[2007-08-30-Michinoku Pro] Ultimo Dragon vs Great Sasuke

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcS0sCr4dLY

[Graham Crackers]

I did not expect much going into this one. Ultimo Dragon is a wrestler I liked as a kid but did not hold up when I decided to watch him again when I was older and as much as I love Sasuke I watched this after watching some real bad clusterfuck garbage Mpro main events from the middle of the decade. This and the Hayato singles match served as a reminder of why I've always loved Sasuke. Sasuke makes this match with his insane bumping, selling, and brutal offense. He actually sells his hatred for Dragon and throws some great punches in addition to some spectacular juniors offense. My only complaint is that I don't like that standing shiranui finisher Dragon was using at the time but that's not enough to take away fro Sasuke's performance.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Great Sasuke vs Ultimo Dragon - M-Pro 8/30/07

Sasuke was wrestling like it was 1994 and giving a MOTYC-level performance. Unfortunately, Dragon was wrestling like it was 1996 WCW and indulging everyone of his bad tendencies. Ultimo Dragon is one of the most infuriating wrestlers. He is such a great offensive dynamo, but I can't think of any wrestler pre-2000 that so egregiously blows off selling. It is too point that when he is in that mood that you should almost just let him be on offense because he drags the match so far down when he randomly decides to stop selling. The negative of that was Sasuke was so amazing on offense. He was violent and breath-taking, which is such a rare combination to see in a match. I loved how he attacked Dragon while he held the ropes open for him with headbutts and nasty body shots. Then when he goes for Asai Moonsault, Dragon violently yanks him down only for that to happen to Dragon when he tries. Based on the first two minutes, I really thought I was going to see something special, before Dragon went back in and did a high-speed tumbling pass. i remembered why Dragon annoys me so much. On the other hand, for as badass as Sasuke is on offense, he was selling for all its worth and bumping like a maniac. Sasuke tried a convoluted reversal out of a Dragon hold, but ended spiking himself on his own head and the way he sold it and the way Dragon sold surprise was really cool. It seemed like a real organic moment. So rarely do you seem someone "fuck up" a reversal and sell it. It was cool feature. Sasuke picked his moments and when Dragon missed a plancha out came the dives. Sasuke starts to go work on the arm, but Dragon blows it off to hit an Asai Moonsault and a gnarly suplex on chairs. That is a crazy bump. Sasuke reverses Dragon into the post and hits two beautiful dives from the top rope to the floor. Dragon ended up whiffing on a dropkick when Sasuke went for a quebrada. Sasuke was able to reverse the Dragon DDT twice, but ended up taking it three times to lose.

 

I missed a juniors match with spectacular dives and Sasuke is so good at incorporating that into his match. I loved his body punches and general roughhouse style. He took crazy bumps and built his offense convincingly. Dragon looked great on offense and took some hellacious bumps himself, but he killed the flow of the match repeatedly. If Dragon was on point and not just focused on his offense, this is a 2007 MOTYC. As is it is a highly entertaining bout and proof that Sasuke could still go. ***3/4

[G. Badger]

A great singles match for sure. This was rough around the edges at times but really in a way that worked with the match. Sasuke had to have been hurting. Shoot! so did Ultimo for that matter. If you're a fan of these guys then you really ought to set aside 20 minutes and watch this. Never heard any talk of this one at the time but I think it deserves to be included with their other great bouts. Again not a perfect match but if you look at it as two rivals past their prime meeting again, I think you'll dig it. They really put it all out there.