New Japan Pro Wrestling wrapped up its annual Fantastica Mania tour with two shows this weekend, featuring the major stars of the Mexican CMLL promotion.
January 22, 2017
(1) Raziel, Gedo, Jado & Ephesto def. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Blue Panther Jr., & Henare
(2) Stuka Jr. def. Okumura. At one point Okumura’s wife Mima Shimoda, who also wrestles for CMLL, came in as a distraction and got taken out by Stuka.
(3) Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & Barbaro Cavernario def. Soberano Jr., Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi. I think my theory that Cavernario was hurt on a bad bump during night one holds up, as he was gasping and breathing heavy throughout that show, and didn’t really do a whole lot in this match. Lots of good stuff between Ospreay and Cavernario. There was a funny spot with Okada taking Taguchi’s mask off, prompting him to freak out about it, which is hilarious because there’s been way too many mask spots on this tour and Taguchi obviously don’t normally wear a mask.
(4) Los Ingobernables de Japon (Naito, Evil, Sanada, Bushi & Takahashi) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Dragon Lee, Titan, Juice Robinson & David Finlay. Holy cow what a collection of talent in one ring at the same time. The big program here is Takahashi and Dragon Lee who are building towards their title match. Finlay took a lot of damage from LIJ like he did in the first night, so they might be looking at some kind of Finlay/Evil/Sanada match in the future. Then again it could just be the rookie in the match doing the job.
(5) Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia def. Volador Jr. & Mistico. Probably the best match of the show, and maybe even the tour, so far.
(6) Rush def. Atlantis. Atlantis got busted open the hard way in a brawl early on. Not something you see in New Japan very often, but then you don’t see the man on woman violence we got in the first match very often either. There was intense, and very personal after Rush had beaten the hell out Atlantis and taken his mask during the first show. Naito interfered at the end, allowing Rush to win with a double underhook piledriver. Every member of LIJ hit the ring afterwards and attacked Atlantis.
(7) Maximo Sexy def. Hechicero to retain the CMLL Heavyweight Championship. Good show of sportsmanship after the match. Okay but not as good as the last two.
January 22, 2017
(1) Gedo, Jado & Barbaro Cavernario def. Blue Panther Jr., Henare & Soberano Jr. Cavernario is definitely hurt. He was tapped up and again didn’t get a lot of time in the match. At least he’s able to stay on the tour, as these are big merch dates for the CMLL talent.
(2) Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Stuka Jr. def. Hechicero, Okumura & Raziel. Tiger Mask and Raziel pulled off each other’s masks simultaneously, then freaked out and put the other’s mask on to protect their faces. This led Liger to attack Tiger because he was wearing the wrong mask. A lot of good comedy.
(3) Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & Ephesto def. Maximo Sexy, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi. As promised, Okada had the King mask from Tekken as there’s a ton of New Japan content in the new video game. Maximo kissed a bunch of people. Ospreay did Ospreay things. A lot of fun and basically what you’d expect. If you needed more proof that Fantastica Mania doesn’t “matter” as far as tradition New Japan booking goes, Maximo ended up kissing the IWGP Champion after the match, and Okada sold it by feinting.
(4) Los Ingobernables de Japon (Naito, Rush, Sanada & Evil) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Atlantis, Kushida & David Finlay. More Rush and Atlantis tension. Again Finlay took a ton of damage from all of LIJ, specifically Naito and Evil. Rush is a crazy good heel and has been one of the most over villains this entire tour, laying out everyone. LIJ put down Kushida and Tanahashi after the match.
(5) Mistico def. Euforia. Pretty much a big human highlight reel to show off Mistico to the New Japan crowd.
(6) Volador Jr. def. Ultimo Guerrero. Like the last night, it was a fun match, but not as good as the two matches before it. After the match they shook hands and put each other over, and all the CMLL guys came out with all the New Japan guys and they celebrated the end of the tour.
