Come Not Between Yoshiaki Fujiwara and his Wrath

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Mark Rush PWFG 8/15/92-GREAT

PAS: When I got all of this Fujiwara-Gumi I was hoping that the promotion would be like WAR, a fun undercard headlined by a big main event, with Fujiwara in the Tenryu role. Instead for the most part Funaki and Suzuki have been main eventing and Fujiwara has been working mostly fun midcard matches. This however was a midcard match worked like a big main event. Rush is an amateur guy who kind of has a circus strongman look, and this was worked like a match against a circus strongman amateur. Rush could take Fujiwara down at will, and really punish him on the ground with strength holds, chokes, body vices, bear hugs. While Fujiwara would be trying to maneuver him into joint locks and submissions. Very cool story and really well executed, the first time I have seen Rush in a complete wrestling match, and a really hidden gem for Fujiwara fanatics.

TKG: Yeah this had a real main event feel. And I like Phil's mention of carny circus stuff as this was built all around chokes/sleepers/front chanceries like a battle for Weaver lock. There is this one odd section in it where Fujiwara is caught in a choke tries to escape and then just starts to drool, and it's amazingly dramatic and you think that its a finish but for some reason its counted as a down and Fujiwara is given a ten count to get back to his feet. Fujiwara gets back up and its on again. Odd to count passing out in a sleeper as a down but once you get past that, it really works nicely in this.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami v. Hiroshi Hase/Masahiro Chono/Shinya Hashimoto NJ 6/8/94- FUN

Enjoyable six-man match with everyone looking good. Hashimoto was definitely the standout on the 90's stars team, his interactions with Choshu were totally awesome. They are a pair of thick barrel chested dudes beating the snot out of each other. I loved Hash getting cracked by two Riki lariats and then countering the third with a sick superkick. Our man Fujiwara was a supporting player in this match, but he had some nifty moments, a couple of gritty scraps with Hashimoto and a very cool moment where he clocks a dizzy post Giant swing Hase with a headbutt. Match never really reached the crescendo which would separate it from the pack, but despite that it was well worth seeing.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Jushin Liger v. Antonio Inoki/Tiger King NJ 5/3/97-GREAT

This was a Tokyo Dome match, and was basically an opportunity for the four legends to do their signature stuff for a big audience. For that kind of match this is about as good as it gets. Sayama was on fire here, he hadn't fully porked out, but was definitely on his way, he still hit all of his signature stuff with as much speed and even more precision then he did in his prime. He really had great chemistry with Liger, and of course with Fujiwara who his all time greatest opponent. I really enjoyed the Fujiwara v. Inoki match up as well, as they really grappled hard for their initial section, and the finish had Fujiwara doing some awesome selling for Inoki's big moves. Not a long match or a deep match, but a great match.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA