TAJIRI vs. TAKA Michinoku (WNC, 10/31/2013)

WNC (10/31/2013)

WNC Championship: TAJIRI (c) vs. TAKA Michinoku

Sho Funaki is the guest referee, and he counts to FIVE when TAKA applies a figure-four on the ringpost. Took me out of the action a bit, but this was otherwise excellent. This is a TAJIRI match in 2013 so he isn't going to be doing a lot. It was very simple, but these are two pros who know how to make everything count. The danger of TAJIRI's kicks were sold very well here, with just one kick to the stomach almost knocking TAKA unconscious. TAJIRI's proteges are flanking the ring, and they're rallying along with the fans for him to make his comeback; the atmosphere is amazing. Really good match.

****

TAKA & Taichi Produce - 3rd Anniversary Convention (12/30/2016)

1. NEX4 (Ayato Yoshida, Dinosaur Takuma, GO Asakawa & Kyu Mogami) vs. SFU (Kaji Tomato & Shiori Asahi) & Sekitoba (Kotaro Yoshino & Taishi Takizawa)

Decent opener. You can always count on Shiori to do interesting stuff.

**1/2

2. Bambi vs. ERINA vs. Koharu Hinata

This is my first time ever seeing ERINA in action. She didn't do a whole lot here. K-DOJO is the company that also trained Apple Miyuki and Tomoka Nakagawa and molded Yuu Yamagata, so ideally she grows into something good.

*

3. Hardcore Match: Jun Kasai vs. Takashi Iizuka

Boring.

no

4. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yuki Sato

Classic Big Yen Yoshinobu, dull and heatless. Where is Despy on this card?

*

5. TAKA Michinoku vs. Yoshitatsu

TAKA tries to make Yoshitatsu look good, but it didn't work that way for me. Tatsu was boring, but whenever TAKA was on the offensive this match was awesome. The wrong former WWE guy went over.

**1/2

6. Minoru Suzuki vs. Taichi

This was structured like a fiery young lion vs. established veteran match, but with the interesting dynamic of both of them being heels. Two bad guys doing bad things to each other, and that's just what the people paid to see.

***3/4