Found Footage Friday: IWRG RETRO~! LAWLER VS DUNDEE~! INOUE~! RUSHER~! EIGEN~! OKUMA~!

Mighty Inoue/Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen/Motoshi Okuma AJPW 11/20/90

MD: We've covered the Andre match from this show but it's pretty overlooked otherwise. I'll go through most of it in the weeks to come. It was right during the RWTL and weirdly we have a chunk of HHs from this month so we get to see a lot of the different pairings. This match was not actually part of it, I think, as Inoue and Kimura were in it but Okuma an Eigen weren't. One fun thing about this, however, is because Baba was in the RWTL with Andre, these aren't the usual six mans. That means that all other non-Baba parties get more chance to shine and show individual personality. 

For instance, this match is all about Eigen and Eigen's pretty great in it. It starts with handshakes, and Eigen goes so far to bow to Rusher (drawing light applause) before smacking him in the face (popping the crowd big). He then dashes out of the ring and raises his hands in victory. Then, right as he was about to lock up with Inoue, Eigen turns and smacks Rusher off the apron before running away and raising his hand in victory once more. Then, once they've isolated Inoue and Okuma has him in an armbar, Eigen runs across the apron to stand on the top and taunt Rusher and after a tag and a double chop, he dashes across the ring to smack him again, drawing him in so they can double team Inoue some more. Just great heatseeking from a place not known for it. 

The initial comeback is Inoue slipping around to hit a belly to back on Okuma, so when Rusher comes in, he can't get his hands on Eigen. Then, they take over on Rusher so the gratification of it all is even more delayed. Okuma's fun in here, running all the headbutt spots with Rusher, even as they're beating him down, but this is Eigen's show, right up to the point where Inoue holds his leg as he's trying to come off the top on Rusher and he gets everything that was coming to him (which means he does his big trademark spit spot on the apron as Inoue and then Rusher and then Inoue smacks him in the chest). What an underrated jerk. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee Memphis Power Hour 2/25/06

MD: This is a four and a half minute segment but we're contractually obligated to watch all Lawler vs Dundee matches and this was a fun three minutes which could have been an uproarious ten if they gave it the time. It's 62 year old Dundee vs 56 year old Lawler, who happens to be wearing these triple high Stacks boots. They work about two minutes based around the boot, Dundee having the fans mock him, Lawler mocking the even more severe height difference, Dundee selling a kick like death, Lawler falling on his ass with an over the top trip by Dundee. They could have milked this forever and it would have been endlessly funny, but after a few minutes they play to the interference and the match gets thrown out. At least Dundee got to punch Lawler a lot and trip him again though. Very much 1990 heel Lawler with a different gimmick every week but that probably felt refreshing in 2006. It's just a shame there was only a couple of minutes of this.

Freelance/Tortuguillos I y II vs. Los Oficiales (AK47, Fierro y 911) IWRG (Retro) 11/10/2007

MD: This is from the 4/6 IWRG Retro, which fell through the cracks due to being around Mania, I think. There's another match on there we'll cover later. This was one fall by design but also by necessity. We start out with Tortuguillo Azul and 911 and they have some loose but flowing matwork. There's some of that anticipation where they end up where they should be a half second too early (especially 911), but it all comes off like baiting our turtle friend in by the end with the next counter, so it's ine. We get just a bit from Fierro and Tortuguillo Rojo and that's quite a bit more struggle laden. Before we can even get to Freelance and AK47 though, it all breaks down with the rudo swarm. AK47 decides it's a good idea to do the Sid style leaping kick off the apron to the floor. This is pretty horrific mistake as it was for Sid a few years earlier and that's the last we see him for the match.

Los Oficiales are good at pressing their advantage, however, and Freelance is very good at reaching for the ceiling while eating a double back body drop. They make short work of the the Turtles without much incident even being down one partner. Maybe if that hadn't been the case there would have been a spirited tecnico comeback, but as it was, this was a pretty satisfying mauling. 911's crane kick stylings and clumsy fall off the top splash weren't nearly as good as Fierro's way of asserting himself with his size and power but combined they were better than the sum of their parts. Hopefully AK47 was ok.

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Comando Negro Apuestas Matches

Comando Negro has to be the most obscure wrestler to have multiple matches in my book

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I covered his classic mask matches with El Pollo and Trauma 1 (as Canis Lupus). While checking out his Luchablog entry, I noticed he also had hair vs. mask matches with Segunda Caida favorites Freelance and Chico Che so I tracked them down to review as well.

Comando Negro vs. Freelance IWRG 10/10/10

PAS: This was a a nice mix of highspot heavy lucha with an Arena Naucalpan style bloody brawl. Freelance starts out by headscissoring Negro off of the stage and following up with a stage dive into chairs. He also does a flip dive off the iconic Naucalpan beer cooler, a crazy plancha and a beautiful diving rana to the floor. Negro is a great solid meat and potatoes luchador, catching all of the fancy stuff perfectly and mixing in a great looking bullet tope of his own. Both guys bleed, go face first into beer coolers and chairs, and the finish has Freelance setting up for a top rope rana only to get fouled by Negro's second and powerbombed from the top rope. The tecnicos cut the ref's hair before Freelance get shaved, which seems a bit uncalled for, since he didn't really seem to be heeling much. A slight step below the two Negro all timers,  but it was an excellent apuestas full of cool shit.

Commando Negro vs. Chico Che IWRG 12/9/10

PAS: This was a total war. Che is one of my favorite all time obscure guys, and seeing a new awesome Che performance is a total treat. This match has the inversion of the traditional lucha apuestas formula with technico Che getting the dominant Primera Caida. Che is one of the hardest hitters in lucha, he feels almost like an old WAR wrestler with his combination of chub and thump he puts in every blow, he just moves Negro with ever forearm. Che takes the first fall with a heavy top rope splash and continues in the Second to tour the arena with Negro bouncing him off of beer coolers and chairs. We get some interference by Negro's seconds Gringo Loco and El Hijo Del Diablo, and when Che's seconds Los Cerebros hit double topes on them, Che gets DQed and the Cerebros get bounced to the back by the rudo ref. The third fall has some shenanigans with Loco and Diablo and the heel ref, but it also has some really beautiful moments of lucha, Negro sending Che over the guardrail with a tope, Che returning the favor later with a elbow suicida of his own. Che hitting some amazingly graceful headscissors, the seconds running in and getting pelted with trash by the crowd, and finally Negro cracking Che in the jaw with a fist wrapped in a chain for the win. Great stuff, might have actually squeezed a third Negro match in the book if I had seen it before I wrote it. 

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2020 MOTY List: Freelance vs. Impulso

36. Freelance vs. Impulso AULL 11/21

PAS: We really have a lot of 2020 indy lucha to go through, and I am glad to see they are still guys in tiny arenas bleeding and throwing chairs at each other's head (although this was a disconcerting crowd for a November 2020 match). Freelance gets jumped early and is cut in the first minute. We get some great indy scum lucha crowd brawling, and a wild comeback from Freelance  with some great twisty arm drags and an absolutely killer Asai moonsault, with Freelance nearly breaking Impulso's spine against the ring. We get a really fun finishing run with some crazy rollups and submissions and a nasty jumping double underhook piledriver by Impulso for the neck breaking pin. This was much more of an apuestas style match than a title match, but the kind of thing you want to see from these guys. 

ER: Freelance is one of the most gifted movers in wrestling history. It really feels like he could have been getting the kind of gigs that Fenix wound up with (not a slight against Fenix, he is gifted in the same way), but perhaps his moniker is also his ethos? I'm not sure how I feel about him brawling through a decent sized crowd of people exclusively wearing masks around their necks, but the man moves like an angel and bleeds like a lucha legend. The match starts with Freelance getting hi-tossed across several chairs, and he's bleeding hard not long after. The crowd brawl is really strong, and those Arena Lopez Mateos chairs hit like they're made out of concrete. Every bump off them and every one thrown into a head looks brutal and ungiving. Freelance gets that great thick blood that drips all over his chest, and only makes his comebacks look more crazed. His Asai moonsault is an all time wrestling highspot, from the arc to the impact to the crash landing, Impulso getting forced up and over the railing whether or not he wanted to be. He's on wobbly legs, and then he'll break out a rope walk dropkick or a springboard splash, done in a way where he's still selling his blood loss while hitting these moves, like a performative graceful clumsiness. Flying matches punctuated by punching cuts is always awesome, and that double underhook Impulso piledriver is the kind of thing that Freelance will take right on his head. Bless. 

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Five Match Fighters

1. Demonio Infernal v. Aramis v. Black Dragon v. Freelance v. Arana De Plata IWRG 1/22/17

PAS: This is a five match fighters match, which is basically a free for all for crazy nutsos to do crazy shit. Freelance was a favorite from the IWRG glory days, but hasn't looked good in the last couple of years, he was back to his insane self here, multiple crazy dives into the crowd, a flip Fuerza bump to the floor, a couple of cool armdrags, the whole Freelance package. Out of the guys I hadn't seen before, I really liked Aramis, in addition to dives and bumps he also had a nice looking headbutt and nifty leglock. Total popcorn match, but tasty popcorn.


ER: Super fun spotfest with 5 guys, but only 2 in the ring at any given time. I liked everybody in this, but there were some standouts. Black Dragon was wearing by far the least Black of everyone in this match, but he bumped huge and took the brunt on several dives (including a moonsault from Freelance that sent both over the barrier faster than you'd want). Freelance brought the big crowd dives including a match closing sky high flip dive onto everybody in the seats, and that flip bump to the floor, like a head first Fuerza, was nuts. Arana de Plata hit some smooth timing based spots, and then peaking with a killer high speed flipping tope through dudes and into seats. There was a lot of dudes going into the crowd and into the seats. Aramis was really great glue, and a match like this is like Charley and Humphrey, it's gonna need lots of glue. He ties things together with great timing, tight strikes (the headbutt Phil mentions is a nice surprise) and gives the match some grounding. I love this kind of junk food.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2013 Lucha Roundup

Chico Che/Saruman/Freelance v. Eita/Tomahawk/Imposible IWRG 3/21

Pretty mediocre match. The DG guys didn't do anything as bad as they have in previous matches, but this was a really subdued Freelance and Che performance. No real crazy dives, Che threw some nice headbutts but didn't fly around or anything. More forgettable then bad, but pretty forgettable.

El Hijo Del Santo v. Oliver John TXT 4/7

Great to see a Santo singles match show up. Haven't had much of an opinion of John before but he definitely worked hard here, he took some big bumps including doing a diving headbutt directly into Santo's feet and flying to the floor. I also really liked his piledriver counter. Santo did cool Santo things, headscissors, headbutts, mat counters, topes. Built to a pretty exciting finish run and a satisfying finish. Very good match better then I was expecting

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2013 Lucha Roundup

Apollo Estrada Jr./Eita/Tomahawk v. Black Terry/Chico Che/Freelance IWRG 2/28

Man that is a murderers row of technicos, three of my favorite wrestlers to watch ever. Too bad a really weak rudo performance keeps this from really getting going. Your Dragon Gate rookie pair are really bad here, blowing some spots, wandering around hitting weak chops and doing hack comedy spots. Freelance is nuts as usual hitting a great Orihara moonsault to end the second fall and bisecting Eita with a spring board splash. Che does his thing and entertainingly blasts Tomhawk in the mouth with a forearm when he blows a spot, Terry is pretty muted so this was a two man performance, between the DG guys and the Clowns Che and Freelance have been stuck with some chumps lately.

Black Terry/Eita/Tomahawk v. Chico Che/Saruman/Freelance IWRG 3/7

This is a better match then the week before. Terry is almost enough to carry a rudo team on his own, even while being saddled with the stinky DG guys. Still sort of a disjointed match, with several moments where Eita and Tomahawk just can't keep up. Still Terry nearly rips Saruman's arm off with a kimura to end the first fall. Terry and Che open up tiny cuts on their heads with potato headbutts and, Chico Che hits the dive of the year with an insane elbow suicida which looked almost Ciclon Ramirezesque. Plenty to love here and the post match attack by Silver King students was fun and chaotic. Please let Dragon's Gate retake their boys though, or at least have them feud with Veneno or someone else I don't want to watch

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2013 Lucha Roundup

Shocker/Blue Panther/Mascara Dorada v. Negro Casas/Felino/Mr. Neibla CMLL 2/12

The Panther v. Casas rivalry has been one of the true treasures in professional wrestling in this decade. For a while leading up to their mask match, we would get weekly trios matches were they would be beautifully beating the piss out of each other. This is quite a throwback, awesome kicks and punches square in the mush sold wonderfully, along with the nifty twists they always throw out against each other. Here I especially dug Casas using the ring rails to mangle Panthers arm, and Panther using the stage to brutalize Casas's leg. Would really like to see them have an IWRG style around the arena brawl. Your other guys were more hit and miss, Dorada had a very fun headscissory, armdraggy and divey performance including a lunatic tope con giro. The washed up guys were mostly washed up, although I did dig Felino and Neibla's doomsday device variation at the end.

Chico Che/Freelance/Centvrion v. Dave the Clown/Niko/Rothen the Clown IWRG 2/21

Not as bad as the clown match a week later, but the Clowns are still about the worst luchadores in the world. Still Freelance doesn't really need a live opponent to do his thing and as usual there are some sweet Freelance flips and dives. Chico Che looks lively too, as he busts out his awesome shoulder block. More of a slightly below average match, then a stinker.

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2013 Lucha Roundup

Angel del Amor/Chico Che/Freelance v. Danny Casas/Imposible/Alan Extreme IWRG 2/14

Not at the level of the match later in the week, but house show Che and Freelance is still well worth checking out. Your other four here were solid but didn't really stand out, Alan Extreme had a fun tope con hilo, but I have seen him do better. Freelance and Chico were the stars and they brought the crazy shit, Freelance broke out a bunch of his crazy flipping counters and a couple of nutso dives including a rana to the floor which chuck Alan into the third row. Chico Che didn't break out the brawling, but his exchanges were as graceful and athletic as always, his top rope splash is just awesome looking. Undercardish style match, but I am some glad we got the real killers back making these undcard matches such a treat

El Angel v. Trauma 2 v. Oficial 911 IWRG 2/17

Had some 3-wayish issues early, but once this got down to violence it got really awesomely violent. Trauma was just smashing his head into Angel's bloody skull and cracking him and 911 with chairshots. There is a point where T2 and Angel are lying in the beer and blood and the mud just pummeling each other while 911 crawls to the ring to win the match. One of the cooler finishes in recent memory. Very exited to see these guys amp it up even more for a mask match.

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2013 Lucha Roundup

Chico Che/Freelance/Hijo del Pantera vs Apolo Estrada Jr./Avisman/Eita IWRG 2/17

Man alive was this a blast, easily my Lucha MOTY (although I have some catching up to do.) A bunch of awesome IWRG guys we have seen intermittently in the last couple of years reminding us why we love them. It felt like they were out to steal the show as everyone was breaking out there entire bag of tricks. Freelance does 8 things you can't believe, including the fastest rope run front flip I have seen and a nutty plancha to the floor. Avisman comes out of hiding and eats all of the fancy technico offense like a champ, along with busting open Chico Che with Regal shoot headbutts. El Hijo Pantera was pretty garbage last time I saw him, but he got pretty awesome quick. Looked good on the mat, hit the most psycho dive in a Freelance match, and even brawled a bit. Chico Che was a mix of Super Astro, Dusty Rhodes and Genichiro Tenryu, and Eita and Estrada were solid character actors. Couldn't recommend this more.

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My Name is Black Terry, an I Hate You One and All, I Hate You One and All, Damn Your Eyes

Black Terry/Black Thunder/Captain Muerte v. Freelance/Chico Che/Turbo IWRG 3/26/09-GREAT

PAS: Any match with Freelance on one side and Black Terry on the other is going to kick ass, right there are two of the top 10 wrestlers in the world, they are going to deliver, and all you really need to make a lucha libre trios is one good technico and one good rudo. Luckily for us, the other four were bringing it too. Chico Che is a guy I remember enjoying in last years Battle Royal, but I figured he was just an opening match dude, a guy who could work an exchange or two with Judas El Traitor, but not some one you want higher on the card. Here though he looked damn good, agile, fun arm drags, nice fat boy tope, he looked like good tertiary Brazo, lets say Brazo de Bronce. I was also shocked at how awesome the Turbo v. Black Terry mat section was, as that is not something I imagined Turbo had in him, although that was clearly a bunch of Black Terry. I imagine that every week will be a running battle between Black Terry and Freelance for IWRG god hood, and I think Terry takes week #1. Freelance was great, his flipping Fujiwara to end the first fall was fucking awesome.

TKG: I’m not really comfortable with running battle analogy. Lucha trios are about how guys are positioned in the trio. There are captains and secondary guys, sometimes those secondary guys are the featured guys with an important story in the match and sometimes they are secondary figures who are there to shine the light on the guys in the important story. The real story of the match is that Turbo comes in with the new NWA lightweight belt and Black Terry wants to challenge for it. Everything else is filler. Chico Che and Capitan Muerte were the captains. For guy who by design isn’t supposed to be featured performer Freelance still is pretty great. Freelance has the coolest finisher to first fall, eats the nastiest finisher for second and does a large FIP section in third, still the match is built around highlighting Terry and Turbo. This is a pretty classically constructed match with some neat twists. First fall is all about Turbo v Black Terry technical mat sections that make you stoked for possible title match. They do some Black Thunder v Freelance technical exchanges where everytime Freelance gets Thunder in a hold Captain Muerte comes in to break it up leading to Chico Che coming in to stop Muerte. Thunder is a guy who works with Turbo a lot and is a guy who eats Turbos stuff pretty spectacularly (there is an amazing multiple Tijeras thing Turbo does around BlackThunder). He’s got some interesting ideas for offense that aren’t quite worked out. Captain Muerte looks like a world beater here as trio captain. He’s been through maybe four gimmicks since last time I remember seeing him look this bad ass. Your opening technical stuff is eventually broken up by an absolutely nasty Muerte mafia kick to Freelance’s back and a bunch of rudo two-on-one and three-on-one ass-whooping. You get a last minute change of momentum with Che taking out Muerte and technico comeback. Second fall is your faster fall starting with faces taking turns besting each of three heels in one-on-one match ups, which leads to more rudo two and three-on- ones. Third fall is all nasty brawling with Turbo and Terry matching up again, Freelance ends up working an extended 6 minute or so FIP section as the rudos go all Anderson bros quick tags on his arm and Chico Che gets super Robert Gibson indignant only to eat a face destroying second rope Alabama Jam when he finally gets in the ring. Still Freelance and Che were all secondary, everything about this match made me want to see Terry v Turbo for title.

Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/ Dr. Cerebro v. Negro Navarro/Trauma I/Trauma II IWRG 4/23-EPIC

PAS: We get yet another really fun match up between these two teams. This started with a matwork fall, but really kicked into gear when they got to the brawling. Dr. Cerebro was running around throwing bombs, he has a great looking right hand and was drilling people with it, this is the best he has looked in any of their matchups. I also loved the spot where Trauma 1 superkicks Black Terry and they do the KO spot. It was a fine superkick, but man was Terry's selling off the chain. I wasn't sure whether he was legitimately stunned. What made this match though, was the fact we finally got to see Navarro and Terry really square off, and it was as glorious as you would expect. Navarro is so fierce when he gets fired up, when he sinks in the choke it like Fedor on your back.

TKG: On the 4/16 show I compared Navarro to Hashimoto, but you watch this match and that feels like an understatement. I can’t think of a more menacing bad ass babyface performance to compare to Navarro here. Not face Brody or Missing Link, there is nothing “crazy” or gimmicky about Navarro’s performance. Navarro is a beast and we finally get to see him fully unload and destroy motherfuckers. . Terry is pretty great here coming off even more like desperate Tully outmatched. He comes across even more outmatched, even more desperate and as a result more dangerous. Cerebro Negro and Trauma 1 also have a lot more to offer in a standing match than a technical one. I think there was some timing problem during the dives as anyone who has seen the Megas v Dr Cerebro series knows that no one eats a tope better than Dr Cerebro, instead the dives were just there. I’m a little less sold on the Naucalpan revancha than some other folks. We don’t get the full Xochimilco revancha match but I preferred that one. Structurally I think all the non Navarro/Terry brawling in Xochimilco came off tighter, and I preferred the whole fake foul set up. Still getting to see Navarro unleash at full force was awesome but this didn’t leave me with the high that I had after the first Naucalpan match.


Black Terry/Solar v. Negro Navarro/Rocky Santana NWA Mexico 7/23/10-GREAT

This is a damn entertaining maestro exhibition match. I didn't get the sense a ton was at stake, pretty much a chance for guys to show off their skill. Rocky Santana and Black Terry were matched up exclusively (as were Solar and Negro Navarro obviously), it isn't a match up I have seen before and was pretty swank. Terry did a bunch of very cool take downs, using leverage with both arm and leg locks. Santana isn't a guy I have had a ton of love for in the past, but he looked perfectly comfortable in this setting, didn't bring a ton of extra stuff, but he certainly didn't drag the match down. Navarro v. Solar is the classic match up and it is always excellent, it looks like the older they get the faster they get as some of this stuff looked like it was in fast forward. I especially loved all of Navarro's tricky quick roll ups. It was only one fall, and it always bugs me when Navarro and Terry are on opposite teams but don't match up, still a great little match and I was pretty excited to see it show up.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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Black Terry Grew Up Quick and He Grew Up Mean, His Fist Got Hard and His Wits Got Keen

Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Los Officiales v. Freelance/Gemelos Fantasticos v. Trauma I/Trauma II/Zatura IWRG 4/2/09 - FUN

PAS: Total train wreck and a total blast. 12 guys just throwing it all at the wall, some stuff isn't hit cleanly, but there is more great shit then you can demand. This is the kind of shit Freelance is made for, and he is just flying around the ring with abandon, he does three dives into the crowd, each crazier then the last, and is just constantly diving into the ring ranaing the fuck out of dudes. Officiales looked great here, as they ate all of Freelances stuff well, and did I nice job covering for some of the lesser lights (the less I say about the Gemelos the better) Terry is great too, but this was a little chaotic for him to be at his best. This week goes to Freelance.

TKG: Yeah this was a wreck. The whole concept of elimination trios match where you can tag anyone else into the ring is almost TNA level stupid. Hey its two twins forced to wrestle each other in an elimination match, isn’t that clever? Dumb. You also had a couple of awkward Zatura v Freelance sections where both guys looked like they need a rudo. Some spectacular looking Freelance highspots. Plus you get the Zatura “Hey I’m in a match with Freelance I have to do even crazier out of control dives and possibly injure myself” stuff that you get when those two are in a match together. A fun clusterfuck but a dumb match.

Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Fantasma De La Opera v. Negro Navarro/Trauma I/Trauma II IWRG 7/9/09 - GREAT

TKG: It’s been a while since we’ve seen this type of full on Black Terry match. The Cerebros are enough of a solid unit that Terry can often times take a back seat.The Fantasma/Terry/Cerebro Negro unit is less polished as a unit and Terry fully takes over directing traffic, bumping attacking, always the center of the match. In many of the matches in 09 Terry’s seemed to be a step below what he was in 08. But this is the full on Black Terry show. Pre match Terry says he wants to test the new title holder Trauma II and the match is all about the match up between Terry and both Trauma II and the match up between Terry and Navarro. All that Cerebro Negro and Fantasma need to do is keep Trauma 1 busy while Terry does the rest. First fall involves the heels triple teaming to pin both Truamas. It’s problematic fall, in that you don’t really buy the Fantasma/Cerebro Negro attacks as having taken Navarro out of the match allowing for the triple teams on the kids. I don’t know to what degree that’s the fault of Fantasma/Cerebro Negro’s lack of credibility and what is the way Navarro is unconvincing bumping and eating their stuff. Probably a little of both. Fantasma doesn’t know how to eat Trauma I’s finisher, and while I really liked his heavyweight face off with I, it felt like he worked his faceoff with II exactly the same way. But the point of match was to keep the attention away from Cerebro Negro/Fantasma and Trauma I and let Terry do his thing. And Terry did his thing and was awesome facing off with Navarro and Trauma II. And you leave this match actively wanting to see a Trauma II v Terry match and worrying that Trauma II may be out of his league.

PAS: The Traumas have been on quite a run in the last couple of months, but man when the team with their dad, you see the difference. This is bad ass brawling Navarro, he is pissed at Fuerza talking shit, and he comes out like a B-movie hero who has been pushed too far. Terry is such a great foil to that kind of fury, as he is much more of a B-movie villain, a tough guy, with tough backup, but fundamentally lacking the moral authority of our hero. I love all of the hierarchy stuff these tags do so well, and Terry v. Trauma II could be incredible if they run it.

Black Terry/Chico Che/Dr. Cerebro v. Avisman/Hijo del Diablo/Gringo Loco IWRG 3/7/10 - EPIC

TKG: The booking to add Chico Che to this feud was super smart and really well executed. Adding a tecnico to this feud totally changes the dynamics and Chico Che was really the right tecnico. The feud went form being a rudo v rudo feud (which IWRG is great at running) into a native v foreign team feud (where nationalism unites heels/faces). That change effects the way everyone works. There is a fun vibe that adding a tecnico brings, and you really got the sense that Black Terry/Cerebro were actively enjoying having Chico Che with them. There are these awesome moments where both of them stand back with shit eating grins and direct Chico Che into abusing the foreigners. There is a point where Terry is punching Gringo Loco on the floor and then Chico Che lands a punch of his own on Gringo Loco. Terry lights up “hey you got this, let me do something else”. First fall is mostly Gringos dominated as they leave Cerebro, Terry and Che all bloody, this stretches into the second fall which develops into a real isolate and triple team one guy while keeping other faces away from action fall (except done on the floor instead of in the center of ring) until the tecnicos see an error and take advantage bloodying Avisman and Diablo and then a third fall which starts with tecnicos beating rudos in one on one exchanges (with Che beating the shit out of Avisman on floor, Cerebro really laying into Diablo and Che running through his big spots) back into a section where rudos try to remount control. Part of what makes this kind of classic lucha fight work is that there are not a lot of changes in momentum. Just long periods of one sided action where both teams look strong (for both dishing and eating beating). I imagine if you were to watch this match with a stop watch and a calculator, the heels would have taken more than 75% of the offense in a match where the heels win clean. But this is the furthest thing from a competitive squash. Part of that is the selling which is all about guys toughing it out by taking a giant beating waiting out an opening Chico Corrales style. When it works it works and here it really worked. The actual match finish with everyone but Diablo and Cerebro taken out by dives and Diablo reversing a rana into a desnucadora/slam was also a super cool clean finish that still left you wanting more.

PAS: Man was this filmed spectacularly. This is a gruesome gritty fight, and pretty much every camera shot looked like the cover of a 1987 issue of Wrestling Eye. Black Terry his great exhausted beaten bloody facial expressions. He looks like William Munney at the end of Unforgiven. This is a match with six great performances, Gringo Loco is on fire, beating people, bleeding and taking one of the craziest corner post bumps I have ever seen. It is the kind of thing Cassandro would wince at. Diablo is also great as kind of the rudo glue. He has been in a million seedy Tijuana brawls in his career and this kind of thing is right in his wheelhouse. Then we have Chico Che continuing his June '09 to June '10 run as one of the five best wrestlers in the world. He is just stupendous in this match, as the victim and the deliverer of beatings, and his signature rope running is a little bit of beauty in the ugly.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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IWRG 3/7/10

IWRG on Segunda Caida
Black Terry Jr.'s Youtube page COME BACK SOON

Heros v Alan Extreme

TKG: The really awesome thing about watching these rookies workshop their match is you get to see them try things and fail then try again and succeed. Last show Alan Extreme and Heros tried to work a slower more deliberate version of their opening technical exchanges and they really failed. This week they totally pull it off. Some of this is helped by Eros’ awesome selling which really puts over the deliberate submission work. I think starting with the big throws and working into submissions also helped get across the sense that these things weren’t cooperative/required force. Also there was a sense of guys actually breaking submissions instead of letting go. They also do a nice job of changing speeds as they move form the slow technical stuff to the faster technical armdrag section. Also Eros does an amazing job of selling for Alan Extreme’s signature “toss opponent in air and then do seated double kick as they fall”. Just a super solid first fall. Second fall has a huge Alan Extreme tope and Eros tope eat. But Eros blows a move and looks to tweak his shoulder and struggles not to botch stuff after that.

PAS: Yeah I am with Tom, the first fall was pretty solid, although I am not sure that these two are best served by long matwork sections. Probably better off going with armdrags and rope running. I understand that these guys are rookies working things out, and in 2010, I am not going to complain about matwork. Alan Extreme's tope into the stands was a legit "HOLY SHIT" moment (you can see Dhani Jones in the crowd looking pretty surprised), and the match was cooking along at a nice pace. Unfortunately the third fall was pretty sloppy and brings down the match quite a bit.

Oficial 911/Trauma I/Trauma II v Freelance/Jack/Ultraman Jr

TKG: This is one of the bigger Freelance performances of 2010. I haven’t seen an IWRG first fall worked like this in a while, where everyone matches up doing their own specialty (Coco Blanco works old school mat stuff with the mat worker of opposite team, Coco Rojo works powerhouse exchanges with opponents powerhouse, and Coco Verde does his green highflying with the highflyer on opposite team). This is how I would have liked to have seen the Eragon, Suicida, Freelance v Gringos VIP worked. I guess all three technico’s could have worked the technical exchange section but Jack isn’t a guy who you want in the brawling section (part of me would have liked them to have switched Ultraman and Jack’s role) and you want Freelance in your fast exchanges. So you get 6 minutes of Yack and Trauma II doing technical exchanges (about four minutes of them working and selling the legs and then two minutes of them switching up to working the arm/shoulder) with Trauma controlling the majority. This is followed by Freelance and Oficial 911 doing their fast exchange stuff followed by Trauma I lariating Ultraman jr dead. Trauma I also gets to do a nasty Argentine backbreaker into military press into quebradora drop on Freelance. Second fall is the rudos streetfight into isolating and double/triple teaming one tecnico at a time. Freelance is of course a guy who will fly around for this type of stuff. The big tecnicos come back spot here is supposed to happen when 911/Trauma I whip Ultraman Jr into ropes and he turns it into a tope to Trauma II. It is a super “HOLY SHIT” awesome spot. Unfortunately Ultraman Jr busts his jaw on the guard rail in the process. Third fall has tecnicos man down but Freelance calls for one on one matchup and the rudos are good sportsman, so Freelance gets one on one matches with each rudo where Freelance just hits everything at full blast. The Traumas win with a ridiculously nasty double team on Jack. Post match the Traumas beat up 911.

PAS: The way the acting category Emmy awards work, is that actors will submit individual episodes for consideration. If wrestling awards worked the same way this would be Freelance's submission for Flyer of the Year and Wrestler of the Year. Just a balls out awesome show. The difficulty, speed,height and agility were pretty much off the charts. Especially when he was matched up with 911, who felt like the Psicosis to his Rey in this match. I was also really impressed how well Freelance took over the match when Ultraman Jr. broke his mouth, I have seen plenty of trios matches collapse when a guy goes down, but the third fall was as on point as the first two. Freelance hasn't really had the kind of showcase matchups in 2010, he has disappeared for a while, his matches haven't always been recorded, but this was why you are excited to see him show up.

Dr Cerebro/Black Terry/Chico Che v Avisman/Hijo del Diablo/Gringo Loco

TKG: The booking to add Chico Che to this feud was super smart and really well executed. Adding a tecnico to this feud totally changes the dynamics and Chico Che was really the right tecnico. The feud went form being a rudo v rudo feud (which IWRG is great at running) into a native v foreign team feud (where nationalism unites heels/faces). That change effects the way everyone works. There is a fun vibe that adding a tecnico brings, and you really got the sense that Black Terry/Cerebro were actively enjoying having Chico Che with them. There are these awesome moments where both of them stand back with shit eating grins and direct Chico Che into abusing the foreigners. There is a point where Terry is punching Gringo Loco on the floor and then Chico Che lands a punch of his own on Gringo Loco. Terry lights up “hey you got this, let me do something else”. First fall is mostly Gringos dominated as they leave Cerebro, Terry and Che all bloody, this stretches into the second fall which develops into a real isolate and triple team one guy while keeping other faces away from action fall (except done on the floor instead of in the center of ring) until the tecnicos see an error and take advantage bloodying Avisman and Diablo and then a third fall which starts with tecnicos beating rudos in one on one exchanges (with Che beating the shit out of Avisman on floor, Cerebro really laying into Diablo and Che running through his big spots) back into a section where rudos try to remount control. Part of what makes this kind of classic lucha fight work is that there are not a lot of changes in momentum. Just long periods of one sided action where both teams look strong (for both dishing and eating beating). I imagine if you were to watch this match with a stop watch and a calculator, the heels would have taken more than 75% of the offense in a match where the heels win clean. But this is the furthest thing from a competitive squash. Part of that is the selling which is all about guys toughing it out by taking a giant beating waiting out an opening Chico Corrales style. When it works it works and here it really worked. The actual match finish with everyone but Diablo and Cerebro taken out by dives and Diablo reversing a rana into a desnucadora/slam was also a super cool clean finish that still left you wanting more.

PAS: Man was this filmed spectacularly. This is a gruesome gritty fight, and pretty much every camera shot looked like the cover of a 1987 issue of Wrestling Eye. Black Terry his great exhausted beaten bloody facial expressions. He looks like William Munney at the end of Unforgiven. This is a match with six great performances, Gringo Loco is on fire, beating people, bleeding and taking one of the craziest corner post bumps I have ever seen. It is the kind of thing Cassandro would wince at. Diablo is also great as kind of the rudo glue. He has been in a million seedy Tijuana brawls in his career and this kind of thing is right in his wheelhouse. Then we have Chico Che continuing his June '09 to June '10 run as one of the five best wrestlers in the world. He is just stupendous in this match, as the victim and the deliverer of beatings, and his signature rope running is a little bit of beauty in the ugly.

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Black Terry Was Tops in All They Said, It Never Once Went To His Head

Black Terry/Kai/Yamato/Masada v. Freelance/Multifacético/Ultramán Jr./Veneno IWRG 12/20/07- FUN

Pretty amusing match worked sort of like a ROH scramble match with everyone flying around. We even have a ridiculous Veneno tope con hilo. Freelance is perfect for these kind of matches as he is going a million miles an hour. They also did a nice job of hiding your green All Japan workers who were really the Lit and Hijinx of this group. Black Terry isn't showcased in this match, but he does do some does some cool shit, including a nasty crossface on Multifacetico. There was a run in finish which I didn't understand.

Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v, Barba Roja/Pirata Morgan Jr./Hijo del Pirata Morgan IWRG 8/6/09-GREAT

PAS: Really fun trios match. The Jr. Piratas look a little outclassed during the opening mat sections, as their was some nice looking stuff, but they were clearly being led by Terrible Cerebros. They were definitely more comfortable in the second and third falls when they stood up. I really liked all of their triple teams, as they looked more like classic lucha trios moves, as opposed to the more Young Buckish shit that many current lucha teams will do. I also dug the finishes of the second and third falls, as the rudos attempted to out rudo each other. That is one thing I love about lucha, when you match up two rudo teams, their isn't a de facto techinco, they just battle to see who truly represents the spirit of rudismo.

TKG: I get the sense that the Piratas v Officiales is the match up that would play to their strengths better. Still kind of neat to see them forced to work this type of matchup. They seemed really out of sorts as to what to do with the first fall. but they never embarrassed themselves and hung along for the ride. Also amazing how much Terry felt like the real general/anchor of this matchup. One of these days I'd love to write up something on the period of EMLL between the crowd turning on the attempt to make Tarzan Boy a top face at turn of century and the beginning of the success of making Mistico. The real engine of EMLL booking during that period was these rudo v rudo feuds that were anchored by veteran rudos. The IWRg crowd was packed with kids from either the local Buccaneers youth futbol team or the youth booster club for a Buccaneers futbol team. Either way promoting a trio to local youth group with similar name is cool way to sell more tickets and get involved crowd.

Black Terry/Alan Extreme v. Chico Che/Dinamic Black IWRG 1/1/10- GREAT

PAS: This was part of a tourney which was pretty much a testing ground for rudos. Each match basically tests how your veteran rudo can run a match, and as you might have guessed, Black Terry throws off the curve. This was a virtuoso one man show, as his carry job of Dinamic Black may have been as good as what he did with Multifacitico in 2008. Chucked him around the mat, kicked the shit out of him, and then bumped and put him over when he needed to. I liked everyone else a fair amount too, and this was the match of the show and goddamn is Black Terry spectacular.

TKG: Alan Extreme is now a rudo. Not sure when that happened. He also now has the star with tassels on his belly and not his buttocks. Still don’t know what his gimmick is. Is he supposed to be an Extreme version of Alan from the Barrio Boys? What is more extreme than an underage boy prostitute? Does Alan Extreme insist on bareback, only work for IV drug users, have no safe word? With Extreme Barrio Boy working rudo, I’m assuming Dinamic Black is part of some type of face version of the Black Family. Was there an episode of the Munsters where they tried to rid the neighborhood of the child street whore menace? Both Alan Extreme and Dinamic Black have some entertaining multiple springboard armdrags.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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IWRG 2/18/10

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

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.

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IWRG 9/24/09

Imperio Azteca/ Miss Gaviota v Hijo Del Signo/Black Thunder:

TKG: This is early Hijo Del Signo and he kind of works like a basic NJ type rookie. Can competently work through some basic mat work, has some nice looking clotheslines and one cool flying spot (the kind of ridiculous second rope superflysplash). I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Imperio Azteca before but he has this weird body like a 50 year old Dj Qualls, and he has the feel of guy who has probably been working for 38 years but isn’t particularly good. He is really entertaining at going from ring to floor. He has a couple neat ways of bumping out of the ring and has a really great looking tope.

PAS: The tope in this match was completely unexpected, it was just going along at a normal IWRG undercard pace, and all of a sudden the pocky guy just wrecks Signo with a 1996 Shocker level tope into the third row. Gaviota has really developed some amusing exotico spots, I loved him setting up the Undertaker rope walk with two chops and two cock fondles. Black Thunder looked awful here, if Skyde’s trainee legacy is this dude, CIMA and the Colony that is a weak fucking legacy.

Jack/Eragon v Xibalva/Carta Brava Jr

TKG: Yikes. Xibalva v Jack was exactly as uninspired as you would expet from uninspired Xibabla v uninspired Jack. Carta Brava Jr v Eragon as actively disappointing and there is no reason to watch this match.

PAS: Inspired pedal to the metal Jack is decent. Don’t give a fuck Jack is brutal to watch

Exodia/Freelance/Bushi v. Gringo Loco/Toxico/Avisman

PAS: Pretty disappointing, Freelance is amazing and he ran through a bunch of his signature stuff. Still watching Freelance in a match like this is like watching Santo stuck in a crappy trios with Blue Demon Jr. and mailing it in Perro Jr.. Toxico is one of the more useless guys in lucha libre, but I thought Exodia may have stunk as bad here. There were moments that he looked down right Chikaraish in his tentative rope running and student lucha libre.

TKG: Exodia is still a green rookie. He normally has two nice dives and can't put anything else together. Here I kind of liked the way he ate a couple of things, took a nice posting and got thrown out of ring in a couple cool ways. His in ring dive and most of his in ring stuff looked bad, but at least he had those bumps.Toxico through out some stuff so convoluted it would make Nova laugh.

Rigo/Chico Che v Arlequin Amarilo/Arlequin Rojo (Caballera v Caballera)

TKG: This show has been disappointing thus far but this more then delivered. Arlequin Rojo lost his mask to Rigo last week and I'm sad that we don't have that. Arlequin Rojo may be actively good, as most of his stuff landed nice and he has a nice dive. Arlequin Amarillo appears to be working really hard in this stip match. I have seen Arlequin in other stip matches and in big matches before but never remember him working this hard. Rigo and Chico Che of course are awesome. Rigo takes crazy bumps. I think I’ve complimented somebody for their out of ring bumps in every match on this show and maybe Rigo is now involved in training because he is the king of the awesomely awkward bumping. First fall and big chunks of the second are built around Arlequin’s beating the faces. They d a spot where Arlequin Amarillo teases a martinete, the ref gets involved and Arlequin switches it to a shoulderbreaker. Fuck does Rigo take that shoulderbreaker well. He makes it look like he lands all awkwardly on the knee then flies off crooked and lands again shoulder first like a dart into the mat. Both Chico Che and Rigo are really good at selling oxygen/blood loss. We have joked before about Rigo looking like 2010 Ozzy, but fuck he sells near death comeback like 2010 Brett Michaels. Rigo is elimnated with an acidental miscommunication foul from Chico Che which denies us the big Rigo dive. But still this was a blast.

PAS: Yeah this was really good stuff, I thought the ending was a bit off which kept it from being a complete classic. Both Chico Che and Arlequin Amarilo deliver Wrestling Gold centerfold level blade jobs. All the bleeding is proceeded by the removal of the turnbuckle and the slamming of heads into the bolt. It is the nastiest I have seen that spot look, as the bolt looks filthy and rusty. That might have been really great fatigue selling by Rigo and Chico Che or it might have been the beginnings of lockjaw. Man it is too bad Rigo disappeared because he was completely awesome.

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IWRG 9/3/09

Blasfemia/Vampiro Metálico vs. Exodia/Miss Gaviota

TKG: Exodia makes it all the way through this match without injuring himself. Instead Miss Gaviota tweaks her neck on a dive. Vampiro Metalico and Blasfemia are both guys with really amusing facial expressions. They are a fun heel RPMs always loosing exchanges and mugging concern about possibly being touched by Gaviota.

PAS: Before this match Tomk asked me what fall I thought Exodia would injure himself, Gaviota getting crippled instead was a real Russo twist. Blasfemia is such a scumbag looking dude there is no way he hasn’t sucked a cock or two for drugs. I do still buy him being freaked out by Miss Gaviota though, because public is public.

Bushi/Chico Che/Freelance vs. Avisman/Brandon (IWRG)/Gringo Loco

TKG: I have no idea who Brandon is but he is a fine guy to eat some brawling from Chico Che. Freelance matches up early opposite Avisman and they are guys who will do shit you’ve never seen before when paired up. At one point Avisman throws Freelance into essentially the Chris Hamrick caught in ropes corner bump. At an other Avisman tosees Freelance over his head for Freelance to land outside the ring on the middle rope and then essentially 2nd rope moonsault his way back in. Gringo Loco is a guy who has spent a chunk of his career working as a mini heel and he is really great at bumping around for Freelance’s stuff. The third fall is absolutely nuttball as everyone just goes for bigger and bigger crazy dives.

PAS: I thought the first two falls were a little underwhelming, but holy shit was the third fall crazy. When Chico Che gets on a roll he is one of the most spectacular wrestlers in the world, and I loved his in ring tope here. Freelance is fucking nuts and we keep saying it, he breaks out a springboard flip dive which ends with him in the third row of seats. Rudos didn’t do anything super spectaular but they were all pretty good at being at the right place when folks went flying.

Head Hunter I & Tóxico DF vs. Bobby Lee Jr. & Scorpio Jr.

TKG: Toxico is a big guy with a really cool elaborate outfit. He comes in with an elaborate metal mask jet pack and flare shooting guns. But he stinks in the ring. Bobby Lee Jr is a guy who can do some fine rope running exchanges but instead is stuck doing embarrassing HBKesque strike exchanges with Toxico. Headhunter and Scorpio make each other bleed and bleed and bleed. Headhunter probably can’t do a moonsault anymore but he takes a big bump to the floor and his standing splashes, butt drops (or spots where he grinds his body into opponent) all really look like they would hurt.

PAS: I have no idea why you would run a grim bloody spectacle like this as a semi main, when your main is Sangre Chicana and V3 Still Scorpio and Headhunter I can bleed and they do. Scorpio looks like he has melted cherry Slurpee coming out of his head, and Headhunter punches him in the wound. We have seen a bunch of shitty luchadores while going through the IWRG for 2009, but I think Toxico is the worst, very cool mask, very very bad wrestler.

Sangre Chicana vs. Villano III

TKG: Yep this is everything you wanted it to be. Sangre Chicana comes in seconded by his son carrying a bag with a rusty cheese grater. They also had a heel ref but the heel ref never got too involved or central to the match. In the tag match I said that I was disappointed with Villano III’s face comebacks. Here he delivered. throwing some cool combos, headbutts some reckless stuff to the back of Chicana’s head, a bunch of DDTs and chairshots. Chicana also takes some nice looking bumps into chairs. They do the spot where Chicana holds Villano III for his son to tope only for VIII to move out of the way. Chicana Jr’s tope is a really huge Black Warrior bullet tope, and Chicana eats the bump against the ramp steps.

PAS: Chicana just oozes charisma in this match, he is not in the physical shape he was in the 1980’s, but I get the sense he could get way more broken down and still have an amazing match. He just knows how to move and strut and demonstrate. Villano III did look kind of shot in the tag last week, but he can still step up big for a main event mano y mano. Of course he bleeds, but he brings the offense too, I loved his rabbit punches and combos. Finish was totally great too, Villano is being double teamed by the Chicanas so he says “fuck it” and kicks him right in the balls. Great finish, to a great match.

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IWRG 8/27/09

More Slambamjam IWRG, god love Alfredo

Miss Gaviota/Star Boy vs. Carta Brava Jr./Vampiro Metálico

TKG: I dug the first two falls of this a bunch. Carta Brava and Star Boy match up really well as did Gaviota and Metalico. The crotching of StarBoy into heel offense was a fun transition spot. These opener tags sometimes fall apart either during the heel double team section or when the faces comeback from those double teams. It didn’t here as Metalico/Brava team have some nice heel double team stuff and both of he faces are guys who can do comebacks well. Unfortunately, it did fall apart during the third face dominated fall as a lot of stuff felt off.

PAS: This was the best I have seen Miss Gaviota look, I am not sure she is much of a wrestler, but this had a ton of really amusing well worked exotico spots. I loved the octopus which forced her opponent to wave effeminately, and all of the showing of ass and kissing was timed really well. I am with Tom on the first couple of falls being good, and the third fall not being good, although in the second fall Star Boy does blow a kip up about as badly as I have seen. It looked like if I was taking a Pilates class and tried to kip up to impress a divorcee.

Bushi/Chico Che/Freelance vs. Avisman/Fantasma de la Ópera/Gringo Loco

TKG: The announcer describing all the participants in the match says that Gringo Loco reminds him of the great touring artist of the seventies Kris Kristopherson. I didn’t know Kristopherson was a country icon in Mexico. And really never really associated him with Gringo Loco. But now I can’t separate them in my head. He mostly does a bunch of Alice Doesn’t Live Here any More heel shtick here although he and Avisman have a bunch of neat double teams including The Sunday Morning Coming Down double leg drop. Somewhere in the long first fall Freelance absolutely concusses himself performing a top rope leap into a rana. Fantasma does a swanton type headbutt to Freelance prone head. And the whole thing is absolutely scary. Freelance looks completely loopy and you expect the whole match to fall apart. Instead he gets back in for another two falls takes every bump for a chop on the back of his head and does a ton of crazy suicidal dives. I mean I think this was a good match but I really couldn’t pay attention to anything but Freelance’s toughness and insanity.

PAS: Yeah this was really hard to judge as a match, as the second and third falls are completely judged through the lens of Freelance being the badest motherfucker on earth. Minutes after spiking himself on the top rope diving rana on the mat, he decided to do the same move to the floor. He also does an Asai moonsault which landed really nastily into the crowd. Chico Che looked really great too, as he has some really great moments of graceful flying. Freelance wins the match and does some post match mike work which I assume was something like “I want to thank the fans of El Salvador for the welcome, Pineapple, Wheelbarrow, Turkey Sandwich”

Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro vs. Barba Roja, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. [EdM Trios]

TKG: The Piratas really felt out of their league here. First fall has Dr Cerebro matched up opposite Jr, ,Black Terry matched up opposite Barba Roja and Cerebro Negro opposite Hijo. Black Terry strained his arm on an armdrag had a doctor check it out and then had Barba Roja work over his arm. Terry is really good at the wounded tough warrior stuff and that may have been the best first fall interaction. The other Piratas looked completely lost working technical mat based offense. Second fall was rope running move fall where everyone switched up partners and third fall was all about the big moves where member of team runs in to prevent the fall. Piratas were way more comfortable in those settings. The second fall where they were most comfortable was short, and the third fall felt kind of mechanical.

PAS: Black Terry cuts a post match promo basically saying “It is good for young guys like that to get experience against wrestlers like us.” The match really felt worked like that, with Cerebros being polished professionals, carrying some green rookies through a match. There was individual moments of competence from the Piratas, but this match was 90% Cerebros

Head Hunter I & Sangre Chicana vs. Scorpio Jr. & Villano III

TKG: This is a bunch of old guys stabbing each other and bleeding. Head Hunter I is a guy with a lot of Japanese experience and really plays to the ring side cameras, there were moments where he really delivered a great Pro Wrestling Gold Abby v Austin Idol cover shot opposite Scorpio. The Villano III comebacks didn’t involve any DDTs and really weren’t as energetic as his comeback run in the trios match. Heels win two straight falls which is kind of an odd booking for a show built around celebrating 25th anniversary of Scorpio Jr in wrestling. All four do mic work post match and all four are really good on the mic and make me want to see the matches this set up.

PAS: Scorpio Jr. spent most of those 25 years as a rudo, so it is appropriate to have the rudos dominate. Chicana was truly the standout here, as he was pretty energetically running around stabbing dudes in the head. He really has an expressive forking. Lots of gory headwounds from old dudes, which is what you want from this match.

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IWRG 2009 Errata

We wanted to go ahead and put a close on 2009 for IWRG by picking up and reviewing some matches which are floating around Youtube.

Trauma I/II/Negro Navarro v. Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro 3/28

PAS: IWRG ran this series twice in Arena Xochmilco before running it twice in Naculpan. This was the feud of the year in wrestling, four great matches between six great wrestlers. We get a long opening mat section between Terry and Trauma II which was really spectacular stuff. One of the problems with IWRG matwork is that is often worked too even, here Terry is clearly superior, II is able to get some reversals using speed, but Terry is the veteran tooling him. There is this great moment where Trauma II tries to lift Terry and can't execute it because his arm has been shredded. Navarro comes in and does a similar job on Cerebro Negro and it really has the feel of the Maestros punishing the lesser members in an attempt to show the other guy up. I would have liked that to lead to a battle of matwork, but instead those two brawl it out, and goddamn is it spectacular. There is a punch exchange between the two on the floor which rivals your best Todd Morton v. Mitch Ryder exchanges. I really loved the finish too, with Terry stealing the fall, after Trauma II had Dr. Cerebro beat. Perfect example of the crafty rudo always being one step ahead.


TKG: I wrote a lot about the Xochmilco match in my review of the Naucalpan one. And I pretty much stand by what I wrote before. The Naucalpan one was built on mismatches with Terry matching up with Trauma I (weakest matworker in Dinastia Navarro) and Navarro working Cerebro Negro (weakest mat worker in Terribles Cerebros). The Xochimilco match is far evener with the two maestros matched up opposite the two stronger non-maestro members of the opposite team. You still get a sense of it mot being even, but it’s not as stark as in the Naucalapn match, and it doesn’t affect the match flow as much. The Trauma II v Terry match up is really neat as you have Trauma selling the arm to the point where he needs to release a hold, and Terry doing the same with the leg. Terry’s leg sell is a really neat realistic working through a pain sell. This match isn’t as good a match overall compared to the Naucalpan one but you still want to see it just for the Terry v Navarro street fight section.


Trauma I/II/Negro Navarro v. Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro 4/4

PAS: This was your Xochmilco revancha match, and worked as a brawl. They pretty much went after each other head on the entire match. Navarro was amazing here, just brutalizing everyone he was in the ring with. There was a point where he had Terry in the corner and he just unloaded with combos and finished up with a nasty headbutt, great stuff. I liked the rudo trickery, with Black Terry faking a foul to win a fall, and Navarro coming back to rip off the mask of his own son to DQ the rudos. Pretty great brawling by everyone else too, as Trauma II is starting to develop the asskicker which he is unleashing in 2010. I think we only get the last two falls here, which is a shame, but what we get is damn great.

TKG: This is JIP but I still counted three falls. This is an absolute blast. One of the things I picked up rewatching these four matches is that Cerbro Negro really contributes a bunch more in these Xochimilco matches then he did in the Naucalpan series. In Naucalpan he really felt like the third wheel. In Xochimilco he is a blast working almost a Dougie Gilbert type role. He isn’t as tough as Dr Cerebro, or Black Terry but he is a dick who will run in to sneak his shots in, then run away. He bumps around a bunch stoogeing constantly getting caught in the wrong place.


Avisman v. Mike Segura v. Freelance v. Testsi Bushi 7/5

TKG: This was kind of a mess. It is a prison fatal: four man everyone for themselves cage match where after ten minutes the participants are allowed to try to escape and the last guy in looses his hair or mask. I can’t remember Avisman using this many headbutts at any other point this year, as he wastes Freelance with one early on, leans into a Segura headbutt later and throws multiple nasty top of the cage headbutts at another point. I enjoyed any point where Freelance and Avisman were matching up. The other matchups (Freelance v Bushi, Avisman v Bushi, Avisman v Segura, Segura v Bushi, Segura v Freelance) had their moments but weren’t as dynamic. Once the participants were allowed to leave the cage, there were way too many battle royale moments where a guy is just standing around, too many points where guys would inexplicably do dives when they could just as easily climb out, and too many points where guys had to wait or had to get into position to slowly climb (including a point where it looked like Avisman didn’t have the upper body strength to pull himself up on the cage and then miraculously got the upper body strength to suplex Mike Segura).

PAS: Yeah this wasn't good, I don't really like multi man lucha cage matches, it is a match which places real limitations on the guys in it. Avisman can't really work the mat, Freelance and Segura can't fly as much and Bushi can't do what ever he does. Freelance was really the only standout, he takes some huge backdrops, rips off some nice ranas and does a sweet moonsault 3/4ths of the way up the cage. Mostly a mess though with all the problems Tom mentioned.

Avisman v. Trauma II 8/16

TKG: This was disappointing. This is a title match and pretty much three falls of guys working submissions. Trauma II isn’t as crisp or smooth here as he is at other points in the year. First fall starts with Avisman mostly making attempts to tie up Trauma’s leg’s, while Trauma II makes attempts at arm based submissions. Neither gets anywhere that way and Avisman switches to going after Trauma II’s shoulders (one of which is bandaged) and Trauma II switches to going after Avisman’s legs (both guys sell that this is the better strategy). Trauma II wins the first fall with a leg arm and neck cranking submission. Second fall is mostly Avisman whipping out shoulder cranking surfboards while Trauma II occasionally gets in some neck cranking surfboards. Avisman wins the fall with the same knee submission that he used to win the non-title brawl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GaSm92Dq64) except there it was set up with the Gory bomb on the knees, while here it came out of nowhere. The third fall contiues the neckcrank v shoulder crank thing until Trauma II gets in a big tope. He reinjures his shoulder on the tope. The ringside doctor snaps it back in, which gives Avisman enough time to set up his big tope. He takes Trauma II back into the ring hits him with a Satanico style arm DDT, Fujiwara arm bar and then just cranks and the end is a given. It reads better on paper than it comes across watching it. And while I don’t want to say the match was formless, at times it seemed really directionless and rhythmless.

PAS: I liked this a lot more then Tom, this wasn't as good as either Avisman v. Bushi or Trauma II v. Zatura but it wasn't far behind. Your first two falls strictly mat work but that is what you want these two guys to do. I liked how you had more counter wrestling, with guys finding ways out of submissions. I also like how as Trauma's shoulder got worse he had to attempt more rope breaks. You normally don't see that kind of body part selling in a lucha match, but Trauma did a great job getting over the deterioration of the shoulder. I thought the finish was bad ass, with the young guy making the mistake of going for a tope, and the veteran viciously going after the opening. I admit the execution was slightly off for parts of the match, but I thought this was really great and one of the better matches of 2009

Ultraman Jr./Hijo Del Lizmark/Zatura v Oficiales 11/12

TKG: 2009 was a weird year for the Oficiales All three have had individually impressive performances, but as a unit they haven’t done a ton this year. Part of the reason for that is the other major teams in IWRG have been Terrible Cerebros, Dinastia Navarro and Jr Piratas who are all really guys who work outside of the basic Oficial formula. Here though it’s Oficiales working their match: Oficiales vs. three guys with some hot highflying moves. The Oficiales may not know how to fill time to highlight what the Trauma’s bring to the table but they can do this match in their sleep: Oficiales beat up faces, Oficiales then bump and fly around for face offense, then Oficiales catch face dives.

PAS: This was a bunch of fun, Zatura is awesome, but neither other technico is much, but when the Oficiales are on their grind it really doesn't matter. They are just so good at working this basic lucha formula. I do think that 2009 exposed them a bit, they really can't stretch, but I would be fine seeing them work a bunch of highflyers every week all year. Zatura was a freight train in 2009, at the beginning of the year I was calling for them to dump him and find someone else to team with Chico Che and Freelance, by the end of the year he was a top 5 guy in IWRG which is pretty incredible. He did his thing here, crazy ranas, great quebrada into the stands, just looked like a total package.

Also for some reason Telfortuna showed the undercard of the Nov 11th show

Carta Brava Jr/Hijo del Signo v Mascara Magnifica/Star Boy

TKG: I really dug this. We already know that Starboy and Carta Brava Jr match up well, but Hijo del Signo and Mascara Magnifica really stepped it up here as well. Hijo Del Signo and Magnifica work a fun first fall mat section where every sub attempt is reversed into a takedown, (leglock turned into leg scissors takedown, arm lock is turned into armdrag etc.) Hijo del Signo really launches himself across the ring eating armdrags.. Second fall was all about Mascara Magnifica selling like he was Misawa. He does nasty SuperCalo style skull first eat of a Signo clothesline, which is followed up by a giant swing into a dropkick to his dome, followed by a double backcracker where his arms are crossed around his neck. Mascara Magnifica ate all this and sold in away that made me totally buy “that guy just had his spinal column broken”. Later he did one of the better sells of a dropkick to the inner thighs. His offense in the third fall wasn’t as cool as his selling in the second but this was still a match well worth seeing.

PAS: I wasn't in love with either Star Boy or Carta Brava Jr. in this match, but El Hijo Del Signo is becoming one of my favorite IWRG undercarders to watch. He doesn't do anything spectacular, but he does everything very solid, eats things well, has nice offense. Magnifica selling and bumping was really awesome, but his offense wasn't much. I really like IWRG undercard wrestlers

Flor Metalica/Josseline v La Diabolica/Lady Metal

TKG: LADY METAL~!!! I haven’t seen Lady Metal in ages, and she’s one of my favorite luchadoras: stiff, big bumping butch ruda with a mullet and light mustache. Essentially the story of the match was Josseline and Flor Metalica are too tough girls who are being beaten into La Diabolica and Lady Metal’s gang. And you have three falls mostly built around the rudas beating and humiliating the tecnicas leading to a third fall of tecnica fighting spirit where they show their toughness by New Japan selling clotheslines and answering in kind. A couple awkward moments; Lady Metal blows her Halloween chest first baseball slide bump (although taking it knee first may be even more nasty) and Flor Metalica really shouldn’t try springboard moves, but otherwise this delivered exactly what it was supposed to deliver.

PAS: Total cosigning this match. Great shit, nasty little fight. It felt like a barfight in an El Paso Dykes on Bikes bar. There is a point where Diabolica is on top of Josseline and she is grabbing her by her hair and smashing the back of her head against the mat. Diabolica is a monster here, awesome devil mask, crazy bumps and vicious brawling, she was like a distaff 1989 Pirata Morgan. Lady Metal was great too, she looks like Cagney and Lacey era Tyne Daley and will kick a bitches ass. Technicas bring the fight right back, and I enjoyed this more then any ladies match in years.

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IWRG 5/28/09

After being oppressed by the fascist Viacom Yotube stormtroopers Roberto has come storming back with a new youtube account and reloaded the IWRG for us

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

This is the first show of 2009 without either of your legendary maestros Terry and Navarro, so we get to see what the youngsters can do.

Vampiro Metálico & Carta Brava Jr. VS Galactik & Máscara Magnífica

PAS: These are four of your most solid opener guys, and this was a darn good little match. Brava Jr. and Metalico have a bunch of nifty double teams. They are both great at finding inventive ways to backcrack and frontcrack their opponents, which is a huge part of current lucha. The technicos were a bit vanilla, but they ate everything well and I liked an early Galactik rope running section.

TKG: Week two of me enjoying Vampiro Metalico’s “innovative” spots. He’s a lot more backcrackerish this week but still he has a nice way of getting over the innovative stuff without it being elaborate or show offy. Carta Brava is really solid and a bunch of steps above Metalico when it comes to crispness and polish. The two are a real nice pairing and instead of working the segunda tag format where each guy pairs off with one face, they do more of an almost US tag with both guys getting shots at both faces, lots of quick tags cutting off the ring, low blows behind refs back, keeping face tag partner out of ring etc. And this really felt like a match that if it took place in a US indy against Generico/ Fire Ant would get a ton of pimping. Galaktik and Mascara Magnifica are better than Generico or Fire Ant but it’s lucha so neither of the faces do real sympathy baby face selling during what essentially amounts to a FIP section, and although both faces do angry Robert Gibson on apron being kept out of ring sections…neither do fired up hot tag when they enter ring. Fun second match.

Angelico, Chico Ché, Freelance VS Capitán Muerte, Durango Kid, Tetsuya Bushi

PAS: I have talked before about how IWRG really needs a good third technico for the Freelance and Chico Che team, well Angelico is very much not that guy. Angleico looks kind of like Jeff Spicoli, while he might be a very light skinned Mexican, he really felt like a random Texas indy dude who figured that an IWRG run would help him get into CZW or something. The match opens with Angelico and Bushi doing a long mat exchange, and it was as bad as you might expect an All Japan rookie and a fake Marek Brave doing ras de lone segment would be. When Angelico stands up he basically does a bunch of poorly executed Low-Ki spots, his kicks and knees looked like a guy doing a poor CM Punk imitation of a poor KENTA imitation. Freelance was in this match, and he is consistantly awesome, there was an awesome section where Durango Kid is seeing how high he can launch him with backdrops and monkey flips, which ends with him throwing Freelance into the fourth row with a somersault plancha. Worth watching for that stuff, but not a good match.

TKG: I don’t know if Chico Che and Freelance really need a good third technico so much as they need to be the captains. I really liked Chico Che’s sections with everyone, and enjoyed Freelance’s sections with everyone as well (especially loved all the Freelance v Captain Muerte stuff). This would have probably been a good match if it was structured for either Che or Freelance to be captain. But for some reason instead of having Angelico and Durango Kid work ancillary roles, they were booked as the team captains. They announce Angelico as being from Spain and he looks like he’s working some sort of ridiculous Russell Brand gimmick. I can’t believe that he’s supposed to be a face, I mean he doesn’t look like he’s working a BXB Hulk gimmick so much as a parody of BXB Hulk gimmick. One announcer starts talking about how visually Angelico reminds him of British wrestler Steve Wright who he saw tour Mexico in the seventies “ and have great matches with Rene Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde”… and now I’m even more pissed that I’m stuck watching this turd. I have no idea why Phil harped on the piss poor opening mat work instead of the match finish run between Angelico and Durango Kid. Last week I wrote that “ 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”. This week I’m holding it against him as that finish section really felt like it was put together by a guy who was “taught lucha” by Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov.

Diva Salvaje, Goleador, Miss Gaviota VS Avisman, Fantasma de la Ópera, Xibalva

PAS: I have been consistently enjoying these exotico matches, even though I can't say any of them are actually any good. A spirited little heavyweight brawl with Goleador showing some nice athleticism (and didn't really show the matching awkwardness). I wonder if Diva Salvaje is Bestia's gay younger brother, he definitely has all of Bestia's Guapo good looks.

TKG: Last week I described the team working the Exoticos as “the rudo team at best is Carta Brava Jr who is really solid if unspectacular and at worse is Xibabla who is really mediocre but competent. Somewhere in between those two lies Avisman who can be completely hit or miss” This week they replaced Carta Brava with Fantasma de La Opera. Like Brava he is a really super solid rudo but Fantasma is flashier. He brawls a little rougher and has a bunch of really nasty unprotected throws which he hasn’t really figured out how to integrate into his match. They often come out of nowhere and can feel out of place. This week Xibalva looked even shittier than last week and Avisman didn’t have Freelance to work against (he had some nice mat sections and running sections with Goleador but also some awful strike/brawling stuff). But the rudo star was Fantasma de La Opera. You take a guy who doesn’t know how to incorporate his dangerous throws into his big matches and you put him in a match with two trannies and soccer mascot and suddenly the inappropriateness of his offense comes across as deliberate heelish jerk move.


Los Oficiales VS Traumas & Zatura

PAS: Tremendous match, as good with the best stuff we have seen from IWRG this year. Really a battle of captains with 911 and Trauma II just going at it. The match opens with a really long mat battle between the two. They aren't as smooth as Navarro, but make up for it with a lot more countering then you normally see in IWRG, there was an especially awesome Trauma II counter of a tapitia. We also get a big showdown between 911 and II at the end with both guys getting some pretty great near falls, before the clean finish. Everyone else played their roles well too, Trauma I has improved a lot, he is still the weaker guy, but he doesn't drag the match down as he has in the past, Zatura isn't much outside of nice dives, but he had an awesome dive, and your other Oficiales were bumping all over the ring. It is pretty great to see IWRG put something together this good, without any of the superworkers, and makes me even more excited to see what else they will do this year.


TKG: Phil is way overselling this. This is the best match we’ve seen from the Officiales in 09. This is a title match which is their bread and butter. They don’t get to eat that many fancy aerial moves here but they can do more complicated mat stuff with the Truamas then they could with Multifaceto/Pendulo. I think this match was also helped a bunch by having Trauma II work captain instead of Zatura. I enjoyed the Trauma II v 911 stuff and liked the way 911 upped the stiffness which Trauma II answered by upping the speed. But oddly my favorite performer here was AK -47. He has probably had the most impressive performances of the Officiales in 09. This was the best Trauma 1 has looked to me and a lot of that had to do with matching him up opposite AK-47 (the powerhouse off the Officiales). Trauma 1 always comes across somewhat awkward and his mat section with AK-47 was awkward. But it worked as you weren’t watching him try to work a Urijah Faber style featherweight smooth quick exchanges but instead more of a Brad Imes deliberate hard lumbering heavyweight exchanges. AK-47 gets caught in the first fall and submits to a super slick Trauma II sub. Part of why that finish is rewarding is the contrast between the heavyweight sections with Trauma I and the finesse stuff from II. This isn’t as good as the high end Navarro/Terry stuff this year but a nice use of everyone and a fine lil title match that works as rewarding main event.

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IWRG 5/14/09

PAS: After a three week swine flu hiatus, IWRG makes it triumphant return.

http://www.youtube.com/user/r0b3rt0x3L14S

TKG: I feel sorry for the creators of Corridos Marranos as I imagine there is less demand for comic books with covers depicting voluptuous women being sexually ravaged by pigs. I’m sure the Corridos Marranos albulms have also been hurt. Everyone on this show feels a step off, like working off ring rust or something. One of the cameramen wears a facemask. Fantasma de La Opera wears one for cheap heat as well.

Halcon 2000 v. Radamantis

PAS: Since IWRG has shown up on youtube, this is the first time we have really gotten to see an IWRG opener. IWRG openers are always worked in this really basic way. They almost have to spend twice as much time on the mat as they do standing, and you won't be seeing any dives or 2004 US Indy finishers here.

TKG: They actually do tease a dive as Radamantis gets tossed out of ring twice. First time Halcon follows to the floor for ringside brawling; second time he gets up on second rope but doesn’t have his footing. He has repeated problems with hat second rope. Halcon 2000 isn’t a very engaging technico but really liked his hold onto the headlock amateur ride. Radamantis on the other hand is kind of a blast. Everyone in IWRG watches way too much Smackdown, and you get the sense that Radamantis is a Finlay fan..as he has nice European uppercuts, nasty elbow drop, and some neat fire man’s carry based throws. He also has a preposterous Zorackish alien mantis costume. I look forward to him hopefully moving up the card.

Goleador/Jack v Misteco Jr/Avisman

TKG: This is odd. After talking smack about Jack, I enjoyed his mat section and after talking smack about Avisman I really enjoyed all his stand up rope running exchanges (and big dive). Goleador is an awkwardly crowbaring mobile heavyweight. It’s hard to tell who is a heavyweight in the ring opposite your normal tiny IWRG regulars, but I think Goleador is around Arlequin's size. My impression is for awkward mobile heavyweights he is a lot greener than Arlequin. Either Avsiman decides to sell like Goleador is constantly fucking him up or Goleador constantly awkwardly fucks Avisman up, including twisting his ankle wrong on a Romero special.

PAS: This is the most I have enjoyed Jack, this is the first time he has looked like a poor man's La Parka instead of a poor man's La Parka Jr.. Goleador is weird, he shows a bunch of agility during parts of the match, and in other parts he looks completely awkward and clumsy. You figure either a guy is a good athlete or he isn't. Avisman had one nice submission and a nice dive, but no one was really up to working the mat with him.


Fantasma de La Opera/ Capitan Muerte/Cerebro Negro v Miss Gaviota, Diva Salvaje, and Sexy Gladis

TKG: I’ve seen Miss Gaviota before but never seen the other two exoticos. Diva Salvaje is an amusing tranny trainwreck. He’s just a hot mess; big ole queen in an unflattering outfit that makes him look even fatter, can’t get his perm right, just can’t get himself together. Other trannys model themselves on Garbo, Cher, Tyra Banks, Hayley Mills, etc…Diva Salvaje is aiming for Abyss’ unattractive sister. It’s an amusing look. This match is clipped to shit and ends after the first fall so I never get any sense of Sexy Gladis. Well the sense I get, is “hey they clipped everything with him out of this”. Captain Muerte takes a bunch of amusing bumps trying to leap to break up rope walking and the Salvaje/Fantasma interactions are amusing but this is clipped to pieces. Miss Gaviota is stretchered after taking Fantasma’s nasty DDT variation and the heels do mic work talking about how they’re not here for kisses but to break people, etc.

PAS: I live off of 17th St. in Dupont Circle here in Washington DC, they have drag races every year right in front of my building, and I have never seen a drag queen look as busted as Diva Salvaje, not even after a full on heels wearing sprint. Fantasma de La Opera coming out with a flu mask to block both the Swine Flu and the Exotico kiss is an awesome heel spot, and Diva Salvaje ripping it off to give him a grim tongue kiss was funny. I also loved the badass heels stretchering the Exoticos, although it didn't appear to go anywhere next week. IWRG booking doesn't seem to ever build.

Officiales v Chico Che, Zakura, Freelance

TKG:Didn’t Chico Che have more of a bowl haircut at one point. His hair is thinning fast. This was a pretty classically constructed match designed to set up either a singles match with the technico captain (Zakura) or another trio with the technico captain’s normal trio (Zakura’s normal trio being him and the Traumas, with this Chico Che/ Freelance/ Zakura being more of an ad hoc team). I’ve seen matches with Chico Che as captain.and matches with Freelance as captain. Both guys can pull that role off well. And both are a blast as secondary guys here. The problem is Zakura really isn’t a guy who is capable of working captain at this point ( I don’t know if he’ll ever be ready). Zakura is fine as secondary guy with dives but can't pull this thing off at all. He just looked like shit in the captain role and it hurt the match. This match had a bunch of neat dives and good performances from the Officiales, Freelance and Chico Che but it needed someone else to play captain.

PAS: Zatura has a real AAA feel to him, as he is a guy with some really pretty spots, but everything in between those spots looks bad. That is fine when he has a secondary role in a match, but his flaws are really exaserbated when he is the focus. I really enjoyed Chico Che in this, as he is one of the better technicos in these midcard trios match. This did have some really sweet individual stuff, Freelances rana into the stands was especially awesome, but not a great match. I think they really need another quality mid card technico in this fed, Freelance rules, and I like Chico Che, but they need to bring back Mickie Segura.

Fuerza Guerrera,Juventud Guerrera, Dr Cerebro v Negro Navarro, Trauma 1, Trauma II

TKG: “Black is black and I want my baby back. It’s grey, it’s grey since she went away.” I want to say the story with Los Bravos was that after one of their members committed suicide, the label forced them to tour with a replacement member wearing a lone ranger mask so as to hide the suicide. As you can imagine the combination of instant celebrity, suicide and on stage masked hiding of the suicide fucked with everyone’s mind. It’s possible I’m confusing them with another Spanish garage rock type band, but I think that’s them. I don’t know what happened to Pirata, Juve at times looked really off and at other times had hints of being the worlds best Andy Barrow (guy more concerned with heat and eating stuff then anything else)I hope he gets his shit together. Dr Cerebro looked spectacular, all his mat work was nasty, his brawling was great and he can eat a tope like nobodies business. The post match DDT on the trashcan was also nasty and Black Terry confronting Fuerza is an awesome development. "Bad is bad, it makes me sad. It's Time. It's time. Time that I found piece of mind."

PAS: Juvi looked really athletically off here, which is weird as you figure he would still be able to hit his spots. Hey looked more physically shot then guys twice his age. I did enjoy him as a totally obnoxious heel, sort of Bobby Heenanish. Like his new gimmick is "guy you want to see Jack Evans Thai knee in the face." Navarro was awesome as usual, kind of directing traffic and sending his kids after Juvi. For a guy who is primarily known as a Maestro mat worker, Navarro may be one of the best brawlers in the world, his section against Dr. Cerebro was great, I love his little short headbutt, it feels like the kind of thing you would uncork in a bar fight. After watching Cerebro and Navarro work the mat and brawl I really want a singles match.

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