Taped 11/9/97 Sendai From Michinoku Lucha TV #2 11/15/97
This was everything you could ask of these guys, if not more. Some of the other great Michinoku Pro tags have had better workers, but it was still the typical Michinoku tag with great work and high spots, mainly supplied by Sasuke, building to a mind-blowing sequence of great near finish after great near finish. What was lacking in work, which really didn't turn out to be anything due to Funaki being in top form and Delfin looking great because he was spotted, was more than made up for because the storyline, psychology, and playing to the crowd, were much better than normal.
"Obviously Sasuke's knee was the focus here. When he's on, Sasuke is one of the better workers in the world, and he was on here. This was before MEN'S and Sho became complete shit in a wasteland, so their performance was strong with Teio really stepping up. Delfin never could break out of an individual shell, but he is good in this environment as he does his job well. Overall, a very solid match," wrote Hadi.
Everyone knew Sasuke needed knee surgery, so the match was build around the heels debilitating his bad knee. This worked because Funaki has a strong submission background from his days in PWFG & Battlarts. What really made this storyline work was unlike AJ booker(s), Sasuke actually thinks in advance (too bad he can't promote to save his life...). Thus, when these teams met in the league portion, Sasuke submitted to Funaki's hizajujigatame. If Funaki could make Sasuke submit a week earlier, you'd better believe he could do it again, and the fans did.
The crowd was hot from the outset, clapping their hands and chanting Delfin before he even locked up with Funaki to start the match. One of the things that really made this match work was that Teio & Funaki were really good at getting heat. Delfin's charisma has always been one of his best assets, and Sasuke was in the sympathetic role, so the crowd was really buying into this, booing the heels and cheering the faces. Teio began working on Sasuke's leg at 2:30 with his tribute to Terry Funk spinning toe hold. Delfin & Teio did some Lucha, and Delfin almost caught Teio off the ropes with his upper blow, but Teio saw it coming and escaped to the floor.
At 5:50, the knee work really kicked in with Funaki catching Sasuke with a kneecap dropkick, which drew boos because he wasn't being a good sport. Funaki exposed Sasuke's knee brace and tied him in the corner, taunting Delfin before he kneecap dropkicked the defenseless Sasuke. Teio did a Super kneebreaker. He also did his Bret Hart imitation, wrapping Sasuke's leg around the post and putting him in a figure 4. Sasuke did as good a job as you can while wearing a mask of grimacing in pain. Not surprisingly, throughout the match Sasuke did a very good job of putting over his knee, as well as the danger of moves like Funaki's figure 4 leg lock. His ability to convey emotions is definitely underrated. He finally made a hot tag at 11:45, and the match really kicked in and got great from here. Sasuke's theory of selling is that you don't let the bad knee hamper the execution of any of your spots, but you sell it big in between moves. Obviously there are positives and negatives to that line of thinking.
"I like selling, but, umm, if you can still do the space flying tiger drop, you aren't in pain in my book. I'd mark out if he intentionally blew a move because of his knee. One of my favorite knee spots is to get the opponent in the corner and then run in to do a lariat, but realize how bad the leg is and just collapse, holding it in pain and getting the ref to check it. The match continues when my opponent comes over and attacks me, with the crowd maybe thinking that I legitimately hurt my leg," wrote Sam.
Sasuke knocked Funaki to the floor with
his space rolling elbow then took Funaki
out with his quebrada. Delfin gave Teio his swinging DDT to Delfin clutch, but
Funaki recovered just in time to save with a dropkick. Sasuke got near falls
on Funaki with his quebrada then tried his German suplex, but
Funaki kicked his knee. Sasuke tried a roundhouse kick, but Funaki turned it
into a Dragon screw. Funaki played to
the crowd in [insert your favorite first name] Fuyuki like fashion before trying
to apply the figure 4 on Sasuke for the win. However, Sasuke turned it into
a small package for a great near fall. Sasuke tried his thunder fire powerbomb
on Funaki, but Teio saved with a dropkick
to the back of the knee. Funaki repeatedly tried to beat Sasuke with his
hizajujigatame, but still couldn't get the job done. Meanwhile, Teio was using
his signature spots on Delfin. Instead of going for the cover after his miracle
ecstasy, Teio used Delfin's own Delfin clutch on him, but Sasuke made the save.
With Delfin out of the picture, Funaki continued using knee submissions on Sasuke,
but Sasuke would eventually make it to the ropes.
Sasuke took Funaki out with his suicidal rider kick, and Delfin used his signature spots on Teio. Teio's did a very good job of selling here, especially stumbling around in between Delfin's backdrops. With Delfin recovering, Sasuke took both opponents out with his thunder fire powerbomb then collapsed onto Funaki. Delfin recovered enough to stand up straight and set up his upper blow. When Teio finally recovered enough to stand, he was easy pickens for the upper blow KO by Delfin to take the tag tournament. The fans, who had been going crazy for a while, all hopped the security railings and surrounded the ring. All the fans in front were reaching their hands out in hopes that Sasuke or Delfin would touch/slap it. Sasuke was, of course, putting his knee over big during all of this. 18:55. ****1/2