NJPW announces 2017 Fantastica Mania tour & lineup
New Japan held a press conference Friday to announce the 2017 Fantastica Mania tour, the annual combination New Japan and CMLL shows.
As of now, the last three shows, all starting at 4:30 a.m. EST are scheduled live on New Japan World.
The tour opens a week from Friday in Osaka at the smaller Edion Arena with this card:
- Raziel & Jado vs. Soberano Jr. & Henare
- Stuka Jr. & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Ephesto & Okumura & Gedo
- Seiya Sanada & Evil vs. David Finlay & Blue Panther Jr.
- Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi
- Mistico & Volador Jr. & Kushida vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia & Cavernario
- Tetsuya Naito & Rush vs. Atlantis & Mascara Don (Manabu Nakanishi)
- Maximo Sexy & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay & Hechicero
These are the New Japan World shows:
January 20 at Korakuen Hall:
- Ephesto & Ospreay vs. Panther Jr. & Henare
- Soberano Jr. & Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Raziel & Gedo & Jado
- Maximo & Stuka Jr. vs. Okumura & Hechicero
- Naito & Rush & Sanada & Evil & Bushi vs. Atlantis & Tanahashi & Kushida & Taguchi & Finlay
- Mistico & Volador Jr. & Juice Robinson vs. Okada & Ephesto & Ultimo Guerrero
- Hiromu Takahashi vs. Titan
- Dragon Lee vs. Cavernario for CMLL lightweight title
January 21 at Korakuen Hall:
- Ephesto & Raziel & Gedo & Jado vs. Liger & Tiger Mask & Henare & Panther Jr.
- Stuka Jr. vs. Okumura
- Soberano Jr. & Kushida & Taguchi vs Cavernario & Okada & Ospreay
- Dragon Lee & Titan & Tanahashi & Robinson & Finlay vs. Naito & Rush & Sanada & Evil & Bushi
- Mistico & Volador Jr. vs. Guerrero & Euforia
- Atlantis vs. Rush
- Maximo vs. Hechicero for CMLL heavyweight title
January 22 at Korakuen Hall:
- Panther Jr. & Soberano Jr. & Henare vs. Cavernario & Gedo & Jado
- Liger & Tiger Mask & Stuka Jr. vs. Raziel & Hechicero & Okumura
- Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Takahashi & Bushi
- Maximo & Robinson & Taguchi vs. Okada & Ospreay & Ephesto
- Atlantis & Tanahashi & Kushida & Finlay vs. Rush & Naito & Sanada & Evil
- Mistico vs. Euforia
- Volador Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero
Traditionally, the main event of the last show is the big-time singles match. It’s also notable that they are not doing Dragon Lee vs. Takahashi after doing the angle for it yesterday, which means they are saving it for a bigger show.
Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.