Michinoku Pro: 24th July 1993

The opener between Terry Boy and Jinsei Shinzaki was completely great and seems to me to be a match more people should talk about. It had the feel and the structure of a Southern grudge match, although still set in the context of a 90s lucharesu promotion.. Before the bell, Terry Boy planchas off the top buckle taking out Shinzaki and his manager (whose name I am yet to learn and can't find anywhere). Then there's some mic work, from which I understand Terry Boy saying 'Sleeper Hold' several times, leading to him putting a sleeper hold on the manager and I love the response that gets. He puts one on Shinzaki who makes the save and they spill to the outside, then Shinzaki takes over throwing Terry recklessly into the chairs while the front row audience members move as quick as possible.

The match is naturally built around longer periods of Shinzaki in control, leading to Terry Boy taking a pretty huge beating, plenty of stomping and big slams, a chair assisted double foot stomp, culminating in Shinzaki carving open his head with something metal. Terry Boy has a couple of short comebacks: one short one as he dodged a charging Shinzaki (who is not afraid to launch himself into the ringpost), only to be caught running back along the apron, another after kicking Shinzaki in the head to break a pinfall and then the final one at the end with Terry Boy throwing great punches and Shinzaki falling all over the place as it looks like he might lose. I really liked the finish, as Terry Boy gets himself disqualified in his momentum, but still takes the moral victory as Shinzaki goes crazy after the bell, knowing he'd been shown up and tearing up the seating area. Bloody, heated, strong characters and a great underdog story that makes you want to see more. I raised the question in the last review, and based on this one match alone, Jinsei Shinzaki was a tremendous wrestler in 1993.

The main event was the first UWA title match between Sasuke and Delfin. This was a fun match, in two main areas. Firstly, Delfin's rudo act dominated most of the first two thirds of the match, his cheating and thumbs up to the crowd riling everyone up for the Sasuke comeback. Secondly, the final third, while not overly long, was filled with all the trademark Sasuke highspots (and a huge Delfin plancha), culminating in the always exciting space flying tiger drop, a moonsault press and a pinning hurricanrana. As well as being spectacular to watch, I felt they fitted nicely into the overall structure of the match, first as desperation comeback moves, then as match winners. The near-countouts added to the impact and importance of these moves. There were a couple of odd moments in this - some quick mat exchanges and takedowns seemed a little out of place following a Delfin control segment (you were think these were more opening gambits that the usual response to being stomped in the groin) - but this was a highly enjoyable showcase match.