Fuchi Friday- Masanobu Fuchi v. Jumbo Tsuruta 4/19/92

Really fun battle of tag partners. Nifty match story with Fuchi avoiding standing up with Jumbo, as he gets smashed every time he tried, so he kept trying to take him down to the mat and twisting at him. Really simple story done really well. Fuchi is great as an outclassed guy with a couple of tricks up his sleeve, it had a very Fujiwaraish feel to it

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Fuchi Friday- Masa Fuchi v. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 2/28/93

Masa Fuchi v. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 2/28/93

Great short match. Kikuchi and Fuchi have some of the greatest chemistry in wrestling history. Kikuchi blitzes Fuchi at the beginning, hitting him with some big forearms, german suplexes and a great looking diving headbutt. Fuchi countered another German attempt with a super violent looking arm takedown, and then he took over. This was Fuchi at his violent best, ripping at Kikuchi's arm and dumping him on his head with probably 20+ side suplexes. This felt a little like the Cena v. Lesnar Summerslam match with Kikuchi getting brutalized but still getting to his feet, until he couldn't anymore. I am looking forward to watching all of their matches against each other, they are just so well matched

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Fuchi Friday: Masa Fuchi/Jumbo Tsuruta/Great Kabuki v. Mitsuharu Misawa/Akira Taue/Kenta Kobashi 5/26/90

Masa Fuchi/Jumbo Tsuruta/Great Kabuki v. Mitsuharu Misawa/Akira Taue/Kenta Kobashi 5/26/90

Really fun old dudes vs. young guys trios match. The more I watch of him, the more I dig The Great Kabuki, he doesn't do much except spin kicks and uppercuts, but they are nasty and awesome spin kicks and uppercuts, he really lays it into the youngsters when he comes in the ring. The early part of the match was built around Misawa v. Jumbo as they kept interrupting the regular flow of the match by jumping in the ring after each other. It was a cool thing that All Japan does, where guys are having a wrestling match and all of a sudden business picks up. Fuchi did what he did best in the early 90's tear up Kenta Kobashi's knee, and this all built to an exciting finish run. Not an absolute high end trios, but pretty much any combo of six guys in this fed was going to be fun to watch

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Fuchi Fridays- Mr. Fuchi v. Eddie Gilbert WWC 1982

Mr. Fuchi v. Eddie Gilbert WWC 1982

This was a shortish simple studio match, but I really enjoyed it. Basic exchanging of holds, but man does young Fuchi (rocking a sweet stash) know how to crank in a headlock and a front face lock. Gilbert seemed to be tightening up his holds a bit too. This could have used a little more flash, as it didn't have a finish run and Gilbert wins with a knee lift, but it was very fun to see both of these guys in their early days

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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.

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Fuchi Friday - Masa Fuchi/Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue v. Mitsuhara Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi 4/20/91

After watching an old man tag from 2014 All Japan I decided I wanted to watch some more Fuchi. It would be kind of crazy to do a Complete and Accurate on a guy with that long of a televised career, but he isn't often brought up as an all time great, and it feels like he belongs in that discussion.

I haven't revisited 90's All Japan in years, so it was fun to revisit guys the old Four Pillars and Jumbo and Fuchi. I cut my teeth on Kawada and Taue as a tag team, so it was pretty novel to watch them as vicious enemies, the first part of the match was built around Taue cheapshotting Kawada, until Kawada flips out and jumps him until they have to be pulled apart. It wasn't a shoot angle, but it got across the idea that this wasn't going to be a sporting contest, it felt a little ragged the way inter promotional matches often feel like WAR v. NJ with everyone in the same fed.

This was a 50 minute match which didn't lose me, I am fully in the camp now of 14-18 minutes being the perfect time for a match, and I really have little desire to watch anything this long, but this didn't drag at all. There were so many little moments which were cool, along with the big story. Taue gets kicked in the ribs by Kobashi and just slumps in pain like he cracked a rib, Kobashi gets rocket launched to the floor. There is a moment where Kobashi puts Taue in a Boston Crab and Jumbo comes in to smash him, like Tenryu always would, but instead of holding the submission and getting cracked, Kobashi wastes Jumbo with a lariat.

Of course this is Fuchi Friday so I need to talk about that old bastard.  Kobashi gets his knee smashed, and the end run is built around working that over, and no one plays sadistic Japanese prison guard better then Fuchi. He is the wrestling version of Colonel Saito from Bridge Over the River Kwai. When he sees a limping Kobashi he pounces on him ripping and stretching  the hell out of his knee while smirking and taunting Misawa and Kawada, such a dick head.

This is often considered the best All Japan trios of the 90's, although I am going to check out a bunch more. Certainly in the discussion as all six guys were at the peak of their power.

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