EDITOR’S NOTE: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Lucha Central and Masked Republic.
By El Cultico
Last week, there was a hole in all of our hearts, as IWRG Thursday Night Wrestling decided to take the week off to broadcast an old event. Fortunately, they didn’t take two weeks off like I do every September when I go to visit family in Maryland, because Thursday Night Wrestling is back tonight, and just in time for me to celebrate my one month anniversary of reviewing IWRG shows. Am I saying they came back this week to celebrate that? No, but I’m also not saying it. Yes, this is the closest you’ll get to seeing me act like “Narcissist” era Lex Luger. Remember that Lex Luger? Why am I talking about Lex Luger? Shenron, I wish for you to play the intro music!
Last time, ON IWRG Z, Torneo Fill closed out the Sunday show with an action packed cibernetico, won by the IWRG Tryout team after they unmasked poor Gym Fill’s Super Boy, allowing Madness to pick up a roll up victory. But those issues will take a backseat tonight, as an old face returns to Arena Naucalpan for the first time in a month, with Freelance competing in the semi-main event, teaming with Wisin el Dog and Hijo de Alebrije to face Silver King Jr. and Revolution Crew’s Hijo de Canis Lupis and Rey Mictlan. Meanwhile, the main event features several big names, as Hell Boy and Chessman unite again to battle Mala Fama’s Latigo and Toxin, and Ciclope and Miedo Xtremo of Los Macizos. Which of these three teams will emerge victorious? Will those damned masked men appear to help Hell Boy and Chessman? And will I descend into shameless self promotion by posting a link to my Freelance tribute video? Find out, TODAY!
Boca Negra & Mascara de Hierro defeated Carinoso Jr. & Shura King after Boca Negra pinned Carinoso with a Lionsault. Where to begin with this one?! I guess we’ll start with how weird it was structured. At times the match was fought like it was lucha rules, only to then switch to US tag rules with Carinoso attempting to make a hot tag to Shura King (in for Black Dragon Jr.), only to then immediately revert back to lucha rules for the finish after Shura hit a plancha to the floor on Hierro. It was all over the place, and frankly may have added some spice to a match that was otherwise, how do I put this kindly, the cross between a Nickelback album and Doug Liman’s Jumper. We had either Shura King, Hierro, or both being out of position for a simple armdrag on the ropes (I can’t tell which one was at fault because they were on opposite sides of the ring), and then Shura proceeded to botch it when they finally got on the same page. And I have no idea what the finish was; it seemed Carinoso got a kiss on Boca Negra, but then the camera cut away for a crowd shot, and when we cut back to the action, Carinoso was holding his eyes for like 20 seconds before Negra pulled him to the mat and hit the Lionsault. What happened? Was it an eye poke? A foul? I don’t know, and frankly, with how silly the next few seconds before the finish was, I don’t care. All I can tell you is it sucked. And it’s not like the in between stuff between these hideous sequences was good either. Maybe the worst IWRG match I’ve seen since starting these reviews. -*
The show quickly turned around with Ciclope and Miedo Xtremo making their way to the ring to cut a promo on their match tonight, with Ciclope focusing his ire on both Chessman and Hell Boy. I think it’s safe to say Los Macizos are pro-IWRG to Chessman and Hell Boy’s anti-IWRG. Now watch this be a swerve and they’re both two of the masked men. Somewhere, Vince Russo is hoping that’s the case and expressing it in a way where he says “bro” a lot.
Angelux & Maya Fly defeated Dezzendiente & Fauno after Angelux pinned Dezzendiente with a Death Rider and Maya Fly pinned Fauno with…I think it was an attempt at a Top Rope Headscissors reversal, but it looked like it turned into a quasi-Spanish Fly. Either way, he pinned him. This was the second straight match where someone advertised wasn’t in the match, with Fauno stepping in for El Actor. There was a time where this was commonplace in both CMLL and AAA, and I guess it somehow still is something that happens with IWRG, as I’ve noticed it a few times over the last few shows. I’ll say this; I can’t blame Black Dragon Jr. for no-showing that first match. It was so bad that it made me reconsider if The Skulls was the worst thing I watched in the last week!
Look at this acting! Hard to believe this movie is at 9% on Rotten Tomatoes
Fortunately, this match was MILES better than the opener. It was far from perfect mind you; as the finish shows, Maya Fly tried some things that were a little bit out of his range, while a good chunk of the action was overall just kind of there. But aside from Maya Fly’s finisher and him needing to tighten things up on some of his rana’s, the work was smooth, Angelux, Dezzendiente and Fauno’s were all decent, and most importantly, there was never a point where I was sitting here regretting my life choices. You know, unlike the opener! A competent match that I will never think about again. I’ll take it! ** ½
Hysteriosis defeated Lunatik Extreme in Lucha Random after pinning Extreme with a flash School Boy Rollup. This was definitely somewhat of a screwy finish, as Extreme’s shoulders seemed to be up AND the ref was counting a tad faster after arguing with Extreme a minute before. Extreme cut a promo after wanting a rematch due to this, which Hysteriosis seemed receptive. That’s good, because I definitely want more of this! They started off fast with Hysteriosis hitting a suicide dive to start the match, and it was bombs, big moves, and the occasional Extreme Double Stomp to Hysteriosis’ face (how he survived it I will never know!). It was a bit one sided with Extreme controlling the action, but he was so good at it that it didn’t hurt. It also didn’t hur that Hysteriosis’ brief offensive flurries were terrific; the best moment was when he attempted to go for a triangle dive twice, Extreme moved out of the way both times, forcing Hysteriosis to hit a wild (but ultimately successful) tope suicida for a second time. You don’t see sequences that well thought out or creative these days, and it’s something that really stood out to me as impressive compared to other sequences I’ve seen this year. Like I said, I’m glad there will be a sequel cause this was a great sprint, and an example of how good the Lucha Random concept is when it’s not forcing El Veneno on us. No, I am not letting that one go! *** ¾
Aguila Oriental, Bronco del Norte, and Falcon Fire defeated Jasper Faster, Nicolas Richard, and Shocko after Falcon pinned Shocko with a Moonsault. The start of this match featured a major development, and I’m not talking about IWRG having a backstage segment for the first time since I started watching again. No, the development was the formation of a new trio consisting of Aguila, Bronco, and Falcon, who are now calling themselves Los Reyes del Norte (The Kings of the North). We now go live to Jon Snow, the last King of the North, for his thoughts.
There was a moment in this match where I was thinking this was going to be another slog, and yes, it was when Jasper Faster, Nicolas, and Shocko were in control for what seemed like forever. And don’t get me wrong; that part was boring enough that it took some points off this match. But my Grodd, once the tecnicos took control in the back half, this match turned into something spectacular. In a way it almost made the first few minutes forgivable, as if that was a set up to the nonstop action we got the rest of the way. And it was legit nonstop, with TWO crowd dives (one from Falcon, one from Aguila), several other dives to the floor, and just well executed lucha with everyone in the right spot and everyone connecting. And no one had to resort to the indieriffic Destroyers or Crucifix Drivers either! I still can’t say I love Jasper, Nicolas, and Shocko, but they held up their end of the bargain and made the technicos look great, though it’s not like Aguila, Bronco, and Falcon needed a ton of help. It was a match that was the of two halves, but that second half was so exciting that it willed this match into being great. ****
Hijo de Canis Lupus, Rey Mictlan, and Silver King Jr. defeated El Hijo del Alebrije, Freelance, and Wisin el Dog after Lupus pinned Wisin with a Double Stomp. Yes, you read that right; Wisin el Dog LOST! How can you book Wisin and then make him do the J-O-B?! This makes Cody Rhodes losing to Roman at WrestleMania 39 and having the rubber chicken thrown at him look like Pink Floyd’s The Wall by comparison. WHY IWRG?! WHY?!
Aside from that terrible decision, I have not had more fun watching a wrestling match all year than I did this one. Not only is the Wisin gimmick adorable, but Wisin is actually the real f*****g deal! Let’s review; in this match, Wisin not only took a Apron Powerbomb and had a vuvuzela broken over his head, but he pulled off a hurricanrana, a perfect moonsault, a Super Calo dive, and, this is true, A MOONSAULT OFF THE BALCONY! Ladies and gentlemen, I was in the theater opening weekend for Mad Max: Fury Road, I was there for peak a My Chemical Romance/Alkaline Trio concert at their peaks; hell I’ve even seen a grown man satisfy a camel (alright, maybe not that one). But I have never in my life seen a dude in a dog costume hit, once again, A BALCONY MOONSAULT! This is why I can’t walk away from this sport! Oh, and in between the novelty of it all, we got a terrific set of rudo performances from Lupus, Mictlan (who also did his ring announcer gimmick again!), and the younger Silver King, the best I’ve seen Hijo del Alebrije look in awhile, and a vintage Freelance performance. Honestly, that made me almost as happy as Wisin. I love Freelance; I even made a video for him if you don’t believe me (there’s that shameless self promotion I promised)! And it filled my heart to see age hasn’t dulled his step, as he was still doing all the high flying you could ask for, even pulling out a moonsault into the crowd for old time’s sake. I cannot objectively rate this match five stars; Wisin lost after all! But I can safely say I have not had more fun watching a match this year than I did watching this one. **** ¾
Ciclope & Miedo Xtremo defeated Chessman & Hell Boy and Latigo & Toxin in an Elimination Tag Team Match. Latigo and Toxin were eliminated first after Ciclope rolled up Latigo with a School Boy, and Ciclope and Xtremo then won by DQ when the masked men appeared and attacked them along with Hell Boy and Chessman. Now here’s some good news; the masked men unmasked and revealed themselves! I didn’t recognize them at first, but it turns out they are none other than Samoano, who I saw wrestle in AAA back in 2018 and have hardy seen since, and El Mexicano, who I am less familiar with. Not the most exciting names, but a) that may be for the best as this gets fresher faces involve and b) at least the guessing game over who these guys are is over. Beyond that revelation, and the fact that we’re getting more of this group vs. Los Macizos pretty soon based off the post-match challenges, this was a good, albeit short, main event that probably would’ve been better without the finish. Everyone was working hard and everyone was looking good; I wasn’t surprised regarding Ciclope, Xtremo, Toxin, Latigo, and Hell Boy, but it was a pleasant surprise to see Chessman still able to hang with them. Not that he hasn’t always been good, but given his current ring shape, I kind of figured age had slowed him down. Not even close as it turns out! As a result, this was fun enough that I’d like to see this match, or a regular tag with a combo of these teams, run back instead of being used as an angle. The good news is we at least unveiled who Hell Boy and Chessman are working with, we have a growing list of enemies for them, and this angle can maybe start building momentum and have more regular matches. Also, the blow was softened by that semi-main being so great; hard to get too mad when you get something like that! *** ¼
When this show began with those first two matches, I was beginning to think it might be a long night in Arena Naucalpan. Instead, this turned out to be a super fun show! Lucha Random delivered, the new Los Reyes del Norte stable had a great first night and got the best match I’ve seen out of the Chilean stable so far, and the semi-main event was one of my favorite things ever that featured, I’ll say it again, A GUY IN A DOG SUIT DOING A BALCONY MOONSAULT! If you can’t enjoy that, you’re dead inside. Even with the main event being more angle than match, and even with the slow start, this turned out to be an IWRG show worth watching. Let’s hope this Sunday’s show (which I sadly won’t get to review) and next Thursday’s show (which I will review) will be just as good. TILL THEN!
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