12/18/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall From Michinoku Lucha TV #4 1/29/98
This was about what you would expect from these four. These guys go all out in front of 300 people, so you know they are going to deliver the goods when they are in a main event match in Tokyo, where they rarely run shows. The work was excellent; great spots and perfect execution. Togo & Teio make great heels because their mannerisms are excellent, and they are very smart in that they know what to do to get the fans to "dislike" them. Once again, the focus was on the heels debilitating Sasuke's bad knee (actually both are bad, but they attacked the worse of the two that he was going to have surgery on). This knee attack couldn't match the excellence of Funaki's in the semifinal of this Korakuen show, and Sasuke can't sell like TAKA though he did do a very good job here, but it still gave the match a focused storyline.
"This match had the same focus as most of Sasuke's matches during this period, his knee. Once again, Sasuke proved that even when he's working through a serious injury he can still do his ‘stuff' and have it be quite effective. Togo was truly great before Wally absolutely destroyed him in the WWF. It's truly a shame what has happened to Kaientai, but a lot of blame needs to be placed on them because it was their business decision that ultimately cost them," wrote Hadi.
Sasuke jumped Teio before the
bell, knocking him to the floor and doing a tope con hilo. Sasuke was hobbling
around even before they worked on his knee. Some of this may have been selling
to set the knee attack up, but you could tell his knee was in really bad shape.
Sasuke & Delfin controlled much of the first six minutes, but the tide turned
when Togo stopped Sasuke's German suplex by low blowing him. Togo began attacking
Sasuke's knee before tagging out, which MEN'S continued as soon as he came in.
The highlights of this knee attack were Togo doing his rolling
senton with Sasuke's leg draped over the bottom rope and Teio doing a nadare
shiki no knee crusher.
Sasuke finally came back just before the 13:00 mark, avoiding Togo's chair shot so Funaki got hit. He got a near fall with his quebrada before tagging out. The hot finishing sequence started as soon as Delfin tagged in. Delfin pescado'd Togo & Sasuke quebrada'd Teio. Delfin did his swinging DDT to Delfin clutch to Togo, but Teio made the save. Delfin held onto the ropes to avoid Teio's miracle ecstacy. Sasuke then tried his space flying Tiger drop to Togo, but Teio clipped his knee as Sasuke was passing by. Delfin plancha'd Togo, while Teio did more damage to Sasuke's knee. Sasuke tried to come back from this with his space rolling elbow, but his knee gave out.
At 16:45, Sasuke thunder fire powerbombed Teio and Delfin set up his upper blow. However, when Delfin tried to bounce off the ropes for momentum, Funaki grabbed him to break it up then decked him with a punch. Sasuke tried a jumping knee, but Teio avoided it so his knee crashed into the turnbuckle. Delfin saved Sasuke from Teio's Indian death lock, but Togo sentoned Sasuke's bad knee then took Delfin out with a topé suidida. Teio immediately used a knee submission for the win, and of course he wasn't in any hurry to break the hold just because the match was over. Sasuke, of course, put his knee over big time during the post match. 17:56. ****