Recapped: 01/22/2016
This is the show from Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, on the first day of the tour.
What happened: Los Ingobernables cheated to beat Atlantis and friends, then took their masks. Zavala & Okumura won a non-title match before their title match, and Volador & Mistico got wins over their rivals in singles mattes on the last day.
What was good: The Jay White/Dragon Lee versus Hechicero/Virus was match of the night, with everything else being close to the cut line, one way or another.
Where can I watch it: It’s on RealHero’s rutube channel. At some point, I’ll figure out how to add to rutube to make it searchable in the database as well.
Match 1: Kushida & Stuka Jr. vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, 01/17/2016
Winner: Kushida & Stuka Jr. (Stuka Jr. torpedo splash Tanaka)
Match Time: 9:01
Review: [OK] I liked this more as this match went on, with Tanaka & Komatsu being fun on offense (and getting in a lot more than I would’ve guessed with the junior champion in.) Komatsu seems like the better one, but Tanaka does the odd cool move so that’s nice. Kushida & Stuka gave about the level of effort you’d expect for an opener.
Kushida cartwheel dropkick has good aim
well, guess no one in Mexico was using this now
Match 2: Guerrero Maya Jr. & The Panther vs Boby Zavala & Okumura
Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, 01/17/2016
Winner: Zavala powerbomb Guerrero Maya
Match Time: 8:45
Review: [ok] solid tag team match highlighted by Panther’s double dive. Rudos seemed to do more comedy routines than they do in Mexico – the hug spot seemed different for those guys, at least. This was a simple match with it ending at the first real moment it could end, and I’m hoping for a lot more with the title match.
they should’ve just made this their finish
Panther tope x2
Match 3: Fuego & Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario & YOSHI-HASHI
Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, 01/17/2016
Winner: tecnicos (Titan Capture on Cavernario)
Match Time: 9:10
Review: [good] liked this one the most so far easily. Titan and Cavernario have really good chemistry. Cavernario’s just generally in his element and looking like a star in every match he’s in. Crowd loves him and liked Fuego as well. Match was noticeable worse whenever Yoshihashi was in, but – outside of the header early – he didn’t mess things up too much.
Yoshihashi, still not good at lucha
Titan rope flip moonsault
good timing on the dropkick
Cavernario knee injury trolling
Match 4: Dragon Lee & Jay White vs Hechicero & Virus
Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, 01/17/2016
Winner: rudos (Virus motovirus on WHite)
Match Time: 9:55
Review: [good] new best match on the show! This is bordering on a secret Hechicero/Jay White singles match with all the time they get in against each other, and it goes really well. White mostly has no idea what to make of this masked man, but they mesh for an interesting match. Dragon Lee and Virus match up less (and there’s a bit of corss over) and look sharp when they do fight. There’s a couple of normal Dragon Lee spots that come as more as a surprise in this match, mostly because they appear to be surprises to the camera people and so they don’t give away with the camera angle. The size difference makes Virus getting White up in the MotoVirus really impressive.
Virus clotheslining Dragon Lee is really their best spot
Hechicero isn’t having the huracanrana
strong rudo teamwork
headscissors off the apron on the first night
conjuro Jay White
Samurai TV can barely keep up with Dragon Lee
Match 5: Atlantis, Juice Robinson, Máscara Dorada vs Bushi, EVIL, Tetsuya Naito
Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, 01/17/2016
Winner: Los Ingobernables (Naito pin Robinson)
Match Time: 9:12
Notes: Naito unmasked Atlantis while Bushi had the referee, then fouled Juice Robinson and cradled him for the win. Rudos unmasked Dorada as well after the match.
Review: [ok] these matches aren’t doing much for me. It was a slow paced Ingobernable beatdown. The Mexico version of this trio is more fun, but these guys are still new at it and figured it out. Atlantis & Mascara Dorada were in and out, and it felt like Juice got the longest tecnico run. He didn’t do anything bad (at least out of character), but he wasn’t quite the guy I wanted to see.
Atlantis tope
Dorada gets a lot on the dropkick given all the spinning
Evil fisherman’s buster
Match 6: Ryusuke Taguchi & Volador Jr. vs Mephisto & Shinsuke Nakamura
Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, 01/17/2016
Winner: Volador (Volador top rope huracanrana Mephisto)
Match Time: 10:26
Review: [ok] Fine tag team match that didn’t really move me strongly one way or another. The Devil’s Wings near fall set up was well done. I would guess this is the same match we would’ve gotten anyway, but the crowd really wanted to see Nakamura and they gave them a lo of Nakamura. There were some Volador/Nakamura exchanged early which made me really want to see a singles match between them. Maybe in the next life.
don’t try to out trick Volador
Volador tope con giro
Match 7: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Mistico vs Gedo, Kazuchika Okada, Último Guerrero
Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan, 01/17/2016
Winner: tecnicos (Mistica on Ultimo Guerrero)
Match Time: 15:43
Review: [good] longest match of the night with a good built to the end and plenty of Mistico/UG at the end. It really would’ve been great to see more mixing between the CMLL and NJPW sides, but they kept things on track and Mistico did look smooth as a result. Tanahashi & Okada seemed to be putting in more effort than I would’ve expected for a show on this tour.
UG has had enough of Mistico’s posing.
Mistico headscissors
UG has to get this in. (though Okada could use some work)
bad plan by Mistico
For a couple of days now, I haven’t been able to see the images and GIFs on the site, on the main page as well as the individual articles. It’s been happening on three different computers (I’m at the library a lot), just thought you should know.
I’m kind of surprised they went to Mistico/UG so quickly on Day 6, based on how they work together I could actually see that as a program for a bigger show, especially if Mistico decides to give up the name sometime this year. The big money match would be Mistico/Caristico of course, but I could see Mistico/Ultimo Guerrero being better.
Thanks for the heads up. It started right after the site went down for an hour, so I was crossing my fingers and hoping it was just coming up later. Not so much! I’m checking with imgur to see I’ve got banned or something.
I think there’s a sense from NJPW that they want to make sure they have big enough matches on the last day to fill up Korakuen (third show in three days is not easy) and CMLL feels like they don’t totally count unless they happen in Arena Mexico so they don’t mind giving them away. It does seem more like a big match CMLL might do sometime this year.