After presenting their worst Champ Forum of the year, Michinoku came back with a great show which contained the two best singles matches Michinoku has presented on Champ Forum this year.

They worked Teio's style, with Teio doing a great job of carrying the match. Before the match, Tiger Mask said he wanted a match against TAKA Michinoku and that he didn't feel like challenging for the title. Teio then insulted him on the house mic, saying something like the following, "Hey Cat, are you a TAKA groupie? Do you love TAKA?" These remarks caused a suitably pissed Tiger to tackle Teio and throw punches from the mount.The main reason I was really into this match was that they were clearly concerned with laying a strong foundation before they went to their high spots. Both men's attack was focusing on their opponent's knee, mainly through submissions, and the high spots were nice teased dives by Tiger.

The high spots kicked in 8:45 into the match, with Teio doing a kneebreaker followed by a kneebreaker off the apron. This transition from the mat to high spots was very smooth because the initial high spots were a logical continuation of the attack MEN'S had been launching on the mat. Teio played heel when they were outside the ring, as well as before and after the match, but inside the ring he was predominantly a very good technical wrestler. Teio got two near falls then tried to suplex Tiger to the floor, but Tiger slipped out, landing on the apron and applying a sleeper hold.

The action got hot with a great sequence where Tiger tried to slingshot sunset flip back into the ring while Teio tried to shoulder Tiger in the gut. As a result, Teio, who missed, wound up crashing to the floor and Tiger, who landed smoothly in the ring, followed with a tope. In an awesome spot, Tiger tried a diving move, but Teio Ace crushered him in midair. Teio tried his miracle ecstasy (nodowa otoshi bomb), but Tiger turned it into a wakigatame. Later, Teio ducked Tiger's high kick and did his miracle ecstasy, but at the 2 count, Tiger turned it into a triangle hold. Tiger got a near fall with his Tiger suplex, but Teio came back with his full nelson slam into his Teio lock (kind of like an inverted full nelson). Tiger ducked a lariat, but Teio immediately lariated him with his other arm. Teio jogged like Kodo Fuyuki to celebrate the lariat. Teio then did a final big flurry of a backdrop driver, two weak Misawa rolling elbow imitations, and his miracle ecstasy to put Tiger away. Teio retained the UWF Super Welterweight title.

After the match, Tiger offered a handshake, but Teio responded by slapped him in the face, snapmaring him, and ripped his mask off. Very good psychology and build. The finish would have come off better if the execution was a bit more precise, but I have no other complaints. Maybe Teio's best singles performance and the best singles match I've seen Tiger have in quite some time. The best singles match I've seen this year from the men's independent leagues!

15:32

Rating:

The Great Sasuke vs. Dick Togo

This is the type of match I've been looking for from Sasuke for a long time. It was a more mature, toned down, intelligently crafted match. It ruled more than most of Sasuke's singles matches do, and he didn't even have to kill himself in the process. As with the previous match, this was a heavyweight style match, steeped in build and psychology, but with junior high spots thrown in. The storyline of Togo working on Sasuke's bad knee was a simple one, but simple is often the most effective.

Sasuke came to the ring with Super Delfin's mask in his hand. Sasuke hit a rolling senton early and Togo took a breather, so Sasuke tried to quebrada him. However, in the key spot in the match, Togo pulled Sasuke off the 2nd rope to the floor, causing Sasuke to (purposely) land badly on his already bad knee. Togo then pulled Sasuke's pant leg up, revealing a knee brace and heavy taping. Togo launched an all out attack on Sasuke's bad knee, with Sasuke selling the knee really well.

Just before the 8 minute mark, Sasuke made his comeback by back body dropping Togo to the floor. Sasuke then tried to quebrada Togo, who tried to hit Sasuke in the knee with a chair. It's hard to tell exactly what happened or was supposed to happen, but Sasuke wound up selling that his knee went out. Later on, Sasuke finally hit his quebrada to the floor. After both sold the spot, Sasuke followed with his Sasuke special (space flying Tiger drop).

Back in the ring, Sasuke focused his attack on Togo's arm. Sasuke whipped Togo into the corner and, for some reason, followed by using his bad knee to deliver a jumping knee, which he sold as well. Sasuke used a German suplex and an in ring quebrada for near falls before trying his thunder fire powerbomb, which Togo avoided. Sasuke then high kicked Togo, allowing him to follow with his thunder fire powerbomb for a near fall. Togo came back by fouling Sasuke. Togo used his high angle powerbomb then followed with his diving senton, but Sasuke just kicked out. Sasuke made a comeback, but went for a high risk phoenix splash (a Hayabusa finisher which is a rounding body press turned into a 450 splash) too soon and Togo avoided it. Togo hit his released German suplex for a near fall then went back to the high angle powerbomb and diving senton combo for the win.

Hiro Wakida (a.k.a. Super Delfin) showed up after the match with no costume, but sunglasses to "hide his identity". He wore a muscle shirt, which made him look really cut, probably from steroids. Sasuke attempted to give Delfin his mask back, but Delfin took off and Sasuke, who was hobbling around, couldn't catch up to him.

This was simply a damn good match. The only problem was that it was missing the aura and intensity that a match between the leaders of the Sekigun and DX should have. The typically small crowd certainly didn't help things, but the real problem seemed to be that it was obvious when the workers were going to kick out of the near falls, and obvious the one time they weren't.

17:06

Rating:

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