IWRG 10/29/09

Pendulo/Mascara Magnifica v. Maldito Jr./Samot

TKG: This starts with some really fun Samot v Mascara Magnifica exchanges, some real pretty arm drags, then we get two on one beatings of Magnifica while keeping Pendulo out of the ring. Pendulo is fun as fired up babyface trying to get into ring, trying to attack against the odds, etc. But outside of the fire he doesn’t get to do much and looks off in a couple points.

PAS: I really like the Samot and Maldito Jr. team, they have really gotten good at the fat heel tag team. They remind me of a lucha Don Bass and Dirty Rhodes. They just kill the technicos in the first fall, chucking them around and hitting them with big throws and clotheslines. The second fall was like that too, although I liked how the technicos got their comeback with Magnifica hitting a really fast crazy dive, and Pendulo getting a trip and an armbar. Third fall was a little more back and forth which isn’t as good as when the heel dominated, but still fine. Solid stuff.

Avisman/Gringo Loco/El Hijo Del Diablo v. Bushi/Chico Che/Suicida

TKG: Not a ton happens in the first fall here. Avisman has some nice sections opposite Buschi and it’s kind of shitty that after all their work together All Japan hires some other luchador to work Buschi in Japan. Avisman could use a Japanese payday. Second fall Avisman looks to shoot headbutt Chico Che open and the match moves into a higher gear. Chico Che starts chasing Avisman to give him a receipt and then destroys Gringo Loco. Third fall has Chico Che doing some crazy Mascarita Sagrada level fast headscissors and exchanges with all the heels and we have crazy multiple dive trains from all your tecnicos.

PAS: Chico Che was an absolute superstar in this match, just a tremendous performance. I have talked a bunch before about how great he is selling as a bloodied babyface. Avisman is just vicious ripping him open and when Chico Che sees red he goes off. His opening exchanges in the third fall was some of the most spectacular, fast and beautiful lucha I can remember seeing and he does it all perfectly in the context of a bloody brawl. Che has had a great 2010 so far, and it looks like his 2009 might have been just as special

Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/Black Terry v. Trauma I/Trauma II/Ultraman Jr.

TKG: This starts with Dr Cerebro and Ultraman Jr doing technical exchanges built around trading nasty arm wringer variations. Then Black Terry matches up with Trauma I and Cerebro Negro matches up with Trauma II doing exchanges of submissions. Trauma puts on a submission that hurts the opponent can’t escape but won’t tap to, and then opponent slaps on submission that works the same body part. This whole thing is really made by both Terry and Cerebro Negro’s selling. Second fall is the fast exchange fall and these are superfast Gods Must Be Crazy stop motion animation fast exchanges. Black Terry and Ultraman Jr look to blow a bunch of things but they keep going and the awkwardness gives a real violent feel to the fast exchange section as they look to be forcing each other into stuff. That’s the sense you get throughout this fall as it’s super stiff and super fast. Things may be moving so fast that these guys can’t perform as smoothly as you normally see in most “quick exchange” caidas. Third fall also has some rough moments but these guys are professionals and know how to make that add to the feel of an actual fight. Like Tina Turner these guys can do nothing nice and easy, they’re all about the nice and rough.

PAS: Dinastia De La Muerte v. Terrible Cerebros was the feud of the year in IWRG in 2009, this was that match up with Ultraman Jr. replacing Negro Navarro. That is a huge step down it talent, as Ultraman Jr. is slightly above average and Navarro was the best wrestler in the world in 2009. It kind of works in this match though, as Navarro's absence forces the Traumas to step up huge and really become the focus of the match. The opening mat sections were long and awesome, that kind of machismo mat wrestling, where guys show their skill by tying up and then releasing their opponent can be overdone in IWRG, but it is really great here. Everyone sells pain and frustration tremendously, and you really buy this as a test of machismo, no one is going to tap and they are all desperate to prove the more skilled luchadore. Tom was right about the ragged awesomeness of the second and third falls, it gets faster and more violent and more reckless and it feels like it is going to spiral completely out of control. I have no problem with a low blow finish, but this felt like it should have built to a total explosion, and the finish deflated it a bit. Still a tremendous match, right up there with the best matches of 2009.

Pirata Morgan/Toxico/Hijo Del Pirata Morgan v. Brazo De Plata/911/Fiero


TKG: So it's Pirata Family and Toxico v Team Pig, which is an odd match up as you wouldn't expect Porky and the Oficiales to work as a team. But Porky and Pirata have issues and Oficiales having issues with Jr Piratas and somehow the whole dynamic of Super Porky as Commando Zero with Oficiales ends up working. Brazo again goes up for the big slam from Pirata and does a splash from apron to floor. Him and 911 do an amusing comedy spot built around them stopping the match to preplan how they will handle being irish whipped into each other (heels do same thing only to both go for leapfrogs and crash). Fierro is also really fun in this, fighting back from three on ones, doing an in ring baseball slide to avoid a clothesline, hitting a big tope, throwing some nasty clotheslines and covering for Toxico's more creative nonsense.

PAS: This was the least match on the show which is really no slur considering how great this show was. Toxico doesn't even come in with his spark shooting gimmick, so he serves zero purpose. Porky as the third Oficiale really is great, you get a sense you could stick Porky in a trios with any two good luchadores and he can tailor his shtick to make it work. Hijo Del Pirata looked better then usual too, as he executed all of the horseshit well and was cracking people with his superkick.

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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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