2008

[Phil Schneider]

Nominated

Freelance/Fenix/Pendulo v. Black Terry/Negro Navarro/El Hijo Del Pierroth 10/3
Rey Cometa/Pegasso/Freelance vs Los Oficiales 10/17

[Phil Schneider]

Nominate

Rey Cometa/Pegasso/Freelance vs Los Oficiales 10/17

In an area where most lucha trios match feel clipped even when they aren’t, IWRG is still a place where they let things draw out a bit. This didn’t have the matwork you will occasionally see in IWRG, as this was worked more like a classic 90’s AAA match then a classic 90’s CMLL match. Oficiales have awesome masks, and are like a trio of 1994 Psicosi, crazy bumps to the floor, a sick tope, and incredible eating of all of the flyers spots. They basically keep the AAA guys out of this match, outside of their big dives, and give us plenty of Freelance. If you aren’t on the Freelance bandwagon, jump on, as he is the single most spectacular wrestler in the world. It isn’t even his dives (although he bust out an insane springboard tope con hilo into the seats), but his rope running, headscissors and armdrags are as fast and slick as Rey Mysterio at his greatest. I think this would even appeal to the lamers who don’t “get” lucha, as this doesn’t take much getting.

[Craig]

Nominate: Freelance/Fenix/Pendulo v. Black Terry/Negro Navarro/El Hijo Del Pierroth 10/3

In this match, Freelance and Black Terry match up often, first fall on the mat, second fall while Freelance is busting out all his armdrags, and a third fall exchange leading a spectacular quebrada by Freelance. Around those glimpses of what their single might look like, you have loads of other neat stuff. There's a Navarro masterclass in the first fall, where Fenix is just there as someone for Navarro to wrestle around and stretch. I think this match was my first Navarro match, and his movement between holds was just something else. To pick one, there is this incredibly slick counter to a surfboard submission. There's the third fall, which is based around a one-upping series of convoluted submission holds being broken up by a member of the other team, leading to the dives and finish. I liked how each fall felt like a self contained encounter, and each was about different things.