[2000-05-11-IWRG] Ultimo Vampiro vs Dr Cerebro

[soup23]

Scorpio Sr. holds up the title and we have Jorge Gomez there for the proceedings too. Cerebro having the medical logo on his mask is a nice touch. Another match enhanced by the atmosphere and the feeling of an old school match with families going to the matches as their entertainment for the week. They show an audience clip of what I assume is an adult daughter putting her head on her mom’s shoulder that is endearing. Also little touches like after Vampiro’s excellent dive in the end of the first fall, they show the concessions guy passing out the beers and popcorn to the patrons. The opening 9 minutes of this are all matwork and the guys are stuck together like glue. Cerebro then really goes to work on the leg of Vampiro. We have talked about the leg selling and this I think is a great example of effective selling without the leg being totally neutralized. The leg is bothering Vampiro but he still is able to hit that amazing dive that turns the tide on the whole fall. They spill into the front row from the momentum of the dive and Vampiro secures the win shortly thereafter. Second fall opens up with Cerebro attacking the leg again with a bit more aggression and desperation now that he is down a fall. They have done a good job throughout this match in showing that Vampiro can hit one big move to overtake control of the match. He is also limping more and more on the leg. Vampiro tries to lift Cerebro up for a suplex but the leg gives way and a roll up by Cerebro with an assist from the ropes gives him the second fall. Vampiro pleads his case to the referee to no avail. Third fall opens up with more desperation from both and we get another insane dive by Vampiro. That is followed up with Cerebro’s first dive of the match. Inside, a series of nearfalls narrowly get a victory for both men. Vampiro goes for one more big move to put Cerebro away in the lionsault but this misses and Cerebro hits a DVD for a 2.9 count. Vampiro comes back and has Cerebro all tied up but Cerebro refuses to submit. Cerebro then catches Vampiro in a great submission with the arms locked up and him upside down on Cerebro’s knee. That gains the submission win. Love Cerebro staggering around favoring the arm right after the match. This is classic title match lucha. If that isn’t your thing, no need to give this a try as you will say it was boring as shit and slap down a ** rating. If you do like title match lucha, this was a pretty damn good interpretation of that style. Awesome show for IWRG overall. ****

[Tim Evans]

I think my favorite thing about this match is it's not the normal lucha title match. The first fall goes almost 10 minutes and the third fall about 5. Chad is right that this is mostly mat based, especially the first fall. You can tell the Negro Navarro influence in these guys. Cerebro is so crisp at everything he does. I haven't seen much Ultimo Vampiro but he was good too. Nice dives that go over the guardrail too. Finish was sick.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was one of the better title matches of the year. Not that the bar for title matches has been set particularly high but at least they made an effort to work a meaningful match where both wrestlers were striving to win. Vampiro was awkward at times but always on the same page as Cerebro and they did a good job of building the match from the ground up concentrating on matwork early on and paying it off with dives later on. They milked about as much drama out of the bout as they could get in a small arena and stayed faithful to a lot of the staples of title match wrestling. Cerebro felt superior to Vampiro, and there were hints of a carry, which you don't want to see in a title match where both workers are giving it their all, but that was a minor quibble given the effort on display. Some nice dives, accumulated fatigue, and classic submission holds make this well worth watching. And Cerebro is great as a quasi-Dr. Wagner.

[soup23]

This really felt like an OJ match when I watched it.

[grendel]

This was awesome. If you like matwrestling, Dr. Cerebro gives a clinic here. Some pretty impressive submissions throughout the match by Dr. Cerebro.The dive from Ultimo Vampiro to the outside was great too. I never doubted Cerebro would win this one. He was just superior IMO. A true classic!

[Moonsault Marvin]

The first fall was all back and forth matwork and holds and was really tremendous. The big dive with both guys going over the barrier was awesome. After Ultimo Vampiro got cheated in the second by the referee not seeing his feet in the ropes, I was hoping he would get more aggressive in the third, but that wasn't where they took the match. I felt like they ran out of steam in the third, as some of the rope running was looking slow and the high flying a bit awkward, but overall, this match was very good.

 

***1/2