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Selected matches from Michinoku
Puroresu WA Ikaga Deshoka? 2 Commercial Tape TAKA Michinoku vs. Tiger Mask 11/23/95 Morioka Iwate-ken'ei Taiikukan (1,888) |
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This was an excellent junior match. It was exciting and stiff. It had all the big spots, but also kicks and submissions like a U.W.F. match. TAKA was on top of his game here. His work and spots were as excellent as you would expect, but the thing that really made the match was his ability to make the near falls so dramatic. TAKA would kick out at the last second and then come up acting dazed, holding 2 fingers up in case the ref was thinking about saying he had been pinned. "I think Tiger's work was also worth mentioning in this match. With the possible exception of the tombstone he used to set up the diving headbutt, I thought his execution was every bit as good as TAKA's," wrote Mike. After Tiger did his plancha, he got a 2 9/10 count form his big moves like the diving headbutt and German suplex hold. TAKA cut him off in midair with a dropkick. Unfortunately, he came back too quickly with a springboard plancha. TAKA's knee was hurting him. After a struggle, Tiger suplexed him over the top to the floor, with TAKA landing on his knee. Tiger tried a space flying Tiger drop, but TAKA got up to the apron and forearmed him then reentered with his swandive missile kick. TAKA followed with a great suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster, Michinoku driver II, and BT bomb for the win. I thought the finish would have been more impressive if TAKA used another move where he dropped Tiger on his head to knock him out. Also, if TAKA wasn't going to win with the Michinoku driver II, Tiger should have kicked out of it at the last second to make it more dramatic. "I think the finish should have been the Michinoku Driver II. Tiger looked like he was out after that, so I don't think another head first bump would have been necessary. The fact that the BT bomb didn't drop him on his head was somewhat immaterial, as following the previous two bumps, just about anything would have been a legitimate finisher," wrote Mike. Jerome: Great short match. Tiger Mask was very good on this day, but TAKA looked like a star. Everything he did looked great, from his perfect execution to his facials. The action was very fast and very smooth, with no blown spots whatsoever. Tiger used a lot of stiff kicks, mainly at the beginning, to wear TAKA down. This led to TAKA blocking one kick and executing a Dragon screw before applying the figure four. It didn't give a real story to the match, but it was well done, in an exciting way. The flying was typically great from both men, but TAKA stole the spotlight with his springboard plancha. The ending sequence saw Tiger trying his space flying Tiger drop, but TAKA forearmed him on the apron before hitting a series of big moves. His execution of those final moves was as crisp and as precise as it can be. Even in 1995 when he was still very young, TAKA was easily one of the best juniors in the world and still is an underrated talent wasted in a non-wrestling company. Special thanks to: Mike Barnes & Jerome Denis 13:30
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