Taka Michinoku v Great Sasuke

[goodhelmet]

I originally had the Canadian Stampede match posted but deleted it so I could post the two of these together in a back-to-back situation.

 

 

TAKA Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke (Canadian Stampede)

 

Off the bat, the Fed tells you where their interests lie since the Japanese guys have to stand around while HHH-Foley brawl through the crowd.

 

The early portion of the match is a little bothersome for me. On the one hand, you have Sasuke establishing dominance with his hard striking kicks to the legs, midsection and/or the head. On the other hand, you have the problems that typically plague many junior matches from this time. They work in some submission segments that don't lead anywhere and have the crowd shouting boring in response. I thought the Canadians were supposed to be the smart crowds? Also, during this portion, we see Sasuke trying to test out being a heel by grabbing the hair and grabbing the chinlock to keep TAKA grounded.

 

When TAKA gains control with some arm work and some well-timed dropkicks to the back of the head and then to the face, things pick up. TAKA charges at Sasuke and gets launched to the floor as a result. This is where things get interesting as Sasuke follows-up with a martial arts kick from the top rope to the floor. This is important because there are three out-of-ring segments. All three in this match are set-up well enough that you never feel things are forced or contrived... even if the highspots themselves are designed to be over-the-top.

 

Back inside, Sasuke keeps attacking Taka with his brutal kicks until TAKA finally counters by catching a a kick and hitting a dragon-screw leg whip. Taka starts to whip up on Sasuke's legs so Sasuke bails before TAKA destroys his leg. Instead, as Sasuke cathes a breath, TAKA is inside setting up his springboard plancha in an amazing visual! Once again, we have a case where going to the outside of the ring made perfect sense. The fact that a superb highspot followed is just icing on the cake. This is also true with the next sequence on the floor. After some back-and-forth sequences, TAKA ends out on the floor again after a handspring elbow and Sasuke executes a perfect Asai Moonsault. After awhile, the outside sequences become a game of "Can you top this?".

 

Inside, TAKA gains control with a top-rope dropkick to the back of Sasuke's head. If there is one story that plays out well, it is that TAKA is able to gain the advantage when he goes up top, in the same way Sasuke gains control with his hard kicks. As we saw earlier, TAKA was able to counter the kicks with a dragon-screw. At this point in time, after a vicious Michinoku Driver that only gets two (bad move here), TAKA tries another Top-rope dropkick but gets dropped when Sasuke dropkicks him while in mid-air. Now, Sasuke has countered what was once TAKA's surefire-can't-miss momentum attack.

 

A Sasuke powerbomb and a weak, weak, weak Tiger Suplex ends the match. I really don't like the ending to this match. If the powerbomb was hard enough to knock out TAkA, there was no reason to go with the Tiger Suplex. It just looked too weak to end a match that saw so many vicious moves including the superior Michinoku Driver.

 

The Good

-- As mentioned before, I loved the way Sasuke established the dominance of his kicks early on. He was in firm control until TAKA was able to counter them. It was also what enabled him to lose control whenever he decided to go away from the strikes.

 

On the same note, it was great seeing TAKA gain control with his strength, the flying moves and dropkicks. However, unlike Sasuke, when his strength was countered, TAKA was not able to recover. Very rarely do you see this kind of storytelling in American junior matches. If you do, you usually get the feeling that wasn't what the wrestlers were going for anyway.

 

-- Use of the out-of-the-ring highspots. When they went out to the floor, it flowed so nicely for each highspot. In the context of the match, each one made sense and was executed perfectly. While the highspots were impressive, how they got there was even more impressive. For the first one (the Sasuke kick), TAKA bailed because Sasuke's kicks were fucking evil and he ended up getting pounced by a kick worse than the punishment in the ring. The second one (TAKA's plancha) was Sasuke escaping from TAKA's attack on Sasuke's leg that could have been injured after the dragon screw. Finally, the third one (the Moonsault) was setup after a handspring elbow that I doubt most of the crowd had ever seen before. Most matches fall to the floor when a guy casually throws the other guy through the ropes or when someone bails to catch a breather. Each time a guy went to the floor here, they had a purpose.

 

-- The execution was near-flawless. Each time a move was executed, there were no gaffes. Every time they threw a strike, it looked like it would hurt. When you need believability in a wrestling match, esp. a juniors match, this is absolutely necessary. As we will see in the follow-up on the next night's RAW, when your execution is flawed, the end result is an abysmal juniors match. This match didn't have to worry about that.

 

The Bad

 

--A lack of selling. Besides TAKA's drunken stupor after a few well-placed Sasuke kicks, there was no selling... at all. They had a perfect opportunity to play up the damage to Sasuke's leg after the dragon screw and TAKA's subsequent attack but they never did. A minor flaw, but one that didn't do the match any favors.

 

--The early-go-nowhere portion of the match that is so prevalent in juniors matches. They looked like they were teasing a Sasuke heel role but they never really established that. The early submission segments did nothing to help a crowd that was needed to be won over (and in fairness, they did win them over in the end) and those segments were never followed up on. This also came into play when Sasuke recovers way too quickly after the Michinoku Driver. Speaking of which, he should not have kicked out of it. If he was close to the ropes and was able to grab a rope, it would have looked more acceptable. As it is, it just looked like they were killing big-time moves

 

--The ending tiger suplex was weak... real weak... as in a Lance Storm backslide weak. You could argue that the powerbomb leading up to the TS was enough to end it but after a brutal Michinoku Driver and all of the hard strikes and high spots, this match deserved a better ending. The next night, Sasuke debuted the Thunder Fire Powerbomb. That would have been a perfect ending for this match. This tiger suplex would have fit the ending of the Raw match quite nicely since that match was horrible.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

This was probably one of the best junior matches that has ever happened in the WWF. The execution was flawless, the story within the match was well-told and it was so unique and different than anything being shown on WWF tv at the time. I'll go out on a limb and call it the best match of the night even though the main event had the greatest moments. It is clearly a step-above the RAW match that followed the next night (review coming up) and the TAKA-Tajiri match that occurred the following week. It is amazing what happens when these guys are allowed to get a little time in on television. Instead of a rushed spotfest that gets the juniors labeled as stuntmen, you get a chance to see two guys win over the crowd when they initially have no reason to give a shit either way.

 

 

 

TAKA Michinoku vs. Great Sasuke (RAW 7-7-97)

 

If you are unfamiliar with this match, Scott Keith mentions it in his Canadian Stampede recap and felt it was a good match. SK is an idiot.

 

TAKA attacks quickly but Sasuke sends him outside and follows with a Sasuke dive. Immediately, you can tell the difference between this match and the PPV match because there was nothing interesting enough happening for TAKA to go to the outside. Back inside, Sasuke again gains control with his hard kicks but TAKA responds with a top-rope dropkick to the back of Sasuke that sends Sasuke to the outside. TAKA tries to do his springboard plancha but slips? and turns it into a flying back elbow in mid-air. I applaud the effort to cover it up here but you can clearly tell it was a mistake. At this point, TAKA remembers Sasuke giving him the Asai moonsault and gives him a receipt, hitting one of his own.

 

Once back in the ring, a back-and-forth sequence ends with a belly-to-belly that drops Sasuke right on his head. TAKA follows this with a Michinoku Driver and doesn?t cover but goes up to the top and misses the moonsault. This sequence really bothered me. First off, TAKA didn?t even try to get a pin with the M-Driver and it came off as a transitional move, like one of those cool moves Kanyon or Kidman would do in WCW that never went anywhere. When Sasuke rolls out of the way of the moonsault, it is clear that they are trying to show that TAKA did not learn his lesson, even though going up to the top was what worked for him in the previous match.

 

Sasuke goes for the springboard elbow, and in a nice turnabout from the night before, TAKA catches Sasuke in mid-air with a dropkick. TAKA charges at Sasuke and ends up on the floor?

 

SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP~!

 

Problem: It misses TAKA completely and he still sells it. Compared to the night before, this is an extremely sloppy match. Whereas everything flowed and came off natural before, now it looks forced and manufactured.

 

Inside the ring, a Sasuke German suplex gets two and the Thunder fire Powerbomb finishes the match. No build to the finish. No Back-and-forth hope spots. Nothing.

 

The Good

---There were a few spots where they tried paying homage to the night before (Asai moonsault, TAKA getting caught going up top, dropkick in mid-air) but you never got the feeling it was intentional, that these guys were building on something.

 

The Bad

--The execution was sloppy as hell. You wanted them to connect and wow the crowd so that junior wrestling would be encouraged and endorsed but I can see where a Vince McMahon would point to a match like this as a reason not to invest time into the cruisers. Unfortunately, it seemed like their footing was off or they were rushing their spots?

 

--Rushing their spots. If you want a spotfest, look no further. There were no transitions such as the ones displayed the night before. With the exception of the TAKA flop that sets up the Space Flying Tiger Drop, there was no reason to go outside except to hit some highspots. Inside, the counter sequences were rushed and never really developed a story within the match. In their defense, I am sure they were pressed for time, and it was necessary to get it over with before the commercial break, but the end result is a jumbled mess with a finish that came out of nowhere.

 

--I haven?t mentioned this before but Brian Christopher is doing guest commentary with his father, and they are the most annoying duo ever. This was long before the days of puppies, and although Brian was there to hype the Lightweight division, he did himself and the division no favors. The night before, you barely noticed the commentary. On RAW, you were looking for the mute button.

 

Final Thoughts

--- This match is the shits. If the Canadian Stampede match is the novella you had to read for English Lit., this match is the scribbled chicken-scratch your drunken roommate copied from the Cliffsnotes the night before an essay was due. I wanted to like this match and I wanted to support these guys but they didn?t deserve it. Watch and love the PPV match but avoid this.

[Loss]

Both of these are great reviews. Thanks for posting them.

 

I wanted to elaborate on one point, which was the announcing. Isn't listening to JR explain the backgrounds of both at the PPV and listening to the crap he spews now by contrast not sort of depressing? He used to be such an excellent announcer who could get over the match and explain the story, and now, he seems senile in comparison.

[goodhelmet]

The exact same thing could have been said about Tony Schiavone in his years with WCW. As for JR, it is pathetic. The man is clearly just collecting a paycheck. Lawler was never worth a shit... even when he wasn't being a complete nuisance.