[1996-10-10-Michinoku Pro-These Days] Taka Michinoku & Mens Teoh & Dick Togo & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki vs Gran Hamada & Super Delphin & Tiger Mask IV & Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

A great match, the most famous Michinoku Pro match, and one I'm glad I watched again. Prior to this yearbook, I had seen the March match, this match, and the ECW matches and that was it. So I'm looking forward to the December matches since I've heard from various people that each of those are better than this one. I'm not sure how full Sumo Hall was, but it sure sounded full.

 

About the match -- Still great, but I do think they burned out the crowd a little. If you notice, the nearfall pops get progressively smaller instead of progressively louder. I wonder if this match would have been better with 5-10 minutes shaved off. KDX takes about 80% of this, which I'm assuming was to set up rematches.

 

I always loved this style, and never took the time to fully invest in it, so I'm glad this yearbook is giving me the chance to do so.

[Ditch]

I haven't watched them all in a row to decide which is best, but there's also a very strong case for the December 9th match.

[Phil Austin]

Shockingly, this is my first time ever seeing this-great entertaining bout throughout. Love the Michinoku Pro style, and despite having not seen enough of him, I really love Yakushiji

[Tim Evans]

I echo the Yakushiji love. Out of all these guys, he's my favorite. His armdrags are incredible. Love this match and it's a MOTYC for sure.

[Bierschwale]

Yakushiji is the man of the match, great timing throughout, and the arm drags really are fantastic. Taka's moonsault plancha was so good that they should have just retired the move on the spot.

[Zenjo]

These Days, the stars are out of reach...

 

This has got to be the most impressive gymnasium in all of Japan. I think this was M-Pro's biggest ever show, and that certainly added importance to proceedings. Before 1996 it wasn't a promotion that had contributed much in the grand scheme of things. It was developing a new style, and the first few years of M-Pro were like building a jigsaw. This was the final result. Like most jigsaws it was broken up a little while after completion, so that short golden age has to be savoured.

 

Lightening paced Lucharesu action throughout it's 32m duration. The style would've been blowaway at the time. It's still very impressive. There were inevitable errors but nothing terrible. Yakushiji is flashy and flaky. Believe me, he's one of those guys who needs really good support. The match never got bogged down at any stage, though I'd have probably trimmed a few minutes off the opening phase if nitpicking. The highlight was certainly the stretch. Very stylised with different team members taking turns in the ring and countless broken pinfalls. Exciting and exhausting, it felt like an epic. I have it ranked #13 for the year.

[ohtani's jacket]

M-Pro came up in the thread about spotfests and since I haven't seen it in years I thought I'd reacquaint myself. This is a fun bout, but it's basically lucha without the psychology and a slightly more superior version of Hamada's UWF. The workers are all genuinely likeable, but the Kaientai stuff veers a bit too close to a parody of rudo teamwork, which is born out by the commentator explaining everything like it's a travel documentary. The shifts in momentum are similar to a trios match, but without the falls they come and go without much rhyme or reason. The rudo beatdown (that wasn't really a beatdown) could've gone for longer, which would have made the technico comeback stronger, for example. On the plus side, the finishing stretch was a barrel of fun, and I bought on Delpin's big nearfall at the end. I didn't have a problem with the length. It was a 10 man tag so it took longer for everyone to get their shit in. It was more the persistent rhythm that lacked a few subtleties.

[PeteF3]

There's not much more to say about this. As the DVDVR guys put it, it's spot-fu, but it's the greatest spot-fu match of all-time. Actually I don't know if that statement is strictly true, but it's got an argument. It's another top-10/15 MOTYC in what's turning into an excellent year for MOTYCs. It's just a shame that Sasuke couldn't have been here--then again, maybe that means Yakushiji is the man out and we wouldn't have wanted that.

[soup23]

One of my favorite matches of all time and a desert island match for me. Like a lot of people, this along with J Cup and some sort of 90's All Japan were my first puro purchases and this immediately blew me away. Even twenty years later and after 10 viewings, it still entertains me just the same. I don't know if Delphin, Taka, Togo or Yakushiji is my favorite in this but all are fantastic and this is 10 guys in a big building going out there and killing it without coming up for air. A wonderful match. ****3/4

[tim]

It's been a while since I've seen this and it sure held up. This match was non-stop fun and had a great sense of progression. In the beginning the action is pretty even, a bit of comedy, some mild dive teases but the action continues at a fast but relatively low-intensity level. Then Kaientai really start heeling out and the heel/face dynamic become more pronounced, the action gets more contentions and the dive teases get more, uh, teasier? Then there's the first awesome explosion of dives that sets off a ball to the wall home stretch, move after move and dive after dive. Awesome crowd the whole time. I don't know if this is my favorite MPro match, but it's definitely in my top 10 for the year thus far.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Super Delphin, Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa, Tiger Mask IV, Masato Yakushiji vs Kaientai DX (Dick Togo, Taka Michinoku, Sho Funaki, MENS Teioh & Shiryu) - Michinoku Pro 10/10/096

 

Here it is the most famous Michinoku Pro match. It takes place on their 3rd Anniversary Show at the Sumo Hall which did 7000, awesome for a Northeastern independent. Notable by his absence is Great Sasuke, who was not out due to his skull fracture at J-Crown, but rather he put himself in the legend's six-man tag. The main event was a "dream" match as Michinoku Pro's Jinsei Shinzaki (Hakushi) took on FMW's Hayabusa.

 

First ten minutes: As customary in M-Pro, everyone pairs off. My favorite pairing was Gran Hamada vs Sho Funaki. Michinoku saves Funaki and they do this great bit where Hamada successfully fends off both and Taka hits Funaki. Good stuff. Also fun was Delphin doing the Rick Rude sell of an atomic drop and taking a huge bump into the second row. In the second round of match-ups, I thought Yakushiji really shined with some slick arm drags and ranas. TM IV vs Taka Michinoku is always great juniors shoot-style. Hamada vs Togo is great hard hitting action. The first ten minutes ends with Dick Togo hitting whisper in the wind on Naniwa. So far it has been very good. Waiting for them to kick it up a notch.

 

Second ten minutes: It is interesting that Shiryu (who I feel is a lower tier member of Kaientai) is the one who swings things in Kaientai's favor. He gets a double leg takedown on Naniwa and it is off to the races with all the Kaientai staples. It is interesting that there is clearly a divide between Togo, Teioh, and Shiryu vs Taka & Funaki. Each group has their own double teams. I really liked how Funaki & Taka dropkicked Naniwa in the face before the Kaientai flex. I also thought it was interesting they burned through a lot of their spots early in the first heat segment. Naniwa tags out to Yakushiji who has looked the best for the babyfaces, really slick. Shiryu again takes over but this time Hamada saves. Hamada eats a spike piledriver so that's a Kaientai spot they saved. Hamada gets out and Naniwa stomps the balls of Funaki. TM IV gets trapped in the corner. The mask ripping didn't do much for me. Not enough struggle and where is the help. Still good but waiting for them to really go into overdrive.

 

Final Minutes: I'll admit they lost me. Just a ton of spots. No real connective tissue. Things that I remember, row your boat lead to Delphin doing a rana pin in the middle. Triple stereo rana by Kaientai leading to triple stereo dives. Taka Michinoku's insane inside-out, springboard Asai moonsault. They do a bunch of pair offs for the finish run. It is a barrage of suplexes and flips that don't stick. I thought the finish was good with Delphin coming up short and Dick Togo powerbombing him & senton for the win.

 

This would not be out of place at all in 2018. I think it would heralded as a classic. The more Michinoku Pro I watch the more I think this was the breeding ground of what workrate was to become by hybridizing the Stampede style, NJ Juniors and lucha into one insane style. I have seen better M-Pro and I hate to be a killjoy, but this just did not stick with me at all. I recognize there is a type of fan that would really like this and I did not hate it, but it did not wow me either. Also it was very long and I feel they could have made this a lot leaner. ***3/4

[Makai Club #1]

The classic M-Pro tag team match. I was pretty pumped to see this given its high acclaim. And what can I say about it? Similar to what would be its modern equivalent, the Dragon Gate multi-man tags, there is so much to cover because everything went by at a brisk pace with effortless flow, so much ins and outs. It’s impossible to do any play by play unless you watch it multiple times to write down every key spot. Kaientai are a well oiled machine and they wrestle as such. Their double, triple, quadruple team moves were exquisite. Individually, they are all fairly simple rudos, but together everything they do together comes across as magically. On the other side though, the individuals stood out more. Which was by design, I imagine. Gran Naniwa had some checky comedy spots that worked within the match, which is impressive given the flow of most of it. Tiger Mask had some wicked kicks and aerial dives. But I think the MVP of the match, for me, was Yakushiji. Yakushiji was the glue in some key intricate spots. He was super innovative with some of his arm drags and dives to the outside. And Super Delfin came across as the total big dog of his team. His big match ending run was really awesome. Just a long hope spot, attempting to finish off Kaientai with everything he can, leading to some real dramatic nearfalls, before the cog that was Kainetai Dulex took its toll. The match is hardly flawless, however. There is room for some trimming as the match lost steam in the 5 minutes before the closing stretch. But this is the quintessential spotfest for Lucharesu and Michinoku Pro. ****1/4

[cactus]

Big moves and even bigger dives. This is a highly influential spotfest. I thought Togo and Hamada worked well as the match's sole mini hosses, and Yakushiji hits some insane moves and felt like a natural babyface.  Just when you think that this is starting outwear it's welcome, they wow you with a big spot, athough I agree that this would of benefited from a bit of trimming.

★★★★¼

[Jabroniville]

I haven't watched nearly enough MPro stuff to really know the history behind them (I was like "hey you notice Men's Teioh fights more like a Western guy than a puro guy?" and someone had to explain to me that was literally his gimmick, lol), but I really dug it.

Of the MPro matches I've seen, this is by far the longest- it seems they killed time by extending the "everyone pairs off" thing for 15 damn minutes. Which is way too long for me, but at least establishes character bits (Hamada's smarts/experience, Yakushiji being this spitfire rookie who keeps surprising the heels with his talents and perseverence). The "meat" really develops when KDX starts cheating after that point. I actually liked the final ten minutes, as guys were finally tired enough they could be left in the ring and possibly pinned- this led to the classic "Everyone gets their sh*t in" spots and last-second saves. Great showcase for Taka in particular- a real star-making performance.

Overall I went ***3/4. But that's without knowing some of the history. I wish Sasuke had been in it, lol.