Tag Archives: Multi-Man Tag

(02/26) Black Terry, Dragon Celestial, Emperador Azteca & Fulgor I vs. Skayde, Aztlan, Kanon & Vortize

IWRG
Arena Naucalpan (Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico)

The feud between Skayde and Black Terry has been slow to build. First there was a cibernetico between Terry’s IWRG students and the students from Skayde’s gym that ended inconclusively when both men refused to accept victory after a missed foul call led to the finish. That match was a fun showcase for the students, with good opening segment and a rushed elimination period.

The cibernetico rematch that took place one week later never aired in full (it too ended in controversial fashion). This is the third match in the feud but the second to air. Skayde and Terry get directly involved in the action for the first time, teaming with three of their pupils in an eight-man tag.

The match begins largely on the mat like you would expect from an IWRG match and especially an IWRG match involving Skayde and Terry. Terry works regularly during the opening fall. Skayde does not. The way it played out seemed to indicate that Skayde going to be the rudo in this feud although things have continued to play our murkily since this match so it is hard to tell. I thought Terry looked good here mixing it up with Skayde’s students and Skyade. Terry’s team picks up the first fall with pins pins on the three non-captain members of Skayde’s team.

You also might expect for the best portions of this match to come when Terry and Skayde are in the ring at the same time and that’s exactly what happened. The two veteran luchadores and trainers largely worked a straight up technical style versus one another when no funny business or hints at either one going rudo. When they are in with the other guys, those segments are also okay. It was the IWRG vs. Skayde Gym trainee segments that were lacking a bit and got a bit sloppy at times. I am not positive that the action was all that worse than the earlier cibernetico, but perhaps the student’s work just paled in comparison to Terry and Skayde’s work, making it more noticeable.

Terry gets pinned for the second fall. Skayde’s team eventually makes it two straight falls for the come-from-behind victory when they pick up a split fall on the non-captain members of Terry’s team.

There was some good stuff in here, particularly when Skayde and Terry were in the ring, but nothing blow away. Still, the Skayde and Terry issue is easily the most interesting story going on in IWRG right now so it might be worth checking out for that reason.

Diagnostics
Multi-Wrestler Tag | Common | Angle/Feud

(01/19) Bushiroad, El Desperado, Titan, Fuego & Tiger Mask vs. Vangellys, Niebla Roja, Jedo, Gado & Toru Yano

NJPW/CMLL
Korakuen Hall (Toyko, Japan)

That is quite the motley crew on the rudo side to say nothing of the tecnico team. The match was all-action highlighted by an exciting dive train sequence. All of the dives were good but Vangellys launching Niebla Roja into a twisting dive that bowled over the waiting wrestlers below was the highlight. Even without the music playing on the iPPV feed due to royalty issues, Fuego’s pre-match dancing is still infectious.

El Desperado has wrestled in five matches since making his NJPW debut under this gimmick and has won all five of those matches. Furthermore, he’s scored the decisive fall in four of those five matches, including this match where he won with a Vertebreaker-type move as opposed to his normal finisher. El Desperado is certainly receiving a big push heading into his Junior Heavyweight title match against Kota Ibushi and was featured throughout this tour accordingly.

One wrestler who was much more marginalized during FantasticaMania 2014 was Titan. Despite being over in Japan – with the help of a strong Best of Super Juniors appearance last summer – the good, young high-flyer spent most of the tour hanging out in the background of pre-intermission tag team matches. One could argue that Titan was perhaps the least focused on CMLL wrestler on the tour, although Nielbal Roja would be in that discussion. The usage of Titan has been mentioned in several places because it does stand out as somewhat inexplicable.

Diagnostics
Multi-Man Tag | Watchable | Quality