UWF 5/4/90

Dick Leon Vrij v. Yoji Anjo

PAS: Vrij looks like Prototype era John Cena with even stupider hair. I remember him being semi-carryable in RINGS, and he was semi-carried here. Not a great match, but it did have some fun stuff, including Vrij breaking a cross armbreaker attempt by elbowing Anjo in the nuts. Also I dug Anjo’s seizure drool sell of the knee to the stomach.

TKG: I remember him less as semi-carryable RINGS then barely carryable, Vrij shrugs off all of Anjoh’s kicks and quickly gets in the ropes whenever Anjoh even starts to control on the ground. Vrij occasionally will power from bottom to top and roll Anjo but then not do much. This went really long with a couple cool moments. The stupid Vrij hair was really amusing as remember lots of kids with similar high top fades with Batman shape shaved into back in 89. Vrij’s hair dye is even dumber.


Kazuo Yamazaki v. Tatsuo Nakano


TKG: Nakano finally wakes Yamazaki out of his slumber. This match like most Nakano matches is all about Nakano on offense neglecting defense. Yamazaki spends large parts of this not on offense just guy on defense trying to hold Nakano’s head away from slamming into his own etc picking his spots. I think my favorite spot is Nakano headbutting Yamazaki in the back of the head to set up a German. At one point Nakano suplexes Yamazaki and then slaps him in the face. After two downs Yamazaki realizes he has to pick it up and for the first time in the nineties shakes off his lethargy and goes after Nakano like he actually cares.

PAS: Yeah it is too bad Nakano is so short, because he really shows the most charisma of all the young guys., and really should have been a bigger star He really wrestles like Henrey Hawk (the cartoon character, not RF) constantly getting in Yamazaki’s face and daring him to knock the chip off of his shoulder. All of the short headbutts were awesome, and I loved how Yamazaki ripped at Nakano’s leg at the finish as he clearly felt some desperation to take this little fucker out.

Akira Maeda v. Masakatsu Funaki

PAS: This match was pretty strange, as it had a super hot beginning with both guys exchanging awesome body shots, and a super hot finish with Funaki unloading a ridiculously fast combo to knock down Maeda, and Maeda firing back with hard kicks, and a nasty German. Then it had 10 minutes in the middle, where both guys laid around on the mat at didn’t do shit. Really felt like the match needed a commercial break.


TKG: That’s really accurate description. Match starts with a bit of shadow boxing that gets crowd hyped, some early good looking standing exchanges then they move to mat, they actually did a bout three minutes of hot leg lock exchanges and a couple punches from mount then it ground to a halt. They stood up and it picked back up. And over. The hot parts are really really great. And I think I liked this overall more than Phil. Both guys are in new tiny tights (Funaki in tiny silver Elegido trunks) and often had to stop selling submissions in order to pick out their wedgies. Kind of kills the fight in and out of submissions if your top priority is modesty. I’m thankful for the modesty but it kills the submissions.


Nobuhiko Takada v. Minoru Suzuki

PAS: Man was this dull, it was like watching two jujitsu brown belts in a light sparring session. Just a nothing match.

TKG: First eight minutes is just two guys tentatively jockey for position. After that Suzuki gets a leg bar, Takada reverses leg bar. Then they tentatively jockey for position for another four minutes with Suzuki getting a suplex in at some point. This felt like it was booked as a concession stand match. Last chance to get some souvenirs and drinks before main event.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Fred Hamaker

PAS: Hamaker is a Dutch amateur wrestler with Curt Henning’s perm, he had enthusiasm although I didn’t get a real sense that he knew what he was doing. This was of course the Fujiwara show, and it is a show I never tire of watching. Fujiwara approached this like someone solving a corporate desk toy logic puzzle. He would try one approach, it would fail, he would regroup, try something different, adjust, until he finally found the road to success. He wasn’t getting frustrated exactly, he would try an attack, it would fail and he would brush himself off and go again.

TKG: Like the opening match with a member of Team Netherlands, Hamaker would go for the ropes as son as it looked like Fujiwara was going for anything but before he seemed anywhere near actually putting something on. In the first match this was distracting as never get a sense of what Anjo was going for. Here Fujiwara really makes a big deal of all the breaks, slow to release, taunts seconds while the two are in ropes, gets Soronaka to separate, gets up and smiles etc.