OVERALL GRADE: B
Monday, December 7, 2020
The Fight for Future's Throne Chapter 3: Michinoku Pro "The Great Sasuke 20th Anniversary Tour" 06/19/09
Monday, November 16, 2020
The Fight for Future's Throne Chapter 2: Michinoku Pro "Jinsei Shinzaki Local Return 2009" 03/01/09
Saturday, November 7, 2020
The Fight for Future's Throne Chapter 1: Michinoku Pro 12/12/08
- 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.
Friday, November 6, 2020
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.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
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.