Fuchi Friday- Masa Fuchi v. Toshiaki Kawada 7/18/91

This is a match I hadn't seen before, or really heard folks talk about, but man alive was it awesome. Kawada has always been my favorite four pillars dude, and this was a great Kawada performance meeting a classic Fuchi show. Worked like you would expect with Fuchi using his guile and Kawada trying to beat his brains in. Fuchi brings the torture, with some nasty locks and twists of Kawada's knee and also is great at cutting off Kawada's bull rushes. There is a great moment where Kawada is mauling Fuchi in the corner, and when the ref breaks, Kawada run back to get him some and Fuchi slips behind the ref and cuts him off with a beautiful right hand. It feels like a spot he stole from Bill Dundee back during his Tojo Yammamoto managed days. Finish was really great too, Kawada finally gets his hands on this little prick who has been tormenting him, and he just tries to rip his face off with a face lock, and Fuchi does all of these counters to try to get out and Kawada will not be deterred. There is one point where Fuchi slips out twice, and Kawada just viciously back elbows him and murders him with a clothesline, before going right back to the facelock. It was like he was saying, "enough of our your tricky shit, this is a fight." Total hidden gem, I loved this match.