Great Sasuke

Along with Jushin Liger and Ultimo Dragon, the Great Sasuke was one of the defining wrestlers during the height of Japanese Junior heavyweight wrestling. The style has fallen out of favor as the years go by, but I think the very best matches stand the test of time and Sasuke is involved in many of the very best matches of the era. His matches against Jinsei Shinzaki (94), Jushin Liger (94x2), Taka Michinoku (97) and Magnum Tokyo (99) were all truly excellent matches. The athleticism and dives are some of the things that stand out when watching Juniors wrestling vs Heavyweight wrestling, and Sasuke's dives were utterly spectacular. Everyone knows he could blow spots, but when he hits something like the Space Flying Tiger Drop or a flipping dive over the ring post, Sasuke can produce some of the most breathtaking spots in wrestling history. And I don't think his spot blowing is so egregious compared to a lot of other people. Of course his most famous spot is a blown spot, but I've always been on the side that it enhances the match. He was a great offensive wrestler outside of the dives. The crucifix powerbomb, tiger suplex and german suplexes always looked great. Of course he's one of the all time lunatic bumpers. He's a much better mat worker than you'd think. He's not like Volk Han down there, but in terms of keeping things moving and interesting he's one of the better juniors. Check out the long match with Taka from 97 especially.

In terms of tag teams and multi mans, the Sasuke & Delphin vs Funaki & Teoh matches from 11/99 are the best junior tag matches of the 90s. And of course M-Pro's 6 man and 10 man tags are spectacular. But its kinda weird, Sasuke rarely truly stood out in this setting. Don't get me wrong, he's amazing in the matches and knows exactly what to do. But I can't really remember watching one of those big 10 man M-Pro matches and thinking Sasuke was the best guy in the match. Dick Togo & TAKA always stood out. Yakushiji & Gran Hamada were often the guys on the face side that stood out the most. Even the most famous of the 10 man tags, These Days, you don't really miss Sasuke in it. He's absolutely the M-Pro babyface you want in a long singles match. I do not want to watch Naniwa go 20+ minutes with Magnum Tokyo in 1999. But Sasuke delivers on the singles matches. So it doesn't really bug me that he's merely "awesome" in the 10 man tags instead of "the most awesome."

I wonder if anyone has any recommendations on post 2000s Sasuke. I also really wanted to again encourage people to watch the match with Jinsei Shinzaki from 94. It is fantastic.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI-t1_2oM9g