[9.0] "One of wrestling's most overlooked wrestlers of all time imo. He is the jack of all trades in every sense whether you want a tag match, main eventer, comedy, card opener, jobber, he has done it all. His work in-ring nowadays isn't all too remarkable but that is wholeheartedly made up by the calibre of talent he helps to handcraft in his image: Maika, Aoi, Tomoka Inaba & Hayato Tamura being the pick of the bunch in just the last 4 years but his training of talent has been a 20 year career in itself even rubbing off on a great like ZSJ. The man is undoubtedly underrated and he is a testament to himself for being a trainer many young prodigies can turn to, to aim towards greatness. TAKA will hopefully be looked back upon after he retires as one of modern Puroresu's unsung heroes."
[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."
[9.0] "Sadly for Taka a lot of his best work came in smaller companies. A lot of fans only think of him as the comedy lip sinking in WWF or as the older man in Suzuki Gun. But for those that saw Taka in Michinoku Pro or some of his real early WWF work we know wthat an amazing talent he truly was at his peak."
[9.0] "Sehr unterschätzter Wrestler, der eigentlich die meiste Zeit seiner Karriere unterm Radar vieler ist. Scheint auch ein ziemlich guter Trainer zu sein. Bedenkt man den Output, den seine doch sehr kleine Liga JTO hat, ist das echt beachtlich."
[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."
[7.0] "In der Attitude-Era hat er mit Sicherheit nicht die größte Rolle gespielt, aber war doch ein wichtiger Teil und wirkte nicht so Fehl am Platz wie Hakushi einige Jahre zuvor. Guter High-Flyer mit spektakulären Moves."
[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"
[10.0] "Diejenigen, die Taka hier weniger als 7 Punkte geben, haben ihn wohl noch nie in action gesehen sondern sich nur das Foto hier angesehen. Mann, in der Attitude Ära hat er einfach nur die Cruiserweight Division gerockt! Eine fetzige Einzugsmusik, kranke Aktionen (vor allem gegen Pantera bei No Way Out 1998) und ein unglaublich guter Techniker bzw. High Flyer. Ihn zu sehen war das Spannenste überhaupt! Da kann ich verstehen, warum man John Cena vorwirft nur 5 Moves draufzuhaben..."
[10.0] "Wer es schafft einen simpelen Scoop Slam so brutal rüber zu bringen kann nur gut sein. ne, quatsch. TAKA kann natürlich mehr. Wurde bei der WWE unter Wert verkauft, aber das ist mir egal, denn in Japan rockt er ungeheim. Dazu hat er mit K-DOJO eine tolle Plattform für zahlreiche Wrestler geschaffen, die sich in ganz Japan verstreuen, neue Wege gehen, aber auch K-DOJO treu bleiben und diese Liga in ganz Japan vertreten. Dazu der erste Wrestler (als Ich noch WWE Fan war) den Ich wirklich sehr gefeiert habe"
[6.0] "Guter Techniker mit erstaunlich stiffem Kampfstil. Für mich aber etwas zu schmächtig, um als dauerhaft gefährlicher Wrestler glaubwürdig zu sein."
[10.0] "I remember I was a kid during the Attitude Era and it was the first year I started watching wrestling in 1997-1998 and I would see these light heavyweights in action every week and the one light heavyweight that stood out to me more than any of the other light heavyweights was Taka Michinoku. Not because he was the light heavyweight champion at the time but because he was just amazing to watch. All these cool high flying moves he would do like the Asai moonsault and leaping from the ring onto the top rope and diving onto the opponent on the outside. It was entertaining and of course he had the Michinoku Driver as his finisher which i definitely liked."
[10.0] "Sicher, eine Sympathiebewertung. Eigentlich würde ich ihm im Wrestlerischen Teil "nur" 8 Punkte geben, aber TAKA ist in Sachen wirklich unterhaltung pur, strahlt extremes Charisma aus und tut sehr viel fürs Wrestling mit seiner kleinen K-DOJO Promotion. Hat schon viele Herrausragende Wrestler trainiert und ihn eine Plattform gegeben. Danke TAKA!"
[8.0] "TAKA war einer der unterbewertetsten Wrestler ever in der WWE, der Typ ist so geil und sein Match gegen The Great Sasuke damals sowas von zu wenig geschätzt.. Matches in Japan natürlich umso geiler, 8 Punkte."
[8.0] "Wunderbarer Kerl, schönes Wrestling und ein Charisma und Unterhaltungsbombe. Gefält mir eigentlich fast immer. Hat sich einen guten Ruf erarbeitet und hat gute Beziehung zu den großen Promotion. Nicht zu vergessen das KaienTai-Dojo. Würde aber mir wünschen das er wiederr öfter bei AJPW ist, damit ich mehr von ihm zu sehen bekomme. Kultiger Wrestler, mit kultiger Gruppe."
[6.0] "Anspruchsvoller, jedoch monotoner und uncharismatischer Cruiserweight, welcher einfach das Glück "zur rechten Zeit am rechten Ort", nämlich Mitte 1998 in der WWF gewesen zu sein. Um ihn herum wurde die Light-Heavyweight Divison geschaffen, welche aber auch aufgrund der geringen Resonanz auf Michinoku mit äusserst geringem Momentum an den Start ging. Taka selbst ist ein schneller und versierter Vertreter seiner Zunft, jedoch für den nordamerikanischen Markt überwiegend uninteressant."
[7.0] "Hat es genau richtig gemacht und hat die WWE verlassen und zurück nach Japan. Dort kann ich ihn zwar nicht sehen doch das was ich von ihm gesehen habe gefiel mir."
[8.0] "F*ck You! Ich mag TAKA. Egal ob zu WWF Zeiten als (Edel-)Jobber, als Comedyakt oder in Japan als glaubhafter Junior. Spricht mich eigentlich so gut wie immer an. Dazu muss man einfach seine Tätigkeit als Trainer honorieren."
[8.0] ""TAKA's comin', motherf***er! " Guter Junior, der nach seiner Zeit bei der WWF in Japan mit der Jr. Triple Crown groß auftrumpfte. Lange nur wenig ansprechende Leistungen, mittlerweile aber stark im Ring. Zudem leistet er mit seinem Kaientai Dojo gute Arbeit."
