- Breakup Breakout: Of the original Kaientai, TAKA and Funaki over Togo and Teiyo, by virtue of longevity in the WWF/E and, in Taka's case, actually being pushed at one point. All four of them over Shiryu, who never made it to the USA in the Shiryu gimmicknote .
- More Popular Spin-Off: The Michinoku Driver II is this to the original Michinoku Driver, to the extent that Taka's version is often the only one that gets named, and often just gets called the Michinoku Driver. Additionally, outside of those familiar with the career of The Great Sasuke, the name Michinoku is more popularly used to refer to TAKA, despite his not even being from that region.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: TAKA got hit with X-Pac Heat along with the rest of Suzuki-gun after the initial shock of their return to New Japan at the beginning of 2017 fizzled out as fans quickly grew tired of the constant and predictable interference in their matches. It also didn't help Suzuki-gun that they came back at the height of Bullet Club's popularity and the rise of Los Ingobernables de Japon turning them into a Big Bad Wannabe stable almost instantly. It wasn't until he became the hype man for Zack Sabre Jr. that it went away.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Mick Foley once said that if Vince McMahon pushed wrestlers based on talent and ability, then TAKA would have been WWF Champion, hands down.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TAKAMichinoku
Go To
