IWRG 9/02/04 from the archives

So in early 2005 an episode of IWRG showed up on Comcast on demand. Looking through cubsfan’s site I’m assuming the show was filmed on 9/02/04, although he has Lady Metal listed as La Seductora.

http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/events/arenas/arenanaucalpan2004.php

We reviewed it in the workrate report style (with the good on the top bad on the bottom) but you can easily piece it back together as a straight up 5 match show report if you want.

If you have comcast on demand you can watch this in the spanish section on deportes there will be lucha part one and two of this episode. Main event is second part. If you understand Spanish one of the guys on commentary is Javier LLanes who is a Guerrero relative through marriage and one of my favorite wrestling commentators as he'll not only tell you the proper name of move but who first used it and in what match. Show itself isn't a good intro to lucha if you've never seen it...but if you've ever thought "I would really enjoy watching really simple work from a strip mall suburb outside of Mexico City" than this will make your life complete.

PAS: So it turns out that a random IWRG show is on Comcast ON DEMAND. It really feels like the only people who would demand this are Tom and I, so we figure it is Workrate Report time.

TKG: FUCK. It's IWRG!!! IWRG isn't really about great wrestling but its always about long matches. Lo-ong matches. Matches paced like someone crossed lucha with Mid-Atlantic Tony Zane vs. Brett Wayne Sawyer opening match draws. I love me some IWRG.

What Worked


Mr. Libra v. Gato Fenix

PAS: This was your traditional IWRG first caida match. These are basically worked like New Japan rookies matches or GCW scientific battles. Dullish, but solid. This was better then most as Gato Fenix was a good rudo as he was taking stuff really well. I remember we used to fill out the 400's in the DVDVR 500 with IWRG una caida workers, if we were still doing that Gato Fenix would be all over it.

TKG: Yep its opening match mano a mano. a lot of Mr. Libra's stuff fell apart but Gato Fenix did a nice job holding it together.

Fantasy/Matrix/Suicida v. Fuerza Guerrera/Dr. Cerebro/Veneno

TKG: Fantasy is a guy who is getting a huge push on the last bit of IWRG I watched, winning lots of hair matches etc. Matrix is a guy in a really ugly Abismo meets Alebrije costume who is supposedly from Guatemala and is also getting a huge face push. Why is the Guatemalan getting this big face push in Mexico? Fuck if I know. Llanes hints that they're broadcast in Guatemala but that might be a work...But fuck they're on Comcast, being on Guatemalan TV isn't half as absurd. Mike Segura is IWRG mainstay who I've seen live in the USA a couple times (once against Virus, once against Damian) and he's always disappointed. Veneno is Panamanian heel leader of the IWRG stable the Corporation. And well he stinks for most part. Why is the Panamanian a heel and the Guatemalan a face in Mexico? I knew I should have thought about taking some Latin american Studies classes. Veneno and Matrix work each other really well on the mat but once they stand up its ugly. Cerebro and Segura match up fucking great as Cerebro really brings out the best in Segura.

PAS: I am also curious why the Panamanian and the Guatemalan have heat with each other? Are Panamanian death squads destabilizing the Guatemalan government. Fuerza looks really great here, as he takes armdrags really great, does his nutty through the ropes bump and flies into the front row taking a Suicide tope. This would have been straight up excellent if they hadn't had the Veneno v. Matrix brawling sections, which were not fun.

TKG: Fuerza does his old crazy Chris Hamrick through the ropes bump but does it in a way that seems really safe and sets him up to catch a dive...which he ducks. the dive train in this match is fucking great as Fantasy, Cerebro and Segura all have great topes and both Fuerza and Cerebro do an amazing job of eating those topes. Cerebro flies off his feat for the tope catch whileFuerza takes it on the side of his face and flings himself into the audience.

TKG: The luchadoras match makes my what worked side although pretty much agree with most of Phils criticisms. But its exactly what I watch IWRG for a looong match with only one good worker holding it together. Flor Metalica's big suplex really was uncalled for but the rest was worked in a really dull style that I was looking forward to when I saw that I was going to be watching IWRG. I was stoked to see Lady Metal work this match and disappointed that she's cut her mullet. She needs to grow it back if she ever wants to work as a Peggy Lee Leather partner. Lady Metal didn't bump as huge as I've seen her in the past but I enjoyed alot of the other stuff she did. I've never seen her neblina/sharpshooter finisher but damn Alex Shelley needs to steal that.


What Didn't Work

Lady Metal/Flor Metalica v. Josiphina/Lady Suiox

PAS: Apparently anyone who has Comcast cable can access this 35 minute dull as dishwater luchadoras match, just freak show. Lady Metal looks like she would be too Dikey for GAEA, and is the only lady in this match who looks trained. She is alot of fun, but this is spectacularly long.

Payasos v. Paramedico/Xibalba/Commando Gamma

PAS: Paramedico is really good, but these are some of lesser Payasos I have ever seen. The thing about IWRG is that they just randomly switch up who is under what gimmick, at one point IWRG had good Payasos, but those guys are probably Mega's or Commandos now. This was also seemingly 40 minutes and was just plum awful.

TKG: Undercard IWRG is often about six man matches with one really cool guy trying to hold the other five together. I've liked Paramedico a bunch in the past as he does a lot of Greco-ish stuff..not even catch as catch can amateur work but neat Greco stuff. He didn't get to do much of that here. Gusano Llanes on commentary explains how the red clown is the powerhouse, the white one is the experience and the Green one is the youth. They really work that gimmick. With green doing all the fast exchanges and white really working like an old guy clutching chest on every sell and doing really odd old school stuff like double stomping eardrums. Gama might be good who knows this match was awful and went on forever and ever. I liked the Dusty finish variation.

Shocker/Villano IV v. Scorpio Jr./Black Tiger

PAS: This is the main event, and certainly the best looking match on paper, but paper is paper. IWRG really tends to have some matches with only one guy working hard. In this match V IV is the only guy who seems to give a shit. Lots of focusless brawling and Que Monito comedy spots. They really need to give the monkey to a guy who needs shtick in his matches as he tends to drag Shocker matches down.

TKG: Yeah this was bad. IV looked really good but there would be these sections of IV and Scorpio Jr. working tightly while Black Tiger and Shocker just layed in stuff. I'm hoping TNA decides to bring in Scorpio Jr. as their new mule. Scorpio Jr. getting a Impact face push leading to a Hall PPV match would be worth putting some money down to see it.

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IWRG 1/28/10

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

Epidemia/Keshin Black vs Eragon/Guizmo

TKG: This was a complete ugly mess filled with blown spots and stupid ideas. Last time I saw Guizmo I conjectured that Keshin Black was the Black Thunder to Guizmo's Turbo: rudo expert at eating that particular tecnico's stuff. But they never match the two up in first two falls, match up for thirty second segment in third and a little bit near finish. And none of that looked good at all. Neither of these four guys is any good at brawling and this was match filled with almost nothing but brawling.

PAS: Yeah this was stinky, they do have an opening mat section, but you could obviously see Eragon feeding Keshin Black his limbs. I am blaming the rudos for this match, they have got to lead and deliver in a match set up like this and their stuff looked really bad, there was a corner clothesline section which was down right Arki Cannonesque.

Daga/Brazo Metalico Jr./Dinamic Black vs Gringo Loco/Hijo del Signo/Avisman

PAS: These midcard trios continue to deliver. Avisman and Brazo Metalico Jr. start out working the mat, and it is pretty clear that the Alvarado family train their offspring well. Basic trios structure for the first two falls with everyone looking good. Match falls slightly apart at the end, Dinamic Black starts the dive train with a totally sick in to out springboard somersault, but both Gringo Loco and Daga's dives kind of stink. Then Daga and Loco have an exchange which felt less lucha and more indyriffic. Lots of trapped leg falcon arrows. Still most of the match was very good, and I could even see other people liking the finish fine.

TKG: We actually get two primera caida technical pairings. Avisman v Brazo Jr was built around pinfalls with the arm drags and sub holds acting as extra spice, Avisman vs. Brazo Metalico on the other hand is all built around armdrags with the pinfalls and subs being the extra flavor. I expected I’d enjoy Avisman technical exchange but was shocked by how perfectly fine the Dinamic Black v Gringo Loco technical exchanges were. Second fall was Brazo Metalico Jr and Daga both winning exchanges with the rudos. Rudos take over after Gringo Loco makes Dinamic Black crotch himself doing one of his springboarding moves. I really like that Dinamic Black both is all about the Babe Rap type springboard move and also does the Rusty Riddle knocked off rope bump. His strength is also a vulnerability. Phil is right in that there was no reason for Daga or Gringo Loco to do their dives. “Two guys dive taking out the other two leaving one match up in the ring” is a formula that works. Everyone dives meant that everyone recovers before Daga and Gringo Loco have their match up and are left standing around like fools watching the final exchange.


Negro Navarro/Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Solar/Sucida/Zatura

PAS: Great, great stuff. These are six of the greatest wrestlers in the world given some time to have a wrestling match. We start out with Solar v. Negro Navarro which is the best match up in wrestling today. They are playing a variation of the same notes, but this was less of an exhibition and more of a struggle. They didn't do the hold, release, hold style, things were being countered and reversed. The tapatia reversed into a tapatia was especially awesome looking. The youtube revolution has allowed us to see this match up a bunch in the last couple of years, that may be seen as a bit of a downside, but it is a weird criticism. They are traveling around the country and the world doing their thing, and they still mix it up a bunch. This isn't 80's WWE guys doing move for move replications of the same house show match, it is two maestros locked in a decade long battle of one upsmanship and I am eager to catch every installment. Next we get a long completely awesome Zatura v. Black Terry mat section, it may be the novelty of it, but this felt as good as the Navarro v. Solar section. They did a lot of battling in and out of leglocks which really felt like a Imanari fight, I also loved how Terry would use wrist locks to transition into throws. A singles match between those two would be unbelievable. The first fall ends with a really great speedy exchange between Suicida and Dr. Cerebro, with Segura flying all over the ring and Cerebro bumping like a king. Just an awesome first fall, as good as any opening caida I can ever remember seeing. Unfortunately the second and third falls were both about four minutes, good but really too abbreviated for this to truly be a classic. Both falls had great shit in them though. The second fall, had more Navarro v. Solar, with both guys jockeying for big throws. The third fall had Cerebro taking Suicida to the floor and beating the shit out him, it added a bit of violence to the artistry which was welcome. Honestly add three minutes to each fall and we have the match of the year, even as is, it is a beautiful piece of wrestling

TKG: Holy crap this was great. Solar and Navarro aren’t just guys exchanging technical holds but there is this real sense of escalation in their exchanges. They start off with arm drag exchanges which lead to arm locks and immobility knots which build into arm locks that can’t be reversed forcing rope breaks. From there they move into this amazing boxing in a phone booth section of mat wrestling (perhaps wrestling in a dumbwaiter) that transitions into both guys trying for ceiling stretches. Each of these sections is given its own weight and there is this real feeling of escalation to this whole exchange. This is followed up by Black Terry v Zatura, and I’m not a guy who particularly cares for shoot interviews and don’t believe in using them as source for actual facts. But listening to self aggrandizing stories told by professional liars gives you some insight into the value system of those liars (the values and morality of the stories). And watching Terry v Zatura after Solar v Navarro really reminded me of all the tales of shooters where there are two schools “yeah I’d stretch a guy see what he had, but I wasn’t a ripper those guys are assholes”. And you have this escalation from Solar v Navarro as pros stretching each other to Terry v Zatura “ripping” which leads into Cerebro and Suicida just wanting to beat each other up. Solar watches all this and goes “Oh this is how we’re going to play” and comes in and just goes at Navarro with added violence. Second fall we get a small little bit of Solar v Cerebro which ends with Solar doing a pretty cool deadlift into armdrag and backbreaker. I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth but it’s kind of a shame we don’t get to see some of the Solar matches where he isn’t paired opposite Navarro, one of the people who taped the Angelico v Navarro match showed clips of Solar’s match on the 1/21 show which looked fun. But it’s back to Solar v Navarro trading big throws. Third fall is all about Cerebro and Suicida having unfinished business. This match just keeps on building and building, and is easily the best thing I’ve seen thus far in 2010.

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