Taka Michinoku?

[johnpricesuperstar]

I bought the High Flyers DVD and saw a guy by the name of Taka Michinoku.

I had never heard of him until I saw the DVD. I knew of obscure characters like the Gobbly Gooker, Outback Jack but Taka Michinoku?

I now know he was the first light heavyweight champion but have to ask- What went wrong with him in the WWF? Could he have been a bigger star? Was he over?

[BigJerichool222]

He couldn't get over; he was just too evil.

[bwolvert]

......INDEED

[Rest easy big bro]

Youtube his kaientai run with funaki, They where over as all hell

[percymania]

Man, I still remember when his debut was a big highly-hyped whoop-dee-doo, but once he started having matches it went totally flat. He had a few flashy moves and he was a great athlete, but he was a small guy in a big man's world and it just didn't work out for him. There weren't many WWE Superstars Taka could be booked to beat. They basically had to create the lightweight division for him. His inability to speak English probably didn't help him much either. They tried to get him over, but I don't think he was a big of a deal as they had hoped. He certainly was a good wrestler though.

[Tyfo]

Remember when he started teaming with Bradshaw, and Bradshaw was Americanizing him?

Good times.

For a little while, it did seem like he was pretty over. It seemed like it was intended for him to be the WWF's answer to Rey Mysterio's success in WCW, but they just didn't want to go as all out with it as WCW did. Then they put him in Kaientai and turned him heel, which wasn't really all that great......until it got down to just him and Funaki.

Sure they were just a low card comedy act, but damn it were they awesome.......I mean EEEEVVVVVVVIIIILLLLLLLLL!!





INDEED!


Even before that, they had some fun moments, like running in on the 2000 Royal Rumble match several times, only to get their asses handed to them over and over (the Mean Street Posse did the same thing during that match as well.) including Taka taking a nasty bump on the floor after Boss Man threw him over.

[shadowforce420]

TAKA was around for a few years, he was pretty cool. Look him up on youtube, he had some good matches early on as a face and was a great character with Funaki later on. He got ruined at Rumble 2000 but it was awesome.

[Deleted]

No one's recommending the Triple H match?

Go look up the Triple H match.

[Paco]

Jan 11, 2011 2:14:31 GMT -5 percymania said:

Man, I still remember when his debut was a big highly-hyped whoop-dee-doo, but once he started having matches it went totally flat. He had a few flashy moves and he was a great athlete, but he was a small guy in a big man's world and it just didn't work out for him. There weren't many WWE Superstars Taka could be booked to beat. They basically had to create the lightweight division for him. His inability to speak English probably didn't help him much either. They tried to get him over, but I don't think he was a big of a deal as they had hoped. He certainly was a good wrestler though.

Actually, his debut didn't have any big hype at all.

He was brought in to job to the Great Sasuke.
Sasuke was supposed to be WWF's Light Heavyweight superstar but the fans, not knowing who the Japanese "Legend" was here, were more impressed by Taka and responded to him more. Despite losing both their matches (Canadian Stampede & RAW the night after), Taka was brought back and Sasuke wasn't.

[Ricky Nightshade]

Wasn't he killed in that one Royal Rumble match?

[Ryback on a Pole!]

I liked TAKA, Kai En Tai were a fun tag team.

["Dashing" Dr.VonPhoenix]

Jan 11, 2011 4:16:24 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

No one's recommending the Triple H match?

Go look up the Triple H match.

Agreed. HHH had to get the duke, of course, but he and Taka put on a hell of a match. A real f***ing clinic. And, I say this as the original HHHater. Hunter vs. Taka was awesome and could have gone either way

[Krazee]

i miss Taka and Kaientai, i liked how one of the members wore a Iron Maiden shirt and who could forget choppy choppy you pee pee and Evil and that nasty bump he took at the Rumble

[Fundertaker]

He was brought in to job to the Great Sasuke.
Sasuke was supposed to be WWF's Light Heavyweight superstar but the fans, not knowing who the Japanese "Legend" was here, were more impressed by Taka and responded to him more. Despite losing both their matches (Canadian Stampede & RAW the night after), Taka was brought back and Sasuke wasn't.

Yeah, but there's also the "I'm going to defend the WWF Light Heavyweight Title in Japan only" from Sasuke and the fact that TAKA was willing to stay in America, as opposed to Sasuke who wanted to only do televised shows and PPV's in America and continue to do Michinoku Pro's shows in Japan.

[Metalheadbanger Man]

TAKA is an awesome wrestler. He did get to have a very good WrestleMania match with Aguila (who went on to become Essa Rios).

But yeah, he's probably more well known for the dubbed promo gimmick than anything else, which is a shame if you ask me. It was funny, but his ability gets overlooked as a result.

[Joe Galt]

Jan 11, 2011 2:00:17 GMT -5 BigJerichool222 said:

He couldn't get over; he was just too evil.

Oh, and do you remember that time that he caused the Undertaker to break character because of how evil he was?

[The QC Loser]

ya more like Taka Michinoclue...

[Bearer is God]

I believe Foley said that if the WWF was about pure wrestling ability, Taka would have been world champ.

[littleBIGcraPPer]

amazing wrestler.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Jan 11, 2011 8:52:43 GMT -5 Bearer is God said:

I believe Foley said that if the WWF was about pure wrestling ability, Taka would have been world champ.

I'm not sure about that, but he said in his book that Taker gets a bigger reaction jumping the top rope once a year than Taka gets doing a twisting sakahura every night.