Rock Star, Flip Into The Crowd Like TAKA Michinoku

TAKA Michinoku VS Papi Chulo - ECW 4/3/1999

JJZ: Redo! So with this match I just wanted some late night junk food  goodness. We got all the hits in this one. The best thing about this match that was they hit everything on point. You know with ECW that matches like these, it can go off the rails sometimes. Now I know we both have seen this before but I'm 100 percent positive that we've never reviewed it before. Love me some ECW and their ability to let wrestlers be themselves. It made a lot of wrestler's careers. Watching ECW is like putting on an old pair of shoes. It just feels good man.

CJD: I'll be honest, I remember a few matches from this show, but absolutely nothing about this match. Not even that TAKA came back to ECW at all. So this was a pleasant surprise! The execution was good in this one indeed. It was a little your turn, my turn, but looking at where it was in the card and the time they had that kinda makes sense. The crowd was totally along for the ride. In some ways it was just fascinating to see what a match like this looked like in ECW in 1999. One guy on his way up to WWF. One guy on his way out. International talent colliding which ECW loved. And the two standouts from our last MDTSOCWWKD match going one on one! This was meant to be JJZ.

Astral Projector, Super Astros Projector

TAKA Michinoku/Sho Funaki/Tiger Mask IV VS Papi Chulo/Super Loco/Apolo Dantes- WWF Super Astros 5/30/1999

CJD: I didn't know which way I was going this week. And maybe the weird stuff is just catching my eye right now, but after watching a few okay matches this one stood out because it was just so damn unique. If we watched this in 1999 our minds would have been blown. If you cut out the intros and the Owen Hart memorial stuff this match might not even be 5 minutes. But for what it is, on a WWF show at the time, and with the guys involved... this is fucking bonkers. Pro wrestling is so weird. It's hard to really critique something like this but I will say TAKA and Papi Chulo both came off like stars which was clearly the intent. And our boy TMIV held his own in the process! We've had plenty of weird detours over the years here at PIF and this is one of the weirder ones. Enjoy my friend.

JJZ: So much flavor in this banger baby. I think everyone really shined in this match. It started at a 10 and never stopped honestly. I'm always super impressed with matches like this when the energy is so high and every crazy spot is hit perfect. The chance for shit to go off the rails is very high but all six wrestlers kept it on track. That T Mask backflip kick thingy might've popped me the most because it was hit right on target and that could of easily fanned. Nice pick baybay!

TAKA Flocka Flame

Super Delfin/Gran Naniwa VS Jinsei Shinzaki/TAKA Michinoku - Michinoku Pro 2/17/1994

JJZ: Well the video quality is shit and it's MPro from the 90s. So I feel like this is off a Blue Thunder Video comp and I'm right at home with that. Hot crowd from the jump. This match has it all, wrestlers, matching tights, delfin men, crab men, box men, weird green carpets, botches, dives, powerbombs, people sitting on the floor, hot tags, cold tags, selling, buying, what more could you ask for? This is a fun match and pretty opposite from your barn burner last week. I thought showing a different era of TAKA would be perfect to play forward.

CJD: This match had one more thing you didn't mention. Ted Tanabe! Two great wrestling talents we lost way too young between him and Naniwa. I think you'd agree this wasn't among the better matches we've featured at PIF but 90s Michinoku Pro is always, always worth sharing. Also this match was just recently uploaded (thank you Ba Mu! you're crushing it!) and is from a more obscure era of MPro so it's a little more of a fun novelty. You can see things coming together for some of the key players of what would turn into one of the greatest promotions in the world in a short matter of time. The only other thing about this match that stands out to me is it's making me wish I could play a quick game of Fire ProWrestling S: 6Men Scramble!

Editor's note: This match has been taken down since we originally shared it. Sorry Ba Mu :(. We'll check back periodically to see if we can find a new link. We apologize for the inconvenience!

Dick Togo For Life Homie

Dick Togo/TAKA Michinoku (c) VS Minoru Tanaka/Prince Devitt - NJPW IWGP Jr Tag Team Championship 1/27/2008

CJD: I was really feeling some classic MPro this week but this match came out of left field and totally won me over. I was watching tons of puro around this time so no idea how I missed this the first time around. The Junior IWGP tag title matches always seem to deliver, even in eras where NJPW is hit or miss. The titles change hands a lot so they might not be the most prestigious but the crowd is always hot for them none the less. I know we just featured some Fergal Devitt on the blog not too long ago but this is a different flavor of Balor, clearly the lowest man on the totem pole and he plays it effectively. It seems Minoru Tanaka is having a career resurgence this year which makes me happy. He has always had so much talent, even here he's fairly reserved but still shines in the more veteran role. The 1A and 1B of Kaientai make for great heel champs and mesh so well with the challengers. I know you could make Finn the first two time MDTSOWWKD Champion next week but I'm hoping TAKA is coming instead (motherfucker) or maybe you bring the HEAT??

JJZ: Did not know that Dick Togo ever wrestled in NJPW. Really stoked for this match. I love TAKA & Dick's music mashup. In the blue corner we got a baby ass Prince with Minoru. By the way I'm smoking a cigar and drinking a Yards Love Stout while watching this so I'm pretty much in heaven. Nice little feeling out going on in the beginning. I'm curious what level of TAKA I'm getting in this match. He is looking good so far. Dick too. This match has a classic tag build with nice high spots and falsies. I found myself saying "That's match!" several times. The finish totally surprised me and popped me. Devitt really stood out in this match and it doesn't surprise me how far he went in the company over time.