Spotlight: IWA PUERTO RICO - JUNIORS 1999
Entry posted by G. Badger
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Surfing around Youtube and found a neat bunch of Junior matches from the IWA Puerto Rico which was sorta kinda linked to the much loved 
IWA Japan while Victor Quinones was alive. Afterwards, eh I'm not sure...but, with talent from Japan, the US Indies, Mexico and Puerto Rico, it has Quinones' stylistic stamp on it.
Taka Michinoku & Pepe Prado v Super Crazy & Rey Bucanero: Nice fun tag match. TAKA & Crazy is sorta a dream match fulfilled. Maybe it happened in WWE n the early 2000's but, I didn't see it! Pepe and Bucanero are equally great. Not a ton of substance as will be a theme but, an enjoyable Jr match.
Super Crazy vs Tajiri: An earlier encounter of this epic pairing but, it was no less spectacular. Heck, it was spectacular by today's standards. This was slightly clipped but what was shown from the 5 minute match was very good. Crazy is not as polished as he would be but, it doesn't matter especially in this setting. If it has been 15 years since you've seen these guys wrestle one another, do yourself a favor- take the Youtube time machine, it's worth it!
Antifaz vs Tiger Mask IV: 5+ minutes of fireworks and damn was this good! It's hard to rate this as a very good or great match at just around 5 minutes but, this was clawing at those accolades. These guys had great chemistry and a good face/heel dynamic. For ECW fans that remember Antifaz del Norte check this out. He is/was as awesome as you remember. TM IV reminded me of Ultimo Dragon. He was very smooth with his roll-ups, his kicks were crisp but not too stiff for the setting, and more importantly, the fans were solidly supporting him. That is a big thing here because these folks are as wild and crazy as you want a arena to be. It makes the action that much more exciting.
Christopher Daniels vs Pepe Prado: Prado is good stuff so, he works well with Daniels (who actually has hair). The Fallen Angel hams up his bad guy schtick with the crowd to entertaining results. This was only 6 minutes but, seemed natural for it to go 10+. These two weren't as overtly flashy as the above bouts but, they really had a cohesive and fuller match going.
Tiger Mask IV vs Great Sasuke: M-Pro in Puerto Rico with Sasuke as the cheating heel. That was weird to see but, fun nonetheless. I'll say this was worth seeing as it was crazy stuff BUT was only 3 minutes long. Short enough to get a taste but, totally wishing for more.
TAKA Michinoku vs Reckless Youth: Now would probably be the time to say that all of these guys were assembled for a IWA-PR Jr. Heavyweight tournament. So, imagine like the Ted Petty 2004 in 1999 and Puerto Rico. Or I guess just like the Super J Cup or Best of the Super Jrs.type thing. I think it was a one night tourney hence the shortness of the matches. Anyways, both guys' move execution was flawless. It looked dangerous but, you know they are keeping each other safe. This was a very good bout despite a fast counting ref.
Jeff Hardy vs Super Crazy: Again, maybe this happened in the early 2000s but, this was an interesting match up...at least on paper. It was quick with a ton of highspots but, not real logical in their organization.
Tajiri vs Black Scorpion: JIP, Tajiri already had the goods in 1999. He was a good seller and riled up the crowd which made Scorpion's comebacks that much more rewarding. 6 minutes of probably an 8 minute match.
...and here's where I sorta lost interest in the matches. Don't get me wrong there are probably a few more really good matches including a battle royale that sets up the Jr. Tourney bracket. I watched a few minutes and it reminded me of early TNA X-Division battle royales, in a good way! The thing is that all of the matches are relatively quick and underdeveloped. That is great in that I watched 4 matches in a row but, bad in that I couldn't really say "I loved this match!" I think these are from a TV show so, everything is the cliff notes version of a 10-15 minute match. That being said, these were super fun and great to watch when you don't feel like investing a lot of time and energy into wrestling. I totally hope others check out the other combinations available on this dude or dudettes YT channel.
Thanks!
P.S. Watched Jeff Hardy vs Rasta Man and it was pretty good. No idea on who Rasta Man is/was but, he & Jeff were a good match...although he might not necessarily be a junior by Puerto Rican wrestling standards. Dude was pretty jacked!
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