Into the Indies 01.11.11: These Days

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column that rocks the party that rocks the body.

It feels like I’ve been writing a lot about Michinoku Pro Wrestling these days. As regular readers of the column know, one of the promotion’s biggest stars, Gran Naniwa, passed away this past fall. In addition to that, my top two news stories of 2010 (as counted down in the last two weeks of this column) both in some way related to M-Pro. However, for all of the talking that I’ve done about Michinoku, it’s been a while since I’ve actually sat down and took a look at one of their shows. On top of that, I recently got a comment from an anonymous poster who asked me what a good starting point for getting into the promotion would be.

The result is this week’s column, where I have decided that, for nostalgia’s sake, I should take a look back at my single favorite Michinoku Pro show of all time. This is the company’s Third Anniversary Show from October 10, 1996, taking place in front of almost 8,000 fans in Tokyo’s Sumo Hall. It is sometimes referred to as “These Days,” especially among English-speaking fans of puroresu, because that’s the title given to a commercial video tape release of the show which was widely bootlegged and distributed throughout the western hemisphere by tape traders. This is a show where all of the company’s top stars of the era (who are also its top stars of all time) are showcased and where numerous noteworthy guest stars put in appearances.

Simply put, if you’re only going to watch one M-Pro show or if you’re looking for an M-Pro show that will really get you hooked on the product, THIS is the card to seek out. With that introduction out of the way, let’s get to the action.

Match Numero Uno: Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Johnny Saint

It’s Japan vs. the United Kingdom here. Johnny Saint, who many of you have probably heard of, is a veteran grappler from jolly old England who goes back to the glory days of wrestling on World of Sport. Despite being up there in years, he continues to wrestle to this very day, including recently doing some appearances for US-based company CHIKARA. Hoshikawa is an independent junior heavyweight who is unfortunately better known for how his career ended than anything that he accomplished during it. He was the unfortunate victim of one of the sickest injuries in professional wrestling, as a powerbomb off of a steel cage went horribly wrong and was followed immediately by a lariat from his opponent, leading to Hoshikawa lapsing into a coma for some time. He’s still in prime shape here, though.

The two men are fighting under British rules, which means that the match will be taking place in rounds. Saint grabs a headlock early but Hoshikawa powers out and grabs an armbar. The English veteran does some wacky calisthenics in reversing out of the hold and applies a hammerlock. Hoshikawa rolls through to escape and catches his man with a drop toe hold before working the leg. Even this early in the match, I’ve been keeping tabs on Saint’s facial expressions, and they are MASTERFUL. Eventually he regains a vertical base and works a knuckle lock, but Hoshi escapes and scores a cross arm breaker. Before the move can do any damage, the bell rings, signaling the end of round one.

Round two starts with some kicks by the Japanese wrestler, which he uses to get Saint down and into a version of the ankle lock. The counter by our British friend is excellent, as he stands up and uses his one free leg to essentially catapult Hoshikawa out of the ring. When he returns, Saint traps him in a variation of what we would probably call a surfboard hold today, but Hoshikawa easily escapes and goes to the chinlock. Saint flails his hands about in an unorthodox manner to confuse Hoshi and get out of the hold, but he quickly finds himself shot into the corner and decimated with a big shoulder to the gut. A second version of the same move misses, with Saint seizing the opportunity to get two with a sunset flip. He comes off the ropes, but Hoshi grabs him with a swinging cobra clutch and drops an elbow for a nearfall. We’re back to the chinlock at this point though this time around it is quickly converted into a headscissors. For the second time, Saint is saved by the bell as he is in the hold.

Now we’ve got round three, and it opens with a Saint full nelson. Hoshikawa reverses into a waistlock, but Johnny Boy has an innovative escape and an equally mesmerizing way out of an armbar. He fires off a back body drop and a high cross as well, but he can only keep Hoshikawa down for two. We’re back to the Greco-Roman knuckle lock, and an absolutely mindblowing series of counters and reversals sets up a schoolboy by Saint for two. I can’t even describe what just happened, but I can say that it was a thing of beauty that involved a lot of skill and concentration by both wrestlers. Hoshikawa goes for a headlock takedown now and eventually rolls through with it into a leglock, and once more the round ends with Saint in a submission.

Trying to remedy that situation, Saint starts off round four by immediately kneeing his opponent in the gut and putting him in the octopus hold, including at one point a devastating-looking variation in which no part of Saint’s body was touching the mat. The veteran goes back to the hammerlock, but Hosikawa slips out and throws Saint through the ropes as a result. The Brit tries to slingshot himself back into the ring but actually botches it and lands badly, though the crowd is forgiving. Now Saint has tied his limbs up into a knot while laying on the canvas, and, when Hoshikawa tries to untangle him, Saint catches him offguard with an armbar. Hoshi responds with a headscissors takedown, but Johnny quickly regains the advantage and hits a floatover vertical suplex for the three count.

Match Thoughts: This was an interesting little exhibition. I will say that, despite having two completely different styles, the two wrestlers worked fairly well together, being on the same page the entire way through the match with the exception of the blown spot towards the finish. Ultimately, I have a feeling that how much an individual enjoys this match will depend on how much he or she generally enjoys British style wrestling, both in terms of the different rules (i.e. the round system) and the over the top, almost cartoonish hand gestures, counters, and misdirection plays that were employed by guys like Saint. If you can get into those sorts of things, you would probably like this match a fair dael, though there are probably better examples of the same style resulting from matches between wrestlers who worked it for their entire careers. If you cannot get into those sorts of things, you’ll probably walk away saying that Saint’s offense looked ridiculously fake and that you couldn’t get into the bout at all as a result. Fortunately, I all into the former category. **1/2

Match Numero Dos: Wellington Wilkins vs. Lenny Lane

Those of you who have been around for a while will remember that Lane would ultimately go on to do a controversial gay gimmick during the late 1990’s in WCW, which would be his career highlight. Last I heard anything from him, he was running a company in his native Minnesota that put on wrestling-themed birthday parties for children, complete with Lenny setting up a ring at the venue and showing the kids some of his tricks. Why am I spending so much time talking about Lenny Lane? It’s because I know nothing about Wellington Wilkins.

Lane actually looks like a young Lex Luger here. Wilkins gets a fireman’s carry takedown and a swinging neckbreaker early. Wellington goes for an armbar but Lane is too close to the ropes and easily escapes. Lenny tries to take his man down with shoulderblocks but runs into a press slam and gets forearmed in the corner. An axe bomber from Wellington also connects, and I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever see Lenny on offense. No sooner do I ask than does Wilkins run straight into his opponent’s boot setting up a clothesline and a tombstone piledriver from the Minnesotan. Lane goes up to the top and hits a flying clothesline for two, which is pretty insane when you consider the fact that nobody was really kicking out of tombstones in 1996. Lenny goes for a second version of the move, but Wilkins reverses it and hits his own jumping tombstone. Believe it or not, Lenny Lane also gets to kick out. Wellington looks to finish the match one more time, now with a superplex, but Lane still gets his shoulder up before three. Seconds later, Wellington hits a flying clothesline and applies a kneebar, which gets Lenny Lane to tap out.

Match Thoughts: Eh. This was what it was. None of the moves executed by the wrestlers were executed poorly, but they were performing and kicking out of so many major maneuvers that it felt like they were trying to wrestle the last five minutes of a twenty minute main event instead of just going out there to put on a solid second match on the show. Most people don’t care about that sort of thing, but I found it to be a bit jarring, and it detracted from my enjoyment of the action. *1/2

Match Numero Tres: Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Satoshi Yamamoto

This is a special exhibition match from BattlArts, a group in which the majority of these men are still involved to this day. Otsuka and Yamamoto start for their respective teams. Yamamoto looks for some kicks to the midsection early, but Otsuka gets him in the clinch. Yamamoto maneuvers his man back into his corner, though, and before long both Yamamoto and Ikeda are kicking away to soften up their opponent. A spinning heel kick in the corner by Yamamoto puts Otsuka down and the referee begins counting him down, as BattlArts rules have historically focused a lot more on KO’s than virtually any other wrestling promotion. Ikeda tags in at this point and continues to lay in the boots until Alexander catches him OUT OF NOWHERE with a MASSIVE backdrop suplex and looks for a key lock. Ikeda slips out of it and looks to apply a choke variation, but Otsuka prevents it from being locked on and eventually we’ve got the old spot with Alex herc’ing his man up off the canvas while in the hold and dropping him with a powerbomb variation. Ikeda lets go of Otsuka as a result but still gets him back into his corner, where he’s able to bring back Yamamoto. He fights over leglocks with Otsuka, with Alexander getting the upper hand until Yamamoto makes the ropes and forces a break. From there, Otsuka looks for a half crab, but Yamamoto rolls through and tries for a kneebar, which he ultimately turns into a half crab of his own. Ishikawa has had enough and runs in for the save with a big kick, setting up a deadlift German by Otsuka and a tag that brings Ishikawa in legally. He looks for a choke on Yamamoto but gets cut off by Ikeda, who then tags in and goes to work on Ishikawa’s leg. Repeated kicks by Ikeda knock Ishikawa down a couple of times but never quite for a ten count. A high kick by Ishikawa is blocked and countered into a dragon screw, which sets up a kneebar. Ikeda manages to kick out of it with his free leg and tag Yamamoto, who gets taken down by a palm strike and put into a kneebar. Both men’s partners run in, with Otsuka giving Ikeda another deadlift German as Yamamoto continues to struggle in the kneebar. That looked like it could’ve been a finish, but Yamamoto made the ropes at the last second. Despite his escape, he’s immediately German suplexed by Ishikawa and then dragon suplexed by Otsuka, setting up a cross arm breaker by Ishikawa that gives his team the come-from-behind victory.

Match Thoughts: This was a bit different than the BattlArts that I’m used to watching, and I’m not entirely sure whether it’s a result of the style of the wrestlers evolving or whether it’s a result of the wrestlers not having as much time here as they might in other tag team matches. Generally the Bati-Bati I’ve seen has a lot more emphasis on what occurs on the mat, particularly counters and chain wrestling. There was some mat wrestling here, but it was much more focused on grabbing one or two holds and then having them broken as opposed to stringing holds together. It also moved on from mat wrestling to big suplexes a lot more quickly than many other BattlArts tags that I’ve seen, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your attention span. As it was, this was a pretty darn good little match, though I think that it could have been significantly better if it had gotten five to ten more minutes. That wasn’t going to happen given that this is more of a showcase bout, though. ***

Match Numero Cuatro: Tiger Mask, The Great Sasuke, & Mil Mascaras vs. Dynamite Kid, Dos Caras, & Kuniaki Kobayashi

This was billed as a legends match, and most of the names are probably familiar to regular readers. For those of you who AREN’T regulars, you might be interested to know that Dos Caras is a Mexican legend and the father of current WWE star Alberto Del Rio, while Mil Mascaras is Caras’ brother and perhaps an even bigger star on both sides of the border. It should also be noted that this is the original Tiger Mask in the ring, Satoru Sayama. The only name that isn’t a regular one in these pages is Kuniaki Kobayashi, who was a big junior heavyweight star in both New Japan and All Japan and was a rival of both Sayama and the second Tiger Mask, who would later be known as Mitsuharu Misawa. In a final, unfortunate note on the lineup, the Dynamite Kid looks near death here. He’s absolutely scrawny compared to his peak and looks like an old, out of shape drunkard as opposed to a professional athlete.

Sasuke is pimpin’ here on the entrance, as he held the eight belt J-Crown Championship at the time and gets a separate ring girl to carry out each individual strap. Tiger Mask and the Dynamite Kid are the first two men in the ring to a tremendous ovation, with Billington avoiding some kicks early before locking up and going to an armbar. Sayama flips out of it and slaps on a headlock before rolling behind into the drop toe hold and tagging in Sasuke. The M-Pro boss is caught with an uppercut by the Kid and whipped into his corner as Kobyashi is brought into the match. He’s taken down by a Japanese armdrag and a monkey flip from Sasuke before getting thrown to the outside and hit with a HUGE Asai moonsault which sent both men crashing back into a ringside table. Sasuke immediately throws his man back to the inside, but he’s too close to the opposing corner and Dos Caras gets a tag off of Kobayshi. He challenges Mil Mascaras to come into the ring, and the two brothers start applying wacky submission holds on one another. They trade a couple of armdrags as well, with Mascaras generally controlling en route to hitting a flying forearm, which prompts tags to Dynamite Kid and Great Sasuke. Sasuke looks for a Fujiwara armbar immediately, but DK avoids and tosses his man to the floor, where he hits a snap suplex. Kid holds Sasuke in position for a big baseball slide kick by Kobayashi, and then Caras picks up the Japanese masked man and slams him back-first into the ringpost. Seems like you’ve got some great partners to help you out there, Sasuke.

Back on the inside, Billington drops some knees on Sasuke’s back and hands the match off to Kobayashi, though Sasuke catches him off balance with a sunset flip and tags out to Tiger Mask. Tiger gets a glancing high kick and then a boot to the gut, nipping up when Kobayashi hits a shoulderblock. The crowd goes NUTS for TMI’s backflip off of Kobayashi’s chest and the classic dive feint as Kobayashi decides it’s time to hand things off to Dos Caras. Sasuke is in as well, but Caras immediately throws him up into the air for a HUGE backbreaker and applies the Scorpion. Sasuke is in the ropes immediately and single legs Caras when the two men return to a vertical basis, locking on a leg submission. Caras tries to escape but gets caught up in a camel clutch variation, though he does eventually slip out to hit a vertical splash in the corner. A second one is avoided by Sasuke, leading into a dropkick by the smaller wrestler, though Caras immediately responds with a forearm and a dropkick of his own. Sasuke looks for a breather on the floor, but he’s wiped out with Caras pescado. While various ringsiders tend to Sasuke, Caras tags out to Kobayashi. He engages in some blatant choking and throws Sasuke back out to the floor, where Dynamite Kid slams him on a table and lays in more forearms to the back. As soon as Sasuke gets back into the ring, Caras throws him out again. Mascaras tries to run in and save things for his team and Kobayashi tries to run interference, but Mil ultimately gets the job done, taking down both Kobayashi and Caras with the old flying headlock/headscissors combo and hitting his brother with a flying sholderblock.

Things go back to Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask at this point, and the Tiger controls with some kicks and a kneedrop until he misses a dropkick. In what looks like a blown spot, Billington gets Tiger too close to Tiger’s corner, prompting a tag by Sasuke. Kobayashi tags in as well and dominates, hitting a tilt-a-whirl slam before bringing Dos Caras back. Caras connects with a backbreaker and applies a very weird submission hold in which he basically lays on his back and schoolboys Sasuke on top of him. I don’t get it either. Caras drops the hold, so Sasuke dropkicks him to the floor and FLIES through the air with a senton atomico. Kobayashi and Mascaras both follow with dives of their own, leaving Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid to hit the ring again. Tiger applies a submission but Kobayashi interferes to break it up. It doesn’t work out well, though, as Kobayashi winds up being tombstoned and hit with the Tiger Mask flying headbutt. Kid breaks up the ensuing pin attempt at two, giving Kobayashi an opening to hit a fisherman suplex, but Mil breaks THAT up and gives him a flying forearm. Caras is back in and gets forearmed for his trouble, at which point Sasuke grabs Dos and holds him in position for a high cross by Mascaras. Caras moves, though, and Sasuke gets hit with the move. That leads into a cradle piledriver on Sasuke by Billington, followed immediately by a sitout powerbomb by Caras. That’s enough to win the match for his team.

Match Thoughts: This was solid stuff all around. It wasn’t quite as polished as some of the other six or eight man tag team matches that were being produced by M-Pro during this period, but that’s to be expected when you consider the fact that a) these six men weren’t as familiar with each other as the six guys who would normally be in a Michinoku match and b) pretty much everybody in the match with the exception of Sasuke was at least a couple of years past his athletic prime. Despite these handicaps, they did manage to keep the action hot and heavy for the most part, and I was particularly impressed with how well they worked around with the limitations of Dynamite Kid, who was significantly down in weight and clearly hurting here but still managed to come off as a legitimate player in the match instead of other guys who have come back for legends tag matches and felt like they were tacked on and actively had to be hidden due to their condition. The real highlight was Dynamite getting in with Tiger Mask or Kobayashi getting in with Tiger Mask, as they were able to bust out some of their classic sequences, some of which looked almost as crisp as the originals and all of which garnered impressive reactions from the often stoic Japanese crowds. ***1/4

Match Numero Cinco: Dick Togo, TAKA Michinoku, MEN’S Teioh, Sho Funaki, & Shiryu vs. Gran Hamada, Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa, Masato Yakushiji, & Tiger Mask IV

Now this is the type of match that put Michinoku Pro on the map. It’s the villainous Kaientai Deluxe stable of Togo, TAKA, Teioh, Funaki, and Shiryu going up against the homegrown babyface unit lead by the legendary Gran Hamada.

It’s Yakushiji and Togo to start, with lightning-fast headlock counters and standing switches setting up an armdrag by the good guy. Togo also loses a battle of armbars setting up another armdrag, and a double kip-up gets the crowd a-going. Here come TAKA and TMIV, with Tiger hitting a full body slam before we go into the Greco-Roman knuckle lock. That sets up another slam and a back kick that sends TAKA to the floor for the dive feint. Now it’s Gran Naniwa against MEN’S Teioh, and Naniwa is over like rover. They mainly trade offense and counters based around running off the ropes, including Teioh doing a cartwheel to avoid bumping off of a monkey flip. Funaki and Hamada are next, with the veteran almost immediately applying a Fujiawara armbar until TAKA saves. Heel miscommunication sees TAKA kick Funaki, giving Hamada an opportunity to put a hurtin’ on them both. Hamada tags out to Delfin, who quickly dispatches Michinoku so that he can do his opening one-on-one sequence with Shiryu. Delfin gives him a lariat after some counters and follows with a big rana, though Shiryu cuts him off with an atomic drop (no, really) and a dropkick that sends the aquatic mammal to the outside. He really overdoes the bump, too, landing in about the third row of fans.

With the initial faceoffs out of the way, here come TAKA and Naniwa, with TAKA immediately taking his opponent down and dropkicking him in the back. The crab man responds with a dropkick of his own and a lariat, but Michinoku blocks a bulldog. TAKA is tossed to the floor and Naniwa fakes a dive to a big pop. Here come Teioh and Yakushiji, with Masato going to the armbar for a bit and laying in some chops in the corner. Teioh blocks a beal out of the corner and throws his man to the floor, but Yakushiji keeps rolling back in before MEN’S can do anything and eventually takes him down with a baseball slide headscissors to the floor. Now it’s time for Togo and Hamada to trade strikes, a battle that Dick initially wins with an enzuguiri. Hamada responds with a pop-up rana, but TAKA breaks up the pin attempt and Tiger Mask enters the ring to go up against him. Some TMIV kicks connect with Michinoku and cause him to roll out ot the floor, leading to Funaki taking his place. Delfin is in as well, and the Big Sho’ eats a dropkick and a swinging headscissors before being kicked out to the floor. Delfin poses and tags Masato back in. This time his opponent is Shiryu, who hits a baaaaaack body drop (to quote Vince McMahon). Masato comes back with a rana, but Shiryu bails before he can do anything else. TAKA replaces his partner and gets armdragged and dropkicked, sending him to the floor as well. Naniwa checks into the bout, as does Dick Togo, who hits what would today be called a Whisper in the Wind. The crab man’s head is repeatedly slammed into the buckle by his opponent, but he no-sells it, hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and fakes another dive.

The next pairing in is Teioh and Tiger Mask, with MEN’S getting the advantage off of a leaping DDT. Tiger responds with a kick and his corner backflip, sending Teioh out to the floor. Funaki replaces him, and Yakushiji is also back. ‘Shiji gives his man a hiptoss and rebounds off the ropes to armdrag Funaki to the floor. That brings TAKA back, and here’s Hamada as well. Hamada gets in a lariat and a backdrop suplex for a nearfall and tags in Delfin for a double clothesline. Delfin gives TAKA a delayed brainbuster after that, but it’s only good for a two count. Delfin and Naniwa team up for another clothesline on Shiryu, which is followed by Naniwa hitting a snap suplex and locking in a double chicken wing submission. Shiryu escapes and gives his man a brianbuster, leading into the camel clutch/dropkick combo by Togo and Teioh. Vintage Kaientai. TAKA also dropkicks Naniwa while he’s being held in an abdominal stretch, and every member takes a turn hitting a lightning fast elbow drop on the crustacean before they ALL POSE~! Now several Kaientai members take turns hitting double stomps from the top rope, setting up a Kaientai’s classic HUMAN PYRAMID~! spot and a slingshot kneedrop by TAKA. Absolutely classic sequence by team KDX there.

With the quintuple-teaming seemingly done, Shiryu lays out Naniwa with a slam, but the crab is able to fire back with some chops and a huge desperation lariat. That lariat gives him the opportunity to tag in Masato, who gives the future Kaz Hayashi a dropkick in the corner. Kaz responds with a corner clothesline and a fisherman buster for two off of a Tiger Mask save. TMIV gives his man a high cross and a back kick to the face that sends him to the floor, so TAKA runs in. He falls victim to a rolling cross arm breaker, but Togo runs in to save. Togo goes after Tiger Mask’s, um, mask, at which point a massive schmozz leads to Gran Hamada eating a stuff piledriver from Kaientai and then a delayed brainbuster by Teioh for two. All five KDX members maul Hamada in the corner, including Togo biting his arm, and Funaki hits a backdrop suplex for another nearfall. Hamada manages to scoot away from his assailants and get the tag to Gran Naniwa, who crotches Funaki across the top rope and tags out to Super Delfin. Delfin connects with a butterfly suplex for two, after which Funaki trips him up and brings Togo back into the match. Dick applies the Scorpion to the dolphin, but Tiger Mask runs in and kicks his partner free. Tiger bears the brunt of another Kaientai quintuple-team for his trouble, with the focus being his mask. The hood is close to coming off in the heel corner, but ultimately TMIV saves his identity, though at the cost of being hit with a MEN’S Teioh running Yakuza kick and a double boot by TAKA and Fuanki. TAKA and Teioh also dish out a double lariat for two on the feline fighter.

TAKA stays on his man with a backbreaker and a Boston crab, but, speaking of crabs, Gran Naniwa runs in to save with a SWANK running lariat to set up his classic rope walk elbow. However, before the move can connect, TAKA pops up and dropkicks Naniwa out of the ring. He fakes a dive with a top rope backflip, but Yakushiji is RIGHT THERE to lay into him from behind with a dropkick. Michinoku quickly rushes Masato back into the heel corner, where he’s the next victim of the the Teioh Yakuza kick, which is followed up by the Uncle Slam for a nearfall. A snap suplex from Teioh and a splash by Shiryu connect, but those also cannot put Yakushiji away. A Shiryu backdrop suplex also fails, so here come TAKA and Funaki. Their double team attempt doesn’t work out and they are both kicked out of the ring, giving us strikes galore on various Kaientai members by Delfin. Hamada runs in and follows suit, clotheslining TAKA ad giving him a side slam, followed by a powerbomb for two as Funaki saves. Masato runs in and goes after Funaki, giving him a snap suplex and a second rope moonsault for two. Togo and Teioh are whipped into one another by Tiger and Naniwa, and they go into the old “row the boat” spot while Delfin gives Shiryu a rana and tries to pin him amid the mass of humanity. It gets two.

This is where things start to get crazy. There’s a triple Irish whip by the faces which is reversed by the heels, leading to stereo ranas and then stereo suicide dives by the bad guys. Funaki and TAKA, the two Kaientai members who didn’t dive, follow their opposition out to the floor with MASSIVE moonsaults from the top rope, TAKA in particular getting more hang time than appeared humanly possible. Everybody is dead at ringside for a while until Shiryu and Tiger Mask get back to the squared circle, with Shiryu hitting a tombstone and a beautiful top rope moonsault. Masato saves and is attacked by Teioh. Teioh and Shiryu team up for a double-team powerbomb and Togo tries to follow with his top rope senton, but Tiger Mask saves. Togo crashes down to the floor and gets hit with a dive by Hamada while Yakushiji dropkicks Teioh and Shiryu out of the ring before he and Tiger wipe them out with suicide dives near the ringpost. Naniwa and Delfin wind up in the ring with Funaki and TAKA giving them stereo DDT’s for a two count, followed by stereo cross bodies to the floor. Dick Togo winds up back in between the ropes with Hamada, and Togo manages to give him a powerslam for two. Hamada then leaps off the top rope with a swinging DDT, but it also can only muster a two count. Togo finds himself placed on the top rope for a rana, which sends him flying across the ring, also for two, as Shriyu saves.

Naniwa goes after Shiryu with a tornado DDT, but it’s also only a two count. Naniwa puts Shiryu up on the top rope and they jockey for position before Shiryu gives Naniwa a rana as he’s standing on the second rope. It gets two. DOCTOR BOMB~! by Naniwa gets two as Teioh saves. Masato goes after Teioh and is powerslammed for TWO. Big lariat by Teioh for TWO. There’s another Yakuza kick and Teioh lands his Miracle Ecstasy chokeslam, but Tiger Mask breaks up the pin attempt. Funaki runs in and catches Tiger with a fisherman buster, but that’s two as well. Funaki’s tombstone attmept is reversed to TMIV’s version of the move, and Tiger also hits his flying headbutt . . . FOR TWO. The Tiger Suplex is attempted, but TAKA saves out of nowhere with a missile dropkick that sends both Funaki and Tiger to the floor. Delfin ambushes TAKA and gives him a cradle piledriver and a Randy Savage elbowdrop, also for TWO. Delfin climbs the ropes one more time, comes off with his patented tornado DDT, and then gives it to TAKA one more time. From there, Delfin goes to his Delfin Clutch pinning combination, but Dick Togo cuts it off. Togo is given a WICKED briding German by the Dolphin, but Teioh breaks up the pin attempt. Delfin gets ahold of Togo one more time but winds up the victim of a low blow, setting up a powerbomb and a senton by Dick. Funaki and Shiryu are in to run interference against anybody who wants to break up the pin attempt, and the referee counts to three. That’s a wrap.

Match Thoughts: Classic. Pure, unmitigated classic. When Gran Hamada formed a little promotion called the UWF, he introduced lucha libre into Japan and set into action a series of events that would lead to the hybridization of lucha with Japanese puroresu, forming a new genre that fans refer to as lucharesu. The UWF innovated that style, and it was Michinoku Pro that refined it and brought it prominence. From there the style has continued to evolve into what is currently presented by Dragon Gate. This match represents M-Pro style lucharesu at its absolute peak, featuring ten men who were all familiar with working with one another and possessed off the charts athletic prowess. It’s no surprise that, when the World Wrestling Federation came calling to form its light heavyweight division around this same time, it was Michinoku to whom they turned. Certain parts of this match might seemed slower paced or dated to somebody who has watched a steady diet of Dragon Gate for the last several years and never seen M-Pro, but, for the time and the place in which this match was occurring, it was absolutely revolutionary professional wrestling that would result in everybody involved being wrestling stars for years to come, with the odd exception of Masato Yakushiji, who unfortunately vanished from the sport at an unusually young age. *****

Match Numero Seis: Hayabusa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki

This is a crossover between Michinoku Pro and Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, with FMW loaning out its top star Hayabusa to M-Pro for this major show. He’s going up against Jinsei Shinzaki, who would later be heavily involved in FMW angles as an ally of Hayabusa.

Shinzaki starts off the offense when his feet find their way into Hayabusa’s face, followed by a series of trips into the turnbuckles for the Falcon. With his opponent down, Jinsei comes off of the top with a Vader Bomb and then applies a nerve hold. Hayabusa won’t submit (shocking), so Shinzaki nails him with a blow to the back, though a lariat attempt misses and leads to a Hayabusa kick that sends Shinzaki to the floor and sets up a tope con hilo. Hayabusa stays on his man by attacking when Shinzaki attempts to climb back up on to the ring apron, but Jinsei gets the upper hand by grabbing his opponent’s arm and using it to bust out his classic ropewalk into the big chop. Hayabusa responds with a high kick and a slingshot into a spinning heel kick for a nearfall. A reverse neckbreaker by the FMW wrestler sets up a cross arm breaker attempt, but Hayabusa never does get the arm fully extended. Shinzaki is able to get his foot across the bottom rope, so Hayabusa breaks the hold and puts the boots to his opponent. A full body slam leads to Hayabusa hitting his own version of the Vader Bomb and applying a chinlock. He voluntarily lets the hold go after a while and hits another spinning heel kick and a legdrop. Hayabusa dishes out several more kicks and Shinzaki falls out to the floor, where the masked man catches him with a HUGE moonsault off of the post. Shinzaki is rolled back into the ring and hit with a rolling senton and a standing moonsault, at which point Hayabusa goes back to the top rope. Shinzaki gets up to his feet, so Hayabusa alters his strategy and gives him a back kick and a fisherman buster before climbing the turnbuckles one more time. A 450 splash hits, but it can only get the masked man a two count.

Now Hayabusa hits a powerbomb in the middle of the ring, also only good for two. A tiger driver leads to the same result. Hayabusa doesn’t even attempt to cover after his signature Falcon Arrow, though he does climb the ropes and looks for the Phoenix Splash. He gets none of it as Shinzaki rolls out of the way. Hayabusa tries to keep the momentum going in his favor with a springboard rana, but Shinzaki catches him with a powerbomb and hits a dropkick for a nearfall of his own. Jinsei climbs the ropes at this point and comes off with a tomahawk chop and then the Patriot Missile for two. Shinzaki looks for his patented praying powerbomb and it connects, but a sloppy pin attempt allows Hayabusa to roll out before he’s beat. Shinzaki whips his opponent into the ropes at this point, but Hayabusa crumples to the mat, holding his knee. Shinzaki goes after him with a backbreaker and goes to climb the ropes again, but he decides against it and instead just powerbombs him. Now Shinzaki goes to the top rope, almost seeming remorseful in doing it, and comes off with a diving headbutt. A second top rope headbutt and then a third also connect, at which point the crowd begins to chant for Hayabusa. The Falcon uses Shinzaki’s body to climb back up to a vertical base, but that’s just a prelude to the Thunder Fire Bomb and a cover for three.

Match Thoughts: This match had the misfortune of following a damn near perfect ten man tag that it wasn’t going to live up to almost regardless of how good it was on its own merits. However, that’s not the main problem with this match. The main problem with this match is that it’s just not very good on its own merits. Hayabusa was one of the most spectacular wrestlers in the world during this era when it came time to execute flying moves, but the problem was that he was not particularly great at putting those moves together into a cohesive match, which is why his best bouts were against absolute top shelf wrestlers or involved heavy storylines that hid the fact that he didn’t like to do too much wrestling in between trips to the top rope. Shinzaki tried to work with Hayabusa and tell a story, but that fell apart pretty quickly. After a while, Jinsei seemingly just gave up and started going back and forth with high flying maneuvers as opposed to wrestling. However, there had been no build up to such any exchange, and, as a result, it just fell flat. Even before I saw this match and the ten man tag for the first time I was a bit confused by the decision to put this bout on last, and, after watching the two, I was even more confused. **

Overall

I really already gave away my thoughts on this card in the intro, which is something that I don’t do too often. However, if I’m going to dig up a card from 1996 to review for this column, it’s going to have to be outstanding (with the exception of a few historical oddities). This wasn’t the show that first made me a fan of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, but it was one of the shows that absolutely solidified my fandom and lead to the mid-1990’s run of this company being one of my favorite eras in a wrestling promotion of all time. If you’re interested in an introduction to this promotion or any of its key wrestlers, if you’re interested in seeing where promotions like Dragon Gate got their start, or if you just want to watch some damn fine professional wrestling, you need to hunt down this show immediately. The ten man tag match goes beyond classic and becomes an epic, a damn near flawless match for its style that any fan of aerial wrestling or anybody who wants to be an aerial wrestler needs to watch. It’s supported by a very solid six man, a fun BattlArts tag, and an opener which puts the spotlight on a unique style of professional wrestling. Two fans way up for this one . . . I don’t know that I can heap enough praise on it.

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