Dick Togo is the L. Ron Hubbard of the Cupboard

Sato/Shiryu/Great Sasuke vs. Gran Naniwa/Super Delfin/Jinsei Shinzaki AJW 11/20/94 - GREAT

This was a MPRO signature match on the All Japan Women's Big Egg Universe, and was a nifty version of their signature pre-KDX trios match. This was clearly meant to be a pallet cleanser for a long AJW show, and was more comedy focused then the stuff they were doing on their own shows. Still this shtick is great shtick, and Naniwa and Delfin have great comic timing with each other. Probably goes a bit long to be truly high end, but the finish run was pretty exciting with great dives by everyone including two nutty Sato dives with one being a tope where he almost goes vertical.


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It's Only One God and It's Only One Crown and It's Only Dick Togo that Can Stand on this Mound

SATO/Shiryu vs. TAKA Michinoku/Super Delfin MPRO 9/20/94 - GREAT

Not the fluid lucharesu showcase you might expect from this lineup, instead we get a violent beatdown by the SATO and Shiryu.  They run out and blitz TAKA and Delfin, throwing them violently all around the arena SATO (our boy Dick) takes TAKA out to the lobby and chucks him into a concrete post, slams him on a ping pong table and chokes him with some guys umbrella. They take Delfin out completely with a spiked tombstone on the floor, leaving them to brutalize TAKA 2 on 1. There is a great comeback moment where TAKA dropkicks them to the floor and hits his spaceman plancha, he goes back in the ring to dive on Togo again, and Shiryu just wastes him with a larait to the back of the head. They beat the ref for the hell of it, and then Terry Boy comes in and they do some neck compressing triple teams, before leaving TAKA in a heap. Too one sided to be an EPIC match, but man was this an nasty beat down, SATO and Shiryu look like killers.

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Hell Freeze Over Like the Watch Togo's Puts His Sleeve Over

SATO/Great Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon/Masao Orihara WAR 3/2/94 - FUN

This had some really strong moments and good performances, but I just don't think these kind of matches are doing a ton for me in 2010. It went too long, even with a clip in the middle, and didn't feel like it had much of a structure. Just a lot of guys doing a bunch of things, some of the things are really cool, but it didn't build much of a coherent tale. I really like Orihara as either an underdog fighting through a beating, or a dickish asshole stiffing people. He can do both in one match and make it work, but here it felt a little like he was shifting back at forth randomly. Also Sasuke brutally blew the Sasuke Special #2 which ruined what had been an awesome dive train. Otherwise Sasuke was pretty great, as he really has a awesome overall shtick, graceful and crazy, as adept at quick lucha exchanges as lunatic bumping. Man is SATO stellar too, such crazy agility for a stocky dude, he had the best dive in a match with Orihara, Ultimo and Great fucking Sasuke which is really something. Ultimo had some nice moments, I loved him dickishly breaking up a pin by kicking Sasuke in the eye Tenryu style, but he is still consistently the least guy in almost every match I see him in. I think folks will enjoy this, but I wanted it to be better.

Dick Togo vs. Super Delfin MPRO 6/22/97 - FUN

This is a pretty well known match amongst wrestling nerds of the 90s. Togo just destroys Delfin here. Completely one sided asskicking, including Togo breaking Delfin's nose on a DDT off a stage on a table. After his nose gets smashed, Togo keeps dropping him on his face and kicking him in said nose. It was a really great attack on someone wearing Delfin's mask. There was blood dripping down out of the pointy nose. The finish of the match has Delfin beaten so badly that he prostrates himself by crawling through Togo's legs to submit. It was a bizarre angle as it feels like a Vince McMahon humiliation of Jim Ross, although it is hard not to find it compelling. Not much of a match, but a heck of a spectacle.

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Wrestle With the Work Dick Togo's Like the Four Horseman, Ric Flair With The Flame He's Motherfucking Gorgeous

Sato/Shiryu/Great Sasuke/TAKA Michinoku vs. Jushin Liger/El Samurai/Shinjiro Otani/Tokimitsu Ishizawa NJPW 6/15/94 - EPIC 

PAS: A hell of match. I was a little hesitant about the NJ Juniors being able to hang in this kind of MPRO sprint, but they totally brought it. Ohtani especially was great, springboarding all over the ring and having a dickhead smirkoff with TAKA. Man alive, the MPRO team were sick athletes, just watching the speed they run the ropes, and the height they get on every move, when Sasuke somersaults through on the dropdown he just floats in the air forever. Of course our boy SATO is at his chubbiest and his fastest, he may have had the prettiest dive of the train with his double jump flip plancha. Liger is also just tailor made for this style, he captains his team so well, he is calling the plays like Jason Kidd. The finish was awesome as we get a triple flying headbutt on Shiryu, before Liger brings him to the top rope and spikes him through the mat with a brainbuster. I don't understand why this style is so bad now, why can't there be guys still doing this? 

Dick Togo vs. Chris Hero IWA-EC 4/5/06 - EPIC 

PAS: It is weird that this match even exists. Togo comes over to US for one show to work Chris Hero in a ladder match for Mad Man Pondo's West Virginia garbage fed, which is just bizarre. It is a hell of match though and the weirdness of it just adds to it. The match starts out with both guys doing some really nice matwork, don't really know the point of putting on submissions in a ladder match, but it was cool. Togo was really working hard, hitting a flip dive onto Hero and a ladder, eating a ladder shot to the mouth and taking a huge backdrop on said ladder. Hero was really good too, bleeding and taking big bumps. This was a before the young KO kid gimmick, but he was unloading with punches and elbows. Finish was pretty cool with Hero springboarding, landing on a ladder and knocking Togo off the other. Easily the best match ever with a Warpig match on the undercard 

Dick Togo vs. Michael Nakazawa DDT 10/24/10 - SKIPPABLE 

PAS: Nakazawa is one of the culturally odd Japanese gimmicks that I do not and don't want to understand. He has facepaint, fishnets and a thong, and mostly wanders around the ring into the crowd. Most of the match is Togo chasing him and hitting him. He does get a bit of offense after kicking the rope into Togo's balls, and proceeds to hit him with a cat o nine tails. Togo does hit a nice senton, but he does that a lot, so nothing to see here. 

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Dick Togo is Clearing out the Pipes, Draino Brothers, The Whole Game Got Rollies in Rainbow Colors

SATO/Kendo/Piloto Suicida vs. Super Delfin/Super Boy/Gran Naniwa MPRO 7/94 - FUN 

PAS: This had about 10 minutes clipped, so it was hard to get a huge handle on what was going on. All six of these guys are really smooth wrestlers, and Superboy especially is an athletic marvel, as crazy agile as Dick Togo with 80 more pounds. Hadn't seen much of Piloto Suicida recently and all of his stuff looked great, as did Kendo. The stuff we saw was focused more on the comedy spots then a usual MPRO six-man. That maybe a side effect of the clipping, it may not have dominated as much in a longer match. For what I saw though, it overwhelmed the cool lucha. Finish run was sweet though especially the dive train, and Delfin murdering Pilota with his tornado DDT 

Dick Togo/Tigers Mask/Black Buffalo vs. Tsubasa/Asian Cougar/Billy Ken Kid Osaka Pro 4/29/09 - FUN

PAS: Worked like a traditional MPRO six man, although 2009 Osaka doesn't have the horses that 1996 MPRO had. Tsubasa, Cougar and Kid have nice spots, but their in between stuff didn't look great. This maybe the slimmest I have ever seen Togo, and while he doesn't have the fat boy heft anymore, he was getting freaky height and speed on everything he does. The rotation on his flips, the height on the senton just crazy looking. Asian Cougar isn't afraid to die on a senton on chairs to the floor, and Togo plants BKK with a Pepsi plunge which was pretty sweet. 

Dick Sato vs. Hip Hop Man 100% Lucha 3/9/08 - GREAT 

PAS: Totally awesome 7 minute TV match from Argentina of all places (THE MOTHERFUCKING INTERNET!!). They kick out the jams and go at a crazy pace the whole time. Hip Hop Man is a game dude, he had really pretty ranas and hits a crazy run the ropes flip dive. Togo is clearly trying to impress a new crowd, he breaks out all of his athletic stuff, and even hits a rolling senton off the apron to the floor, which I have never seen before. Pretty much a textbook debut in a new territory. I can totally see the crowd wanting to see more of this invader. This is the kind of thing which would have made an episode of Worldwide. 

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Dick Togo's Heating Up Like They Wrapped Him In Flannel, Selling Kilos From Your IPOD Nano

Sato/Great Sasuke/Shiryu vs. Super Delfin/Gran Naniwa/Jinsei Shinzaki MPRO 2/4/94 - EPIC 

PAS: Pretty much a perfectly executed MPRO formula six man. It has everything you expect, the intricate lucha armdrags and ranas, the signature comedy spots, the crazy dive train. When these guys get on this kind of roll, it really is something special. Man 1994 Sato (Togo) is one of the most athletic impressive wrestlers in history, the speed and agility he executes his stuff is incredible. He and Delfin match up to start the match, and their exchanges are at Gods Must Be Crazy speed. Sato also wins the dive train which is pretty impressive considering the company he keeps. We get Shiryu and Naniwa next, and they have a more mat based match up, with Shiryu ripping off some really quick amateur rides. It had been a long time since I have seen the Naniwa/Delfin MX arm wringer spot, but man do those guys execute it perfectly. Delfin is great as a cocky douche really getting into working over the arm, and Naniwa is also great as a guy sad and angry at always being a schlemiel. Outside of one awkward Shinzaki spot (and honestly he didn't bring a ton to this) this was textbook stuff, and exactly the kind of thing I fell in love with when I first saw it. 

Dick Togo/Great Sasuke/Nobutaka Moribe vs. Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita/Macho Pump MPRO 8/22/04 - GREAT 

PAS: Elimination cage match which was relatively uneventful except for a couple of huge moments. Your non FEC team was pretty vanilla and dull, Macho Pump especially is a guy who has never contributed positively to any wrestling match I have seen him in. Most of the action in the match was punch and kick stuff, and not done particularly well. The huge moments were pretty huge though. Fujita hits a nice looking Superfly splash off the cage, Sasuke is battling with Fujita on the top of the cage and basically takes a Shawn Micheals style HIC bump backwards off the cage, and Togo ends the match with a top of the cage senton which is a top five in wrestling history cage dive. Just amazing looking. Feels like what was memorable was memorable enough to recommend the match relatively highly. Dick Togo/Ikuto Hidaka v. Gedo/Jado Riki Pro 1/17/10-FUN 2010 Gedo and Jado both have weirdly oiled up muscled bodies and dark tans, they should find Chapparita Asari, have her grow a poof and work Jersey Shore gimmicks. Good stuff in this, both Gedo and Togo looked great. Togo did a couple of really tremendous moves, I love how he floats mid air with his in ring somersault senton. Gedo does all of the small things really well, punches, bumping and superkicks. Hidaka and Jado didn't bring much at all though, outside of a minute or so of solid Hidaka matwork. Crowd was completely dead, and parts of this fell flat, had a real undercard house show feel, like they were going through the motions. Worth watching for Togo and Gedo, but falls short of a strong recommendation. 

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