[1996-12-01-Inoki Festival] Great Sasuke & Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Gran Hamada & Super Delphin vs Taka Michinoku & Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Really great match, one I'd probably put slightly ahead of the 10/10 tag even. Hoshikawa does a terrific job adjusting to these guys, and in a scary spot, puts a sleeper on Funaki at one point and does a giant swing while he's in the sleeper. However, the stars of the match are Yakushiji and Togo. Yakushiji legitimately looks like one of the best wrestlers in the world in this match, both for taking a beating and busting out some great high flying moves. This is a worthy addition to any Michinoku Pro collection, and it's probably better than most of the touring matches because it feels more associated with the storyline.

[Tim Evans]

This was pretty awesome. Kinda funny how much heat this got compared to the Dragon match. Yakushiji like Loss said is the best thing about this match. His dives and just the way he moves is better than most everyone in this match. The Dragoncito type dive into the 3rd row was nuts.

[Robert S]

Yakushiji looked like a proto-Toryumon wrestler here, a bit like Dragon Kid or Yoshino. With the death wish he displayed with the crazy dive it's no wonder we was not around after 2000.

Everytime I watch one of this Kaientai vs. M-Pro Sekigun I hardly remember anything that Funaki does. Is he that bland or is this Lucharesu style just not his forte?

[Zenjo]

From the one-off Inoki Fest, with a rather excitable commentator. That M-Pro ref is one squat fatboy. You know the score with these multi-mens by now. The 10m of good stuff then almost like clockwork it's twitchy finger time. Fortunately they soon went to stretch and kept the whole thing quite short. Some funky movez being thrown out there. Taka was the star performer and like other people have said Pan was a pleasant surprise. He's got a bit of the Kikuchi about him, I really want to see him get his ass kicked. Good stuff overall.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a lot of fun, but I guess that goes without saying. It seemed like a forerunner to the 12/16 tag with the grittier mat exchanges and the work having more of an edge to it. Kaientai appeared to be coming into their own here. Hoshikawa slotted in well as Loss mentioned and overall the pacing was excellent. I like that the heels don't isolate one guy and work him over FIP style. Instead, they just beat on everyone. Great breakneck pace with the finishing stretch. It feels like a crap shoot at the end, which is the best way to work spotfests. It's a pity they couldn't keep this up in '97.

[PeteF3]

I dunno, I'd say Sasuke took quite a FIP-style beating. Still, everyone gets to shine here and the closing stretch is one of the very best of the year. Hell, Yakushiji pinning Togo seemed like a legitimate possibility. I think These Days was a smidgen better, thanks to a better atmosphere in part, but on the other hand Sasuke definitely felt like a missing piece there.

[KB8]

I actually like this more than the These Days match. That one was felt more like an exhibition, albeit a great one, while this felt more like a contest where all parties were close to perfecting the formula. KDX were inspired in this. They had just the right mix of douchebaggery and viciousness, constantly swarming guys, interjecting themselves whenever they could, etc. Yakushiji v Togo is such an awesome match-up, and while there were only brief instances of it here we still got plenty of Yakushiji busting out the killer highspots, including the wild tope that about wiped out the whole commentary team. The mugging of Sasuke in the body of the match gave it some meat that I think has been missing from some of the other M-Pro matches on the set, and this whole thing pretty much rocked from start to finish.

[soup23]

Not much more I can add to this but it was super and I loved the face side in particular as a contrast to KDX. Yakushiji, Hoshikawa, Delphin and Sasuke all had moments to shine. Sasuke was FIP for a long time and brought a good overall story to the proceedings. The finishing run is insane and full of action. I wish the crowd would have been better and slightly prefer These Days but this is excellent. ****1/2 (9.0)

[tim]

Boy this is hard to rank against the 10/10 match. I think the pre-home stretch of this match was better, considerably better actually. Had an edge to it, was more dynamic, and everything looked so good. But the 10/10 match has it beat for the extended insanity of the finishing run, although this match had an awesome finishing run itself. Maybe 10/10 gets the slightest of edge, but this is still one of the MPro classics.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Great Sasuke, Super Delphin, Gran Hamada, Naohiro Hoshikawa & Masato Yakushiji vs Kaientai DX - Inoki Festival 12/1/96

A showcase for Michinoku Pro at Festival promoted by Antonio Inoki. I thought this was definitively better than These Days (10/10, Sumo Hall). The biggest reason is this is about half as long as These Days making this much leaner & meaner. Second is Sasuke being in the match. Sasuke has great spots and is always willing to take helluva beating. But the real big thing is that Sasuke's star power. Everything is bigger with Sasuke & the stakes are so much higher. Sasuke is the baby face that takes most of the heat and all the trademark Kaientai spots. He really gave those guys the rub. Add in that he is only four months removed from his skull fracture and Kaientai focuses on his head. I really thought the leg drops on the bottom rope were nasty. He takes two piledrivers! I loved the Shieldbomb as the climax to this heat segment with the babyfaces saving Sasuke. Really great stuff, everything focused on the head. I thought the other traditional highspots were well-worked and mixed together well. The finish run was insane! Tons of dives and just great heated action. I love Sasuke attacking from doing his Senton and then jumps out the way when Teioh throws a chair which hits Togo. Sasuke hits an Asai Moonsault on Teioh. Yakushiji hits a great hurricanarana from top rope to a standing Togo and gets an awesome near fall. Togo crushes him with a powerbomb to win, but faces save. Powerbomb/Senton combo does him. Fun, lean spotfest with great psychology on Sasuke's head and lots of drama down the stretch highly recommended. Best M-Pro match I have seen yet. ****1/2

[dawho5]

Really great 10-man that hits all the right highspots without going too far.  I will say that Shiryu is consistently missing cues and sloppy as Hell around this time period, and this is no exception.  He does hit a nice corner lariat tho. Double dive by Yakushiji & Hoshikawa was legitimately one of the most ridiculous things you've ever seen in wrestling with the timing they had to have at that speed.