Again, a lot of gifs. And I should probably post the full list later today.
12-05: Canis Lupus vs Golden Magic for the IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship (IWRG) Had some likeable qualities, but didn’t come together near as well as other IWRG title matches that were just around the Great cutoff. This one doesn’t get across that line either. I’m far into the portion of this catchup where I’m evaluating the matches on how they compare to other matches rather than on their own merit (which does not seem to be the most useful way of doing it, but it’s a long process.) It didn’t help that the referee straight CMLL’ed that finish, refusing to count what looked like the planned three count just so the match could end five seconds later. Not having as big a crowd as those earlier in the year title matches hurts too. It did have Golden Magic pulling off big dives (including a sort of mean one on an injured and distracted Lupus), and Lupus kept up with him well. Magic’s missed charge into the seats was painful looking.
12-10: Alan Extreme, Astro Rey Jr., Blue Monsther, Canis Lupus, Centvrión, Fresero Jr., Golden Magic, Picudo Jr. vs Dragón Celestial, Emperador Azteca,Fulgor I, Látigo, Matrix Jr., Power Bull, Sky Ángel, Zurdog (IWRG): GREAT. The steadiest and most complete of these ciberneticos. A little bit harder to follow than the other ones though – usually it’s team “people I know” versus team “people I don’t really known or recognize as outsiders”, distinguishing between Generacion Uno and Generacion Dos is a bit harder. Still, you didn’t know exactly who was with who to figure out to enjoy the action. There might have been more crazy spots in other matches, but there was nothing more insane the an Alan Extreme sunset flip powerbomb to the floor on Latigo. I believe Latigo was officially eliminated via death on that move. Alan, looking like he was doing a Mexican Nasty Boy gimmick, took as well as he gave near the end and was a key part of the fun two on two tag match that ended it. Dragon Celestial was also in that and looked good there, and also much earlier with Golden Magic (who looked like one of the best técnicos in Mexico during this match.) Centviron and Fulgor I had a good finish, though I wish they got a little more time. It’s hard to argue for a lot more time when the segment ran 45 minutes, but maybe giving the crowd a moment to take a breath and realize This Is It would’ve given the moment more drama. Still, that was good and this was over all a great match.
12-15: Dr. Cerebro vs Apolo Estrada for the hair (IWRG) – A very good brawl, the likes which weren’t seen as much in IWRG in 2013. These guys were on each other from the beginning, not breaking thru the falls, and treated it much like a fight than a match. The stuff with 911 and Golden magic was cute but kind of didn’t fit – but then are also pretty normal things for IWRG. I wish they could’ve done in a way where the two guys in the match got a minute of spotlight to themselves for the finish, instead of just being the exact setup to the finish. This was on the borderline of to me, but I think they put a lot of intensity into it and the post match fight to get the haircut to actually happen was better than most of the times they do the same bit.
12-22: Black Terry, Bombero Infernal, Dr. Cerebro vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo (IWRG) – GREAT; like this one just a bit better than the last one, because the emphasis was more on the guys in the match and not on those who weren’t. It was also a better brawl for a the two first fall, and had some impressive out of control dives in the third. Gringos VIP, Apolo Estrada Jr. the most, are all very good at being destroyed by the técnicos. This was just a set up match to their title match, but it was a really good setup.
12-09 Blue Panther vs Averno (Puebla): GREAT. Essentially a remix of the submission match from the anniversary. The same match is basically showing up twice on this list, something I try to avoid, but it felt like there were things mixed up and added enough to be a separate match. (There were also a lot of stuff clearly the same, and I didn’t go back to compare these; you may not need to see both.) Just like the submission, this was well worked back and forth with some neat holds and strong battles. There was a moment where I actually believed Blue Panther might be crazy enough to do a moonsault to the floor, and the turning cross body plancha that followed wasn’t much more safe. It was a moment where I would’ve been totally fine with a double count out of the ring result. Finish is such a glorious win for Averno, even better than the hair match win because he did himself. Sagrado let Averno sneak past him to attack Blue Panther before the match; that’s some poor seconding!
12-30: Stigma vs Camorra, mask vs mask (Puebla) GREAT. Never has a match so overachieved! This was many times better than I thought it would be; I was watching this more to investigate where they were at, and instead got a match strong on it’s own. I’m pretty sure Camorra is generally not good at lucha libre, but you would not believe that in this match. There were things which didn’t go quite right, but he was capable and Stigma was on fire, the crowd was totally into it and the announcers were good, so they everything they needed. Camorra was dead tired at the end of that match, but he made it. Camorra was better destroying Stigma in the first couple of falls, but Stigma’s later run of offense was spectacular and the near falls were all nail biting. I wish either guy had more trademark offense so they could’ve played off this, but that feels like a minor deal and this felt a lot better than I thought it would be.
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