I enjoy NJPW wrestler Kazuchika Okada and I’ve heard he’s wrestling in CMLL. When is this happening?

Okada will wrestle in CMLL on Friday, August 17th. The show he’s on starts at 8:30 pm Central Daylight Time. That’s 2:30 AM Saturday morning in London, and 10:30 AM Saturday morning in Tokyo. You can find your time here.

Okada is the fifth match (of six) on the show. It’ll take around about 90 minutes into the show, but it can vary a little bit.

How can I watch Okada live?

Media company Marca has the live streaming rights to Friday CMLL shows, and broadcasts them two ways:

Both are the same exact video. The Facebook stream is usually the smoother one. All of this is free.

In the recent past, one or both of these streams have been blocked outside of Mexico. There are also some people who have trouble getting these sites to work. As community service, I’ve often been also streaming the show on YouTube. I will likely stream this show as well.

Help! I can’t watch live! How can I watch the Okada action later?

You have plenty of options.

All CMLL Friday night shows are also available on CMLL’s YouTube channel later that night. They’re usually by an hour after the show concludes. Just look for the most recent video which says “Lucha Libre Viernes” and you’re good. I might have even posted a comment about when Okada’s match starts.

Matches from this show will air on Azteca America in the US on August 26th on the “Lucha Azteca” show. The matches picked for the show appear to be near random, but there’s a good shot Okada will air.

if you want to watch Okada only on NJPW World, it’ll probably be added to the service in the upcoming weeks and be available for all viewers (except in Mexico.) My guess is it will be the August 29th CMLL show listed on the schedule, but I don’t have that confirmed.

There will also be a dozen different pirated version of the match on YouTube because that’s how Mexican wrestling works.

Who is in match Okada’s match? I’m seeing two slightly different ones.

Okada’s match changed during the week, due to a scheduling snafu that didn’t have anything to do with him. Okada will team with Ultimo Guerrero and Negro Casas to face Mistico, Diamante Azul, and Valiente.

Is this the Mistico that was in WWE?

No! This is the one who’s in the main events on FantasticaMania every year.

Let’s say I skip FantasticaMania every year. Which Mistico is this again?

He is Rush & Dragon Lee’s brother. He’s the middle child of those kids.

I haven’t seen Valiente in a long time! Still fat?

No. He converted all the fat to muscles. It’s a little confusing.

I remember seeing Diamante Azul in a World Tag League. Is he good now?

Nope.

Is there any storyline to this match I need to know to appreciate?

No. Okada is a rudo in the match but that’s about it.

Why CMLL put Okada, the best wrestler in the world, in the semi-main and not the main event?

There are a lot of options here too!

1) It’s a priority issue. The main event is a rematch from last week which will build to next week. It also may be a set up to the main event for CMLL’s biggest show of the year. Okada is probably here this week and not coming back, so they’re focusing more on people who will be back.

2) CMLL matchmakers largely live in their own bubble and do not pay attention to wrestling outside of it. (CMLL matchmakers often don’t even seem to be paying attention to CMLL.) This is common among people who are in charge of making matches for wrestling shows and means they see Okada as a foreign star to include but not a big star who needs to be in the main event.

3) NJPW has a fervent but small fanbase in Mexico. Past NJPW visits have not appeared to be big deals to the CMLL fanbase at large. It’s unclear how many people are actually going to be coming just to see Okada.

4) Negro Casas & Ultimo Guerrero likely wanted to team with Okada, and wouldn’t be able to if he’s in the main event.

5) There’s a less pressure on Okada to do as much in the semi-main.

Isn’t it horrible that Bestia del Ring, a very bad wrestler, is in the main event instead of the best wrestler in the world?

Bestia is not good. I would like to see Okada in the main event instead of him. But, just about every week, there’s someone I would rather see than Bestia del Ring. This is a not a one week issue.

Why didn’t CMLL put Okada in a 1v1 match with Hechicero or Soberano or Titan or Rush or Volador or [insert name here] instead of a trios match? What do you think this match will be like?

Okada has just finished a G1 tournament of tough singles matches. The last thing he probably wants to do now is a showcase singles match. I’m sure NJPW made that known if CMLL even cared to ask. Okada’s not even specifically in Mexico to work for CMLL. He’s in Mexico for other reasons and is working a CMLL show while he happens to be here.

This match will be similar to Okada’s tag matches in ROH, or in the middle of the tour in NJPW, or on that FantasticaMania tour. It’ll be nice, it’ll be a pleasant use of ten to fifteen minutes, somewhere around ***1/4, and not super memorable outside the novelty of Okada playing luchador for a night. It’s not intended to be a big deal. It’s definitely not something worth a 1000 word long blog post but sometimes you’ve got to give the people what they want.

While I’ve got you here, what’s the CMLL Aniversario main event?

no more questions!

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