Michinoku Pro: 1st March 2009

Another three months pass, and more M-Pro arrives courtesy of desu on the DVDVR boards, so much gratitude as ever. Interesting looking show - unlikely to have a high end MOTY candidate like the December show did, but the trios could be tidy.

Opener is a perfectly decent singles match Shinjitsu Nohashi and Rui Hiugaji, and are both guys that could be useful in the future. If Michinoku Pro are trying to reclaim their glory years, then Nohashi is obviously their Shinzaki, and Hiugaji is their Dick Togo. Not quite as good as Dick, of course, as we shall see later. They tick all the competitive undercard match boxes with stalemate chain wrestling and strike exchanges, which is fine. Nohashi controls the body of this, targetting Hiugaji's upperbody, and though he does tend to move his focus around a little, its mainly around the lower back. Hiugaji selling performance here is interesting: he does a good job conveying being pained and worn down over the match, but doesn't sell the specific body part. That said, Nohashi wasn't pulling out insane, back breaking moves, so it didn't feel like much of a problem. Hiugaji spikes himself from a hurricanrana which looked cool. Ultimately, despite Hiugaji's fightback, Nohashi is able to overcome the rookie with a couple bigger impact moves . Can't reasonably ask for much from a 10 minute opener, and I could stand to see more of both guys.

Rei & Toudai Raman vs. ken45° & Shibaten and Kesen Numajiro vs. Flying Kid Ichihara don't really hold my interest. The faces in the first at fun flyers, but not much more. I really get nothing out of Numajiro. Old, short, out-of-shape guys need to be a either little more insane or crazed or a lot more technical maestro for me to get interested. Numajiro is neither.

The semi is Dick Togo, Yoshitsune and Rasse vs. Shu Sato, Kei Sato and Maguro Ooma. The most noteworthy thing here is Dick's performance, which is terrific. From the first fast exchange across the ropes, his wild swinging lurches during the heat section, through to the diving opportunistic somersault off the apron and his impassioned comeback, he brought a tremendous energy to the whole match and rallies the crowd behind the face team. They may pop for Yoshitsune's acrobatics, but it's Togo that makes you want to see them win.

After a first watch, I wasn't sure whether the match was just Togo, or whether there was more to it. Second time around, I felt surer. The heels are absolutely fine here - they do their shctick, take shortcuts, use weapons, taunt the crowd, boot Togo in the face, and triple team little Rasse. I like how Yoshitsune was kept out of the match for the most part, as the heels went for either the bleeding Togo or the smaller Rasse - a story paid off at the end by Yoshitsune's winning series of big moves. Yoshitsune's limited involvement is also a big plus for a match uilt around heel beatdown, because he's not the guy to do that. Increasingly, I find I prefer 15 minutes stuff like this, with a coherent story and a sense of purpose, to a 35 minute back-and-forth epic.

Fujita "Jr." Hayato & Takeshi Minamino vs. Masahiro Chono & Jinsei Shinzaki is a pretty big main event. Hayato is one of my favourite guys in Japan at the moment, and as he develops into the top guy in M-Pro, he becomes more interesting. He, a fourteen year old (probably) looks confident, boarding on punkish, and evenly matched against the heavyweights, even a heavyweight of the standing of Chono, and attacks credibly with big kicks and realistic looking submissions and holds. There's an extra little wrench on each hold that I appreciate.

Anyway, this whole match is about the local hero and big star overcoming the heel team and all their stable mates who readily get involved, and doesn't require much more that that. Hayato is pretty much working for four - his partner is pretty bland, Shinzaki and Chono just do there things. Shinzaki is fine during the heat section, but it isn't a long term selling thing, so I'm not all that impressed. Amused at finish by Chono going the wrong way on the STF - it must have taken a lot of effort to go against muscle memory like that. And the crowd goes home happy.

Another entertaining M-Pro show, with one match that is definitely worth watching, and a couple of other bits that pass the time nicely. Wish they had more regular TV - not exactly a promotion you can get into and follow much if you only see 2 hours every 3 months, but I look forward to each show, so that's a thing. With K-Dojo seemingly without TV now, I need another small indie promotion to follow, and at this rate, it's going to end up being DDT. Or I'll have to start watching Dragon Gate *shudder*. *Gets kicked by Alan*.