IWL iPPV - 7/31/11

1. Ninja De Fuego/Mulusco Jr. vs Centinella/Guerrero Arlequin

Quimico Jr. was announced at first but he was not here. I'm sure of this. Mulusco was a big dude... I want to say fat dude but he was in fine shape compared to what was coming out next. I was disappointed to see Guerrero Arlequin was not dressed like the IWRG Arlequins.:( He did some fun stuff with Ninja De Fuego. Mulusco Jr. ended up doing an asai moonsault and absolutely CRUSHED Centinella. I'm not sure if that was the planned finish or not but it looked painful as hell and Centinella was in obvious pain so they counted to three.

VALERIE RICHTER came out to announce the match was turning into a gauntlet match which sounded like a fine idea until I saw who came out next...

1b. Ninja De Fuego/Mulusco Jr. vs Juan El Ranchero/Big Mama

Yeah. We all know Ranchero from his AULL days. Big Mama is either a man or a woman. I'm not sure which and neither was Phil over at segundacaida.blogspot.com. I'm leaning towards woman based on the photos by BlackTerryJr. I didn't mind seeing these two because I figured we would get a quick comedy match and they would get eliminated right away. I got the quick match but no comedy AND they won! That's not good...

1c. Juan El Ranchero/Big Mama vs Caderno Punk/Matanza 68

What do Enrique Yniesta, the Rudos Neza fans and myself have in common? We were the only people who knew who the new team was! They're Neza locals. If you ever doubt how big of a Lucha Libre fan I am, please just reference the fact I recognized Matanza 68, okay? Much to my anger Ranchero's team won AGAIN!

1d. Juan El Ranchero/Big Mama vs Hammer/Black Heart

Originally I had no idea who Hammer's partner was. He must have watched the last iPPV though b/c he refused to come out at the same time as Hammer and kept his distance the entire time. This was the shortest match yet and ONCE AGAIN Ranchero's team won!

At this point I was absolutely terrified someone in IWL was unhappy with my comments on the last show so this show was a big practical joke on me and the next 3 hours would be spent watching Juan El Ranchero and Big Mama destroy everyone on the roster followed by them dancing. Thankfully nobody else came out. All of this took up 30 minutes (!).

2. Freelance/Turbo/Naruto vs Kensuke/Tribal/Samurai Del Sol/NOT BLACK THUNDER!

A Turbo match without Black Thunder??? QUE??? I thought they came attached at the hip? No complaints though because the rudo team was just fine. Before the match it was announced that all the matches now have time limits which should have been our warning as to what was coming but I just ignored it like an idiot. Match was really great... some awesome matwork to start until Turbo/Samurai Del Sol kicked it into high gear. There was a huge dive train with everyone (EXCEPT TURBO!?!?!?!?!?) doing insane dives with Kensuke getting to finish things off with a somersault off the top that killed everyone. More fun action with Turbo and Freelance shining. And then it happened...

DING DING DING

Yes, the bell rang to signal the time limit had expired. Here's the problem: The wrestlers and referee didn't seem to be informed this was going to happen or were waiting for it to happen after they finished doing their planned match... OR ... the person in charge of ringing the bell was told to ring it at exactly 15 minutes and wasn't told by the wrestlers to wait until they finished their planned match. Either way someone wasn't communicating with someone else because Turbo/Kensuke kept wrestling and the referee kept counting pinfalls even though Enrique was announcing a time limit draw. Everyone was confused so of course out came VALERIE RICHTER to announce 5 more minutes. The wrestlers seemed beyond confused as to what was going on and I think someone just called for the finish right away. It was supposed to be a power bomb off the top rope but Freelance lost Kensuke on the way down so they just set it up one more time and did it right. Cubsfan would be quite unhappy.

So... an excellent match ruined by a bad idea by whoever comes up with ideas like this. After the match the teams agreed to a rematch AND they teased a Freelance/Kensuke hair match. I am okay with both of those!

3. Tony Rivera vs Zumbido

This was sort of like a CMLL style Lightning Match with the pace they worked except they used chairs and both got to bleed. So maybe it was nothing like a CMLL style Lightning Match? Both guys were awesome and for a while I thought this might end up being better than the previous match but then... SEMENTAL AND MORTIZ SHOWED UP! Now that was awesome! A real surprise to see them here instead of on Verano De Escandalo (stop laughing Cubsfan!). They beat up both guys and it was a great angle to introduce them to IWL... until...

VALERIE RICHTER came out with her bodyguards and the bodyguards... yes... THE BODYGUARDS... beat the shit out of Mortiz and Semental. They did dives onto them, they armdragged them, they slammed them and eventually Mortiz and Semental... two AAA superstars... ran away from... TWO BODYGUARDS. This was horrible. If Semental and Mortiz are going to come back and wrestle for IWL - that's awesome. I would love it. Everyone would love it. So why did the bodyguards have to beat them up? Are the bodyguards going to be regular wrestlers now? (I know the answer to that unfortunately...)

4. Epidemia/Kung Fu Jr./Medico Asesino Jr./Fishman Jr. vs Cerebro Negro/Cerebro Maligno (w/ Trolly who no-showed Verano De Escandalo!)/Epitafio/Sepulturero - Elimination Match

The announcers mentioned Fishman Jr. and Kung Fu Jr. had problems at the Lucha Libre Expo so I was suspicious something was about to happen! Unfortunately it took almost 20 minutes to get there. Looooooooooooooooooooooooong match with lots of brawling. Even Trolly biting people couldn't save this and trust me if anyone would be entertained just by Trolly biting people it's me! The eliminations eventually came fast and furious. ATM had a 4 on 2 and 3 on 1 advantage at different points thanks to Fishman Jr./Kung Fu Jr. turning on each other. Medico Jr. ended up fighting back to make it 1-on-1 but he couldn't win the match. I understand the point of this match (to make sure the big new stable gets a win and looks impressive) but it took too long to accomplish it. Also you need different opponents because everyone on the other team except Epidemia is just awful.

GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? If you guessed VALERIE RICHTER was back you win! This time she said she signed Serval and he'd make his IWL debut on the next show. Great news! But couldn't Enrique have announced that? Tribal came out to challenge Serval so I guess that match is on the next iPPV. I'm excited to see that! (Guess that means no rematch of match #2? Or maybe Black Thunder is available?)

5. Daga vs Mike Segura - IWL Internet Title

There is no point even describing this match move-for-move. It wouldn't do the match justice. Just trust me... IT WAS AWESOME! If you're not a Lucha Libre fan (why are you reading my blog?) you will still appreciate this match because it holds up with anything ROH or DGUSA or EVOLVE have had on their shows. Just a fantastic match with everything you could have wanted. The announcers kept talking about why the match had a one hour time limit (all the old title matches used to go an hour - they even referenced a Puebla match w/ Estrella Blanca) and these guys appeared to be going one hour until close to the 30 minute mark Daga did a superplex and Segura held on so they both got pinned. I'm not good with star ratings but this was EASILY ****+. The live crowd was going crazy for everything and threw money in the ring afterwards. I even gave them a standing ovation in my living room! Absolutely a must-see match and worth the price of the iPPV by itself. There is no reason any Lucha Libre fan shouldn't order an IWL iPPV if there is a match like this on every show.

6. Oriental/Craig Classic vs Super Crazy/Heddi Karoui

Am I alone in not knowing who Craig Classic is? I read SuperLuchas talking about him all week and that was the first time I ever heard his name mentioned. My friend said he works for Zero-One but I don't watch that company. Is it really worth it bringing in Craig Classic for one show? I'm just asking, please don't take offense if you're reading this Mr. Classic. Anyways... when Oriental/Super Crazy were in the ring the match was great. I could watch those two wrestle all day. I thought for sure Classic would lose and they would set up a title match on the next show but no... Classic ended up using a really neat cradle to pin Super Crazy.

7. Los Porros vs Low Rider/Mad Man Pondo/Balls Mahoney/Fantasma De La Opera

Same match as the last iPPV. A total brawl with tons of weapons and everyone bleeding. It was very fun and the crowd/announcers seemed to be loving it so I can't complain. I didn't order the show to see Necro Butcher so I didn't care that he didn't show up. Replacing him with Balls Mahoney was fine I guess but I have the opinion that the wrestlers in these types of matches don't actually matter since anyone could have been in the match and hit people with chairs and gotten thrown into barbed wire.:)

Overall: Another excellent show. Well worth the money spent and I've read so many positive reviews that I think the people who missed the show are actually angry they did and will surely buy the next show based on word of mouth.

POSITIVES:

- Camera work was MUCH improved! Unlike the first show I counted ZERO moves missed. They even managed to catch all the action in the semi-main event when you had stuff happening on the outside and inside of the ring at the same time.

- Daga vs Mike Segura. If you have a match like this on your show, you are doing something right.

- Having lots of good matches early in the show. Nothing is worse than having to sit through bad matches just to get to the good ones you want to see. IWL did it right.

- The announcers. Just like last time... they were incredible. They really add to these shows. Also, Enrique Yniesta was great once again.

- Booking Turbo and Freelance. I will ALWAYS order a show that features those guys.

- Storylines make sense and seem to be leading places. Last show we were teased with a Rivera vs Zumbido match. This show we got that match. Last show we were promised Daga vs Suicida. We got that match. On this show they set up at least 4 matches for their next show. Maybe we won't get all 4 but maybe we will! Someone is certainly putting some thought into the shows.

NEGATIVES:

- I'm going to start demanding a $2 refund for every VALERIE RICHTER appearence. So if she shows up 5 times - I get the iPPV for free! Seriously... this shit has to stop. I've talked to 8 people in total who ordered these shows and EVERY SINGLE PERSON agrees we are sick and tired of seeing her. The worst part is she comes out to do things that Enrique Yniesta should be doing! There is no reason for her to be on the screen so much and if she came out less it would actually make it seem important when she does show up. Dorian Roldan actually sent me a tweet just now saying Valerie Richter is hogging the camera. THINK ABOUT THAT!

- The hardcore match in the main event. Don't get me wrong, it was good. So was the main event on the first show. But I hope every show isn't going to have a match like this in the main event because it will get redundant quickly.

- Heddi Karoui. Can we wish him well in his future endevours please?

That's it. Can't really list too many negatives because IWL on iPPV is doing too good of a job! 2 for 2 so far and hopefully 3 for 3 to come soon!

SPECIAL REQUEST: Turbo vs Black Thunder on the next show. Maybe not a singles match? I think it would be awesome to see them work with the maestros in a special exhibition match. Maybe something like Turbo/Negro Navarro vs Black Thunder/Rocky Santana. If you want to give a match 30 minutes to fill time on a show I think that sounds much better than a tag team gauntlet featuring Juan El Ranchero and Big Mama.;)

Thank you IWL!

(If you enjoyed this recap don't forget you can still order the show replay on gofightlive!)