IWRG TV 3/23/06

Written By Robert Bihari

IWRG TV 3/23/06:

Kid Tiger and Halcon Salvaje vs Colt and Paramedico: Well I have to apologize for bashing Halcon Salvaje in my last batch of IWRG TV reviews. He looked excellent in this match, especially when working with Paramedico. Maybe they’re both veterans from the same area? They had a great mat exchange including this amazing spot where Paramedico had a weird leglock on Salvaje, sorta like a figure four from the side, so to counter it Salvaje shifted his body and stood up on his hands turning it into a pinning combo! Kid Tiger continues to progress really well and you really can’t look bad against these two veteran rudos. Good ending to the first fall. Second fall was all rudos but also had a cool ending as Paramedico had Halcon Salvaje in a figure-four leglock but he wasn’t giving up so Colt bodyslammed Kid Tiger onto him and he gave up. Genius.:) Good comeback in the third fall and a creative finish. Perfect TV opener from all four guys. Special mention to Javier Llanes who was alone for commentary on this show and was awesome. He had this great rant in the first fall about how it was nice to see guys actually wrestling instead of using punches and kicks or diving outside the ring.

Star Boy/Kung Fu Jr./Panterita vs Cyborg/Magnum Project/AK-47: Kicks off with brawling right away. Rudos control the entire first fall until the tecnicos react. Kung Fu Jr. looks lost so Panterita enters the ring and sends one of Los Oficiales outside, then connects with a plancha over the ringpost! Tecs take fall one. Second fall has each tecnico in an exchange designed to make them look good with Panterita looking the best of course. Star Boy was no slouch either. Kung Fu Jr. was just HORRIBLE and barely ran the ropes properly. Rudos took over and used some nice triple team moves to win the fall. More third fall rudo domination which might have went a bit too long b/c they kept using the same moves over and over. Finally Kung Fu Jr. and Panterita dropkicked Project and AK-47 outside. Kung Fu Jr. nailed a tope suicida while Panterita FLEW over the top with a gorgeous running somersault plancha! Cyborg pinned Star Boy clean with a pumphandle powerslam to win the match for his team. They might have gone a bit long by doing an almost 25 minute match but overall it was really solid. Of course extra special mention to Panterita who is right up there with Mistico, Mascarita 2000 and Jack Evans as flyers who right when they step in the ring – you know there is the possibility of seeing something that will blow you away. He really is far too talented to not be working in CMLL right now… is what I would say if they had a mini’s division that mattered. He’s quickly moving up the list of my current favorite wrestlers.

Mike Segura/Metro/Fantasma Jr. vs Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/El Veneno: The focus of the match was on Segura/Cerebro Negro as they built to their hair match the following week. Rudos brawled early on, concentrating on destroying Segura. He eventually fought back and decked Cerebro Negro with a tope suicida. Tecs took the first fall. Metro had a horrible exchange to start the second fall. He got to face all three rudos and took bad in each exchange. How is that possible? With Veneno I can understand but how do you look bad against the Cerebros? Rudos destroyed the tecnicos to win the fall. Both Segura and Cerebro Negro began bleeding in the third fall during the tecnico comeback. Metro took out Dr. Cerebro with a pescado and Fantasma Jr. went for an asai moonsault(yeah right!) but Veneno yanked his feet out from under him and then took him out with a somersault bodyblock off the apron. This left Segura with Cerebro Negro and Segura used this *AWESOME* somersault dragon screw move that someone in Japan must steal right away and then used a half crab for the submission. Dr. Cerebro(the captain) then entered the ring and took Segura down. Metro entered the ring to break it up but the ref told him to get out and as he was focused on Metro, Cerebro Negro re-entered the ring and low blowed Segura who then got pinned and since he was the captain… rudos win! Average match that was smartly booked.

Negro Casas/Felino/Heavy Metal vs Damian 666/Damian El Terrible/Mr. Aguila: Ah yes, the standard warning to anyone new to IWRG – if you see top CMLL guys in the main event, no matter how good the match looks on paper – IT WILL SUCK. Nobody is gonna push themselves to put on a great match with the Friday/Saturday/Sunday double and triple shots coming up. This was your typical Casas family comedy match. The highlight for me was Heavy Metal forgetting how to run the ropes during the finishing sequence. Match ends with Terrible throwing a cup of water into the ref’s eyes by accident and then some low blow wackiness that I had to fast forward. Even Aguila couldn’t save this one(not that he tried).

Very refreshing to see IWRG once again. It’s a totally different product than what CMLL and AAA offer which is good. It thrils me to be watching Lucha and not having to hit the FF button for replays of fall finishes every 3 minutes.:)