[2000-01-09-Michinoku Pro] Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada vs Tiger Mask IV & Masaaki Mochizuki

[soup23]

This is the first match where the work is unquestionably good but I don’t have much to say about the match overall. I did like seeing Hamada being aggressive and showing some fire in there. TMIV and Mochi as the youngsters was funny in 2016 eyes. Overall, this flowed at a very good pace and was enjoyable but didn’t leave a lasting impression and never kicked into the next gear for me. ***

[Loss]

I got way more out of this than Chad. I caught myself paying lots of attention to the details in the matwork, which was almost Regal-like in its execution and subtlety. There were some interesting dynamics at play here, with Sasuke and TM as the stars of now -- Sasuke paired with the veteran and TM paired with the star on the rise. Sasuke and Hamada were the heels and did a great job of it, sneaking in cheating when they could and isolating TM as FIP until he could tag Mochizuki in and they could clean house. They mostly grounded TM when he was in the ring, working over his arm with some nasty looking stuff. I also liked how they got the story over of Mochizuki's footwork as the great equalizer and of Hamada's headbutts as the great counter-equalizer. I think it's tough to do a traditional Southern style tag when the conventions of the style are that new guys can come in when the legal guys hit the floor, but they managed to do it seamlessly, pulling off a tough balancing act. This isn't my favorite venue, which made the heat pretty incongruent with the work, but in Korakuen Hall, this would have been off the charts. As it stands, it's still pretty great. ****1/4

[Laney]

I thought this was great. Sasuke and Hamada did an excellent job of working over Tiger Mask's arm with some brutal ground work. Tiger Mask did very well in his role as FIP. Mochizuki's kicks were made to look killer in this one and he did a great job hanging in there with everyone else. Mochizuki looked like a star in the rise in this one. The match picked up in the end and they built to a great finish without doing too much.

 

****1/4

[cramerjason87]

The back half of this was good. All four brought lots of offense and the near falls worked well. Nothing too excessive or overdone . Simple well executed wrestling.

[Childs]

Good to see Sasuke looking spry after a decade of death-defying bumps. And of course Hamada was eternal. I didn't expect them to get so rugged on the mat with Tiger Mask, but that work was cool. Mochizuki's strikes looked crisp, but he seemed less essential than the other three. I didn't vibe with the overall match as much as Loss. My reaction was more similar to Chad's.

[Tim Evans]

I wasn't bored by Tiger Mask so that's a plus for this match. Kinda wild seeing a young Mochizuki considering he's still going strong these days in Dragon Gate. Match was fun and a lot more mat based than I was expecting. The finish was just dirty though. I thought for sure Mochizuki was knocked out from that top rope ace crusher but I guess it was just a stinger.

[Matt Franklin]

This was a great match. I really liked Sasuke and Hanada heeling it up and getting vicious with their matwork and little shortcuts. Mochizuki is foing to be an interesting one to track in this project, he looked great here and I think rewatching all of this footage will really boost his rep. TM and Mochi gave Sasuke an awesome series of moves which actually had me thinking it was the end until Hamada made the save. I liked the top rope Ace Crusher straight into the sleeper for the win, nice way to finish instead of a straight pinfall. Really cool, underrated match.

****

[Edwin]

I thought this match was fantastic. It's so odd watching Sasuke work as a heel, but he was fantastic at it. Those early kicks from Mochi and the headbutts from Hamada were brutal. Tiger Mask countering the Sasuke Special with a kick to the back just as Sasuke was about to take flight was a nice touch. The finishing top rope Ace Crusher leading to the rear naked choke from Hamada was neat. I also dug how they didn't go overboard with the finish and ended just at the right time.

 

Also no matter what year it is, Gran Hamada looks the same physically...

 

****

[tbrett]

I like the match but didn't think it was anything special. Everyone executed their moves well and it was fast paced but I just never got into it. Not sure what it was but I agree with Chad it was good but I will probably never watch it again.

 

***1/2