Had the Great Sasuke signed with the WWF (and not TAKA Michinoku) in the summer of 1997, how much higher up the rankings would he be? The WWF was planning to build a division around him, but even though his WWF legacy is two matches (both wins over TAKA), he leaves behind an exciting body of work in Japan that made tape traders in the 1990’s drool. That probably isn’t worth that much here though.

When he was first seen on national television, Paul Wight was billed as The Giant, or specifically the son of Andre the Giant.  The seven-foot plus wrestler's first high profile match was against Hulk Hogan in WCW, ad he would later become their World Champion in little time.  Staying at or near the top of the card for the bulk of his WCW run, Wight would join the WWE and had a scattered career in the world’s biggest wrestling promotion.

A long-time referee in the NWA, Teddy Long got his big break as a heel official who became a successful manager. He would develop a stable of monster tag teams, and his fast talking and sneaky ways put him near the top of managers in the early 90’s. He would turn face and would still manage, though with limited success on screen, though he would always remain employed. He would bolt to the World Wrestling Federation where he again became a referee, but his persona was too large and he again became a rule breaking manager. After that ship passed, Teddy Long would remain on screen as a long-time General Manager of Smackdown. Considering his lengthy tenure on and off screen of the two biggest wrestling organizations of all-time, is an induction for Long impossible?

WCW was way ahead of the curve in terms of developing a cruiserweight division, and the WWE was far behind.  In 1997, they tried to rectify that, and TAKA Michinoku became the centerpiece of that movement.

Michinoku wrestled in his native Japan, making a mark for himself in FMW and Michinoku Pro, and it gave him the springboard to go to North America, first for ECW, and then for the WWF, where he was the dance partner of the Great Sasuke.  Michinoku jobbed for Sasuke twice, but the masked wrestler never came back to the WWF, and TAKA was signed and a division was built around him.  He won the tournament to win the Light Heavyweight Title, and held it for a year before he settling into to an enhancement team with Sho Funaki.

Michinoku returned to Japan, and formed his own promotion, Kaientai Dojo, which would help train wrestlers to reach larger ones.  Taka was still a top light heavyweight for years, and his legacy in Japan is very strong.

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