PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #28 8/26/95

Carl Greco v. Daisuke Ikeda

TKG: For some reason they are working on the worlds squeakiest ring. its fucking headache inducing as springs sound like fingernails on a chalkboard and you don't want to turn down the sound because you want to hear all of Ikeda 's strikes. So the last time we saw Greco it was against Takeshi Ono and me and Phil wrote about how great Greco was at throwing and twisting Ono, with the assumption that you can throw Ono harder than anyone else and twist him more than anyone else. but fuck that as Greco just tosses and twists the fuck out of Ikeda. He has both a lot of hang time and force with all his throws and while not twisting Ikeda's entire body just completely turns his ankles inside out. Ikeda for his part is still a beast in these matches and tries to toss Greco hard enough to fix the ring squeek.

PAS: Was really surprised to see Greco go over here, as they seem to pushing Ikeda as the top guy in this promotion at this point. I guess Greco has roided himself into the Shamrock spot. This was really great though, as Greco is such a smooth mat wrestler, and Ikeda is such a badass.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Shoichi Funaki

TKG: This match feels absolutely epic and is surprisingly short. I mean normally when you say "Wow that match felt longer than that" its complaint because match is boring. Not the case here. Last time we saw Funaki he was all about the shitty strikes here he stays on the mat and these two just twist at each other as they struggle to shift from top to bottom. The two Fuanki strikes in this actually look stiff as he throws one drop kick which while totally out of place hit really hard and a nice headbut.

PAS: Funaki seemed more competitive then his place on the card seems to merit. This was worked pretty even, with Funaki getting Ishikawa in trouble a bunch. I remember after the nasty headbutt we actually thought that Funaki was going to win the match. Ishikawa was striking a bit more here, as he had some nice punches to the belly and some really rude shots to the back of the neck.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. TAKA Michinoku

TKG: This is worked more pro style than shoot style. Very little rope running but TAKA with a dropkick to the back of a seated Fujiwara, Fujiwara with his pro-style headbutts, and the TAKA throws Fujiwara headfirst into ring post comedy spots. No reason that these two should work this well together as you kind of expect a clash of styles. Instead the two just work really nicely with TAKA as jerkish junior vs. Fujiwara. Fujiwara twists the shit out of TAKA's legs and ankles and TAKA does nice job trying to fight his way out. Fujiwara eats alot of stuff and sells just enough to make TAKA look legit. I'm not really sure how Fujiwara works punching TAKA directly in the cheekbone. TAKA does seem to be missing a tooth at end of match, not sure if he started match with it or not. Fuck I dug this.

PAS: Yeah Fujiwara was punishing TAKA here, bodyshots, both the shoot and the pro-style headbutts, and some sick shots to the face. TAKA was really great as the underdog who almost heelishly disrespects Fujiwara. The matwork was really speed vs. guile, as all of TAKA's attacks were lightning quick, while Fujiwara was classically taking advantage of mistakes. TAKA is really great in PWFG, he doesn't work the style really but he was so good in the mid 90's that he can work a TAKA match that fits on the show.