LUCHA GOODNESS~!
Black Terry vs Chico Che, IWRG (01/22/12)
A lot to love about this match, some pretty intense and awesome brawling featuring a plethora of nasty headbutts, stiff chops and some ugly boots to the face. Terry also manages to hit one insane punch that you only catch a glimpse of but it looks to land just on the jaw of Che and it looks hideous. Terry was far and away the better performer here, selling like mad the beating he's taken and the desperation in his comebacks, the camerawork is always a treat in IWRG and they really get some awesome visuals of Terry in the corner sucking on wind and trying to regain his composure. Che was hit or miss, he hit some really nasty chops and headbutts but for the most part had sub-par punches, and played too the crowd far too much which resulted in some awkward seconds of inaction and which didn't seem appropriate for the match they were working. He also had a couple of really sloppy moments of execution including a corner boot which missed by a foot and a really tame looking running knee in the corner. They also worked a really absurd and nonsensical headscissors sequence which was incredibly out of place and felt really tacky and serving little purpose. Spot of the match was either Terry's insane kidney punch followed by Che's awesome punch combo culminating in Terry taking this great KO sell or the Che tope and both men lying bloodied on the floor just headbutting each other at any chance they got. You felt the hate, both men bleed a ton and Terry in particular really captures this transformation from underdog babyface to psycho monster superbly, such a shame that the well executed finish was botched with Che's shoulder being up before the 3 count. Still the good far outweighed the bad and this served as a great introduction to the Hair vs Hair match a week later.
Black Terry vs Chico Che, IWRG Hair vs Hair Match, (01/29/12)
I'd say overall I preferred this to the first match, but there were a couple of really bad moments which dampened the overall quality of the match. Che was much better here than in the lead in match, a lot less pandering and crowd interaction and more meat behind his punches, headbutts and kicks. His beating in the first and second caida just became more and more vicious as the minutes ticked by and Terry was his usual awesome selling self, looking on the verge of passing out from the blood loss and clutching his ribs for minutes after eating the splash at the end of the first fall. Whole shenanigans with Che's right hand man constantly proving a thorn in Terry's side was superbly played out throughout the match, and the moment in the third fall where Terry just launches a chair at him was incredible. Terry's comeback was short and sweet in the second fall, which was probably for the best given the beating he ate, though I do think it could have been executed/looked better. Third fall was probably the most divisive fall, Che hits a nasty tope and eats a particularly bad landing, both right hand men get more involved throughout which leads to some nice chaotic brawling between all four men and really emphasises the significance of the match, the headbutt exchange in the corner between both was just absolutely disgustingly stiff, and Terry pulls off some amazing punches in between. Terry's right hand man also hits a stunning tope on Che's right hand man to take him out, looked absolutely insane with the speed he got as he flew through the ropes as well as the landing with both men just flying into the chairs. Sadly the spot where the corrupt ref got taken out was horribly executed, Che taking forever was at least nice selling of the beating (something both men did tremendously, from the heavy breathing to the delayed setups of particular moves), but the ref lying so close to Terry was such lazy telegraphing of the spot and then Terry pulls the ref to the mat, rolls a couple of inches away from and a good 5 seconds later Che somehow hits the ref and completely misses Terry. Just looked so shoddy and poorly timed and really dampened what had been a fine match up until that spot. Finish whilst also quite brilliant in a 'Rudo pisses all over the crowd's hopes' moment was also quite anticlimatic, although I did appreciate Che's right hand man kicking Terry in the balls being the setup to the finish, and despite Terry's right hand man ensuring he wouldn't play another part in the match, the continuing match story of Terry being unable to shake off the right hand man was built to excellently and served as a nice payoff. I'd say this just edges out as my favourite of the two, thanks to a much more tolerable and all round more pleasing Che performance, as well as the constant spots involving the right hand men. But fuck me if it weren't for that awful ref spot this would be a lot higher on any eventual MOTYC list from me.
I do however have high hopes the next batch of Lucha I get around to might do much better in terms of being a potential MOTYC, especially a TXT Tag that has been getting staunch reviews ever since it hit the web.