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 7/30/09

More Slambamjam IWRG

Eragon/Sexy Gladys v. Carta Brava Jr./Heavy Boy

TKG: Eragon is a guy we’ve seen before and looked pretty green. Sexy Gladys is an exotico who I assume must have blown all his spots in the only other IWRG match I’ve seen with him in it (as they edited him out completely). Carta Brava Jr is a solid if unspectacular rudo and Heavy Boy is a guy who does lots of innovation. Eragon looks to have developed a ton. I really liked him throughout this. Him and Heavy Boy work a mat section in the first fall that felt almost like boxers infighting as all the exchanges were moved in and out of in really tight space. I just liked the way Eragon would get up off the mat after executing a rana would do a leg trip or push down opponent’s head in sub. He’s just gotten really crisp. Carta Brava is able to walk Sexy Gladys through some basic stuff, Gladys and Heavy Boy can’t do as much with each other. In the end they try to do a finish that seemed out of place in the undercard.

PAS: There were more good parts in this match then most undercard matches, but also had some awkward shit. Sexy Gladys is not very good at all, and with a mask and short hair he looks nothing like an exotico. I don’t understand the point of an exotico on the down low. Finish was super complicated for an opener, as they did a double pin and a final showdown Eragon and Carta Brava Jr. It the kind of finish you expect in a mask match not a random fourth from the top tag.

Chico Che/Rigo vs. Bushi/Fantasma de la Opera

TKG: This was surprisingly short for an IWRG match. Three quick falls filled with action. Almost a spot fest by IWRG standards. A lot of those spots where really cool. I especially dug Chico Che’s missile shoulderblock. They were running a goofy Fantasma de La Opera is feuding with his tag partner angle which almost overshadowed the match. The angry forearm exchange between the two was really ugly looking. Still RIGO~!!!

PAS: Fantasma de la Opera is one of the more problematic guys in IWRG, he does some things really well, he has nice timing, bumps good, pretty tope, will bleed,.However sometimes you get stuff like his awful elbow exchange or his incredibly terrible looking missed clotheslines. He was 50/50 in this match, the greatness of Rigo and Chico Che made the match entertaining. Rigo has preposterous hops for a guy who looks like he does, not a guy you would choose in a pick up hoops game, but just flies around the ring.

Barba Roja/Hijo de Pirata Morgan/Pirata Morgan Jr. vs. Oficial 911/Oficial AK47/Trauma II

TKG: Is Juvi booking this show? Feuding tag partners explode in third from top. Second from top has a face reluctantly coming into a match with an injury and reluctantly tagging with heels, a heel run in (by Fierro)and a heel beat down on the face partner which leads to a face run in (by the Navarros) which leads to match challenge (Dinastia Navarro v Officiales) interrupted by faces getting jumped by the Guerreros starting impromptu brawl leading to match. And then the lights go out and Sabu points to the sky, WTF??? Just ridiculous ECW booking in IWRG. I blame Juvi. Who else can I blame. Is Gertner in the Sexy Gladys mask? Match itself was kind of underwhelming. I think Officiales v Piratas could be something fun, but it really wasn’t much of anything here. AK-47 continues to be the 2009 Officiale MVP, as he is really fun and flamboyant in this. Does a great job of selling for all the elaborate Pirata stuff (flying crotch to face, double arm bar, etc.)

PAS: I think the Piratas might not be very good, I have enjoyed them as bases for flyers, but if you are fake sons of Pirata Morgan you should be able to fucking brawl. This had a some triple teams, some looking good, some looking not so good. Trauma II had some nice headbutts and punches, but this wasn’t much.

Fuerza Guerrera/Juventud Guerrera vs. Negro Navarro/Trauma I

TKG: We are middle of IWRG v SUPER X. The first two falls are really underwhelming, Juve wrestles the first fall in Kanye West style plastic Venetian blind sunglasses, and he second is very rudo ref heavy. The third fall really kicks in with a cool Juve v Navarro section built around Navarro being a bad ass and Juve being an amusing pussy. Nice Fuerza v Trauma I, and surprisingly entertaining Juve v Trauma I sections leading to final face off between Navarro and Fuerza. Really fun third fall. Post fall challenges are laid out. Navarro thinks the Guerreros are only good at talking should go back to the US and just be “[US style]SHOWMAN” but if they ever want to try actual lucha he or his son will take them on in singles.

PAS: This was a pretty disappointing show overall and the whole show really only got going during the third fall of the main event. Navarro looked amazing in his exchange with Juvi, smacking him around like a punk. I could see those two having an amazing singles feud at one point. Still more booking then wrestling, and overall I think IWRG probably improved when the Super X guys left.

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IWRG 7/23/09

PAS: More Slambamjam IWRG, man we need a new youtube source bad.

Goleador/Guizmo vs. Blasfemia/Keshin Black

TKG: This was bad. Guizmo doesn’t have much of a Gremlins style mask. He has what looks like raccoon eyes on the back of his shirt and raccoon foot prints down one leg of his pants? The other leg of his pants say Pikashu down the side. Is he working multiple Asian themed small creature gimmicks? Is he wearing the wrong gear? Both rudos do amusing shtick. Keshin Black begs off in the crowd after his run ins and Blasfemia milks his scummy looks as he struts around ring. I liked the way Blasfemia eats bumps always landing sitting up and dejected and Guizmo has a real wide variety of kip up variations. But nothing else in this looked good, and almost everything in the second fall looked blown.

PAS: Blasfemia takes a really nice high backdrop, but this was not good. In part really had that Ants v. Egyptians feel of green rookies trying way too much and only pulling every fourth thing off. If this was run in Chikara they would have had a spot where they throw water on Guizmo and he would go crazy, so at least we didn’t have that.

Black Terry/Capitan Muerte/Fantasma de la Opera vs. Exodia/Jack/Pendulo

TKG: This is a stacked rudo team. Exodia has looked awful in the past but looked fine getting walked through stuff by the rudo trio. I think he may have hurt his knee at one point and his final dive seemed really dangerous but I got the impression that he made it through match pretty intact. All the Black Terry v Jack sections were awesome as Terry starts with a really cool handshake into takedown, refuses to do Jack’s KidnPlay comedy spot and does a bunch of cool mat and brawling exchanges. Pendulo is clearly the best of the technicos but doesn’t do a ton in this. I dug all of his sections and he had the coolest dive, but never had the sense that he was anchoring his team. That’s a silly thing to nitpick in a match with three really good falls.

PAS: I also need to add a bit about how awesome Captain Muerte was in this match. He was matched up with Exodia who is the greenest of the techinco team, and he was a huge part in Exodia looking competent. He also broke out his ridiculous signature Flair bump to the floor where he torches the back of his neck on the apron. I want to second the awesomeness of Black Terry, Jack is a pretty terrible normally, but I came away from this match wanting to see a Jack v. Black Terry singles match which is pretty ridiculous.

Chico Che/Rigo/Trauma II vs. Avisman/Bushi/Dr. Cerebro

TKG: Phil and I argue over whether Rigo qualifies for Observer rookie of the year. I mean he clearly has been wrestling for ages but this is the first year he’s showed up in a major promotion (well if you count IWRG as major). I mean I gues he could have been a Scarecrow in AAA or something but if he qualifies for rookie of the year, he deserves it. He carries Bushi through some nice opening matwork and does a real neat job covering for some of Bushi’s awkwardness, bumps like a freak for Dr Cerebro through the first fall, des a huge dive in the second and matches up against everyone in the third.

PAS: This match happened during the period where Trauma II and Avisman were feuding over the Welterweight title, and much of this match focused around them. Avisman is a flawed guy, good on the mat often awkward everywhere else. Here he looked good throughout, really cool brawling with Trauma II on the floor, nice matwork, really cool eating of Trauma’s awesome armdrags and a nasty backcracker finish. He was really a guy on a hot streak, and I am hoping some of his Freelance feud turns up. Chico Che is another hit and miss guy, in the March show we recently reviewed he looked awful, blowing everything he tried, here he was totally on fire, especially in the third fall, running threw complicated headscissors and armdrag variations with speed and precision. You have to love a fat dude who can be so graceful and he was a pleasure to watch here.

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IWRG 7/9/09

TKG:Luchalibrenation has disappeared for a bit and luckily this episode showed up for downloading. We hope luchalibrenation will return soon. He is missed. IWRG followers may also want to watch handheld Avisman v Trauma II for number one contendership to Trauma II’s title (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GaSm92Dq64).

Avisman + Bushi + Judas El Traitor v. Rigo + Chico Che + Yack

TKG: Avisman and Buschi aren’t really the most dynamic of brawlers. Avisman is odd in that he’s a guy with just one facial expression (hostile confusion) and it works when the match calls on him to make that face and doesn’t when there is no reason for him to be making that face. And then there is JUDAS. Judas El Traidor is a guy who I don’t think I’ve ever seen work anything but openers. Really solid rudo with Ronnie James Dio style hair (long stringy hair that hides balding). Last year during Chanukah I had planned to do eight days of Golem (IWRG undercard worker) matches and was all excited to write about the Golem v Judas as Hebrew avenger v blood libel as acted out through basic opener mat work. Then 24/7 ran the same gimmick and I dropped the idea. Judas really stepped up to be the anchor of the team and was the highlight of the rudo team. There is no reason to keep him in primarias. And then there is the technicos and RIGO!!!! So looking up Rigo Tovar on Wikipedia tells me that he was a guy who suffered from blindness starting in his twenties, vitiligo, and diabetes dying at 59 from “diabetic complications leading to cardio-respiratory failure”. So not a guy known for his health. On the other hand, Rigo the wrestler is a beast. Just an absolute bump machine getting tossed and falling this way and that taking a nasty posting etc. Pretty solid brawler with all his shots looking tough and having a crazy into guy standing in third row tope. Both Cumbia guys looked good here although Chico Che keeps on catching his feet on his tope. And rather than complaining about how underwhelming the normally mediocre Yack looked let me say that looking for more stuff on cumbia on the interweb I discovered the world of cumbia rebajada which is essentially cumbia slowed down; one might say screwed (more slopped than chopped). According to the Austin Chronicle there was a guy making screwed cumbia as early as the 60s (http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A106216). But you can find stuff looking through youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMlqguPNYBo) or I really liked this mix (http://www.siebethissen.net/Dr_Auratheft/Mom_Radio/Rebajadas_El_Maldito_Acordeon.mp3).

PAS: I only remember Judas El Traitor working singles opening matches before. It sort of makes sense, he doesn't seem like a guy you would want to tag with. "Look I really need to be able to trust my partner, and well you know." Apparently Avisman and Bushi are believers in the second chance (well Bushi may be a Buddist) and they go into battle. This was the RIGO show though, he was constantly flying into the audience, taking crazy bumps into chairs, and really breaking out one of the crazier topes I have seen in a long time. Really one of those performances in which you come away needing to see everything he has ever done.

Negro Navarro + Trauma I+ II v. Fantasma De La Opera + Black Terry + Cerebro Negro

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.

Dr. Cerebro + Ricky Cruzz v. Juventud Guerrera + Fuerza Guerrera

TKG: Juvi comes into this match with his back taped up supposedly as a result of the hair v hair match with Dr Cerebro. First time we saw Juvi in IWRG in 09 he was a guy who ate stuff well but all his offense looked like crap. Here his offense all looks really nasty but it’s unclear if he may be legit too banged up to eat anything: the heel collision spots look off, he taps before Dr Cerebro can fully put on his sub in order to protect his back and after that never gets back into the ring.

PAS: Juvi has this Yellow plaid hat with a matching plaid scarf which he wears to the ring, and man does he know how to be hatable. This was really a WCW Nitro main event, the show was about the Super X v. IWRG feud and this match was killing time before the big run in. The big run in was pretty great though as Dinastia Navarro runs in for the save and holy fuck is Negro Navarro the best Bill Watts walking tall asskicker in wrestling today. He just comes in killing fools with rights and lefts and I am just amped to see every match in this feud.

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IWRG 6/18/09

TKG: Boo! We missed a week. I was stoked to see Black Terry opposite Fuerza, Trauma II v Zatura in a superlibre and if Pendulo was as charismatic when teamed with heterosexuals. Instead we get a week of IWRG with no Negro Navarro, Black Terry or Freelance. Thankfully everyone else stepped up their game.

PAS: Apparently the station showed a repeat, so that stuff may be lost in the mists of time. As always the goodness is provided by the amazing

Lucha Libre Nation

PAS: Folks should check out the two opening matches from this weeks Puebla show too, good shit.

Azoka/Sauron v Jack/Exodia

TKG: I assume Azoka and Exodia are Ultimo trainees. They announce this as Exodia’s debut match and he really had the feel of guy in a ring for the first time. I don’t think Sauron’s really the rudo who is going to elicit the best out of this type of green rookie. Where is Paramedico? Azoka is now working heel and he is still really green but still a guy who I kind of like as sells guy struggling out of mat work and submissions well. Surprisingly Jack does a nice job of walking him through some violent mat work. Selling struggle isn’t a skill that’s particularly in demand among Japanese lucharesu feds, and I imagine when he goes to Japan it will be drilled out of Azoka, but it’s nice touch in actual real lucha.

PAS: Sauron seems like he is on enough roids that he should be in AAA, rather then stuck working IWRG openers. He isn't even mediocre, but still better then Groon XXX. Too bad Growth Hormone can't make you grow. He looked decent taking an armdrag or two, but throw those awful looking Davey Boy Smith "trying to avoid a bicep tear" clotheslines. Despite the matwork Yack's fake La Parka is still painful. This was one of those matches where the IWRG willingness to give everything 25 minutes bites you in the ass a little.

Chico Che, Rigo, Trauma I v Barbra Roja, Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr.

TKG: RIGO~!!! OK this is hilarious. Rigo is a guy working a Rigo Tovar (70s Mexican Cumbia star)look alike gimmick. I’m really bad at explaining music nerd jokes and this requires alot of context. Chico Che is also a guy working a 70s Cumbia musician look alike gimmick. His new short hair hurts the gimmick but on some level he's always been a guy who dresses like Chico Che doesn't so much look like him. Still there is something really amusing about the guy who hands out gimmicks in IWRG doing this type of Cumbia look alike gimmicks. As though the WWE had a Deep South tag team with one guy working a Giorgio Moroder look alike gimmick tagged with a Barry White look alike with neither working a musical gimmick. I can’t come up with anything better than the disco comparison. Part of the weirdness is that while a really popular music in Mexico, Cumbia is a genre whose roots are foreign (Columbia and Panama). It doesn’t have the volk kultur connotations of Los Folkloricos in AAA.
http://www.cuarteto-continental.unlugar.com/cuartetocontinental/cumbiamexicana.html has a nice history of cumbia in Mexico plus youtube link to Conjunto Africanos singing "Los Luchadores". So all that contributes to the humor of the Rigo lookalike gimmick, but really what puts it over the top is the degree to which Rigo actually has the emaciated look of a 70s musician who has shocked everyone by living into the new century.I don’t know how old Ringo is but he doesn’t have the emaciated look of 70s era Joe Perry, Dee Dee Ramone, Ozzy or Iggy so much as he has the emaciated look of late 90s era Joe Perry, Dee Dee Ramone, Ozzy or Iggy. I really liked the way Riggo sold for the Pirata Family’s stuff and liked his tough brawling offense. He had a dive and a couple of rope assisted flashy spots that had a real tough awkward look to them. It’s possible that against lesser opponents, that stuff would have just looked blown. But for now I am a Rigo fan. Trauma I is getting the hang of his bruiser gimmick and I liked the whole three tough brawlers as a face team deal they had going.

PAS: I am still a little unsold on the Pirata kids, they were guys with lots of nasty triple teams, but also some not so good looking triple teams. Came off a little Thomasellish at times, however I still dug this match and will certainly be willing to give them a bunch more chances to impress me. I am amused at Tomk's explanation of the Rigo gimmick because I was on the phone with Dean when I first watched this, and described him as looking like current Gene Simmons. He kind of wrestles like you might imagine Gene Simmons would wrestle if instead of starting a rock band he moved to Mexico and became a luchadore.

Zatura VS Trauma II [Campeonato Mundial Peso Ligero]

TKG:This wasn’t an organic match, it was very much a match of guys who had “ideas” they wanted to try out, but the ideas were really good ones and left this enjoying the match and thinking both guys are smart and have more promise than I thought going in. I mean this wasn’t Pareja Toxico lots of “innovative” spots, so much as smart ideas. Match still exists very much in the world of matches between guys who watch a lot of tapes and have a bunch of “innovative ideas” that they want to work in. While that often can lead in bad directions, I really enjoyed it here. Trauma II and Zatura are young guys who have good execution and timing on this stuff, the actual ideas they have are actually really smart and creative, they understand how to fit them into the title match structure well, and you get the sense that this will become organic for them pretty quickly. Both guys come in with taped shoulders and Zatura does some nice arm selling in first fall with Trauma working it over well, while Trauma tweaks himself leading to nice selling and work later, first fall had lots of rolling into locks with lots of stuff put on near ropes setting up escapes that felt like someone had watched some PWFG Shamrock with lucha eyes and really understood it, they worked in a smart handspeed exchange section that made sense in context, some huge spots including a powerbomb into corner followed by a top rope dive that again didn’t feel back and forward so much as everything set up well. My favorite thing was the way they moved from one body part to the next. First fall starts with both guys working extremities (leg locks followed by Trauma moves up to work the arm of Zatura) with both guys being able to either reverse the holds or reach the ropes with extremity that isn’t in a lock. Zatura wins the fall by putting Trauma II into essentially a neblina variation. As soon as he did it, you knew he had won the fall. Neblina isn’t a move that I think of as an answer to reversals or rope breaks-being a way to capture and put pressure on all the extremities at once. But they made it make sense. Second fall has Trauma II use a sub with a choke as the answer to not being able to tap opponent by working arm or leg. Third fall has Zatura put Trauma II in a Romero Special and fuck you pop for the Romero Special cause he’s got all the extremities locked up, and then II slips out and grabs the Romero Special with a choke and you want to get up and do dance with noisemaker. The “innovative idea” was a way to build a match to set up and get you to pop for a Romero special. So smart. Face v face title match isn’t the easiest thing to pull off to begin with, that they were able to workshop this many outside ideas into it was pretty impressive.

PAS: This kind of felt to me like the ECWA Low-Ki v. American Dragon matches or the AAA Juventud Guererra v. Rey Mysterio series. You were watching a pair of really talented young guys work out a different way to wrestle. This didn't look like a traditional lucha title match, or a bad US Indy style current CMLL title match. It felt like they were trying to find a third way to do things. Trauma II is the son of Negro Navarro who is currently the best wrestler in the world, but one who really works in an archaic style. As much as I dig what he does, Navarro doesn't wrestle like current lucha libre stars. Which is good because current lucha libre is pretty terrible, this match felt like Trauma looked at what was present and now, and said "How can I do this and still be a Navarro." The take downs in this match weren't as slick as your Maestros, but they were neat looking and the execution of the holds was very violent looking. This also had some slick reversal stuff although some of it looked like it needed to go a beat faster. I was pretty blown away by Zatura here too, look back four or five reviews ago and I was dissing him as a guy not worthy of a third spot on the Chico Che, Freelance team, now he is more them holding his own in a tremendous title match. Just a huge leap in my estimation of him. You can never really tell in lucha, as I remember a point where both Shocker and Rey Buccanaro finished top five in a DVDVR 500, but I do get the sense that these two are going to having matches this great for decades to come.

Juventud Guerrera VS Dr. Cerebro

TKG:CEREBRINA DRIVER!!!!!! Holy fuck. They follow the face v face match with this heel v heel one. And really no one does heel v heel better than lucha. Juvi is great as really strutting pretty sissy style heel while Dr Cerebro at this point is a complete vicious bull who will bowl right through people. Juventud’s execution was really questionable the last time we saw him in IWRG but his stuff looked good here and he sold in ways that reminded you of how great Juvi can be. For this type of tough heel vs sissy heel who can still fuck you up, this wasn’t anywhere near as good as the best Shocker v Tarzan Boy stuff from the beginning of the decade. But it’s been a bunch of yeara since then and no one is really doing this these days and I am stoked for the hair match.

PAS: I really dug this, Juvi is so hateable as a sleazy little prick. You really want to see Cerebro kill him, and he totally does. This had the feel of a hypothetical Manny Fernandez v. John Tatum match, and was as good as you would expect that to be. Juvi must have been on a different combo of drugs here vs. the last match, he actually looked like he belonged in the ring, and wasn't just the worlds greatest Johnny Fairplay. And holy fuck was that finish a finish. With the spotty broadcast of IWRG lately it would be a tragedy to miss this hair v. hair match.

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