PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #10 3/20/92 MIAMI~!

MIA-YAYO

PAS: This is a show in Miami booked around a Shootfighting v. PWFG feud, and is clearly being promoted as legit. The O-Jays are in the arena the next night. It is really too bad it isn't a double bill

TKG: Not sure if isn't a double bill. Like a sold show at a fair with a pig race, a PWFG vs. Shootfighting (which is I think Bart Vale's local promotion) show and a O Jays show in the evening. They do a PWFG on the road video with the PWFG guys (Fuke, Funaki, and Suzuki) going to Karl Gotch's house. Karl Gotch shows off all his old style training equipment. As he's clearly back from when people didn't believe in weight lifting and instead just believed in attaching a rope to a weight over a swing set. Suzuki shows off his ability with Iranian clubs. Funaki does all sorts of ridiculous variations on push ups on Gotch's equipment. For some reason Suzuki decides to do all this in a pair of speedos. I imagine their were lots of calls to police from the neighbors in the Florida seniors village. "Old man Karl is in his underwear with a bunch of hairless Japanese boys and a video-camera, again"... "Don't uh huh me sonny, he doesn't have a license to do that, I want an officer over here immediately". At the end of the day the PWFG guys are desperate to leave, while Gotch tries to keep his guests entertained by singing in Russian. "No, no we really must leave" "all the things she said all the things she said running through my head".. "No no serious Mr Gotch we have to go."

Jerry Flynn v. Kazuo Takahashi

PAS: Takahashi is the perfect guy to open a show, as he does his usual amazing job of selling for Flynn's kicks. Including even doing the Red Bastien bump where he slides down the ring ropes bumping his head on all of them.

TKG: Yeah I am now totally sold on Takahashi as he is greatest shoot style jobber ever. Not sure how being really great at selling kicks translated when he went to Pancrase...but he could have made Ric Blade look like a K-1 fighter if he went to CZW. the US crowd chanting along with all the ten counts, chanting "Go Jerry Go" and counting along for the downed palm strikes as though they were punches in the corner was fucking great.

Yusuke Fuke v. Dussel Batt

PAS: Dussel Batt is a black guy who really looks like a ton like Brickhouse Brown. He kind of works like you would expect Brickhouse Brown to work if he was thrown into a worked shoot promotion. Using a superkick as his main strike. I loved the finish, as Fuke puts on a kneebar, and Batt sells it like Shaska Whatley in a figure four, before finally tapping.

TKG: Batt also does a couple of fun amateur style twists. But it was pretty much his savate kicks which Fuke sells all shoot styleish. Fuke eventually catches a savate kick to be caught a enziguri. Fuke sells the enziguri as shoot shot to back of head. Fun.

Mark Rush v. Masakatsu Funaki

PAS: This had Roberto Duran at ringside to set up the Funaki v. Duran match, and was a Funaki showcase. Not very good, as Rush didn't even get in any of his fun throws. Funaki through a couple of nice kicks, but this wasn't much

TKG: Rush got enough in that this got a bunch of USA heat. But really nothing memorable.

Minoru Suzuki v. Ken Shamrock

TKG: This was fun. Shamrock has a bunch of throws and really a neat showcase for all he can do. took a while to get the crowd into it and this was before Suzuki really developed any of his heel shtick but once they had the crowd this was a fun good lil match.

PAS: I liked this alot, the couple of Shamrock v. Funaki matches which proceeded this were really hurt by going too long. They were full of dead spots and time killing matwork. Here Shamrock comes out and works a 10 minute sprint with Suzuki that dispensed with the stuff that held back the later match. This was a Shamrock focused match, and Suzuki was sort of along for the ride, still it was great.


Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Bart Vale

TKG: Bart Vale comes in to a huge local pop. I mean fucking huge pop. Fujiwara comes in with a trophy. Fujiwara taunts Vale offers to shake his hand then pulls away to comb his hair and fuck its Fujiwara as touring Japanese guy vs. your top regional star. Vale and Fujiwara pretty much keep this standing.Mostly Fujiwara bumping around eating kicks and then throwing tight headbutts in the clinch. Headbutts knock Vale down and get the crowd to boo. Fujiwara walks around with great taunting expressions. Vale eventually retaliates for the headbutts by hitting short headbutts while the two are ted up on the ground. Fujiwara goes to the ref to complain about the headbutts. It rules. Crowd is fucking great. Disappointed that there was no rice thrown but outside of that this is what you wanted out of this.

PAS: This owned, Fujiwara is the worlds best Toru Tanaka. It was really fun to watch him work a completely different style, then he works in a normal PWFG show. He isn't the legend that the young guys have to get past, he is the dirty foreigner cheap shotting your local hero. No real Fujiwara matwork or reversals, no cool moves to speak of, but it was great.