IWRG 2/18/10

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IWRG on Segunda Caida

Guizmo/Heros v. Carta Brava Jr./Alan Extreme

TKG: Yuck. This was a mess. There were a couple moments of nice Heros underdog selling, a couple moments of nice Carta Brava Jr stiffness ( and even that occasionally looked ill timed), and the Guizmo top rope rana set up and eat was cool. But everything else was a mess. Guizmo and Alan Extreme never seemed to click. They had this one chop exchange where the two would do bigger and bigger wind ups only to hit weaker and weaker chops. And Carta Brava Jr was either standing around arms out 30 seconds too early to catch stuff or out of place 30 seconds too late.

PAS: I actually thought Heros was actively good in this, really enjoyed his opening Carta Brava Jr. matwork, liked his dives, thought he took some nasty shots. Still his perfectly fine performance was overshadowed by the crappiness of Alan Extreme and Guizmo. Yikes were they a mess, lots of their exchanges had that 3/4th speed pre match run through feeling to them. Like when we got to see them do it later at regular speed it was going to be fine. Alan Extreme did hit his Matt Sydal clothesline well, and had a decent Orihara moonsault, but otherwise this was probably his worst performance.

Trauma II/Avisman/Gringo Loco v. Brazo Metalico Jr/Fishman Jr./Chico Che

TKG:I don’t seem to see a part one to the first fall here. So we only get the last minute of the first fall where Chico Che looks to legit fuck Avisman up with a face slam. Second fall starts with Chico Che running through all the heels in succession. It's Chico Che and that's always fun to watch. Then Trauma II comes in with his fast hands and works over Fishman Jr. And pretty much that’s the whole match. Trauma II spends the next two falls just destroying Fishman Jr and Brazo Metalico Jr. An absolute beatdown. Just roughing both guys up. I am assuming Fishman Jr isn’t the Fishman Jr who became Blackfish. Fishman Jr has a real lumbering moose-like awkwardness to him that made his mauling seem even nastier. The maulking was so thorough that I have a hard time calling the eventual face comeback a comeback. Barely even a moral victory. Chico Che kind of gets in a comeback. Trauma II just backs away from the faces while they appear to be on a potential roll then just returns to beating them, Metalico Jr asai’s himself on the ring barrier and Trauma II and Fishman Jr. have a post match pull apart brawl where Trauma II looks to block all of Fishman’s shots.

PAS: There is some pretty nasty beatings laid down by Avisman and Loco too, both top rope moves which finish the second fall looked like they landed in injurious ways. Avisman also lays in some nasty short headbutts. This was Trauma II's show. In DC their is a pair of very good pro prospect fighters the Peterson brothers, Anthony and Lamont (one of the guys I trained with actually got matched up with Anthony in his first ever amateur bout, it didn't go well). They have a pretty compelling story growing up homeless and basically being adopted by their trainer, and largely because of that story they have been on a ton of ESPN and HBO fight cards. The Traumas remind me of the Peterson brothers, Trauma I is like Anthony a bigger bruiser who uses power and force to beat on someone, Trauma II is more like Lamont, he uses speed, angles and combination punching to lay his opponent out. The Puncher and the Boxer, this was a pretty masterful Boxing performance by II.

Los Officiales v. El Angel/Angelico/Freelance

PAS: This match had some moments of excellence mixed in with some real moments of crap. Freelance is spectacular as usual, looking really good in the brawling sections, and breaking out some spectacular highspots. Two crazy dives including a rana which sent Fierro flying into a bunch of fans. He looked really, really sharp here, and I hope he gets some more chances to showcase himself. Angel and Angelico however are a different matter, we have talked a ton about Angelico's shittiness, but there is a section near the end where he rips off his big offense which nearly made me cover my eyes in embarrassment. El Angel was pretty bad too, this match was a pretty big brawl through out, including AK-47 bleeding badly, and in the third fall Angel starts whipping out his comedy spots. It was just terrible and killed the match dead. Worth watching for Freelance v. Oficiales, but anytime the camera isn't on him, move along.

TKG: No real reason to move along. Given the tecnicos there were suprsingly few“moments of crap”. This is a 25+ minute match with both Angelico and El Angel where the only time I cringed was in that last minute and a half Angelico run. And this is the best Angel has looked in his IWRG run thus far, and probably the longest Angelico has been kept from embarrassing himself in a trios match. I mean Oficiales have been doing matches opposite Freelance and two schmucks for over two years now and they have this formula down. Watching this I did get the sense that Freelance deserves better. IWRG has a bunch of neat rudo teams: Traumas/Dinastia Navarro, Terribles Cerebros, Jr. Piratas. Ola Maldita, Gringos VIP, hell I’m sure I’m going to enjoy the Comandantes de La Muerte too. IWRG will move rudos around for matches but these guys have team affiliation. But your faces (Freelance, Chico Che, Zatura, Suicida) are kind of thrown around willy nilly. Freelance deserves a regular partner.

Hijo Del Pantera/La Pantera/Zatura v. Trauma I/Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro

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.