The Fight for Future's Throne Chapter 3: Michinoku Pro "The Great Sasuke 20th Anniversary Tour" 06/19/09

    Well, it's been three weeks since our last chapter. I've been dealing with a lot in my personal life due to the college semester ending and just haven't had the time or energy to watch wrestling. However, I'm finally done with my exams and back home, so I think it's about time we wrote another chapter in our story. This time, we are once again in Korakuen Hall for Michinoku founder Great Sasuke's 20th anniversary tour, and tonight he gets to face off against Fujita "Jr." Hayato for the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship. Will Sasuke, as broken down as he is, deliver the goods tonight? Only one way to find out.

    The show started out pretty somberly, as if you saw the date and you know your puro history, you'd realize this show was taking place only 6 days after the death of the legendary Mitsuharu Misawa. However, only two days after his passing, widely respected referee Ted Tanabe also tragically died during a match. Tanabe is much less recognized by the general wrestling fandom, but he was extremely important to Michinoku Pro as well as many other promotions he worked in. The show begins with a 10 bell salute to both men, and emotions are fully on display from almost everyone, with both Shinzaki and the ring announcer breaking down at different points during the ceremony (the ring announcer actually starts to cry during the announcement of the 10 bell salute, and I nearly started crying myself). Misawa and Tanabe are two absolute legends of Japanese wrestling, and may they rest in peace.

Ken45 vs. Kenbai

    This is Kenbai’s television debut, and my immediate thought was "he looks like Yoshitsune". I know that most likely he isn't meant to be a replacement of Yoshitsune and instead just has a similar character, but since my knowledge of Japanese culture is lacking at best, I'll probably compare them much more than I should. Kenbai is pretty solid as a stereotypical M-pro high flyer, busting out moves like a quesadora bulldog and a nice Mysteriorana. However, the real star of the match is Ken45. He continues to impress me just like every other show so far, as he just has that little extra “oomf” to his moves I love so much. He did a lot of great stuff, but I feel like I just need to mention that someone needs to steal his Pumphandle Powerbomb, because it's one of the coolest moves I've ever seen. He also has some great comedy chops, like when he punched Kenbai directly in the ass and got so proud of himself after doing it, or when Kenbai went for a rebound dropkick, Ken caught himself on the ropes, and then yelled at Kenbai that he’s an idiot. The finish has Ken doing his balls kick into lariat combo before fucking murdering Kenbai with a FIREMAN'S CARRY TOMBSTONE. Jesus I wasn't expecting that. This was a perfectly good opener and served as a solid introduction to Kenbai but Ken45 definitely overdelivered as he always does. B-

Yapper Man 1 & Yapper Man 2 vs. Kinya Oyanagi & Rui Hiugaji

    The Yappers are the former Shibaten and Rei, and the fact we will never see our kappa god again makes me very sad. Satoshi Kajiwara inserts himself into this match and a mysterious theme plays, and the Yappers announce their surprise partner is ULTIMO DRAGON, WHO GETS A GIANT FUCKING POP. Most indy promotions nowadays could only fucking dream of the reaction Dragon got. I guess since the Yappers fought all the time as their previous characters the chemistry naturally built because the Yapper Men fucking rule. Ultimo still moves like its the late 90s too, the ability he has will never not amaze me. At one point Ultimo calls for the asai moonsault which the crowd goes nuts for but Hiugaji stops him and gets booed to hell for it. There’s a couple spots/moments in the match that are rough as hell (the most egregious being a botched springboard arm drag where Hiugaji just falls over mid move), but overall this never gets into the offensive category. Dragon wins for his team with the always cool Asai DDT. I didn't talk about the other team at all because I'm not sure if they successfully did one meaningful piece of offense the entire match, but this was a really good showcase for the Yappers and Dragon who going forward will consider M-Pro his home promotion. Normally, I would rate a showcase match like this a C, but the dragon pop was just so good, it deserves at least one boost because of it. C+

Kowloon (Maguro Ooma, Takeshi Minamino, & Rasse) vs. Kesen Numajiro, MEN's Teioh, & TAKA Michinoku

   Rasse has joined Kowloon it seems, as there's no information pertaining to why he's teaming with Kowloon but he’s cooperating fully with them so whatever. Teioh is in a much more serious role than his match in the first chapter, showing off his generally solid in-ring ability. Kesen is once again throwing around his iron ass, so that got a big pop from me. However, Minamino surprisingly impressed me the most in this match, hitting a sweet combo into a KENTA style knee along with an airplane spin DVD. Where was this Minamino at the other shows? He and Ooma also do a great German suplex/chokeslam combo where Minamino seemingly slams Numajiro as hard as he can into the mat, and Rasse follows up with a nice 450. TAKA breaks up the cover and does pretty good on offense, hitting a sweet jumping super kick before soon after finishing Rasse off with a Michinoku Driver. This was fine but totally skippable, at least it helped show me that Minamino isn’t a lost cause. C+

Jinsei Shinzaki, Dick Togo, & Tiger Mask vs. Kowloon (The Sato Brothers & Shinjitsu Nohashi)

   I’ve figured out that Kei Sato wears gloves and Shu Sato doesn’t, and my life is now so much easier. Nohashi has betrayed Shinzaki and joined Kowloon (this time with a prematch promo explaining his turn on his mentor), and appropriately they start the match against each other. You can tell there’s a certain level of respect Shinzaki just doesn't have for Nohashi, as a lot of the beginning has him just holding down Nohashi like he doesn't even acknowledge him. Nohashi slaps Shinzaki for the disrespect and Shinzaki grabs him by the throat and rushes them both over the top rope (a spot I’ll never get tired of). A great crowd brawl breaks out as the Satos do their thing, Togo does his legendary worked punches, and Shinzaki and Nohashi fight with real hate. Tiger is the only one never shown during the brawl, making me wonder if he channeled the spirit of Bruiser Brody for a brawling performance for the ages. We'll never know I guess. Tiger lays into Nohashi in the ring with mean chest kicks before tagging in Togo and I feel like I don’t need to say anything about how great he was. Shinzaki comes back in soon after and the stomp he does to Nohashi is goddamn terrifying, just crushing Nohashi's ribs. He looks more disappointed in Nohashi than upset he betrayed him, like a father watching his son never live up to his expectations. Tiger comes back and slaps the taste out of Nohashi’s mouth before doing a moonsault double knees, and when the Satos break up the subsequent cover Tiger grabs Kei and throws him out of the ring with some real force behind it. He tags in Togo who does a diving stomp to Nohashi I actually cringed at. All of the actions in this match make Shinzaki’s team seem like total fucking heels and Nohashi looks like the definition of a beaten down babyface trying to make a hot tag, but the story of Shinzaki calling in his friends to help teach Nohashi a fucking lesson allows this dynamic to work without damaging the match's flow. The eventual comeback from Nohashi and the Satos is great too, and the control spot they do after this really helps to make sure we know that Kowloon are the real bad guys. This is in no small part because they do this grinding work on Dick Togo, a man who literally cannot do a bad babyface sell job, stumbling around and reaching in any direction for a savior. His own hot tag spot is amazing as the Satos go for a poetry in motion but Togo jumps off Kei's back before Shu can and dropkicks Shu into next week. He tags in Tiger who does a sweet fucking quebradora to Nohashi, and at this point Ken45 runs in to try and help the Kowloon team but Tiger takes him out along with the Satos. This breaks down into my favorite segment of any Michinoku 6-man, each person running in to replace their fallen partner and show their stuff, with Nohashi in particular doing a great job against Togo until he gets a lariat that knocks him out of his fucking shoes. Shinzaki tries to Chokeslam Kei after this but Kei turns it into a cross armbar, which turns into a triangle choke, which Shinzaki then escapes with a nasty fucking bucklebomb. Finally, the face team does a triple submission (Octopus from Tiger, Crossface from Togo, and Gokuraku-Gatame from Shinzaki) and gets the win. This match not only had better highspots than the 6-man from chapter one, but also more heat and emotional investment than the 6-man from chapter two. It was an absolutely out of nowhere barn burner, and a match that should be seen by as many people as possible. A-

Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Title

The Great Sasuke vs. Fujita "Jr." Hayato(c) 

   Hayato comes out with the Belt strapped around his back, and god he’s just the best isn't he. Sasuke decides the best course of action when facing Hayato is taking the immediate advantage by rushing him, which just results in Hayato dodging and kicking his shit in. They roll outside and Sasuke takes advantage, which lets him run back in and do a middle rope dropkick to Hayato. He smacks the small of his back against the apron edge in the process and just doesn’t even register is, proving Sasuke has to have a back made of steel. When they get back in Hayato takes advantage and at one point is just full mount over Sasuke raining down palm thrusts to the side of his head. Sasuke is actually solid in the mma department as well, at one point catching a kick, headbutting Hayato’s leg, and capture suplexing him. At this point the match definitely slows down, as Hayato tries to maintain a certain level of activity even in moments like the rest spot headlock, but it's pretty clear that Sasuke is only good at intermittent bursts of energy and inhuman bumps at this point in his career. For example, he eventually gets the advantage with Hayato on the apron and climbs up to the top, going for an elbow drop that Hayato rolls out of the way of, and Sasuke just eats shit. At another point, Sasuke hits his signature Tope atomico from the corner to the outside, which actually lands perfectly (I make note of this because every time I've seen him do this move he's eaten shit even when connecting, so this was surprising during the watch). However, because Sasuke is just insane at this point, he follows it up with a rider kick from that same corner, and on landing it looks like he broke both ankles. Sasuke hits what commentary calls a “Phoenix Swanton” which is probably exactly what you’re thinking it is, very similar to that springboard senton Hayabusa used to do but from the top rope instead. When that doesn’t get the job done, Sasuke goes out and grabs a bunch of chairs before doing a snap suplex onto them. He goes in and tries to do a running swanton out of the ring onto Hayato on the pile but Hayato avoids it and Sasuke, of course, eats shit. Even after this Sasuke is able to take the advantage again before Hayato rushes him on the top rope with his sick step-up roundhouse, sending him outside for the apron PK, before HITTING A SPRINGBOARD CROSSBODY TO THE OUTSIDE? THIS IS A RARE HAYATO INDEED. Hayato pulls him back in and hits a couple head kicks for a close 2 count, before finally hitting the Helm and winning the match. I honestly really wanted to like this, but it went 28 minutes and it sure felt like it. Sasuke just isn’t good at doing these long, drawn-out title matches, and Hayato definitely did the best he could with Sasuke but it wasn’t enough to save this from feeling long as hell. However, Sasuke’s willingness to destroy his body on multiple occasions cannot be ignored, and Hayato, as I said, did the best he could. I can't say it was better than the last match, but it was definitely a lot closer to it than a Sasuke singles match has any right to be. B 

    After the match, Shinzaki talks directly to Hayato, and tells him that he has found Hayato's future "rival". This person has been scouted and trained by Shinzaki just like Hayato was, and actually has more martial arts experience than Hayato had when he first entered professional wrestling. Out walks, for the first time, our 2nd protagonist in this story, Kenoh. Words are exchanged between the men, and our next title match is set. GODBLESS Vs. Fist King. Oh baby, it's time for a war.

Overall Thoughts

     This show was pretty good. I felt that the main event was the only real disappointment, but I also knew going into it that Sasuke is a broken old man, and in any other scenario a main event Sasuke singles match probably would've gotten a worse score, so he and Hayato deserve credit for somewhat working around his general wear-and-tear. However, the semi-main was absolutely fantastic, and is so far the 2nd best match of the series, only falling behind Hayato/Yoshitsune. I'm pretty excited for the next show, and I hope to have the next review out a lot faster than last time.

OVERALL GRADE: B

The Fight for Future's Throne Chapter 2: Michinoku Pro "Jinsei Shinzaki Local Return 2009" 03/01/09

    Last chapter, we saw the crowning of Fujita "Jr." Hayato as the new Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion in an astounding match. This time, Michinoku Pro celebrates the hometown hero and Hayato's mentor, Jinsei Shinzaki, in a tag match featuring the legendary Masahiro Chono. Will this event live up to the bar that the last one set? Probably not, but let's see if it will anyways!

Shinjitsu Nohashi vs. Rui Hiugaji

    This was honestly a really good opener, and a great example of both guy's work at this point. Hiugaji has a real mean spirit in his strikes and grappling, and Nohashi is extremely solid as a Michi-style junior. For the first 8 minutes, they work a really simple and solid match, but Hiugaji lands his beautiful elbow drop and soon after Nohashi does a nasty spike rana into his sweet triple jump dropkick. They do some great stuff for 3 more minutes, before Nohashi is able to win with a crucifix driver. It was originally just a solid match, but that last section was absolutely great, both guys got to showcase not only what they're good at but also really made me excited to see how they progress in their career through this project. B-

Rei & Toudai Rahman vs. Ken45 & Shibaten

    Ken doesn't look like he’s happy to be part of this weird fucking collection. Shibaten goes through the crowd scaring small children like a duck/turtle/Chuck Taylor hybrid. Everyone in the ring is terrified of Shibaten, Rahman and Kei literally fight over who has to start the match with him. Rahman has some of the shittiest gear ever but he’s pretty solid. Ken is able to cheat because Shibaten is so gross and creepy that the ref is distracted trying to stay away from him. Not only is Shibaten great in character, but wrestling wise he’s probably the best besides Ken, easily making him the star of this match. Ken’s pop-up balls kick into a lariat is such a great combo. Kei had a pretty great knee, but right after that got a 2 count he hit a good springboard dropkick to win. The dropkick was good, but that knee was so much more impressive that it felt like the match ended on the wrong move. This is the last time we will see Rei and Shibaten, and not having that creepy fuck around will be kinda sad, as this match convinced me that Shibaten was a good gimmick (okay, not the match, I just wish I could've seen him make more children cry). It wasn't something I'd say to seek out, but as a midcard match it serves its purpose well. C+

Kesen Numajiro vs. Flying Kid Ichihara

   Calling Ichihara, who looks every bit of 40, a “flying kid” is pretty funny. Ichihara gets a clap for himself going at the start, so Numajiro leaves the ring, walks all the way to the entrance area, and gets the crowd to clap for him as he walks back. King shit. I joked about his age but Ichihara is more agile at 40 than I am at 18 so props to him. Numajiro has a seemingly endless amount of ass-throwing offense, including a good hip attack off the apron. After this though, the match slows down hard and I honestly considered quitting because of how boring it got. They go back into some more active stuff and this is when I truly realize the only thing Ichihara has going for him is that he’s kinda agile. He’s so generic and boring to watch especially compared to the charismatic Numajiro. He especially doesn’t fit in Michinoku pro since, as a lucharesu promotion, a majority of the roster is better than him at the one thing he's good at. Numajiro hits a great slingshot leg drop and then a good muscle buster but Ichihara gets his foot on the ropes. Numajiro, out of pure malice, slaps Ichiharas thigh for revenge. As I said, king shit. Ichihara gets the advantage and does a pretty good moonsault, and when Numajiro goes for another muscle buster, Ichihara reverses into a small package for the win. There is no justice in this world. Kesen dragged an enjoyable match out of Ichihara, but imagining him against anyone with less charisma than Kesen sends shivers down my spine. C 

Rasse, Yoshitsune, & Dick Togo vs. Kowloon (Maguro Ooma & The Sato Brothers)

   In the prematch promo, one of the Sato brothers is wearing a great shirt that has a pic of a zombie and the text “we are going to eat you”. If someone can find this for sale please let me know. The match starts out with some quick exchanges which Togo and Ooma do the best, their sequence felt right out of 90s Michi, and that's more proof that Dick Togo is absolutely timeless, able to bust out sequences like this for over 10 years. The Sato brothers are amazing as always, doing their great crowd brawling and being general assholes. Dick Togo gets thrown into a ring post and he’s fucking pouring blood. This starts an amazing selling performance by Togo, including one of the Satos taking out a metal spike and jabbing Togo in the head. Togo needs to teach a masterclass on selling because he’s an absolute god at the drunken stumble sell. Togo starts to make a comeback with his great punches, but the Satos and Ooma won't lose control that easily. They're just bullying whoever is in the ring until the face team takes advantage and hits a great combination, with Togo hitting a spinebuster, Rasse hitting a springboard swanton, and Yoshitsune hitting a running SSP. Togo goes to ascend for the senton but sees a Sato nearby and does a cannonball off the apron onto him instead. Kowloon takes advantage later on and shows how great they are at working together, at one point busting out a sweet sit-out shield triple powerbomb. There's a little bit more of back-and-forth left, but eventually Yoshitsune takes advantage for his team and hits a shooting star press for the win. I didn't mention it last chapter, but Yoshitsune's SSP might be the most beautiful in history. This could’ve easily been just another good Michinoku trios match, but Togo’s bloody selling and fiery comeback took this to the next level. I’d consider it at the same level as the one from the last show, as while that match was a really high quality version of the usual Michinoku trios match, this one was different from those with a great story running throughout. B+

Kowloon (Fujita "Jr." Hayato & Takeshi Minamino) vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Masahiro Chono

   Jinsei had a really cool entrance as usual but then Chono came out and I remembered how fucking baller he is, his theme has to be in consideration for the greatest of all time. Chono starts protesting about Kowloon being there and Minamino calls them to all get up around the ring, but Hayato signals for them to back down and not get involved, he doesn’t need his posse to back him up against these old fuckers. Shinzaki and Hayato start out with some solid grappling until Hayato slaps him, at which point Shinzaki grips him by the throat, chucks him out the ring, and just starts fucking mauling him around the ring. Chono comes in and it’s clear who the crowd is most excited to see. I’ve heard a lot about how apparently Chono got shitty with age, but honestly he seemed fine here, he did a lot of old man bumping but since he's an old man it doesn't trouble me much. Chono and Minamino are definitely approaching this match as a fun spot show main event, but when Shinzaki and Hayato get in the ring together there’s just some level of hate there that almost feels genuine. Only 3 months ago Shinzaki was holding back tears of joy giving Hayato the title, and now he’s able to make it look like he wants to fucking kill him. Kowloon tries to do a train attack on Shinzaki, but he reverses it at Hayato's ending knee, then takes out each member one at a time with some sweet throat thrusts and thrust kicks, before hitting the praying rope walk and tagging Chono in to do a diving shoulder block. Definitely didn’t expect that from him. I haven't talked about him specifically but Minamino was fine in this match. Personally I’ve never really been into him, he just feels pretty generic, but he also did a pretty good death valley driver so I might start to change my opinion on him. Shinzaki and Chono do a pretty cool thrust kick into yakuza into chokeslam combo. This leads to the finish with Shinzaki putting Minamino in the straight jacket choke (which I now know is called “Gokuraku-Gatame”). Chono catches Hayato before he can break it up and somewhat sloppily applies an STF, which allows Shinzaki to make Minamino give up. Weird little moment after this, as although Shinzaki gets the win for the team they start playing Chono’s theme. I’m not really complaining though, it’s a fucking bop. This match was fine, each person did good and the exchanges between Shinzaki and Hayato were the definite highlight, but at the same time it wasn’t really anything special in-ring wise. It wasn't meant to be a barn-burner though, so I can at least say I got what I expected. B-

Overall Thoughts

     This is definitely a step below the last show, but I'm not sure any show could've done better than that one. This show didn't have any bad matches, but I feel like I couldn't really recommend any of them besides the trios match. If Togo appears every time after this and Ichihara never appears again, I will be a happy man.

OVERALL GRADE: C+

The Fight for Future's Throne Chapter 1: Michinoku Pro 12/12/08

    After that whole info dump of a chapter zero I'm not gonna make you wait any longer, but before going into this I want to clarify that for a ratings system, I'll be using the grading style (A+ to F-). Anytime I rank things, I usually have a better time doing it with a tier list, and the grading system is the closest I can get to that without doing actual tier lists for each event, so that's what I'll stick with for this project. Without further ado, onto the show!  

Rei vs. Shibaten

    Rei is the future Tsutomu Oosugi and Shibaten is the future Banana Senga, so this is an entirely Speed of Sounds opener. We seemingly only get the finish of the match but it was probably the best part so I'm not complaining. There's a good comedy portion with Rei and Shibaten doing a quick sumo match, and Shibaten hit a good dropkick. The finish of Rei reversing a quebradora into a crucifix was pretty cool, albeit a little sloppy. This seems like it was a fine opener, but the footage shown was too short and the match itself was too "nothing" to rate highly. C 

MEN's Teioh vs. Rui Hiugaji vs. Shinobu

    Teioh is the definite highlight of this match, with him trying to just read his One Piece volume in peace. The parts where he was locking up with his opponents while still reading gave me some real Orange Cassidy vibes. He eventually gets Shinobu to read part of it, and they both share a laugh. Hiugaji makes himself public enemy number one by taking and throwing the manga, and Shinobu and Teioh beat the shit outta him for payback. The finish was really good too, with Shinobu attempting a shooting star press on Hiugaji while he was across the ring that had no way of landing (Teioh held onto Hiugaji and goaded Shinobu into trying it, being the Lucy to Shinobu's Charlie Brown). Teioh immediately put both men into a double spinning toe hold, making Hiugaji tap. A really solid comedy match. C+

Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Kesen Numajiro

    Numajiro and Shinzaki do some solid grappling to start it off before obliterating each other with some nasty forearms and shoot headbutts. Shinzaki was as great as he always is, showing off that insane agility which doesn't make sense at all for a man of his bulk. Numajiro provided a solid worker for him to do cool shit to, as besides the shoot headbutts and some good hip attacks he didn’t really do anything else of note. His general wrestling was extremely solid so that made up for it. There's a pretty good ending sequence with Numajiro attempting a hip attack, only to be caught into a backdrop before Shinzaki put on a cross-arm strangle for the win. This was a perfectly fine match with a couple really cool moments, and helped remind me that Shinzaki must possess the fountain of youth. B-

Kowloon (Ken45, Maguro Ooma & Takeshi Minamino) vs. Kagetora, Rasse & Shinjitsu Nohashi

    This is that good shit. Seeing Nohashi in his “Shinzaki jr.” gimmick is real weird knowing what he’d become pretty soon. Everyone in the match did really good, but Nohashi showed himself off the best. He was doing Shinzaki spots with a lot more speed and general juniors pizazz, and his shoot headbutt battle against Minamino was great, really outdoing the ones done by Numajiro right before it. This seemingly proves my theory that Nohashi has always been good at slamming his thick skull into other people's not as thick skulls (watch his FUTEN match against Makoto Hashi for proof of that). KAGETORA was just amazing with everything he did as well, he really showed off his fluidity as a wrestler and also hit a sweet ass heel kick. Rasse was really quick and did some cool lucha shit, but was, for the most part, the definition of "the third guy in the team". Ken45 wasn’t as good as Nohashi or KAGETORA but he was definitely close, putting in the best performance from the Kowloon side of the match. Ooma (the future Manjimaru) throws a real good yakuza kick, a real good lariat, and a real good german suplex, so you know he's my type of wrestler. Although Minamino was definitely the least interesting guy in Kowloon, he also provided a great base for the face team to hit some cool moves on, and his own offense, while sparse, was definitely not bad at all. The finish had Ooma hit a half nelson suplex and a brainbuster on Rasse, but Rasse kicks out, so he picks him up and hit him with his beautiful Manjiotoshi (fire thunder driver) for the win. Genuinely such a fun Michinoku trios match, a style of match we will see a lot of in this series. I was into the match the whole time, and all six guys did a good job of furthering the Seigigun/Kowloon rivalry. B+

Survival Tobita, The Great Sasuke & Ultraman Robin vs. The Sato Brothers & Alien Mefilas

    This was a prototype version of the great space war match. The ring had a tiny town in it similar to Kaiji Big Battel. Watching Shinzaki in his best suit spend a solid minute trying to get a toy ufo to work was some funny shit. Sasuke is dressed as the dark knight and Robin is dragged out by the Sato Brothers on a fucking cross. This is already amazing. This match is pretty much Kei and Shu against Sasuke and Tobita, as Kei and Shu’s partner Alien Mefilas (who I can find no information about), along with Minamino of Kowloon, are sitting outside guarding Robin's crucified body. I can't begin to give a spot-by-spot rundown of this match, so instead, here's the moments I found the most notable:

• The Sato Brothers start their offense by pelting Sasuke and Tobita with water balloons. 
• Tobita put a plunger on one of the Sato's head. The face the Sato makes is priceless.
• Sasuke attempts to drive a bicycle into Minamino, who counters with a motorcycle. You can probably guess who won.
• The Sato Brothers wrap Tobita and Sasuke up with an outside mat and a ladder, keeping them stuck to the ring post long enough to crash the motorcycle into them.
• Because it has to happen, they put a barrel on Sasuke while he’s on the top rope, resulting in Sasuke stumbling off and hitting the apron on the way down. How he's not dead is beyond me.
• Sasuke and Tobita are able to free Robin, who embraces them and comes in like a house of fire. Except that fire is a small flame in a downpour. I'm saying Robin isn't that good. 
• The Sato Brothers and Mefilas put on “galaxy armor” which just looks like part of a ripoff Jushin Liger costume. Mefilas immediately loses his armor to Sasuke. 
• Sasuke slams the Sato Brothers on the barrel and tries to Swanton their heads, and anyone with half a brain could see the Kei and Shu dodge from a mile away. Sasuke goes back first onto the bottom of the barrel because I guess being a great juniors wrestler doesn't require a working spine.
• Sasuke puts an open ladder on the barrel and surrounds the structure with chairs. He climbs up the ladder about halfway before it falls over on top of him.

    At this point, the match had pretty much used up all its good spots, and luckily it ended soon after with Robin hitting a shitty crossbody on one of the Sato brothers. It seems a lot happened in the promo afterwards but I can’t speak Japanese so I have no clue. Sasuke rides out of the ring and subsequently the arena on the motorcycle, because it's Sasuke and he'll do what he fucking wants to. This started out as a really fun weapon's brawl, all four men did great and had some insane moments. However, By the time Robin was freed, it had felt like the match had run its course. It could gain a jolt of energy through the introduction of another great competitor, but calling Ultraman Robin great is disrespectful to anyone that could even be considered great. I'm not sure if you realize this, but I strongly dislike Ultraman Robin. Mefilas was also pretty bad, but he was such a non-entity in this match that he's not worth talking about. The galaxy armor moment was kinda funny and the part where Sasuke tried to set something crazy up and it fell on him made me laugh pretty hard, but that's about it for the last half of the match. Even the barrel moment from that point felt meh, mainly because a better barrel spot had happened earlier in the same match. If Robin never came down from that cross this match would've been great, but the first half was definitely enough to call it pretty good. B 

Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Title

Fujita "Jr." Hayato vs. Yoshitsune(c)

    Hayato comes out swinging his towel with the crowd, absolutely vibing to his theme and coming off as the coolest man on the planet. Yoshitsune comes out stoic, but a cool flip into the ring is enough to rectify the noticeable difference in charisma between the two of them. After some light grappling to start the match, Hayato snapmares and kicks Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune responds with his own snapmare and kick. Hayato gets up pissed off and snapmares him again, but before he can show Yoshitsune what a real kick is, Yoshitsune hits his deja vu from a grounded position, and we're off to the races. This sequence establishes one of the two stories of this match: Hayato is a great striker and grappler, while Yoshitsune is one of the fastest, most agile wrestlers on the planet. Hayato works on Yoshitsune with tight holds, big suplexes, and mean kicks, but Yoshitsune uses his flips and lightning-fast offense to escape and take the advantage wherever he can. The other story in this match is Yoshitsune's brutal work on Hayato's midsection. At this point in his career, Hayato had become known for his insane endurance, so Yoshitsune's midsection targeting is to cut that off entirely. Moves like a corner superman spear, a tilt-a-whirl gutbuster, and a nasty cartwheel double stomp would put down a normal person, but Hayato's endurance isn't just from physical conditioning. Hayato has a clear never-say-die mentality, and uses every chance he has to fight back. At one point these stories are showcased perfectly, as Hayato is able to take the advantage, hitting an edgecution-like gourdbuster and transitioning into the KID, only for Yoshitsune to flip out of it, hit a cartwheel dropkick, and immediately follow it up with a running shooting star press. Hayato is able to kick out, but at this point the work on his midsection has done a number on him, and instead of immediately rising up, he gets about halfway before crumpling back down. Later, Hayato again is able to get the advantage and hits a nasty head kick, but upon rebounding off the ropes is caught by Yoshitsune with a beautiful standing spanish fly. I felt like I needed to note this specific moment since shit like this got Blackball Billy called "innovative" in 2015, and Yoshitsune was busting it out 7 years earlier. Suck on that you insufferable prick.

    

    However, with all of that talking about the well-done stories and solid body-targeting, the ending of this match might be the best part of it entirely. For the last section of the match review, I feel like I should just copy-paste my notes from when I was watching. Whatever retrospective bullshit I could say won't be able to compare to my raw emotion from that finishing stretch:

    "Fight on the top rope. Yoshitsune gets knocked off two times but keeps coming back up, third time he comes back and HITS HAYATO WITH A DEATH ROLL KICK, THEN A SPRINGBOARD SUPER KICK, THEN THE ROPE RUN DROPKICK, THEN A FUCKING SPANISH FLY GUTCRUSHER?! HAYATO KICKS OUT! YOSHITSUNE HITS A 619 TO THE GUT AND THE SHOOTING STAR PRESS, AGAIN HAYATO BARELY KICKS OUT! THE CROWD IS GOING NUTS FOR HAYATO. YOSHITSUNE GOES FOR ONE MORE DEATH ROLL KICK BUT HAYATO DUCKS AND HITS HIM WITH A HEAD KICK, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS UP WITH A PK, THEN A RELEASE REGAL PLEX, AND FINALLY A DISGUSTING HELM. YOSHITSUNE KICKS OUT! HAYATO PULLS HIM UP TO THE TOP ROPE AND HITS A TOP ROPE REGAL PLEX. YOSHITSUNE KICKS OUT AT 1! THRUST KICK TO HAYATO, GOES FOR THE SPRINGBOARD RANA BUT HAYATO CATCHES HIM, HOLDS HIM UPSIDE DOWN, HEADKICKS HIM! GRABS HIM AND LIFTS HIS HEAD UP FOR ANOTHER! YOSHITSUNE KICKS OUT BUT HAYATO ISN'T DONE. OFF THE ROPES, HERES THE HELM. HAYATO FUCKING DID IT."

    This match played to both men’s strengths perfectly. Yoshitsune attacked Hayato’s midsection with hate and Hayato is such a great seller that you can almost feel the pain yourself. Above all else, that last section was genuinely one of the best kickout-heavy sequences I've ever seen. I'm pretty negative towards move-spamming and fighting spirit spots since they've lost all meaning nowadays, but Hayato used Kawada-esque selling to make it work. It never looked like he was getting a "burst of adrenaline that numbed the pain". Hayato was definitely in pain, he was just forcing himself through it and refusing to stay down. I'll admit that Yoshitsune didn't give me those same thoughts, as he fell into the no-selling category hard, but that's the only negative I have towards the ending, and that's a nitpick at best. An absolutely tremendous main event, and what a way to coronate Michinoku Pro's new ace. A 

    Hayato’s mentor Shinzaki is here to present the belt to him and he sounds like he’s about to cry. You can tell that even though Hayato is leading the villainous Kowloon, Shinzaki can’t stop himself from feeling proud of his student. Honestly, if I was in Shinzaki's shoes, I probably wouldn't have been able to hold back the tears like he did, so props to him for being such a pro.

Overall Thoughts

     Well, starting this series off, I'm not sure if I could've gotten a better first show. The first couple matches were fine, with each one having one or two moments I remember from them, and they also honestly breezed by so it never felt like they were overstaying their welcome. However, those last 3 matches were awesome (or at least, they were without Ultraman Robin around). This was a really important night for Hayato, giving him his first reign as Tohoku Jr champ, as well as cementing his spot in the promotion, taking Yoshitsune's mantle and becoming the ace of Michinoku Pro.

At least, for now.

OVERALL GRADE: B+

The Fight for Future's Throne: Michinoku Pro's Great War to be the Ace [Chapter 0: Sowing the Seeds]

     Art by @taiki_enomoto

If you're a pro wrestling fan, I'm sure you've heard the term "ace" before. Nowadays most associated with Hiroshi Tanahashi, being crowned the ace of your home promotion means representing that promotion's goals for the future. Many wrestlers dream of being an ace, as it shows that their home promotion has placed full faith in them to guide the promotion to greater heights. As such, it isn't uncommon to see wrestlers face off within the concept of proving which one is the ace (whether that be inferred by the audience or blatantly stated by the promotion/wrestlers). We all know about the battles between Tanahashi and Okada that led to Tana passing the torch to Okada, but there's another war from Japan over this title that I believe should be seen in the same light as that critically acclaimed rivalry. 

In December of 2004, Michinoku Pro held their last show of the year, main evented by two rookie wrestlers who showed extreme promise. On one side was Katsuhiko Nakajima, at this point not even a full year into his career. Across the ring was Fujita "Jr." Hayato, a wrestler making his debut not only for Michinoku Pro, but in professional wrestling itself. Both men had legitimate backgrounds, as Nakajima was an accomplished karateka at only 16 years old, while Hayato was a national level amateur wrestler who had spent time training in MMA with Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto. Although their ability was undeniable, for these absolute unknowns to be chosen to main event a korakuen show, there had to be extreme faith placed in the both of them. Although Nakajima would take the victory, the fans in attendance had to have noticed the obvious: Fujita "Jr." Hayato was the future of Michinoku Pro. This was his only match for 9 months, before appearing again in Michinoku Pro for a farewell match and going on excursion to Toryumon Mexico (where he would face, among other wrestlers, a young promising talent by the name of Kazuchika Okada). He would return to Michinoku Pro in mid-2006, dominating the Tetsujin 06 tournament before losing to Rasse in the finals. Hayato continued to have great showings against people like TAKA Michinoku and Katsuyori Shibata, as well as being part of a great kick-centric tag match at the 2006 Indy Summit, teaming with Munenori Sawa to take on Kota Ibushi and Masaaki Mochizuki. For all of 2006 and 2007, Hayato was treated as the future top star he was destined to be for Michinoku Pro. When December came again that year, Hayato would be part of a major 6-man match, continuing to show the position Michinoku Pro planned to put him in. However, for the sake of our story, the match immediately after this was of the most importance.

In an exhibition match with Michinoku Pro booker, trainer of Hayato, and legendary wrestler Jinsei Shinzaki as special guest referee, Riu Hiugaji took on the debuting Daisuke Nakae. Nakae was a Kenpo prodigy, training in it since he was 3 years old and becoming the youngest ever All-Japan Kenpo champion in 2003 at the age of 18. He gained this same title twice more in 2006 and 2007, before being scouted by Shinzaki to join Michinoku Pro. Nakae was happy to sign on, as his old dream had been to become a professional wrestler. He would continue to have exhibition matches under his real name until March of 2008, where he would face Otsuka in his debut match under the name Kenoh, meaning "fist king". This period would be short-lived however, as he would leave Michinoku Pro in June to hone his abilities in Okinawa Pro under the name "Kanmuriwashi Yoko", playing the character of an Afro-wearing masked kickboxer.

While Kenoh was in Okinawa, Hayato was currently on the best run of his career at this point. In early 2008 he had claimed leadership of the Kowloon stable, running roughshod over the promotion along with the group of former Toryumon prospects. This was a huge deal especially to Shinzaki, as Hayato was one of his proudest students and to see him turn to the dark side was crushing. Hayato was collecting victory after victory with Kowloon by his side, and had made a very clear statement towards current Tohoku Jr Heavyweight champion and ace of Michinoku Pro, Yoshitsune. In December of that year, Hayato would finally meet Yoshitsune one-on-one in the main event for his title, and this is where our story will truly begin.

Anyone that knows me knows how much I love Fujita "Jr." Hayato. He may not be the best wrestler in my opinion, nor might he be the greatest striker. However, he is 100% my favorite wrestler, as the energy and charisma he brings into his matches is unmatched. His strut to the ring with the calm vibes of "I Believe" by T.O.K. behind him, his hyped-up reaction anytime he gets a good combination in, and his genuine fear-inducing movements and snap strikes that make every match he's in so enjoyable. Although I don't talk about Kenoh as much, he's also one of my favorites, an extremely stoic conqueror who comes in, destroys, and leaves. He's a direct opposite of Hayato in terms of characteristics but nearly identical in terms of technique, which gives off this amazing yin and yang aura to their battles. Their battle for the title of Michinoku Pro's ace is one of the greatest in history, and that's why I've decided to take on this project. I will be watching every single broadcasted Michinoku Pro event from the end of 2008 to the middle of 2015. This is a project that's gonna take a while, but I hope you enjoy following along with me as we watch one of the greatest wars in modern wrestling history.

BJW Tag Team Titles: ASTRONAUTS vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kohei Sato(08.10.2020)

 

     photos taken by @NAPP0Nx_x_x

It's been a long time coming for my favorite modern shooters.

If you don't know about ASTRONAUTS, the team of Takuya Nomura and Fuminori Abe, then I feel like I need to apologize, as you've been missing out on some of the best wrestling matches to happen the past couple years. Although both of them are only in the beginning stages of their careers(Abe debuted in 2015, Nomura in 2016), they've been cranking out top-tier matches left and right, both in singles competition and as a pair. Both of them are heavily influenced by shoot-style professional wrestling, a beautifully violent hybrid of MMA and pro wrestling. Nomura consistently pays homage to the father of shoot-style Akira Maeda, and Abe was trained by BattlArts legend Munenori Sawa. Both of them have excellent grappling game and throw some of the best strikes in wrestling today, and the natural chemistry they have with each other is impossible to ignore. side note - I cannot recommend enough Takuya Nomura vs Yuji Okabayashi from 07.21.2019, it was my MOTY for 2019 and a great example of why Nomura is the future of Puroresu.

Across the ring is the champion team of Daisuke Sekimoto and Kohei Sato. I'm sure if you're reading this you know who Sekimoto is, but for anyone who doesn't, he's the living definition of a hoss, covered in muscle and throwing lariats with the might of Zeus. Kohei Sato, on the other hand, might be an unknown figure to some of you, as he's spent his entire career in Pro Wrestling Zero1, only making occasional appearances in BJW or NOAH. A student of strong style legend Shinya Hashimoto, Sato's pretty much known for one thing: being stiff as fuck. Whether he's kicking your ribcage in, elbowing your jaw into bits, or headbutting you harder than Shibata could ever dream of, Sato seemingly only exists to inflict pain on other people. Luckily for us, he decided he'd rather be a professional wrestler than a yakuza boss, making his violent art on display for the world to see. side note - Sato has actually recently left Zero1, which I could've never predicted since he's been "Mr. Zero1" for years now. Nobody really knows what's next for him, but I personally can't wait to see where he pops up once the pandemic is over.

This match is a great example of a tag team underdog story, as the younger, faster, hungrier ASTRONAUTS take on a team with 40 combined years of experience, and all the battle scars to show it. As such, although both teams throw some bombs in this match, the advantage is clearly on Sato and Sekimoto's side, spending a majority of the match in control with a couple hope spots for Nomura and Abe sprinkled in. However, Sekimoto and Sato can't hold the future down forever. Nomura and Abe are able to withstand the onslaught from Sekimoto and Sato, and finally consistently return fire, leading to Nomura hitting a great dragon suplex for the win and the BJW Tag titles.

Now, don't misunderstand. There's a great story being told through this, but that's not why this match fucks harder than John F. Kennedy. When a match ends with 2 of the 4 participants bleeding hardway, you know you just saw something special. There were at least 2 segments in the match dedicated to Sato and Abe closed-fist punching each other in the fucking forehead, usually ending said exchanges with shoot headbutts because fuck CTE, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Sekimoto does what Sekimoto does best, laying in mean ass chops and plowing through anyone in his way. However, my favorite participant in the match is defintiely Nomura, who lays in some stiff kicks and even stiffer slaps, at one point hitting Sekimoto in the jaw with a slap so hard you could see his brain's power cord being yanked out from the socket. This isn't a match for the feint of heart, but if you can stomach some violence, this is an absolutely beautiful contest, and so far the best tag match I've seen all year.