CMLL Super Viernes: Back to the Known
Gorramit CMLL. Leave it to them to suddenly become interesting just when I’m considering taking a few weeks off from their “Long December”. This Friday’s Super Viernes show, which honestly didn’t look like a runaway pop hit on paper, not only didn’t suck but was at times actively good. I still wouldn’t say it was up to the standards of some of the shows early this year but it was overall entertaining, with a hot crowd, one great match and a couple of really good angles to end the show with. At this point I’ll take that over whatever the hell CMLL appears to be doing on their Monday and Tuesday shows. And because of that I felt this show was deemed worthy of getting a review. Congrats to you CMLL; don’t screw this up. Let’s get this bad boy out before they do eh? Moses, take me down to the meme city!
Stukita & Shockercito defeated Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro two falls to one
Ho…hum. Much like almost every other CMLL opener in recent memory, this match didn’t inspire much confidence outside of the occasional Stukita move or Shockercito arm drag. It is what it is; we know both of those guys are capable of more, we know CMLL won’t allow them to do more and thus we get a by the numbers opener with little heat, little to do and Mercurio biting people because Mercurio bites. Seriously, ask Charlie Sheen. He’ll set you straight.
Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Okumura defeated Flyer, Star Jr., Soberano Jr. two falls to one
What a shocker; the expected best match of the night turned out to be the best match of the night. Who could’ve guessed?! The only surprising about this was that the match actually got super crazy. I don’t know if CMLL watched DTU Nuev9 last night or if the bookers finally realized “maybe we should let people dive earlier so it gets the crowd going”, but there was a lot more action here than usual. Soberano and Star Jr. hit a combined three 900’s in this match and along with Flyer hit even more dives, the highlight being Soberano jumping off the turnbuckle post to the floor because he’s that fly. This is what we need more of CMLL! Also nice was that the rudos came to play, with Misterioso not screwing up, Okumura being Okumura and Sagrado continuing his streak of suddenly being really good out of nowhere. It’s why I continue to have no problem with him winning these matches; he looks good in them and has proven a capable hand, so why not reward him? It also doesn’t hurt that Soberano, Star Jr. and Flyer were the clear stars of the match and thus weren’t hurt by the loss (it was also great to see Flyer with confidence again. Working with good talent will do that!). I’m not sure if it was as crazy as anything I saw last night, but it was a shit ton of fun and by far the best match CMLL has had since the Panther/Drone vs. Los Cientificos match from last Tuesday.
La Metálica, Amapola, Zeuxis defeated Estrellita, La Jarochita, La Vaquerita two falls to one
A significantly better luchadoras match than last week’s affair, which didn’t take much considering everything last week (aside from Zeuxis and Dalys) was “Dennis Rodman in Double Team bad.” This time around CMLL ditched the stupid mixed alliances idea, left Tiffany and Seductora as far away from this match as humanly possible and let the talented luchadoras go at it. It worked; Metálica looked far better this week then she had her previous time out where she was botching move after move, I was highly impressed with Jarochita (who looks even more advanced than Sanely does at this point), Amapola looked good and of course, the Queen was epic as always with her Deadpool costume and her Knees of Doom. Hell she even made Vaquerita look good for a few minutes. VAQUERITA PEOPLE! I still wouldn’t call this a good match or anything but it was most definitely watchable and you could tell that all the luchadoras were stepping up their game in preparation for the cage match coming up. I’m still worried if they and CMLL can get people to care though. Right now the only reason I care is because Zeuxis may lose her mask, a thought that makes me want someone to Scott Sterling me in the face. Why did I just admit that out loud?
La Máscara, Rush, Pierroth defeated Atlantis, Marco Corleone, Stuka Jr. two falls to one
This was where the Arena Mexico crowd really took over the show for the better. By itself I’m not sure how good this match is; sure it’s got the usual beat downs you can only get from a Rush led Los Ingobernables, sure it had Atlantis taking everyone not named Pierroth to Backbreaker City and ultimately no one embarrassed themselves in the slightest. Even still I’m not sure this is something you’d call a good match under normal circumstances. What helped elevate it was the crowd being invested every step of the way, and as such the heat for this match was so good that it helped the match be more entertaining than it was. Will it lead to anything afterwards? Hell no; Atlantis getting something to do against Rush or Máscara would be decent and we can’t have that. But for a throwaway Friday match this got the crowd involved and had some nice moments. Nothing wrong with that at all.
Máximo Sexy defeated Máscara Año 2000 two falls to none
What do you know; this match didn't suck!
But who cares about this match at the moment? The bigger thing to me wasn’t the contest itself but the really, really good angle CMLL ran at the end of the match. I think we were all wondering how CMLL would get out of this match without giving away everything Máximo and Año would want to do two weeks from now, and it turns out the out was Sansón, Cuatrero and Forastero. They came out, whipped the piss out of Máximo with their uncle (they even got to do a few double and triple team moves), jawed with some fans and what looked to be a CMLL official and ultimately left Máximo selling the beating as if he were legit hurt. This was great, and not just because it added heat to the Máximo-Año match (a match that, despite what myself and others may like to believe, was always going to have great heat). It was great because of the heat it gave these three youngsters. I’m one of many who have fallen in love with Los Cientificos (as I call them) and have thought they’ve deserved a bigger push than what they’ve gotten. I don’t know if this is the start of it, but if nothing else they instantly got over as violent rudos tonight and if they continued to get involved with this feud it can only do them good. I’m thrilled for them and overall I came out of this match feeling much better than expected. Maybe it’s the hopeless optimism in me but I can’t help but feel encouraged this Máximo-Máscara Año program will now merely be mediocre instead of “STAB MY EYES OUT WITH A TRIDENT NOW!”
Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. defeated Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero two falls to one
We’re not going to be talking about what happened in this match that much. Not because it was bad; in fact I thought it was quite good. Volador and Valiente looked motivated and did some cool things, Euforia continues to be one of the great unsung heroes of CMLL (I thought his brief work with Volador was tremendous and why CMLL won’t let those two feud is beyond me) and the Carístico-UG in ring interactions remain a strong suit. Sadly they’re just not as strong as the situation between them once the fighting stops, which is what I want to focus on.
Here’s one criticism I’ll give CMLL in regards to Máximo-Máscara Año; whatever they do with that feud won’t hold a candle to what they’re doing with Carístico and the UG right now. This program is EXCELLENT. Sure it may seem like a slightly higher profile build to a match than what usually CMLL does but there’s so much working below the surface, be it UG’s disrespect of Carístico or Carístico’s need to make this match happen because he knows what it represents; a second chance. It’s why the excellent post match promo between the two last night worked so well. Carístico needs this match and needs to win it, in order to regain the glory he once had and threw away in favor of glory in the United States he would never find. And the UG is more than happy to deny him that opportunity and taunt him while doing so. I cannot even begin to tell you how much money UG was on the mic last night and not just because I understood what he was saying for once. There was the mocking of Carístico’s identity (“Es Mistico or Carístico?” UG asked mockingly when the fans chanted “Mistico” at Carístico) and there was the one, final answer to Carístico’s challenge IN ENGLISH. Don’t underestimate that folks; the only guy in recent memory to answer a challenge to a match in English is Matt Taven and that’s because Taven didn’t know Spanish. They otherwise never do it. UG did it specifically because of Carístico’s failures in WWE and the most talked about reason why he did fail (his failure to learn English). Absolutely tremendous shot by the UG that I sadly think most people missed. As for what he said? “Okay. You and me, face to face, next week, no problem with me!”
Don’t get too excited just yet though because this isn’t a mask vs. hair match like we all want. The UG merely accepted a regular singles match with Carístico; only if Carístico wins do we get the mask vs. hair match that we all want and that CMLL should really be doing instead of Máximo-Máscara Año. I’ll definitely take it for the moment. Doing Carístico-UG with the stipulation of a Carístico win leading to something bigger gives you one big match with the option for a second, and judging from what we’ve seen from these two in ring (both recently and earlier this year when they fought in Puebla) you know the match will be good and draw good business. I don’t know if they’ll pull the trigger on the match or not but that’s something to worry about come next week. For now my hats off to CMLL. They’re still inexplicably making poor booking decisions elsewhere, but they’ve gotten it right with this feud and those left cold by the luchadoras cage match or Máscara Año-Máximo can now look forward to this match instead.
That’s game! I’m out for now sports fans, but I’ll return soon with…something. It’s a mystery I suppose. Till we meet again, DUCHOVNY time!
