NJPW Bringing Back Collaboration With International Promotion
New Japan Pro-Wrestling has collaborated with other promotions in 2022, first doing AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door with All Elite Wrestling in June, and following that up with Historic X-Over with World Wonder Ring Stardom, which is scheduled for November 20. Now NJPW is bringing back Fantastica Mania, a joint tour with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), to kick off 2023.
NJPW made the announcement this morning via Twitter: "In February 2023, the long-awaited revival of the 'Lucha Libre Festival' for the first time in three years! FANTASTICA MANIA 2023 will be held at last!!"
Fantastica Mania was an annual tour held in Japan every year from 2011-2020. Usually held in January, the tour featured a mixture of NJPW and CMLL stars, with an emphasis on the CMLL luchadores and lucha libre. Fantastica Mania's two-year hiatus has largely been attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NJPW's website revealed more details on the return of Fantastica Mania, which will consist of six shows in late February. The tour will have stops in Kagawa, Kyoto, Osaka, and Chiba from February 22-25, before wrapping up, as is tradition, in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on February 26-27. No matches have been announced, nor is it known which NJPW and CMLL talent will be participating.