NJPW Fantastica Mania
January 20, 2017
The Japanese ring announcers are in sombreros to kick off the show, running down the match card. The two key matches tonight are IWGP Himoru Takahashi vs. Titan in a non-title match, and Dragon Lee defending the CMLL Light Heavyweight title against Barbaro Cavernario, plus Los Ingbornables de Japon taking on Team Tanahashi in a 10-man tag.
Will Ospreay & Ephesto vs. Henare & Blue Panther Jr.
Not much to this one other than a couple of fun spots to open the show. The CMLL guys all got polite reactions for their work, but Ospreay was the most over with his usual high flying, and that never-ending kip-up spot that he does. The CMLL guys did this weird thing where they pretending to “counter” each other without actually touching; kind of just looked like they were dancing around the ring, which got some laughs. Panther manhandled Ospreay while the Brit was screaming his head off, which was funny. Finish came when Ospreay did the Sasuske Special to Henare on the floor, Ephesto teased a dive to follow but ran into a series of title-a-whirl backbreakers from Panther, and tapped out to a standing Figure Four. The CMLL guys were wearing t-shirts during the match, as this is a huge tour as far as merch sales for them.
Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Soberano Jr. vs. Gedo, Jado & Raziel
This was fun little five-minute match. Gedo wanted to shake hands at the start of the match but Liger kept moving his hand away, and even shook the referees hand just to rub it in. Gedo tried to attack him but got dumped to the floor, and Liger did the Liger Pose to a big pop – hilarious spot. More comedy ensued until all three beat down Liger in their corner. They tried to triple team Soberano too, but he hit a double dropkick and launched to the floor to take them out. Tiger Mask came in and cleaned house, then did a tope suicide taking out everyone. Some really nice, albeit brief work from the two CMLL guys ending in Soberano pinning Raziel off a springboard moonsault while he was caught in the ropes. Cool spot.
Stuka Jr. & Maximo Sexy vs. Hechicero & Okumura
Maximo Sexy is in a pink skirt, and referee Tiger Hattori refuses to pat him down while inspecting everyone else before the match, which was hilarious. Big dives from Stuka and Sexy right at the start. Stuka hits Okumura with backbreakers and plants him with a flapjack before they start trading chops. Some chants for Hechicero, who is built like Bane from Batman & Robin – aka a wall of muscle. Actually the guy that played Bane in that movie was a wrestler by the name of Jeep Swensen, who was a part of the old WCW Alliance to End Hulkamania. And while I’m busy looking up Batman facts, Sexy does a tight rope walk and splashes Hechicero for a nearfall. Lots more dives from everyone. Okumura gets a bunch of heat for ripping Stuka’s tights apart for no describable reason, then hits him with an inverted DDT for the win.
Hechicero cuts a promo about taking Sexy’s CMLL world title. Sexy got on the mic and asked Stuka if he was okay. My Spanish is pretty bad, but he basically said Hechicero was wrong if he thought he was taking the title, and that he was fighting for Mexico and for his friends here at Korakuen Hall. The heels beat them down and Hechicero poses with the belt.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Atlantis, Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Rush, Sanada, Evil & Bushi)
Tanahashi has half his face painted like a lucha mask and…Taguchi is in a full Egyptian pharaoh costume for some reason. The widow of the late Black Cat comes to the ring and is given flowers by Atlantis, and talks about it being 11 years since his passing. She asks the fans to keep supporting NJPW and CMLL.
Taguchi is pretending to be Egyptian doing all kinds of weird movements to start the match. Naito spits in his face and they actually do some great grappling (imagine my shock with Taguchi doing actual work), which inevitably ends with Taguchi missing his butt bump. Tons of heel work from LIJ with Rush ripping a part of Atlantis’ mask off, forcing him to roll out of the ring, and Bushi choking out Kushida with his shirt. Eventually Tanahashi makes the hot tag and the babyfaces clear house, but fall to the numbers game until Atlantis comes back with a new mask and wrecks everyone. Finlay hits Evil with a half dozen uppercuts in the corner, dodges the STO and Kushida hits him with an enzuigiri. Bushi with a Codebreaker on Finlay but Tanahashi and Taguchi are back to do dual butt bumps to Naito and Sanada, for fun. Evil with the STO on Finlay while everyone is brawling for the win.
LIJ beats the hell out of the babyfaces after the match. Rush chokes out Atlantis with a steel chair and takes his mask off as Naito dropkicks Tanahashi in the face. Atlantis tries to fight back with a towel wrapped around his head but is just beaten back down. Rush stands on his head while LIJ poses together to put over their singles match tomorrow.
Mistico, Juice Robinson & Volador Jr. vs. Kazuchika Okada, Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia
A fun match with a lot of stuff going on throughout. Lots of great exchanges from Mistico and Euforia, and from Volador and Ultimo, and even the NJPW guys in Okada and Juice built up aggression with each other throughout. A lot of great comedy too. Volador and Ultimo unmasked each other at the start, then accidentally put on each other’s masks, and ended up trading back when they realized what they did. Okada also tripped on the middle rope coming in the first time, so he went back through the ropes and jumped over, then turned around to talk trash to the ring. He also got a lot of heat cutting off a dive from Juice, who is really over right now after Wrestle Kingdom and that upset win over Goto at New Year Dash. Ultimo may have taken a bad bump at some point as he was breath heavily throughout the match and was making a lot of noise. The finish was Mistico tapping out quickly to a Euforia surfboard, so he didn’t get his mask taken off. There were about a million dives throughout.
Himoru Takahashi vs. Titan
Titan tried twice to dive to the floor at the start but was blocked each time, so by the time he actually hit it on the third attempt it came off as a big spot. Titan went down on his knee early, so they took this one very slow and methodically, with Takahashi getting taking his time getting heat on the injury and going after his mask. When they finally built it up and Titan hit a series of dives the crowed popped huge. Great psychology here to change the pace after the last match. Takahashi continued to work the knee, and Titan continued to come back with big moves. They battled for position on the top rope, and Titan blocked a powerbomb with a headscissors to the floor. Titan was going for a kill shot, but Takahashi pulled the ref in the way and took his mask off, the rolled him up for a nearfall. Lots of unique pinning combinations, until Titan got suplexed into the turnbuckle. Takahashi hit a Northern Lights into the turnbuckle and hit him the Time Bomb for the win.
CMLL World Lightweight Championship
Dragon Lee (c) vs. Barbaro Cavernario
Lots of chain wrestling to start with neither guy really getting an advantage, until Dragon Lee explodes with a huge dive to the floor that sends them into the fans. Cavernario does the worm, then catches him with a snap powerslam and a dropkick. He takes the turnbuckle cover off but Lee bails to the floor, so Cavernario runs the apron and actually dives through the second rope to take him down. Some stiff kicks from both guys, and Dragon does a dive over the top, with a headscissors to send the challenger flying. Deadlift suplex from Dragon, followed by a cradle suplex from Cavernario and both get nearfalls. Cavernaro hits a big Superfly Splash from the top rope all the way to the floor, and both guys go down until the 19-count. A big dropkick from the challenger sends Lee into the turnbuckle, but Lee responds with a snap suplex into the turnbuckle for good measure. He heads up top but is caught with a dropkick that sends him to the floor, and they set up a double foot stomp from the top rope where Cavernario was hanging out over the ring. The champ signals for the end and tries for another double foot stomp, but Cavernario spiders up and hits an arm drag to block it. The surfboard is applied, but Lee gets into the ropes to break it up. Lee puts him in an armbar and floats into the crossface, but this time it’s the challenger who gets to the ropes. Another battle over the top rope leads to a headbutt trade, and this time Dragon Lee connects with the hanging double foot stomp! They go back and forth, with Lee hitting running knees and Cavernario hitting lariats. The champ hits the Phoenix-plex but Cavernario kicks out a two-and-a-half! Reverse Frankensteiner from the challenger out of nowhere. They’re literally trying to put Cavernario’s shoulder back in its socket now at ringside, and Lee takes advantage with a jumping knee and a deadlift bridging back suplex for the pin. I’m not sure that was supposed to end there, but Cavernario may have legit pulled his shoulder out of place.
Himoru Takahashi ran in after the match and attacked Dragon Lee. He tried to hit him with the IWGP title but he ducked it and hit him with a vertical suplex powerbomb. He poses with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title and the CMLL Lightweight title and tells Takahashi that he’s taking his belt at New Beginning. Titan puts him on his shoulders and the two celebrate to end the show.
