In Case You Weren't Aware, Lucha Indies Kinda Rule!

Lucha Memes Chairo II

(2015/12/25)

Well, Hey There! Are You IWRG? Long Time No See!

IWRG 2015/10/18

LA Park, Trauma I, Trauma II vs. Dr. Wagner Jr., Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., Golden Magic

Massive disappointment, nothing even close to an out-of-control Arena Naucalpan mayhem I was secretly expecting. It was the worst possible version of Park vs. Wagner, with all the posing, shenanigans, annoying stalling and screwy finish. Wagner was the worst here with all the unnecessary posing and crap like that. Such a real life douche, but you gotta give him credit for being a smart worker who knows how to get and stay over with the crowds with minimal fucking efforts. Even when Park and Wagner actually wrestled, it was painfully average, with lots of sloppiness and low-bump shortcuts. Wagner’s son was useless here. Terrible wrestler. The Traumas and Golden Magic were the saving graces of the match, they did some cool and fancy shit and made sure the match stays somewhat coherent. I also liked some brawling portions but those were rare, unfortunately. Such a meh match.

**1/4

Muy Buena Lucha

Chilanga Mask 2015/08/16

1.      Psycko Kid, Astro Rey Jr., Fulgor I, Fulgor II vs. Rey Apocalipsis, Tony Cisneros, Extreme Fly, Luz Clarita

I know maybe one of two guys here, at best, so naturally I had no idea what to expect, other than it had to be crazy by default considering it’s an indie atomico we’re talking about here. When they were doing the actual crazy shit, the match was good, there were two amazing series of spectacular dives and topes, but the problem is they wanted to try other things as well, and it was mostly a failure. Regular in-ring stuff was not very good, matter fact it was really bad and sloppy at many moments, not to mention all the awkward eliminations. But oh well… At least we got the dives. Passable match, but barely.

**

2.      Dr. Cerebro vs. Virus

Yep, this match is a true delicacy for all the matcore enthusiasts out there, me being one of them. The match was 16 minutes long, with 13 minutes being spent entirely on the mat and then with 3 minutes of “action” leading to a fantastic finish. That’s it, they didn’t need to do more. Everything felt purposeful, raw and sophisticated at the same time. The matwork was crazy good, totally insane, it’s some of the most mesmerizing chain wrestling you’ll ever see, with struggle for every move. The way they were jockeying for positions was brutally good and it looked both intense and gracious, all those escapes were mindblowing.

What a goddamn match!

*****

3.      Keira vs. Zeuxis

Good opening matwork with some really painful holds, great, intense strikes and rough beatings all around, but the match was just not good, not enough for three stars. The last 3-4 minutes almost ruined the whole thing. I don’t want to see package piledriver kickouts in my wrestling. I don’t need that crap, especially not coming from ladies. And that wasn’t even the only highly implausible kickout, mind you! The finish, however, holy fucking SHIT! Probably the sickest thing I’ve seen in a long ass time, it was only one split second, even less, before a decapitation. Just a nasty dance of death, Grim Reaper was lurking closely.

**3/4

4.      LUCHA DE QUATRO TERCIAS: Aero Boy, Super Mega, Magnifico vs. Iron Kid, Alas de Acero, Aramis vs. Impulso, Belial, Arez vs. Disturbio, Garrobo Punk, Ciber Punk

This match had a little bit of everything, but at the end of the day, it delivered in key aspects. It was crazy, dynamic, action-packed, there were some batshit insane spots, etc. I mean, shit, there was 12 fucking competitors in the match, with only Disturbio not being an indie guy, and ***1/4 is as good as it gets all things considered, trust me on this. Some botches and funny failures did happen, but nothing too hard that would ruin the mood, so yeah, overall this match didn’t leave me grouchy.

***1/4

5.      Trauma II vs. Blue Panther

Another great matcore match with story being Trauma II trying to impress Blue Panther with his rich lucha knowledge, passed on him by his father Negro Navarro, T2 was trying to show everyone his father’s school is just as good as Panther’s. This match was all about the matcore, and the escalated “action” was even shorter than the one in Cerebro/Virus, and guess what – the finish was just as awesome, but still, this match is clearly at least one level below Cerebro/Virus. The body of work just wasn’t as captivating and tight. But fuck me, Cerebro and Virus sure as hell set the bar too damn high, because this was still a nifty mini-classic. The aforementioned finish was the best part of the match, its simplicity and brutality was off the charts, and I really want to buy a drink or three to whoever thought of that one.

****1/4

6.      Guerrero Maya vs. Guerrero Maya Jr.

In case you’ve been living under the rock, Maya Senior is actually Black Terry. And Maya Junior is his alleged son. Which means this is a father on son, son on father violence. But it’s nothing new for these two troopers, as they’ve been feuding on indie scene for quite a while now, and then there’s their bitter feud from IWRG years ago, so they’re not strangers to beating each other silly. This started off as something we’ve already seen in Cerebro/Virus and Trauma/Panther, but you just knew something’s off with these two fucks and it was only a matter of time before hell breaks loose, tensions were high during those opening minutes. And then a violent blood brawl started, first with Maya Jr. laying some serious smackdown on his dad, making him bleed, ripping his mask, pretending he’s not 63 years old, etc. He even used Arena Naucalpan’s signature bucket for a headshot. Nasty! Senior’s eventual comeback was amazing and led to 5-6 picture perfect minutes of revenge violence. Terry is probably the best brawler in business, he’s proven that countless times before, and once again here as he was charging on his son with elbows, Jake LaMotta jabs, super stiff kicks to the spine, he made him bleed hard, he used that bucket back on him, etc. The entire thing was one big orgy of mayhem, I adored it. The final 2-3 minutes saw both men selling the beatings inside the ring and trying to win at all cost, which led to a DQ finish. Since I knew there’s no way this would end up clean, I was fine with the way they called it a day, and especially because they fought some more after the match.

This was amazing, boys and girls!

****3/4

7.      Caifan & Avisman vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Hechicero

Some truly great parts here, but also some headscratching parts as well. Like, there were just enough annoying moments that prevented the match from being great. Early matcore was very cool and when they transitioned into a strike-heavy slugfest it got even better, but as the match was getting longer, its structure was getting looser and looser, and some illogical stuff occurred. I’m not going to bother you with all the details because the match was 25 minutes long and lots of it happened in there. Hechicero and Caifan still have a great chemistry and it looks we might get another singles clash between the two. I’m pretty damn pumped for that!

***3/4

8.      SUPER LIBRE: Pagano vs. Trauma I

So, this Pagano fella, right? He gets bed rep on internet because he’s a trashy hardcore guy, but I think it’s just because most fans hate the style. Newsflash – he’s not that bad. I mean, sure, he’s not very athletic or technically sound, he can be pretty sloppy and too slow at moments, but at least he’s willing to bump hard and do crazy shit to compensate and to entertain the crowds. I guess that’s why he’s one of the most popular indie guys in Mexico this year. He brings blood and violence, and knows how to work with weapons.

This was a really good hardcore tussle, with both guys taking turns in desecrating each other with chairs, forks, broken glass bottles, lighttubes, PUNCHES, etc. The match had its structure and flew well, more or less. All those Pagano negatives I mentioned in first paragraph happened in this match too, but good things outweighed that easily. All things considered, this was a super fun hardcore brawl with tons of violence and brutality, I recommend it.

***3/4

Give the Traumas Their Own Fed So They Can Brawl All the Time, Plz

IWRG 2014/12/21

Traumas (I & II) vs. Negro Navarro & Black Terry

Los Traumas are here to brawl but their father NN convinces them they should work a clean, pure llaves match instead. Strangely, I & II agree with that, they’re fools! Oh gods how I missed matches like this in IWRG, a tight hold-for-hold lucha full of scientific submission work, swank matfest worked in a true maestro fashion. Navarro sucked, or borderline sucked, in everything I’ve seen him do in 2014, but he was good here, his matwork actually led somewhere, there was a sense of escalation, the opening session with him and Trauma I was very nice, but then again, it was almost nothing when compared to what Terry and T II did, that was some nasty ass wrestling, just a sheer intensity and heat that showed in every hold they got. The primera was basically a matfest perfection, the segunda was relatively short far from perfection but still good, and then we come to the major problem – there was no tercera, otherwise this would have a serious five star potential. The geezer maestro team won 2-0, so ultimately the booking and rushing hurt what was a potential masterpiece. Shame, but waddaya gonna do, it’s still a fabulous retro style tag.

****1/2

IWRG 2014/7/27

Oficiales (AK 47 & 911) vs. Traumas (I & II)

Nasty and violent helter-skelter, good old IWRG style, this is where the Traumas triumph, pure brawling with blood and nasty smacking. Hell yeah.

****1/4

IWRG 2014/8/17

Cabelleras vs. Mascaras: Oficiales (AK 47 & 911) vs. Traumas (I & II) [3^rd Fall Only]

For some reasons the primera and segunda are missing, so fuck life, I wanna murder someone now, ugh… However, this is still worth watching because the tercera is 10 minutes long and totally delivered, it has the Trauma boys doing their all time favorite thing – beating the shit out of people.

N/A

New IWRG: Brawling Is Awesome (well... not always)

IWRG 2014/12/7

SUPER LIBRE: Canis Lupus & Eterno vs. Oficial 911 & Danny Casas

Hell yeah, this is what I’m talking about, this is what IWRG needs to be like, the IWRG we all know and love. Just a nasty, dangerous and crazy hardcore slugfest with buckets of blood, heavy brawling, striking, punching, chairshots, etc. The caida finishes were well done and the pacing was awesome and catchy, finally done right in this fed. The match finish was especially good with 911 and Casas going batshit wild at each other after three cases of heavy miscommunication, they set up a hair match for next week.

****1/2

IWRG 2014/12/7

Cabellera vs. Cabellera: Toscano vs. Veneno

I barely made it through the primera and then gave up. Sucky suckity suck.

bad

IWRG 2014/12/14

Traumas (I & II) vs. Negro Navarro & Black Terry

In Chilanga Mask or Monterrey this would’ve ended up being a MOTYC or something, but not here in IWRG unfortunately. Don’t get me wrong, this was still a good match, but it needed to be amazing considering the names involved. Navarro was unbearable once again, he got way more ring time than Terry, which is unfortunate because Terry vs. Trauma II, that’s where the money is, they had some amazing sequences where vicious strikes were thrown, and their post-match stuff was glorious, here’s hoping we see a lucha de apuesta between the two, preferably in Chilanga Mask, sweet Jesus would that rock or what? Terry bled of course. Navarro had a lot of beef with Trauma I, and I marked out every time he got chopped silly, that was the only thing he was good for in this match. All in all, good match with some great fucking ingredients, but ultimately hurt by questionable booking and Negro Navarro, who’s become a growing pain in my ass.

***1/4

IWRG 2014/12/14

Cabellera vs. Cabellera: Oficial 911 vs. Danny Casas

The ending was such a lolworthy bullshit, the match was very good until it occurred, especially the first two falls, the tercera was so-so, it lacked good pacing and something was just… off. But still, good cabellera match overall with both guys brawling hard and bleeding properly. Danny is Negro Casas’ nephew and not bad at all, I wonder why he doesn’t work in CMLL.

***

Obscure Lucha: I Can Hear Sweat Trickling Down Your Cheek, Your Heartbeat Sound Like Sasquatch Feet

LILL 2014/9/16

FLLM Masters Championship: Solar vs. Negro Navarro ©

These two maestro veterans are having a huge ass series of what are supposed to be highly critically acclaimed matches, all over Mexico (and something in the US even), but this is actually the first time for me to watch them in a singles match. If this was a textbook example of what their rivalry looks like, than thank you, but no thank you, I’ll pass because I don’t feel like I’m missing much. The match was 18 minutes long and it was just a too cooperative exhibition of scientific holds and “scientific holds”. Let me clear the air here, the sense of exhibition is a matter of respect in lucha and it happens quite often, but these two came across as some rookies and kept doing it until the very end of the match, in these types of matches there is usually a turning point where luchadors stop screwing around and just begin fucking each other up. Well, that did not occur here, at all. Two snowflakes for few cool looking holds, and that’s it.

**

XMW 2014/3/30

Pentagon Jr. vs. Arez

Slightly, just slightly weaker than their 6/21 sequel from the same indie league, this was a total dance of death that eats little babies. Arez is an indie hack with a T-shirt that says “Mexican Strong Style”, so of course I had so much fun watching him get obliterated by the brutal barbarian Pentagon. Considering this was their first match, it’s kind of odd Arez got way more offense here than

****1/4

Chilanga Mask 2014/10/25

Black Terry & Hechicero vs. Negro Navarro & Trauma II

Good match, but unfortunately, not as good as the paper might suggest. First we got nine minutes of Hechicero/Navarro and it wasn’t anything special really, just a solid exhibition, then we got five minutes of Terry/Trauma exhibition which was better and fiercer. At around 14 minute mark all hell broke loose and everyone started throwing nasty shots, but it didn’t last long enough to achieve anything meaningful to the rhythm or the story of the match. After that we got another Terry/Trauma session that was great, but the match didn’t end on a high note, Navarro and Hechicero just didn’t click, Hechicero had to hold back a lot because Navarro didn’t show any interest in adjusting his style even for a little bit.

***1/4

Chilanga Mask 2014/10/26

Black Terry vs. Hechicero

Now this was more like it, a nasty, gnarly and gritty lucha with tight matwork and rough smacks, great match between these two BITW contenders. One crucial thing about the matwork here, it was way better than what we saw in Hechicero/Navarro sessions from the day earlier, instead of technique exhibition here we got pure WAR, good old grueling and punishing ground based lucha that crossed over to surly brawling in a tremendous fashion. The finish was so well done and because of BTJr’s awesome handheld you could feel every nasty shot and sell. Also, due to the finish it seems a rematch is inevitable, fuck yes.

****1/2