PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #7 11/3/91

Jerry Flynn v. Wellington Wilkins Jr.

PAS: Really great opener, clearly beats Flynn v. Meng in the BLOCK for the best Jerry Flynn match I have ever seen. Flynn may have 7 inches on Wilkins, and the match is really worked around that height difference. Flynn would pick him apart with big palm strikes and kicks on the outside, and Wilkins would be able to get inside and land some knees and headbutts. They had some really cool mat exchanges too, with Wilkins being really scrambely in grabbing for arms and legs..

TKG: Yowza was this fun. Both guys get near falls (or momentum change stuff) built around almost busting their opponents nose. And you have all these moments where either Flynn or Wilkins have to back off to check the bridge of their nose. You quickly realize first guy to bust the other guys nose will win. You watch this and go damnit if Bischoff had only put these two guys in masks and neon gi’s Blood Runs Cold would have kept that promotion alive.

Bart Vale v. Yusuke Fuke

PAS: Fuke is really good at playing the fired up youngster, however all the fire gets taken out of him early when Vale just dumps him directly on his neck with a german suplex. It really looked like it concussed Fuke, and he seemed glassy eyed for the rest of the fight. It also made the rest of the match really anti-climactic as nothing done afterwards was even close to as nasty as the german.

TKG: This really should have been stopped after that German. Had a bunch of fun things in it but was real hit and miss. They do a big build to Vale throwing a powerbomb and then Vale throws this especially ginger powerbomb. All the build makes it look even shittier. That powerbomb leads to the finish. I mean he dropped Fuke right on top of his head in first minute, but a tuck a kid into bed throw, leads to the finish.

Wayne Shamrock v. Kazuo Takahashi

PAS: I had been talking up Shamrock to Tom, and this wasn’t exactly the right match to showcase him. They have a cool staredown, and Takahashi goes in for a shoot, he gets a throw which Shamrcok scoots out of and just kicks him right in the eye. He clearly breaks Takahashi’s orbital bone as his eye just starts swelling huge and they stop the fight.

TKG: So at start of this I go “Shamrock’s strikes aren’t as stiff as either Flynn’s or Wilkins’” and then Shamrock goes and tries to punt Takahasi cheek into the fifth row.

Duane Koslowski v. Masakatsu Funaki

PAS: The bloopers and blunders episode of PWFG continues here. This starts out fun with Koslowski shooting in, and Funaki showing his hand speed on the stand up. Funaki has really great combos, as at one point he threw a jab, right hand, hook, uppercut four slap combo. Then Koslowski throws a northern light suplex and concusses himself on the landing. Amusing finish, but I would have liked to see what they would have done with an actual match.

TKG: I was digging this a lot until the finish.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Minoru Suzuki

PAS: Fujiwara had been mostly working undercards up to this point, but man does he deliver in a main event spot. Suzuki is your young guy desperate to overtake the veteran ace of the company, and he dominates here, although he is never able to put Fujiwara away. This is really all about Fujiwara as a defensive wrestler, he blocks and eludes and counters and while Suzuki would easily win a decision, there are no judges in PWFG. There are a ton of nifty little things in this match, but I especially loved the way Fujiwara used hand and wrist control. Suzuki is rarely ever able to lock anything in solid, as he is always getting his wrists and hands grabbed and twisted. I am not a big fan of the draw booking, but the finish here was great, Suzuki is getting more and more frustrated, and he and Fujiwara start shit talking at each other, and then at the end they both are working on ankle locks as the bell rings, and Suzuki refuse to let go. Then when he does he is punching the mat in anguish and frustration. Just great stuff.

TKG: Both guys were working defensively as you had sense that Suzuki was fighting to block headbutts before they were unleashed. Fujiwara tries to establish distance to headbutt and Suzuki pulls him in. Really Phil’s covered the whole story here so pretty much all left to talk about are the cool little pieces like that, the multiple ways Fujiwara fights out of a choke (my favorite being this thing where he uses his feet to push his way out). Cameraman did a pretty great job here getting really expressive shots during long sleeper segment where Fujiwara spouts different types of bubbles till getting to the ropes. For a show that really had only two matches,,,this was a fucking great match.