Nothing Great in this World has Ever Been Accomplished Without Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Super Tiger UWF 9/7/84-EPIC

This was the opening match of their series, and it was really interesting to watch the different way they approached each other and the style they were working. This was much more of a New Japan style match, then a shootstyle match, although you could see the style starting to evolve. For example while Tiger is still going for top rope moves, he isn't hitting them. Both times he tries, Fujiwara moves. They still are doing piledrivers, but at least Fujiwara's actually is a counter out of a triangle choke, kind of a incubatory Hughes v. Newton spot.

It wasn't just the style that is different, Fujiwara really controls this match way more then their others. Fujiwara really is a heavyweight against a junior, Tiger's stuff really comes in flurries, while Fujiwara is on top for most of this. They are really great flurries, and Fujiwara is a master at selling a surprise knockdown. Just the way he approaches him, there is none of the tentativeness of later matches, he just walks Tiger down, and counters a lot of his offense. Tiger is the scrappy underdog junior heavyweight which is completely counter to the way he is perceived later, I think this match went a long way in establishing him as a peer to Fujiwara and Maeda, and the finish run of big kicks and the chickenwing you can tell sort of shocks the crowd.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Kazuo Yamazaki v. Big Van Vader/Masa Saito NJ 2/14/88- FUN

This was part of the introductory tour of Big Van Vader, and he was killing folks in these type of handicap matches. The steam is gone from the UWF invasion at this point and these guys are being used as spunky jobbers. Fujiwara and Saito have some fun exchanges, and Fujiwara shoots him this awesome look of distaste when he smacks his head against the ring bolt. I really like JYD Fujiwara, but that really is the least Fujiwara, and I wish he and Vader could have a more substantial match against each other.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Riki Choshu NJ 6/19/88 - GREAT

Kind of a minor match in their oeuvre, which is still going to be better then 99% of the other stuff in the history of the world. These two always ramp up the intensity. Choshu is a guy who throws a nasty lariats, and Fujiwara is a guy with lots of ways to play defense. The biggest near fall is when Fujiwara catches the lariat and moves super smoothly into a Fujiwara armbar. Really cool finish with Choshu countering a headbutt with a straight right, and nuking him with Riki lariats. Still by 1988 Fujiwara was clearly at a lower level push wise then Choshu so this wasn't as pitched of a battle as their 1987 series.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu v. Hiroshi Hase/Great Muta NJ 4/7/94- GREAT

This was a pretty awesome short match. Hase is just ripping it up with Fujiwara and Choshu, chucking them with nasty suplexes, getting rocked with lariats and headbutts. Muta spends the match on the outside making faces and when he gets tagged in, he mists Hase in the face. Choshu and Fujiwara jump him. There is a classic spot in a bunch of Fujiwara match where he is unloading with a run of headbutts and he gets countered. Here he is unloading on Muta and you just are waiting for him to catch a face full of mist. It is awesome no one makes better faces then Fujiwara, and his "face full of mist" face is just great. Choshu and Fujiwara make a great grumpy team, and I am hoping I can unearth other tag matches from around this time.

The Complete and Accurate Yoshiaki Fujiwara