TAKA Michinoku

[7.0] "Taka was a great talent with a wide variety of moves and a high-flying repertoire. His lack of English held him back in the states, imo, but he did about as well as one could do without being able to speak due to his skill in the ring."

[8.0] "This guy was so ahead of his time. Go back to any match before 2005 and he's just had classic after classic. 1995-2003 are his glory years imo. Absolute beast in the ring"

[9.0] "Fascinating talent who probably SHOULD have been to Japanese wrestling what Rey Mysterio was to Mexican wrestling, that is, the big breakthrough talent who opened mainstream American eyes to a whole new style. That...didn't really happen, though, and he wound up mostly a comedy undercard guy in WWF/E. That said, he went back to Japan and cemented his legend there, so it's hard to say he didn't have a worthwhile career."

[8.0] "Great talent with a very famous move. Taka had great runs in FMW, ECW and WWF. Great highflyer and really good junior heavyweight."

[8.0] "Honestly still a good hand in 2024, but always a great worker and has had a huge impact on the business. Everyone knows at this point just how influential he has been, and that in itself says a lot about him. I would say he has something of a ceiling that his contemporaries in MPW did not, partially because of his look and partly because he can let go on effort at times. He has also had a strong career as a trainer, particularly in KDOJO."

[8.0] "A pretty underrated worker. Was great in his prime, can still work even though now he is a pin eater. Charismatic and good on the mic, which makes him a great manager, he is also a good trainer."

[6.0] "The WWF tried pushing him with the light heavyweight title but it didn't take long, maybe about a year before they just turned him into a comedy act. His skills were wasted in the Russo era WWF and even after Russo left, he was treated like a lame jobber."

[8.0] "Don't sleep on TAKA. Through the 90's before he landed in WWF he was pretty phenomenal, with Mick Foley famously quipping if the WWF Championship was decided on ability alone, TAKA would have been champion. He had some amazing big-time moves and he knew when to bust them out. He did some good stuff back in Japan before he started to really slow down but transitioned well into the stable pin-eater in NJPW which is a required role in their booking."

[8.0] "Imagine not loving Taka, back in the day he was often the only thing worth watching on the undercard of WWF and his work as wrestler, booker, promoter in Japan has been so unbelievably varied. His best work is in smaller promotions and worth a watch if you ever stumble across it."

[6.0] "Haven't been watching Taka for too long, but I've been satisfied with the amount of power he's brought to his matches. Have felt entertained with some of his grapples, and I've enjoyed his counter sequences also with young lions like Ryohei Oiwa."

[8.0] "Really sucked when they (the WWF) booked him in comedy matches that lasted barely a handful of minutes... Otherwise he's a great hidden gem of talent that you can't seem to keep your eyes off of. The more minutes Taka get's, the more he will fill it with greatness. Watch it all, his work is great even if the booking is trash. An over achiever with a kick ass finisher. 8.25 rounded down."

[8.0] "TAKA Michinoku was an excellent wrestler in the mid 1990s. However, the started declining a lot when in the late '90s he started wrestling in the WWF, where he was very underrated and not able to have the type of matches he was having in Japan. He has been wrestling for a long time now, and he hasn't been an excellent wrestlers for many years now, so it's hard to really give him anything higher than an 8.0 overall. If we would just be looking at his work in the mid '90s, then he would easily get a 9.0."

[7.0] "I've only seen him in the WWF, and while he did get a small push he remained relatively unknown as far as I can remember. What I do remember is that I was always excited to see him in the ring, with his high speed and high flying antics."

[6.0] "I know Taka has excelled since leaving WWE all those years ago. But honestly, most of my familiarity with him is from those days. The Light Heavyweight division, WWF's answer to WCW's Cruiserweight division, did not work out. Taka was brought in to help stoke the fires & really didn't have the ability to carry all that weight on his back. True that most of his dance partners during that time didn't help matters, but a decent amount of blame still needs to be given to a guy with a bland personality & a face that looked like it belonged to a middle schooler. Despite his lack of a personality, he did bring some fresh moves to the WWE product. And the fact that we still call it the "Michinoku Driver" definitely says something."

[8.0] "One of the top 20 cruiserweights of all times, easy, and a master of one of my favorite moves (Michinoku/Wagner Driver): only Naito does it better and it's a pretty big accolade. Apparently quite the character in real life, something that kept him from being pushed as his skills called for by all major promotions he has worked for, and got somehow worse with age, culminating with his "disappearance" from NJPW. In short another enormous talent who sabotaged his own career, but I'll give him a free pass because these days promotions fall over themselves to hire his trainees."

[10.0] "I love Taka Michinoku. One of the most influential Junior heavyweights in the history of professional wrestling. Do not let his recent work fool you. Taka in his prime, was one of the best wrestlers on the planet. And when he is matched up with a good worker, he can still produce some good matches these days. I think that warrants a 10."

[9.0] "Awesome wrestler. He had a great start in WWE. He was the first ever WWF Light Heavyweight Champion but when he joined Kaientai he went downhill and was used as a stereotypical Japanese heel. He was great on the mic with "we are EVIL! ". He is excellent in Japan. Awesome high flyer."

[9.0] "A wwe great and amazing theme and finisher (minichoku driver) and Crossface just great junior heavyweight worker With good strikes not just full Technically skilled and he would be good on 205 him and funaki should of won more titles Inaugural Light Heavyweight Champion he should have a lot of Hardcore Titles and in wwe good for 24/7 title"

[8.0] "TAKA is coming... MOTHERFUCKER! He's one of the best Junior Heavyweights that ever existed, he's too damn good. His mic-skills are on another level, and his ring-skills can be a little poor sometimes, but he's still one of the GOATs."

[9.0] "Taka never really made it in the WWF during the late 90s despite beign the first ever WWF light heavyweight champion. Now 20 years later he is a member of suzuki gun in NJPW and despite mostly beign used to help Zack Sabre Jr he is still wrestling from time to time. One of the best Junior heavyweights of all time."

[9.0] "An average rating of under 8 for TAKA is simply criminal. One of the best juniors ever; has been consistently great for like 20 years; can even cut promos."

[10.0] "Taka Michinoku is great, he's never had a bad period in his career, he's always been good. Even nowadays as a hype man for ZSJ he's good!"

[10.0] "I enjoy Taka a lot & he's my fave alongside Despy as my fave Jr Suzuki-Gun member. The guy looks exactly the same like he did 20 years ago & it's amazing to see. Really hope he gets a run with the IWGP Jr. Title."

[8.0] "It's shame that WWF (New Attitude Era) use him along with Funaki as a comedic jobber but the truth is he is greatest junior wrestler like his mentor, Great Sasuke put some cocky attitude and devious mind on him and his work with Kaientai DX in Michinoku Pro are best known as the most brutal wrestling stable in this great sport and his work with FMW and WWF (New Generation Era) was oustanding"