PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #25 10/31/94

Minoru Tanaka v. Takashi Okano

TKG: We think Okano might be Winger, he has some nice kicks and does a neat rolling knee bar but this is mostly Tanaka taking Winger down and forcing him to go for rope breaks.

PAS: Tanaka did break out his northern lights suplex into an armbar, which I remember thinking was really awesome when I saw it originally, but looks kind of stupid now.

Don Arakawa v. Hiroyoshi Kotsubu

TKG: We think Kotsubo is the future Yone Genjin. I don't understand why you wouldn't run Wellington Wilkins vs. Arakawa instead. This isn't worked as comedy match so much as Yone Genjin vs. Arakawa working a really basic PWFG style match. Genjin really isn't very good at this as he has some horrible knee strikes in the corner. Genjin is able to take down Arakwa but Arakawa is better when they actually get to the mat. The finish to this is really awesome as Kotsubo goes for a hiptoss and Arakawa pulls away into a front choke.

PAS: For a comedy guy working shootstyle Kotsubu is no Lingerie Muto. I bet Lingerie Muto v. Don Arakawa worked PWFG style would rule.

Katsumi Usuda v. Shoichi Funaki

TKG: Last time these two matched up it wasn't very good, this time I dug it a bunch. Last time i think it was worked more evenly. This time Usuda works as stronger (higher level) of the two and just pastes Funaki with strikes, while Funaki gets in really fast near fall submission attempts. Funaki goes for one drop kick that felt really out of place, Usuda steps out of the way of the drop kick and just stomps Funaki when Funaki falls to floor.

PAS: Yeah Usuda was a real asskicker here, last match they were two debuting guys working even. Here Usuda was clearly higher up on the food chain, and he just pounded the shit out of Funaki.

Taka Michinoku vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa

TKG: This isn't really worked like a PWFG match. Its more or less a straight up juniors match just without pinfall attempts. I guess they do very little rope running. But essentially a juniors match. These two are really high end junior workers and best match on the show thus far. Still not a PWFG style match.

PAS: They start working the mat, but by the end they are breaking off dives and big nearfalls. TAKA in the mid nineties was my favorite wrestler and he was really awesome here. The springboard dive is still super impressive looking, and he did this great move where he started to whip Hosikawa into the ropes and instead clotheslined him in the back of the head. Not a PWFG style match at all, but still a total blast.

Daisuke Ikeda v. Yuji Nagata

PAS: This was pretty great, for some reason the yutz doing the handheld, finally realizes how to use the zoom function, so it is a lot more watchable then the other matches. This is worked really BattlArts style, as there is less matwork and more kicking people in the face and dumping them on the top of their heads. Nagata especially breaks out some nasty suplexes, you get the sense from this match if he had just worked BattlArts he could have ended up a second rate Usuda rather then a eighth rate Masahiro Chono

TKG: Ah he could have been a first rate Hijikata as heavy. And whatever else you want to say about Nagata, he is a lot better than Glen Jacobs. This has a lot more mat work then Phil remembers, simply cause thats less memorable than the strikes and violent throws. The matwork was really fast and all about jockeying for throws. the whole thing was worked at a really nice heavyweight sprint pace.

Yuki Ishikawa v. James Anderson

PAS: I have no idea who Anderson is (maybe Jack Birthrider?), and the cameraman zooms out again, so I don't get a good look at his face. This was fun though, as Anderson had some nice takedowns, and Ishikawa's matwork was really violent. He looked like he was trying to rip Anderson's arm or leg or head off. They had some really nice near falls too, I wish I had a better view of the whole thing,

TKG: I don't think he was Birthrider. I think he may have been Charlie Anderson as he works kind of like Anderson. Anderson has some nice throws and nice matwork and does some neat stuff where he moves from clinch to the ground. He'll grab a lock and force Ishikawa down. His stuff doesn't really have the force of Ishikawa's. I mean Anderson isn't throwing week Momoe Nakanishi style suplexes but it still comes off as though he's working a whole lot more gentle than his opponent. cooler stuff in this match then in the one before, but Ikeda and Nagata were working with same level of force.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Joe Difuria

TKG: Difuria is a big roided up US indy guy. i think I may have once seen him and Scott Putski work The Headbangers in King of Prussia. I mean he looks like the kind of guy that you'd see tagged with Putski vs. the Headbangers. He works like he may have been the Shane Twins trainer. I think Fujiwara vs. Putski, or Mosh would have been a much better match. I mean why wasn't DC Drake returning PWFG's calls? Difuria works like barely trained big roided guy and Fujiwara does the type of selling you do when faced with big barely trained roided guy. None of Difuria's stuff looked as good as Jacobs and on some level I think Fujiwara had Difuria control way too much. Not good.

PAS: I liked Fujiwara in this, as I thought he laid out a nice match, as DeFuria shrugged away everything he tried until he finally got the heel hook in. With Glen Jacobs this match would have been good, hell this match would have been good against Van Hammer, DeFuria is worse then both and so it wasn't good. Still I was impressed by Fujiwara.