Michinoku Pro: 30th July 1994

This show is spread over two Champ Forums. There's a joshi match to start which I didn't get much from, and they show the end of a tag match with Terry Boy and Shiryu against Hanzo Nakajima and Masato Yakushiji which is really too short to have any feeling for. There is a Shiryu tope though, and that's always worthwhile.

OK, onto matches I care about. The six man tag (Kendo, SATO and Piloto vs. Super Boy, Delfin and Naniwa) was an absolute blast. The layout was pretty much comedy, comedy, comedy, highspots and finish. I was pleased to see more Kendo after enjoying a match of his from the previous year. Super Boy, once again, was tremendous.

This must be a WAR vs. M-Pro show. Jado vs. TAKA Michinoku was a fun match. It was built around TAKA being outmatched, but using big highspots to keep up. It's really made by the final run of big moves - they are well-paced and sold well - and the finish is really impressive, with Jado doing a super hurricanrana where he maintains contact and finishes in a pinning position. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Main event was Great Sasuke and Ultimo Dragon vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Gedo. A few things really stood out here. Firstly, it is really pleasing when you see a conventional wisdom shattered to pieces. In this case, many people's opinion of mid 90s Gedo was shaped by Scott Keith and his very negative opinion of him in reviews of the Super J Cups in 1994 and 1995. Anyone who still buys into that needs to see this match, because Gedo is really great in it. He's a completely dickish heel, faking injuries, stomping on heads and groins and riling the crowd up with a cocky swagger. He also takes a couple of big bumps, works some exciting nearfalls (particularly after a snap powerslam) and he does this nice thing where he gets dropkicked on the turnbuckle, bumps his head off the ring post (unprotected) and falls backwards.

Second thing is how different Sasuke and Dragon are. Sasuke is really good at selling the heels offence, while Dragon blows pretty much everything off in favour of more posing. Sasuke looks worn down going down the stretch, while Dragon just does his stuff. Sure, he has some high spots, but so does Sasuke, and they are far crazier (the quebradora over the turnbuckle to the outside would have been awesome, had Shinzaki caught him at all). And he blows stuff as well. The Segunda Caida WAR project is already doing its part to point out how overrated Ultimo Dragon is - I am completely on board with that. Anyway, the match is pretty good, Dragon aside. There's a couple of minor weaker moments - the above mentioned quebradora and one of the other Sasuke's dives has a weird catch which couldn't decide if it was successful or blocked - but a lot of it is a good time.