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
Goodness me; a week goes by and suddenly everything has changed in the landscape of the Internacional Wrestling Revolucion Grupo! Alright, maybe not everything has changed, but at least a few things are different, all thanks to IWRG’s Guerra de Golfo event this past Sunday. No, I didn’t get a chance to review the show as I originally hoped, but I did get to watch the show on Tuesday afternoon and a) I’ve seen better and b) boy oh boy was there a lot that happened. What exactly happened? There’s only one way I can explain, and that’s with a certain Dragon Ball Z song playing as I recap both last Thursday and last Sunday. HIT IT!
Last time, ON IWRG THURSDAY NIGHT WRESTLING, the top rudos in the company finally crossed paths, as Hell Boy, El Mexicano, Samoa, and Chessman attacked Revolution Crew’s Hijo del Canis Lupus, Multifacetico Jr. and Rey Mictlan. That’s where the good news ended for Hell Boy and co., however, as his first team up with El Mexicano and Samoa ended with SoCal wrestler Fratelki and Los Macizos’ Ciclope and Miedo Xtremo defeating them to win Thursday’s main event. Days later at Guerra de Golfo, Hell Boy seemed to regather momentum, cornering Flamita as he cheated to defeat Toxin to become IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Champion, before taking Fratelli’s hair in the Guerra de Golfo final. However, Hell Boy was only in position to take Fratelli’s hair after Lupus and Mictlan got a measure of revenge, attacking Hell Boy in the second Guerra de Golfo cage match, securing his loss. Tonight, things will get even more heated, as Lupus, Multifacetico, and Mictlan battle Chessman, Hell Boy, and Samoa, with Ciclope, Miedo Xtremo, and Falcon Fire along for the ride. Which trio walks out victorious? Is Flamita also aligned the Hell Boy stable? And will Wisin el Dog appear again?! Find out, TODAY!
Angelux & Maying Fly defeated Dezzendiente & Estirpe defeated Angelux & Maying Fly after Angelux and Maying Fly pinned Estirpe following an Angelux Frog Splash. I am getting dangerously close to putting Maying Fly in the Jasper Faster/Nicolas Richard/Shocko box of “IWRG luchadors I don’t want to see on my screen anymore.” I’ll give him credit for hitting the Super Calo dive nice and for hitting a nice Spanish Fly towards the end. Of course, he nearly slipped and killed himself and Estirpe on that Spanish Fly, and that was after he had botched a hurricanrana spot earlier and slipped on the top rope during another spot. Not only does it expose Maying Fly as wildly inconsistent, but some of these moves he’s missing (or barely pulling off) could lead to him or whoever he’s working with getting seriously hurt. Hopefully he realizes this, or someone else does before its too late. The rest of the match was just there; Angelux was far more consistent (if less exciting) than his partner, and Dezzendiente and Estirpe were alright, if uninspiring. I suppose the positive to Maying Fly’s inconsistency is that without it, this match would’ve been far more boring. Then again, it’s never a good sign when the best part of the match is “did you see that guy nearly botch three moves? Exciting stuff!” ** ¼
Silver King Jr. was out to cut a promo hyping himself, Hijo del Silver King, and El Hijo del Alebrije vs. Rokambole, Rokambole Jr., and Villano V Jr. later in the show. Villano V Jr. interrupted, both played to the crowd, and I was left begging these two to either kiss and get it over with or fight for the IWRG Junior de Juniors Championship and get it over with. Either scenario works, just do something!
Black Dragon NG & Sangre Dorada defeated Fauno & Mascara de Hierro defeated Black Dragon NG & Sangre Dorada after Fauno pinned Dorada and Hierro pinned Dragon after Fauno splashed Dorada onto Dragon off the top rope. This match was better than the opener, which is like saying the Calgary Flames were better than the Vancouver Canucks this past year; they were both bad, and being slightly less bad isn’t the own you think it is. I will say that this match did have one thing in common with the opener, as the biggest highlight was a Sangre Dorada botch that reminded me an awful lot of this.
Yes, Sangre Dorada did the Jey Uso botch and yes, I did the Leo point at the screen meme when it happened. And that was the extent of excitement I had towards this match. I’ll give some credit to Black Dragon NG, who not only tried here but looked good (he had a nice over the turnbuckle tope), while Fauno and Mascara de Hierro were solid and steady. The problem with those two is that they’re always solid, steady, and boring when they have any offense, and that was once again the case here, with the two offering nothing when they had control. Throw in Dorada’s bad night and there was only so much Dragon could do in the handful of minutes this match had. But hey, at least it got to be the Calgary Flames to the opener’s Canucks. Small victories I suppose. ** ½
Jasper Faster, Nicolas Richard, and Shocko defeated Big Mike, Big Ovett Jr., and Freelance after Shocko pinned Ovett with Sliced Bread #2. What a rollercoaster of emotions this match was for me. When Freelance and Los Strippers Big came out, I was like this.
Then my nemesis Jasper Faster (more like Jasper Slower, amirite?!), Nicolas Richard, and Shocko came out and I was like this.
And then by the time the match was over, I was like this!
Honestly, after this match, I feel I’m finally getting a feel on Jasper, Nicolas, and Shocko; they annoy me with their overlong, uninteresting heat segments, they seem to get better the longer matches go, and their matches are elevated by the quality of their opponents. This match had all of it. Jasper, Nicolas, and Shocko were in control far longer than I would’ve liked (especially after Jasper couldn’t base properly for a Big Mike rana), but the match got so much time, Mike, Ovett, and Freelance were so great, and Jasper, Nicolas, and Shocko rose enough to the occasion that this match ended up sizzling. In fairness, I will say that Shocko does seem to be a slight cut above his partners; he’s got some legit high flying chops, and there was some snap in that Sliced Bread finisher that many people don’t have. But the story was the tecnicos here. As I often say, there’s probably no luchador more underrated than Big Mike, and he was somehow the third best of his team, with Ovett flying around like a high speed cannonball, and Freelance continuing to do what Freelance does; cool moves and crowd dives. It’s amazing that Freelance is 46, looks 66, and still moves like he’s 26. May he never retire, and may he have more matches like this one. Against all odds, this match reached greatness. ****
There was some post-match shenanigans here, with Big Mike cutting a promo and then Shocko, Jasper, and Nicolas calling out the local commissioner, who promptly rejected whatever their request was. I can’t swear to this, but Guerra de Golfo featured a segment where Caballero de Plata was forced to vacate the IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship to this same commissioner, in a segment that featured Jasper, Nicolas, and Shocko supporting that decision. Perhaps this was the commissioner rejecting the Chilean’s attempt to have the belt given to one of them, thus leading to a tournament? Time will tell.
Aguila Roja & Rey Halcon defeated Aguila Oriental & Hysteriosis after Aguila Roja pinned Hysteriosis with a Sunset Flip Rollup. You don’t see that finish every day, and you don’t see matches like this every day. This bout was IWRG putting four maniacs together, letting them go out there and throw everything against the wall. Not every stuck; Hysteriosis slipped going for his triangle rope walk splash (though Halcon covered brilliantly for it by immediately covering him) and an assisted Aguila Roja moonsault connected more with Aguila Oriental’s head than it did his body. But whereas other botched in the night couldn’t be forgiven due to how the rest of the match went, these could be forgiven because everything else here rocked. This was full throttle lucha libre from the word go, with spectacular moment after spectacular moment, including an Hysterosis assisted tope con hilo from Oriental that got huge air, a Hysteriosis triangle rope walk moonsault, a brutal Halcon Crucifix Driver, and an Oriental tornillo over the post and to the floor. Overall, I would say Oriental and Halcon (who based to near perfection here) were the standouts, but really, you can’t ask for more than you got from these four here. This was my kind of lucha libre match. **** ¼
El Hijo del Alebrije, El Hijo del Silver King, and Silver King Jr. defeated Rokambole, Rokambole Jr., and Villano V Jr. after Villano V Jr. was disqualified for attacking the referee, just seconds after Villano V Jr. was initially awarded the match for submitting Silver King Jr. with a Scorpion Cross Lock. To sum things up, this match was LONG. It was so long that it makes Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet and Novecento seem like short films. And frankly, it was so long that it hurt this match something fierce. I get what they were going for here; after the last two matches were a slow simmer that boiled over and an all action locomotive, these six decided to go with an old school heated brawl. The result was a lot of chair shots, Silver King Jr. gushing blood, and some crowd brawling. Some of it was definitely good, and there’s a world where this match was really good; it just happened to be a world where this match was 15 minutes shorter! Well, that and a world where Hijo del Alebrije had a better night, as the spirit of Maying Fly appeared to possess him on a couple spots. I’m sure there were some that got really into this, and the good news is you’ll get to see more, as they definitely set things up for Silver King Jr. to get revenge on Villano V Jr. at a later date. Here’s hoping that match doesn’t feel like it went 15 hours long. ** ¾
Chessman, Hell Boy, and Samoa defeated Ciclope, Falcon Fire, and Miedo Xtremo, and Hijo del Canis Lupus, Multifacetico Jr., and Rey Mictlan in a three-way elimination trios match. Ciclope, Falcon Fire, and Miedo Xtremo were eliminated first after Lupus pinned Xtremo following a sick Twisting Neckbreaker from Mictlan, while Chessman pinned Mictlan and Hell Boy pinned Lupus after Rokambole Jr. and Villano V Jr. interfered to brain them with chairs! There are shocking endings, and then there’s whatever that ending was!
There was a brief moment at the start of this match where the stream died, and I was afraid this match wasn’t going to air and this review was going to end with me going full Roger Ebert reviewing The Brown Bunny on this show. Fortunately, the stream came back on, we got to see this full match and it was terrific. This was like the last match in that it had really good heat, but unlike the last match in that stuff actually happened. Not only did these three teams move at a great pace to make sure there was always something happening, but the action was largely crisp and we got some super cool moves, like the aforementioned elimination of Xtremo, a great Falcon Fire Fosbury Flop that Xtremo assisted on, some Kendo Stick shots from Ciclope, and even a Multifacetico crowd dive. And even without that, this just felt like three well oiled teams working a great speed at a high level. Even Samoa looked really good! I’m not sure what to make of the ending, especially since the Villanos didn’t join the Chessman/Hell Boy/Samoa group (we really need a name for them), and it seems IWRG is reluctant to have Revolution Crew go full tecnico right now, as they rejected Ciclope’s offer to join forces as well. Still, that turn feels like it’s coming, the Villanos interference was intriguing, and everything else was so much fun that this came off as a success. There’s a real chance for IWRG to create something strong in a Revolution Crew vs. The Alliance to End IWRG feud; they just have to take the chance. And also maybe name the Chessman group something other than The Alliance to End IWRG. Hey; I needed a placeholder name, and 1996 WCW was on my mind. ****
What an odd duck of a show this was. It started out very timidly, got really good in the middle, had a match that felt like it was out of 2026 WWE in the semi-main, and then had a really fun, intriguing main event that we almost didn’t see thanks to technical difficulties. It was as if the cosmos was both working for and against the show at times, something I would normally say doesn’t constitute a good show. In the end though, three of these six matches were great, the technical issues didn’t effect the show that much, and that’s more than enough to make this a show you should go out of your way to see. Till next Thursday!
