The image above is what sparked my interest in The Great Sasuke to begin with. I first saw it in a YouTube video on the history of New Japan Pro Wrestling (its more of a music video showing NJPW over time, but its still a good watch anyway), and it struck me, because the only wrestler up until then I've seen to be that decorated was Ultimo Dragon. To me, Ultimo is one of those fabled competitors who just kicked ass everywhere he went (less so in WWE I guess), in Japan, Mexico, Canada, the US, anywhere that has a postcode. So, I wondered why I had no idea who this guy was and decided to look into him, and boy oh boy did I find some goodies with this one.
After becoming a pro in 1990, Sasuke would head off and spend the first couple of years wrestling in Mexico for a company called UWA, the Universal Wrestling Association, possibly one of the most generically named promotions in existence. Sasuke would return to his native Japan in 1993, founding his own promotion, Michinoku Pro Wrestling. Notably, this was the first independently run Japanese promotion to not be based in Tokyo, rather, setting up shop in the north eastern area of Japan's Honshu Island. Michinoku Pro would centre its style on that of lucha libre, something Sasuke would have studied and visibly became proficient in during his time in UWA. Also in this year, Sasuke would also compete for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), a hardcore based promotion known for its stipulations containing the words; 'exploding', 'barbed wire', '15,000 Volt', 'bomb' and 'Six Man Loser Eats Dog Food Ladder Scramble Match'
It was in 1994 that Sasuke would make his first appearance for New Japan Pro Wrestling, taking part in that year's Super J Cup. Taking place over the span of one night, the tournament hosted competitors from various promotions other than New Japan, with Sasuke, Super Delfin and Taka Michinoku representing Michinoku Pro, Ricky Fuji and Hayabusa for FMW, Gedo for WAR and Masayoshi Motegi for SPWF.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer AKA Big Money Meltz AKA Big Dick Dave AKA Grandaddy Meltzer has called this the best wrestling event of 1994, as well as ranking highly with some of the best ever on recent episodes of Wrestling Observer Radio. On the night, The Great Sasuke had 3 matches, rated by Metlzer at 4.5, 4.75 and the illustrious 5 stars.
The 4.75 would come in the form of Sasuke's first match in what would go on to be one of his greatest rivalries, taking place in the semi-finals up against Jushin 'Thunder' Liger. Here's a lovely match link for you (Dailymotion). Whilst this match is great, it is worth noting that it did give us this legendary gif.
Defeating Liger, Sasuke advanced to the finals, facing off against Wild Pegasus, AKA Chris Benoit, in a losing effort, but cementing himself as one of the best junior heavyweights in Japan, as well as the world at large. Again, got a lovely match link for you here (Dailymotion).
A couple years later in 1996, The Great Sasuke would compete in another New Japan orchestrated tournament, with the very premise being to decide the greatest junior heavyweight in the J-Crown Tournament. This comprised of 8 junior champions coming together, with each bout being a title-for-title match to the point where the finalists each had 4 titles going into it. The contestants and their belts were;
- British Commonwealth Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Jushin Thunder Liger
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, The Great Sasuke
- NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Masayoshi Motegi
- NWA World Welterweight Champion, Negro Casas
- UWA World Jr. Light Heavyweight Champion, Shinjiro Otani
- WWA World Jr. Light Heavyweight Champion, Gran Hamada
- WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, El Samurai
Just a quick note, this WWF Light Heavyweight Championship is the one that WWE do not acknowledge as existing, with them remaking one in 1997 after they demanded this be removed from the J-Crown and returned to them.
After defeating Motegi and El Samurai, Sasuke faced off against Ultimo Dragon, another of Sasuke's esteemed rivals in the final round of the tournament. Papa Meltzer would rate this match a no laughing matter 4.25 stars, and again, I've got a lovely link for you (YouTube). Sasuke was on top of the junior heavyweight world, he had the trophy, he had the titles, and he had the bitches;
1997 saw Sasuke take his shit-kicking, handspring-ing ways to the United States of America, including a match just one day after facing Jushin Thunder Liger at the Tokyo Dome, at ECW Barely Legal. This 6-Man Tag, with Sasuke teaming with Gran Hamada and Masato Yakushiji to take on the Japanese contingent of the Blue World Order, Taka Michinoku, Terry Boy and Dick Togo. That ECW ring makes it all sound much more painful, with the link to that match being right here (Dailymotion). Sasuke would make more appearances for ECW, facing off against the likes of Al Snow, Lance Storm, Justin Credible and even Tiger Mask. Most of these were on house shows, so probably exist somewhere on tapes, but all of Sasuke's appearances on Hardcore TV are available on the WWE Network!
The Great Sasuke would also make a couple of appearances for the World Wrestling Federation in their Light Heavyweight division in the lead to them reintroducing the Light Heavyweight Championship after pulling it from the J-Crown. Both of his matches would be against Take Michinoku at In Your House: Canadian Stampede (4 stars from Big Dick
Story has it that Sasuke was heavily pushed to be the winner of this new belt, but after he bragged to Japanese media, saying he would only defend it in Japan and wouldn't drop it on WWF television, ties were cut, as well as the working agreement between the WWF and Michinoku Pro.
Sasuke continued to wrestle at a high level around the world until 2003, when he left the operating of Michinoku Pro to Jinsei Shinzaki and went to focus on his political career. In April of '03, Sasuke would win the election for the Iwate Prefectural Assembly, being the fourth Japanese wrestler to be elected into office, as well as the only masked one. Masked wrestlers in suits will forever be the best kind of pictures.
The following years saw him taking some years slow, but mostly he's been battling like anything, with 2011 seeing him take part in the Best of the Super Juniors, as well as Chikara's King of Trios along with Dick Togo and Jinsei Sinzaki to represent Michinoku Pro. Though he may have slowed down a bit in some areas, Sasuke has been wrestling for a wider array of companies than ever before in his career, including Pro Wrestling NOAH, the Kaientai Dojo and All Japan Pro Wrestling. However, as always, Sasuke continues to wrestle for his home promotion Michinoku Pro, having wrestled 954 matches for them since their creation, and is still going strong today at the age of 48.
Over his career, Sasuke has over 20 title reigns and won several tournaments. Sasuke is also seen as innovating the Michinoku Driver I, as well as the Senton Atomico, plus all of his various Sasuke Specials are sure to keep his legacy going for many years to come. After writing this and doing the research, I certainly now hold The Great Sasuke to high acclaim, ranking him up their with the best juniors in history. As a big fan of the Japanese junior style, it has been great to watch Sasuke in the class matches I've managed to find off the web, and I'll be sure to look out for more as well!
That does it for my retrospective on The Great Sasuke. Let me know what you think of it, as well as the concept of this series. I would like to give the How2Wrestling podcast a shout-out as being a big inspiration in the creation of this and I fully recommend you check those cats out, if you're a fan of the graps, you'll be a fan of them too. If there's anyone you'd like to be covered in this series, go ahead and suggest them! I am aiming to go with those who are more obscure to the mainstream pro wrestling audience, and I'm not too sure on the frequency that these will be put out. I do have an idea for who's next, my favourite Ring of Honour champion, Nigel McGuinness. Until the next one, I'll catch your ass down the road.
Further Viewing
The Great Sasuke vs Hayabusa - FMW: Year End Sensation, 1996 (YouTube)
The Great Sasuke, Masato Yakushiji & Gran Hamada vs Dick Togo, Terry Boy & Take Michinoku - ECW House Show, 14/2/1997 (YouTube)
The Great Sasuke vs Ultimo Dragon - Michinoku Pro: 4th Fukumen World League, 2007
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