Tag: FantasticaMania

NJPW World doesn’t appear to list which shows will air, but at least the last three shows are a good bet.

CMLL NJPW (SUN) 01/17/2016 Kochi Sunpia CHRES, Kochi, Japan
1) Kushida & Stuka Jr. vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
all Tanaka/Komatsu matches are part of a challenge series.
2) Guerrero Maya Jr. & The Panther vs Boby Zavala & Okumura
3) Fuego & Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario & YOSHI-HASHI
4) Dragon Lee & Jay White vs Hechicero & Virus
5) Atlantis, Juice Robinson, Máscara Dorada vs Bushi, Evil, Tetsuya Naito
6) Ryusuke Taguchi & Volador Jr. vs Mephisto & Shinsuke Nakamura
7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Mistico vs Gedo, Kazuchika Okada, Último Guerrero

Tanaka & Komatsu are having a farewell tour in the openers. (Given tradition, it’s likely they won’t win anything.) NJPW’s press release on the tour mentions they’ll be heading to CMLL at the conclusion. Edit: CMLL’s version of the card announcement mentions they’ll be starting in Mexico on 01/31 as Fujin (Komatsu) and Raijin (Tanaka). A little bit bizarre they announced that, since they’re likely masked gimmicks – they’re Japanese weather gods. 01/31 is a Sunday, so they’re probably starting on an Elite card.

Maybe notable, maybe not: NJPW’s press release doesn’t mention anyone from CMLL going over to NJPW for a year. Maybe I missed it? Maybe Sombra really was the plan? Maybe it was just an oversight?

Hechicero doesn’t get a lot to do on this tour; this match with Virus, Dragon Lee and Jay White is probably his chance for a notable match.

CMLL NJPW (TUE) 01/19/2016 KBS Hall, Kyoto, Japan
1) Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
2) The Panther vs Okumura
3) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Boby Zavala
4) David Finlay, Dragon Lee, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Virus, YOSHI-HASHI
5) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Stuka Jr. vs Bushi, Evil, Tetsuya Naito
6) Kushida & Mistico vs Gedo & Último Guerrero
7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Volador Jr. vs Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto, Shinsuke Nakamura

Singles matches are setting up a later Coliseo matches. Third match is the rematch of the En Busca de un Idolo final.

CMLL NJPW (WED) 01/20/2016 Osaka Prefectual Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
1) Jushin Liger & Stuka Jr. vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
2) The Panther vs Boby Zavala
3) Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Okumura
4) Jay White, Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Gedo, Hechicero, YOSHI-HASHI
5) Atlantis, Fuego, Máscara Dorada vs Bushi, Evil, Tetsuya Naito
6) Juice Robinson, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Mephisto, Shinsuke Nakamura, Último Guerrero
7) Dragon Lee & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Okada & Virus

That’s a main event I’d never thought I would see. I don’t have any record of Virus & Okada teaming up in Mexico, but I’d guess they crossed paths before.

The other half of the singles matches in the first few matches.

CMLL NJPW (FRI) 01/22/2016 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Fuego & Stuka Jr. vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
2) David Finlay, Guerrero Maya Jr., Jyushin Thunder Liger, Kushida, The Panther vs Boby Zavala, Gedo, Hechicero, Okumura, YOSHI-HASHI
3) Atlantis & Juice Robinson vs Evil & Tetsuya Naito
4) Titán vs Bárbaro Cavernario © [MEX WELTER]
Barbaro second defense
5) Máscara Dorada vs Bushi © [CMLL WELTER]
BUSHI first defense
6) Dragon Lee, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi vs Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Virus
7) Mistico & Volador Jr. vs Mephisto & Último Guerrero

First night of Korakuen and two really good title matches, both rematches of the title change. If Cavernario is going to NJPW, Titan could take the title back. (Or it could just sit around doing nothing like Dorada’s title.)

Main event is a all CMLL tag match main event, a rarity on these shows. Also rare: Atlantsi teaming with the NXT’s ex-CJ Parker. Atlantis doesn’t really have a role on these shows besides getting annoyed by the Ingobernables de Japon.

CMLL NJPW (SAT) 01/23/2016 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Máscara Dorada & Titán vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
2) Fuego, Juice Robinson, Kushida vs Gedo, Hechicero, YOSHI-HASHI
3) Guerrero Maya Jr. & The Panther © vs Boby Zavala & Okumura [Arena Coliseo TAG]
first defense
4) Ryusuke Taguchi & Stuka Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Shinsuke Nakamura
5) Atlantis, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask vs Bushi, Evil, Tetsuya Naito
6) Dragon Lee © vs Virus [CMLL SL]
Dragon Lee fifth defense
7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto, Último Guerrero

Lee and Virus is also a rematch of the title change. This is a good point to note Kamaitachi didn’t make this tour. No idea when he’s going back now, but missing these shows seemed likely when he just wasn’t leaving Arena Mexico.

Maybe we should pretend THIS is the title shot Zavala gets for winning En Busca de un Idolo?

CMLL NJPW (SUN) 01/24/2016 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Guerrero Maya Jr. & The Panther vs Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
2) Fuego, Kushida, Stuka Jr., Tiger Mask IV, Titán vs Boby Zavala, Gedo, Hechicero, Okumura, Yoshihashi
3) Jyushin Thunder Liger vs Virus
Lucha de Maestros
4) Atlantis, Máscara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi vs Bushi, Evil, Tetsuya Naito
5) Dragon Lee, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura
6) Mistico vs Último Guerrero
7) Volador Jr. © vs Mephisto [NWA WELTER]
7th defense

Main event is the annual Volador crazy spot exhibition, probably similar to their October title match. Mistico seems like the underdog in the semimain, a lot different from where we’d thought he’d be a few years ago. Liger/Virus is not a match I’d ever think I’d see and justifies the tour alone.

CMLL (MON) 01/19/2015 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1) Jushin Liger, Kushida, Stuka Jr., Tiger Mask b Gedo, Okumura, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI
9:28. Stuka Jr. hit Okumura (and Mima seperately) with a torpedo splash. OK.
2) Ryusuke Taguchi & Tetsuya Naito b Captain New Japan & Tritón
6:51. Naito submitted CNJ to the Puma Blanca. Comedy match with a lot of time spent on Taguchi’s masked act. Syuri appeared before the match to hand Taguchi & Naito flowers. OK.
3) Mephisto & Yujiro b Ángel de Oro & Stigma
Yujiro replaced Gran Guerrero on Sunday. 10:22. Super Devil’s Wings on Stigma. OK>
4) Bárbaro Cavernario b Rey Cometa
11:28. Fantastic (Excellent) rematch, with a lot of their huge spots back from the Anniversary and a few new ones thrown in. Cometa obviously still had a knee injury but battled well, including (barely) pulling of Brillo Cometa. Cavernario also did the top rope splash to the floor among plenty of other moves. They were going hard from the whistle. Barbaro ultimately survived the 450 splash to put Cometa in a cavernaria for a win.
5) Mistico b Pólvora
11:28. Mistico was clearly limited, but they worked around it. La Mistico for the win. OK match smartly worked.
6) Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Volador Jr. b Gran Guerrero, Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Último Guerrero
11:47. Gran Guerrero replaced Mr. Niebla on Sunday. Atlantis submitted Gran Guerrero to an Atlantida.
7) La Sombra b Máscara Dorada
Mascara Dorada was announced as joining NJPW on a one year contract prior to the match. Not the crazy spot exhibition of last year’s match, but one of of big spots building towards a finish. Sombra seemed off and hampered by leg issues, but it was still a great match. Dorada pulled off the over the top rope apron headscissors (the successor to the over the top dropkick Dragon Lee has been doing.) Sombra had mild interaction with guest announcer Yuji Nagata and a match between the two was teased. Sombra was able to sidestep a springboard flip tornillo attempt and beat Dorada with a Shadow Driver. Sombra thanked the fans and left, while Dorada stuck around to take part in the usual tour ending celebration. (Mr. Niebla was not seen.)

The Mascara Dorada signing is the big news. NJPW full time contracts are (usually) one year deals that quietly get renewed every year about this time. BUSHI came to NJPW from AJPW on a similar one year loan, and just never went back. That has to be considered a possibility for Dorada as well. At the same time, Mascara Dorada was also a guy rushing out of Arena Mexico on Friday nights to get on the last bus to Guadalajara so he could make it home to his family, which doesn’t sound like the sort of guy who’s going to want to be full time in Japan. It’s an great opportunity but one that requires quite a bit of personal sacrifice, and it’s possible no firm decision will be made until this time next year.

I’m going to have to rewatch the main event at some later point. I really was thrown off by the news. I think Sombra was hurt early, because he had a handful of spots where he couldn’t finish and didn’t look like himself. There was a super inverted huracanrana where it seemed like both men were actually going to land on their head which might have been than way because of the injury too.

There’s an obvious story here is Dorada spends a year in New Japan, defends his CMLL Welterweight title once or twice, challenges for IWGP titles once or twice, learns things, and comes back next year to be Sombra to show his growth. The obvious story doesn’t always happen, but that fits. NJPW also kept cutting back between Nagata & Sombra post match; I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Sombra in NJPW for this year.

We’ll probably find more about the Dorada situation today. If this goes well, I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar happens with Sombra down the road. To be honest, Sombra’s the guy I always thought this would happen with, but he’s also the guy CMLL would have a harder time letting go.

Mistico and Mephisto had a brief skirmish after Mistico’s match, so that’s supposed to still be a thing. Only, Mistico’s really not 100%. It’s too soon to know what percent he’ll actually be getting to, but he looked like a guy who needed more time off before returning. There probably won’t be any changes to CMLL’s cards based on injuries from this tour until they all get back home, but I’d expect to see a few.  Polvora’s surprisingly good sense at making singles matches work comes up again.

Like UG & Atlantis yesterday, Cometa & Cavernario had a match worthy of following the Anniversary one.  They stole the show and made names for both of themselves. Cavernario got over huge and will obviously be back in NJPW. Between Dorada and the other guest appearances, maybe you’ll want to hold onto your NJPW World subscription a while longer.

Cavernario/Cometa, the main event, and the fun atomicos prior to it are worth going out of your way to see. This card is by far the best of the tour (including the ones we haven’t seen) and is worth getting a subscription alone. The rest of the matches were alright, but you can pick and choose here.

Besides Cavernario & Cometa, Angel de Oro impressed NJPW fans. Gran Guerrero got put in tough spots and did fine for his experience level, though I still wish they’d back off him a bit. Stigma struggled in his big mach but was OK in the others. Triton had a good showing and Polvora and Stuka got over as characters.

No sign of Mr. Niebla. Nakamura did a little bit of the Niebla dance while wearing his Niebla hood, but that’s the only sign of him on this show. Niebla did not appear in the annual post show celebration. He would’ve been there if it was just an injury. Niebla really screwed up this time. I hope he’s OK, but CMLL was teasing Niebla vs Atlantis as a genuine possible mask match this year and he’s proven they can possibly do that. It’s possible we might not see him around at all for a while.