page_title: The Great Sasuke
section_title: Junior competition
hierarchical_section_title: The Great Sasuke / Professional wrestling career / Michinoku Pro Wrestling (1993-present) / Junior competition
caption_attribution_description: English: Great Sasuke 日本語: グレート・サスケ
context_page_description: Masanori Murakawa, is a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and politician, currently wrestling for Michinoku Pro Wrestling under the ring name The Great Sasuke. Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly legislator. He has wrestled in Japan and in the United States in various professional wrestling promotions. He is said to have an incredible tolerance for pain, mainly in reference to the injuries he has had including a cracked skull on two occasions.
context_section_description: MPW kicked off in March 1993, when Sasuke and the rest of babyface wrestlers entered an intense feud against the villainous Super Delfín and his Delfín Corps. This rivalry would last many years.
  In 1994, New Japan Pro Wrestling celebrated the first Super J Cup, a junior heavyweight tournament for wrestlers from all over the world. Sasuke was drafted and reached the finals after beating NJPW favourites Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai, but fell to Wild Pegasus at the end. Despite his loss, Sasuke represented Michinoku Pro excellently and allowed for it to receive national coverage, and he himself became one of the most popular junior wrestlers in Japan.
  The same year, Sasuke competed in the similar NJPW Super Grade Jr. Heavyweight Tag League, where he teamed up with Black Tiger. As with the previous, Sasuke and Tiger amassed a high number of wins and came to the finals, but were eliminated there by Wild Pegasus and Shinjiro Otani. Sasuke also participated in the first Fukumen World League, hosted by Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1995 and admitting only masked wrestlers. Sasuke was defeated in the final round by Dos Caras.
  In April 1996, Sasuke returned to NJPW and defeated Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, which he defended five times at both NJPW and MPW. His reign, along with his next title win over NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Masayoshi Motegi and WWF Light Heavyweight and WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight double champion El Samurai, would lead to the creation of the J Crown title, with Sasuke winning it in the final of a tournament against Último Dragón on August. For two months, Sasuke was one of the most decorated wrestlers in history, until he lost all of it to Dragón in Wrestle Association R.
  In February 1997, Sasuke and several of his MPW teammates made a pair of appearances for Extreme Championship Wrestling in United States. In July, he and Taka Michinoku also wrestled two matches for World Wrestling Federation, one of them at In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede. It was apparent that Sasuke would sign up with WWF, but it was Michinoku who ended up being signed on his place for unknown reasons.
caption: Sasuke wearing his signature mask at the Hustle event in 2009.
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