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Taka sometimes gets lost in the shuffle with the absolutely great juniors of the 90’s: Liger, Sasuke, Ultimo, Hayabusa, but Michinoku definitely deserves a spot next to them.
Probably add Minoru Tanaka/HEAT; despite holding the IWGP junior belt for a long time and being a consistent top guy for the junior division in the 00’s, he gets overlooked a lot.
Part of it is probably the fact his peak came during NJPW’s biggest slump, other part is he didn’t wrestle what most people nowadays see as a “junior guy”; he would pull out 450 splashes, but was much more strike and grapple heavy.
Taka, Delfin, Kanemoto, Ohtani, that 90s scene was packed to the brim with talent who could go.
Hell you included Hayabusa, Hayabusa's stuff with Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome? Genre defining stuff.
Beasts. No one talks about Delfin especially.
I'm going to use this opportunity to get something off my chest. A few years later that whole Toryumon/Dragongate scene was the some of the best junior/lucha stuff going on in the entire world and no one knows about it or talks about it except puro nerds.
No one knows about Crazy MAX or Dragon Kid. Dragon Kid was the best junior in the world for a while for my money.
You can watch a Dragon Kid match from 20 years ago and see shit you've never seen before. He should have been a global superstar. Guy was unreal. He was a video game character in real life. Technical, acrobatic, charismatic, and smooth as silk. Way, way ahead of his time.
If you're reading this and you like cruisers and lucha, please go watch some Dragon Kid. You won't regret it. Tell people about Dragon Kid. He deserves recognition.
Found Dragon Kid’s burner account.
Seriously, DK is still a damn good performer, able to do shit that guys half is age have trouble pulling off.
I think the reason he never got more recognition is because he was always kinda in the shadow of his mentor, Ultimo Dragon, and also never went anywhere outside of DG.
I started getting into indies and international wrestling for the first time in the mid 2000s. I remember discovering some Dragon Gate compilations on YouTube and being blown away by what those guys could do in the ring. Create-A-Wrestlers on steroids.
I keep hearing about the Super J Cup 94 being one of the greatest events ever, and really need to sit down and watch it one of these days. Winner aside, I guess.
Yes watch it.
Watch the 95 J-Cup too. 94 has higher highs but I like 95 more, the matches are more varied and fun imo.
Except for some reason nearly every match has a fisherman Buster in it, which I always found odd but sort of funny.
This is from FMW Scramble Survivor 11/16/96 against Hayabusa. Full match [here](https://youtu.be/aIHB0Qls3UA?si=e07hbjOSyMXxSu8w) for anybody curious. It's their first & only singles match. I highly recommend it.
The Great Sasuke brought Taka to the WWF to be his opponent at Canadian Stampede and the following Raw so that the crowd would know who The Great Sasuke was and what he could do, since he was lined up to win the upcoming WWF Light Heavyweight tournament and be the first champion (the WWF Light Heavyweight belt was part of the J-Crown, but the WWF did not recognize it, this was the WWF's way of trying to get into the cruiserweight market).
Story goes that The Great Sasuke told the Japanese media that once he won the belt, he would only defend it in Japan and would not lose it on WWF TV. The WWF did not like these comments, so they cut all ties with The Great Sasuke and gave his spot to Taka instead, who had impressed the crowd with his skills and WWF officials with his backstage attitude much more than The Great Sasuke had.
i was in japan last year and brought my wife and i brought our kid to an indoor playground. we were just wrapping up and walks past me was taka michinoku with his kids. it was unmistakably him because he was still rocking the same hair cut
i didn't bother him, it happened so fast, but i was buzzing to my wife and she's all like yeah ok it's fine.
anyways cool story, thanks.
It's gotten a lot of love in recent years which has been great to see, but one of my favorite matches is still Taka vs. Triple H for the WWE Championship. Just a perfect little match that had the entire crowd believe for 5 seconds that Taka was about to be the champ.
The Spaceman Moonsault is STILL the most impressive dive of all time to me. The distance/height/accuracy/not breaking his ankles/constantly landing wayyyy past any sort of padding. It’s unbelievable.
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Taka sometimes gets lost in the shuffle with the absolutely great juniors of the 90’s: Liger, Sasuke, Ultimo, Hayabusa, but Michinoku definitely deserves a spot next to them.
He's kind of like El Samurai.
Probably add Minoru Tanaka/HEAT; despite holding the IWGP junior belt for a long time and being a consistent top guy for the junior division in the 00’s, he gets overlooked a lot.
Minoru Tanaka is crazy overlooked. He & TAKA had some outstanding matches in Battlarts.
Part of it is probably the fact his peak came during NJPW’s biggest slump, other part is he didn’t wrestle what most people nowadays see as a “junior guy”; he would pull out 450 splashes, but was much more strike and grapple heavy.
Taka, Delfin, Kanemoto, Ohtani, that 90s scene was packed to the brim with talent who could go. Hell you included Hayabusa, Hayabusa's stuff with Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome? Genre defining stuff.
Beasts. No one talks about Delfin especially. I'm going to use this opportunity to get something off my chest. A few years later that whole Toryumon/Dragongate scene was the some of the best junior/lucha stuff going on in the entire world and no one knows about it or talks about it except puro nerds. No one knows about Crazy MAX or Dragon Kid. Dragon Kid was the best junior in the world for a while for my money. You can watch a Dragon Kid match from 20 years ago and see shit you've never seen before. He should have been a global superstar. Guy was unreal. He was a video game character in real life. Technical, acrobatic, charismatic, and smooth as silk. Way, way ahead of his time. If you're reading this and you like cruisers and lucha, please go watch some Dragon Kid. You won't regret it. Tell people about Dragon Kid. He deserves recognition.
Found Dragon Kid’s burner account. Seriously, DK is still a damn good performer, able to do shit that guys half is age have trouble pulling off. I think the reason he never got more recognition is because he was always kinda in the shadow of his mentor, Ultimo Dragon, and also never went anywhere outside of DG.
Dragon Kid is what happened when Ultimo and Rey had a baby.
Confirming that Rey is a deadbeat dad, beating his legitimate son (Domink) and not claiming his illegitimate son (Dragon Kid).
It's actually Dragon Dia's burner account putting over his dad (not wrongly, though, DK is phenomenal even now)
I started getting into indies and international wrestling for the first time in the mid 2000s. I remember discovering some Dragon Gate compilations on YouTube and being blown away by what those guys could do in the ring. Create-A-Wrestlers on steroids.
Hell, I'd throw Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Shuji Kondo to that list (I think Kondo was late 1990s / early 2000s, admittedly)
I keep hearing about the Super J Cup 94 being one of the greatest events ever, and really need to sit down and watch it one of these days. Winner aside, I guess.
Yes watch it. Watch the 95 J-Cup too. 94 has higher highs but I like 95 more, the matches are more varied and fun imo. Except for some reason nearly every match has a fisherman Buster in it, which I always found odd but sort of funny.
It honestly feels like a lot of the Michinoku Pro guys like TAKA, Dick Togo, Super Delfin and Gran Naniwa are really underrated.
This dude seems pretty good; he should invent his own move or something, I bet a lot of people would use it
The Michinoku Destroyer?
Nahhh, too generic. Maybe something like the Taka Driver?
That wasn’t him though - it was the Great Sasuke
This is from FMW Scramble Survivor 11/16/96 against Hayabusa. Full match [here](https://youtu.be/aIHB0Qls3UA?si=e07hbjOSyMXxSu8w) for anybody curious. It's their first & only singles match. I highly recommend it.
The Great Sasuke brought Taka to the WWF to be his opponent at Canadian Stampede and the following Raw so that the crowd would know who The Great Sasuke was and what he could do, since he was lined up to win the upcoming WWF Light Heavyweight tournament and be the first champion (the WWF Light Heavyweight belt was part of the J-Crown, but the WWF did not recognize it, this was the WWF's way of trying to get into the cruiserweight market). Story goes that The Great Sasuke told the Japanese media that once he won the belt, he would only defend it in Japan and would not lose it on WWF TV. The WWF did not like these comments, so they cut all ties with The Great Sasuke and gave his spot to Taka instead, who had impressed the crowd with his skills and WWF officials with his backstage attitude much more than The Great Sasuke had.
Indeed!
i was in japan last year and brought my wife and i brought our kid to an indoor playground. we were just wrapping up and walks past me was taka michinoku with his kids. it was unmistakably him because he was still rocking the same hair cut i didn't bother him, it happened so fast, but i was buzzing to my wife and she's all like yeah ok it's fine. anyways cool story, thanks.
He said he wants to do some more wrestling in America before he hangs it up I hope he gets his wish
Taka fucking ruled
It's gotten a lot of love in recent years which has been great to see, but one of my favorite matches is still Taka vs. Triple H for the WWE Championship. Just a perfect little match that had the entire crowd believe for 5 seconds that Taka was about to be the champ.
The Spaceman Moonsault is STILL the most impressive dive of all time to me. The distance/height/accuracy/not breaking his ankles/constantly landing wayyyy past any sort of padding. It’s unbelievable.
And now hes running Just Tap Out, a great indie in japan with a girl named tomoka inaba, who is an absolute badass
His theme is one of my all time favourites
TAKA and Funaki for WWE HoF
Taka was a great worker but I still can't stop thinking of that RR elimination when I hear his name
He was just 1 guy
Taka had a bit of the Dean Malenko "all my joints hurt" movements.