.:: Michinoku Pro/BattlARTS, November 3rd 1999 ::.
Review by Jay, 2nd August 2002

Taking a break from some of the more recent puroresu that I’ve been reviewing recently, I’ve decided to return to 1999, and more specifically Michinoku Pro’s ‘WINTER WARS’ tour. The tour had some memorable matches, and was near enough a return to the form of 1996, when Michinoku Pro ran it’s famous KAINETAI DX vs. Seikigun matches. So, to kick things off, I’ll take a look at their joint show with BattlARTS, which was headlined by a returning TAKA Michinoku against Minoru Tanaka (before his NJPW career kicked off).


Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Ryuji Hijikata & Mach Junji (Junji.com)

It’s strange looking back and seeing just how these guys’ careers have changed since this. Fujita, who at the time of this match was one of M-Pro’s hottest prospects, left with Gran Naniwa not long after this tour, and following a few overseas roles (CZW, Puerto Rico), is now back with mentor TAKA in the new Kaientai Dojo promotion, and is set to face Kensuke Sasaki on an upcoming NJPW show. Ikuto Hidaka meanwhile, is now a heel king in Michinoku Pro, having joined up with Dick Togo’s FEC following BattlARTS’ disbanding last year. Hijikata now works AJPW undercards with the likes of Tomoaki Honma, leaving Mach Junji as the only person in this match who is still with the same promotion today (he stuck it out and returned to BattlARTS on their recent return show). Getting to the match, the action is somewhat butchered, losing around half of the 18 and a half minutes, but is pretty standard BattlARTS fare. I won’t hide the fact that I love watching Hidaka and Fujita, and these two make this match for me, working great together in the ring, especially with a superb combination DDT late on in the match (Hidaka swinging off Fujita’s shoulders!). Fujita brings great energy (as always) to the match, using most of his graceful trademark manoeuvres (German suplex, springboard body press, tope suicida… off a Hidaka Irish whip!) bar the dragon suplex, and Hidaka does his usual job, mixing some flying (including a surprisingly sloppy springboard dropkick) with his wicked submission holds, such as the Shawn Capture. Junji and Hijikata do the role required, having a few moments of domination early on before eventually succumbing, but don’t seem to get much of a rise out of the crowd, probably as the winners are never really in doubt throughout. Ah well. In the end it’s neither a poor match, nor a particularly great one, perhaps lasting a minutes or two too many.


Tiger Mask 4 vs. Katsumi Usuda

I won’t lie to you, I went into this match with huge expectations. Usuda has to be my favourite BattlARTS guy not named Hidaka or Tanaka from this period, as he sure as hell can dish out the punishment, and takes it pretty well too (anyone who remembers a certain dragon suplex Minoru Tanaka gave him will know what I mean!). TM4 needs no introduction, being the long time ally of The Great Sasuke, and being equally spectacular to watch, perhaps even more-so at times. Shockingly, I was devastated by this match! It’s by no means bad, but these two can accomplish so much more. Usuda gets very, very little offence, and whereas he does take his requisite death bump (a release German), he’s generally underwhelming. Certainly not the same man who carried MEN’s Teioh to such a great match in J Cup 2000. Tiger Mask 4 also seems unusually ‘plodding’ today, simply going at it with Usuda with some fairly unfocused matwork early on, before strolling through his spots (rounding moonsault, top rope butterfly suplex, chickenwing facelock) at the end. I’d love to say it’s forgettable stuff, but due to the disappointment involved, I certainly won’t forget this match! Sadly, nay tragically, underwhelming!


Naoki Sano vs. Curry Man

Sano, now of NOAH fame, against Chris Daniels, widely regarded as one of the top US indy workers at arguably the height of his career. Surely a recipe for success? Wrong! The styles clash here really does hurt the match. For us watching, Daniels’ antics before the match (I believe the ref tries to get him to take the curry – a foreign object – off his mask) are entertaining, but the crowd don’t seem too interested. In fact, they only really get into it for the opening sequence, a fairly nice chain wrestling sequence involving Daniels’ usual flip up to his feet. It goes pretty downhill from here. Again, nothing horrendous, but it’s just so non descript! Daniels runs through the usual spots, such as his sit-down springboard moonsault to the outside, and the double hop moonsault, but Sano just doesn’t get the chance to show what made him such a legend in the early 1990’s in NJPW. The ending does go some way to redeeming some of the gloom though, as Sano hits a totally evil backdrop suplex off the top which folds Curry Man up like an accordion. Nasty. But once again, it is a totally disappointing affair.


Minoru Tanaka vs. TAKA Michinoku

With two disappointments so far, and a pretty standard opening match, surely TAKA vs. Minoru couldn’t fail? Two of the greatest junior heavyweights of recent years, in the same ring? Thankfully, IT IS FANTASTIC! Before we go any further, this match is reason enough to buy the tape. It is that good. Going into it, it is perhaps more of a styles-clash than the earlier TM4/Usada match, as TAKA doesn’t remotely incorporate shoot-style into his repertoire. However, he pulls it off fantastically here, coupling crisp offence with great selling by Tanaka to make his basic submission work look deadly. As usual, TAKA’s facial expressions are priceless, from his desperation dive to escape a side leg lock, to his huge grin and arm pumps when he thinks he’s got it won with a figure four. If you’ve never seen TAKA outside of the WWF before, you’ll love seeing him in his element (playing the punk) here, he’s just as amusing to watch except without the daft catchphrase. Indeed. The psychology is also spot on from TAKA in this match, despite it not being his usual style, every limb attack making perfect sense and following a logical order. Tanaka is certainly no slouch either. At this stage in his career he’s almost perfectly blended the faux-shoot and traditional junior heavyweight styles, being able to mix realistic looking joint and muscle holds with some fantastic pro-wrestling trickery… just look at his Minoru Specials. In this match, he edges slightly more towards the faux-shoot style, using a lot of low strikes to work away on TAKA’s legs, which is interesting considering his main two holds (the Minoru Specials) are cross armbreaker variations. However, once again the psychology is spot on, going as far as Tanaka busting out the Minoru Special II (rolling cross armbreaker takedown) to no avail whatsoever, and having to go back to leg work. They even use the limb work to bring in some more traditional junior moves, such as Tanaka using a missile dropkick as TAKA struggles to stand, and later on TAKA not being able to put his all into the Michinoku Driver II because of the earlier leg work, hitting more of a desperation variation. Gluing everything together is great charisma from both men in this match. On top of TAKA’s great facial expressions, they do a great job of telling the story of the toll the match takes on each other with great moments such as a slap exchange as they both rise from the mat, both genuinely looking so exhausted they can’t stand. Truly great stuff. So overall, how does the match stand up? Well, first of all it saves the tape… if you can put up with the lower card stuff. If you’re a puroresu beginner looking to see TAKA outside of America, this match would be perfect, but TRY to get it on a compilation if possible, or alternatively pay a reasonably low price for the tape, as the undercard matches won’t impress. It really is a must see contest though, one of the best of the late 1990’s, without a doubt.


CONCLUSION

A tough tape to recommend really. The main event is off the chart, and if you can get the tape at a reasonable price (if you’re in the UK, you should know where to go by now… if not, check out the ad on our main page!), it’s worth the money just for that. However, if you really don’t think you could bare seeing some underwhelming undercard matches, try and get the main event on a compilation of some sort. It is certainly must-see!

ENTERTAINMENT – 6 - If it was the main event only, it’d get a solid 11. However, due to some uncharacteristic lazy work from Usuda and TM4, and two other forgettable matches, I can’t really rate this any higher.

WORKRATE – 7 – Again, the main event would score top marks and then some. However, the rest is a mixed bag. I don’t need to say it again, but Usada/TM4 was just ‘plodding’, and Sano/Curry Man was a poor styles clash. The opener was fairly solid, as far as workrate goes, though.

.:: FINAL RECOMMENDATION – A must-see main event on an otherwise forgettable tape! ::.