To my surprise, last week turned out to be an off week when it came to reviewing IWRG Thursday Night Wrestling. Why? As it turns out, it was a joint IWRG/CMLL show, and the CMLL shows weren’t being shown on stream! Now I’m not one who has many rules in life, but one of them is this; if you’re not streaming your full show, I’m not reviewing it. That would be like if I watched Sunshine, stopped after the first two thirds and provided a review. Granted, I’d probably be happier because the last third of Sunshine sees the film go from thoughtful sci-fi epic to Jason X, but that doesn’t change it be unfair to only review part of a movie or show. Hence the week off, which was unfortunate because my goodness did IWRG have a lot going on prior to that. But that’s nothing we can’t recap with a Dragon Ball Z esq intro. HIT THE MUSIC!
Last time, ON IWRG Z, Hell Boy had the week from, well, hell, as he was defeated by rival Flamita in an instant classic No Referee match on Thursday Night Wrestling. Things went from bad to worse just a few days later, when Hell Boy’s 1,155 day reign as IWRG Mexico Champion came to an end, after Jack Morris overcame both him and Flamita to become the first foreigner to hold the championship. Now, Hell Boy will be searching for revenge against Morris in another three way, this time involving Vito Fratteli, a man looking for his own revenge on Hell Boy after the latter shaved Fratteli’s head at Guerra de Golfo in April. Meanwhile, the undercard will see the continuation of the issues between Team Chile and Hip Hop Man, with the long-time IWRG star putting the Captain of the Secret Base Championship on the line against Jasper Faster. Will he retain? Will Jasper regain some momentum? Will Hell Boy get revenge on Morris? Will Fratteli get revenge on Hell Boy? And just what is the Captain of the Secret Base Championship?! Find out, TODAY!
Boca Negra & Fauno defeated Caudillo & Maying Fly after Boca Negra pinned Caudillo with a second rope moonsault and Fauno pinned Maying Fly with a second rope moonsault. I’ll be honest; I thought this match was going to suck and suck hard. After all, it featured the inconsistent Maying Fly, the boring Fauno, a dude in Caudillo who, if I had seen him before, had left no impression on me, and Boca Negra, who a few weeks ago had one of the worst performances I’d ever seen in a wrestling ring. So I’m pleased (or saddened?) to report that this match didn’t suck and was just below average. The guys worked hard, there was a nice dive sequence in the middle, and the work was more boring than bad. There were still some incredible screw ups though, such as Maying Fly doing a rope walk flip into the ring where he landed on his ass, Caudillo getting a hot tag, jumping into the ring and accidentally stomping Maying Fly on the head, and Boca Negra going for a kick on Caudillo while the latter was on the top rope and whiffing so much that his momentum sent him over the ropes! I’ve seen Taylor Tomlinson comedy specials that weren’t as funny as those moments. Still, the rest was inoffensive enough that I can only say this was mediocre and not a flat out catastrophe. Don’t worry Boca Negra, you’ll wrestle even worse next time. I have faith! ** ¼
Kali & Sagittarius defeated Hahastary & Krista after Sagittarius pinned Hahastary with a Styles Clash and Kali pinned Krista with a Powerbomb. If you’ll indulge me for a moment, there’s an important issue (at least to me) that needs to be discussed regarding this match. After yesterday (and today) saw another round of AEW women’s division discourse, I decided to take a closer look at how IWRG handles women’s wrestling. In the end, this was a study I regretted doing! Over the last fifteen IWRG shows (essentially the last two months), the promotion has run one match featuring only women…and it was last week’s Tabata & Tessa Blanchard vs. Olympia & Sanely match, which you may notice is an all CMLL luchadoras match. There has otherwise been no all women’s matches in IWRG over the last fifteen shows, and only eight matches, prior to tonight, that featured any women at all. What are you doing IWRG? Seriously; what are you doing?!
What makes IWRG’s lack of use for their luchadoras even weirder is that this match here was not just good, but it was better than most of the matches you see in this spot. It helps that three of these women are very good, particularly Hahastary. You may remember her wrestling under that name, or as Hades, in AAA a few years ago, where she showed some great promise as a high flyer in between moments of inconsistency. A few years later, she still has that burst and ambition, and her work with Sagittarius (particularly to start the match) really hummed. It wasn’t perfect; Sagittarius proved to be a better base for Hahastary than Kali, and Krista seemed to be a few steps behind the other three. But they worked hard, they showed a lot of creativity (particularly towards the end where a pair of tecnica crossbodies seamlessly gave way to ruda corner attacks), and the wrestling was by in large really good. I have no illusions that IWRG will start doing more of these matches, but this bout shows the luchadoras are capable if IWRG would give them a chance. A shame, it seems, that they’re not going to. *** ¼
Eddy Maceira & Halcon Suriano defeated Dezzendiente & Pablo Rivas after Suriano submitted Rivas with a Scorpion Cross Lock variation and Maceira submitted Dezzendiente with an Octapus/Abdominal Stretch variation. The last match had a blast in the past for me in Hahastary, and this match had another in the form of Halcon Suriano. Many may recall Suriano worked for CMLL for many years, first as Stukita before changing to his current name, ultimately leaving the promotion in 2024 to bet on himself. It doesn’t seem to have worked for him so far, which is a shame because he was, and still is. Sadly, this match wasn’t the proper place for him to showcase it, as the story of the match was Dezzendiente and Rivas being unable to get along, stealing pins from each other and even getting into multiple striking battles, the latter of which wound up costing them the match. For a while it seemed like it wouldn’t hurt the match too much, as all four guys, especially Maceira and Dezzendiente, were doing good work. Alas, the match then went much longer than it should’ve, Rivas had a couple of iffy moments, and the back end was so much about the in fighting that it grounded the momentum to a halt. The lesson, always; don’t wear out your welcome. All that does is leave you with matches like this or The X-Files after season seven. Sorry John Doggett, you tried, but you couldn’t save things, much like Maceira couldn’t quite save this match. ** ½
Hip Hop Man (c) defeated Jasper Faster to retain the Captain of the Secret Base Championship. The finish came after Hip Hop Man pinned Jasper with a Sit Out Powerbomb after he got an inadvertent assist from Pablo Rivas, who tried to throw powder into Hip Hop Man’s eyes, only to get his teammate Jasper instead. This was Hip Hop Man’s second defense of the Captain of the Secret Base title, the top championship of Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Secret Base, a Tokyo based outfit run by Ultimo Dragon/Dos Caras trainee Mototsugu Shumizu that I didn’t know existed until this evening. But now I know and now you know!
If one was hoping this match would be the show stealer of the evening, they were left sorely disappointed. Hip Hop Man and Jasper tried to follow the formula of some of the other successful Chilean matches; they started slow in order to let things pick up as they went, only they never really picked up. Part of that was because Jasper’s offense looked pretty bad (I’m not sure if that was on him or Hip Hop Man just bumping/selling badly), and part of that was because the match was inexplicably also built around the seconds, Rivas and Principe Centauro. Those two were heavily involved throughout, fighting on the floor, fighting on the apron, and later interfering after a ref bump, which admittedly did lead to the highlight of the match when Centauro hit a sick tope suicida on Rivas. Alas, it’s never good when the focus of the match is more on the seconds than the guys in the match, and between Centauro and Rivas stealing the spotlight and Hip Hop Man and Jasper’s work being unimpressive, this match wasn’t much. Hopefully Shumizu didn’t watch this one, otherwise he’ll be giving that Captain of the Secret Base belt back to HANAOKA in record time. ** ½
After the match, IWRG announced the card for this Sunday’s show, which will be headlined by the Rey del Ring match, an elimination match with Royal Rumble esq rules where the winner will be crowned the new Rey del Ring Champion. Why am I bringing this up? Because Hell Boy is the current Rey del Ring Champion, and the champ must always vacate the belt prior to this match each year, which means he’s about to have that belt taken away just a week and a half after he lost the IWRG Mexico Championship. The lesson, as always; never form an evil stable with Chessman, El Mexicano and Samoa that sets out to take over IWRG, only to seemingly fizzle out less than three weeks in. Seriously, what happened to that group? Did IWRG see Chessman flirting with the AAA GM job and decide to drop the group (but not him) faster than Warner Brothers dropped Tim Burton after the Batman Returns box office numbers came out? Hey, speaking of Chessman!
El Hijo de Silver King, Falcon Fire, and Silver King Jr. defeated Chessman, Rey Halcon, and Villano V Jr. defeated El Hijo de Silver King, Falcon Fire, and Silver King Jr. after Chessman fouled Falcon Fire, and the ref counted three despite possibly seeing it. This is the type of match that reminds you how important having veteran luchadors in there can be. The match layout was the same IWRG trios match you’ve seen before (rudos control the start, tecnicos control the middle, the end is back and forth), but it was a refreshing change of pace compared to the rest of the show because the work was just super solid. What do you expect though when you have Chessman, Villano V Jr., and Rey Halcon on one side, and a livewire in Falcon Fire on the other. Yes, the Silver King’s were also there, and they were thankfully fine (one even had a great flip dive), but this was about the other four. Halcon was perhaps the quietest of the rudos, just doing solid work up until he nearly killed himself on an awesome Super Calo dive towards the end. Villano V Jr. was Villano V Jr.; solid, solid, and then even more solid. And Chessman and Falcon Fire were just great; not only was Chessman a strong base for Falcon (really, all three rudos were) but they surprisingly brawled very well too, trading some stiff chair shots, one of which even opened Falcon up. That’s the type of personal feuding that leads to singles matches, and both Chessman and Villano were sure hinting that was the direction in their post match promos (Chessman also stole Falcon’s mask, another hint there was more to come). This match didn’t reinvent the wheel, but after a night of boring lucha, this solid, well worked match was just what the doctor ordered. Perhaps Chessman should pursue more AAA authority figure jobs that he won’t get; it seems to motivate him! *** ½
Vito Fratteli defeated Hell Boy and Jack Morris after Fratteli pinned Hell Boy with a German Suplex after Samoa accidentally threw a drink into Chessman’s face. There’s your answer to what happened to Legion Oscuro; they’re still around, they’re screwing things up, and doing so in a way that may have cost Hell Boy as he shoved his stablemates away and stormed off. Can’t say I blame him. I’d say the same thing in regards to Chessman, but he did choose to put Samoa in this group, so he’s reaping what he sowed, much like the mayor from Jaws did when he kept the beaches open.
See that face? That’s the face of a man who knows mistakes were made
This was the best thing on the show by at least several miles. As it turns out, as tired as three way matches are these days, when you put three guys in there that are really good and just let them be really good for most of the match, good things will happen! That’s what IWRG did here, and this match hummed up until Chessman, Samoa, and El Mexicano came out to interfere, and even then it didn’t take the match down that much. It wasn’t even so much the moves that Hell Boy, Fratteli, and Morris did as much as just how fast and smooth they worked. That is the staple of what makes Hell Boy the most exciting luchador not working in CMLL or AAA right now, and Morris (who continues to amaze me with how well he’s adapted to lucha) and the underrated Fratteli matched him step for step. And hey, Hell Boy may be going back tecnico now, which opens the door for singles matches with him and Chessman. I will certainly take that with a side order of no Hell Boy vs. Samoa or Hell Boy vs. Mexicano matches. Let’s not push our luck. In any event, this match ruled, and to quote another man from Jaws, it delivered the bomb (complimentary). ****
That’s another IWRG Thursday Night, and for the first two hours or so this show had very little going for it (save for the luchadoras putting in a good effort), only for the last two matches to save the show. This feels like a recurring theme with IWRG, almost like they’re an inverse of Nitro era WCW, where instead of the undercard being great and the main events being putrid, the undercard is putrid and the main events are great. Hey, it’s better than the whole show being boring, and between the Hell Boy-Legion Oscuro tension, the teases of Chessman vs. Falcon Fire and Rey del Ring this weekend, there’s still plenty of interesting stuff coming up in IWRG. And barring another show that doesn’t stream next Thursday, we’ll be back here to talk about it again. Till then, a Fox Mulder/Dana Scully gif for all you X-Files fans out there.
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