FantasticMania 2017

[Sean Liska]

Anybody watching this year? Here are my bullet point thoughts on Night 1, enjoyed it quite a bit. Night 2 looks even better.

 

Juhin Liger, Soberano Jr., Tiger Mask vs Gedo, Jado, Raziel – What you would expect from the NJPW guys with some spectacular high-flying from Soberano to spice things up. He’s a very talented young luchador and it’s always good to see him get opportunities.

Máximo Sexy & Stuka Jr. vs Hechicero & Okumura – Tiger Hattori’s reluctance to check Maximo for weapons is buys. We all know how good Hechicero is. Nice match, it’s fun to see the CMLL guys put together something that’s a little different than what they would do in Mexico.

Atlantis, David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi vs Bushi, EVIL, Naito, Rush, Sanada – Now we’re talking, Rush reunited with the family that he birthed. And he’s in full dickish form here picking on poor Atlantis. That would be an Anniversario main event for the ages. Nice showcase for the best heel in the business and a very good match.

 

Juice Robinson, Mistico, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Okada, Último Guerrero - Mistico and Volador against Euforia and Guerrero is part of one of the great current lucha rivalries. Okada is usually fun on these shows. This is a solid version of the usual match these guys have, the crowd really eats it up, Mistico was really over for some reason.

Titán vs Hiromu Takahashi – Hey look at this, they spend the body of the match telling a story of Takahashi working over Titan’s injured knee and it’s really well done. Now, they completely ignore it during the finish stretch but I appreciated the effort. Turns into more of a series of near falls at the end which isn’t totally my thing but it was still worth watching.

Dragon Lee – Barbaro Cavernario – Ah, this is a match the internet will gravitate to, with its big spots and cool reversals and near falls and all the stuff the kids like nowadays. I’m a big fan of both guys and thought it was well put together so enjoyed it too. Bit of a flat finish though, sounds like there was potentially an injury that affected things..

I really enjoy these shows. It's fun to see both rosters pushed out of their comfort zones, and we get this unique melding of styles once a year. Also fun to see the CMLL guys in front of a more traditionally responsive crowd who hasn't been watching this on a weekly basis for decades and is more easily impressed.

[soup23]

Watched both shows. Everything has been enjoyable so far. I have been disappointed in both main events. Cavernario vs. Dragon Lee is my top two lucha guys in their peak going at it and while it was good, it never kicked up into that other gear that I was hoping. It did look like Cavernario had a shoulder dislocation that they popped back into place. Maximo vs. Hechicero really disappointed me in the fact that I'm not sure the match was even good and there were at least 4 other matches on the show I thought was better.

[Sean Liska]

Night 2 thoughts. I'm surprised there hasn't been more conversation on these shows online, is my hunch correct that the people calling the Okada-Omega match the best match ever only watch like 4-5 NJPW shows a year while miserably sitting through each episode of Raw?

 

Blue Panther Jr., Henare, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask vs Ephesto, Gedo, Jado, Raziel – Perfectly fine little opener here, some heel stooging, some comedy, bit of a heat spot and solid finishing run, enjoyed.

 

Stuka Jr vs. Okamura – Better than I expected, nice showcase for Stuka.

 

Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Soberano Jr. vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Okada, Will Ospreay – Okada is so much more fun on these shows. Between stuff like this and his match with Fale, I could grow to be a big fan of the guy if he weren’t forced so often to do the NJPW singles main event epic style that I generally don’t like. Anyways, a really fun match, some quality comedy, some spectacular spots, just a nice example of why these shows work. Barbaro unfortunately wasn’t able to do much with his injury.

 

David Finlay, Dragón Lee, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Titán vs Bushi, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, Naito, Sanada – I’m repeating myself but another exciting well put-together match. I’ve always enjoyed the NJPW Korakuen shows more than the big shows where they try to have a bunch of classics.

 

Mistico & Volador Jr. vs Euforia & Último Guerrero – Again we visit one of CMLL’s biggest rivalries. Very good version of their usual match, if you haven’t seen these guys together a lot you’ll likely be pretty impressed.

 

Atlantis vs. Rush – Ah, this was good fun. I’m such an admirer of Atlantis, I feel like he’s an underrated figure historically. He has 33 years as a reliably very good worker and big star for the same major company, working the same buildings every week for decades, keeping up with the young stars to this day. He’s like Undertaker plus another ten years of full-time quality work. Anyways, this match gave me what I wanted with Rush being a jerk and Atlantis making spirited comebacks and we even got some blood from a stiff chair shot to heighten things.

 

Maximo vs. Hechicero – Hechicero headlining, my heart if fluttering. Hechicero is one of the smartest workers around and this was a solid match bolstered by Maximo being really over with this crowd.

 

Fun show!

[Infinit]

Thanks for the reviews...I'm looking forward to watching these shows!

[soup23]

Night 2 thoughts. I'm surprised there hasn't been more conversation on these shows online, is my hunch correct that the people calling the Okada-Omega match the best match ever only watch like 4-5 NJPW shows a year while miserably sitting through each episode of Raw[/color]

Think it is more a combination of the Lucha effect and this not even being a top 7-8 show on New Japans calendar of importance. I would expect more reviews and thoughts trickling out throughout the week. Also I would expect more live reaction during the New Beginning shows.

[gordi]

Grimmas has been posting his thoughts on Fantastica Mania in the Current New Japan thread in the Megathreads folder.

[Matt D]

The lucha people aren't subscribed to NJPW World and the NJPW World people don't care as much about lucha?

[WingedEagle]

I've now watched all 3 Korakuen Hall shows and each was fun and easy to get through. There are no great matches, but the entire tour feels designed to be fun and light rather than great, if that makes any sense. That being said, nothing is bad as most matches are short. If you skip through pre & post match shenanigans you can easily get through these shows in under two hours, and there are probably a couple matches on each show that aren't your fancy.

 

There's something very charming about watching the New Japan regulars not only mix it up with CMLL, but how much many of them truly enjoy it. It sure seemed like this was an absolute highlight for Okada in particular, as he looked to be having the time of his life dancing and wearing a mask on various nights.

 

Don't go into these looking for classics but rather storyline advancements as they build towards the New Beginning shows and let the roster work like its Arena Mexico for a night.

 

If you're looking for highlights, I'd recommend the Tanahashi & friends vs. LIJ, as well as Okada matches from all 3 nights. Volador & Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia from night 2, as well as the singles pairings involving these pairings on night 3 are also worth your time.