IWRG 1/15/06 (1/12/06)

Written By Robert Bihari

IWRG 1/15/06 (1/12/06):

Frisbee/Kid Tiger vs Colt/Rey Estruendo: Typical IWRG opener. Really slow to start, picked up near the end of the first fall, some good stuff in the second fall and a really nice third fall. These openers all tend to blend together so you can rarely distinguish between them but to me… that’s OK. I’d rather know I’m gonna get a solid opener rather than hope I’ll see a decent match. I like all four of these guys and Colt wins bonus points for once again busting out an old AZTECAS RULES t-shirt. I WANT! Kid Tiger is coming a lot great. Another year or year a half and he may be ready to get buried by Negro Casas on a regular basis.

Star Boy/Mike Segura/Panterita vs Black Jaguar/Fantasma De La Opera/Xibalba: Oh man did I ever like this! Thanks to Xibalba improving his work lately, all six guys here was average(Xibalba/Jaguar) to great(Segura) workers and it made for a good match. Panterita did a PSYCHO running somersault plancha over the top in the second fall and Segura did a bullet tope suicida in the third fall. Panterita is way too talented but way too small at the same time. He’s been getting pushed lately as high as the semi-main event so I’m happy his size isn’t keeping him in the openers but at the same time… I just can’t ever see Panterita working a match involving any big name CMLL guys or the usual IWRG main event crew. His best bet is to get work in CMLL in the mini’s division since he’s smaller than Bam Bam but bigger than Pequeno Olimpico.

Virus/Volador Jr./Sagrado vs Cyborg/Dr. X/Nitro: I really enjoyed the early portion of the match where the guys were working the mat. Rudos took over to slow things down which was alright but not great. I think Dr. X and Nitro get exposed big time when they don’t have a third partner to hold things together for them like Sangre Azteca or Hooligan. They just don’t have the imagination to do things on their own and Nitro especially comes off as REALLY LAZY unlike his trios matches with Azteca and or Hooligan and Dr. X. I mean, how do you do a rudo brawl without ANY triple team moves? Or even double team moves? Maybe ten years ago that would have worked but definitely not in 2006 Lucha. Tecnicos won the second fall quick. Could have used some more fast exchanges in the third fall but the work was passable. Camera didn’t catch a Virus frankensteiner off the apron on Nitro. Sagrado pinned Cyborg as Volador did a wicked Spanish Fly to pin Dr. X. Crowd popped HUGE for the move! Great moment of the match: Nitro falling for the best chant ever.

Crowd: Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitro!
(Nitro ignores)
Crowd: Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitro!
(Nitro ignores)
Crowd: Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitro!
(Nitro finally looks into the crowd and gives them a thumbs up for cheering him)
Crowd: CHINGA TU MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADRE!

That bit NEVER gets old!:D

Scorpio Jr./Head Hunter I/El Veneno/Cerebro Negro vs Pierroth/El Hijo Del Pierroth/El Averno/El Mephisto: Usual brawl that you’d expect. I was looking forward to it turning into a regular match at some point to see some Cerebro Negro vs Averno/Mephisto work but that never happened. Pierroth II did a run-in for the DQ.

I liked the first three matches and the main event was not completely horrible as one might think. Definitely an episode worth getting. If you understand Spanish you want it even more b/c Javier Llanes is the best commentator in Mexico right now. He was actually talking about how Xibalba won his trios match the previous week and Segura was out for revenge. I can’t even remember the last time any of the CMLL announcers acknowledged something that happened the week before unless it was a huge main event angle.