Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a Servant of God An Avenger Who Carries God's Wrath Against On the Wrongdoer

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Katsushi Takemura vs. Kazunari Murakami/Mistu Nagai Nihei Gumi 2/11/07 - EPIC

PAS: There is a real treasure trove of small room Japanese indies on Archive.org. I was in a Fujiwara mood, so I decided to scroll around and watch something I haven't seen before. Fujiwara and Murakami in the ring together has a pretty high floor, at a minimum you are going to get two of the great face makers in pro-wrestling history making faces at each other, at a maximum you are going to get whatever the fuck this was. The first part of the match chugs away as a fun BattlArts adjacent puro indy tag. The first Murakami and Fujiwara exchange is pretty great, they do some sneering at each other, Fujiwara gets dropped with a hard punch, gets his bearings and takes Murakami down to the mat. Their finishing run is what makes this so incredible. Fujiwara drops Nagai with a headbutt, Murakami tags in and it devolves into some of the most visceral and violent pro-wrestling of all time. They smash each other with headbutts until both are split open and soaked in blood, Fujiwara gets mounted and smashed with full force punches, he counters, not with a bit of defensive mat wizardry, but with a hard straight right to Murakami's dick, the match ends on a DQ with Fujiwara trying to jam both of his thumbs through Murakami's eye sockets. I didn't think wrestling still had the capacity to shock me, I was wrong. 

MD: This one takes a real, real turn at the end, and we'll talk about that shortly. To start, a fairly undeniable statement: past maybe Inoki and Baba, Yoshiaki Fujiwara was the most self-aware wrestler of his generation. We have footage from 1987 that shows it, and it becomes even more true as time goes on. 

Here, in 2007, he absolutely milks the first exchange between himself and Murakami. After Takemura and Nagai hit each other like trucks for a minute or two, Takemura reaches out for the tag. Time grinds to a halt. Fujiwara blinks, just blinks, and somehow the world gets even slower. He comes in, faces off with Murakami, and gets absolutely clocked with a punch. He goes down, rides out the count, comes up, and we enter a binary situation. We all know Murakami's going to throw another punch. Is Fujiawara going down again? Or has he had enough already? Fujiwara knows the power of his presence, his skill, his reputation, the expectations of the fans. He knows what he has with Murakami across from the ring from him. He sidesteps and drops him with the armbar, and then they both get out of the way so Takemura and Nagai can throw bombs at each other some more. And if that was the only interaction between the two, this match would still have value for it.

It's not. Takemura let himself get swept under, was double teamed, but finally came back enough to make a tag. That brought us back to Fujiwara and Murakami. We've seen Fujiwara come in after a hot tag before. He leads with his head, and again, he knows what he has with that head, what crowds have come to expect from it. Impenetrable, indominable, stronger than steel, a perfect tool for both viciousness and comedy. 

But Murakami doesn't waver. He doesn't back down. He leans in instead. He headbutts through it. In all of wrestling, there's maybe nothing more horrific, knowing what we do, than a headbutt war so gnarly and grisly that both competitors draw blood from it. We are a captive audience. This was 2007. There's nothing we can do but bear witness to horrors long gone by. You can shout at your screen but it will do no good. And in truth, were we there, were we shouting in the moment, it would not have halted Fujiwara and Murakami on this day.

We see the blood on Fujiwara's forehead first, an eggshell cracking, a rock split asunder. When we next see Murakami we realize the damage was mutual. As the blood turns from a trickle to a stream down Fujiwara's face, the battle becomes more intimate, slow, steady, hate-filled grappling. 

Fujiwara ends up on top of him, and brandishes his thumb for all to see. Again, even in the midst of this bestial state to which they've unleashed upon this world, Fujiwara knows who he is, what he is, the value of it all. He knows the importance of showing the crowd, the camera, Murakami, God himself, his thumb, to ensure everyone knows that what is about to happen will happen in the first degree and should be prosecuted as such. Intent established, he drives his thumb straight into Murakami's eye. Its brother falls in beside the first immediately thereafter. Murakami, as with the headbutts, drives his own fingers up to create an unholy unison with Fujiwara, a matrimony of mutual mutilation and destruction.

The referee tries to call off the match. In the background, music that sounds a bit like the Peter Gunn theme, a jazzy bebopping riff, plays, evoking an awards ceremony where they producers are increasingly desperate to play off-stage an out of control acceptance speech. Fujiwara and Murakami keep fighting off anyone in their way, violent desire verging on the farcical, like the end credits of a Benny Hill episode if the goal was blood and death instead of ribald comedy.

Once things took a turn, all of this had a gradual, almost glacial, sense of inevitability. It took its time, announced its intentions. There was no room for confusion or ambiguity. Its power was not just in the brutal impacts or bloody aftermath, but in how methodological it all was. What do you even do with something like this? All we can do is share it, document it, ensure that others carry the weight with us. In the end, what is it truly but yet another unforgettable page in the astonishing book of Yoshiaki Fujiwara?

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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Dick Togo Avalanche The Alpine Shake, The Coupe's Vanilla Bean, The Seats Poundcake

Dick Togo/Katsushi Takemura vs. Kaz Hayashi/American Dragon NJPW 8/17/04 - EPIC 

PAS: A lot of talent in this match, and it pretty much lives up to it. What fed ran the KDX break-up bloodfeud, because I need to see any time Togo and Hayashi match up. They just went after each other tooth and nail. I remember Danielson being disappointing in this New Japan run, but he looked like American Dragon here, really viciously ripping at Takemura's arm, laying into people with uppercuts, and pulling off actual intensity in a way a scrub like Davey Richards can only dream about. Togo and Takemura do a really nice job working over Dragon and building to a big hot tag and a great end run. There is a big blown spot here, as Danielson is attempting a superplex and both he and Takemura tumble nastily to the floor, it was actually the rare blown spot which makes a match better. First of all the bump looked nasty, then Danielson did a nice job coming back getting the advantage and hitting the suplex again, almost making the redo of the spot a moment of triumph. He goes from that into the Cattle Mutilation which gets broken up by a Dick Togo senton onto the bridge, which comes off as cool as it sounds. 

PAS: Dick Togo/Masao Orihara vs. Rasse/Great Sasuke MPRO 3/17/07 - FUN 

PAS: I am just not digging the 2000's Togo tags as much as the 90s stuff, although I don't think it is because either Togo or his opponents have gotten worse. Structurally this just wasn't as satisfying. The rudo team does a lot of chair shotting and power bombing, and we never really get to see Togo and Rasse work lucha segments, which is really the most on paper intriguing part of the match. We did finally get to see Sasuke and Rasse fly around a bit and Togo looked like Togo looks, but this wasn't the match I wanted this to be. 

Dick Togo/Yasu Urano vs. Extreme Tiger/Jack Evans NOAH 10/26/10 - FUN 

PAS: I think a tag match with 2006 Dick Togo v. 2006 Jack Evans would be amazing, but Evans seems to have taken a big step back since going to AAA. I think the stuff I liked the most in this match was the initial Yasu Urano v. Extreme Tiger matwork which was a nice start, but shouldn't be the highlight. Jack will still take a big beating and stretching, and I really dug Togo yanking out his neck with the crossface, also the last couple of minutes was pretty cool with a nifty Extreme Tiger dive and Jack hitting the 730 which is still spectacular. However most of the lucha exchanges between Evans and Togo were pretty disappointing, Togo is historically so good with flashy flyers, but none of this stood out, and most of Jack's offense kind of looked like crap. Match was worth checking out, but I expected better. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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Dick Togo's Birds Eye View Got Him Channeling His Vision, Turns One to Two Now the Kilo Has A Sibling

Dick Togo/Men's Teioh/Shiryu vs. Gran Hamada/Super Delfin/Great Sasuke MPRO 1/14/97 - EPIC 

PAS: This is it right here. We start out with a more violent vibe then the traditional six man. Sasuke starts the fun by spin kicking Shiryu right in the sternum really fucking hard. KDX responds by taking it to the streets, and folks are getting hung off balconies and chucked into concrete walls. They get back into the ring and we get some truly breathtaking lucha. One beautiful exchange after another, I think Hamada v. Togo stood out for for me (man the arm drag Hamda pulls out was life changing), but all of the matchups were great. It ebbed and flowed, as multiple times they went to the floor and threw each other into chairs, and then went back to flying and flipping. Finish run was great as KDX did their thing, just decimating Sasuke with multiple big moves, ending of course with the portly man with goatee floating through the air 

Dick Togo/Ikuto Hidaka vs. Christopher Daniels/Donovan Morgan ROH 9/21/02 - FUN 

PAS: This is from the ROH tag tournament, in one of the earliest ROH shows. Match started out slowish, with a long heel control section with Daniels and Morgan (who should have been Team Receding Hairline). This was a little dull, although solid, but there was a reason that Morgan didn't have a long ROH run. Pretty much everything after the Togo hot tag was pretty great stuff, as they built a really hot finish. Hidaka looked especially good here, as I loved his spinning DDT into the rope choke. Togo pretty much stuck to his signature stuff, it all looked good, but watching all of this Togo I can tell when he is mixing it up, and he wasn't here. Still good stuff, and definitely got the crowd amped up. 

Dick Togo/Jado/Gedo/Katsushi Takemura vs. Jushin Thunder Liger/El Samurai/Wataru Inoue/American Dragon NJPW 11/30/03 - GREAT 

PAS: This is an elimination match worked with the same rules as all of the awesome elimination tags on the NJ 80's set. This match was cruising along at a mid range level for the first half or so. We got to see a little of Danielson v. Togo which is the most on paper intriguing match up. Danielson was pretty much doing his 3rd generation Dynamite Kid shtick, which really isn't the most interesting use of him. I did really like the Gedo v. Dragon stuff, they had really good chemistry. Still the match didn't pick up until we get some eliminations, and Jushin Liger decides he wants to be Abdullah the Butcher. The heel team removes the ringpad, but predictably it backfires and Gedo gets cut open on the ring bolt. Liger just goes nuts at this point, biting Gedo's bloody head, jabbing him with a spike, all of a sudden this pleasant little juniors match has gotten NSFW. After those two get eliminated we get to see Togo run throw his cool shit with Inoue, although the finish felt a little hackneyed. Still Liger as the Sheik is never going to get too big a complaint out of me. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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Thoughts on Dragondoor?Gate? Hole? whatever in Mexico from DVDVR 158

Arena Mexico- 5/13/06

Arkangel de la Muerte/Negro Navarro/Skayde vs. Hayato Fujita Jr. /Kanjyuro Matsuyama/Shinji Nohashi

PAS: We only got about half of this match but it was pretty fun. It is always a treat to see Negro Navarro, and he was pretty great here, locking up a nice submission and doing his great kip-up. Nohashi hit a cool tope with a nice camera angle.

TKG: Yeah that was a great camera angle. Arkangel threw some really nice elbow drops and Navarro took a posting well and any time you get to see Navarro it‘s a treat but there really wasn’t much to this match.

Dark Angel/India Sioux vs. Mima Shimoda/Raven Hiroka_

PAS: Hiroka is the worlds shittiest Etsuko Mita, but she did have a really nice exchange with Dark Angel. Mima Shimoda doesn’t do a ton here, and we didn’t get a ton of time.

TKG: This was real clipped and nothing you want to see again. I liked India Sioux’s version of Virus’ finisher.

Dragon Scramble Match: Matematico vs. Ultraman vs. Kahoz vs. Cuchillo vs. Black Terry vs. Astro Boy Jr.vs. Brazo de Plata Jr. vs. Daisuke Haonaka vs. Hijo del Fantasma vs. Toshiya Matsuzaki

PAS: Ridiculously fun match which was a total train wreck but in a really entertaining way. You got to see a bunch of old luchadores who never see the light of day. Black Terry had an awesome punch exchange with Ultraman. For an ex-high flyer Ultraman has really turned into Jose Luis Castillo in his old age. Cuchillo and Kahoz are guys I haven’t seen in years, and they looked like guys I hadn’t seen in years. Kahoz especially looked shitastic, as he was completely unable to bump over the top on his first attempt, so he has to run to the other side of the ring to bump to the floor Also that actually looked like the real Matematico who must be 70. Total blast.

TKG: Black Terry looked to be guy holding this entire thing together working fun sections with Hijo del Fantasma, Matematico, and Ultraman and one of the Japanese kids. Gran Cuchillo comes out and stretchers the other Japanese kid just smacking him around with the butt of his gun, suplexing him on the ramp and then dropping elbows. Cuchillo hitting opponents with the butt of a pistol may expose the business more than Tiger Jeet Singh hitting opponents with butt of sword. But Cuchillo is way more fun. Cuchillo and Kahoz are really too old to pull off their miscommunication heel double team stuff. But fuck all that other shit: BLACK TERRY~!!!

Brazo De Oro/Brazo De Platino/Passion Hasegawa vs. Mazada/NOSAWA/Katsushi Takemura

PAS: This was alot of fun, the early parts were a little rough, as Platino spent the opening parts just doing all of Super Porky's spots but not as well as Super Porky. However when it got kicking it got really fun. Oro was especially awesome here, especially his stuff with NOSAWA, and his incredible tope. Passion was really fun as the fake Brazo fucking up all of the Brazo spots, and when Platino stopped apeing his brother and started hitting all of his dives he looked great too. Easily the match of the show.

TKG: Was that really Brazo De Platino. I remember him looking more scummy and garbagey. He does all of Platinos big dives but I don’t remember Platino looking that kind of classically handsome. Platino’s section where he was apeing Plata spots wasn’t much and the Passion v. Takemura exchanges weren’t much. But then fucking Brazo de Oro worked his section with Nosawa where they essentially did Ki vs. Red spots with Oro working superfast to dodge all of NOSAWA’s offense and then getting in his own strikes. Brazo de Oro’s speed was just amazing. And then once the match got going it was just on. I think my favorite Passion being too small to do Brazo signature spots was when he kept trying to lay across the heels only to get tossed off while Platino set up his big dive.

4 Way Dance: Averno/Mephisto vs. Trent Acid/American Gigolo vs. Brute Issei/Shigeo Okumura vs. Milano Collection AT/Kazuchida Okada

PAS: The match listing listed the Backseat Boyz, but instead American Gigolo was Trent Acid’s partner. You know someone sucks when you are pissed about being baited and switched out of Johnny Kashmere. Okada took some big bumps, but this match may have been the worst multi man match of Trent Acid’s career. Imagine what that entails.

TKG: The screen says that this went 11:23 but I swear it felt twice as long. They do the everyone puts everyone else in a headlock section before the big guy comes out only to do a big man miss-communication spot two or three times. With Issei really playing poor man’s Pancho Tequilla playing a poor man’s Brazo Platino playing a poor man’s Brazo de Plata. Averno and Mephisto are first eliminated for excessive rudisimo. Yeah so the Arena Mexico crowd is left to watch Issei/Okamura vs. Gigolo/Trent Acid. Do the Arena Mexico fans have any stake in an All Japan vs. PWU match up. All Japan is eliminated for PWU vs. Toryumon finish. This needed Slugger.

Decision Match for the vacant NWA Welterweight Title: La Mascara vs. Hajime Ohara

PAS: This was okayish. Mascara is a little green to lead Ohara through a real lucha title match, and it came off as more of a mediocred BOSJ match which doesn’t make TV.

TKG: Yeah this was where the lucha and the resu in your lucharesu just fall apart. This isn’t worked like a lucha title match at all. There is a cool part early on where La Mascara appears to get pissed as though Ohara is taking liberties with him and the two just start swinging at each other. Baby Richard keeps on trying to remind Ohara about his closed fists and elbows. This would be fine in a lucha brawl but you build to the brawling parts of match. Ohara paces his stuff like a puroresu match so you don’t have the lucha ebb and flow where wrestling section leads to break down into brawling section which leads to a regroup to wrestling section.

Super Libre: Dos Caras Jr./Hijo del Lizmark vs. Mark Jindrak/Johnny Stamboli

PAS: This was a pretty fun WWE Heat main event tag (2002 Heat, all four of these guys are liver enzymerific.) I don’t think this was as good as the technicos v. Stamboli/Palumbo would have been, and definitely not as good as the technicos v. Jindrak/Cade (especially with all the real life familial heat between Dos Caras Jr. and Lance Cade) Still these teams work each other alot, and they have a ton spots with each other. Jindrak looks like a total superstar as he hits all of his high spots and is a taunting fuck, doing a little bird flapping with his arms after he flew. He has crazy ups, and if he actually moves to Mexico he will be a big ass star.

TKG: Not as good as a Heat main event tag…closer to a RAW one. Jindrak’s taunts are great and him and Stamboli work like a touring tag team with lots of heel miscommunication spots that they could work against any face team. They do the old MX arm pull over rope spot that always makes me smile. And well, so about a year ago New York Times printed an article about the success of lucha libre in Mexico. Someone in WWE read the article and said “the only people who watch our shows are gays and wetbacks, we need more wetbacks”. There was all kinds of writing on the internet about WWE bringing in Mistico and Ultimo Guerrero and who they should and shouldn’t bring in. I proposed that they bring in Dos Caras Jr and either Sicodelico Jr or Hijo del Lizmark as they essentially can work you’re basic OVW style and are tall and masked and would be easy to plug in and build around..WWE ended up bringing in a bunch of minis and having them work US midget comedy spots. After watching this match, if I were to fantasy book luchadors in WWE, I’d use Sicodelico Jr as my Dos Caras Jr partner. But still fun, full Worldwide point.

Relevos Increibles: Atlantis/GREAT MUTA/Ultimo Dragon vs. Perro Jr./Dr. Wagner Jr./Ultimo Guerrero

TKG: Man I was expecting this to be BA—AD. Arena Mexico announcer says that Ultimo Dragon is thought of in Japan the way Santo is thought of in Mexico…and I was all ready for the worst type of money mark match. But this turned out to be pretty fun. Dr Wagner and Perro come out and agree to team while Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero are pissed that they are on opposite sides. And they do a lot of great lucha storytelling throughout the match with Atlantis and Guerrero sparring happily. Guerrero unhappy whenever his partners go after Atlantis. Atlantis and Perro Jr stoked to match up, etc. Atlantis just looks super great in this as he has to carry his team in ring. Ulitmo Dragon has been useless for years and for the most part never eats anything. At least in this match he spent a lot of time eating offense. Muta has had twenty years of great ring entrances and essentially works as Abby here. Guy wandering around looking deranged and scary. His elbow drop isn’t as good as Abby’s and Abby can work a simple effective match around opponent stealing his fork and forking Abby while Muta having opponent dragon screw him really doesn’t mean a ton in Arena Mexico. Also the Arena Mexico crowd has become enough of a heel crowd that they react to Muta’s stuff like its camp while the Coliseo crowd seemed to have a more visceral reaction. Still Muta was hell of fun in this and the movement back and forward from guys just doing shtick and storyline to guys wrestling is what you want out of this type of main event lucha.

PAS: I liked this a lot too. MUTA is fun as an old old guy who still kind of can hit some of his signature spots at half speed. It’s lucha every weekend there are a dozen shows main evented by guys like that. Ultimo who normally works exactly like a old old guy who hits some of his signature spots at half speed, actually seemed kind of energized, with his spots being hit more 3/4 speed.

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