PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #8 1/15/92

Kazuo Takahashi v. Wellington Wilkins Jr.

TKG: This was my second time seeing Takahashi in PWFG. First time was getting shoot KOd by Shamrock. Second time is this. Phil's write ups made me expect him to be a fun jobber, then he ends up winning this. He had a couple neat sequences but he didn't do a lot that interested me. Wellington Wilkins on the other hand continues to be awesome. Do I need to rewatch his series against Yone Genjin? My favorite Wilkins spot are his short headbutts from the mount.

PAS: Takahashi does take kind of big beating here. Wilkins is really great at working rough, and kind of smacks around Takahashi. Takahashi had a lot more offense in this then he normally does, and he isn't as good at controlling as he is at taking a beating. Wilkins is great everytime out, and I would love to see him show up in some random indy again.

Naoki Sano v. Jerry Flynn

TKG: This was my second time seeing Flyn in PWFG. And fuck do I need to rewatch his series against Goldberg. Flynn's selling of Sano's KOs was surprisingly great and well Sano was just amazing. Flynn has the harder strikes and is taller but Sano can either get inside of Flyn's reach to hit his stuff or gets outside of Flynn's range, neutralizing Flyn's height. If Flyn's at the wrong distance and tries for a kick, Sano can just take him down with ease. Flynn makes a bunch of attempts at takedowns of his own but Sano can block those. The finish was fucking spectacular.

PAS: If Teddy Atlas was calling this match he would talk about the difference in how the guys can win. Sano has multiple ways to win, he can use his hand speed to win exchanges, and he can take Flynn down and submit him. Flynn only has one way to win, he has big power and can knock Sano out with big shots. Sano can either be too close for Flynn to land his big kicks, or he can use his speed to dodge them on the outside. Where Sano can't be, is in that no-man's land, neither all the way out, or all the way in. When he is in that no-man's land, at the end of Flynn's shots where he can't counter, then he gets drilled. Sano outthinks Flynn at the end, as Flynn had gotten a near KO with a brutal enzugiri earlier in the match, Flynn goes for it again, but Sano ducks and immediatly slaps on a knee bar for the finish. Really fun match, and Sano really looks like the best wrestler in the world at this point.

Minoru Suzuki v. Yusuke Fuke

TKG: This was really one sided with Suzuki just going for one thing after another to score the submission. Everything he did was cool enough to have me popping for whole thing.

PAS: The finish was great as he gets a crossarmbreaker which Fuke tries to roll out of, but Suzuki traps the leg to keep him from rolling. Not much of a match but what was there was fun.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Bart Vale

TKG: Fujiwara kept this on the ground for the most part. Fujiwara would control, Vale would escape but pretty much kept on the ground. Really really fun for the most part. I liked Fujiwara's sell of the Vale kicks during standup but crowd I think took them as comedy...not really sure. I liked alot of the stuff where Vale tried to avoid getting his arms locked.

PAS: Fujiwara really felt to me almost Fuchish here as he seemed to be almost torturing Vale, grinding his arm across Vale's eyes, and really twisting his bodyparts. Vale's shitty kicks really hurt this, as most of it was very good, but the dramatic finish fell flat, as Vale's kicks just didn't hit hard. It almost felt like Fujiwara just took him down and tapped him right after the crowd laughed. Like he might have called an audible.

Wayne Shamrock v. Masakatsu Funaki

TKG: Was the Japanese Jeff Amdur calling this match. first ten minutes was Shamrock riding and Funaki unable to make any real escape. They make the "ten minutes have past" announcement and suddenly Funaki is able to escape and take a bit of control. Fifteen more minutes in and I was thinking they're building to an hour draw...they make the "25 minutes have past" announcement and suddenly they go for the hot finish section with quick stand up exchanges. I'm convinced every other momentum shift after that was precipitated by time announcements. some cool spots but nothing that made me want to watch these two main event again.

PAS: I really liked their match from show #4, which I described as workrate shootstyle. This was worked way slower then that, and it felt like they needed to be working more of a juniors sprint style. The opening 10 minutes really went nowhere, and while they did have flashes of what made their first match so entertaining, they didn't kick it into gear until the last five minutes. The ending really felt abrupt, which isn't how you want to work a draw.