IWRG Round Up
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Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro vs. Gringo Loco/El Hijo del Diablo, 1/24/10
This was pretty cool.
Of all the styles Terry works, brawling suits him best because you get a caricature of Black Terry the man. There was nothing pretty about this match; it was about as scummy as you'd expect from two guys working the Gringo Locos gimmick in a lucha indy backwater. They brawled all over the ringside area in a match that never really got going in the ring since neither side wanted to settle it proper, but this sort of rambling match suits Black Terry to a tee. His comebacks were fantastic and I thought his headbutt was incredible. He had a gash on his forehead that needed sewing up, and as he sat there being sutured, the silence got me thinking... Where was he going after the show? What type of car or truck does he drive? What does he listen to on the radio? These are the type of things I want to know. He really is a legend. This was just another fight and a few more stitches, but what a performer. He's like a character in a John Huston film or a Merle Haggard song.
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Negro Navarro vs. Solar/Zatura/Suicida, 1/28/10
This was solid. IWRG have a new working style where the first fall goes long and the second and third falls are short. It's somewhat predictable but seems to be working for them. Solar squared off with Navarro to nobody's great surprise. Their exchanges were better than watching Navarro work with Angelico, but you have to wonder what they're gunning for at this point. Solar wanted Navarro and Navarro wanted Solar, but we've seen this all before. It's a draw. Neither guy is better than the other and maybe one day they'll leave it at that. Terry got to work a bit in this match, which I was happy about since he's usually innocuous when Solar and Navarro are about. He did a pretty awesome job of stretching Zatura, but the most notable thing about the match was some rare CONTINUITY. I could hardly believe it when Cerebro went after Suicida. I mean to look at him you wouldn't think he lost his hair a few months ago, but he obviously hasn't forgotten and gave Segura an extra hiding at the end.
Dr. Cerebro vs. El Hijo del Diablo, Campeonato Mundial Ligero IWRG, 1/31/10
This was awesome and easily surpassed any IWRG singles match I've seen since Zatura/Trauma.
There was a ton of heat for this as El Hijo del Diablo had his own cheering section dressed up in devil costumes, and while he's not much of a worker in the Black Terry sense, this match was exceptionally well booked to make the most of the heat they got. Diablo can't work the mat, but he has size and they used that to great effect. He roughed Cerebro up and opened the cut from the tag match above. I can't recall ever seeing Cerebro sell as well as he did here and his comeback was fantastic, which made this the first time in ages that I was actually pumped to see the third caida of an IWRG match.
There was some awesome bullshit in the tercera caida. The fall was mostly dives and selling with Terry trying to protect his man from a mauling. Diablo finally got stuck into Terry and they did the most awesome Dusty finish. It was a real Pena style finish. Terry was being held back by the ref and the commissioner or someone, and Gringo Loco, who'd been ejected from ringside earlier, came running to the ring to potato Cerebro with a foreign object. The ref counted three and it looked like we had a new champ, but Terry saw the whole thing unfold and actually went into Gringo Loco's pants to find the foreign object. I don't think I've ever seen that before. He pulled out a chain and showed it to the ref and the entire arena. The ref overturned his decision and raised Cerebro's hand.
Just an all-round awesome spectacle. Instead of an overload of moves and nearfalls, we actually got to see a match that built to a bruised but vindicated champ holding onto his belt. The crowd were into it in a way that they usually aren't and there were plenty of folks screaming at the ref about the fuck-up he'd made. Good shit.
Negro Navarro/Trauma I vs. Pirata Morgan/El Hijo del Pirata Morgan, 1/31/10
This was also pretty good, though it couldn't live up to the heat that the previous match got. Everytime I see Pirata Morgan, I can't quite get my head around what he's turned into. I literally find myself asking, "what the fuck is that?" But the mofo can still work. I actually thought he outworked Navarro in this match on a less is more basis. His mat exchange with Trauma I was better than Navarro's work with El Hijo del Pirata Morgan. Granted, Trauma I has probably overtaken Son of Pirata Morgan at this point, but Morgan had a more direct, straightforward way of tackling Trauma. Navarro did a couple of cool submissions, but he's become somewhat overexposed of late. There were a couple of teases that the match would come down to Pirata and Navarro one-on-one, but they wound up giving this match to the kids which I thought was the right idea. The veterans were both pinned while they were in a Pirata Morgan figure four and the finish to the match was that awesome submission stand-off that we first saw in Black Terry's match with Multifacetico. It was a cool finish because you had both Navarro and Pirata at ringside cheering on their kids. They were like a pair of football dads. Navarro was slightly disgusted when his son tapped then his paternal instinct took over. Pretty cool.
MATCH OF THE MONTH: It's been a strong month for IWRG, but I don't think you can go past Cerebro/Diablo. Finally, a lucha title match with a little bit of drama that made you want to actually watch the second and third caidas. I don't know what's happening with IWRG right now, but they seem a hell of a lot more focused and actually deserve to be considered the best promotion in Mexico instead of winning by default. Do they have a new booker or something?
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