Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Keichi Yamada NJ 9/23/87 - EPIC
Real hidden gem from your random bad VQ HH Japanese webpage source. Great story with Yamada as this aggressive little bulldog who was never going to stop coming forward. Fujiwara was countering his attacks, but he could never slow him down. It reminded me of a Clay Guida UFC fight. Yamada didn't have the teqnuqie, but he was going to overwhelm him with pace. I never thought of Yamada as much of a mat wrestler, but he was super fast and impressive in the early exchanges. Fujiwara was totally spectacular here too, taunting Yamada when he would come in recklessly, smacking him with slaps and countering his moves. He also did a great job selling fatigue as you could tell he was frustrated with inability to put this little fucker away. Finish was awesome with Fujiwara countering desperation shot after desperation shot with the Fujiwara armbar, but Yamada would survive, get to the ropes, and charge right back ahead. Until finally Fujiwara trapped both arms and ended it. Too bad this only exists as a tiny poor VQ avi file, as I could see this finishing pretty well on my NJ ballot.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Dan Severn NJ 8/2/96 - GREAT
Very cool power vs. guile match up. Severn really comes off like a monster here, throwing around Fujiwara with big time suplexes. This reminded of the kind of match ups Fujiwara would have with random Russians in PWFG, as he really worked an entertaining contest around Severns limitations. There were a couple of awesome looking Fujiwara counters, Severn shoots for a firemans carry and Fujiwara catches him in armbar using his legs. There is another move where Fujiwara counters a double leg with an mid air armbar while locking the legs as well. Totally beautiful move which I really bought as the finish. The end was just Severn throwing a bunch of overhead tosses, with Fujiwara finally being too weak to kick out. Felt like the finish run was a bit repetitive, but this was about as good a non Tarzan Goto match I have seen from Severn.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Dan Kroffat vs. Steve Williams/Mike Rotundo AJPW 11/19/00 - SKIPPABLE
Nothing much here, total squash with Williams and Rotundo jumping their opponents at the bell, hitting some big power moves on Fujiwara and pinning him after a top rope powerslam. The whole match was just over a minute. Under other circumstances, I would have been intrigued to see Fujiwara work the mat with Rotundo, but not here.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu vs. Ryuji Sai/Kohei Sato Zero-One 10/17/04 - SKIPPABLE
This was during the period where Z1 was running all cage match shows, so this for in a cage for no reason. Pretty much a nothing match, with a couple of decent exchanges from Sato and Fujiwara, but this felt perfunctory and Choshu finishes it rather quickly with a lariat.
COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA
Labels: Dan Kroffat, Dan Severn, Dr. Death, Keichi Yamada, Kohei Sato, Mike Rotundo, Riki Choshu, Ryouji Sai, Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Read more!
