YMMV / Takuya Sugi

• Broken Base:
  • Discussing where Sugi places in the line between "good high-flying wrestler" and "Spot Monkey", and at which point of his career and under which gimmick, is surely a way to find many opinions.
  • Western puroresu fans were divided about whether Yoshitsune's push was too short or too long (although many were unanimous in that it happened too late into his tenure there).
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Sugi never got completely the career that many people think he deserved in Michinoku Pro, but the reality is that, except Sasuke and Shinzaki, he used to be more known than all the MPW roster put together at the time. Similarly, often the only reason people knew about Dragondoor and El Dorado was Sugi's tribute vids performing at those promotions.
  • The Shura is his most famous finishing move, despite the fact Sugi has performed it only once in his entire career.
• Epileptic Trees: Sugi's identity as Dual Force has been disputed by fans, especially after Word of God claiming Dual Force was the person under the hood of RONIN. Theories insist that Force was played by either Rasse or Hercules Senga (who played RONIN), despite they both were competing in Michinoku Pro events when Force was wrestling in other cities.
• One-Scene Wonder: Many of his coolest gimmicks and performances were one-night tricks.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • El Blazer was a rather outlandish character, but his style and presence were pretty original and he would have made a great serious wrestler. After El Dorado, however, Blazer turned into a sloppy comedic character who frequently jobbed in lame indy promotions and gave very uninspired performances in the ring.
  • Little Dragon is considered one of Sugi's most awesome characters, and many a fan would have loved to see him wearing his dragon mask when he came to Dragon Gate, maybe even working a match or even a dream feud against the resident Dragon Kid. Instead, he went as El Blazer, who was not bad itself, but evidently not the same.
  • Speaking about his return to Dragon Gate, some have pointed how awesome and fitting would have been a storyline with CIMA around Sugi's old Mini CIMA gimmick.
  • Many people would have wanted to see more of AHII, the lucha libre Venom expy. Given how weird his storyline in AJPW was, it's not easy to tell what had the promotion in mind for him, or even whether it had something for him at all.
• The Woobie: Shanao. Despite being a very popular wrestler in Michinoku Pro and receiving excited "Shanao-sama!" chants during all his matches, he was never properly pushed beyond Los Salseros Japoneses's whipping boy and a low mid-carder. He later took part in the Tetsujin Tournament, where he could have gained status, but by twisted luck he got injured and had to forfeit it. And finally, when it looked like he had found his niche in the company by teaming up with Kagetora, Shanao was swiftly betrayed and became a glorified jobber again while Kagetora skyrocketed with his heel stable STONED. Only when he turned Yoshitsune started to make his way through the ranks.