Michinoku Pro: 30th October 1994

This is a commercial release, rather than an eight-generation taping from an old VHS, so I'll be enjoying the sight of wrestlers with definitive edges. Unfortunately, a number of this unfuzzy wrestlers have very forgettable matches, prompting me to wonder why the video quality people did not co-ordinate better with the wrestling quality team. Why am I straining to watch awesome Super Boy matches, but I can see Wellington Wilkins Jr take some lousy bumps in near-HD quality (This may be an exaggeration)?

Anyway, that deals with the two first singles matches (Masato Yakushiji vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr, and HANZO Nakajima vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa, for those who need to know). Then there's a La Pantera vs. Super Delfin match that I was excited for, but never really gets going after a promising opening of lucha takedowns and submission. This had a whole run of real awkward-looking Pantera spots which look like botches that just kills any latent momentum that they had. Delfin is really into short comeback in his matches at this time. This was basically Tornado DDT, Delfin Clutch and we're done.

The trios (TAKA, Jinsei Shinzaki and Gran Naniwa vs. SATO, Shiryu and Terry Boy) is maybe the first Kaientai trios, and it is really fun. The show is outdoors and the opening brawl is absolutely not afraid to give the video producer a headache (the whole thing is nicely put together so that get a sense of the three separate exchanges all happening together). Then they reset and hit the ring, which gives the Kaientai guys a chance to show off all there new triple team stuff. There's a super-intense Terry Boy-TAKA staredown before they match up, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how TAKA ends up changing allegiance. The other team does mount a comeback, but the focus is still on the rudos - their dives were spectacular (SATO and Shiryu do stereo somersault topes, causing me to rewind twice so I could watch each one individually) and their team mentality finally isolates Naniwa for an awesome SATO senton. I'm aware that when the KDX feud really gets going, I'm going to be spoilt with great trios and eight-man tags, but I did enjoy a whole bunch of this.

I also liked the main event between Sasuke and Onita, in a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Double Hell Exploding Ring Death Match. First of all, the pre-match build was great. Sasuke is flown by helicopter to the venue, with a camera pointing straight at his face, jaw-set, looking ominous. When they come back, it's dark, and the atmosphere makes it seem like An Event is about to happen. The match itself stuck with a simple deathmatch psychology - use the nasty things before you opponent uses them on you. The build to the first big spot had loads of teases, and when it comes, it is unexpected, with Onita suddenly charging Sasuke into the wire from what looked like a standing stalemate. Onita takes a couple of bumps onto the barbed wire and explosion boards, before Sasuke pulls out the space flying tiger drop over the electrified wire, in what critics (me) are calling a completely ridiculous but awesome decision. Onita regains the advantage, firstly with a throw that used Sasuke's momentum out of the ring onto the boards, and then basically powerbombs Sasuke until he gets a three count just before the time-limit. I don't quite understand the exploding ring gimmick - is the point to finish the match before it detonates, or to keep out of the way when it detonates (hopefully with your opponent in the blast zone)? - but there's little doubt its a visually impressive finale. It leads to some deeply melodramatic post-match activities where Sasuke plays actually dead and Onita trys to revive him. Quite the enjoyable spectacle from start to finish.