Those Days: A Michinoku Pro Retrospective Ep. 12 - The End of 1995
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Voices of Wrestling
Kato Kung Lee's death
It was announced that Kato Kung Lee had passed away in the middle of a Friday night Arena Mexico show in 2016... it turns out he was not dead. He would pass away the next day, but was still alive at the time that both CMLL and AAA were mourning his death.
Sabu's WCW firing
Sabu realized he got fired because he heard something on commentary and then called the WCW 1-900 number to find out. Jesus, that is cold.
New Japan/Michinoku Pro relationship
New Japan will be holding its annual tag team tournament... they aren't going to repeat the business they did last year because Michinoku Pro gave them strong enough juniors to do a complete tag tournament. Dave is outright saying here because they aren't partnering with Michinoku Pro as much in 1995, that that tournament from a box office perspective is already doomed.
Michinoku Pro history
There will come a time in 1997 where Michinoku Pro and New Japan are once again very, very tight and there is a very clear line in the sand as to why New Japan stops working with Michinoku Pro. That is the biggest sliding glass door moment I think in the history of this promotion.
Taka Michinoku's career
If you sort of only know late-stage Taka, or if you associate Taka with being a wrestler in the United States, you might not be ready for just how good Taka Michinoku is at various points in time.
1995 Super J-Cup
Ultimo Dragon believed WAR could make Rey Mysterio Jr. into an attraction if protected using the right opponents, but in the tournament he'd have to do a job and he is actually too light even against some of the junior heavyweight wrestlers like Liger to not be exposed in that sense.
Work rate evolution
I think the thing that really sticks out here is in the same way that I think watching this with 1995 eyes, the speed in which they were working in the moves they did would have been the mind-blowing thing. Watching this with 2026 eyes, it is the foundational ability that these guys possess.
Michinoku Pro archival footage
It's a shame that we don't have footage from that show. But we do have footage from the September 25th, 1995 Michinoku Pro Show. We have two matches on this show. We have Kato Kung Lee Sr. and Tiger Mask versus Takamichi Noku and Super Delphin.
Taka Michinoku's character development
Taka is at a point in his career that he just he's no longer like the whipping post. He is clearly his own person.
Podcast philosophy
I feel like for the audio sense it is better that we kind of come into it both of us with our own cemented views and we explore how they intersect on audio like that's always kind of been my theory about this.