Defrost Reviews - Kaientai DX vs. Michinoku Pro



There is no choppy of the pee pee here on DRS2EBRaSAGG because we are going to take a look at one of the greatest wrestling stables of all time before Vince McMahon had the opportunity to ruin it. In this edition we take a look at the lucharesu stylings of Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Shiryu aka Kaz Hayashi ina hood, Shoichi Funaki, and Taka Michinoku as they take on their foes in Michinoku Pro.


Michinoku Pro 6/23/96
Great Sasuke/Super Delfin vs Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh

Michinoku Pro "These Days"
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh/Shoichi Funaki vs Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa/Super Delfin/Tiger Mask IV/Masato Yakushiji

Inoki Festival 1996
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh/Shoichi Funaki vs Great Sasuke/Super Delfin/Gran Hamada/Masato Yakushiji/Naohiro Hoshikawa

Michinoku Pro 12/16/96
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh/Shoichi Funaki vs Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa/Super Delfin/Masato Yakushiji

Barely Legal 1997
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Men's Teioh vs Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Masato Yakushiji


Lucharesu is what it looks like a combination of Lucha Lubre and Puroresu. More to the point it mixes the flashyness of Lucha as well as the sharp Rudo/Tecnico divide as well as following lucha libre rules with the Jr Heavyweight style of wrestling innovated by the original Tiger Mask, Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Dynamite Kid in the early 1980s in New Japan Pro Wrestling. The father of the style was Gran Hamada who was one of the original graduates of the New Japan dojo, but was thought to be too small so he was sent to the Universal Wrestling Association in Mexico. There he learned lucha and he began to create a style. When the UWF formed Hamada was one of the original members of the promotion and continued his vision of Jr Wrestling combining the gymnastics of lucha with the impact, suplexes, and whatnot of Jr Heavyweight puroresu. Hamada would start Universal Lucha Libre with his protege Yoshihiro Asai, more famously known as Ultimo Dragon,

That promotion would train Great Sasuke, Super Delfin, Jinsei Shizaki, Kaz Hayashi. Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, and basically everyone the would go on to Michinoku Pro after Sasuke left the Universal Lucha Libre to found the promotion. Hamada himself would follow shortly thereafter. Asai would sign with CMLL in Mexico and later WAR in Japan. He would later continue the lineage of lucharesu with Toryumon which begat Dragon Gate the current standard bearer for the style.

Kaientai DX were heels. More to the point they were Rudos. In Japan heels are either foreign, outright gimmicks like Great Kabuki. Kaientai were not that even if Kaz Hayashi wore a mask. They were just a bunch of cheating little pricks. They always played the numbers game. Which in a match where Sasuke and Delfin, the Mega Powers of Michinoku Pro, took on three of them at once there is an obvious advantage that Kaientai used in their advantage to win even if Sasuke and Delfin had Teioh and Shiryu beaten only for Togo to make the save. Kaientai would always go 5 on 1 while the faces would not. Kaientai used weapons when their opponents never did. Although on the 12/16/96 match that backfired when Sasuke dodged a thrown chair and Togo ate it instead.

This style is all about how things flow. Beyond certain things such as Kaientai being underhanded the structure of the matches follow are far different in terms of psychology from other styles. Tags are not needed to switch in and out. So once two guys have their back and forth and one gets the better of it off the loser went and a teammate comes in and starts trading spots. The 12/16/96 match is the best for this. Everything is seamless. That is the main issue with the style. Everything has to flow for it to really work. That doesn't mean botching. There is a botch in the ECW match, and in front of that crowd you know how that went down, and that match is still great. It is more timing and whatnot. Slight hesitation throws things off. You have to hit your spot when the time to hit it is and when you hit the ring you have to hit it. That makes or breaks in this style. 12/16/96 flowed the best.

Results and Ratings

M-Pro 6/23/96
Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh defeated Great Sasuke/Super Delfin via pinfall at 17:26 when Togo pinned Delfin with a top rope senton (***1/2)

Michinoku Pro "These Days"
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh/Shoichi Funaki defeated Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa/Super Delfin/Tiger Mask IV/Masato Yakushiji via pinfall at 32:07 when Togo pinned Delfin with a top rope senton (***1/2)

Inoki Festival 1996
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh/Shoichi Funaki defeated Great Sasuke/Super Delfin/Gran Hamada/Masato Yakushiji/Naohiro Hoshikawa via pinfall at 16:38 when Togo pinned Yakushiji with a top rope senton (***)

Michinoku Pro 12/16/96
Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa/Super Delfin/Masato Yakushiji defeated Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shiryu/Men's Teioh/Shoichi Funaki via pinfall at 22:50 when Hamada pinned Shiryu with a hurricanrana (****3/4)

Barely Legal 1997
Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Masato Yakushiji defeated Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Men's Teioh via pinfall at 16:55 when Great Sasuke pinned Michinoku with a bridging Tiger Suplex (****1/4)




Well that is a look at an athletic high flying pinpoint style. So where to look for something different for the next review. What could possibly be the opposite of these guys. Egads who could do justice for such a concept. What a vicious conundrum we have here. We'd have to be psycho to lay to such a challenge. Wait a minute... Next Time SID vs Shawn Michaels.




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