The Great Sasuke is a a guy who I watched when I first got into puro, through the usual gateway tapes. He’s one of the guys whose got a long list of must-see 90s junior matches, and when you’ve seen no puro before, it’s kind of perception changing. Then I watched him in 2007 and at first I have a lot of trouble getting into the absurdist comedy brawls and general ridiculousness he now fosters.
There was a point, sometime after this, when I really started to to think about him as one of my favourite guys in Japan. The point where this happened was the Puroresu Summit show where Sasuke works a light tube death match as an almost surrealist piece of performance art. I’ve really liked his two title matches in June, and there’s plenty of minor performances as well. Even at 40-years old, he takes insane bumps, and will carry an otherwise unremarkable match purely by the lengths he’s willing to go to create excitement. Despite the mask, he places great emphasis on selling and facials, sometimes excessively so – the silliness of some of the brawls lead to some fairly bizarre weapons which can’t possibly cause the amount of damage he suggests. But, given the choice, I’d rather watch someone oversell than undersell. Maybe more than anything, he commits to everything. Watch the way he plays the gullible mark throughout the Minoru Fujita feud.
So, I’ve decided to take some time and try to get a measure of his entire career. Partially, I’m interested in the evolution of his style. Partially, I’m interested in going back and rewatching those mid-90s junior classics and seeing how they hold up given how my opinion of junior wrestling has shifted over the last few years. It’s also an opportunity to finally get around to watching Michinoku Pro’s glory years. I get the impression when watching him that some time ago Sasuke decided that while he might never be considered the greatest junior from the peak period in the mid-1990s, he was always going to be the most interesting. Let’s find out if that hypothesis holds up to my deadly scrutiny.
1993
Great Sasuke and Kendo vs. Villano IV and V, M-Pro, June 19th
Great Sasuke vs. Super Delfin, M-Pro, July 24th
Great Sasuke and SATO vs. Super Delfin and Gran Naniwa, M-Pro, July 26th
Sasuke, SATO and TAKA vs. Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa and Jinsei Shinzaki, August 19th
Great Sasuke vs. Shinigami, August 20th
Great Sasuke vs. Super Delfin, M-Pro, August 24th
Great Sasuke and Tarzan Goto vs. Mr Pogo and Masaru Toi, M-Pro, December 10th
Great Sasuke, Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, Mr. Pogo, Masaru Toi, FMW, December 20th
1994
Great Sasuke, SATO and Shiryu vs. Super Delfin, Jinsei Shinzaki and Gran Naniwa, M-Pro, February 4th
Great Sasuke, Shiryu and Terry Boy vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, Yone Genjin and Gran Naniwa, M-Pro, March 4th
Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, M-Pro, March 31st
Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, M-Pro, April 29th
Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger, NJPW, July 8th
Ultimo Dragon vs. Great Sasuke, WAR, July 17th
Ultimo Dragon and Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinkazi and Gedo, M-Pro, July 30th
Great Sasuke v Turako, M-Pro, September 15th
Great Sasuke vs. Shinjiro Otani, M-Pro, September 29th
Great Sasuke vs. Atsushi Onita, M-Pro, October 30th
Great Sasuke vs. TAKA, December 15th
1995
Great Sasuke and Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. El Samurai and TAKA, PWFG, 22nd January
1996
Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger, New Japan, April 29th
Hayabusha vs. Great Sasuke, FMW, December 11th
Great Sasuke and Yuki Ishikawa vs. Gulliver X and Gulliver XX, BattlArts, December 26th
1999
Magnum TOKYO vs. Great Sasuke, Toryumon, February 17th
Great Sasuke vs. SUWA, M-Pro, April 1999
2000
Great Sasuke vs. Yuhi Sano, Super J Cup 2000, April 9th
Tiger Mask IV and Hiromi Yagi vs Great Sasuke and Chapparita Asari, M-Pro, June 24th
The Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask IV, TAKA Michinoku, Magnum TOKYO and Pantera vs CIMA, Pentagon, Sumo Dandy Fuji, Masao Orihara and Sasuke The Great, M-Pro, November 5th
2001
Tiger Mask IV and Great Sasuke vs. Jado and Gedo, New Japan, August 19th
2003
Great Sasuke vs. MIKAMI, March 2nd
2009
Great Sasuke and Bambi vs. Handsome JOE and Yuu Yamagata, K-Dojo, April 12th
Great Sasuke vs. Toshiaki Kawada, HUSTLE, May 4th
Masaaki Mochizuki and Great Sasuke vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima and El Blazer, Kensuke Office, May 21st
Great Sasuke vs. Fujita “Jr” Hayato, M-Pro, June 19th
Sasuke, CIMA and Gamma vs Tanizaki, Oishi & Asahi, Dragon Gate, July 8th
Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Super Crazy, NOSAWA Produce, July 9th
Great Sasuke vs. Sanshiro Takagi, DDT, August 23rd
Sasuke, Liger, Ibushi and Tiger Mask vs. Taguchi, Togo, Kanemoto and TAKA, New Japan, August 30th
Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki and Kesen Numajiro vs. Shu Sato, Kei Sato and Maguro Ooma, M-Pro, September 5th
Minoru Suzuki and Super Tiger II vs. Great Sasuke and Mitsuya Nagai, Real Japan, September 11th
Sanshiro Takagi and Great Sasuke vs. Yasu Urano and KUDO, DDT, 23rd September
Great Sasuke vs. Fujita “Jr” Hayato, M-Pro, November 8th
Minoru Suzuki and Super Tiger II vs. Great Sasuke and Kuniyoshi Wada, Real Japan, December 10th
2010
Great Sasuke and Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and Ultimo Dragon, RJPW, March 18th
Great Sasuke and Dick Togo vs. TAKA Michinoku and FUNAKI, M-Pro, June 11th
Great Sasuke vs. Takeshi Sasaki, FREEDOMS, June 21st
Great Sasuke and MIKAMI vs. Asian Cougar and Miracle Man, Osaka Pro, August 20th
KENTA and Atsushi Aoki vs. The Great Sasuke and Kenbai, NOAH, 10th October 2010
Great Sasuke and Dick Togo vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Genba Hirayanagi, NOAH, 30th October 2010