Found Footage Friday: BATTLE OF THE BAM BAMS~! Los Cadetes Del Espacio~! MARTINELLI~! JARQUE~!

Tony Martinelli vs. Gregorio Jarque New Jersey 1959

MD: New Wrestling Films find. Jarque was from Spain and I imagine if he was in there against Tony Oliver in Barcelona around this time, we would have gotten something special but there wasn't a ton to see here. This was a Bill Stern reel entitled "Rasslin' Ref" and the match was pretty much built around the ref getting rolled on top of during pins and then jawing with Martinelli. Solid stuff but nothing spectacular and a pale imitation of what was happening (even the comedy work) in France at this time, obviously, but I liked the consistency of what they were trying to do at least. They had a nice bit of trading mares towards the end until the ref got crushed one last time and just called it a draw.

Terry Gordy vs. Bam Bam Bigelow TWA 1/27/90

MD: This was a third Battle of the Bam Bams that we didn't know was even filmed but here we are. They had a strong sense of just what they had here and made every lock up feel like a clash of the titans. I expect Terry Gordy in 1990 to bump around and create motion a lot more and he did but only when he was charging towards Bam Bam in order to knock him down, just that extra oomph. He worked a little bit bigger than he did elsewhere in the year to signify the titanic struggle for the crowd. Bam Bam met him equally, as he's another guy that you expect to move around a bit more, and I don't just mean the cartwheels. But they kept this grounded for the most part, selling every knockdown as a big deal and working up to the next piece of contact accordingly. Despite this video being almost twenty minutes with very little before or after the match, there were some annoying cuts that made it hard to tell how thing went from Point A to Point B but you definitely got the overall idea. They worked in a chair battle at the end which gave everything a nice crescendo before the inevitable non-finish. 

ER: This is really exciting for me. We finally got the best version we're ever going to get of the Battle of the Bam Bams. 1990 was the only pre-coma year they fought and thus was the best time for them to ever cross paths. The best possible Gordy/Bam Bam match would probably have been either 1993 or 1987, but we know those don't exist and this is the best it's going to get. Also this match was not at all what I expected. I did not expect these two behemoths to go into Philly and work a slow-paced (not in a bad way) minimalist heavyweight clash. It goes on a bit too long but there was weight behind everything they did, and what's wild is it went on so much longer. There was a "20 minutes have elapsed" call at the 12 minute mark of the video meaning the 2-3 cuts to that point meant 8 missing minutes of footage (depending on how much the ring announcer was kayfabing the time call). At 12 minutes in, the match was already feeling a little long, but I love the majesty of the two largest men lumbering through a minimalistic 28 minute match at Temple University, an unlikely great wrestling venue. I love this venue as a Wrestling Venue, with those steep bleachers climbing up so high I don't think we ever saw the top. Both men took some great bumps, spread out well through the long run time. 

I loved Gordy's counters to Bammer's kicks and enziguiris, catching his leg and making him hop around, shoving him off into off balance out of control stumbles. Gordy takes a big back bump through the ropes to the floor and Bam Bam saves his biggest for the end of the match when Gordy head of steams his way through him for a clothesline to the floor. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that Gordy made more interesting bump choices than Bam Bam but I am. The match peaked when the two giants squared off with chairs. Bam Bam swung a chair around more compellingly than almost any wrestler I've ever seen, in a way I have never seen him do. Bigelow was like an expert sign spinner, decades before that job existed. Bam Bam swung his chair around like a balletic Leatherface, a dangerous visual spectacle of a spot done as well or better than the ECW chair duels that came nearly a decade later. What an awesome showdown at a very good American college. I love these two daring to work a 30 minute clash of the titans, sending larger than life magic to the back row of a wrestling venue I'd never known before but now adore. 

Super Astro/Ultraman Jr./Solar vs. Divulios Negros I + 2/Sergio Romo, Jr. Arena Solidaridad

MD: A handheld match. I'm sure someone knows the dates and whether this one is found or new but it's new to us and it was a lot of fun. Very much what you'd expect from the Space Cadets, but worked well and balanced even better. They did pairings and matwork to start, fed right into rudo clowning (Super Astro with his little jump, etc.) and the tecnicos taking the primera. Pretty solid rudo beatdown in the segunda with Romo hitting from odd angles and a nice triple team submission and corner succession attacks. Plus some working over the mask. They had swagger. The comeback in the tercera came on a missed charge the tecnicos got their revenge, did some more clowning, and they built to the (very solid) dives and Solar tying up a Divulio for the win. Nothing revolutionary but getting to see these guys do their thing one more time is always a joy. 

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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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Black Terry Ain't Got no Ills, Black Terry Don't Owe No Bills

Black Terry/Pierroth II/Arlequin vs. Chico Che/Fantastik/Multifacetico IWRG 3/19/09-SKIPPABLE

TKG: Aw man this was an awful mess. What the fuck? IWRG shelled out the money for Dr Wagner Jr and didn’t pay anyone else? These guys looked like unpaid trainees. Maybe Dr Wagner Jr has access to the good drugs and partied with the roster preshow. I haven’t seen Fantastik in ages and he looked barely trained. No one but Black Terry and Multifacetico looked like they knew how to run the ropes. Arlequin looked like Jim Belushi disinterestedly brawling in a fight scene in a shitty direct to video action movie. There is a point where Arlequin and Fantastik try to do fighting spirit chop exchanges…I don’t know if Arlequin was doing a Kawada sell, but he sells the pain and then goes to fighting spirit sell by doing push ups but is in too much pain and does girl push ups instead.

PAS: The thing you love about IWRG is that they will give great matches enough time to really be great, the flip side is when you get an abortion like this, it will be a long drawn out abortion. Tom talked a lot about how bad Arlequin was, and he was really bad, but man alive did Chico Che and Pierroth II look like crap. They kept matching up with each other in long rope running sections, where neither guy looked like they had run ropes before. He tried, but Black Terry wasn’t able to do anything with this.

Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro v. Trauma I/Trauma II/Ultraman Jr. IWRG 10/29/09-EPIC

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.

Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Negro Navarro v. Solar/Sucida/Zatura IWRG 1/28/10-EPIC

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

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

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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IWRG 11/5/09

Ruleta de la Muerte – Quarterfinals: Capitan Muerte & Miss Gaviota vs. Ultraman Jr. & Arlequin Negro

TKG: This a ruleta de muerte tag tourney where each tag team is made of one face teamed with one heel. The loosing team has to face each other in a singles match with the hair/mask on the line. This match was pretty long and not very good. It had a couple moments with Ultraman hitting a big tope, some stiff clotheslines, and Miss Gaviota reversing amateur riding sections with his eagerness to be rode.

PAS: The problem with these lucha tourneys normally is that all of the matches are too short, may not be an issue in IWRG as this actually goes way too long. Not as much cool Captain Muerte as one would hope.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Quarterfinals: Pendulo & Barba Roja vs. Chico Che & Gringo Loco

TKG: First quarterfinal was mostly worked with faces working faces and heels working heels. This one was done for he most part with the face on each team working the heel on the opposite team. This was all quick exchanges. Some really brief Che v Pendulo exchanges but everything else was face/heel and all four are guys who can do this stuff well.

PAS: Yeah this was pretty solid, Chico Che is worth watching even in short throw away matches like this. Barba Roja's finishing DDT was really nasty.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Quarterfinals: Eragon & Menfis vs. Cerebro Negro & Exodia

TKG: Never seen Menfis before but he really looks like a garbage wrestler with Slipknot mask, Pantera shirt and ill fitting baggy jeans. I kept on thinking he was going to step in his own hem. This was mostly a one man show with Cerebro Negro throwing out a huge tope on Menfis before match starts, teaching Exodia how to throw a chop, taking a giant posting, eating Eragon's too short tope,and going two on one against Eragon and Menfis (after his partner was eliminated) and only loosing in a really lucky BS fashion.

PAS: This was only about five minutes and everyone threw way too much stuff at the wall, there was four dives, crazy headrops way too much shit. You would think Menfis would be a slow starter who did some stalling and built to hot finish, but I guess not.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Semifinals: Ultraman Jr. & Arlequin Negro vs. AK-47 & Hijo del Pirata Morgan

TKG: We didn't get to see AK47 and Pirata's quarter final. They are the only team with two rudos (although feuding rudo factions) and weirdly they are the only team where you get the sense that partners don't get along, like they actively want to have a mask match against each other. Most of the match is Ultraman Jr and Arlequin Negro double teams and they team well. Arlequin Negro hits a huge tope. And there is an elaborate finish. Depending on where the ref was standing he could have DQd either team. The ref instead notices no chicanery and counts the pin straight. AK-47 and Pirata loose and unfortunately I don't think we ever get to see Arlequin Negro again. It is a shame as I enjoyed his work and imagine he would have allowed for long digressions into the relationship between Comedia Dell Arte and Minstrelsy.

PAS: In his brief appearances in this tourney Arlequin Negro looked like the best of the Arlequins, although he is pretty far down the list of lucha Negros. I really enjoyed the AK-47 and Pirata team as they were one of the few teams actually working the feuding partners gimmick. You knew they wouldn't end up in a mask match (having only one team put up their hair kind of telegraphs the booking), but you wanted to see it.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Semifinals: Cerebro Negro & Exodia vs. Chico Che & Gringo Loco

TKG: Chico Che comes into this match like he's Tenryu just absolutely beating the shit out of his opponents. Just hitting them crazy hard and tossing them recklessly. Even normal comedy stuff looked super violent. He does a bronco buster where it looks like he penetrated through the back of Cerebro Negro's skull. He hangs Exodia in a tree of woe and then he and Gringo spilt Cerebro Negro's leg around Exodia's face and the post which should be a "Ha Ha, we made you suck his dick" RnR Xpress v MX spot"s but instead is super violent. Post match Cerebro Negro slaps Exodia arond for stealing his pin, and Exodia stomps on Chico Che for no reason.

PAS: Exodia stomping on Chico Che was pretty weird considering they are both faces. It really felt like Exodia was legit pissed off at being chucked around. "Motherfucker you know I am fragile like a crystal vase, stop potatoing me." I cannot emphasize how awesome Chico Che was in this match, we already know what an awesome face brawler he is, great at bleeding, great at fiery comebacks, can go toe to toe with anyone. This match is the first time I have ever seen him brawl like a rudo and it was totally mind blowing. He is just vicious, running through both guys like a buzzsaw. This Chico Che Run in the end of 2009 was eye opening, he really looks like a top ten guy in the world.

Ruleta de la Muerte – Finals: AK-47 & Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs. Chico Che & Gringo Loco

TKG:This wasn't a ton. Ak-47 and Hijo del Pirata are still feuding but both willing to beat on Chico Che. Chico Che apparently decided to work each tourney match like a different fall. We've gotten to see his fast exchange fall and his stiff brawling fall. This was the sympathy selling into elaborate finish fall. And the elaborate finish is an awesome one. The heels move out of the way of a huge Chico Che in ring shoulder block tope where he accidentally topes his own partner. Chico Che then goes for the top rope to hit the big splash only to be hit by a AK-47 seated dropkick in a "HOLY SHIT!" finish.

PAS: Yeah the finish of this was really good, but the match was a little disappointing, they built the tourney really well, and made me desperately want to see this match, but the match itself was a little short, and didn't have the crazy brawl feeling I was hoping for.

Caballera contra Caballera: Gringo Loco vs. Chico Che

TKG: HOLY SHIT!! So this starts with Chico Che still selling the finish from last match and being unable to fight back against Gringo Loco. Loco busts him open on the metal container that holds the sodas in back of arena. When Chico Che regroups he again turns into Tenryu and just beats the absolute shit out of Gringo Loco. Busting him open, hitting him with stiff clotheslines, throwing Hotta style indifferent kicks, reckless slamming and kicking him on the ring ramp, and hitting the stiffest face wash I've ever seen. The two fight to apron where Che unsuccessfully tries to fight off a nasty powerbomb from the apron to the floor.

PAS: This was tremendous, both guys totally bring hell. This was violent in the way truly great violent lucha matches are, but it also had a really puro violence feel to it as well, with Chico Che facewashing and soccer kicking the living fuck out of a bloody Gringo Loco. Loco needed huge nasty offense to fire back from that, and he really did with a martinete and the apron powerbomb which Chico Che took like Foley. Loco was pretty great in this match, as this was his first really great performance of his IWRG run, but Chico Che motherfucker CHICO CHE!!

IWRG LIST

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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 1/1/10

Black Terry Jr., IWRG and Segunda Caida open 2010 with a bang
http://www.youtube.com/user/tvluchadelpasado

1.Avisman/Flama Infernal v. Eragon/Volaris

PAS: First fall is pretty fun, as it is about 8 minutes of Avisman twisting and stretching Eragon, as he does a pretty passable Negro Navarro impression. The rest of the match was pretty bad as Volaris and Flama Infernal are super green and it had a real Chikarish awkwardness. Still Avisman matwork is always a blast and if we got weekly tastes of him stretching rookies I could dig that.

TKG: Flama Infernal and Volaris have clearly worked together but weren’t good and their WWEish stuff Batista powerbombs, bronco busters, and spears were just painfully ugly. I don’t know what was going on but Avisman’s third fall throws looked far nastier and more punishing than they have ever looked before. He had a hundred ways to pick up Volaris and then drop him kidney first across Avisman’s knee. They would start all Kanyonesque and end with real Gary Albright/Ron Simmons type thud.

This was a tag tourney, for what purpose I do not know

2. Veneno/Keshin Black v. Ultraman Jr./Guizmo

PAS: This was better then it looked on paper. This was a showcase for Guizmo and he looked pretty good. You don't really think of Veneno as a maestro, but their mat section was pretty nice, with Veneno showing me something. Guizmo also had some nice ranas and armdrags, including winning the match with a sweet looking dragon rana. Still clearly green as goose shit, but totally a guy I wouldn't mind check out again.

TKG: As a general rule, lucha tourney stuff disappoints. All matches being single falls means they often don’t have a sense of development, they come across really abbreviated, and they normally feel like you’re only getting to see the second fall in what would’ve been a neat three fall match. But this is IWRG where stuff gets some time and this goes almost twenty and builds from ground up. Veneno and Guizmo match up on the mat followed by Ultraman Jr and Keshin Black, then they switch off for brawling section, switch back, build to some big dives etc. Keshin Black feels like the Black Thunder/Averno to Guizmo’s Turbo/Mistico. He’s a guy who does an amazing job of eating Guizmo’s stuff. His own offense left something to be desired. I really dug Ultraman Jr’s “early 80s Florida technical worker” style matwork, was less pleased with his “early 80s Florida technical worker” style indifferent selling during brawling.

3. Dr. Cerebro/El Hijo Del Signo v. Imperial/Rocket

PAS: Same idea as the first match with a single veteran rudo in with three rookies. Rocket showed me nothing, but Imperial had some fun if slightly awkward highspots. He got some really height on his tope con hilo, and a really nice rana. Cerebro is super solid at this point, probably at top 20 worker in the world. His carry the rookie matwork was a nice carrying of a rookie.

TKG: Hijo Del Signo is really developing fast and all his stuff looks crisp. His huge superfly splash was nice looking as well. Imperial really flays his body awkwardly as he's eating a beating and also just kind of tosses himself out to rana (or hit whatever other move he's going for on) his opponet in a style that really reminded me of Masato Yakashiji. I don't know how to describe that style. It isn't spastic or sloppy but it's just throwing himself out there without abandon.

4. Black Terry/Alan Extreme v. Chico Che/Dinamic Black

PAS: This tourney is pretty much a testing ground for rudos. Each match basically tests how your veteran rudo can run a match, and as why 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.

5. Oficial 911/Comando Negro v Bushi/Guerrero 2000

TKG: This was more what I expect out of a lucha tourney, super short match that starts with the brawling into highflying, Guerrero 2000 is a chubby guys stuffed in a smaller ring gear, he has the Abismo Negro white face paint and a look that’s a little too close to IWRG’s Mascara Magnifica. He got huge height in his jump into a rana but outside of that got no sense.

PAS: The faces had a nice double tope, and it fun to watch an Oficial eat a tope, but outside of that this wasn't much. I did like the red and black Oficial gear though.

6. Trauma I+II v. Gringo Loco/Fantasma De La Opera

PAS: Gringo Loco is a Chicago luchadore I remember really digging, and he looked very good here. He bumped well, hung with Trauma II nicely on the mat and had some amusing shtick. First fall was pretty darn good with some really nice mat wrestling between II and Loco. Match never really lived up to the promise of the first fall withe some uninspired brawling in the second and third. Fantasma De La Opera was wearing a CM Punk t-shirt, straight edge Phantom is a really weird gimmick. Is he living the bowls of the Black Cat and Gillman Street? Do people hear ghostly hardcore rifts late at night?

TKG: This was a non-tourney match and disappointing considering the folks involved. First fall had a lot more momentum changes than I expect in a primera caida: there is a mat section between Loco and II, double team rudos section and a Trauma I based fired up tandem combo section. For a second I mistook it for another single fall tourney match. And that first fall would have been a fine tourney match. Second fall was rope running fall and I thought it looked very sloppy and off. Post second fall they had the start of a fun streetfight, and there were sections of entertaining brawling in the third but I expected better.

7. Dr Cerebro/Hijo Del Signo v Ultraman Jr/Guizmo (semifinal match)

TKG: This was actively disappointing. At times this year, Dr Cerebro has looked like one of the top 20 wrestlers in the world. Hijo Del Signo and Ultraman Jr lately have been some of my favorite of all the anonymous interchangeable masked IWRG underders. Both Hijo Del Signo and Ultraman Jr used big top rope splashes in their prelim rounds, and I love a “battle of the top rope splashes”. Plus it’s a son of a Missionero De La Muerte v son of Space Cadet. I wanted more than this. Ultraman Jr wussies out on taking a posting, Hijo del Signo does a really bad eat of rana out of a ring, and this just felt like a real throw away match. This was the typical underwhelming meandering lucha tourney match with guys who you expect more from.

PAS: I liked the first four minutes of this, Ultraman Jr. and Cerebro have some perfectly fine matwork and a nice rope running section, with Ultraman taking a fine bump to the floor. Last five minutes weren't much, and after Cerebro's first round performance I was hoping for more.

8.Oficial 911/Comando Negro v Chico Che/Dimanic Black (semifinal match)

TKG: Neither 911 or Commando Negro are Black Terry. Nope they aren’t and neither really could do much of anything with Dinamic Black. This came together for a bit when Chico Che was in it. I imagine Chico Che and Oficial 911 have matched up as captains multiple times before and they do essentially a captain face off that was fun. Chico Che also does his fast spot exchange with big in ring shoulder tackle opposite Comando Negro. It’s a good looking spot but this match was less a big semifinal than essentially just one Chico Che segment.

PAS: Pretty disappointing performance by the rudos. I figured they would throw a bit of spark into the proceedings, but they seemed like they were sleepwalking a bit through the match. Black was green, although I did like his out to in second rope rana, Chico Che has a really great looking flying shoulder tackle.

9. Dr Cerebro/Hijo del Signo v Oficial 911/Comando Negro

TKG: This is rudo contra rudo which is also an odd way to end a tourney. The Oficial/Comando team dumps Signo out of the ring and double teams Dr Cerebro until he is able to dump Comando out of the ring so that Signo and the Dr can double team the Oficial and then isolate the Comando; the Oficial/Comando team threaten a Zbysco walk to the back and then come back to settle into a Commando v Signo one on one exchange that leads to big dives from the Signo/Cerebro team; and then it’s back into the ring for some near falls. There was a second there where it felt like both uppercard heels were going to pin both lower card heels and we might get a singles match up between Cerebro and 911. It felt like we were about to get something epic and then instead we got a straight forward second fall finish. This match was short and again felt more like a second fall then an actual match. But it was an actively good satisfying second fall where I left wanting to see the full match. Unfortunately, it’s a match I can’t imagine them ever booking toward in any other context. This was a weird tourney where for the most part I enjoyed the long opening rounds which felt like complete matches. I thought the semifinals both felt like mediocre segunda caidas while the final felt like an actively good one.

PAS: Cerebro comes flying back after a mediocre Segunda, as he is just killing it here. He has a really great punch section where he is mixing up hooks to the body and the head. He also breaks out a sweet looking tope. 911 looked good here too, but I was a little underwhelmed by Signo and Commando. Tom is right about this feeling abrupt. I don't like lucha tournaments, they are often really intriguing match ups which invariably disappoint. This actually had some match ups which overachieved, but it was still less then the sum of its parts.

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