[1999-03-13-Michinoku Pro] Taka Michinoku & Great Sasuke & Gran Naniwa vs Shiima Nobunaga & Judo Suwa & Sumo Fuji

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Michinoku Pro goes Southern once again here and gives us a really good six-man tag that’s laid out like a Midnight Express match with plenty of heel stooging at the beginning leading to a long FIP section and some hot tags. This was very, very American - interesting how Michinoku Pro is providing the best old-school American stuff of 1999. Who would have expected that?

[tim]

This is quite a long match at 25 minutes but I enjoyed it throughout and thought it very fun. I really don't much care for "innovative" offense and involved double team moves but here Crazy Max make it feel more like a gimmick than inherent to the style and the way they use that stuff to ham it up to get heat along with the taunts is fun. I really liked the first comeback from the faces where Taka just strolls in the ring while the heels are posing and casually pokes them in the eyes to break it up before going after one of them on the floor. There are some extended FIP sections and comebacks here. The end is really cool with Sasuke and Taka hitting big dives, Taka hitting a crazy corkscrew dive which was totally unexpected, to leave Naniwa in the ring to pick up the win. Really enjoyable match.

[Tim Evans]

Taka outheeling Crazy Max was awesome. So was it in his WWF contract that he could work here on select dates like the Colons with WWC? This was a fun match that was a little long but still enjoyable. I love Crazy Max nutty double team moves. Cima even does Danny Doring's finisher.

[soup23]

Taka out dicking Crazy Max was awesome. This match felt like a great passing the torch in some ways. THe young guys had flashier offense and double team moves but the old guns made a fiery comeback and had some tricks up their sleves with the ending dives and pinfall. Really fun stuff overall. ***3/4

[PeteF3]

Fun match--Crazy Max's reach exceeded their grasp a few times. Obviously these guys aren't as familiar with each other as the 1996 Michinoku Pro troupe was so there are more awkward spots, and some of the CMax's guys' offense is a little too Teddy Hart-esque for my tastes in how overelaborate and innovative-for-innovation's-sake the new moves are. But the closing stretch is fun as hell with the veterans finally figuring out how to outwit the cheating heels and leaving Suwa for dead as Sasuke and TAKA take out CMax and Taru on the floor. And yes, this is very American--mostly due to Taka bringing over a bunch of Attitude Era moves and mannerisms with him.