As promised, we remain in Japan to review a match from Ultimo Dragon's Toryumon promotion, home to such Dragon trainees as Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid, CIMA, and Sumo Fuji. If these names may sound familiar, you might have been lucky enough to see them wrestle in America. See, in 1998, Dragon brought his protégés to WCW presumably to get some exposure and work in front of a (then) large audience. But don't go digging through your tapes for classic matches, as the Dragon trainees were mainly relegated to jobber status on Thunder and Worldwide. The only one who really achieved any notoriety was Magnum Tokyo (billed as Tokyo Magnum for reasons that still elude me), who got cast as the sidekick to Disco Inferno and Alex Wright. Anyway, Dragon, his own career ended by a WCW quack surgeon, soon went back to Japan and started his own fed with his trainees, and it may just deliver the best wrestling out of any fed on the planet. So we'll look at Magnum's best match, as he takes on the Great Sasuke.

Sasuke's another name you've probably heard of. He too had a cup of tea in the States, wrestling at the ECW Barely Legal PPV and two matches in the WWF. There probably would have been more, but Vince decided he wanted Taka Michinoku instead of Sasuke. At the time I was pissed, because I wanted to see Sasuke wrestle on free TV every week. But given Taka's career path, maybe it's better Sasuke went back to Japan, lest he be an unmasked comedy jobber on Jakked.

Got a little off track there, but back the Sasuke-the man's a legend. Famous for running Michinoku Pro, at one time the best fed on the planet, as well as having maybe the best one night performance in history (wrestling 2 near ***** matches against Jushin Liger and Chris Benoit at J-Cup '94). He, along with Liger and Dragon, complete my Japanese Junior Holy Trinity. But while Dragon and Liger were always a bit more wrestling-centric, Sasuke was all about the huge highspots. Don't get me wrong-the man can wrestle (I once saw him carry Jinsei "Hakushi" Shinzaki's perennially lazy ass to a great match), but the man isn't afraid to crack his skull open diving to the floor. That's not hyperbole either-Sasuke has suffered 2 skull fractures in his career, and always seem willing to get a third. Gotta respect the guy for that.

The Great Sasuke vs. Magnum Tokyo [NWA World Middleweight Tournament Finals]
When: 2/7/99
Where: Yokohama, Japan

Backstory: Ooh, let's see. Seems that Sasuke and Tiger Mask IV were warring with their evil counterparts, Sasuke the Great and Masked Tiger. Eventually, the goods guys beat their doppelgangers in a mask vs. mask tag match. Masked Tiger was revealed to be Takeshi Ono, but just as Sasuke the Great was about to unmask, The Great Sasuke decided he like STG's spunk and decided he didn't have to reveal himself. This brought out Super Delfin and the face coalition Sekigun from the locker room, demanding that STG unmask. Sasuke basically said "Nope" and turned on the group.

Now, realizing that he and STG couldn't fight off the Sekigun, Sasuke went to Mexico and recruited punk heel stable Crazy Max (comprised of CIMA, SUWA, and Sumo Fuji) by offering them cake, condoms, and cigarettes (hey, it'd work on me). Sasuke and his new cohorts ran rampant over Michinoku Pro for a few months (reportedly, this angle pissed Delfin off, so he left and founded Osaka Pro).

Meanwhile, Ultimo Dragon had to vacate the NWA World Middleweight Title the prior year due to an arm injury, so a tournament was held to claim the belt. CIMA went over Magnum Tokyo (thanks to liberal interference from his cohorts) and Sasuke the Great, but suffered a knee injury in the latter match. So now we have a finals of Magnum/Sasuke. 

The Match: We see Tokyo make his entrance to his Kid Romeo-esque theme song (1). The boy toy lives his gimmick as the ladies run up and stuff yen down his shorts. So hey, even if Dragon doesn't pay well, the night's not a total loss.

We start the match with a tentative handshake. Both men assume martial arts poses and circle each other. Both men try a few kicks that don't land. Finally they tie up, and eventually Sasuke pushes Magnum into the ropes, and we get a clean break. They tie-up again, and this time Magnum pushes Sasuke into the ropes. And this time Magnum breaks clean. The two go to tie-up again, and this time Sasuke manages a drop toehold on Tokyo and applies a chinlock. Magnum tries to escape, but Sasuke holds on with a waistlock and they do a cool amateur wrestling sequence. Finally Sasuke just deadlifts Magnum and drops him stomach first, then applies a bodyscissors. Magnum manages to roll onto his back and tries to grab one of Sasuke's legs. Sasuke shifts position instantly and tries to apply a cross armbreaker, but Magnum locks his hands together to block the move. Magnum finally rolls so Sasuke's on his back, then hits a spinning knee crunch to Sasuke's left leg. Magnum with a little grinding and hits another knee crunch. Tokyo then applies the ever popular kneeling figure four, and slaps on a front facelock for good measure. Sasuke manages to escape by punching Magnum in the face, then applies a hammerlock while Tokyo is still on top of him. Sasuke, realizing this looks silly, shifts position so he's on top of Magnum. Magnum and Sasuke battle to grab the other's arm, and it really looks like a sissy slapfight. Finally, Sasuke again tries to apply a cross armbreaker, and it's again blocked by Tokyo. Sasuke tries to break Tokyo's locked hands by chopping at them, but no go. Tokyo does manage to roll Sasuke into a pinning position, and gets a 2 count. Sasuke rolls to avoid being pinned, and Tokyo manages to apply an anklelock. Sasuke ain't quittin', so Magnum transitions into the Regal Stretch. Sasuke drags Magnum and eventually does make it to the ropes. 

Magnum releases the hold and lays some stomps onto Sasuke. Tokyo tries a snapmare, but Sasuke blocks it for a few seconds, but eventually gets taken down. Tokyo picks up Sasuke into a sitting position and punts him in the back, then rubs his boot in Sasuke's face. Magnum then bounces off the ropes and hits a sliding dropkick right to Sasuke's face. Tokyo then does the Alex Wright dance for the ladies (2), then casually kicks Sasuke in the back. Magnum applies some funky standing double arm submissions. Sasuke finally says "Enough of you, fancy pants," shoves Tokyo to the mat, and slaps on a leglock. Magnum tries to escape, but can't, so he turns on his stomach and crawls to the ropes. Sasuke lets go of the hold and kicks Tokyo in the back. Sasuke slams Tokyo, then bounces off the ropes and hits a legdrop to the back of Magnum's head. Sasuke gets on Magum's back and applies a chinlock, then segues into an armwringer, but Magnum gets his foot on the bottom rope and Sasuke breaks the hold. 

Sasuke grabs Magnum and hits a brutal looking kneeling Michinoku Driver. Sasuke covers and gets a 2 count, but as Magnum kicks out Sasuke immediately applies a leglock Magnum tries to break the hold by punching Sasuke, but no go. So finally he rolls over and reverses into a leglock of his own. Sasuke makes a long crawl, lunges, and grabs the ropes. Magnum releases the hold but lays in some headbutts on Sasuke's leg. Then he drags Sasuke to the middle of the ring, lays in some kicks to the leg, and follows with a spinning knee crunch. Tokyo applies a chinlock, then rolls Sasuke into a pinning position for 2. Sasuke kicks out, maneuvers on top of Magnum, and slaps on a camel clutch. Magnum ain't quitting, so Sasuke tries the cross armbreaker again, and it's again blocked by Magnum. Finally Tokyo manages to get his bottom foot on the ropes. Sasuke lets go, lays in some stomps, and then slaps on an abdominal stretch. Magnum tries to escape but can't, and realizes he has to make it to the ropes. So he begins his long crawl, and after about 30 seconds finally grabs the bottom ropes. Sasuke lets go of the hold and both men slump to the mat. Sasuke gets up and drags Magnum to the center of the ring, and this time slaps on an Octopus Hold. Tokyo's in the move for quite a while, but won't give in. Sasuke, realizing this, lets go of the hold. 

Sasuke grabs Tokyo and sends him to the ropes. Sasuke tries a spinning heel kick, but Magnum ducks and hits a dropkick that sends Sasuke outside the ring. Magnum then gets a running start and hits a tope suicida that sends both he and Sasuke into the crowd. Both men play dead on the floor until Magnum gets up, heads to the apron, and flattens Sasuke with an Asai Moonsault. I'd also like to add the he did the move from the top rope instead of the middle one, got huge air on the move, and it was one of the best versions of the move I've ever saw. I can picture Dragon wiping a tear from his eye and saying "That's my boy (3)."

Tokyo gets up and heads back to the ring, only to have Sasuke get up and ram his head into the apron. They tease a double count out, but Sasuke rolls Magnum back in the ring and gets in himself at 18. Sasuke gets back in the ring and promptly throws Magnum to the floor and follows him out. Sasuke rams Magnum's head into a press table, then sets up a small, thick table on the floor. Sasuke tries to get back in the ring, but Magnum yanks him back to the floor. Now Magnum tries to get in the ring, only to be yanked out by Sasuke. Sasuke tries to ram Tokyo's head into the table he set up, but Magnum blocks and sends Sasuke skull first into the wood. Tokyo gets into the ring, and Sasuke tries to do the same, but Tokyo grabs him and tries to suplex him in from the apron. Sasuke manages to block it, though, and after repeated tries on the part of both men, Sasuke finally suplexes Magnum from the ring right on the table on the floor-which doesn't break. Just a brutal looking spot.

Sasuke's not done though, as he puts Magnum on top of the table and heads back into the ring. Sasuke surveys the situation, hits the ropes, and nails a no-hands Swanton bomb over to the top rope and onto Magnum. The table…doesn't break. Sasuke does a delayed sell as he gets up and walks a few steps, then collapses on the concrete.

Sasuke does manage to get back in the ring, then does the Sabu "point to the heavens" pose. Meanwhile, Magnum starts to stand up on the table. Bad move, as Sasuke spots him, heads to the ropes, and does a springboard dropkick on Magnum while he's standing on the table. Magnum goes flying into the crowd, Sasuke splats on the table. That's just one of the craziest spots I've ever seen. Did Sasuke make a bet that he'd get skull fracture #3 tonight? Both men play (play?) dead on the floor, as Gran Naniwa sprays Sasuke with something from an aerosol can (4).

Sasuke manages to get to his feet and into the ring, and Magnum soon follows. Sasuke bumps into Magnum and hits a quebrada bodypress, then covers for a long 2 count. Sasuke tries rolling up Magnum and bridging, but only gets another long 2. Sasuke then goes for a German Suplex, but Magnum reverses the go-behind, spins Sasuke around, and nails a Diamond Cutter. Now Magnum covers, and he gets a long 2 count. Magnum slams Sasuke, hits a nice second rope moonsault, then covers for another long 2. Magnum tries a Majistral cradle for another 2. Sasuke manages to drop toehold Magnum and tries a Majistral of his own, but Magnum blocks the move and counters with another Majistral for a loooong 2 count. Magnum grabs Sasuke and rams him into the corner, then places him on the top rope.. Magnum goes up top, does a little pelvic grind, then hits a top rope 'rana. But Sasuke manages to roll through into a sunset flip on the way down for another 2 count. Magnum gets to his feet, and Sasuke nails him in the back with a spin kick, then hits a German Suplex for another 2 count. Sasuke gives the "It's Over" sign and tries the Thunder Fire Power Bomb (5), but Magnum escapes and destroys Sasuke with a release Dragon Suplex that lands Sasuke right on his cranium. Sasuke's dead meat, so Magnum nails the Viagra Driver (6) and heads to the top rope. Magnum hits a picture perfect Shooting Star Press, but his back gives out on him and he can't go for the cover. Magnum crumples face down on the mat, and Sasuke sees his chance. Sasuke heads to the top rope, calls his shot, then hits a Swanton Bomb right onto Magnum's back. Sasuke covers for what seems like a sure pin, but Magnum kicks out at 2! But Magnum's running on fumes, so Sasuke picks him up and plants him with the TFPB, and this time Magnum doesn't kick out (21:51). 

Sasuke celebrates as Naniwa sprays him down some more. But wait, here comes CIMA and Crazy Max. Seems CIMA was faking that knee injury. Why? So Sasuke could go to the finals and win the belt. Again, why? Well, ultimately, so he could beat Sasuke for the belt and gain the reputation as a legend killer. The officially sever all ties with Sasuke by kicking the crap out of him and Naniwa. Who should run in for the save but…Taka Michinoku, who chases off CIMA and co. We find out he didn't do it for Sasuke, he did it for Michinoku Pro. Wotta guy. Neat angle too (once someone translates for you) (7).

You sit down to watch this match and think "Ooh, there's gonna be some kickass highspots here. The Magnum and Sasuke take it to the mat for 12 minutes and you think "Well, this is kinda cool." Then the match says "Ah, just messin' with ya, bud. Watch Magnum and Sasuke hit some of the craziest spots you can ever imagine. I'll toss in a white-hot near fall sequence to boot (8)." I said that was Magnum's best match, and it's probably one of Sasuke's too.

Fallout: The above led to a CIMA/Taka feud, but that's a story for another time. Sasuke still has the NWA Middleweight Title. Don't feel bad for Magnum, he recently won the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title. All parties still wrestle in Japan (except for Taka, of course).

That's all for now. Be back soon with a Summerslam preview.

Joe Gagne
bwo@telegram.infi.net

Endnotes:
(1) Sample lyric: "Go go go go go go go go go go!"
(2) Once I got drunk in college and did the Alex Wright dance for the ladies at a party. True story.
(3) If you don't get the reference, Ultimo Dragon invented the Asai Moonsault. In fact, it's even named after him (his real name being Yoshihiro Asai)
(4) What is that stuff? I see wrestlers in Japan get sprayed down after matches all the time.
(5) The way Sasuke does it, it's kinda like a Razor's Edge done in one motion, followed by a pin attempt. See "Pinning Powerbomb #8" in No Mercy.
(6) A pumphandle into a Michinoku Driver. And yes, that is the move's official name.
(7) Thanks to JH on the DVDVR Message Board for doing just that.
(8) I counted 9 near falls in the last few minutes.