Fujiwara Family: Pro-Wrestling Fujiwara-Gumi 8/12/95

TAKA Michinoku vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa

PAS: This was a bit of a mix of MPRO and PWFG, we had some early fun grappling, and a cool short tope by Hoshikawa. This was pretty clipped up, but we did get a nasty TAKA kneebar finish, where he really grabbed the hold high on the knee, looked like it put tremendous pressure on the kneecap.

Carl Greco vs. Katsumi Usuda

PAS: I think this was also really clipped but what we got was awesome. Greco is rocking an Eminem blond dye job and is just as killer on the mat early in his career as he was later. Usuda comes out swinging and it is pretty much can Greco tap Usuda before Usuda puts him to sleep. The half crab/rear naked choke he uses to put him down was gorgeous looking.

Takeshi Ono vs. Shigeo Okamura 

PAS This was short but really cool. Ono was awesome from damn near day one. Okamura is a guy who had most of his success as a CMLL Japanese rudo who would team with whatever Japanese guys would come over to Mexico, here he is working as a Gi wearing kicker. Okamura starts dominating with big kicks to the midsection and head, dropping Ono, including a cool spin head kick feint into a low sweep. Ono starts getting some success on the ground, bringing Okamura down and locking in submissions, and finally hitting him with a huge leverage judo throw and locking on an armbar for the tap. Fun to see Ono be the kicking bag instead of the kicker, but damn he was great early.

Minoru Tanaka vs. Oishi

PAS: This is a mixed match against a gloved kickboxer who's full name is lost to history. Mostly Tanaka avoiding punches and kicks until he got caught in the second round. Didn't have the frenetic insanity the best of these matches have, it was pretty subdued.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa - EPIC

PAS: This is a very early look at this all time great rivalry. This already had a ton of spice, as the tumble out of the ring at the bell and Ikeda hits a great spin kick to Ishikawa's stomach sending him into the chairs. It is a great start to a match which delivers on what it promises. Ikeda spends a lot of this match trying to destroy Ishikawa's internal organs, he hits him with brutal spinkicks, straight body kicks and Chavezian body shots. Ishikawa puts on some great looking holds, squeezing Ikeda's head like a zit, twisting his ankles into odd and painful directions, and throwing some big shots of his own including a big knee lift which glassed up Ikeda's eyes. Finish was great, each guy gets a big knockdown and the come up and both guys are just unload their arsenals, not exchanging elbows to show their toughness, but franticly throwing everything they have at each other. Ikeda catches Ishikawa with a slap to the ear which drops him, he pops back up, but it is the third knockdown and he loses by TKO. Ishikawa wants to keep fighting and they have to be separated. It is interesting to watch this legendary rivalry in it's incubatory form, while there later matches were often brutal wars of attrition, this was more of a frantic pedal to the medal fight, the kind of thing you might see from two MMA fighters trying to get on a UFC main card, fun to watch them expend that kind of energy.

MD: Definitely another gem. These two are the perfect cross section of unmitigated violence and astonishingly slick grappling. When you've seen enough wrestling, not much can surprise you, but the more I see this pairing (and I haven't seen them quite as much as Phil and Eric so I'm still allowed to be in awe), the more I remain blown away by just how they manage it. They're pure struggle with nothing given and the consistent illusion that if one makes the tiniest misstep, allows for an opening, drops a guard, leaves the smallest hole in his defense, he will pay dearly. This could be with vicious stomps to cement a hold or with a spin kick out of nowhere or with leverage gained for a devastating belly-to-belly. The selling feels just as abrupt. It becomes more about momentum shifts and advantage than a long-running narrative, but you end up left wondering, two thirds through the match how a comeback might even be possible. The level of skill involved in all of this consistently blows me away.

ER: How cool is it to see two guys who have matched up probably over 100 times in their career, in what might be their earliest singles match? I know I have a BattlArts singles match between them from a year later, not sure there's another one this young. I love the charm and violence of their more experienced matches, with Ishikawa playing more of a Fujiwara "hang back, minimize the beating, look for your opening" with Ikeda as the always advancing bully. Here they're both punks in their 20s and Ishikawa is super aggressive with offense and kicks. Ishikawa didn't use a ton of kicks even by '98, so it's a trip seeing kickpads Ishikawa fly at Ikeda with high kicks and knees. Ikeda is still a bully, still comes off more ice water veins than Ishikawa, kinda letting Ishikawa tire himself out on flurries before pouncing, or backpedaling until Ishikawa slips and then diving into him viciously. Aggression is really the cause of many of the momentum shifts here, and I loved seeing these two tumble to the floor a couple of times because they were too busy kicking each other's asses to pay much attention to their ring placement. We get a lot of nastiness shining through, look at them grabbing at each other's hair while Ikeda works for mount. Kick-y Ishikawa is fun, but Ikeda always has those lethal feet, and his mule kicks to Ishikawa's gut look absolutely match ending. He drops him fairly early with one and either Ishikawa is among the great salesmen in the history of this great sport (which, he is), or that's a man who had the wind kicked out of him through his stomach. All the twisting looked really great throughout, and the knockdown drama at the end was really exciting. I've watched enough Ishikawa to know that he can't be counted out, and I loved the ending of him popping up right after getting TKO, showing that he wasn't down and that Ikeda only won because of a fucking rulebook. These two guys. 

Koji Kitao vs. Mark Ashford-Smith

PAS: Kitao isn't a guy with a great reputation among fans of Japanese wrestling, but I am not going to hate on a big fat sumo guy who is kind of a crowbar, that is in my wheel house. Smith had a nice short elbow smash, and tried some submissions, but this was mostly Kitao ragdolling him around the ring including a big side slam before finishing him off. 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Shoichi Funaki vs. Hisakatsu Oya/Ricky Fuji - GREAT

PAS: This was for the FMW tag titles and was much more of an FMW match then any sort of shootstyle match, although a pretty nifty FMW match. We start with Oya and Fujiwara grappling which was easily the most PWFG part of the match. Oya always seemed like he was playing on the wrong team in the 90s, and it was cool to get a glimpse of what BattlArts Oya would have looked like. FMW team ends up isolation Funaki and busting him open with a chair, and the match builds up to a Fujiwara hot tag, and a bunch of Mark Ashford-Smith pro PWFG interference. Could have used a more dynamic ending to push it up into EPIC territory, but I can't hate on a match where a bloody Funaki tags in a house of fire Fujiwara

FUJIWARA FAMILY

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara Has a Hasty Temper and Exalts Folly

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Daisuke Ikeda v. Horace Boulder/Hisakatsu Ooya FUN 12/12/95

This was more of an FMW tag with PWFG dudes in it, then a PWFG tag with FMW guys, the latter would have been more interesting. Boulder and Ooya are fine here, Boulder's skullet is magnificent and he hits a nice tope, Ooya has a great back suplex, but Fujiwara and Ikeda working figure fours and elbow drops is fine, but not what makes them compelling. Reminds me a little of weak sauce NOAH Ikeda, you can still tell how great they are, but they are a little stuck in second gear.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara Sustains the Humble, But Casts the Wicked To The Ground

Yoshiaki Fujiawara v. Joe Malenko PWFG 6/1/93-EPIC

PAS: This was so much fun, just a pair of true maestros pulling pushing and twisting each other until someone gives. This wasn't an exchange of holds, it was a constant battle by both men to find some advantage or defense. This was really a Malenko show, as he controlled with great takedowns, and constant attacking, with Fujiwara really focused on defense. Of course Fujiwara is the greatest defensive pro-wrestler of all time, so the defense stuff ruled.

TKG: This was a Malenko show. My favorite thing that he did was use his knee and shin as simple machine, constantly pushing it against stuff to act as a lever, inclined plane or wedge to force Fujiwara to move one body part or another, worlds most violent physics demonstration.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Daisuke Ikeda v. Ricky Fuji/Hitsakatsu Ooya FMW 5/5/95-FUN

This is for the FMW tag belts, and was on the undercard of one of the big FMW 5/5 shows. There was a bunch of stuff I enjoyed here, Fujiwara and Ikeda are both bleeding and do a good job of getting the crowd behind them. We get to see Ikeda kick some folks really hard, including a spin kick right to Fuji's face which looked like it chicleted his teeth. The finish had Fujiwara whipping out flash armbars, including catching Fuji off the top. Still lots of the match had the FMW team beating on Fujiwara and Ikeda, and there was nothing compelling about it. Lots of weak forearms and stomps, you are going to have to hit both guys way harder then that to have me buy into it.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Shinya Hashimoto/Naoya Ogawa v. Tom Howard/The Predator/Steve Corino Zero-One 5/19/02-GREAT

A match which ends up on the low side of great, but had enough stuff I enjoyed to push it over the top. This is part of the big UPW/NWA v. Zero One feud which lots of times came off as a giant money mark fantasy for Fred Rubenstien and Rick Bassman. This did have heel ref shit and a post match brawl with Mr. Fred throwing powder, but for the most part it was focused in the ring. Fujiwara had some cool flash submissions and got in his ring bolt comedy spot, but the star of this match was Hashimoto. The gaijin team is pretty limited, but Hash had some excellent battle of the titans spots with all of them. I especially love his work with Howard, who is someone I am really starting to dig while watching all of this Zero One. I loved how he wasted Hashimoto with a superkick after suckering him in with his hands behind the back gimmick. Finish had some cool OH Gun combo moves including a nasty STO/German Suplex. Cool stuff.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI Show #29, 11/19/95

Takeshi Ono v. Mohamed Yone

TKG: I'm assuming that Ono's opponent is Yone. The Lynch list for this show is full of question marks. Yone is tall and not a ton thicker than Ono. I mean everyone is thicker than Ono but Yone is still skinny. Yone gets in one absolutely nasty kick but this is mostly the Ono kick and scramble all over opponent to get submission show. Thats a show I tend to enjoy.

PAS: Yone did have a great missed koppo kick after the one nasty landed kick. Middle of last year I saw Super middleweight contender Alan Green fight an ex-sparring partner Donny McCrary in a ESPN2 card. Green outclassed the guy, but his opponent nearly KO'ed him with a lucky punch, had him on dream street. McCrary couldn't settle down and finish Green though, he was just hurling wild punches, that is what that koppo kick kind of felt like. An outclassed guy got a lucky shot and was recklessly going for broke

Alexander Otsuka vs. Takeshi Okano?

TKG: Again assuming here that Otsuka's opponent is the future Winger. Otsuka pretty much controls this match. Some nice suplexes, nothing as spectacular as the most spectacular Otsuka suplex, but still a bunch of nice throws. Winger gets in the flash victory by reversing a leg lock into an ankle pick.

PAS: This was fun. Possible future Winger was pretty non descript, but wasn't afraid to land bad on his skull. The flash victory ankle pick was pretty awesome, as Okano was about to tap, but was able to grab the ankle and nearly rip it off.

Katsumi Usuda v. Oishi

PAS: The name had a question mark next to it, so his full name will be lost for posterity. It is pretty common when they run different style matches in Japan for the big name outsider to bring in a underling to work an undercard match. I assume Oishi is a Murakami student, but the funny thing is that he is a brown belt. Murakami couldn't even bring another black belt to work the undercard?

TKG: This went a little over a minute and really nothing to see here.

Yuki Ishikawa v. TAKA Michinoku

PAS: This was joined in progress which I was pretty salty about. At different points of my life each of these guys have been my favorite wrestler in the world, and I am pretty sure I hadn't seen them wrestle each other before. We got most of it though, and it was pretty great. Really counters on top of counters, as TAKA would use his speed to avoid and check most of the things Ishikawa was trying, but when it got onto the mat, he would be countered by Ishikawa's skill. Both guys were throwing bombs too, especially TAKA's nasty elbows to the back of the head. Wish I could have seen it all, but it didn't disappoint.

TKG: Ishikawa's submission attempts were really awesome here as he'd go through all these stages in order to reach a submission. First he'd isolate the body part, then he'd fight to completely extend it, and only then would he go and try to twist it into unnatural positions. On the one hand it was awesome, on the other it was disorienting as he'd go through this whole process to secure a submission when TAKA would just go and slap one on. Fun match, wish I had seen more.

Gladiator/Hisakatsu Oya v Daisuke Ikeda/Mark Ashford

TKG: So it's PWFG v. FMW and pretty much a mess. Mark Starr has a nice superkick and decided to work straight pro style. So you never really had the "fish out of water/PWFG guy out of element" feel to his sections. And well Ikeda is a brawler to begin with so not really a story of contrasts. Oya looks awkward at points, like he had never taken a DDT before. The bulk of the match is spent with Ikeda and Oya brawling in the chairs while Gladiator and Mark Starr worked in ring. Really felt like you should have Starr and Gladiator brawl outside ring and have Ikeda and Oya do the fighting in ring. Just felt backwards. Match was a mess.

PAS: This was mercifully clipped, as we got about 8 minutes of 22. Pretty shitty with no one being any good at all. Luckly Gladiator did neither a suicide dive or a hanging vertical suplex, so we weren't tempted to make any tasteless jokes.

Murakami v. Yoshiaki Fujiwara

PAS: Murakami is a Karate guy who mauled Usuda on an earlier show to set this up. This is joined in progress too, which sucks, because one of the things that makes these kind of matches great is the slow build to blow up, and this was joined mid blow up. There is a DQ finish with Fujiwara jumping Murakami at the start of the round and getting a mount and raining down punches which is apparently illegal in this style. They have kind of a fun pull apart between dojo's, but this match felt like a missed opportunity.

TKG: Yeah I was stoked at the potential for this match up and really you fuck it up by having it jip'd. Post pull apart Fujiwara throws his own students out of ring so he can be a man and shake his opponents hand while still pissed at himself for fucking up. He's bitter but he needs to shake and then raise his opponents arm to be true to himself and the sport. ROH! ROH!

Great Sasuke v. Shoichi Funaki

PAS: This was a Sasuke singles match with all that entails. Sasuke was fine, he did his pair of insane dives, and his offense was good. Sasuke wrestles kind of the same always, so the quality of the match will usually depend on what the opponent brings to the table. Funaki did very little to add to the match, so in the pantheon of Sasuke singles matches this finishes pretty low.

TKG: I expected Funaki to rep PWFG but he kind of comes out and hits a dive in his first move. Sasuke controls most of the match on the mat and then has the better dives of the two. Fuanki has some fine mat work and some mediocre dives but Sasuke just has far more interesting stuff no matter what he's doing and well I never bought Funaki as a challenger and had no reason to care about the match.

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