Before the G1 CLIMAX gets underway and officially begins the Road To Tokyo Dome, New Japan returns to the USA today for their next stateside event, CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA USA. An extension of the popular crossover event with the CMLL promotion in Mexico normally held in Japan in February, this event will feature matches with New Japan wrestlers facing off against CMLL wrestlers. There also are 3 title matches scheduled. However, those matches also have come with a lot of controversy that’s overshadowed the event-earlier this week it was announced that CMLL Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer, who was to have defended the title against Lluvia, was off the event. At first it was called personal reasons, but then rumors started-and were very quickly confirmed-that “personal reasons” was actually signing with WWE. Vaquer was stripped of the title and the CMLL Women’s Tag Team Championship she held and both promotions began putting out statements and doing damage control, but it’s safe to say Vaquer will not be back with either promotion for a long time and perhaps never (never say “never” in wrestling, but this is nuclear heat). Lluvia will now face Viva Van (representing New Japan) & Willow Nightingale (representing All Elite Wrestling) in a 3-way for the vacant title. The Main Event will feature NEW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI & Mistico vs. Rocky Romero & Volador Jr.
Today’s event will be held at Mt. Pleasant High School in San Jose, CA and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World as a PPV in Japanese & English. The PPV costs $19.99 in the US (2990 yen in Japan, which is just under $20) and includes on demand replays until 8/30, but that date is subject to change. The event’s page lists a tentative running time of 2 1/2 hours and it could go nearly 5 hours if every match went the distance, but I anticipate it being around the “normal” PPV running time of 3 hours. (Also, there is no pre-show scheduled)
Today’s lineup:
Adrian Quest & The DKC vs. Vento & Cucuy
MLW World Tag Team Champions Satoshi Kojima & OKUMURA vs. Rugido & Magnus for the titles
Lluvia vs. Viva Van & Willow Nightingale in a 3-way for the CMLL Women’s World Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito vs. Hechicero & Virus
Yota Tsuji vs. Barbaro Cavernario
STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Ultimo Guerrero for the title
DOUKI & Mistico vs. Rocky Romero & Volador Jr.
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET.
5:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Mt. Pleasant High School in San Jose, CA. Your Japanese hosts are several who I didn’t catch names for but include Taiji Ishimori, Miki Motoi & Mima Shimoda. Your English hosts are Miguel Castro & Veda Scott. We don’t have our usual US ring announcer either.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. This is a high school gym setup, it looks like floor seating has around 650 and was 85-90% sold as of earlier today so it’ll depend on how much bleacher seating there is. But it’s a small setup so I’m guessing it’ll be around 800. From the first looks at the crowd it definitely is not a sellout. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 906)
Opening video with card rundown then right to the action.
Match 1: Adrian Quest vs. The DKC, Vento & Cucuy in a 4-way (I misread this earlier as being a tag match). 30 minute time limit
Result: The DKC beat Adrian Quest, Vento & Cucuy in a 4-way by pinning Quest.
Match 2: MLW World Tag Team Champions Satoshi Kojima & OKUMURA vs. Rugido & Magnus for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: MLW World Tag Team Champions Satoshi Kojima & OKUMURA beat Rugido & Magnus to retain the titles. Kojima pinned Rugido.
Match 3: Lluvia vs. Viva Van & Willow Nightingale in a 3-way for the vacant CMLL Women’s World Championship. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Willow NIghtingale beat Lluvia & Viva Van in a 3-way by pinning Van to become the CMLL Women’s World Champion. Lluvia immediately confronted Nightingale and demanded a rematch for the title and came to blows over it for a moment. To be continued, I’d say.
Match 4: Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito vs. Hechicero & Virus. 30 minute time limit
Result: Hechicero & Virus beat Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito. Hechicero beat Tito with an armbar.
Match 5: Yota Tsuji vs. Barbaro Cavernario. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yota Tsuji beat Barbaro Cavernario
Match 6: STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Ultimo Guerrero for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd beat Ultimo Guerrero to retain the title. V1 for Kidd. Afterwards, Kidd with microphone. He announced that at the next US event on 8/30 in Washington, DC, he was calling his shot and demanding Lio Rush.
Main Event: DOUKI & Mistico vs. Rocky Romero & Volador Jr. 30 minute time limit
Result: DOUKI & Mistico beat Rocky Romero & Volador Jr. Mistico beat Romero with La Mistica. Afterwards, Mistico indicated he wanted a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and held up his MLW championship belt, perhaps hinting at a double title match should it happen. Afterwards, Mistico with microphone in Spanish. He put DOUKI over before indeed asking for that title match and also suggesting it be a double title match. Accepted by DOUKI. They shook hands and posed before Mistico put over the event and finished things off to send the crowd home happy.
They actually kept to the running time the ticket sales page hinted at, which means mainly short if not slightly rushed matches as only the main event went over 15 minutes (just short of 25 minutes. The matches as a whole were fine although the CMLL style of lucha libre is not for everyone. It wasn’t a bad event by any means but not quite worth $20 for PPV. If you didn’t buy the live broadcast, wait until it leaves the paywall and becomes available for all New Japan World subscribers then check it out-that hopefully will be in September.
End Show.
The next US event will be CAPITAL COLLISION on 8/30 at Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, DC.
The next event is the G1 CLIMAX 34 Tournament starting on 7/20 at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.
