watch, but usually a step below truly next level lucha libre. The focus as usual is on the Solar v. Navarro matchup, they are guys who match up constantly but always bring nifty new wrinkles to their exchanges. Here it was contested mostly on their feet, as they were doing dueling armdrags and takedowns, and rolling into more pinning combinations then submissions. In fact the only time they would really wrench on a submission it would end a fall. Black Terry is matched up mostly with Ultraman and he has some nice moments, but Ultraman isn't best suited to this kind of mat exchange match. I really would have liked to see this break down a bit, and have Black Terry and Ultraman brawl. Navarro and Solar can sometimes overwhelm their partners which may have happened a bit here.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

Read more!

Complete and Accurate Black Terry

Black Terry is pretty much the perfect Segunda Caida complete and accurate wrestler. A long excellent career, a guy who has been quietly one of the best wrestlers in the world for the last 25 years, but a guy who we at Segunda Caida really started beating the drum for on the internet. Tremendous mat wrestler, excellent traditional rudo base and the best brawler in the world. Like the Fujiwara reviews, some of these will be cut and pasted from other places, some will include Tomk thoughts as well, I apologize in advance if I repeat jokes or talking points. Matches will be broken down into Epic, Great, Fun and Skippable, and we will attempt to catalogue it all.

1990

Black Terry v. Blackman UWF 3/1/90 - FUN
Black Terry/Shu El Guererro v. Kendo/Blackman UWF 3/2/90 - GREAT

1991

Black Terry/Solar/El Texano v. Monkey Magic Watika/El Hijo Del Santo/Villano III UWF 3/8/91 - GREAT
Black Terry v. El Hijo Del Santo UWF 3/10/91- GREAT
Black Terry/Shu El Guerrero/Jose Luis Feliciano/El Texano/Ricky Boy v. Robin Hood/Los Ninja Turtles UWF 9/12/91 - GREAT


1992

Guerrero Maya/Guerrero del Futuro/Damian El Guerrero v. Los Metalicos (Oro/Plata/Bronce) CMLL 4/9/92 - GREAT
Guerrero Maya/Guerrero del Futuro/Damian El Guerrero vs. Solar I/Aguila Solitaria/El Tigre Universitario CMLL 5/10/92 - GREAT

1993

Guerrero Maya/Guerrero Del Futuro/Damien El Guerrero v. Cachurro Mendoza/Ringo Mendoza/Ciclon Ramierez CMLL 1/10/93 - FUN

Guerrero Maya/Guerrero Del Futuro/Damien El Guerrero vs El Pantera/Filoso/Triton CMLL 9/7/93 - FUN

1996

Guerrero Maya/Guerrero del Futuro/Yone Genjin v. Fantastik/Ultimatum/Hijo del Solitario CMLL 8/9/96 - FUN
Guerrero Maya/Guerrero Del Futuro/Damien El Guerrero v. Atlantico/Ciclon Ramirez/Zumbido CMLL 9/13/96 - SKIPPABLE

2002

Black Terry/Jose Luis Feliciano/Shu El Guerrero v. El Signo/Negro Navarro/Black Power Lucha 2000's 9/28/02 - GREAT

2004

Black Terry v. Rocky Santana EMLL 1/4/04 - FUN
Black Terry/Villano 3 v. Blue Panther/Shu El Guerrero Late 2004 - EPIC

2006

Black Terry vs. Matematico vs. Ultraman vs. Kahoz vs. Cuchillo vs. Astro Boy Jr.vs. Brazo de Plata Jr. vs. Daisuke Haonaka vs. Hijo del Fantasma vs. Toshiya Matsuzaki Toryuman - GREAT 5/3/06
Black Terry v. Negro Navarro OLX 8/06 - GREAT

2007

Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Mano Negra Lucha Libre VIP 3/10/07 - EPIC
Black Terry/ Kraneo/Fantasma De La Opera v. Star Boy/Kid Tiger/Ave Fenix IWRG 7/5/07 - FUN
Black Terry/Asesino Negro Jr./Dr. Mortus v. Ave Fenix/Kid Tiger/Star Boy IWRG 7/12/07 - FUN
Black Terry v. Cerebro Negro IWRG 11/22/07 - EPIC
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Yamato v. Fantasma de la Ópera/Freelance/Multifacético IWRG 12/1/07 - GREAT
Black Terry v. Fantasma Del Opera IWRG 12/2/07 - SKIPPABLE
Black Terry/Kai/Yamato/Masada v. Freelance/Multifacético/Ultramán Jr./Veneno IWRG 12/20/07 - FUN

2008

Black Terry v. Multifacetico IWRG 2/28/08 - GREAT

2009

Black Terry/Pierroth II/Arlequin vs. Chico Che/Fantastik/Multifacetico IWRG 3/19/09 - SKIPPABLE
Black Terry/Black Thunder/Captain Muerte v. Freelance/Chico Che/Turbo IWRG 3/26/09 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Trauma I/II/Negro Navarro IWRG 3/28/09 - EPIC
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Los Officiales v. Freelance/Gemelos Fantasticos v. Trauma I/Trauma II/Zatura IWRG 4/2/09 - FUN
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Trauma I/II/Negro Navarro IWRG 4/4/09 - GREAT
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v. Negro Navarro/Trauma I/Trauma II IWRG 4/16/09 - EPIC
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/ Dr. Cerebro v. Negro Navarro/Trauma I/Trauma II IWRG 4/23/09 - EPIC
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Negro Navarro/Captain Muerte/Durango Kid IWRG 5/21/09 - FUN
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro VS Trauma I/Trauma II/Zatura IWRG 6/4/09 - FUN
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Fantasma De La Opera v. Negro Navarro/Trauma I/Trauma II IWRG 7/9/09 - GREAT
Rey Del Ring IWRG 7/16/09 - SKIPPABLE
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v, Barba Roja/Pirata Morgan Jr./Hijo del Pirata Morgan IWRG 8/6/09 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Pirata Morgan Jr./Barba Roja Jr./El Hijo Del Pirata Morgan IWRG 8/13/09 - SKIPPABLE
Black Terry/Shu el Guerrero v. El Signo/Negro Navarro IWRG 8/20/09 - GREAT
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro vs. Barba Roja/Hijo de Pirata Morgan/Pirata Morgan Jr. IWRG 8/27/09 - FUN
Black Terry/Pirata Morgan/Tóxico v. Brazo de Plata/Chico Che/Suicida IWRG 10/22/09 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Trauma I/Trauma II/Ultraman Jr. IWRG 10/29/09 - EPIC
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v. Oficial 911/Oficial AK47/Oficial Fierro IWRG 11/9/09 - GREAT
Black Terry/Trauma II/Veneno v Angelico/Bushi/Freelance IWRG 12/20/09 - FUN
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v Los Oficiales IWRG 12/25/09 - FUN


2010

Black Terry/Alan Extreme v. Chico Che/Dinamic Black IWRG 1/1/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v. Pantera/Suicida/Zatura IWRG 1/7/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco/El Hijo Del Diablo IWRG 1/24/10 - EPIC
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Sucida/Zatura IWRG 1/28/10 - EPIC
Black Terry/Avisman/Bombero Infernal/Dr. Cerebro/Gringo Loco/Hijo del Pantera/Las Traumas I y II v. Alan Extreme/Dinamic Black/Eros/Guizmo/Hijo del Signo/Imperial/Maldito Jr./Samoth IWRG 2/4/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco/El Hijo Del Diablo IWRG 2/7/10 - EPIC
Dr. Cerebro/Black Terry/El Hijo Del Signo v. Pantera/El Hijo Del Pantera/Zatura IWRG 2/11/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Shu El Guererro v. Negro Navarro/El Signo 2/14/10 - EPIC
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Trauma I v. Hijo Del Pantera/La Pantera/Zatura IWRG 2/18/10 - EPIC
Black Terry/El Signo/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Super Astro/Ultraman Monterey 3/2/10 - EPIC
Black Terry/Chico Che/Dr. Cerebro v. Avisman/Hijo del Diablo/Gringo Loco IWRG 3/7/10 - EPIC
Black Terry/Dr Cerebro/Hijo Del Signo v. Negro Navarro/Trauma II/Barba Roja IWRG 3/11/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Ultraman/Solar Arena Neza 5/1/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Solar v. Negro Navarro/Fuerza Guerrera San Pedro 7/7/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Solar v. Negro Navarro/Rocky Santana NWA Mexico 7/23/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Mano Negra 9/12/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Trauma 1/Trauma 2/Hajime Ohara v. Solar/El Hijo De Solar/Brazo De Oro/Brazo De Platino Toryuman 10/10/10 - FUN
Black Terry/Shu El Guerrero v. Dos Caras/Negro Navarro 11/20/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v. Aerostar/Gato Eveready/Relampago IWRG 12/9/10 - FUN
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Black Shadow Jr. 12/18/10 - GREAT
Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v. Guerrero Negro/Mike Segura/Veneno CMLL 12/25/10 - FUN

2011

Black Terry/Negro Navarro/Mascara Ano Dos Mil Jr. v. Ultimo Dragon/Ultraman/Solar 1/1/11 - FUN
Black Terry v. Solar v. Negro Navarro v. Villano IV v. Rey Mendoza Jr.v. Ultraman v. El Dandy v. Fuerza Guerrera 1/29/11- GREAT
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Ultraman 3/13/11-Afternoon - EPIC
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Ultraman 3/13/11-Evening - GREAT
Black Terry/Negro Navarro/Rey Mendoza Jr. v. Blue Panther/Solar/Rocky Santana UWE 3/16/11 - GREAT
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Ultraman 3/20/11 - EPIC
Black Terry/Rey Mendoza Jr./Robin Marvilla v. Blue Panther/Solar/Rocky Santana UWE 3/26/11 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dinamic Black/Alan Extreme v. Bombero Infernal/Comando Negro/El Hijo Del Diablo IWRG 4/12/11 - GREAT

Black Terry/Villano IV/Rey Mendoza Jr. v. Oriental/El Pantera/Solar UWE 4/23/11 - GREAT
Black Terry/Romano Garcia/Dr. Cerebro/Oficial AK47/Comando Negro/Oficial Fierro/Cerebro Negro v. Rocky Santana/Robin Maravilla/Sadico/Yakuza/Herejia/Rambo/Terry 2000 AULL 5/15/11 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Negro Navarro v. Judas el Traidor/Magnifico/Último Vampiro Coliseo Coalaco 6/5/11 - GREAT
Black Terry/Eterno/Hijo del Pantera v. Daga/Hormiga/Paranoiko v. Judas el Traidor/Onita Santana/Sadico v. Black Mamba/Silencio/Silver Tiger DTU 7/24/11 - FUN
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Trauma 1/Trauma 2 Lucha POP 8/27/11 - EPIC
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Robin Marvilla v. Negro Navarro/Trauma 1/Trauma 2 AULL 10/29/11 - GREAT
Black Terry v. Negro Navarro v. Judas El Traitor v. Terremoto v. Triton v. Belial LUCHA POP 11/26/11 -EPIC
Black Terry v. Paranoiko v. Rocky Santana DTU-11/29/11 - FUN

2012

Black Terry/El Hijo Del Pirata Morgan/Skyde v. Negro Navarro/Trauma 1/Trauma 2 Arena Neza 1/1/12 - GREAT
Black Terry v. Chico Che IWRG 1/22/12 - EPIC
Black Terry vs. Chico Che IWRG 1/29/12 - GREAT

2013

Black Terry/Bombero Infernal/Dr. Cerebro v. Apolo Estrada Jr./Avisman/El Hijo del Diablo IWRG 12/22/13 - GREAT

2014

Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Veneno v. Oficial 911/Oficial AK47/Tony Rivera IWRG 3/9/14 - GREAT
Black Terry v. Tony Rivera IWRG 4/4/14 - FUN
Black Terry v. Aero Boy Chilanga Mask 4/27/14 - EPIC
Black Terry/Rey Hechicero v. Negro Navarro/Trauma 2 Chilanga Mask 10/25/14 - EPIC
Black Terry v. Rey Hechicero Chilanga Mask 10/26/14 - EPIC
Black Terry/Solar v. Ultimo Guerrero/Blue Panther CMLL Sanchez 11/15/14 - EPIC
Black Terry v. Rey Hechicero Chilanga Mask 11/23/14 - EPIC
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Trauma 1/Trauma 2 IWRG 12/14 - GREAT

2015

Black Terry v. Trauma 2 Chilanga Mask 1/11/15 - GREAT
Black Terry v. Psycho Kid Chilanga Mask 4/12/15 - GREAT
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Tortugas Ninjas 7/12/15 IWRG - GREAT
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Trauma 1/Trauma 2 Lucha Memes 12/25/15 - GREAT

2016

Black Terry v. Aero Boy Tulacingo Lucha 6/10/16 - EPIC
Black Terry v. Barbaro Cavenario Cara Lucha 6/11/16 - EPIC
Black Terry v. Judas El Traidor IWRG 8/3/16 - FUN
Black Terry v. Judas El Traidor IWRG 8/10/16 - FUN
Black Terry v. Demus 3:16 WMC 8/16/16 - GREAT
Black Terry v. Wotan Chilanga Mask 8/21/16 - EPIC
Black Terry v. Wotan v. Canis Lupus v. Caifan Titanes Del Ring 10/30/16 - GREAT

2017

Black Terry/Diablo Jr. v. Chicano/Veneno IWRG 2/26/17 - GREAT
Black Terry/Negro Navarro v. Blue Panther/The Panther CMLL 4/11/17 - GREAT
Black Terry/Diablo Jr. v. Los Traumas IWRG 4/23/17 - GREAT
Black Terry/Demonio Infernal/Diablo Jr. v. Villano IV/Kortiz/Villano III Jr. IWRG 5/3/17 - GREAT
Black Terry/Romano Garcia v. Dr. Cerebro/Solar Gimnasio Hercules 5/21/17 - FUN
Black Terry v. Demus 3:16 ANCLA WWCI 6/24 - EPIC
Black Terry/Diablo Jr. v. Black Warrior/Black Warrior Jr. IWRG 9/3/17 - SKIPPABLE

Black Terry/TAKA Michinoku v. Kyu Mogami/Tank Nagai K-DOJO 9/18/17 - FUN
Black Terry/Virus v. Solar/Super Astro CMLL 11/17/17 - GREAT

2019

Black Terry/Pirata Morgan vs. Fresero Jr./Mr. Iguana Lucha Libre Real 1/26/19 - GREAT

2020

Black Terry/Satanico vs. Garringo/Silver Star ERLL 9/6/20 - GREAT

Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs. Gallego/Mr. Jack Lucha Strong 9/12/20 - FUN

2021

Black Terry vs. Ricky Marvin Lucha Memes 4/25/21- EPIC

Black Terry vs. Mr. Condor 12/5/21 ZONA 23-EPIC

2022

Black Terry vs. Arandu Dark Sun Wrestling 5/30/22 - GREAT

Black Terry vs. Vinny Massaro Lucha Memes 9/18/22- GREAT

Read more!