NEW JAPAN/CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2011

January 22, 2011

New Japan Pro Wrestling and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre may be the perfect definition of a match made in heaven. Their working agreement benefits both companies, and joint shows like this benefit fans of both companies.

Taichi Ishikari . . . is given an opportunity to get revenge on the man who took his hair the previous year.

La Mascara . . . puts on a performance so poor that he makes *TIGER MASK* of all people look like a decent worker.

Shinsuke Nakamura . . . could stand to learn a thing, or five, from Averno for how to be a real bad ass heel.

TAICHI ISHIKARI vs. MAXIMO

Once they quit goofing around with the grinding, tights ripping, and ass slapping, this wound up being a fun little match. But it takes forever for them to quit goofing around. Given that he’d just recently returned to Japan from CMLL, Taichi probably should have been the one to stand out here, but he doesn’t at all. Maximo impresses the crowd with a jumping rana and a big dive to the floor. To his credit, Taichi wins by outsmarting Maximo to hit the Black Mephisto, but that’s just about the only really impressive thing out of Taichi.

MASCARA DORADA © vs. RYUSUKE TAGUCHI (CMLL World Welterweight Title)

The first fall is a bit of a mess. Neither of them seems to know exactly where they want to take the match and how they want it to flow. There’s a brief spell where they try working the mat and minute or so later they’re on their feet trading chops. The only real highlights are a tope from Dorado (and I’ve seen him do better), and the Samoan Driver that he wins the first fall with.

The best thing to say about the second fall is that’s a good bit shorter, but not really any better. There’s a not-bad wrestling sequence from them after Dorada’s missed splash in the corner that ends with Taguchi getting a near fall. Taguchi seems to have things well at hand when he dropkicks the airborne Dorada, and then quickly submits him with his Gory special variation.

Better late than never I guess. Dorado and Taguchi finally start seeming like they really want to win! Taguchi smartly plays off his submission and keeps trying to tap Dorada out, but there’s too much at stake for him to give it up so easily this time. Dorada finally gets control and sends Taguchi to the floor and hits a much better dive than he did earlier in the match. Taguchi takes back control once they get into the ring and tries to finish off Dorada first with three rolling suplexes and then a Tiger suplex, and finally keeps him down with the Dodon. There’s clearly some good work here and some good attempted storytelling, especially the way Taguchi doggedly goes from one submission to the next, as well as Dorada’s reactions to them. But the first two falls really make this feel like an exhibition rather than an actual match.

JYUSHIN “THUNDER” LYGER © vs. LA SOMBRA (CMLL World Middleweight Title)

The message that the first fall gives is crystal clear - don’t underestimate La Sombra. It starts off look like it’s going to be all Lyger, especially when La Sombra tries doing little things to turn the tide (dropping down while Lyger charges, dropping his head to back body drop Lyger) and Lyger puts on the breaks to stay in control. Sombra finally gets one over on Lyger when he hits a big dropkick while Lyger is charging and sends him to the floor, and then follows him with a swank tope suicida. After that it’s all Sombra as he starts dive bombing Lyger with spot after spot and finally wins the fall with a Tornillo.

This time it *is* all Lyger all the time, even though it’s rather short. Lyger stuffs Sombra in the face with shotei to prevent a springboard into the ring and then Lyger comes off the top with a big plancha. Back into the ring and Lyger hits a big powerbomb and applies a chickenwing hold for the quick submission.

And how fitting is it that the final fall of the match combines the two themes that had previously been established? Sombra’s ability to come back out of nowhere and Lyger’s ability to put out his lights in a heartbeat. Sombra starts off hot and heavy with a charge and Lyger errantly steps aside and lets him crash. But a minute later Sombra is on his feet and catches Lyger and sends him the floor and hits a huge springboard dive. From there, Sombra tries to avenge the submission by tapping out Lyger, first with a legbar and then an armbar. When that doesn’t work, he tries to go back to the air, the same way that he won the first fall with and gets a series of nice near falls, as well as an insane moonsault to the floor. But, just when it seems like Sombra has Lyger right where he wants him, Lyger springs to life and counters a charging Sombra into a Thesz press and Lyger doesn’t let himself get caught again, and puts the hurt on Sombra with a frog splash and finishes him off with a brainbuster. If this is what Taguchi and Dorada were shooting for (the first two falls laying the groundwork for the third) then they fell hugely short, especially compared to how well this comes off as a whole. ***1/4

I wonder who had the brilliant idea of pairing off OKUMURA with Atlantis? Especially with Atlantis’ stablemate Dragon Rojo being right there. As for the match, I’m not sure if this is a bad match or exactly what to expect? Bernard and Anderson work like this is a long squash match on Smackdown. OKUMURA doesn’t get to show off too much because he’s the one taking the bulk of the abuse, leaving the forty-eight-year-old Atlantis to pick up the slack. Atlantis does a decent job with what he has to work with, and it’s nice to see the champions not afraid to stooge or clown around, especially with how liberal they are with mis communication spots. The really cool part is early in the match when team CMLL hits a nice pair of dives onto the champions. But there’s just far too much of Bad Intentions in control to salvage this. Anderson finishing off OKUMURA with the Gun Stun feels more like it happens after 33 minutes instead of 13. Anderson and Bernard challenge Nakanishi and Strongman to a match afterwards, yeah, that’ll make me want to hunt down the February Sumo Hall show.

TIGER MASK/LA MASCARA vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII/DRAGON ROJO, JR.

You know someone puts on a bad performance when Tiger Mask looks like the better member of the team. This match is only happening to further heat up the Ishii/TM issue leading to their mask/hair match the next night. Ishii is as intense and ready to throw down as you’d expect, Rojo follows his lead, and even TM looks relatively fired up. Mascara, on the other hand, appears to think he’s working in front of a crowd who has no idea what Lucha Libre is. His work is as slow as possible, and not slow in a Kodo Fuyuki vs. Undertaker way, but slow as in watching a regular match in slow motion sort of way. As if that’s not bad enough, he blows just about every major spot that he tries, he slips off the ropes several times and trips himself on his attempted tope. Rojo pinning Mascara after countering his cradle attempt isn’t just the end of the match, it’s the end of the pain for those who had endure this.

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA/TETSUYA NAITO/AVERNO vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI/PRINCE DEVITT/MISTICO

This is pretty good from bell to bell, even though it seems like the four NJPW wrestlers were dumbing themselves down. The Mistico/Averno exchanges are easily the best of the whole match. They bring the traditional lucha work (which hadn’t really been seen all night) along with some hateful brawling, mask ripping, a few nice counters (specifically Averno’s counter to La Mistica). Averno fouls Mistico before doing the Devil’s Wings to heat up their singles match the following night. Again, the other four aren’t bad, but they’re relatively unspectacular. The only one who really doesn’t deliver in some form is Nakamura. The smug look never leaves his face, but Averno and Naito are much better at getting over the rudo attitude than he is. But even Nakamura gets a moment to shine when he rains on the fans’ parade (even momentarily) by blocking Devitt’s big dive. There are a few nice Tanahashi/Nakmura exchanges as well, but this serves its purpose of setting up the Mistico/Averno match and then it gets out of the way. ***

Conclusion: Well this is clearly not a great show, but it’s a decent show. The worst it gets is La Mascara and Bad Intentions, but even those have Ishii/Rojo and Atlantis to counterbalance them. I’m going to slightly recommend this one based on the good stuff, and hope that the following night is much better.