Back in the 1990s, this Northeast promotions was an absolute secret on the Japanese professional wrestling scene. With daring aerial actions, the ultra cool, revolutionary and absolutely legendary Heel Stable Kaientai DX (Deluxe) and the mysterious masked men, the little league caused a stir.
In the first years after its founding, almost everything revolved around the dispute between Sasuke and his companions against the group Kai En Tai, which was founded on September 15, 1994, initially SATO (later Dick togo), Terry Boy (later MEN's Teioh) and Shiryu (now known as Kaz hayashi). With the change of name of the fighters, the name of the group changed to Kaientai Deluxe and two new members joined, Taka Michinoku y Shoichi funaki.
During this heyday of Michinoku Pro, Sasuke primarily worked with junior weight fighters, which was a novelty in Japan at the time (aside from the small independent promotion of Great hamada, Universal Wrestling). NJPW, AJPW, WAR and FMWMore they had a more or less well-developed Jr. division, but a promo the size of Michinoku Pro, which was mainly focused on style Fight, had no comparison. However, it wasn't just the lightweight aerial fighters that made the league so attractive. “Mr. Indy” jinsei shinzaki As the only heavyweight on the list, he provided hilarious comedic elements on every card.
Michinoku Pro achieved worldwide fame in April 1997, when the stars of the promotion were invited to the PPV, “BARELY LEGAL” as part of a cooperation with ECW, and they offered an impressive fight there, which American wrestling fans greatly enjoyed. After spectacular appearances in the United States, Michinoku Pro was no longer just a small stronghold in Japan and among Western Japanese wrestling experts, but for the first time ever established a wide western fan base that he met the great flyers of the Far East. This would be Sasuke's undoing a little later.
In 1998 the promotion had a turning point. After the leaders of WWF They noticed ECW imports from Japan, Togo, Teioh, TAKA and Funaki came to the company in the spring of 1998, where they continued to conduct the Kai En Tai Stable in front of an American audience.
Dissatisfied with the low salary, creative direction, and poor treatment of the fighters, Super Dolphin, Michinoku Pro's second biggest star, behind Sasuke, decided to leave the company towards the end of that year and found the regional promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. Some Michinoku Pro stars followed Delfin, including Dick Togo (released from WWF in 1999), Naohiro Hoshikawa, Masato Yakushiji, Super Demekin (better known as Super Dolphin, later as Zero), Masaru Seno (Daio QUALLT) and Yoshito Sugamoto. (Gamma). After this split, Michinoku Pro's big moment ended, but Sasuke succeeded through a collaboration with Last dragon at the newly created Toryumon Gym and the eventual return of TAKA Michinoku (who had founded his own organization, KAIENTAI DOJO) and Dick Togo.
Towards the turn of the millennium, the inclusion of foreigners caused a sensation, such as Curry Man (Christopher Daniels), Jody Fleisch (as Dakko Chan), Chad Collyer (as Metal Master) or Quiet storm.
In April 2003, Sasuke was elected as the first masked politician in the Iwate Prefectural Assembly and subsequently concentrated on his political duties. Jinsei Shinzaki was appointed president of Michinoku Pro and took the reins of the league. In the summer of 2007, Sasuke was nominated for the Iwate governor's election, but was unable to prevail in the race for the job and eventually returned to professional wrestling. On August 31, 2009, he again assumed the position of president of Michinoku Pro.
The second large group of the promotion was called Far East Connection, a group of autonomous fighters founded in July 2001, co-founded by Dick Togo and which included Ikuto hidaka, Minoru Fujita, Masao Orihara, Macho * Pump, Tomohiro Ishii, Jado and Gedo. The feud between FEC and Michinoku Pro dominated what happened during the promo, similar to what happened before with Kaientai DX. After troubles in the ring and behind the scenes, the Far East Connection began to disintegrate in the first half of 2004, before the members finally parted ways in July. There were also pay cuts in August of that year, many fighters again leaving the promotion, including Togo, Hidaka, Fujita, Hayate and Macho * Pump.
Despite the bitter rivalry between Sasuke and Delfin, the two leagues have worked together at least twice. Both agreed a collaboration on the occasion of the big XNUMXth Anniversary event of Michinoku Pro in November 2003 at the Tokyo Ariake Colosseum, which was the most successful show in its history with 8,008 viewers. A month before the event, President Jinsei Shinzaki paved the way for the epic one-man match between Sasuke and Delfin when, surprisingly, he appeared at an Osaka Pro function and after a lengthy discussion was able to persuade Delfin to fight. Thus, four years after his departure, which left much bad blood, Super Delfin returned to his former homeland and defeated Sasuke in the most important match in Michinoku's history.
Three years later, in the summer of 2006, the feud resumed, and this time it involved more than just individual duels. In addition to countless interpromotional matches that headlined a whole series of "big shows," championships changed hands. Osaka's Super Delfin won the Tokohu Jr. Championship in May 2006, he lost it five months later at the biggest Michinoku Pro show of the year in a new duel against Great Sasuke, before former Michinoku Pro and Osaka Pro star, GAIN (now Shisa King in Okinawa Pro) lost. Only Indy superstar Takuya Sugi (Yoshitsune AKA The Blazer, AHII & THE * ZEST) was able to dethrone the champion in November 2007 after a year of reign. The Tohoku Couples Championship was won in July 2006 by Osaka Pro wrestlers, Tigers Mask and Flash Moon; While kagetora and Rasse won the Osaka Pro Couples Championship in August 2007.
At the center of this dispute were mainly Jinsei Shinzaki and the referee Ted tanabe (the principal of Michinoku Pro), who began the dispute in April 2006 with a controversial quick count in an individual match between Shinzaki and Delfin in favor of the Osaka Pro representative. On June 17, 2007 there was a very important individual match between Shinzaki and Tanabe, which Shinzaki won, in no time.
Today, the roster of fighters is largely made up of former Ultimo Dragon protégés, the so-called Toryumon X Generation. Toryumon X was supposed to be the third generation after Toryumon and Project Toryumon 2000, but for various reasons the project failed so quickly that almost none of the students made it onto the main Toryumon roster and the youngsters found a new home.
Since the league's debut in 1993, dozens of different championships have been contested, including the British Commonwealth Jr. Championship, as well as different individual, team and trio championships from Mexican associations. UWA and WWA, ULL (from Gran Hamada) and NWA. On tour"Championship Series” in the summer of 1996, up to 10 different titles were even disputed. This chaos ended with the introduction of his own belt. In addition to the titles, there is an annual team tournament since 1994, the Michinoku Tag Team League (futaritabi) and a version of a trios tournament that has been held several times. Since 2005, an annual singles tournament has been held, the so-called “Iron Man” tournament (Tetsujin). Michinoku Pro's most famous event is undoubtedly the Fukumen (Mask) World League; held every four years, with the participation of masked junior wrestlers. In addition to the winner, in the first three editions (1995, 1999 and 2003) they also looked for the fighters with the worst performance: the two participants with the fewest points at the end of the group stage had to compete in a mask against mask match, where the loser had to reveal his true identity, the highest punishment for a masked fighter. In 2000, Michinoku Pro also hosted the third edition of the legendary Super J-Cup.
Although Michinoku Pro is far from its heyday, having lost all of its superstars and main draws except for Sasuke and Shinzaki, it subsists in an age where there are countless independent companies. However, none have as rich a history and a name as big as Michinoku Pro.
