A Soft Answer Turneth Away Wrath: but Grievous Words Stir Up Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Johnny Barrett UWF 5/28/90-GREAT

PAS: Super enjoyable match. Fujiwara almost feels like a master Jazz trumpeter who is just riffing. He tries out a bunch of neat little concepts in this match, but it feels very experimental. He had multiple very cool ankle locks, one where Barrett was in the mount, and Fujiwara locked his ankle with his feet, and another when Barrett had his back and he countered by twisting Baretts foot. They also did a bunch of spots taking advantage of Baretts size, with Fuiwara climbing all over him like a kid on a jungle gym. Barrett is really great in this match too, there are multiple moments where Fujiwara is dancing around enjoying himself, where Barrett responds with a nasty forearm or a knee, he is in a fight and doesn’t want to be treated contemptuously.

TKG: Barrett was smoother on the mat then I remember him and even his standing knees to the head felt organic. I kind of wish Zero 1 brought him in when Matt Gaffari was doing his superheavyweight schtick. I mean there wasn’t this kind of matwork in WAR but he feels like a guy who would have had neat matches in WAR as well. The real problem with him in this match (and the flaw that kept this from being an epic showdown) is that at no point did I feel like he had anything that was going to end the match. All of his matwork, strikes, punishing moves…even his chokes and submissions felt like stuff being used to wear Fujiwara down to build to a pinfall finish and not a sub finish.


Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami v. Hiroshi Hase/Shinya Hashimoto/Keiji Mutoh NJ 7/9/94- GREAT

A big star six man tag which totally delivers. Starts out a bit slow, but it kicks in gear when our man Fujiwara tags in, he has great exchanges with both Hashimoto and Hase. A great strike exchange with Hashimoto, with Fujiwara landing nasty chops to the neck and Hash laying in kicks. Super cool spot with Hase catching a Fujiwara headbutt and turning it into a uranage. Finish is totally awesome, Hase hits his giant swing on Fujinami , but it makes him dizzy so he stumbles into a Riki lariat. From there you have a big run of moves with everyone hitting their signature stuff, until finally the 80’s stars get triple submissions and the win, The old guys team is totally awesome and I need to see more of them.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Yuto Aijima v. Giant Kimala/Jinsei Shinzaki AJPW 6/8/01-SKIPPABLE

Not much of a match, luckily we get very little Aijima because he is one of the worst ever. Mostly just Fujiwara running through his basic comedy spots. I enjoyed him biting Kimala on his titty, and how Shinzaki kept hurting his hand when he chopped him, but nothing that hasn't been done better other places.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Shinya Hashimoto v. Kohei Sato/Hirotaka Yokoi Zero-One 8/15/04-EPIC

Here is the first really spectacular 21st century Fujiwara match I have found. This had the feel of a classic BattlArts match,yuy nothing fancy just all four guys trying to beat the ever living shit out of each other. Fujiwara gets isolated for a part of this match and eats a pretty big beating from the young guys. Yokoi wears MMA gloves and unloads with nasty full strength punches to the face and body. There is this awesome section where he is unloading on Fujiwara and Fujiwara fires back with his jumping shoot headbutt. They also have a great early mat wrestling section, with Fujiwara showing the kind of slick counters that are his forte. Of course Hashimoto is a fucking tank, when he gets tagged in he just murders people, axe like chops to the neck, thudding kicks, big suplexes. There are several points in the match where Sato tries to stand toe to toe with Hashimoto and it is like trying to brawl with late 80s Tyson. I love this kind of gritty violent stuff and this match totally put a smile on my face.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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Fear Not For the Future, Weep Not for Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Antonio Inoki v. Dick Murdoch/Masked Superstar NJ 11/24/86- FUN

This was from the 1986 tag league. It is a fine little match which really has some excellent Fujiwara v. Murdoch exchanges. Both guys are such expressive wrestlers, that it is a treat to watch them work simple stuff. There is about 2 minutes of really nice brawling, Fujiwara backs Murdoch into a corner and unloads with one of his super fast combos, leading Murdoch to do a big spit take and a great bite a lemon face. Murdoch fires back with a couple of headlock punches right to Fujiwara's nose, which leads Fujiwara to grimace and adjust his nose to see if it is broken. Really simple stuff elevated to greatness by amazing performers. Match itself isn't much, Inoki had a tendency to take some punishment in a match, just to shrug it off and pin the guy. It isn't even like he Hulks up, he just decides he has had enough and perfunctorily finishes someone, he does that here and it hurts the match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Johnny Barrett PWFG 3/4/91-GREAT

Barrett is an early 90's Florida indy worker who was an early DDP tag partner and feuded with the Nasty Boys. Somehow he ended up in UWF2 working as a Greco guy. All of his earliest UWF matches are filled with 3 Stooges style selling and dropkicks, so of course I loved them. Fujiwara of course is fucking Yoshiaki Fujiwara. This was as great as I was hoping it would be, although for different reasons. By 1991 Barrett had gotten the hang of working the style and is actually a really great shootstyle monster, kind of like Gary Albright with takedowns instead of suplexes.

Fujiwara really puts him over great here, as they exchange big shots, including Fujiwara's awesome shootstyle headbutt, which is completely different from his pro-style headbutt . His Pro-style headbutt has him grab the hair and really rare back, the kind of showy headbutt that plays to the back row. The shootstyle headbutt is more like a ram, he bends his knees and drives the top of his head right into either the jaw or the temple of his opponent. It is so different from his pro-style headbutt, that it always looks reckless and potatoey. It really looked like he broke Barrett's jaw. The finish was awesome, Barrett is on top, and tries to maneuver for a cross armbreaker, he slips while trying to apply it, and Fujiwara pounces, grabbing his ankle and sinking in a deep ankle lock for the tap. It actual looked like Barrett blew the spot and Fujiwara just went with, although it might have been intentional. Fujiwara is an amazing defensive wrestler, and this was just a brilliant reaction spot.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Shinya Hashimoto v. Daisuke Ikeda/Takashu Sugiara Zero-One 9/15/01-FUN
Slightly disappointing, as on paper I was totally amped to see Daisuke Ikeda match up with both Fujiwara and Hash. There was a nice exchange or two, but this match was focused on Sugiara. They basic story was pretty cool, Sugiara is this beast of an athlete who is still pretty green at pro wrestling. So he has his moments of explosiveness and domination, but he goes to the well a little too often and leaves himself open to counters from the two Maestros. There is this great spot where he hits a big takedown on Hashimoto and ground and pounds him. When they get back to their feet he tries again and Hash drills him with a nasty kick, which I though may have dislocated his shoulder. Fujiwara is able to catch him sleeping a couple of times too, countering a mount with a kneebar, and a front face lock with a Fujiwara armbar. Definitely some cool shit, but it was very frustrating watching Daisuke Ikeda hang out on the ring apron while Sugiara is in the ring.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #14 7/27/92

Dieuseul Berto v. Ryushi Yanagisawa

PAS: Berto's son Andre is currently a top boxing prospect at 140 pounds. His dad needs to learn to keep his hands up, as Yanigasawa KO's him in 1:30 with a nice high kick.

TKG: Dieusel looks tiny next to tall Yanigasawa. Deiusel starts this working stiffer than he has before and lands some nice looking kicks. He then gets absolutely walloped by Yanigasawa.

Yuki Ishikawa v. Kazuo Takahashi

PAS: This was Ishikawa's first awesome match in an awesome career. Takahashi really brutalizes him in the way you should brutalize rookies, including some nasty shoot headbutts, and hard slaps. Ishikawa fights back and lands some big shots of his own, and it actually gets pretty competitive for a minute, until Takahashi nearly rips his leg off with a one leg boston crab.

TKG: Yeah, Ishikawa vs. Suzuki started more competitive. This was awesome as Takahashi absoutely disrespectfully abuses Ishikawa. Shoot headbutts, face slaps, grinding his elbow into Ishikawa's nose, grinding his fist into Ishikawa's mouth, slow on rope breaks, nasty nasty punches to charlie horse the thigh, refusal to lock up when standing etc. Ishikawa just takes it and eventually comes back with a nasty shot to Takahashi's kidney and all of a sudden its on. Ishikawa tries to return the headbutts in kind. Takahashi starts to kind of punch himself out and really the kidney shot slows him a bunch. All of a sudden Takahashi is forced to accept Ishikawa and agrees to lock fingers when they get back to their feet. But the moral victory doesn't mean an actual victory. Still fucking neat neat story told through really brutal shots.

Johnny Barrett v. Yoshiaki Fujiwara

TKG: Barrett has gotten huge. I mean he was big before but now he looks like Tugboat Taylor. He also has balded some more and grown some facial hair. His face has grown really dignified. Like a head chef at a fancy restaurant. His body meanwhile looks like a fry chef at a bowling alley. They do this opening section where Fujiwara counters a judo throw into an ankle lock which was awesome. They do a Super Porky in the partier section where Barretta rides Fujiwara and Fujiwara can't get out from under the weight while Barrett isn't able to hook in anything. Fujiwara takes Barrett down. Barrett tries to get up from partier but crafty Fujiwara slips on arm bar using his leg. Whole thing is just awesome 4 minute match.

PAS: I think Barret looks less like Taylor then a mix of Mukhan Singh and Dean Rassmussen. Both PWFG Barrett v. Fujiwara matches have been really short and fun. I get the sense they could have a really great 20+ minute main event. I think Barrett has had a pretty interesting career, he went from Florida indy guy, to WCW jobber, to shootstyle guy, to Chicago indy luchadore. Goodhelemet really needs to make a 10 DVD Johnny Barrett comp.

Wayne Shamrock v. Jerry Flynn

TKG: This had just a bunch of cool things going for it. Flynn's defensive stuff is always neat. there's this point where Shamrock has Flynn down and tries to grab for something. Flynn is able to defensively block every Shamrock attempt at a grab. Shamrock goes for a suplex and Flynn manages to defend while in the air. When Shamrock does have Flynn caught, Flynn makes one or two attempts to break free but always ends up going for the ropes. Flynn can defend but once Shamrock has him he struggles to escape. Its a kind of neat little thing they have going. There also is neat stand up section where Flynn gets a fall which only makes Shamrock more aggressive.

PAS: This was a really fun Monday Night Wars Nitro v. RAW match. I would have liked to see the Dan Severn v. Glacier match that would semi-main this show. Shamrock's body is getting even weirder, his abdomen has weird lumps on it, like his six pack is bottles not cans. Flynn's stand up stuff looked really great here, and I love Shamrock's KO selling.

Duane Koslowski v. Minoru Suzuki

PAS: Koslowski is an Olympic amateur wrestler, and all of his greco pummeling and throws always look good. I have never really seen him adapt to this environment though, so the match was just kind of there. Still at least he doesn't try to call the match.

TKG: I think this was better than Phil is giving it credit for being. but most of the coolest stuff in this was built around stalemate moves. guys trying for things being blocked and then stuck. I remember enjoying this while it happened but really remember nothing other than the way Koslowski is starting to look like what would have happened if you mated Lex Luger and Jack Wagner. And I'm haunted by images of Luger singing "All I Need". I think i'd have better things to say if I wrote this after the match. but I've been writing after every two matches and well.all I need is a little more time to be sure..

Maskatsu Funaki v. Bart Vale

PAS: I have decided that I don't like Funaki, I like the Rock and Roll Express, I like Cena, I like Ricky Marvin, but something about Japanese blow job wrestlers just rubs me the wrong way. There are some fun things in the way too long match, but they are pretty much all delivered by Bart Vale. Funaki is sleepwalking through this, not really selling, not really doing anything interesting with his offense, not engaging me in any way. Vale is fun, I think right around 1992 he turned into a pretty good pro-wrestler. His selling and moves were cool, and he has finally figured out how to throw a nice looking worked kick, but Funaki was killing me here. He did have a nice Jheri Curl though, his hair looked like Eriq Le Salle's from Coming to America.

TKG: I don't like all U.S. blowjob babyfaces. Not a big Von Erich fan. Although I imagine Mike vs. Killer Khan would be better than this. And at this point Vale is pretty good in the Khan role. Yep Vale has learned how to be a pro style wrestler and does enough compelling selling and struggling to make this interesting from about the 20 minute mark to the 25 minute mark. Funaki drags down the other 25 minutes.

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PRO-WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #2 5/19/91

Minoru Suzuki v. Kazuo Takahashi

This was basically a short squash with both guys working for takedowns on the mat, before Suzuki slaps on a quick cross armbreaker. Hard to tell much about Takahashi here. It had some energy.

Bart Vale v. Yusuke Fuke

I liked this a little better then Funaki v. Vale, as this wasn't based around Vale's flashy and loose looking kicks. This had kind of a weird story as Fuke kept going for submissions which would be reversed by Vale. Almost built as a showcase for Bart Vale Abu Dhabi superstar. Weird to watch Vale work this, but I prefer him as shitty Jean-Jacques Machado then as shitty Mirko Cro-Cop. After all of his submission grappling he ends the match with a sick looking knee to the head, which was even more jarring considering how tender everything else he throws looks.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Wellington Wilkins Jr.

Damn was this a blast. This was worked as a mat brawl, both guys were exchanging really nasty shots mostly on the mat. Short punches to the temple by Wilkins, almost JYDish seated headbutts by Fujiwara, Wilkins kind of leaping from a lying position into a knee on Fujiwara's throat. Fujiwara was almost working heel here, as he slaps on a kneebar and lays out in a supine lounging position with his head resting on his elbow, he almost looks like he is stifling a yawn. Wilkins is great, he has nice deadlift suplexes and takes Fujiwara's signature boston crab reversal as a dangerous neck bump. Is their any other shoot Wilkins out there? Did he work Kingdom or something?

Wayne Shamrock v. Naoki Sano

I was pretty much in shock during this match, I couldn't believe what I was watching. I have never particularly cared for a thing Ken Shamrock has ever done, so I expected nothing out of this match, and it turned out to be as good as anything on the 80's Other Japan set. So much to love about this match, as they pretty much went back and forth from spectacular mat exchanges into awesome slugfest strike exchanges, great takedowns, into more spectacular mat exchanges.

The pacing of this was great, I especially loved how they paced their mat highspots. One guy would get in position and struggle a bit, and their would be a lull, and then super fast move into a choke or a kneebar. The crowd would pop huge for all of the mat spots, and it was the pacing of them which would really do it. Then after the mat near falls they would stand and just lay into each other with big shots, Shamrock's strikes looked way better here then in the previous match, and Sano was drilling him too. This was before Sano went to UWFI so I would guess this was his first shootstyle match ever, and he was a master of it. This was Sano's match, and while Shamrock was game, you could tell Sano was leading him. I also loved how Sano mixed in pro moves, as I actually bought an STF as a shoot submission, and a DDT as a shoot throw. I have never heard anyone even mention this match before and it is a total hidden classic.

Masakatsu Funaki v. Johnny Barrett

This was perfectly fin, but suffered a bit in comparison to the previous matches. Funaki really works this match the Maeda would, and that isn't a compliment. Barrett was fun, but you never got the sense Funaki was in any danger of losing. Some cool stuff, especially Barrett's shoot armdrags, but this was the PWFG version of a competitive TV squash. Naylor said Julio Barrett was a great NWA jobber, and that is what he was here.

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PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #1 3/4/91

Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi 3/4//91

After watching all of the UWF2 from 88 and 89, and reading the Funaki bio in the Observer, I decided I need to get all of the Fujiwara-Gumi. Tim Cooke, Tomk and I are buying all of it, and will be reviewing all of it. When we are done we will be putting together a PWFG comp so everyone can feel the love as well.

Wellington Wilkins Jr. v. Yusuke Fuke

I only ever remember Wilkins as a comedy opening match guy in MPRO, but he is a blast as a shootstyle guy, just laying in the kicks and submissions. Fuke has really fast hands, and throws a couple of really pretty flurries. Goes back and forth for a nice long time, before Wilkins wins with a nasty looking kneebar where he grabs the folded up knee. This was better then most of the opening matches from the late 80's UWF, and got me very excited to work through these shows.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Johnny Barrett

I was really excited when I saw this on the matchlist. Barrett is an early 90's Florida indy worker who was an early DDP tag partner and feuded with the Nasty Boys. Somehow he ended up in UWF2 working as a Greco guy. All of his earliest UWF matches are filled with 3 Stooges style selling and dropkicks, so of course I loved them. Fujiwara of course is fucking Yoshiaki Fujiwara. This was as great as I was hoping it would be, although for different reasons. By 1991 Barrett had gotten the hang of working the style and is actually a really great shootstyle monster, kind of like Gary Albright with takedowns instead of suplexes.

Fujiwara really puts him over great here, as they exchange big shots, including Fujiwara's awesome shootstyle headbutt, which is completely different from his pro-style headbutt . His Pro-style headbutt has him grab the hair and really rare back, the kind of showy headbutt that plays to the back row. The shootstyle headbutt is more like a ram, he bends his knees and drives the top of his head right into either the jaw or the temple of his opponent. It is so different from his pro-style headbutt, that it always looks reckless and potatoey. It really looked like he broke Barrett's jaw. The finish was awesome, Barrett is on top, and tries to maneuver for a cross armbreaker, he slips while trying to apply it, and Fujiwara pounces, grabbing his ankle and sinking in a deep ankle lock for the tap. It actual looked like Barrett blew the spot and Fujiwara just went with, although it might have been intentional. Fujiwara is an amazing defensive wrestler, and this was just a brilliant reaction spot.

Minoru Suzuki v. Wayne Shamrock

It is good old Ken rocking an amazing Paul Diamondish mullet. This is clearly a showcase match for two of their young stars, and they work a showcase 30 minute draw. Kind of the shootstyle version of a IWA-Mid South "two-guys-who-trained-with-each-other-intro-match" Think Delirious v. Matt Sydal or Marek Brave v. Josh Abercrombie except with kneebars instead of mirror sequences, and nine counts instead of 2.9 finisher exchanges. Much like one of those matches, their was alot of cool spots, but no real structure or story outside of "look at these two guys do stuff". Watching Ken Shamrock wrestle is alot like watching him shootfight, he has a bunch of cool looking leglocks and leglock counters and awful looking strikes. There was some nice stuff here, I especially liked Suzuki using the Fujiwara headstand leg scissors Boston Crab counter into an armbar near fall. Very cool Fujiwara tribute on a Fujiwara show. I also liked the draw finish as it really looked like Suzuki was desperate to put away Shamrock. Still some cool stuff doesn't make a great match.

Masakatsu Funaki v. Bart Vale

While Johnny Barrett has improved a ton from the UWF2 I watched, Bart Vale really hasn't. He still is pretty useless on the mat and throws these flowery kicks which don't really land at all, think Ernest Miller. Funaki puts together a pretty cool match, but plugging Vale into it really doesn't work. For the match to work Funaki has to sell Vale's shitty looking kicks like death, which looks like crap. The near falls and the finish were all really cool, and this would have been a good match with a kicker who actually connected with what he threw.

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