IWRG 3/11/10

IWRG ON SEGUNDA CAIDA

Watch it all on Black Terry Jr.'s Youtube account

Epidemia/Heavy Boy/Comando Negro v Alan Extreme/Dinamic Black/Heros

TKG: They work from a pretty basic template here. First fall is one tecnico and one rudo match up do some technical exchanges and mat work where other two rudos interfere to break up pins which leads to all out brawl… rudos isolate and double team triple team tecnicos. Second fall is more streetfight and triple teaming tecnicos until rudo blows something and tecnicos mount a comeback. Third fall is each tecnico getting one on one opportunity against all three rudos with tecnicos winning all the exchange, which leads to two tecnicos do dive train and one tecnico is left in ring with one rudo. One of the real frustrations in writing about lucha is that we don’t have vocabulary/short hand for any of these sections of a match or for any of these roles within those sections. Applying southern tag shorthand to describe those sections misses the point. We have terms for every type of dive and dive variation but for those of us who enjoy lucha structure we have no short hand. This lack of shorthand handicaps the ability to write something more nuanced. "Rudos brawl on floor leading to isolating one tecnico and beating on him two or three on one, than throwing him out before the next tecnico recovers and is able to get in ring" is a staple that I don’t have a term for (or for any of the roles in that structure). No general term for that ”King of the Hill” section, which means I can’t really compare particular versions to Bruno Sammartino “controlling center of ring” matches, can’t say much on variations (when one rudo stays on floor to continue beating down and keeping other two tecnicos out), can't say much about how a rudo or tecnico is fucking up that section, etc . Can’t explain when it is done well and the beat downs and toss outs are done in such a way that no technico is left to look like an idiot standing on the floor with his thumb in his ass not breaking up stuff. When rudo ref has to interfere to keep tecnicos out, when heavyweight or just overweight tecnico sells wind on floor longer than his more junior partners. Don’t have a term for the face eating the beating. FIP is a term that was invented for Southern tag. Does FIP accurately describe the lucha tecnico role. As guy being beat down he’s half FIP/half ring apron guy interfering as it’s all about guy trying to regroup and start some offense and not pulling it off since the numbers are against him. The tecnico mounting a comeback section is often done like a hockey power play. Here (and in every Heavy Boy match) Heavy Boy torches his shoulder on a corner charge and (even beaten down) the faces when man up can take advantage and finally regroup. Sometimes the comeback is set up by tossing a tecnico highflyer into ropes where he can hit his stuff, sometimes the tecnicos just fight back to offense, finally recover their strength, or (like last weeks Ultraman dive on Truama II) take out a rudo with a dive setting up a two on two. The lack of voacabulary/shorthand makes it difficult to point out when it is done well/poorly or any of the neat idiosyncratic things that make one version different than other. Black Terry Jr has been more erratic in the last couple of weeks and I kind of think developing a vocabulary would be a useful project for Segunda Caida readers/IWRG message board posters, while we still have this resource. Anyways, Eros is fun as usual, and it was neat to see him get to work someone different in his technical exchange section (Comando Negro) and his submission finisher on Epidemia in the third fall was awesome. But while Heavy Boy is a guy who I can take by himself, I really don’t care for the Pareja Toxico. I’m not a big fan of “Innovative Offense” type wrestlers to begin with. But even within that genre they manage to make their Rube Goldberg offense come off as dull.

PAS: I thought all of the technicos looked pretty good, although they mostly looked good in their exchanges with Commando Negro. I am with Tom on Pareja Toxico, they are like the Maximos at their laziest, and their section really drag on the rest of the match. Dull is right, all of their double teams come off completely perfunctory, nothing they do has any spark or energy, which is in marked comparison to the technicos in this match who have some really jazzy stuff. One of the things I have missed the most about the sparseness of IWRG updates lately is watching these young guys work out the kinks.

Black Terry/Dr Cerebro/Hijo Del Signo v. Negro Navarro/Trauma II/Barba Roja

TKG: The first time I saw this match I remember being very happy with it. Your Thursday show Traumas,911 v tecnicos set up a Traumas v Oficiales rudo v rudo feud for the Sunday shows (after 911 disappointed the Traumas and they attacked him post match). And this Trauma, Navarro, Barba Roja v Terry, Cerebro, Hijo del Signo one set up a Traumas v Piratas feud for the Thursday shows in a similar but very different way. Neither of those feuds ever really materialized beyond one or two matches and so it’s kind of harder to talk about a match that I originally dug as cool slow build to feud when the feud never took off. But basic premise here is that this is a rudo v rudo match built on sportsmanship and guys trying to prove their skills to each other. It starts with a first fall built around the two veteran anchors trading technical moves: matching complex armdrag variation with complex arm drag variation, monkey flip variation to monkey flip variation, rolling arm take down, to rolling arm take down, etc. Second fall has Cerebro and Trauma II matching up exchanging technical holds and escapes with Terry and Navarro loudly coaching their protégé’s “Hey he’s in the ropes”, “bah that’s cheap, etc.” Then Navarro matches up with Signo and Terry matches up with Barba Roja doing technical exchanges with the veterans challenging their opponents “show me what you got kid”. The fall ends with Barba Roja laying down rather than eating a Terry punch. Barba Roja’s pussy move changes everything. Navarro and Terry are blown “What the fuck was that shit”. Terry challenges Barba Roja “ok wait you don’t want to be hit…can you hit someone? C’mon and hit me” while Navarro is disgusted and refuses to tag with Roja. Barba Roja ads further insult with a couple of miscommunication spots where he hits his own partner and eventually says “fuck it, if you’re pissed at me, let me give you a reason to be pissed at me” and deliberately hits own partners. It is an amusing angle and for it to work all the other rudo v rudo stuff has to be pretty heatless (no one else’s feelings can be hurt—there isn’t the usual build from friendly exchange to anger). While I'm normally not the biggest fan of this kind of horseshit angle which often distracts from a match...here as a result of the horseshit we get a fun Navarro v Terry technical match up, a neat lil Navarro v Hijo del Signo one and a tough Navarro v Dr Cerebro set of exchanges that I can’t imagine us getting in any other context.

PAS: I liked this match a bunch, Tom didn't even mention the spectacular Cerebro v. Trauma II mat exchanges which were tricky, elaborate and nasty looking. I really get the sense those two have an amazing singles match in them if that ever gets lined up. When the match got a little out of control it was great to see these guys lay into each other. Navarro just cracks Barba Roja with a right hand, Navarro brawling isn't very common, and you kind of forget what a beast he is when he starts throwing hands. The angle stuff takes the actually match down a bit, you aren't going to have a classic when the focus of the match is partners turning on each other, but this was about as good as something like this can be.

Trauma I v Angelico (Americas Lightheavyweight Championship)

TKG:So this is the miracle match with the only argument being does this make Trauma I a superworker or is this two guys who trained together having the perfect match laid out. And while Angelico is not the best possible opponent for Trauma I, Trauma I is definitely the best possible opponent for Angelico. They do a bunch of standing World Of Sport elaborate arm exchanges to start and holy shit does Trauma I do a great job of selling for this. He lays in his own arm wringers really tight and manages to sell for Angelico’s shitty artful dodger in a way that makes it work in a lucha (or just in a general wrestling) context. They continue in a really tit for tat manner up into the second fall where Trauma starts laying in the stiffness and Angelico answers. Trauma I does a nice job selling for a bunch of Angelico’s weaker stuff but also the match structure where they are still feeling each other out through the beginning of the strike exchange section helps. The neat thing about Terry v Navarro armdrag/judo throw exchanges from the last match is if you’re going to do tit for tat feeling out, the real balance of “oh you have an arm drag, let me show you my arm drag” works better than just guys doing a more general “oh you have a technical move, I can do a technical move too”. Doing that as a feeling out keeps it from ever getting “Austin does a rock bottom, Rock does a stunner” finish run cutesy. And so the strike exchange here had these moments of “hey I can leap frog you/kick you from behind and then crank a submission too” where instead of feeling even it felt like guys feeling each other out to see who could actually do these things better. Trauma I eats a Sano kick and then a draped over top rope thing where he sells it all like he’s busted a rib. He sells for that rib for the whole rest of the match Sano v Akiyama (04) or Sano v Misawa style. I mean Angelico is sloppy, it might not actually be selling but it really makes the match. The balance of the match being built on Trauma’s selling is super smart. It means there is a reson for even Angelico’s weakest stuff to have meaning, and also keeps us from having any real BS Angelico selling sections. The final busted shin selling from Angelico so quickly leads to the finish that you buy the over the topness of initial hurt…in a way that you wouldn’t if he continually sold “Oh my leg!my leg! Oh what will I do without a leg!” for any more exchanges.

PAS: I absolutely loved this match the first time I saw it. I was coming into to it blind, not knowing who won, and thinking there was a decent chance that Angelico would seriously injure Trauma I. So when I watched it initially, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for everything to go to hell, so each exchange that ended without disaster built me up more. When we got to the legitimately awesome finish I was totally engaged, to the point where I remember yelling "TAP MOTHERFUCKER" when Trauma I slapped on his awesome spinning ankle lock. Re-watching it months later when I know nothing goes horribly wrong, and I know the right guy goes over, I can see the cracks of the match more. Angelico is still Angelico and some of his stuff still looks shitty. Still despite that is a damn good match on rewatch and an absolute gem of performance by Trauma I, his intensity, nasty offense, timing and selling really carried Angelico to a better match then he had any right to have.