There is No Such Thing as Bravery; Only Degrees of Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Tatsumi Fujinami NJ 2/3/01-FUN

This was the great lost singles match of the 1980's. These two matched up in tags and gauntlets during the NJ v. UWFI feud and it was always amazing and heated and intense. For some reason sadly there was never a singles match between the two that made tape. This is 15 years or so past the point that this would really have relevance, and although the ship has definitely sailed a bit, it is still nifty to watch a pair of masters do their thing. Both guys worked in and out of holds. There was a great knuckle lock sequence, and I really dug the finish which was Fujiwara applying his boston crab reversal twice, and Fujinami rolling with it and putting on a figure four. More of a taste of what could have been then a truly great match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Kohei Sato Zero-One 3/3/02-GREAT

Awesome grappling match, in the style of the classic PWFG and UWF Fujiwara matches. Pretty much all on the mat with both guys desperately fighting for counters and reversals. Sato is very comfortable in this relm and does a lot of cool shit. You don't often see someone who looks comfortable rolling with Fujiwara in this way. Most guys even if the action is worked even, appear carried, while Sato looks like he has his own ideas. Sato uses his height well on the mat, sort in the way someone liked Kendall Grove does in shoots, he has long legs and uses their length to extricate himself and get advantages. Of course no one in wrestling history is as comfortable on the mat as Yoshiaki Fujiwara and all of his attacks are very fluid too. Finish was slightly abrupt, Fujiwara has done good KO finishes in the past, this one didn't feel as much like a finish, the kick didn't land as solidly as it needed to, and I think it dropped the match a bit. Still well worth checking out and I uploaded it on youtube for everyone to watch.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Minoru Suzuki v. Osamu Nishimura/Masa Fuchi AJ 10/24/10-FUN

This was more comedy spot Fujiwara then I was hoping for. We did get a nice short grappling section between Fujiwara and Nishimura, but we never got to see Fujiwara really hit the mat with either of his opponent. We got a lot of mugging and face making from Suzuki and ring bolt exposing by Fujiwara which is all fun stuff, and all of the shtick was well executed shtick, this is super intriguing on paper match up, which didn't deliver a ton in practice.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA