CMLL (TUE) 01/13/2015 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
1) Rey Cometa & Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Mr. Niebla
2) Ángel de Oro vs Okumura [lightning]
Okumura 20th Anniversary/10 Years in CMLL match
3) Jushin Liger & Mistico vs Gedo & Pólvora
4) Stigma, Stuka Jr., Tiger Mask vs Mephisto, Shinsuke Nakamura, YOSHI-HASHI
5) Captian New Japan, Kushida, Máscara Dorada vs La Sombra, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tetsuya Naito
6) Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Kazuchika Okada, Último Guerrero
Tercera is Mistico’s first match since his car accident. He hasn’t wrestled since May 1st, so it’s a 257 day break. There’s no telling how he’s going to do here, but it would be difficult for anyone to have good matches in this situation.
Taped for SamuraiTV, not on NJPW World. Not sure who was asking for an Okumura match but that one sets up a later one. CMLL pretty much flew Niebla over to work random tags, it’s odd.
TNA tag partners Volador and Tanahashi are reunited, good to see.
CMLL (WED) 01/14/2015 Takamatsu-city General Gymnasium, Kagawa, Japan
1) Ángel de Oro & Kushida vs Okumura & YOSHI-HASHI
2) Jushin Liger & Stuka Jr. vs Gedo & Mephisto
3) Rey Cometa & Stigma vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Mr. Niebla
4) Mistico & Tritón vs Kazuchika Okada & Pólvora
5) Atlantis, Captain New Japan, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Shinsuke Nakamura, Último Guerrero
6) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Máscara Dorada, Tiger Mask vs La Sombra, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tetsuya Naito
Only show listed as not being aired anywhere. That’s generally fine, pictures of the oddness of the fourth match should suffice.
Maybe Tiger Mask’s only NJPW main event of the year?
CMLL (THU) 01/15/2015 KBS Hall, Kyoto, Japan
1) Kushida & Rey Cometa vs Bárbaro Cavernario & YOSHI-HASHI
2) Ángel de Oro & Stigma vs Mr. Niebla & Okumura
3) Mistico & Tiger Mask vs Gedo & Pólvora
4) Captain New Japan & Stuka Jr. vs Kazuchika Okada & Mephisto
5) Jushin Liger, Máscara Dorada, Tritón vs La Sombra, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tetsuya Naito
6) Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero, Shinsuke Nakamura, Último Guerrero
Taped for SamuraiTV, not NJPWWorld. Still in the random tag matches portion of the tour. Stuka and Captain New Japan figure to get along well, lose terribly.
I could not have more conflicted feelings about the Cavernario/Yoshi-Hashi team.
CMLL (SAT) 01/17/2015 Shin-Kiba 1st Ring, Tokyo, Japan
1) Rey Cometa & Stuka Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Mr. Niebla [quarterfinal]
2) Stigma & Volador Jr. vs Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero [quarterfinal]
3) Mistico & Tritón vs Mephisto & Pólvora [quarterfinal]
4) Atlantis & Máscara Dorada vs La Sombra & Tetsuya Naito [quarterfinal]
5) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [semifinal]
6) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [semifinal]
7) Ángel de Oro © vs Okumura [CMLL LH]
Angel de Oro first defense.
8) ? & ?? vs ??? & ???? [final]
Taped for SamuraiTV, not NJPWWorld.
It’s the Okumura/Angel de Oro match you never wanted to see, plus an authentic bad one night lucha libre tournament. There are some amusing teams and it looks like Sombra & Naito in the final (maybe Guerreros, maybe Peste Negra), but this not a card I’d be that interesting in seeing if held in Mexico. Maybe it’ll be better in Japan.
CMLL (SUN) 01/18/2015 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Ángel de Oro, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask vs Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI
2) Kushida, Rey Cometa, Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Okumura
3) Captain New Japan, Mascara Don, Máscara Dorada vs La Sombra, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tetsuya Naito
4) Volador Jr. © vs Gran Guerrero [NWA WELTER]
Volador Jr.’s first defense.
5) Stuka Jr. vs Mephisto © [MEX LH]
Mephisto’s 11th defense
6) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Mistico, Stigma vs Kazuchika Okada, Pólvora, Shinsuke Nakamura
annual Black Tiger tribute match.
7) Atlantis vs Último Guerrero
Live on NJPWWorld, 3:30 AM Mexico City time on Sunday morning.
Atlantis & UG can do the main event in their sleep, may try.
Stigma gets in his uncle’s tribute match; Tanahashi is going to have his hands full in that one.
Mephisto/Stuka feels like a match which has to have happened sometime before, but it’s a first time ever.
Gran Guerrero’s probably not up to the demands of a Volador exhibition match; Cavernario would’ve been so much better in that spot.
Mascara Don is Nakanishi in a mask doing wacky things (and probably giving Dorada & Sombra a night off before the finish.)
Assuming Jado’s back to being retired and that’s why Ishii is wrestling on these. Though Ishii could probably also use the rest; there has to be a better solution.
CMLL (MON) 01/19/2015 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Jushin Liger, Kushida, Stuka Jr., Tiger Mask vs Gedo, Okumura, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI
2) Captain New Japan & Tritón vs Ryusuke Taguchi & Tetsuya Naito
3) Ángel de Oro & Stigma vs Gran Guerrero & Mephisto
4) Rey Cometa vs Bárbaro Cavernario
5) Mistico vs Pólvora
6) Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Volador Jr. vs Kazuchika Okada, Mr. Niebla, Shinsuke Nakamura, Último Guerrero
7) Máscara Dorada vs La Sombra
Live on NJPWWorld, 3:30 AM Mexico City time on Monday morning.
Mascara Dorada versus La Sombra, another first ever is super intriguing. It’s CMLL’s top NJPW heavyweight vs CMLL’s top NJPW junior heavyweight, which usually means the junior heavyweight is doing down, but also usually means they don’t do this match to avoid being anyone.
Mr. Niebla in the semifinal is his one significant match on the tour, assuming Peste Negra doesn’t advance
No Welterweight title match; fifth one might have been if they didn’t take it away last week, and I’m less sure why they bothered to do that. Polvora’s going to have a busy day.
I’d be thinking Triton might be the guy to surprise people, do well on the tour, and get brought back a couple times later, like Fuego last year and Titan the year prior. It looks like it lines up a lot better for Cavernario to be in that spot, especially since he gets Cometa on the 19th.
The plan is for live coverage of both shows, though I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to pull that off for the second one. We’ll see.