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Fantasticamania, January 20, Korakuen Hall:
Blue Panther & Henare defeated Ephesto & Will Ospreay. Decent opener here. There was some Lucha comedy from the CMLL guys. Henare got to look good when he caught Ospreay in mid air and put him in a Boston Crab. Ospreay hit a nice Sasuke Special. Blue Panther made Ephesto submit to some sort of whacky hold that I've never seen before.
Soberano Jr, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV defeated Raziel, Gedo & Jado. Soberano was the standout here. He's a spectacular high flyer. This had some clunky moments early on, mostly from Jado & Raziel. It picked up later on. The finish saw Soberano pin Raziel after a moonsault.
OKUMURA & Hechicero defeated Stuka Jr & Maximo Sexy. This was your typical Lucha match. Lots of moves and some comedy. If you're into Lucha you'll like it, if you're not you'll probably hate it. OKUMURA tore the rights of Stuka Jr before pinning him after an inverted DDT.
Black Cat Memorial Match: EVIL, Rush, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI defeated David Finlay, Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA. This was your traditional NJPW ten man tag. KUSHISA had his arm worked over by LIJ until Tanahashi made the hot tag. There was lots of great action in this and the crowd were hot for it. Finlay looked especially great as he survived multiple LIJ attacks. There were bodies everywhere until EVIL pinned Finlay with an STO. After the match Rush led an attack on Atlantis, which led to him being unmasked and beaten down. LIJ looked really strong here.
Euforia, Ultimo Guerrero & Kazuchika Okada defeated Mistico, Juice Robinson & Volador Jr. This was really good. Volador is always a highlight of these tours and he shone again here. He's a spectacular flyer and has incredible accuracy for his size. This had lots of big moves and big dives. Okada almost got boo'd out of the building when he cut off a Volador dive. That was pretty funny. The move of the match saw Guerredo catch Volador flawlessly when he hit a dive over the top and powerbomb him on the floor. It looked nasty. The finish saw Euforia make Mistico submit to a Dragon Sleeper like hold.
Hiromu Takahashi defeated Titan. This was excellent. Titan took to the air straight away until Hiromu went after the knee and grounded him. Hiromu worked over the knee and it was sold really well by Titan, to the point where it stopped him from doing certain moves. The pace picked up later wth Titan hitting a huge Asai Moonsault. Both guys took a bad spill to the floor off the top rope too. There was an excellent near fall when Hiromu unmasked and rolled up Titan. Titan got some great near falls with pinning combos before Hiromu hit the Time Bomb to win.
CMLL World Lightweight Championship Match: Dragon Lee defeated Barbara Cavernario. This was a great main event that turned into a gruelling war. This was given lots of time. Lee is an incredible talent. His agility and accuracy with his dives and hurricanrana's is mesmerising to watch. He also has amazing strength and hit various dead lift moves. Cavernario is crazy. He again did a splash to the floor from the top rope and had some near death experiences on a couple of dives. Lee hit a couple of double stomps while Cavernario was tied up in the ropes, one of which landed Cavernario on the apron. Late in the match Cavernario hurt his shoulder when he did a reverse rana. It seemed pretty bad. He was pinned with a Regal Plex soon after and doctors checked on him after the bell. If you enjoy car crash wrestling, you will love this.
After the match Hiromu Takahashi tried to attach Lee, but Lee turned it around and stood over him with the IWGP Jr title. They meet for the gold at The New Beginning.
Fantasticamania will be live again tomorrow morning on NJPWWorld.com with this card:
1. Ephesto, Raziel, Jado & Gedo vs. Blue Panther Jr., Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Henare
2. Stuka Jr. vs. OKUMURA
3. Barbaro Cavernario, Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay vs. Soberano, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi
4. Tetsuya Naito, Rush, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI vs. Dragon Lee, Titan, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & David Finlay
5. Special Tag Match: Mistico & Volador Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Euphoria
6. Special Singles Match: Atlantis vs. Rush
7. CMLL World Heavyweight Title: Maximo Sexy (c) vs. Hechicero
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