CMLL Super Viernes Preview: Get On Your Bikes and Lucha!
Hey; it’s me again! Plain to see again! Wow I really need to lay off the Cheap Trick. That’s right folks; I’m back and I’m ready to talk some more CMLL. I know I’ve been on a huge kick with them this past week and well it’s not stopping. Well I guess it is because there will be no more CMLL to talk about till after Friday’s show, but that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Today I’m releasing an early preview of Friday’s Super Viernes show, which features a card that I can safely predict will make last night’s Tuesday show feel like the morning after a party at Keith Richards’ house. On a scale from one to LUGER WON THE TITLE, this show should be a solid LUGER WON THE TITLE; there’s not a bad match on it and aside from the presence of Shocker there really isn’t a terrible wrestler on the card either. But enough of me talking it up; let’s…go into even more depth about talking this show up. Nice save there Cult, nice save. Moses, go go Memezilla!
Eléctrico & Último Dragóncito vs. Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
What to Expect: The minis are kicking us off this Friday and, oh my, it should be more fun and far less confusing than the end of BioShock Infinite. The plus of seeing several of these guys last week means I got a fresh look at what they could bring and all three of the minis from last week (Eléctrico, Ultimo and Mercurio) were all really, really good in a match that I’d describe as the second best from last Friday’s show. I expect we’ll get along the same lines here, with the technicos providing the high flying while Mercurio and Pequeno Nitro (replacing Pierrothito and Demus 3:16) do their best to catch them. I’m not sure it’ll be as good as last week (can Nitro match the ability of Pierrothito or be great in short bursts the same was Demus was?) but you could do a whole lot worse for an opener than this bout.
Winners: The technico team won last week so I’ll go with the rudos this week two falls to one, with Mercurio pinning Ultimo to get the win. Hey I correctly predicted last night’s Tuesday show would set up a Escorpion-Maximo title match so why not see if I can keep up the hot streak? Maybe I can see the future! Excuse me while I go look for Lucha Underground’s return date.
Oro Jr., Pegasso, Soberano Jr. vs. Fujin, Okumura, Raijin
What to Expect: Looks as though we’ve got another fun match here! I’m not caught up on how the two Juniors have been doing, but I did just catch Pegasso this past Monday in Puebla and he was the lone bright spot of an otherwise brutal second match, bursting with energy and overall looking pretty crisp unlike his partner Flyer (poor Flyer. We pour another one out for you!). He and his partners will have a good rudo team to work with in the New Japan army, who when given time have looked quite good and seem to get better with each performance (well at least Fujin and Raijin do). They’ll have a lot to live up to from last week’s second match, where the minis tore the house down, but this will be a good time and could rise up to potential Match of the Evening territory. The only question I have that keeps me from saying it will be is whether or not the action remains consistently crisp the whole way through.
Winners: I like the technicos here two to one after about twelve minutes or so. That’s right; I’m making predictions on the time now!
Bobby Z, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys vs. Golden Magic, Sharlie Rockstar, Súper Crazy
What to Expect: This is practically the same match in the same exact spot on the card from last week’s show, with the only differences being Rey Bucanero has kicked Shocker and Terrible to the curb (just kidding; he still loves them) in favor of Bobby Z and Vangellys. He’s made a great decision in my book; Bobby Z is a tremendous worker while Vangellys…alright he’s not great but he’s better than Shocker, and you can never go wrong with replacing Shocker. The added addition of those two means this match should be better than last week, especially since we can expect Bucanero and Super Crazy to ratchet up the intensity to Mad Max: Fury Road levels. The big question for me here is how much does CMLL allow Sharlie Rockstar and Golden Magic to cut loose. I thought Rockstar was surprisingly good in limited action last week and Magic showed flashes despite basically being a background character. With more talent to work with on the other side this week I’m hoping we see CMLL let these guys get into the action more; there’s only so many times Crazy and Bucanero can brawl all over the ringside area after all!
Winners: The technicos won this match last week but the rudos (and Bucanero in particular) still came out looking the best due to Bucanero’s low blow to Super Crazy that ended the match. As we’re still building to an eventual title match between these two I’d expect Crazy to pick up the victory here and issue a formal challenge for Bucanero’s NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship next week. I will now give you all a moment to realize you’re excited for a Super Crazy match that doesn’t involve Tajiri in 2016.
Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs. Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas
What to Expect: Keep calm folks; the Match of the Evening has arrived! On the rudo side we’ve got Cavernario, one of the hottest performers in CMLL over the past few months with great matches against Rey Cometa and practically everyone on the technico side, we’ve got one of the greatest luchadors of all time in Negro Casas in a match he can really sink his teeth into and we’ve got Felino, the worst guy in this match by a mile and still a performer better than over half the guys on this card! Meanwhile the technicos are only rolling out Mistico and Valiente one week after they absolutely electrified Arena Mexico and a Mascara Dorada guy who may or may not be involved with a certain tournament in Florida everyone is losing their minds over. Nah it can’t be him; that Gran Metalik guy is just ripping Dorada off. Yeah, that’s what it is!
Seriously though, with this level of talent in the match if this ends up not being the Match of the Evening than either something seriously went wrong or something REALLY went right for one of the other matches. This is an overwhelming level of talent in this match, not to mention six guys who know each other so well and know exactly who to get the Arena Mexico crowd into a frenzy (yes even Mistico; it just so happens that frenzy for him is usually in the form of hatred only Carrot Top knows). The only other thing you could ask for from this is more buckets of water to throw over your head to cool down from this white hot epic. The only thing left to say is this match will be a no doubter, and could potentially draw a bigger audience than usual thanks to Dorada’s escapades north of the border.
Winners: It feels like a feud should be set up here; the only problem is I don’t know between whom. Either way I’ll suggest the rudos take this one and if I had to look into the crystal ball, I’ll say that this is the beginning of Dorada’s last CMLL feud before he leaves us for the mother ship (DON’T LEAVE US DORADA! PLEASE!). If that’s the case, the right way to do this would be to have him go against Casas, mainly because a) it’s a match that doesn’t seem like it’s been done recently and b) HOLY CRAP HOW GOOD WOULD THAT BE?! In short; Casas steals a win on Dorada, we begin the road to that mouth watering spectacle.
Dragón Lee vs. La Máscara
What to Expect: The match preceding this one may be the best match of the evening, but this one is the most intriguing. On one hand we have Dragon Lee, the best of CMLL’s amazing crop of young luchadors, having his first big solo match since he injured his knee a couple months ago. On the other side we have La Mascara, who just won the Leyenda de Plata last week and seems to be someone CMLL has huge plans for even as fans and commentators remain indifferent towards him. The intrigue doesn’t stop there as these two and Rush have been beefing for weeks now, which means anything and everything is possible here, be it a really long drawn out battle or a short match that sees Rush get involved heavily (I’d be floored if he isn’t Lee’s second). If this match is long I’m going to continue to remain positive on Mascara rising to the occasion; he gave a great effort last week against Negro Casas in a match neutered more so by lack of time than anything else and he’s proven to be quite capable when motivated. As long as he brings it and as long as Dragon Lee is fully ready to go, this match should be better than most people expect. The question is whether or not this match is being set up for Lee and Mascara to go long or if there’s another angle in play to further along the story and for that I don’t have the answer. Never the less, all eyes will be on this one and hopefully we’re getting a clearer picture of what’s happening going forward.
Winner: It depends on whether the long term plan here is to go with Rush vs. Mascara or Lee vs. Mascara. If it’s the former, Mascara will take this in a long match and then issue a challenge to Rush (who will drag out accepting the match for a time). If it’s Lee, Rush will screw Mascara over here in a short match, leading to a bout between those two right away so then Lee and Mascara can go at it again (possibly in a mask vs. mask match). Seeing as everyone in the world would prefer the Anniversary Show to be headlined by L.A. Park vs. Rush in a mask vs. hair match (including me) let’s go with the latter scenario here. Rush will screw over Mascara to give Lee the win in a short bout, setting up a match between the two in the next couple of weeks. From there Rush moves on to face Park in a match everyone wants to see and Mascara and Lee reconnect for that mask vs. mask match, giving CMLL a pretty good one two punch at the Anniversary Show. Seriously Paco, hire me! I will turn you guys into the greatest force since Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero decided to conquer the known world ten years ago!
Marco Corleone, Máximo Sexy, Volador Jr. vs. Shocker, Terrible, Último Guerrero
What to Expect: Doesn’t it feel like this match should be, you know, a tad lower on the card? I mean it’s not bad; we’ve got some great people in it like Marco, Maximo, Volador, Terrible and the UG, which means this match will at least have some value. Of course this match also has Shocker and…well I think last week he showed the best we can expect from him and even that wasn’t exactly that good. Luckily I expect CMLL to limit the amount of time good ole Shocker gets in this one, which leaves the rest of the gang to deliver what should be some pretty entertaining content. I don’t see it going particularly long, especially since the two matches before it should get a lot of time, but this will by no means be bad unless Shocker is allowed to wrestle more than five minutes. Seeing as this match probably won’t be that much longer than five minutes we likely don’t have much to worry about there!
Winners: We actually do have a story being built up here; Volador and the UG just had a great match in Puebla Monday Night and afterwards Volador challenged the veteran to a hair vs. hair match, only to be declined. I doubt we’ve seen the end of that feud there so expect that to be the focal point of the finish, with the UG once again outsmarting Volador to give the rudos the win, leading to another Volador challenge that UG declines. I’m banking on that continuing till Volador finally gets the win over UG in a trios match, leading to the veteran finally accepting the challenge and giving us the hair vs. hair match we all want and don’t want at the same time. Seriously; picture either of these guys bald. I’ll wait for the shrieking to begin.
We’re done here folks. I shall now go and rest up for Friday so I can review this show; my goodness what am I going to do without writing about CMLL for two days?! Perhaps I’ll have another column to give you guys before then, but with family coming up and me needing a break it’s possible you won’t see me till late Friday night/early Saturday morning. If that’s the case, enjoy this Twin Peaks meme. It will fill you to the brim with a feeling of goodness.
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