Mascara 2000/UG, Amapola/Kaho and Virus/Metalico tonight

Juicio Final is tonight. It’s at the normal Friday night time of 8 pm. Marca will be streaming their show: on their website and on their YouTube. There’s no Facebook video set up and there was no one last week, so maybe they’ve abandoned the platform. YouTube seemed to be getting the 3-4x times viewer, even despite blocking US audiences every week. I will also be streaming the show on my YouTube channel.

I wrote a long preview of the show on Voices of Wrestling, and ended up down on the concept. Virus/Metalico should be great if they get proper time. I’m not sure if anything else will be. The trios matches all could be good, but at least one of them has to get shorted on time with a seven-match card. (It also looks like there may be dance numbers.) Gran Guerrero & Euforia vs Valiente & Diamante Azul could go any way. Amapola & Kaho Kobayashi and Ultimo Guerrero & Mascara 2000 will have a bump from the emotion and the stakes, but neither would be a good match on a regular show. Mascara 2000 in a singles match could be terrible, and it is hard to imagine a way where it’ll be just OK. CMLL saying they’re going to do big shows each month sounds exciting if it actually happens, but less so if the matches are like this. As a draw, this seems like a test to see if billing a show as major without actually delivering major matches is good enough.

Ultimo Guerrero is winning the main event unless the world has gone insane. Amapola, Virus and Diamante Azul & Valiente all are likely winning, though none feels like a certainty. Virus losing would be upsetting, while the other two matches really could finish either way without it feeling a big deal. That is the problem with the card. Matches on big shows should feel like Metalico vs Virus, where the outcome feels important. It’s even better when the outcome is intriguing. The Ultimo Guerrero/Mascara 2000 match outcome sort of feels important, but it would feel really dumb if Mascara 2000 was the first guy to take Ultimo Guerrero’s hair, and then CMLL continue to go with the idea that Ultimo Guerrero was the greatest rudo.

Lucha Central has a preview of the show.

Mascara 2000 says this is just beginning of the war between Los Guerreros and Los Dinamita. It would make more sense starting with this if it really is the start of something but wait and see.

Marca visits Valiente’s restaurant. Valiente, especially when he was first becoming a star, was always compared to Super Astro and now both of them are in the restaurant business.

There are other shows today. The event most likely to turn up on +LuchaTV is the Wrestling Resureccion show in Arena Azteca Budokan. Golden Magic & Jack Evans face Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Herodes Jr. in the Montanez focused show. Possibly the best show tonight is the AAA/EMW show in Tijuana. The show includes LAX debuting for AAA against Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid, as well as the dramatic Willie Mack appearance. He teams with Taya against Daga & Tessa Blanchard. This will probably turn up on the usual Tijuana YouTube channels.

Personality Media conducts a yearly survey of 20,000 Mexicans about 1,300 athletes, trying to determine the best known and most highly regarded. They’ve done it for five years. This year is the first where a luchador made any part of the list. El Hijo del Santo is the 8th highest rated athlete among men only, rated 7.23 out of 10 and known by 98% of the male respondents. Santo doesn’t show up on the overall top 10, indicating women didn’t rate him quite as highly. I’m not sure why he would’ve shown up this year more than the past. I noticed this list only because Santo was happily tweeting about it.

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 06/04/2019 Arena México
1) Leono & Metatrón vs Cholo & Príncipe Odín Jr.
2) La Jarochita, La Maligna, Sanely vs Dalys, Metálica, Reyna Isis
3) Drone, Fuego, Rey Cometa vs Sagrado, Universo 2000 Jr., Vangellys
4) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Luciferno [lightning]
5) Flyer, Kráneo, Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero, Máscara Año 2000, Mr. Niebla
6) Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

Not a thrilling card. Leono & Metatron versus Cholo & Principe Odin Jr. seems like torture. Maybe the lightning match will be fine.

CMLL (TUE) 06/04/2019 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) El Alteño, Luminoso, Magnum vs Mr. Trueno, Paymon, Rey Trueno
2) Magnus, Star Black, Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Tyson La Bestia
3) Avispa Dorada, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit vs Amapola, La Comandante, Tiffany
4) Esfinge, Niebla Roja, Tritón vs Cavernario, Felino, Negro Casas
5) Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Volador Jr. vs La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]

Rush at least gets a day off between working the Pacific Northwest for ROH and Guadalajara. Speaking of the PNW, Avispa Dorada makes TV.