[1997-07-07-WWF-Raw] Taka Michinoku vs Great Sasuke

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Tim Cooke]

Much better than their PPV match, as they worked more highspots early to pop the crowd and the in between mat work was fluid and moving, not just a chin lock. Taka almost dies on his springboard moonsault.

[Loss]

Vince apologizes for Austin's attack in the previous segment. Brian Christopher makes an appearance and tries REALLY HARD to get over. His fa … um … Jerry Lawler invited him on the show to do commentary. Taka slipping on the ropes was horrifying, but they covered for it as well as can be expected. Agreed they did a better job laying out this match than the pay-per-view match because the highspots weren't just saved for the last few minutes. Vince steps in when Christopher says "these two Japs" and corrects him very quickly. We see the first Space Flying Tiger Drop probably in RAW history, but it gets almost no reaction, and I've always thought that was a silly move anyway.

[Bix]

Hakushi used the Space Flying Tiger Drop on Bret in their Raw match in '95.

[goodhelmet]

Much better than their PPV match, as they worked more highspots early to pop the crowd and the in between mat work was fluid and moving, not just a chin lock. Taka almost dies on his springboard moonsault.

Interesting because when I watched them back to back years ago, i came away thinking this match sucked and the PPV match was awesome.

[Kevin Ridge]

They work the high spots in early but I think it’s more because they don’t get as much time as PPV. It is really is just a collection of high spots. Taka is fortunate he landed on Sasuke after slipping off ropes. The camera man didn’t trust him the second time around as they kept the camera focused on Sasuke. I preferred the PPV match better.

[soup23]

The commentary with Christopher and everyone else was really good. I liked this one better than the PPV match because there was more built around the highspots. A couple of botches that looked terrifying but they were able to cover it up. Lawler saying "is that your son" was really funny.

[PeteF3]

Credit to Taka for actually managing to hit Sasuke anyway on that reverse springboard thing. Christopher and Lawler walk a fine line between getting themselves over and shitting on this too much with stale stereotype-based humor, and we also get some hype for Scott Putski, a sign that the WWF simply wasn't going to be able (or be willing) to make this light heavy division work. Shorter and tigher than the match the previous night, but somewhat hollower.

[Exposer]

I liked Canadian Stamped better. This is ok, but has even less heat than the night before. I did like that they changed up some of the spots. Brian Christopher on commentary is obnoxious.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Great Sasuke vs Taka Michinoku - RAW 7/7/97

 

The PPV match is paced way better than this. If they landed all their highspots clean maybe this would contend but lots of misses. Sasuke's swandive looked great. Taka nearly kills himself on his flip springboard top rope moonsault. He does a top rope Asai Moonsault but in a rare WWF camera fuck up we miss it. Brian Christopher is on commentary and is insufferable with his Jimmy Hart laughing and terrible racist humor. Sasuke busts on the Flying Space Tiger Drop, but it is not his best. I liked that Taka went for the moonsault after the Michinoku Driver because it didn't kill off the move like at the PPV. Sasuke hits a monster Crucifix Powerbomb to win. It seems like Sasuke got the message that stiffness gets pops. Watch the PPV match too many misfires here.