A Bunch Of: Black Terry

It's coming towards the end of the year, and I'm catching up with some matches for some guys who'll appear near the top of my WKO 100 ballot. This one is all Black Terry.

First up, the trios between Cerebro Terribles and the team of Zatura and the two Traumas, from June 15th. This had a great matwork first fall. Zatura and Cerebro Negro had a nice long section with nice matstuff and armdrags. Trauma II looks really useful matching up against Dr Cerebro - I like flowing matwork where it looks like the moves between holds seem to involve some work, or leverage. Trauma I isn't quite as good, but he's in there with Terry, who leads him through some nice sequences. There's a great reaction by Dr Cerebro near the end of the fall after Trauma I gets Terry in a leglock straight out of his father's playbook. The technicos take the fall. The rest of this match is a little odd, as the Cerebros take the second fall and dominate most of the third falls, without much of a technico comeback. Terry works on Trauma I's arm for large parts of this, and Trauma does a good job selling his arm, although it doesn't matter for much for the match. There was a couple of time Terry seemed to be missing punches to Trauma, before I realised he was punching him in the arm, not the chin. Cerebro Negro seems to legitimately injure himself, leading to medical attention, which seems to throw everyone off. Overall, solid but not that special.

Moving forward to August 10th, and we have a Cerebros trios not involving Navarro or his offspring. Almost as good though, because this was the pirates. Who doesn't love pirates? I really liked this. It has a great opening - Terry ends up in los Piratas corner, and fights off all three with elbow, before Hijo del Pirata Morgan ends up in the same position, and does the same, and they have a huge standoff, and I thought it was glorious. Really long matwork fall to start. Terry and Hijo seem to really be working hard in their section, fighting for each hold. There's some cool stuff in there too - Terry stands on Hijo's hand to move behind him. Loved the faceoff with Barba Roja on the apron. I'm never sure who I like more out of Dr Cerebro and Cerebro Negro. Dr Cerebro does a lot more arm-drag type stuff (although there was a lovely long sequence in the middle with at one point the Doctor leveraging Morgan Jr over with a complicated looking leg entwinement), while Negro does a lot more holding on to limbs, moving between numerous holds in one sequence. I don't really have a strong preference either way, especially as their sequences always look good and they are working slightly different roles within the trio. The matwork breaks down with another Piratas breakup of a submission, and soon after a short rope running exchange between Morgan Jr and Dr Cerebro, the Cerebros take the fall with two submissions and a pinfall, all simultaneously. Very much a classic fall, with a classic finish.

The second fall breaks out of the matwork pairing, and moves into more intense brawling sections around the ring, with the rudos taking control. Los Piratas looked like a great unit here, during the triple teams. This ends with the Dr Cerebro and Negro getting back into the fall sending two of the Piratas to the outside, followed up with great topes (Dr Cerebro's is a real head first suicidal) before Hijo del Pirata Morgan throws his mask at Terry. Terry's reactions here are delightful, slowly working out what the mask in his hand means, then his protests to the referee as he was disqualified.

The final fall begins with the rudos in charge, but this switches over and then the Cerebros get to control with their triple teams, which are very slick. Cerebro Negro does a nasty looking double foot stop over the rope to the apron. I really liked the pacing of this match, especially the way brawling and triple team work was used as a basis to build upon towards the finishes. Each falls felt like a seperate encounter with an real sense of momentum and control. It was interesting to see the Cerebros working crowd favourites here, but also to see Terry win with a low blow - both equalising the cheating in the second fall, and a nod to old rudo habits. I wish the revancha the following week had been aired, because this is one of my favourite lucha trios of the year.

Finally, I've got Black Terry, Cerebro Negro and Fantasma de la Opera vs Dinastia Navarro (this is from IWRG on 9th July). This had an inauspicious start, as they break straight into brawling. I didn't think it was particularly bad, like ohtani's jacket did, just not very interesting. There is a point in the second caida, however, where Navarro gets really intense and starts fighting back, throwing great punches, which Terry takes exactly like he always does, rocking about yet still standing up. I love this sort of brawling - so often you see one person punching another, and the other running away, so it looks very weak. Here, Terry and Navarro are right up against each other, and it looks great. The fall ends with Navarro staring out the referee, and he looks like the biggest badass on the planet. The third fall is good, with a sequence of submissions and breakups, before the dives leave Terry and Navarro alone for the finish, which is exactly what you want. Good stuff.