Found Footage Friday: RIP NISHIMURA~! NAGATA~! GENTARO~! NAKANISHI~! CHONO~! TENZAN~!

Hiroyoshi Tenzan/Masahiro Chono vs. Manabu Nakanishi/Osamu Nishimura NJPW 06/05/02

MD: This is an hour draw where we never had the full version until recently. They structure the time extremely well all things considered, with a few major story beats to loop together the characters, the work, and the big moments. The first ten minutes were primarily Nakanashi paired with Tenzan and Nishimura paired with Chono, worked fairly even. They had time to breathe though and that meant a bit more struggle and effort to lock in or escape from every hold. Nakanishi and Tenzan brought little sprinkles of bombast and over the top theatrics and Chono and Nishimura were grounded and focused.

From there, they spent around ten minutes working on Tenzan, leading to a big entry Chono and a little less than twenty minutes working on Nishimura, including some big bits of hope including a superplex/toss off the rope combo. Nishimura was credible enough to stay in it and keep the crowd invested, so they were up and ready when Nakanishi came in like a truck, using feats of (as the commentary put it) "superhuman" strength to fight both off, including lifting both over his head at once. When he went for a German, however, his leg went out, setting up the back two-fifths of the match. 

It had seemed like maybe they were going into the finish, but instead Nishimura had to step forth and he did so iconically, taking his boots off and becoming an absolute wrestling machine, switching from one opponent to the other and keeping his head more than above water. Just when it seemed like he was getting swept under, there was Nakanishi, bandaged up for an extended comeback and finishing stretch. The match had one last wrinkle though, one thing to put it over the top and force the champion on their back foot in a very visual way. Nakanishi shot a knee into Tenzan and he bled big. That gave the last ten minutes a bloody, desperate overtone as they rushed on towards the draw. This warranted the time it got, with all of the comebacks and momentum shifts feeling suitably huge and the iconic moments even huger.

PAS:  Very cool match that I don't think I had ever watched before. Nishimura has always been one of my guys, but I was lower on Nakanish, Tenzan and 2000s Chono, and I imagine the length kept me from watching it in 2002, and it has never been something I have considered revisiting. Nishimura's passing and the new footage of it all, led me to advocate for this, and I am glad I did. 

Just a couple of all-time moments in this match. I loved the idea of Nakanishi on this Incredible hulk run of power spots and the injury being non-contact. If it was a real injury, tremendous improv, if it was part of the match, hell of an idea. Nishimura pulling off his boots is an iconic leading man moment from one of wrestling's great character actors, and instantly became one of my favorite strap drop momentum changes ever.. I did kind of wish that, that moment and the big Nakanish return from the back, led more quickly into the finish, I liked the finish run and the Tenzan blood, but there was some dead time in between the Nakanishi return and the big ending, which felt like it could have been trimmed, still hell of piece of business and a tribute to the greatness of Nishimura.

Osamu Nishimura vs Yugi Nagata - European Rounds NJPW 06/02/05

MD: Ah, a handheld of two guys in black trunks wrestling. That's what you want out of NJPW. This on the fabled Italy tour and was really European rounds. They went five to a draw. I liked it quite a bit actually. Balanced, good work, good anticipation, good story. The first round was mostly even, just feeling out but I liked how they made every touch seem like it could lead to something. Nagata took over with a kick in the ropes (unclean break) and he got carded for it but that was a small price to pay to break the stalemate (or the slight Nishimura advantage) and take over. 

He kept control through a roundbreak but one too many kicks led to his doom as Nishimura caught it for a dragon screw. Likewise, he kept control through a ropebreak (charging forth with a leaping kick to ensure he'd keep it right at the start of the round), and pressed the advantage with a figure-four. He couldn't get the win though and they leaned into the last round with some big bombs as they worked towards they draw. This worked for me as something different and they leaned into the gimmick well with Nagata holding his own. They could have gone back to Japan and done these matches for years and told interesting stories with them. We'd probably be in a better pro wrestling world if they did. 

Osamu Nishimura vs. GENTARO VKF 11/16/15

MD: Pretty enjoyable 20+ minutes here as they just went hard with one another. For the first half of the match GENTARO would try to press an advantage (anything from a vein-popping headlock to slamming Nishimura's head into the turnbuckles to a headscissors to a bow and arrow) and Nishimura had not just an answer for each but suitable punishment in return, most especially a nasty European Uppercuts. 

Midway through, things spilled outside, and Nishimura absolutely cracked GENTARO's knee with a shin breaker on a chair and started dismantling the leg. Sometimes you're watching a match and something takes a turn and even after watching for years and years you still get that feeling in your stomach of "how is this guy ever going to come back from that?" The answer was that Nishimura missed a knee drop off the top and GENTARO was able to slam his knee into the post with a shinbreaker of his own.

From there they were both on one leg and fought hobbled against one another, including a few figure-four attempts by GENTARO, one of which he was finally able to lock on outside the ring, staying in it for almost the entire twenty count. All of this was very good, with lots of struggle to try to prevent the hold and plenty of consequence for being in it. Finish came out of nowhere as GENTARO got it on again only for Nishimura to turn it and almost immediately get the submission. On the one hand, it made sense given the damage to the knee and how hard they were fighting over the hold. On the other, I'm not sure I've ever seen a submission on a turned Figure-Four before.

ER: This was so great. It's Nishimura at his best. He's the same age as I am right now and he looks 60, but moves like a tough 30 year old. He's a rare breed, a Masa Fuchi type who looks like a polite salaryman in his own Japanese Nobody. He has such a dedication to making every step of a match look earned, an honesty that is something became really important to me. He hits guys in slightly different ways and makes simple transitions look like rewarding events. There's so much satisfaction in watching a pro work slowly but effectively through a figure 4 or Indian deathlock. The camera work in VKF is really great and amplifies Nishimura's style. 

The ringside camera films inside the ring like they're aiming to show that there are no tricks or illusions in Nishimura's work. It's an honest camera for an honest style. But that close-up realism pays off when the match escalates to hard strikes and real impact. Nishimura had an incredible uppercut sandwich when he went full weight into GENTARO'S neck and jaw, then went low with one into his thigh, then went back to the neck and jaw just as hard as the first. He drove some of the hardest full body downward strike elbows into GENTARO'S quad, escalated things further with a knee breaker on a chair, attacked it in ways I wasn't expecting. When he hits a big kneedrop from the middle rope across the leg, it's the same movement that leads to a miss and transition back to GENTARO later. There's that honesty. I like when GENTARO realized he was losing this fight but looking for ways out, suddenly getting really serious about a Count Out win still being on the table while the ref calmly insisted that Nishimura was clearly on the apron. There are no bad Nishimura finishes, they always feel like one man won with a submission that was well earned, and I love the way Nishimura specifically showed his work while earning those wins. A true craftsman. 

2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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It's Reached Top Speed and I'm Getting Inside of Tony Halme

Tony Halme vs. Masahiro Chono  NJPW 8/6/92 - VERY GOOD

ER: Unique layout for a big singles match, and this was a big singles. This was the main event of the very first night of the '92 G1, the 4th and final G1 match of that night. 1992 was one of the years they did a single elimination tournament for G1, which is kind of a shame as it left a lot of killer matches on the table, but also gave us matches we hadn't seen at that point like Arn Anderson vs. Steve Austin, or this match. I put myself in the shoes of the fans, and the single elimination style really adds to the drama of some of these matches. Imagine being so excited for Masahiro Chono to attempt a repeat G1 victory after taking '91, and then being met with him taking a complete one sided 10 minute drubbing to start off his '92 bid. The bulk of this match looked like Chono had no actual shot at beating Halme, OR getting any kind of offense. Halme was landing body shots at will, and Chono was selling the way I would be selling after taking one shot from Tony Halme. The match was in danger of being stopped several times, with Halme punching Chono's guts into the mat and then waiting for him to get back up before doing it all over again. At one point it appears the ref even throws out his own rulebook, giving Chono a 10 count that Chono clearly will not beat, so the ref just stops the count while Chono rolls to the floor! *I* know the end result of the '92 G1, but I'd never seen this match and I actually thought they were going to have Chono get decimated, then think of some reason to DQ Halme after the fact so that Chono could continue. And that's where our story finally turns, as Halme goes out after him and ends up accidentally throwing a lariat to the ringpost, leading to Chono working over his arm and shoulder until he gets the win. Halme sold well and apparently likes to swear in English, as he was dropping Effs and Son-of-a-Bitches all over the place while Chono went after the arm. The structure of this was so cool and odd, you can see a Lesnar match worked this same way. Halme absolutely owned Chono for the first 8-10, and then the last few minutes were entirely Chono working for the same sub, Halme basically slowly drowning with no hope for survival. I loved how Chono slowly set up the STF, the way he slowly worked into it made it seem like a huge deal once he had it locked in. And I love that Halme basically wasn't going to tap to the STF, so Chono shifted quickly to an armbar. Weird layout, but it definitely worked off the charisma and character of these two.


Tony Halme/Brad Armstrong vs. Hiroshi Hase/Keiji Muto  NJPW 2/13/93 - VERY GOOD

ER: The Halme/Armstrong team is like the Kane/Danielson tag with an actual great Kane. And really this whole match would have been better with nearly anybody else in there other than Muto. And, thankfully, Hase does the lion's share of the work, and the match only benefits from it. Armstrong and Muto start, and it's all headlocks baby! Muto works a couple so loose that he keeps losing them, but it's all headlock takeovers and lying on the mat in a headlock. There's a chance this match had a clip, and brother I have no clue what could have been clipped because we got Muto lying on his side aplenty. Thankfully Halme and Hase got in there, because their long section was great. Halme had real charisma at this point, beyond being "imposing Aryan man", as he was really great at building to big parts and milking small parts. He knows when to throw big body blows and how many to throw, and can work a compelling match based wholly around wrecking Hase's spleen. Seeing Hase in action against the much larger Halme was cool, as after getting pummeled by fists the size of his head he uses his amateur grappling and muscles Halme down to the mat, and Halme is smart to not go down right away for the takedown, so we really got to see Hase dragging him down. But most of this was Halme pummeling, and then Brad comes in and the Brad/Hase stuff is great! Hase aims to rip Brad's leg off with a beautiful drop toehold, but after getting cut off from Muto for too long with some big Halme moments (a lariat off the middle with Brad holding Hase, a massive powerslam) we get a big hot tag.....and Muto hilariously comes in and starts working more headlock takeovers. This fucking guy. It all builds to him hitting an okay handspring elbow on Brad, except Halme totally steals his thunder by running the length of the apron to lariat him right after. The breakdown is cool with Hase catching Brad up top and hitting a superplex (both men on the top rope) and Halme getting run into the ringpost hard on the floor after trying to catch a Muto pescado that falls short (great ringpost bump, believable enough to keep him out for the finish), and Hase makes quick work of brad with the uranage (back bump edition) and northern lights. This was overall really good, but literally any other native would have turned in a more interesting performance than Muto.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE TONY HALME

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My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Pro 6/15/96

Jushin Liger vs. Eddie Guerrero

ER: Sheesh you throw on a disc of Pro without looking up match lists ahead of time (pro tip: if you're looking at match lists before popping in ANY TV wrestling from 20+ years ago, you're doing it 100% completely wrong. Not knowing what's next is almost all of the fun). Liger is wearing his sick black/gold/silver gear, and tons of fans in fannypacks are super excited by Eddie. And this completely owns. They start off with a bunch of quick stuff, and then Liger takes over with a great rolling capo kick, fat somersault senton, an actual fast and violent looking handspring back elbow, big powerbomb, throws nasty palm strikes to back Eddie into the corner, really dishing out a beating. Fans are amped for an Eddie clothesline but Liger plants him tailbone first over his knee with a backbreaker. Liger is a total dick in this and it's great. Sadly we cut to finish shortly after that, with an Eddie frog splash. That's the one micro downer about syndicated WCW, the finishes are usually pretty sudden and/or predictable. But all of this was awesome. This kind of thing isn't really a hidden gem, as any time someone like Liger turned up on TV, that was going on comps and getting traded. This was a match an internet wrestling fan would have booked in 1996.

Kensuke Sasaki/Masa Chono vs. Steiner Brothers

ER:  Well this episode hit banger status pretty quick. The layout of this was cool, as the evil Japanese team jumps the Steiners and gets an early advantage by being sneaky and cheating, but the Steiners each hit painful belly to belly suplexes on them and Scott hits lariats. So we start with a bunch of big dudes crashing into each other, and then Chono tells everybody to calm the hell down and we start working a nice southern tag with Team NJ cutting off the ring, Chono working a nice cravate. I dug things slowing down and driving the Florida white shirts crazy, and it built to a nice Steiners comeback. Rick catches Chono up top and hits a big suplex, Scott hits the Tiger Driver and an awesome Frankensteiner, fans go nuts. Steiners against a team who has no problem taking a beating is always gonna be fun. Chono was a real hoot in this, stooging around holding his back, bumping for stiff Steiner stuff, crazy episode so far.

Scott & Steve Armstrong vs. Public Enemy

ER: I swear Public Enemy is on every fucking episode of Pro. But then I always end up kind of enjoying them. So many people in the crowd have fannypacks, it's insane. But this is fun. Armstrongs throw a zillion dropkicks, and PE kind of suck but they also have no problems trying stupid shit. Some of their stuff doesn't work, but they try it and shrug it off pretty well if it doesn't. Scott takes a big bump to that hard Pro stage, and they tease Rocco giving him the Drive By through a table on the floor, but Scott scrambles away and Rocco does the Tiger Mask feint, and I bet if I was a little younger when Public Enemy came into WCW I would be WAY into them. If I saw them putting someone through a table one time, single digit age me would flip out. Rocco does do the Drive By to Scott, but not through a table, just on the mat, and he protects him really well which was something I didn't realize PE did. So that's pretty cool. I liked this.

We get a big WCW Motorsports infomercial, with Sting and DDP hanging out in a pit crew, an announcer running down how Car 29 has done in some recent races, how cool Diamond Ridge Motorsports Inc. is, and the WCW pit crew getting face paint like Sting. I bet when WCW bought (leased?) a racing team, one of the pit crew guys made a joke about how they'd all have to wear face paint, and the other crew members laughed because how stupid would that be? And then a month later nobody was laughing.

Scotty Riggs vs. Ric Flair

ER: I always love seeing Flair working small studio matches, though it is an eternal drag to see him accompanied by Woman and Elizabeth. The whole match you have Cruise, Dusty, and Zbyszko selling the Great American Bash (airing the next day) with a main event of Arn/Flair vs. Kevin Greene and Steve McMichael, and Larry is going on and on about football players with big mouths who think they can be wrestlers, and brings up Alex Karras getting beat by Dick the Bruiser and crying and limping all the way home, and Dusty cuts him off with "You're still talking about that 20 years later!?" You know he is. And this match rules. It goes 11 minutes, and Flair bumps around the whole time for Riggs, and any momentum Flair gets is because he cheats or has Woman cheat. It's so ridiculous and so awesome. Flair takes two big backdrops, tons of back bumps off shoulder blocks, flops on his face after getting punched, works the mat with him, gets beat in a knucklelock, basically a guy in the main event of the next PPV giving 80% of a long TV match to someone who doesn't get on PPV. It's great. Woman claws at Riggs' eyes after he takes a super fast bump to the floor, Flair jabs a thumb into his eye and throws great headlock punches, and Flair drops a clean kneedrop. Riggs gets some pretty great nearfalls, the best coming from a roll-up when Flair attempted the figure four. And the finish was fantastic, with Riggs going up top and Flair falling into the ropes, causing Riggs to take this painful as hell looking Hamrick bump where he falls off the ropes and catches his knee on the way down. Flair immediately goes in for the kill. This was a tremendous TV main event, easily comp tape worthy, and totally surprising. I had no thoughts on Riggs before this match, and suddenly Flair gives me an affinity for him in 11 short minutes. This is a total WCW syndicated classic.

Easily one of the best episodes of Pro you'll ever see, the 4th most important WCW show at this point of 1996.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WCW B-SIDES

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NOT All Japan Motherload - Funk/Kabuki vs. Sabu/Chono

Terry Funk/Great Kabuki vs. Sabu/Masahiro Chono - NJPW 5/17/95

ER: This match was immediately intriguing to me, as LOOK AT IT ON PAPER, but also because it's Terry Funk in NEW Japan. That immediately sounded like a mistake to me, as I don't recall him ever working NJPW before. There has to be some story behind this. A quick check shows he only worked 4 total matches for them, two in May '95, and the other two more of an old man glory tour in the 2000s. So this is weird, and I didn't know this match existed. Why did Funk work two matches in NJPW in 1995? This match right here at least seems like a marquee, unique match. The other one seems utterly pointless (Funk/Koshinaka vs. Fuyuki/Chono. Why bring Funk in for that match!?), but there has to be a reason why a total All Japan lifer like Funk worked two seemingly random matches for NJPW in '95. I WANT ANSWERS!

The match itself is awesome, full of all four men stiffly punching each other for the duration. Sabu especially has no problem just shoot punching Funk several times in the face, but in addition to that his worked punches looked really great. Kabuki is also a total beast in this. Some early stuff with Chono is a little tentative, but mid match when he tags in he just goes AFTER Sabu and hits the most gorgeous and brutal uppercuts you have ever seen. Chono works the match fast and hard, the stuff with him and Terry spilling to the floor is great, with Funk kicking his ass into the crowd and Sabu blindsiding Terry with more awesome punches. Terry has a mean gusher at this point. Sabu shoehorns all his Sabu offense in, including a wildly misguided moment where he tries balancing a folded chair on the top rope, with a seated chair ON TOP of that chair, and then thinks he could somehow balance on top of that chair to do a flying move. Pure glorious idiocy, and it sees him flop tailbone first off on a table. Funk goes for a moonsault later (didn't actually realize he was doing moonsaults as early as '95, thought he added that some time around '97), and this whole match is just weird and painful and incredibly fun. Post match we get an awesome Funk promo where he says he and Kabuki aren't as young and fast as they used to be, but they got heart, and then Sabu jumps Funk again. Sabu is screaming the entire time, calling Funk a motherfucker (yeah, apparently Sabu talked a lot in his Japan matches, which might surprise fans of his U.S. work), really lacing into Funk with nasty shots, then Funk takes over and goes for the spinning toe hold, yelling "Let's break this fucker's leg Kabuki!!" and he and Kabuki start kicking at Sabu's leg, then Kabuki walks off camera and mutters "son of a bitch". Fuck yes for all of this.

***As an added thought, Pee Wee Moore is arguably the most self-serving, obnoxious referee I've ever encountered. This douche wanted so desperately to be the star of this entire match. He spent the every second shouting as loudly as possible, every single moment. You should really watch this on mute as Moore just spouts a near constant stream of completely useless dialogue. If Funk grabbed Chono, Moore would just start yelling things like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TERRY? TERRY? WATCH IT. WATCH IT TERRY. TERRY. WHAT ARE WE DOING TERRY?" It doesn't stop. He does it to everybody (except his meal ticket Sabu) and I hate it. He so desperately wants attention that it's a Michael Scott level of depravity. He really tries his best to make every single spot about him. I've never seen anything like it. It's the worst moments of Red Shoes and Earl Hebner doubled. Really, really awful.

PAS: Yeah this was totally boss, Kabuki was an awesome old man tag partner to old man Funk, this was the best version of Last Vegas ever. It really made me want to search out more mid-90s Kabuki. Sabu was about as sharp as I have seen him, hitting all of his crazy shit in that endearing nutso Sabu way. Funk bleeds and wanders around and acts nuts. Totally exceeded all expectations.

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Dick Togo Behind the Scene Pull Strings Like Geppetto, The Gun Blow Steam Whistle Like a Tea Kettle

Dick Togo/Scott Norton/Don Frye vs. Masahiro Chono/Kohei Sato/Eric Young PWE 10/25/08 - SKIPPABLE 

PAS: On paper this looks like an awesome random WAR six man, but it didn't like up to any of that promise. Chono and Norton start out and neither guy looks like he should be in the ring at this point. Young and Togo run through a wrestling school juniors section, Togo and Sato have some fun stuff, and Eric Young does a great convulsion sell on a Frye punch, but outside of that we had nothing. Frye is usually ridiculously charismatic, but he was bland here. Don't ruin the match in your head by watching the match on the computer. Dick Togo v. Shinya Ishikawa BJW 5/3/09-EPIC I can't remember seeing Togo work this kind of violent potato fest match before, and he is great at it. You get the sense that Togo could slot right into a FUTEN show and fit like a glove. The main problems I have with most Strong BJ wrestling is the lack of selling, emotion and structure. At its worst it is just two guys standing in front of each other throwing forearms. Of course there isn't anyone in wrestling better and inserting selling, emotion and structure into a match then Dick Togo. So we get all the violence without any of the problems. Togo really works over the kid, especially his ribs, smashing them with knees and an especially nasty double stomp. Ishikawa gets a couple of big comebacks, including a really stiff dropkick which Togo just flies on. Not particularly long, but really fun to watch and very cool to see Togo do something different so well. 

Dick Togo vs. Gedo DDT 6/30/11 - GREAT 

PAS: The curtain goes down on a great career with a great match. Togo is walking away at the height of his prowess, arguably the best wrestler in the world, on the best run of his career. Gedo is currently the best wrestler he has faced during this singles run, although this isn't the best match. Execution in this match is great, both guys hit what they do very well. The match starts with some solid as a rock basic mat wrestling. Gedo gets out wrestled and decides to brawl, smashing Togo in the ribs with a chair and ring bell hammer. Togo takes a huge bump ribs first into the ring post. We get a great Memphis punch exchanges, some exciting near falls, and a beautiful Togo tope and floating senton. Despite the brawling which looked great, I never thought this took the extra step into a grasping violent war, like the best of this Togo series. In a way that is fine, maybe a retirement match should be a guy running through his greatest hits with a good dance partner, and this was a great version of that, really enjoyed it, but Togo raised the EPIC bar in 2010-11 and this didn't clear it. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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Come Not Between Yoshiaki Fujiwara and his Wrath

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Mark Rush PWFG 8/15/92-GREAT

PAS: When I got all of this Fujiwara-Gumi I was hoping that the promotion would be like WAR, a fun undercard headlined by a big main event, with Fujiwara in the Tenryu role. Instead for the most part Funaki and Suzuki have been main eventing and Fujiwara has been working mostly fun midcard matches. This however was a midcard match worked like a big main event. Rush is an amateur guy who kind of has a circus strongman look, and this was worked like a match against a circus strongman amateur. Rush could take Fujiwara down at will, and really punish him on the ground with strength holds, chokes, body vices, bear hugs. While Fujiwara would be trying to maneuver him into joint locks and submissions. Very cool story and really well executed, the first time I have seen Rush in a complete wrestling match, and a really hidden gem for Fujiwara fanatics.

TKG: Yeah this had a real main event feel. And I like Phil's mention of carny circus stuff as this was built all around chokes/sleepers/front chanceries like a battle for Weaver lock. There is this one odd section in it where Fujiwara is caught in a choke tries to escape and then just starts to drool, and it's amazingly dramatic and you think that its a finish but for some reason its counted as a down and Fujiwara is given a ten count to get back to his feet. Fujiwara gets back up and its on again. Odd to count passing out in a sleeper as a down but once you get past that, it really works nicely in this.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami v. Hiroshi Hase/Masahiro Chono/Shinya Hashimoto NJ 6/8/94- FUN

Enjoyable six-man match with everyone looking good. Hashimoto was definitely the standout on the 90's stars team, his interactions with Choshu were totally awesome. They are a pair of thick barrel chested dudes beating the snot out of each other. I loved Hash getting cracked by two Riki lariats and then countering the third with a sick superkick. Our man Fujiwara was a supporting player in this match, but he had some nifty moments, a couple of gritty scraps with Hashimoto and a very cool moment where he clocks a dizzy post Giant swing Hase with a headbutt. Match never really reached the crescendo which would separate it from the pack, but despite that it was well worth seeing.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Jushin Liger v. Antonio Inoki/Tiger King NJ 5/3/97-GREAT

This was a Tokyo Dome match, and was basically an opportunity for the four legends to do their signature stuff for a big audience. For that kind of match this is about as good as it gets. Sayama was on fire here, he hadn't fully porked out, but was definitely on his way, he still hit all of his signature stuff with as much speed and even more precision then he did in his prime. He really had great chemistry with Liger, and of course with Fujiwara who his all time greatest opponent. I really enjoyed the Fujiwara v. Inoki match up as well, as they really grappled hard for their initial section, and the finish had Fujiwara doing some awesome selling for Inoki's big moves. Not a long match or a deep match, but a great match.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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There is One Pain I Often Feel, Which You Will Never Know It is Caused By Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Ken Shamrock PWFG 12/5/92- GREAT

PAS: Very cool match, Shamrock is really athletic and has great spots, you get a guy like Fujiwara or Sano to put that into a match it will be really great. The first part of the match has Shamrock using that athleticism to take Fujiwara down and get him into submissions, but Fujiwara has an answer for everything, and keeps doing awesome reversals into submissions. I really think Fujiwara is the greatest counter wrestler ever. Shamrock finally gets fed up with taking him down, and starts kickboxing. He gets a quick down, and then knocks him out with an enziguri to Fujiwara's face. The match feels a little truncated, especially considering how rarely Fujiwara loses. The standup section really should have gone a little longer, as Fujiwara kind of got squashed as soon as they stood.

TKG: I don't have much to add to what Phil says here other than I really liked the process of Fujiwara getting escapes. As he goes from guy caught to guy struggling to guy coming up with something in a visually exciting way When Fujiwara is beat you can tell he's beat as he seems just completely unprepared for the change in tactics.


Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tatsumi Fujinami/Riki Choshu v. Shinya Hashimoto/Power Warrior/Masa Chono NJ 7/8/94-FUN

Pretty nifty legends of the 80's vs. stars of the 90's match. Focus was on Choshu v. Hash, as the match begins with Choshu kicking the middle rope into Hashimoto's junk, so he spends the first couple of minutes on the floor grabbing his man tonsils. When Hashimoto comes back he laid in the kicks something fierce. Fujiwara was a bit player here, although he did have an awesome karate showdown with Hashimoto, which included a great little asshole Fujiwara dance after the stand off. Fun finish with Choshu lariating everyone, but Chono catching Fujiwara with a yakuza and Power Warrior hitting a big powerslam.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Toshiaki Kawada AJPW 3/21/01- SKIPPABLE

This is a match I a have watched several times. The first time I saw it was in 2001 and it ruined Fujiwara for me for years. I rewatched after getting into the Other Japan Fujiwara stuff, and then rewatched a third time for this project. It may be the most inexplicably bad match I have ever seen. I mean on paper this seems like it should rule, two of the greatest Japanese wrestlers ever, seemingly compatible styles, Kawada isn't a guy who did much shootstyle, but you always figured he would be great in it, and it isn't like Fujiwara can only work one way. Sure Fujiwara is past his prime a bit by 2001, and you knew this wouldn't be as good as it would have been in 1994, but this wasn't just a little disappointing, it was down right shitty.

As much as it pains me to say it, the blame goes pretty squarely on Fujiwara's shoulders. I have run across other bad Fujiwara matches in my travels, but no other match where he is the reason it is bad. He eats Kawada alive here. It is 2001 AJPW, Kawada is clearly the top guy in the promotion, and Fujiwara treats him like shit. He basically no sells almost all of Kawada's offense, Kawada will kick him in the face and he will just look at him, this isn't the Fujiwara tough it out sell, he just waves it off. At one point he gets German Suplexed, rolls out of it and goes on offense. There wasn't even a shitty Takiawa Fighting Spirt yell. He also takes a ton of the match, not really with cool mat holds or nifty punches, but mostly with JYD headbutt stuff. Even when he loses, he kicks out at the three count in a crappy keep his heat kind of way. Kawada seems to be trying pretty hard here, but Fujiwara just doesn't give a fuck. I don't know if this was a NJ v. AJ thing, or Kawada tried to fuck Thundercrack, but this was a total stinker.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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