Yoshiaki Fujiwara is Felt From Hope, and From Despair

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami v. Shinya Hashimoto/Keji Mutoh/Masahiro Chono NJ 5/26/94 –FUN

Match was a total blast anytime Fujiwara was matched up with Hashimoto, although it was nothing special when anyone else was in the ring. Mutoh especially looked crappy, Hash and Fujiwara are locked in this violent gritty struggle which makes it even worse when Mutoh tags in and hits his glancing dropkicks and shitty hair pull bulldog. The Hash and Fujiwara parts are totally worth seeing though. Fujiwara is a total dick in this cheap shotting Hashimoto, slipping in a nasty choke, punching him in the eye. Meanwhile Hash is firing back with some nasty shots, including a sweep which looks like it should have chopped Fujwara’s legs off like Hit Girl in Kick Ass. During the post match they have to be pulled apart forcibly and it looks like Fujiwara is trying to claw out his eye. If the purpose of this match was to make you want to see their singles match, it served that purpose.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Mark Ashford-Smith PWFG 6/4/94-FUN

This is a match from a previously unavailable PWFG show which randomly showed up on youtube. Strange match which is worked entirely as a grappling contest, all on the mat with some long pauses and movement in and out of holds. It really felt in parts like Mario Yamazaki need to stand them up. Really a match for your Fujiwara completest, (or I suppose any Mark Starr superfans out there) I am a big enough Fujiwara head that I enjoyed watching him grapple and shift position, and the finish was pretty cool. Still I imagine this will bore most folks.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tsyoshi Kikuchi v. Toshiaki Kawada/Masanobu Fuchi AJPW 1/26/97- FUN

Pretty great to see Fujiwara mix it up with the 90’s All Japan crew. We get an opening mat battle between Fuchi and Fujiwara which is pretty sweet, including some pretty cool headscissors work. Most of the match is built around teasing Kawada v. Fujiwara, and luckily when they match up it is pretty good (as opposed to their dogshit 2001 singles). I especially liked Fujiwara getting rocked by a bunch of nasty chops only to catch the last one and slap on the Fujiwara armbar. Never really built to anything more then a minor match though, and Kikuchi submitting to an armbar was a little disappointing as this was a match about Fujiwara and you wanted him to be involved in the finish.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA