Dr. Cerebro

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Dylan Waco]

He was absolutely awesome in IWRG during that companies peak period, when we were getting multiple full length classics a week. That said he has not really impressed much sense, and I've seen little of what he did before (handful of matches here and there). Is he really a better candidate for something like than Freelance or Chico Che?

[Jetlag]

He always had a great punch, great matwork and a brutal tope, so I'd say he was very good before peak IWRG. There's his stuff with Hijo del Santo and he consistently looks good to very good in the limited pre-2009 IWRG that I've seen, getting the most out of guys like Gigolo Americano, so he is more consistent than Freelance (disappointing matches) and has more stuff and more variety than Chico Che. There's a tag with Cerebro Negro against Virus and Suicida I've uploaded that is very much worth a look if you want to see what he could do. 2009-2011 he's off the charts for sure, benefitting from being around talented dudes but also carrying scrubs into high end matches.. Also, he is talked about in old DVDVRs as the craziest matworker around.

[Parties]

Los Terribles Cerebros should be nominated as a trio, and could definitely make my Top 25 tag teams. I don't see him as a top 100 all-time singles, but in times of worldwide awareness he's one of the most underrated guys of the last 10 years.

[Graham Crackers]

Los Terribles Cerebros should be nominated as a trio, and could definitely make my Top 25 tag teams.

Agreed. I keep meaning to figure out what lucha trios need to be nominated. Maybe I'll get to that before the weekend is over.

[elliott]

I remember being a big fan like everybody else back in the early 2000s because of his wacky submissions and sweet mask. But I don't have anywhere close to a handle on him outside of whats in this thread. If anybody could do a primer with recommendations, I'd appreciate it! 

[cad]

I think his most famous/best regarded matches are his trilogy with Hijo del Santo. AFAICT two of them are online, the mano a mano and the mask match:
Dr. Cerebro vs El Hijo del Santo
Dr. Cerebro vs El Hijo del Santo (mask vs mask)
He had an excellent title match with Felino from around that time as well, which was on Youtube at one point but apparently no longer.

People who followed IWRG's hot run in real time probably know his best matches from that period more than I do, but I thought his best match from that period was his title match with Multifacetico:
Part one, part two

And my favorite from his post-GWE run is this 2019 match with Erick Ortiz, another technical match in front of a tiny crowd in Nuevo Leon that saw not only a lot of crazy holds but also some really creative counters:
Dr. Cerebro vs Erick Ortiz

Dr. Cerebro made an immediate impact on me when I was watching Black Terry matches, and I've been watching as much of him as I can over these past few months. He's awesome. Great in IWRG, and in the 2010s he pops up in small arenas across the countries to challenge locals of varying ability to mat wrestling contests. Probably should be mentioned when discussing Mexico's most skilled technical wrestlers, and he wasn't like a duck out of water when he left the mat. Extremely smooth and athletic off the ropes and in the air as well.

[Rah]

Here's the missing title match from December 2000. I thought I had the Felino singles but it seems that show is not on these discs. Frustrating.

 

 

I actually was making some recommendations in the GWE Discord just a couple days back. I'm not sure how high he'll go but he's been relatively good since like 1996. He's more in the Hechicero vein than Solar/Navarro and I appreciate that as he brings a certain novelty to his matwork that always makes you think 'huh, I've not seen that before!'. As a maestro he beats to his own drum, which is a pity as he's always played second fiddle to other guys on the card (and in niche, English speaking forums) who might not be as good as him. 

 

If I was to make a small (and in no way comprehensive) primer I'd suggest:

 

Early Career matwork:

Vs Ultimo Vampiro May 2000

Vs Felino Jan 2001

Vs Santo Dec 2000

w/ Cerebro Negro vs Virus y Mike Suicida 2005

Early bloodletting brawls

Vs Santo Feb 2001 (Mano a Mano NOT the mask  match)

Carrying green workers to good matches:

Vs Multifacitico 2011

Vs Deccnis 2010

He's a little long in the tooth but he'll still tie you up in pretzels

Vs Comando Negro 2011

Vs Virus 2015

Vs Solar 2015 (?) 

Vs Hechicero 2016

Vs Bombero Infernal 2018

[cad]

Dr. Cerebro vs Toro Negro Jr. (chain match, sort of)
Dr. Cerebro beats the shit out of an indy worker with a chain in front of his opponent's home fans. What's not to love?
Three things I really liked about this. It's brawling Cerebro, which isn't how I usually think of him. It's a match where they put most of their effort into the body/heat part of the match, rather than the finishing stretch. And it's Cerebro as a rudo rather than just an indy legend. After the match Toro Negro doesn't get on the mic and call Cerebro a great wrestler and an even greater person, he takes some shots while they're trying to stretcher the doctor out of the ring.

[concrete1992]

Dr. Cerebro is going to be one of my bigger projects going forward I think.

The match at DEAN against Gringo Loco is a rekindling of an old flame in some ways but also probably more proves that he can turn it on at any given moment. Not sure if it is an issue of motivation or what, but there isn't a ton of wrestlers I want to watch more than a working boots on Dr. Cerebro.

Oh, and the Loco match from DEAN rocks and on most other shows that weekend it would have been an unquestioned match of the show. Just happened to be on the most loaded indie show of the decade so far.

[cad]

Seems like a waste to make a post like this so late in the game, and it's not my style of post at all, but I guess I wanted to make it anyway. My twenty favorite Dr. Cerebro matches, many already listed in this thread, in order of preference, with video links and short spoilertagged reviews.

1. Cerebro vs Virus, August 16 2015

Spoiler

To my mind, this is the preeminent technical match in the post-2010 style that strives to be as elaborate as possible. It can be hard to make this kind of match competitive, but these two want to win. At times you can see them twist an ankle or something to stun their opponent enough to counter into a complex hold. Once they leave the mat, it's clear that these are top athletes who simply choose to wrestle on the canvas, rather than worn down old men who have retreated there out of necessity.

2. Cerebro vs Felino, IWRG IC welter, January 18 2001, part two

Spoiler

Early Cerebro wrestled a much more traditional style. Not every hold is a masterpiece in itself, but he had to work harder to get them. Look at how he digs and adjusts through a series of half-holds until finally catching Felino in that bow and arrow. In true Cerebro fashion, the transitions are almost nonexistent. He gets back into the match by weakening Felino's midsection, but instead of turning it into a story about Felino's ribs, he simply uses it as an opening to lead to the big moves that he needs to even things up. Then, when the match is in the clutch, he pulls that strategy back out of his pocket, and from there he simply picks Felino apart until he gets the winning submission. That's brainy wrestling befitting of a man named Doctor Cerebro.

3. Cerebro vs Erick Ortiz, August 11 2019

Spoiler

Ortiz garnered some notice in these circles for a 2v2 involving him and Virus this/last year. Here he is in a brilliant battle of technical masters from 2019.

4. Cerebro vs Decnis, WWS world welter, September 16 2010, part two, part three

Spoiler

You wouldn't expect a title match featuring a Latin Lover lookalike from AAA to offer much, but then you wouldn't expect a pretty boy stripper to have received his training from Negro Navarro. Decnis tries his hardest to take it in two straight. I always appreciate it when they ramp up the pressure in the second fall instead of just working a straightforward comeback. There's no consistent spelling of the challenger's name. I went with Decnis because that's what his trunks said. You have to understand that Dennis is not a very common name in Spanish. The most famous Dennis is probably Dennis the Menace, but he's not called that in the Spanish version. He's called Daniel el Travieso. So whenever you hear Arturo Rivera refer to Satanico as "Danieeel el Travieso" just know that's the reference he's making.

5. Cerebro vs Multifacetico, WWS world welter, June 2 2011, part two

Spoiler

Cerebro works a completely different style of title match from the year before. Now he's working the modern type of technical match, with nearly every hold a spectacle unto itself. Luchawiki lists this as the fourth and sixth version of Multifacetico, which of course is why they call him Multifacetico 2.0. 

6. Dr. Cerebro vs. Caifan, May 15 2016, alternate link

Spoiler

Imagine Black Terry vs Wotan but they start out with some awesome technical work. And the match is all clipped up. The second link shows a lot of the stuff that the first one omits. My favorite part is when Cerebro slaps Caifan while in a hold. A seething Caifan releases it and stands up while the audience goes "oooh" and you realize that, wow, Cerebro's a lot smaller than the dude he just slapped. Everyone knows what's about to happen except Cerebro, who thinks they can just go right back to grappling after that.

7. Cerebro and Cerebro Negro vs Mike Segura and Virus, IWRG IC parejas, August 25 2005

Spoiler

You have to appreciate IWRG for putting Virus in a match like this, giving it time, and not clipping it down at all. I think it was the doctor and longtime rival Segura who stole the show with their technical work, though. You do NOT have to appreciate IWRG for putting so much thought into constructing the lamest finish imaginable.

8. Cerebro vs Hijo del Santo, February 22 2001

Spoiler

Cerebro gives one of the best rudo performances of his career as he bloodies up Santo on the way to their mask match. Heatseeking stuff isn't the type of work that I associate with the doctor, but he could do it, and it's no surprise that possibly the best ever at putting on classics brings such a performance out of him.

9. Terribles Cerebros vs Malditos, October 14 2010, part two, part three, part four

Spoiler

At a time when Cerebro's team was considered one of the best in the world by their fans, they get beaten up pretty badly and have to fight hard to get back into this match against a bunch of roughhousing journeyman. Some nice brawling, selling, and slick work off the ropes in this one.

10. Cerebro vs Hijo del Santo, IWRG IC welter, December 21 2000

Spoiler

Probably the biggest match of Cerebro's career to that point, and to this day it might rank pretty high on such a list. Any nerves that he might have are covered up pretty well by being in there with one of the best ever at having great matches, and the fact that Cerebro is always at home in a mat based match.

11. Cerebro vs Hechicero, April 9 2016

Spoiler

This is a bit like Cerebro's match with Caifan in that Cerebro has to deal with a bigger, stronger opponent who can match him hold for hold, although they stick to that all the way instead of moving on to hitting each other with chairs and broken bottles. Around this time most of the best Cerebro matches start to come from random one off dates rather than his IWRG bookings.

12. Cerebro, Bombero Infernal and Fuerza Guerrera vs Hijo del Santo, Mascara Sagrada and Mike Segura, September 19 1999

Spoiler

Kind of IWRG's version of the famous AAA 3v3 from March '95. Santo is Santo and Fuerza is Fuerza. Mascara Sagrada is Octagon, the least of the six workers. Segura is Rey Jr., the high flying youngster who gets picked on. Bombero is Psicosis, taking the biggest bumps he can as he's clearly over the moon working with Santo. Cerebro is Panther, mostly doing some basing and chipping in however he can.

13. Cerebro vs Toro Negro Jr., chain, November 13 2021

Spoiler

Cerebro goes to Toro's house and beats him up with a chain. It's a very good heatseeking performance even if he conducts himself as the same businesslike Cerebro as ever. This is probably the loosest application of a match gimmick possible, literally and figuratively. At times they're just having a normal brawl and there happens to be a chain nearby.

14. Cerebro and Black Terry vs Gringo Loco and Hijo del Diablo, January 24 2010
15. Cerebro, Black Terry and Chico Che vs Avisman, Gringo Loco and Hijo del Diablo, March 14 2010

Spoiler

Cerebro stands up for Mexico against the American invaders, most of whom hail from Mexico, and takes a cactus to the face in the process. I think that the third fall is missing from the link for that second match.

16. Cerebro, Cerebro Negro and Fantasma de la Opera vs Aeroman, Fenix and Freelance, July 31 2008

Spoiler

Another really good rudo performance from Cerebro as he busts open Freelance all businesslike. Freelance is a little too flippy in the third fall for someone who's lost that much blood, but that's not on Cerebro.

17. Cerebro vs Tonalli, IWRG IC middle, May 29 2022

Spoiler

This was worked almost American style, as they start off exchanging holds before Cerebro loses his cool and starts bloodying up the kid in the middle portion. I could see that annoying the purists, but it was executed well, and in this decade there isn't a whole lot separating a Mexican title match from a title match anywhere else in the world. The finish is an IWRG special. I do kind of like how IWRG never really had the shamelessness to claim that their titles were world championships.

18. Cerebro, Bombero Infernal and Punch Power vs Mike Segura, Rodi and Ultimo Vampiro, December 2 1999

Spoiler

This existed to set up a title match between Bombero and Vampiro, but it's one of the best Cerebro vs Segura matchups as well. Segura looked like a phenom and Punch Power's presence always delights me.

19. Cerebro, Negro Navarro and Silver King vs Felino, Mr. Niebla and Tony Rivera, January 4 2001

Spoiler

Cerebro and Felino lay the groundwork for their title match with some impressive technical work to start. Cerebro even wins a fall with a top rope frankensteiner to make it somewhat plausible when Felino has to work in his powerbomb counter to that spot two weeks later.

20. Cerebro, Fuerza Guerrera and Veneno vs Fantasy, Matrix and Mike Segura, September 2 2004

Spoiler

Just as match number twelve on this list was reminiscent of a more famous match, this match is itself a slightly lesser version of match number twelve. Cerebro is Cerebro, Fuerza is Fuerza and Segura is Segura. Bombero Infernal is in this match too, oddly enough wrestling as masked technico Matrix.

And there are plenty of others. His mask match vs Santo is worth a watch, he has a fun series with Ricky Marvin at one point, there's that Terribles Cerebros vs Dinastia Navarro series that a lot of people like and more. I'm not saying he has as many great matches as Virus, and I'm not saying he's as good a technical worker as Virus. I'm also not going to say that he doesn't or isn't. They're not on different levels, IMO. The two are a lot more similar than they are different.