Found Footage Friday: FUJIWARA~! ANDRE~! SAYAMA~! MAEDA~! KIDO~! HOSHINO~! KURISU~!

Tiger Mask/Osamu Kido vs. Kantaro Hoshino/Masanobu Kurisu NJPW 12/19/82

MD: I always get a little surprised when a new NJPW Tiger Mask HH comes up because I just assume they had a pro shot of it that they released on a twenty disc DVD set at some point. This does seem new though, and it's a great collection of talent. Overall, it's a little formless and exhbition-y, except for a stretch where Kido and Tiger Mask were working over Kurisu in the corner. That was my favorite part, by the way, as Tiger Mask was working like a flittering chickenshit heel to some degree, sneaking in shots that didn't do damage to distract him so Kido could hit more substantial cutoffs. Then when Kurisu rolled over to Hoshino finally, Tiger Mask got right out of the ring and tagged Kido back in. I think he was just having fun on an untelevised show for a bit though, hard to say.

In general, every exchange looked good and while they could change speeds and switch from strikes to holds to rope running, each pairing felt a little different. You could see it even in just how they moved. Kurisu found the path of least reistance with his takedowns, just a percussive series of thuds as he worked in tight or dropped a couple of knees. Tiger Mask was loose and fast to the point where sometimes he wasn't even hanging on to anything as he was spinning and you just had to sort of go with it. He came off like a movie fencer whipping the sword around wildly while Kurisu was an Olympic fencer, precise and with the smallest motion necessary. Kido and Hoshino were somewhere in the middle; Hoshino especially had to base for Tiger Mask and make it all somehow work. Sometimes things didn't feel resonant enough as they moved on to the next move. There was a pile driver from one side and a tombstone from the other in short order and I don't remember who took either. Tiger Mask pulled out his fairly rare slingshot 450 (that I only really remember Scorpio also using) for the win. It wasn't the sort of match that was ever going to come together but you can't really fault the action.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido vs. Super Tiger/Akira Maeda UWF 11/15/84 - EPIC

PAS: I can't believe we are still getting brand new incredible HH matches from 40 years ago. God bless the guy sneaking in a video camera. This is as great as it looks on paper, four all timers in their prime, having a hideously violent proto-shootstyle match. Kido is a bit dry, but a tremendous technician, kind of the Tim Duncan of the UWF, Maeda is one of the most charismatic offensive dynamos in wrestling history, although he played a bit of a supporting role here. The focus of this match is Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger, which is truly one of the all time great matchups ever. It is the incubatory version of Ishikawa vs. Ikeda, a brilliant tactician looking for every opening to take advantage of, against a hellacious violence dynamo trying to knock his opponents brains out of their ears. The Sayama kneedrop on Fujiwara is one of the most violent signature spots ever, I don't understand the magic, he lands so hard right on the temple, Fujiwara looks like he should have his skull flattened like when Christopher Lloyd got run over by the tractor in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Meanwhile Fujiwara is dishing out shots of his own, working Tiger's body in the corner like a heavy bag, drilling him with headbutts, yanking and pulling at his limbs. Every moment of it was special and we got a lot of them. The finish run is a bit clipped sadly (I imagine the HH guy was running out of film.) So we don't see every moment of Fujiwara maneuvering into submissions (which is a shame because he is the greatest small movement wrestler ever), but what we got was such a mitzvah.  

MD: Phil likens Super Tiger vs Fujiwara to Ishikawa and Ikeda and man, I don't know. It felt more like Buddy Rose vs Matt Borne during those few months where Buddy Rose was allegedly engaging in frequent acts of domestic violence against Borne's sister and they were trying to draw money off of it. Does Sayama have a sister? Because that's the level of violence he was rising to in the way he was beating on Fujiwara. In the NJPW tag below, Sayama wins with a crazy slingshot 450 that you don't see almost anyone do ever. The moment where Fujiwara starts to come back out of the corner and hit his headbutts and Sayama just clocks him in the jaw to cut him off just blows that out of the water when it comes to pro wrestling being amazing. Maeda and Kido do their part here too. I know Kido's dry, but he's dry like the desert. You can't get one over on him. He stretches for as far as the eye can see and you have to walk a thousand miles to endure all of his takedown attempts. Each of the pairings here were different and when he was in there against Super Tiger, he even tried to match him in stand up striking (he failed) which is not what you usually see out of Kido. Meanwhile, Maeda and Fujiwara contrasted with the dangerous explosiveness of the Sayama/Fujiwara pairing. It was all about positioning and little bits of leverage, constant hand motion, Maeda using his reach to press his hand upon Fujiwara's head and Fujiwara trying to slip around and lock something on. And yeah, when Fujiwara finally did get the chance to get revenge (which had previously been cut off with that Sayama punch) it's grisly, gripping stuff. The clipping's unfortunate but I figure the camcorder just couldn't handle much more of what it was seeing. It switches from wrestling found footage to a found footage snuff film, where we blink and Fujiwara's trying another attempt at the chicken wing, blink again and he's turning it into a headscissors. After all we just saw, it almost even worked in its own startling way.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Andre the Giant NJPW 5/27/86 - EPIC

MD: When you watch mid-80s New Japan, that month of the IWGP league when you get a bunch of weird singles matches alongside the usual tags is a treat. Granted, we didn't get to see most of these on the TV but that's the miracle of HHs still sneaking their way through (you get the same thing with the CC in AJPW where you'll suddenly get Misawa vs Cactus Jack or something, just like how with the tag league you'll get all the possible pairings if you're lucky). Therefore, seen minutes of Fujiwara vs Andre. It's only seven minutes, really only five given the entrances. You wish it was fourteen, but the taste that we do get is pretty much as iconic as you'd hope that it'd be.

Andre contains Fujiwara in the corner, tries to treat him like any other opponent he might manhandle, as if he was in there against 86 Kengo Kimura. Fujiwara constantly works his way to a neutral point causing Andre to shift holds repeatedly. He has the advantage, is able to shut Fujiwara down when he tries to headbutt, but is also forced to use escalating offense, including a mean shot to the gut off the ropes you rarely see Andre do. There a sense that if Andre lets up for one second Fujiwara is going to come back and cut him down to size. While Andre is unquestionably dominant and winning by points, Fujiwara through presence and motion, makes it seem closer than it ought to be. That leads Andre to take a risk, one that backfires, setting things up for Fujiwara's comeback headbutts. Andre's just too big though and is able to pull them both out and once out, Wakamatsu gets involved forcing the countout. You watch this and almost can imagine what a WrestleMania 3 match between these two might have looked like.

PAS: These two are 15 best wrestlers of all time (10 best? Maybe 5 best?) and while the version of this in my head is an all time great main event collision, this 6 minute undercard match is still pretty great. We get Fujiwara, an all time great pro-wrestling problem solver, tasked with lumbering Andre, an all time great wrestling problem. He prods and pokes looking for openings, and even makes the mistake of trying to hit Andre with a headbutt, which goes as well as one would expect. The match goes to a count out before Fujiwara finds a solution, which is a bit of buzzkill, I can imagine how amazing a UWF main event between these two would have been two years earlier or three years later, but it is amazing we got it at all.

ER: I actually think we're all being a bit too calm about this match. This is the literal only Andre the Giant/Yoshiaki Fujiwara match that ever happened. Andre the Giant and Yoshiaki Fujiwara, two guys who are even more than Top 5 Guys, they are two guys with a legitimate claim to #1. Andre the Giant is my #1 wrestler, and if not now I believe Fujiwara was Phil's #1 at some point. For me, expectations were out the window. The literal only singles match between two giants of my wrestling fandom, a match nobody could have reasonably expected would have ever shown up on tape after nearly 40 years, is suddenly in our hands and it looks, plays, and feels like Yoshiaki Fujiwara forcing Andre the Giant to wrestle shootstyle. 

Yes, I repeat, Yoshiaki Fujiwara prods Andre into wrestling shootstyle, and it is incredible. You want to watch the most fearless knee ripper in wrestling history force Andre to standing grapple for almost an entire match? I sure as hell did. I should have been shocked that Fujiwara walked straight up to Andre and tried to put him in a headlock. Did you see how huge Andre looked in this match? How was Andre the Giant even possible? You know supposedly the Big Show was physically larger than Andre? It makes no sense. Andre looks like a forest ogre forced into working double underhooks with a shooter, Big Show looks like a really big guy stocking shelves at Costco. Andre is shaped like the perfect Giant, the thick legs and comic book distended torso, a Popeye Goon fleshed out into a God. Have we ever seen anyone try to grapple with him as long as Fujiwara did here? 

That's at the core of why I think this match should be so celebrated. To me, this felt like one of the greatest examples of someone Lasting With Andre while taking the game directly to Andre. Fujiwara is perhaps the greatest worker of all time at biding his time for a winning shot, a thing he does against men his own size all the damn time, and here he is against the opponent who makes the literal most sense to avoid while remaining as coiled and prepared at all times to strike one cobra shot. Andre presents Fujiwara with the most logical opponent ever to work a classic Fujiwara lay in wait, and this All Time Motherfucker goes at Andre from go and works for fucking single legs against a Fujiwara size leg of a man. Fujiwara forces Andre to work shootstyle and grapple and be a Force against him for what feels like longer than I've seen anyone do in any other match. Looking at this match as a potential all timer cut short into a 6 minute taste, is not seeing how rare it was to get a six minute stretch in any Andre match where someone takes it to him the way Fujiwara pushed him here. 

Do you know how quick I scooted forward in my chair when Fujiwara looked like he was going to topple Andre onto his butt with that single leg? Can you imagine headbutting the Stay Puft marshmallow man in the stomach? Did you see Andre drop to a fucking knee to clothesline Fujiwara in the stomach? Have you ever seen something so cool? How does every single year of Andre have him doing things that nobody has ever been able to do as well as Andre the Giant? That drop to one knee clothesline I've never seen before leading to one of the all time greatest missed headbutt spots is one of thousands of Andre moments that illustrate his creative brilliance. Nobody has worked with their aging body more creatively than Andre, giving more than any other wrestler has ever physically given and finding new vaudeville acts when he no longer had the reflexes to juggle. He lugged that trunk to all parts of the globe. 

Imagine Andre the Giant navigating Japan during the worst most painful physical year of his life! Andre turned 40 years old as a man knowing he wasn't seeing 50, and a week later was forced to be the largest shootstyle wrestler we've ever gotten to see in a match we didn't know existed until now. This is two Number Ones strengthening their status as Number Ones in a way we haven't seen. The greatest wrestler of all time against the greatest wrestler of all time and every second felt like they understood each other's importance to pro wrestling. 

 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

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Kakuto Tanteidan: We Are Fighting Detectives 10/12/23

Hideki Suzuki vs. Yu Iizuka

PAS: Iizuka is young GLEAT UWFI guy whose nickname is Volk Kid, that is sort of like Harold Miner calling himself Baby Jordan or Gary Trent being nicknamed Shaq of the MAC, you are never going to live up to that and shouldn't make the comparison. Still Miner and Trent could both ball, and Iizuka can go a bit on the mat. Suzuki is a venerated veteran and after his ill-fated and truly bizarre NXT run (he is up there with Brazo de Plata and Meiko Satomura as some of the odder people to get a WWE run) has been one of the most dependable wrestlers in Japan. This really had the feel of some of the under the radar killer FU-TEN and Battlarts openers. Iizuka is more of an offensive wrestler, flashily spinning into cool submissions, including a great triangle choke. Meanwhile Suzuki is a grinder, he pressed his weight into Iizuka trying to make him feel force the entire match, until he maneuvered him into side control, flattened him out and just put him down with hammer and anvil elbows. Great example of exuberance of youth getting played by a old master. Suzuki doesn't have the charisma of Fujiwara but that felt like a very Fujiwarish performance.

TKG: This didn't really vibe with me. Suzuki starts with an insanely stiff dropkick. I don't know how many times I rewound the drop kick Suzuki works this match like a big bruiser: In theory this is guy with a ton of technique working a guy who outmatches him in strength. But it never really worked for me. They stayed in subs way to long and I never bought the idea that IIzuka dominating with his finesse, or that Suzuki was ever in danger. Suzuki did look like a hoss.


Hikaru Sato/Brother YASSHI vs. Ikuto Hidaka/Thanomsak Toba

TKG: I haven’t seen any of these guy’s in ages. Hidaka has aged facially into looking like Wings era Paul Mcartney but hasn’t slowed down a bit. In Memphis , you’d put him in a mask and push him as new challenger. Toba has aged into looking like not so much a boxer as a British Music Hall performer working as a boxer in Punch and Judy panto. Real Benny Hill vibes that I enjoyed, Brother Yasshi has gone from guy in dreads who listens to Vybez Kartel to a guy with dreads who listens to Buffet ( may his memory be a blessing). He unfortunately also works like a Parrothead. I don’t remember Sato being this level of goofy goon. Just goonish selling and work and really selling idea that he was overwhelmed and out of his element. Like Tully with Luger and when he was in this it was really fun.

PAS: Toba was a total beast in this, throwing not only straight punches, but hooks and uppercuts, the spot of the match was Toba dropping Sato with a check hook, or it might have been YASSHI throwing coconut headbutts and Toba responding with heavy punches. I liked the Sato vs. Hidaka sections too, fast tricky exchanges with enough violence to be appropriate, Hidaka's shots were more speed then force, but the speed looked good, and Sato maneuvering into the armbard was pretty sick. Battlarts would have this killer undercard tags, and this was in that spirit.


Super Tiger vs. Keita Yano

TKG:Super Tiger and Keita Yano are both guys who had worked actual Battlarts. Was a point where felt Super Tiger was only good there. Yano I didn’t much care for in Battlarts but has become a guy I like outside of it. This was Yano as guy who can absolutely control Tiger with wrestling for whole match while Super Tiger is guy who can hit a kick or sub to end it at any moment. I dug this more than the opener for guy controlling match but not able to close vs bigger stronger opponent. It’s weird to have 2 of those on the undercard so close. Super Tiger isn’t as charismatic or impressive as Suzuki, But I bought into this one, bought Yano’s ability to turn Tiger upside down and twist up…and loved the real taunting and fucking with Tiger. The reckless back scratch that made Super Tiger lose his composure and step up his aggression was neat point where you knew Super Tiger wanted to end it now.

PAS: I think I liked this a little less then Tom, I thought there was some good looking stuff, I loved the Yano roll into the LaBell lock, and some of his other arm control, but thought other stuff by both guys didn't look as good. Super Tiger is really hit or miss, some of his kicks looked good and others wiffed, and I really want a KO kick on a show with Daisuke Ikeda, Toba and that main event to look way nastier. 


Daisuke Ikeda/Minoru Fujita vs. Daisuke Sekimoto/Yuki Ishikawa

TKG: Is this the biggest hottest crowd Ishikawa and Ikeda have worked their match in. Fujita/Hidaka once was an exciting pairing and I think Sekimoto had adjusted to this style in the past. But this started Fujita and Sekimoto really working like they were the local indy guys in a Santo/N8 Mattison v Blue Panther/Conrad Kennedy III match in Flint; with Fujita and Sekimoto just working a match independently of what else going on-like they didn’t get it. I dug the early everyone simmering part of match and then Sekimoto/Fujita ran their spots and I wish someone could have picked Usuda and Ono up from the reteirement village. Ikeda and Sekimoto hit double headbut that knocked both to ground and where it looked like Sekimoto might have lost a tooth. It super picked from there and was amazing when it was cooking.

For your old guy brawlers to have a transcendent match; they have to either do Black Terry v Mr Condor Zona 23, or the 2018 Fugofugo Yumeji/Buki v. Ishikawa/Joeta. Either “two guys laying a hellacious beating where in end it changes neither of them and they will continue beating on each other forever cause this is what they do” or “two guys engage in such a helacious beating that you think they will be changed forever,,,will never fully recover”. This wasn’t either of those but there were so many moments that teased they were going to reach transcendence. The point where Ikeda is chopping the top of Ishikawa’s head and Ishikawa ansers with punches to eye and temple, there is what almost felt like an enziguri to knee that ends up being a trip into submission ,,,,and both of these guys are so great at selling that they could make me buy Scott Putski Jr axehandle as taking something out of them. And the finish felt totally credible. Clearly not criticizing a match for not being transcendent,,,I’m praising it for these mother fuckers are still able to tease that it could be.

MD:This worked for my sense of anticipation, at least. I wanted Ishikawa vs Ikeda in this setting in front of this crowd for this moment and they did a good job delaying it for most of the match until they paired up for the finishing stretch. That included heat, of sorts, on Sekimoto, with Ikeda more than happy to rush across the ring when he wasn't legal to pepper shots in on him or knock Ishikawa off the apron. Fujita and Sekimoto built to throws, cutoffs, and counters, before they decided to pay things off for the crowd with Ishikawa and Ikeda. Even then, things didn't really boil over though. More than that, it felt like watching two great old chess masters do their thing at a table in a city park. The stakes weren't there. Glory had passed them. But they were masters and familiar with one another. You just happened to be there for their weekly routine. In this case, the routine was two guys pushing each other to their physical, technical limit and punching one another in the face. But overall, same idea. Ishikawa had a clear advantage and it was just a case of Sekimoto German Suplexing an interfering Fujita enough times for him to really press it.

PAS: Really awesome Ishikawa performance, he has a bad back and can't even stand up straight, but can still throw brutal straight hands and grapple like a master. Every time he was in the ring he elevated the match, the Fujita and Sekimoto against each other parts didn't do a ton for me, but Ishikawa taking Fujita down to the mat to stretch him ruled. Ikeda is more limited at this point of his career, the recent Ikeda stuff will have moments, but he isn't going full force like he did even pre-pandemic in WXW, still you could see the glances, and his selling is still tremendous. This felt a little like late era Dundee and Lawler stuff, where it was mindblowing like it was in their prime, but you could still see the shades and shadows of brilliance. 

Fuminori Abe vs. Takuya Nomura

PAS: This promotion was a joint production by these two tag team partners and close friends, and they matched up in the main event in an attempt to do justice to what came before. Abe started the match with a bit of clowning, mugging and shit talking, biting Norma in the armpit to break a submission hold, using some hand feints to land a hard slap, and even giving Norma an oil check in the rear to counter a knee bar. Ikeda would do this sort of thing in the classic BattlArts days as a way to rile his opponent up. Nomura was much more serious and responded to the clowning with brutal kicks and slaps. Fun times ended pretty quickly after that as they exchanged cringy clunking headbutts. It was harrowing violence going forward, hard punches to the forehead, kicks to the spine and headbutts so nasty that they eventually split Abe open. Abe has these cool chopping overhand punches which look like Harley Race when he was trying to split someone’s eyebrow. Normura hit some really big suplexes near the end of the match as Abe was fading and it looked like he going to be counted out, until he caught a Nomura high kick and turned into a ankle lock, and then an ankle lock german suplex. He then put on an octopus stretch, which Normua countered into a single leg crab. Abe then faked grabbing a rope break and instead rolled it into a kneebar which he cranked for the tap. Very cool counter wrestling. This didn’t have the mat wrestling mastery of a high end BattlArts era Ishikawa or Carl Greco singles match, or the brain smashi`        ng suplexes of Otuska, and while it was sickly stiff, I am not sure if they got all the way to Ikeda. So this topped out at the level of a high end Katsumi Usuda match, which in 2023 still puts it right up there with the best stuff anywhere in the world. Let’s hope this is a semi-regular thing, because this style hasn’t really had a home since FU-TEN folded in 2015, and I just love this stuff.

TKG: I at this point peripherally follow US wrestling and stick with low end lucha gym show, so this is my first experience with these two. And dude, this is a great introduction. I’m assuming that Nomura is the
Jackie Fargo Incomparable Kid to Abe’s Wild Roughouse Fargo. Abe is super super charismatic as crazy
Roughouse never-say die hardheaded fighter. And I enjoy all the Dennis Condrey forgets not to hit
Burrhead Jones in the head spots…I don’t know anything about Japanese racial caste so I can claim
ignorance of the if there are any of the ugly implications of those spots, but great spots. I think my
favorite Abe section was the thing where he used a dragon screw to transition to offense, celebrates
the dragon screw with big arm flourish and then realizes that he can’t feel his mouth and eyes cross and
uncross as he drools all over himself over the beating he just ate. I’m so used to insane never say die guy
being matched up against a guy going “what is it going to take to put him away” or “ how have I become
so violent” that refreshing not to see that. Nomura is a guy on his own journey There are lots of neat
moments where Nomura is slow to answer Abe’s strikes; forces himself to eat a bunch of strikes before
he can throw out one answer, moments where he can’t muster any strength behind his strikes and so
just throws weak ones and keeps on measuring for the eventual big make or miss haymaker, He does a
bunch of Dustin style flying away for distance selling and one of my favorite things he does is all of his
walking around ring , recovering in corner during count outs and 10 counts. When I say a guy with his
own journey, I would actively enjoy “ A How To with John Wilson” edit of this match, where never get to
see the fighting parts..just Nomura’s walkabout as he contemplates life. Ending had a lot of nearfalls,
but I bought all of them and the actual finish felt 100 % like a finish.

MD: Abe's energy in this match was off the charts. I'm not going to say the guy was living his best life here because he ended up split open at the top of his head in a way that you figured his flesh might just fall off of him at any moment, just torn in two, but talk about a guy who can capture every moment. Nomura wrestled his best match, the perfect straight man who was going to drive forward at every point and give absolutely no quarter. The few times he popped up from a shot or a throw, you believed it. This guy was just a consumed engine of destruction, kicking and stomping and wrenching like he could somehow stamp the very notion of indignity itself out of the world through force alone.

Abe brought the color though, literally and figuratively, his expressiveness drawing the viewer in, at times making you want to see his comeuppance and increasingly down the stretch, making you root for him in spite of increasingly dire odds. You end up grinning along with him to start and then wincing along with him with every headbutt, elbow, knee, and kick. When it became apparent just how badly he was opened up, the camera caught his expression and it was a real "You'll never believe how I got into this one" look. From there, even as he threw strikes and struck out with increasingly unlikely throws, it felt like he was racing time, racing the rate of his own bloodloss and with an opponent like Nomura running the race with him, he was sure to lose. That's what made the last hold all the more gripping. Abe was hanging on for dear life; nothing less would have worked. It was an admirable performance by Nomura, but a timeless one from Abe.

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Found Footage Friday: RIP BUTCH~! FUJIWARA~! SUPER TIGER~! VALENTINE~!

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger 10/12/97

MD: This was quite the spectacle, over ten years off from their classic series of matches. This never really gets the chance to get going, as it's stopped and started a couple of times, the most meaningful being when Inoki charges forth to demand it. That said, there are interesting wrinkles, like Sayama putting so much of his efforts (once the kicks fail to work given Fujiwara's defense) on a rear naked choke. That makes sense given the time and it's interesting to watch Fujiwara try to play defense and escape while he's in that specific hold put on by this specific wrestler. You get glimpses, specifically him tossing his head back repeatedly and the flip side, being Sayama throwing his fists into Fujiwara's ribs or his elbows down upon his head over and over. Given time, it would have been interesting how Fujiwara's defense might have turned the tide but this was too disjointed to have that play out. Post match, Inoki slaps Fujiwara and that's as fitting an end to this one as anything else I guess. 

Los Pastores vs. Joe Savoldi/Al Perez WWC 1985

MD: Thought it would be good to look at a few crates matches for Butch since he just passed away. For Puerto Rico, either things have been covered or they're just clips. I'd love full matches from the 97 run, for instance, but we're not going to get those. This was posted a year or so ago and even if it was out there previously, I doubt it was looked at heavily. Savoldi and Perez are Los Rockeros, both with mustaches and pastels. This was more or less to set up the Invaders running in after the match got thrown out but it's fairly complete and a good look at just how good Luke and Butch were playing the basic beats. They fed early, leaned in the middle, and backpedaled on a comeback before chaos took over, but the timing was spot on with the cutoffs and there was a wonderful brutality to just jamming a knee down onto Savoldi's skull again and again and again. All the while they were making the alien facial expressions that would let them be beloved babyfaces later, here inspiring horrified reactions instead. Savoldi and Perez were the dropkick heavy Fabs clones, not nearly as good as the Rock'n'Roll RPMs would be a few years later in Puerto Rico but certainly passable with a team like this and Savoldi took a beating well. This wasn't a bloody spectacle but it was pretty damn professional and likely set up something with real heat.

Bushwhackers vs. Greg Valentine/Larry "Ace" Green WPW 6/12/99

MD: The narrative has come pretty far in accepting that the Sheepherders' retirement package, dealing with the same brutal travel schedule that the rest of the WWF teams had to but being the beloved Bushwhackers, wasn't, in fact, the worst thing in the history of wrestling, but instead something to be cherished and approved of. That said, it still leaves behind that they were pretty damn good at being the Bushwhackers and accomplishing what they set out to do in their matches. It meant relying upon different muscles and instincts than what they did before, but it still took two experienced journeymen to pull it off, especially when you consider that their matches were going to be lacking so much of what contemporary babyface teams like the Hart Foundation and Rockers were doing. Without action, they had to rely upon timing and selling, building up that tension for the hot tag and relying upon their opponents to stooge and feed and help them come up as credible, no matter who they might have once been.

From the look of it, this was a pretty well attended event in Fort Smith, AR, and the crowd was up for the whole thing. Some of that was the star power involved. A lot of it was Butch working the apron. And probably more was Luke flailing and writhing and being a constant ball of concentrated motion in his selling. There were no big bumps but he simulated pain and desperation as he tried to fight back. Meanwhile, you had Greg Valentine, conductor of so many professional Brutus Beefcake tags there to direct traffic. He may have been 46 himself, but he just had to drop elbows upon Bushwhacker skulls and work over that leg and cut off the ring even when you thought Luke was going to make it through his legs for a tag. Green was a game partner, more than happy to miss a legdrop or a big splash when the match required a bump and with a look and offense that made him feel like he fit in the match. When the hot tag finally came, the crowd popped for it and for the entire revenge laden finishing stretch, right down to the heel miscommunication that spelled the end for Green. Again, there was nothing complicated about this act, but that doesn't mean it was easy. If they weren't as good at their craft, there was no way the Bushwhackers could have distilled so much from so little to such effect.

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Found Footage Friday: MASAMI~! KANDORI~! TENRYU~! FUYUKI~! TIGER~! LEWIN~?!

Devil Masami vs. Shinobu Kandori JWP 1/16/89

MD: I'm missing some context on this one as most of the Kandori I've seen was later on, but there's a lot you can pick up from the text alone. The first couple of minutes of the match were about her making herself seen by Masami. She starts by putting out a hand only for Masami to refuse to shake it. They lock up but Masami overpowers her and casually hits her with a butterfly suplex, really just dropping her. So Kandori works her into the ropes on the next lock up and starts to slap her repeatedly. After the first, Masami sees her, and after the third or fourth she really sees her. Kandori got what she wanted but soon learns to regret it as Masami powers her immediately into a dangerous back drop, but Kandori was ready to take the punishment and is able to maneuver her into a crossface chicken wing and by that point, they have a real match going (Masami gets out by biting Kandori's wrist and Kandori answers with kicks to the spine, if you were wondering just what sort of match).

The beating that followed was fairly hellacious and one-sided. Kandori would occasionally slip out, pry off a leg, and try to do some damage, but even then Masami eventually had enough and tried to tear apart Kandori's leg for revenge. They went back and forth as the match went on, but always with Masami having a clear advantage, and always with Kandori having to slip out and over to get in a bomb of her own. Usually that came in the form of going back to the leg. Meanwhile, every big impact was made all the more thunderous by Kandori leaning in as hard as humanly possible. Her selling was consistent pain. Masami's on the other hand, appeared when it was most meaningful, especially as they rushed to the finish. Again, I can't put this thing in context, but on its own it stands up extremely well.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki WAR 11/8/93

MD: Tenryu and Fuyuki were stablemates here, but I think even more so than that, they were two guys who knew each other so well in the ring, even if they hadn't matched up all that many times. Fuyuki knew everything about Tenryu and that's why he got dirty first with a stomp and a suplex and holds. He knew he had to in order to get the advantage he needed. Likewise, there was such subsequent tension when Tenryu escaped and had his back, had him up against the ropes. You, the viewer, like Fuyuki, the about-to-be victim, knew the other shoe was about to drop. It was just exactly when and how and Tenryu wrestled as if he was acutely aware of that tension and anticipation.

And the payoff came, because it was inevitable. A shoulder block and a series of these peppering, flicking kicks. The price sufficiently paid, Tenryu was happy to settle back into a Greco-Roman knucklelock but Fuyuki was going to keep stepping over the line (as he must if he was to have any chance at victory and to prove his worth as a man. And Tenryu was there over and again to put him back in his place as only he could. It was when Fuyuki finally pushed Tenryu, finally got him to go for the second rope elbow instead of reverting back to another knucklelock that he was able to capitalize, but even that couldn't last for long, for Tenryu was always back up, always rushing back at him clothesline or powerbomb or a simple shove onto the back of his head at the ready. Still, Fuyuki was no longer a young man. He had size and resilience and an understanding of his mentor's techniques and he hung even in the face of the storm, right up until the point that it blew him away. But not before reaffirming Tenryu's respect for him, however, and maybe that was all that really mattered in the end.

Super Tiger vs. Mark Lewin UWF 9/8/84

MD: If you look at the list of foreigners in UWF (even early UWF), Lewin has to be up there as one of the oddest stylistically. There are Takada and Maeda matches that I've never seen (and I have seen Meltzerian claims that Takada's win over Lewin was a big deal for Takada and UWF, but all I can say for sure is that Phil didn't like it much); I really need to go back for those but this one was pretty out there. Lewin didn't change up his act in the least. It began with Super Tiger throwing a lightning fast kick and Lewin recoiling back wondering just what he had gotten into and it doesn't really look back. Lewin sells all of Tiger's holds like he's wrestling Dusty in Florida, big broad selling. Late in the match he even lets himself get tossed off the top rope. The best bit of that is when the tiger feint gets him in the face and he starts climbing the guardrail in fury. On offense, he's clubbering with stomps, throwing ridiculous karate chops, and yes, gets behind Tiger with the dreaded nervehold. And Sayama is left to try to figure out if he's going to break the illusion by not selling or if he's going to break the illusion by selling. He chooses the latter and I'm not at all sure it was the right decision. The finish, both impressive and merciful is Super Tiger actually getting him up for the tombstone and after the match Lewin goes full maniac and starts dismantling the ring. All of this left me wishing we had the Fujiwara matches from this tour, but I doubt they were as bizarre as this.

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Found Footage Friday: TIGER~! MAEDA~! FUJIWARA~! KIDO~! TENRYU~! KABUKI~! MOCHIZUKI~! FUKUDA~!

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido vs Super Tiger/Akira Maeda UWF 10/5/84-GREAT

MD: You could more or less sum this one up as two of the most dynamic offensive wrestlers of all time against two of the greatest defensive ones, though that would be understating Kido and Fujiwara, both in general and in this match. It's undeniable that Tiger and Maeda were the aggressors here for the most part though, constantly driving forward, constantly throwing kicks and suplexes and leaps from the top, all with varying levels of complexity. Meanwhile, Kido and Fujiwara would get battered, would endure, would capitalize on a mistake or create an opening and would fire back, Kido with forearms or Fujiwara with his headbutts, only to get cut off once again. The magic of this style and the magic of the Fujiwara/Kido team is that you know that no matter how thoroughly Maeda and Tiger might run up the score all it would take one moment, one mistake, one opportunity for Kido to escape or Fujiwara to win the day. So while you watched the cumulative damage rack up, the tension always increased. Unfortunately, the finish was almost perfectly clipped to make it look like Fujiwara was pure magic, but you can connect the dots in your head to figure out how they got there. Still, a little frustrating after almost thirty minutes, but you can hardly fault the journey for a technical blip upon arriving at the destination.

PAS: New Fujiwara is basically Christmas for me, and especially this period where he was smack dab in the middle of his prime, lots of tiny little moments of genius from him, along with some great stuff from Kido who is kind of the Dick Slater to Fujiwara's Terry Funk. The highlight of this match for me was Super Tiger, I have no time at all for NJPW Sayama, but UWF Sayama, a Sayama where he just embraced his inner crowbar was perfection. He is just killing Kido and Fujiwara with sick unpulled kicks to the head and stomach and some uncalled for jumping knees, at one point he splits Fujiwara with a knee, and we get see our guy Yoshiaki work his way through the blood in his eyes. So amazing that there is still new HH from 1984 which just show up on the internet on a random Tuesday

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Great Kabuki WAR 11/9/93

MD: As a general rule, I prefer Kabuki in tag matches over singles. He's great at coming in and disrupting things, with two of the great sudden strikes in wrestling history between his uppercut and the cut off kick to the face, but sometimes he has a tendency to take a relatively short singles match and eat up too much time with holds when you'd rather see him scrapping. I wasn't too worried about that here since he was up against Tenryu so you know that one, the holds will all be full of struggle and two, eventually, Tenryu will get him up and to the ropes and will throw some killer chops. Then, you know, Kabuki will come back with the uppercut and things will be off to the races. That's what happened here after a methodological start. It bled into mid match heat where Tenryu got roughed up on the outside and a great comeback where he blocked the uppercut and drove forward with the sumo palm strikes across the ring. Finishing stretch was Tenryu overwhelming Kabuki and Kabuki just getting points for surviving as long as he did. Nothing overly surprising here, but you don't watch something like this for a surprise. You watch it to see Kabuki and Tenryu hit each other repeatedly.

SR: These two could have just punched and kicked each other and done some staredowns and it would‘ve been a quite good match, but we got something more neat here. Tenryus resume of great houseshow matches is for sure impressive. We get a fun opening with Kabuki trying to stand up to Tenryu with his great uppercuts, and Tenryu just chops and lariats him in the throat with Kabuki sells passionately. Tenryu seems to have this in the bag easily but then Kabuki catches him with a surprise thrust kick and Tenryu tumbles outside. Immediately a bunch of Heisei Ishingun goons start swarming Tenryu and brawling with his seconds. Tenryu eats chair shots while Kabuki cuts a promo. Back in the ring Tenryu is bleeding and Kabuki takes him apart punching and kicking the cut. Tenryu is able to snap a Fujiwara armbar but has to let go of the hold because his blood is blinding him in a really neat moment. Tenryus facial expressions and body language are outstanding even on a blurry handheld. His exhausted surprise abisegiris were really cool, also. Great little match due to structure and grit.

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Masakazu Fukuda Yume Factory 8/4/98

MD:  This went a little over 11 minutes but I wouldn't necessarily call it a sprint. There was just a bit too much substance to it for that. Mainly, it was Mochizuki's kicks against Fukuda's throws (and general sense of resilience because Mochizuki struck first and frequently), but what I loved the most about it was how well it implemented pro wrestling tropes or spots to make them feel organic and natural. Mochizuki would cycle his brutal kicks right into a ten punch in the corner. The match turned on him missing a clothesline into the post but it wasn't telegraphed or set up or winking. Nothing about it felt like a spot, but instead a thing that just happened to occur during this fight. Tack on to that a really strong finishing stretch with a few near-falls that got me and you get a great hidden gem.

SR: This thing getting uploaded by the cameraman almost 25 years later has to be a near miracle, but then we‘ve seen a lot of miracles by now when it comes to highly improbable things ending up on the internet. This was a great striker vs. grappler matchup. Seeing Mochizuki here makes one sour that he retired to Dragon Gate, as he was throwing kicks and hands in a totally unpredictable and non-choreographed way here that was really cool, coupled with some swank agility. Fukuda's style is really unique, he is this lanky tall guy who just glues himself to opponents when he grabs them and drags them into his throws and submissions. He also absolutely rattled Mochizukis shit with a nasty dropkick and some stiff strikes, but Mochizuki kept firing back. The match had a few Hondaish moments, at one point Mochizuki went for a punch to Fukuda and Fukuda attached himself to Mochis arm and dragged him into another hold. When Mochizuki went to recuperate Fukuda just dragged him over the ropes and threw him, with Mochizuki landing hard on all his throws. This was to the point and absolutely no nonsense with both guys giving each other little space a nd all the offense looking like it required zero cooperation, I get WYF was a niche indy back then, but this kind of indy match is a real breath of fresh air these days.

PAS: This was really cool, Fukuda has kind of a tragic story, but he was on his way to being one of the coolest Japanese wrestlers of the 90s. I just love how he would clasp and throw Mochizuki. Always finding cool ways to cut off Mochi's flurries of offense. Mochizuki is pretty great here, as he is just a kicking machine and not a spot guy. His big kicks meshed really nicely with Fukuda's grappling, and you never got a sense of who was going over and the finishing slam by Fukuda was a great coup de grace on a very exciting finish run. Really makes me want to see more WYF stuff. 

 

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New Footage Friday/Fujiwara Family UWF 4/23/85

PAS: A whole new UWF 1 handheld got unearthed, lots of British guys worked the early tours, but not much of the footage is available. Finlay and Rudge in UWF is still the holy grail, but it's cool to see guys like Singh and Martin as well.

Ray Steele vs. Osamu Kido

MD: I'm fairly high on Steele generally but I like him most in matches with contrast, him vs a scoundrel. Here, despite doing a fairly solid visual John Saxon impression, the actual work was sort of lacking that. It came off dry and exhibition like, with fair struggle but no real fire. When they built to something, like the Scorpion Deathlock, it ended up really not mattering. The finish of Steele grabbing a late headlock and getting suplexed felt pretty lazy for the setting too, even if they twisted it slightly with the submission after the suplex.

Caswell Martin vs. Nobuhiko Takada

MD: I had seen the Steele vs Kido match before this one and I was sort of wondering if it'd just been a while since I'd seen UWF undercard footage and things were just more laconic than I was remembering. No, no they were not. This was top notch. Right from the get go, it had a different sort of aggression, even with Martin's first press into the ropes. Martin really stood out here. There was the sense that Takada had him on holds, on strikes, maybe even on leverage and trickiness, but Martin came off like a true powerhouse with a ton of throws, including this great spin out deadlift gutwrench. My favorite Takada moment here was him slapping Martin in the face on a reset and then drawing him in to stand up striking through it which wasn't at all to Martin's advantage. Just a dynamic match all around. This felt like a real find.

PAS: This was really excellent, Martin fit this style perfectly and I am not a Takada guy, but he was great too. Martin had some killer throws, just popped his hips deadlifted and threw. I also thought he had some fun nifty tricks from the bottom, including grabbing and turning the arm. I liked Takada targeting Martin's gut with spin kicks and whip kicks which really looked like they sucked. He had some nice throws as well, and had his moments on the mat, and never really sat in kneebar which can be the downfall of Takada, in fact his one kneebar attempt had Martin working hard to twist out and counter and was a highpoint of the match. Real gem of a match.

Super Tiger vs. Masami Soronaka

MD: In my head, this was about Sayama being incredibly dangerous and explosive and Soronaka mainly trying to contain him as Sayama worked from underneath. The work mostly bore that out. Sayama just came at you in so many differnet ways. He had the kicks, the lethal headlock suplex, a nasty headlock takeover that took Soronaka's face off, a lightning cross arm breaker, and the northern lights style throw that set up the finish. From underneath, he struggled a bit but could still all but flip out of things. Soronaka put up a pretty solid effort and might have come out close to even on points, but it was just a matter of time before Sayama took him down.

PAS: This was structurally very similar to the all timer Tiger vs. Fujiwara series, with the wily mat wrestler attempting to subdue and ground the explosive striker. Soronaka is very much not Yoshiaki Fujiwara, and I mostly ended up resenting him stifling Sayama and all that he can do.When Sayama gets him in the corner and finally unloads it was very cool, and Soronaka had a trick or two, but I needed a bit more pop.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Akira Maeda vs. Omar Atlas/Tiger Dalibar Singh - FUN

MD: Interesting dynamics here. There was a solid Atlas/Maeda exchange to start, smooth but competitive. Singh was clunkier but his stuff had impact. Fujiwara seemed fairly content to feed for him. On the other hand, he leaned on Atlas a little more. For instance, when Atlas didn't quite hit him hard enough in the corner, he turned it around and smacked him on the face. This faded off towards the finish with Fujiwara and Maeda firmly in charge, with crabs and countless great Fujiwara headbutts, which is as good a final image as any if you're going to have a tape abruptly end.

PAS: Definitely a bummer that this gets cut off, because I would have liked to see where it was heading. I as usual am going to focus on Fujiwara and what he brought to the match. I really loved his section with Atlas, he really dominated the standing grappling, locking in the double underhooks and not really letting him go anywhere, shifting and countering any attempts to escape. When Singh gets the hot tag he really puts over those uppercuts and the big suplex, something which meant more considering how tough Fujiwara looked before. It did feel like it was building to something, which we didn't get, but what we got was pretty neat.

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New Footage Friday: FUJIWARA! SUPER TIGER! MASCARA CONTRA MASCARA! JUMBO! TAUE! FUCHI! MISAWA! KAWADA KIKUCHI!

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger UWF 1/16/85 - EPIC

PAS: Tiger vs. Fujiwara is in the discussion with Lawler vs. Dundee, Santo vs. Casas, Misawa vs. Kawada of all time greatest matchups. Our pal Charles from PWO DM's me and says "I think I found a HH Tiger vs. Fujiwara that wasn't out there before" 2021 is already turning the corner.  

I am not sure where this stands in the pantheon of their matchups, but it was a hand to god wrestling treasure. The story in this is familiar, Fujiwara works for various submissions, while Sayama unloads a Dresden level firebombing on his body.  Can Fujiwara find a tendon to snap before Tiger beats him to death? Sayama just mauls Fujiwara's thigh with gross kneedrops and kicks. It is so relentless and violent looking that it seems like Fujiwara might never walk without a cane.  Fujiwara does land some nasty body shots, but he is mostly overwhelmed on his feet. There are very few wrestlers in history who are as brutal strikers as UWF era Sayama and some of the kicks and punches seemed to violate the unspoken agreement of professional wrestling. Despite that onslaught, Fujiwara is who he is, he can be getting blown out and beaten up, but if you stick out your arm or leg even a little bit, it is getting snatched. Fujiwara looks absolutely done, he is lying on his stomach while Tiger whip kicks him in the head and drops knees on his thigh. The ref pulls Tiger off to give Fujiwara a count, Fujiwara stumbles into the corner glassy eyed, but as Tiger approaches to put him down, Fujiwara catches the spin kick, grabs a fast waistlock and pulls him down. He then tries several attacks on the arm, until he maneuvers it into a key lock and snaps it like a breadstick. Wonderful mix of violence and skill. I am a Fujiwara guy, and finding a unseen prime classic like this, what a treat. 

MD: Absolutely elemental battle. Sayama is the wind, absolutely relentless, constantly driving forward, battering Fujiwara with piercing kicks, tearing apart the knee again and again and again, squeezing out of holds to restart the assault at the earliest opportunity. Fujiwara is the sea, repeatedly dissipated by Sayama's barrage but ever reassembling, patiently enduring the storm, calm and consistent, the wave of his arm able to reach around at any moment to pry off one of Sayama's limbs and recover the advantage. For all of the effusive, medium-criticism-defining praise of decades for Sayama's grace and execution, I connect with him most when he's tearing away at Fujiwara in the corner with his kicks. Later on, Fujiwara fluidly seeps out around Sayama's attempt to contain him and returns the favor with brutal punches in the corner; there's none of his occasional playfulness here given the stakes and the ferocity of Sayama's offense. Sayama wins on points by never stopping, by absolutely decimating Fujiwara's leg, but he's never able to fully take advantage of it, and all it takes is one opening, one mistake, one possibility for the sea to sweep forth and swallow the wind whole.

ER: This is listed as a Death Match, and while I'm not sure what that means within 1985 UWF, it's awesome that Fujiwara worked something billed as that sandwiched between days where he fought Terry Rudge. Can you imagine that schedule? How insanely tough is this man, who was taking on perhaps his greatest rival in a Death Match on a Wednesday, while no doubt getting pummeled on Tuesday and Thursday by Rudge. Handhelds are a pretty amazing glimpse at how our favorites worked when the cameras weren't on, and they almost always show us that a lot of them never held back no matter who was watching. Fujiwara is a punisher, but the most iconic images of him are of him taking a punishing beating. I loved the shots we got of him lying on his side, covering his body with one arm while keeping a hand in front of his face, only surviving because Tiger decided to catch his breath lest he get too tired kicking Fujiwara's ass. Fujiwara is the man this crowd wanted to see, hearing them chant his name while Ride of the Valkyries hit was like hearing AJ crowds go crazy for Misawa. And they kept willing him back into things even when Tiger looked like he was trying to cripple him. Tiger was a real monster here, and it occurred to me that there are probably a ton of people who know Tiger from the Dynamite Kid matches, that have never seen him in full UWF asskicker mode. His kicks to a grounded Fujiwara's head were disgusting, but his leg attacks were what really set this apart. His knee drops were incredibly cruel, dropping down as hard as possible on Fujiwara's hamstrings, including off the middle buckle. You knew at a certain point that Fujiwara was only going to target a keylock, and I loved seeing him weather this awful storm to get there. 

Aguila Solitario vs. Al Rojo Vivo CMLL 12/15/85

PAS: An unseen 80s mask match is pretty exciting, it gives you hope that more is still out there to be unearthed. This was pretty formulaic, but it is a great formula to watch. Rojo takes the first fall entirely rips the mask and bloodies Solitario a bit. Solitario is able to fight back and take the second fall leading a near fall heavy third. I liked the Solitario superfly splash he used to take the segunda, and how he came up short trying it again in the tercera. I could have used one more big moment, a huge bump, a crazy dive, a ton of blood. It was just missing the hook which would push this to another level. Still it was really cool to see, and a big moment in two wrestler's lives we got see play out.

MD: This was exactly what I wanted it to be and hugely refreshing to watch. Rojo Vivo launched the ambush right at the start and controlled the primera with a very solid beatdown. Very little pomp or bs. Aguila's comeback spot in the segunda was actually worked for more than you'd usually see in these. It wasn't a bolt of lightning but instead an errant, desperate backhand followed up by more desperate swipes and revenge-driven offense that really embraced selling the damage already done. At the same time, Aguila threw himself into it, making even armdrags feel like punishing revenge spots. The tercera was exciting, full of nearfalls that had me for a moment. Rojo Vivo turned the tide with a low blow on the outside and Aguila used that to express vulnerability and peril off and on in the stretch. He didn't have the world's best execution but it really didn't matter here because everything was believable and he kept the crowd connected.

Akira Taue/Jumbo Tsuruta/Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuhara Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi AJPW 3/29/92

MD: Great lost six man here. You look for the big things and the little ones with these. For big ones, you get the relative novelty of Kawada and Misawa working together, Kawada going at it with Taue, the huge feel of of Jumbo vs Misawa, and after spending a good chunk of the match avoding everyone and getting little shots in, the sheer inevitability of Jumbo crushing Kikuchi starting a really enjoyable peril segment for him where Fuchi demolishes him (including an amazing neckbreaker hold over the top rope) and Taue lawn darts him into the turnbuckle. The little stuff would be the specifics, like Misawa doing his headstand flip and going for a tag early on, only to realize he'd lost his ring positioning and was in the wrong corner, or Fuchi playing his usual bulldog self from the apron and rushing in to go straight for Kawada's eye to break a hold, that sort of thing. I thought the finishing stretch went on a bit too long, maybe, but that's a me thing. Otherwise, this was really good stuff with a pretty legendary four minute beatdown on Kikuchi that everyone should see.

PAS: Pissed off at the kids Jumbo is my all time favorite Jumbo. He seems to take such glee in brutalizing Kikuchi and man does he kill him here. Kikuchi taking these beatings multiple times a week really shortened his career, but he was one of the best ever at spunkily taking a pasting. Fuchi was a real fucker in this match too, he comes in and tries to rip Kawada's eye out, and enziguiris him right in the kidneys. Kawada was a great supporting player in this match, he was a level below then his opponents at this point, and it was fun to see the ultimate asskicker coming off the back foot instead of firing forward.  This was a Kikuchi show, bravely dying on his shield, and the barbarians who slaughtered him. 

ER: I love these six mans, and it's so incredible to see them working their charismatic, easy to follow formula at every house show. A special thing about this nearly 30 minute handheld, is that we have a genuine wrestling handheld maestro behind the camera. Our footage  shakes wildly for the first 30 seconds, and by the time the match starts the guy is doing perfect framing zooms, keeping all the action perfectly squared up the entire LONG match. When the match would break down and everyone would pair off, he'd manage to jump between all three pairs without missing action. This guy did some shots that made it seem like he knew exactly what moves were going to be happening, just an awesome familiarity with these guys. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a handheld match keep the action this well. I have to imagine he was part of some kind of community, the way Grateful Dead fans know the names of certain prominent tapers who got the best sound mix. I want to see his other work. 

The match was an awesome heel performance from grumpy Jumbo and his goons, Masa Fuchi and Akira Taue. This is the era of Jumbo I love, such a magnetic superstar in that ring. The handheld really gets you in with the crowd, and every time Jumbo showed off just why he still had reasonable claim to being the top dog, the crowd OOOOOOHHH'd along with him every time he pumped his fist. The whole match really picks up when Jumbo's team gets Kikuchi away from the pack and really lay in the kind of beating that Kikuchi took in 1992. Kikuchi is one of the toughest lunatics in wrestling history, and most prisoners don't see the kind of abuse this guy took in the early 90s. Taue lawn darts him face first into the turnbuckles, Fuchi hung him out to dry on the ropes, and Jumbo confidently injured him with a stiff Boston crab while keeping him away from his corner. We get the great fakeouts where Kikuchi is held back from making the tag, and all of it works really well. 

You really get to see how far Misawa came when you see him here versus him as the absolute top guy. Jumbo still comes off like the main hoss in All Japan here, and Misawa doesn't have quite the impact for me he would just a couple years later. Jumbo was practically out of wrestling just a few months after this match. Misawa is such a boss within two years, but here he still looked like a guy who wasn't quite able to move Jumbo around the way he wanted. Fuchi is so good as the second in command ass kicker, behind Jumbo. He never uses Jumbo to hide behind, but you can sense he feels emboldened having Jumbo there. He really rips at Kawada, and you always get a sense of glee when you know he's standing across from Kikuchi, like Kikuchi is his violence muse. But really this left me feeling like the perfect kind of match to soak in the 1992 brilliance of nearly/suddenly retired Jumbo and what might have been in the 90s, with more from a great year of underdog babyface work from Kikuchi. A great find, and a more complete look at one of the most fruitful rosters in wrestling history. 

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Daisuke Ikeda Anniversary Show 4/7/19

PAS: Very excited to see this show up!! Ikeda and Ishikawa back on their bullshit again, plus lots of other fun dudes.

Funimori Abe vs. Junji Tanaka

PAS: Junji Tanaka is old school BattlArts dude Junji.com, and is dressed in a Sumo pad for some reason. This is a solid BattlArts/Futen opener, where guys hit each other a little harder than is really neccesary. Junji is in his late 40s and takes a bunch of really gnarly kicks to the head which he sells like an old man falling down a flight of stairs. Abe was fine in his role of a guy kicking an old man.

SAKI vs. Hikari Shimizu

PAS: This was a bad Joshi match, which really felt out of place on this card. When BattlArts had Joshi matches they would usually try to work the style, this was just a lot of bad dropkicks and hair whips. Shimizu seemed to hurt herself at one point so the ending felt abrupt. I did like SAKI's furry pink Brody boots though.

Keisuke Okada/SUGI vs. Hiroshi Yamato/Taro Nohashi

PAS: Match had some really fun moments without really ever coming together entirely. Okada and Yamato had a fun shoot scramble to start, and SUGI and Nohashi followed it up with a fun lucha exchange. The middle dragged a bit, but built to a fun finish with SUGI unloading all of his big highspots. Taro Nohashi seems like a guy I need to dig into more. He was awesome as a crowbar in his FUTEN matches, and here he splats Okada with some sick headbutts and bases really well for all of SUGI's spots. I wonder if their are hidden MPRO gems I need to dig up.

Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takafumi Ito

PAS: This was really great, basic arm versus leg match, but both guys were super tricky on the mat and found awesome ways to fly into attacks, counters into counters. I loved Hidaka's dragon screw whip with Ito tied into the corner, really looked like it shredded all the tendons in his knee. Ito really grabbed at the arm in nasty ways too, including a victory roll into an armbar. Built nicely from simple grappling into more complex fun stuff, had enough wacky stuff that I wouldn't call it pure shootstyle, but shootstyle adjacent wrestling is having a good year.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tatsuo Nakano vs. Super Tiger/Tomohiko Hashimoto

PAS: Apparently Nakano is still semi-active, I hadn't seen him in years, he still brings the heat when needed, and I really enjoyed team UWF. Fujiwara is ageless, and still will deliver two or three cool things a match, even as he enters his 8th decade on this planet. I loved how he broke a Tiger submission hold by twisting his ankle at a really nasty angle, and the counter of Hashimoto's slap into a Fujiwara armbar was smooth as expected. I didn't think the Tiger and Hashimoto team brought enough to really make this a list match, although I liked Hashimoto's energy.

Brahman Brothers vs. Masayuki Tokumitsu/Rocky Kawamura

PAS: This was a Brahman Brothers match. They are very much a thing, lots of comedy spots of spitting water and grinding things into faces. It serves a purpose I suppose, but It isn't really my thing. As a former amateur boxer I do appreciate the form on Rocky Kawamura's body shots, but this was mostly forgettable. This was a show of everyone showing up and doing their stuff, some of that stuff I love, this is stuff I don't.

Daisuke Ikeda/Alexander Otsuka vs. Mohammed Yone/Yuki Ishikawa

PAS: I am in a pretty great nostalgia K-Hole right now, I get to watch the Warriors go back to 2015 post KD injury, and I get to see my FUTEN and BattlArts friends take it back to 2010 and approximate a FUTEN tag. Ishikawa has shown up in 2019 and is making a strong Wrestler of the Year pitch, after basically being inactive for the last half a decade. The rest of the guys in this match have clearly slowed down a step or two, but Ishikawa looks like prime Yuki Ishikawa. We get great opening Ishikawa mat sections with both Ikeda and Otsuka, including Ishikawa doing an awesome gator roll. There was a long Ikeda vs. Yone section where the match dropped down a gear (although it did have an awesome spot where Otsuka deadlift germans both guys, and some great Ikeda straight punches to Yone's head), The focus of the match was Ikeda vs. Ishikawa of course and I was so glad to see them run that all time legendary matchup back. The structure was pretty interesting with Ikeda initially working as a guy who had lost a step and couldn't hang, in the early sections he kept going to the eyes and breaking submissions by biting. When we got the final stanza though, he stands up and brings the heat you would expect from Daisuke Ikeda, including nearly beheading Ishikawa with a spin kick to the jaw. There is some great intense scrambling on the ground, but Ishikawa finishes Ikeda off with a nasty Octopus. So happy this happened, and so happy it showed up on the internet. Can't believe that they are still doing this to each other, but god bless those two lunatics.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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Eric Views and Hollas for Suzukawa

"Disgraced Sumo". I'm not really sure if there are two words, when coupled together, that would make me want to watch a wrestling match more than those two. Off the top of my head I can think of several coupled words that would certainly make me prioritize a match:

"Fat Guys"
"Necro Butcher"
"Unseen Berzerker"
"Lucha Blood"
"Upset Hansen"

If someone describes a match to me using those two words, I'm going to watch that match really damn quick. But I think Disgraced Sumo might be at the top of the list. You're going to get a guy who at minimum seems uncooperative, who has gone through psycho training and is showing how tough he still is, and immediately has an aura of being a bad guy. Suzukawa has cornrows and large kanji tattooed across his back (which seems weird, I thought we were the only ones dumb enough to do that?), a bored expression permanently etched across his face, and he fought Cro Cop in a dangerously revealing mawashi. But sadly, there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of Suzukawa wrestling matches available to watch. I loved him in his match against Josh Barnett, which sent me searching for more, only to find out that NEW - the offshoot of IGF that Inoki supposedly set up to make Suzukawa a star (which is weird in itself, as you'd think Shinya Aoki would be a bigger star) -  is no more, as Suzukawa opted to leave. So this is what we have for now. Let's dive in to the last of the Disgraced Sumo.

Shinichi Suzukawa vs. Super Tiger (IGF/NEW 5/12/17)

ER: This is disappointing, only because due to the file size (8 minutes) I assumed we were getting their 5/27 match, which was under 8 minutes. But it's merely the last 5 minutes of their 5/12 30 minute draw, and then we get clips of their other two matches, including 5/27 (which took place outdoors at an amusement park!!). We get some cool stuff, like Suzukawa hitting a nice rolling kick and slapping Tiger around, Tiger hitting a cool hook kick, but for this being the final 30 minutes of a draw it didn't feel like much of anything had been built. It felt like the first 5 minutes of a match, with a bell ringing suddenly to signify that it's over. I wish we had the amusement park match, I really liked the visual of Suzukawa hitting a bunch of nasty sumo slaps in the corner while a roller coaster goes by in the background.

Shinichi Suzukawa/Keisuke Okuda vs. Kazunari Murakami/Kohei Sato (IGF/NEW 6/2/17)

ER: This is not what I was hoping for (I wanted more of a Suzukawa showcase) but what we got was weird, unprofessional, and ended like a badass Seijun Suzuki movie. Sato and Okuda are out first, and stand opposite each other in the ring for a bit too long waiting for the other two. Murakami comes out in a weird shark skin suit (with fighting gloves) and just Murakami's all over the place. Everything just got all Murakami'd up. He sulks in the corner and makes his awesome disgusted bad guy faces, then he drags Okuda out of the ring and dishes a beating on the floor while nobody does much to stop him. He tries to break Okuda's arm by forcing it around a ring barrier, tosses him into the post, banks his face off the barrier (cutting him open big) and rubbing the seams of his gloves in Okuda's cut and choking him in front of some ladies in the crowd. Suzukawa steps in and gets beaten with a chair, Sato takes some shots at Okuda, it's all very one-sided. Suzukawa is mostly a non-factor, this was all about Murakami and Sato roughing up Okuda, and the match ends about 6 minutes in with minimal opposition.

BUT!

BUT!!

Suddenly, Murakami is confronted at ringside by FUJIWARA! Fujiwara is also wearing a suit, and looks appropriately, expectedly badass. Murakami is still, Fujiwara's fist is clenched. Fujiwara is shaking. Fujiwara's anger builds...and then, he extends an open hand to Murakami, who shakes his hand! Fujiwara reaches into his suit jacket and hands a folded note to Murakami, who eyeballs it and laughs before walking away.

WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHY WILL WE NEVER SEE THE CONCLUSION TO THIS ANGLE!?

This was the coolest Lucha Underground angle ever filmed, Yakuza Boss Fujiwara paying off noted asskicking grump Murakami to destroy those who have done wrong. Phil and I talked earlier today and he said he watched a 2002 Z-1 show where Murakami and Ogawa get into it after a match and people have to hold Murakami back. Phil excitedly looked to skip ahead to see a Murakami/Ogawa blowoff that nobody has ever talked about...only to find Murakami didn't make it back to Z-1 for another 3 years! Murakami is officially the master of starting the greatest angles that had no kind of finish. Murakami was The Higher Power. Murakami was the Hummer Driver. Murakami was behind GTV. Murakami is the absentee father who convinces you that THIS TIME he's going to be there. Murakami is cruel.

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Digging in the Crates Podcast Episode #7

All Segunda Caida Episode with Phil and MattD investigating SC favorite Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Matt breaks his Fujiwara cherry with four great matches


http://www.placetobenation.com/digging-in-the-crates-7/

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Super Tiger UWF 9/11/85

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Riki Choshu NJ 6/9/87

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3m34p8

Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiichi Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu (9/12/88)

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v.  Bart Vale Miami Shootfighting 3/20/92

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_XVxuyARHY

In addition Phil recommends the Whit Stillman directed Jane Austen adaptation Love and Friendship

Matt recommends George McDonald Frasers Flashman novels

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Top 30 Thursday - Other Japan #30. Super Tiger vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, UWF 6/24/85

Does watching Fujiwara pull out a buzzer beater ever get old?

These two always match up awesomely against each other, and they really represent UWF's two ideologies: more kicking vs. more submissions. I'm not sure there was anybody who put over Sayama's kicks as well as Fujiwara did, and Kicking vs. Subs is really the tale of the match here, with Fujiwara dancing away from kicks while Tiger occasionally leaves his neck out too far or Fujiwara can reach out and snatch an arm. Tiger takes him down with a DDT/suplex kinda thing, but doesn't seem to know what to do from the top. Fujiwara knows this and you can see him just biding his time from the bottom, that omnipresent half-smirk of his almost too telling. Sure enough he sweeps into an armbar but we're too close to the ropes. Back up and Fujiwara goes for the single leg only to have Tiger counter with an enzuigiri. It only grazes his head though, and Fujiwara being the greatest wrestler ever that he is, just kinda slicks his hair down and struts it off, showing Tiger that he only damaged a couple hair follicles. He struts around so awesomely afterwards that it makes me wish he had a long Snidely Whiplash mustache that he could twirl cockily.

Tiger fights fire with fire as Fujiwara tries grappling with him and Tiger does an insanely awesome suplex, like an arm-captured overhead belly to belly, bridging over and trying to snap Fujiwara's arm off. Fujiwara easily sweeps out again though, but this time Tiger nails a spin kick to the face (which Fujiwara sells greater than any man has ever sold a spin kick to the face, running himself into the ground like someone who just played that "spin around the bat and then try running in a straight line" game at a picnic).

That spin kick allows Tiger to start landing kicks way easier, as Fujiwara starts turtling up in the corner, getting picked apart by leg kicks, slaps to the back of his head, and snapping kicks to the kidneys. Fujiwara keeps trying for some desperation single legs, some more successful than others. At one point he gets Tiger down, into a crucifix and while transitioning to the Fujiwara armbar Tiger rolls through and kicks him right in the face. Tiger seems to be getting stronger as Fujiwara is getting caught more and more......until one mistake costs him the match. While picking Fujiwara apart with leg kicks that he just couldn't defend, Tiger decides to kick him right in the chest. Except his kick lands right in the waiting arms of Fujiwara, who then trips him down and locks on a kneebar right in the center of the ring. The look on Tiger's face is classic as he literally looks desperately at every single side of the ring, trying to size up which ropes are closest, before just screaming and tapping out.

I think I could watch these two wrestle each other just on a loop. They're a real yin yang to each other, and I think Fujiwara brings out the best elements of Tiger. Instead of flippy stumbly spots you get kicks with real bite and honest to god aggression. I don't ever remember writing up "aggression" as one of Tiger's traits in NJPW, but here there are plenty of moments where he just unleashes on Fujiwara. And what more can I say about Fujiwara that Phil hasn't said in 75-odd Fujiwara write-ups. It's just fascinating watching him work, really. Half the time it looks like he's shooting or calling a match and then tricking his opponent, I sit there and wonder how many times his opponent knew he was getting taken down, or if Fujiwara just shot in for single legs on a whim to see if he could catch someone sleeping. I wonder if he did this stuff on purpose during his matches, to kinda piss off his opponents, to make them more aggressive, to make me BUY THE HATE...because I do. Everything Fujiwara does looks real to me, and I don't care if that makes me a rube. He's one of the only guys that I can still have conversations like I did in the 4th grade, where we'd always wonder who was hitting "for real". 25 year old Fujiwara matches still make me suspend disbelief, and I love it.

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My Flesh and My Heart May Fail, But Yoshiaki Fujiwara is My Strength

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Super Tiger 7/17/85 UWF-EPIC

TKG: They air ten minutes of a fifteen minute match here but the ten minutes we get is really great. Sayama is wrestling without his mask at this point and really facially resembles Billy Joel and I think my visceral dislike of Billy Joel kind of effects the way I watch all his stuff. I don't know what I'd think watching a Pete Roberts vs. Sayama match. Who do you root for when William F Buckley and Billy Joel get into a fight?

Sayama is pretty much just all stiff kicks in this and doesn't really have any answers for Fujiwara's submissions and this is like the best possible Dick Vrij vs Volk Han match. As this really is a one man Fujiwara show. They do do a couple of Sayama gets crab on Fujiwara spots which get a big pop, and Fujiwara does a couple variations on his signature Santo style headspin escapes. When Fujiwara gets a hold on Sayama, Syama really dives for ropes. But for the most part this match is built on Fujiwara's standing defenses. Fujiwara is all about the defense, trying to catch the leg, catching Sayama in clinches, trying to dodge and feint to avoid kicks, and roll with strikes trying never to get hit cleanly.

The dodging and feinting is really neat visual and something he doesn't do a ton in the other matches. It reminded me a lot of Yosuke Nishijima vs. Mark Hunt. The story that people tell about that match is that it was the equivalent of Takayama vs. Frye where two crazy guys are just exchanging. Not accurate description.Nishijima was a journeyman pro-boxer and he's turning and weaving to avoid taking any punches cleanly while hitting his punches at will. Nishijima is over 50 lbs lighter than Hunt and really had no power behind his punches. So the story is if Hunt hits a punch cleanly he will hurt Nishijima, but will Hunt gass before he can do that.

Here you had a same dynamic of guy with knock out power vs. guy who is avoiding and turning with the strikes. Of course here Sayama is the smaller guy. So while the Hunt fight kind of exposed Hunt, this match really really puts Sayama over. As its all about Sayama having KO power if he can connect. But Fujiwara for most part is too skilled to allow him to connect.

When Fujiwara lets Sayama slip out of a takedown, Sayama is able to stand up quick and nail Fujiwara with a kick to the kidneys and its essentially over. Once Fujiwara starts taking clean hits, he's knocked off his game and less able to defend. The match ends with spectacular knock out where Fujiwara still tries to defend and catches the back of Sayama's ankle on the way down. But at this point he's been hit cleanly too many times and its too late.

PAS: Much like Tom, I truly loved this match. Fujiwara working around a kicker may be my favorite style of Fujiwara match. He has such great sense of placement in the ring, he is great at moving both too far for his opponents to hit him or too close to hit him cleanly. We got a great sense of that place here, right up until the kidney shot which slows him down. Sayama is a guy who was really over, and when he lands these wild kicks the crowd gets into it, the way crowds would get into a Tyson fight. He becomes this vicious force of nature, and Fujiwara is amazing at conveying the guys being overwhelmed by the wave. Excellent stuff.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Yuki Ishikawa v. Tom Howard/Sean McCully Zero One 7/13/01-GREAT

Very entertaining match. I have really started to dig early 21st century Tom Howard. He looks perfectly comfortable working hold with both Fujiwara and Ishikawa which is no small feat. He also does a great job working spots around his Dolph Lungren Universal Solider gimmick. McCully is a potbellied cross eyed midget working a shooter gimmick, but Fujiwara is a guy who can working a compelling shoot style match with pretty much anyone. Take any guy teaching Tae Kwon Doe at a strip mall dojo, and I bet Fujiwara could pull a three star match out of him. The Fujiwara v. McCully stuff was fun, but the Fujiwara v. Howard was the class. There is a great mat section where Howard is fighting for a kimura, while Fujiwara is attempting to work an ankle pick, it is awesomel to watch the different was that they parry and counter each attack, simultaneously working offense and defense. The finish was both awesome and preposterous, Howard steps on the interior part of Fujiwara's knee dropping him down, then he does some goofy looking action movie neck snap, the kind of thing Sly Stallone would do in Cobra and the ref quickly stops the match. Kind of silly, but Fujiwara sold the fuck out of it and it really got over Howard's whole Commando vibe.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Alexander Otsuka v. Shinjiro Ohtani/Masato Tanaka Zero One 7/6/03-FUN

This was a match which really didn't live up to it's promise. The story they were telling was that Otsuka was trying to prove himself. He refused to tag out to Fujiwara no matter how bad a beating he took. Otsuka takes a big beating, including some impressive bumps on clotheslines and suplexes and he really sold the story he was trying to sell. Still this is a Fujiwara project and this match really had minimal Fujiwara. Also we didn't get to see very much of the different things that make Otsuka so fun, as he was basically a punching bag. I get what they were doing, and they did it well, I just wanted to see something different.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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The World is a Dangerous Place, not Because of Those Who Do Evil, but Because of Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Kengo Kimura v. Bad News Allen/Dick Murdoch NJ 9/16/83 - FUN

This is one of the earliest Fujiwara matches we have and he is pretty spectacular already. The focus of the match is Bad News's befuddlement at the hardness of Fujiwara's skull. There is a great section where both guys are exchanging headbutts and Fujiwara decides to shift his strategy and aim shots at the side and back of Allen's head rather then the front. Fun stuff, although more a chance to see young Fujiwara rather then a stand alone great match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Akira Maeda v. Super Tiger/Nobuhiko Takada UWF 7/23/84 - GREAT

This is a classic example of a big star tag match. It isn't a shootstyle match (missile dropkicks, top rope headbutts ect), this is your main eventers matching up. Lots of heat, guys getting off their big moves, and setting up your singles matches. The kind of match that would headline a Smackdown PPV. I enjoy stuff like that, although it isn't a match that was particularly high on my Other Japan ballot. This was a nice table setter for Takada v. Maeda and Fujiwara v. Super Tiger which are the big two feuds in the early part of UWF 1. I could see this match making me want to see those singles matches, especially Fujiwara v. Super Tiger. Super Tiger really comes off great here, as it almost feels like he is more over in early UWF1 then he is later. He is also throwing nastier kicks then either Maeda or Takada. Fujiwara is Fujiwara, and he has the charisma that is really need to pull of this kind of star based match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Joe Difuria PWFG 10/31/94 - SKIPPABLE

TKG: Difuria is a big roided up US indy guy. i think I may have once seen him and Scott Putski work The Headbangers in King of Prussia. I mean he looks like the kind of guy that you'd see tagged with Putski vs. the Headbangers. He works like he may have been the Shane Twins trainer. I think Fujiwara vs. Putski, or Mosh would have been a much better match. I mean why wasn't DC Drake returning PWFG's calls? Difuria works like barely trained big roided guy and Fujiwara does the type of selling you do when faced with big barely trained roided guy. None of Difuria's stuff looked as good as Jacobs and on some level I think Fujiwara had Difuria control way too much. Not good.

PAS: I liked Fujiwara in this, as I thought he laid out a nice match, as DeFuria shrugged away everything he tried until he finally got the heel hook in. With Glen Jacobs this match would have been good, hell this match would have been good against Van Hammer, DeFuria is worse then both and so it wasn't good. Still I was impressed by Fujiwara.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIKAKI FUJIWARA

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Thunder on! Stride on! Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Strike With Vengeful Stroke!

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Antonio Inoki/Akira Maeda vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi NJ 2/9/84-GREAT

This is part of the Choshu's Army feud and Fujiwara got his first big run here and was awesome. The match is focused around the Army triple teaming and beating on Fujiwara. They bust him open and he fights them off with blood running down his face, there is a moment where he blocks a shot, smiles a bloody smile and just unloads with headbutts. Choshu's army matches all pretty much have unsatisfying finishes, and this ends with a crappy ref DQ, still this was the earliest super Fujiwara performance I have seen, and all Fujiwara fans should check it out.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Riki Choshu NJ 3/2/84-FUN

Real short brawl, which was still a blast. Fujiwara comes out ready for war and they just go at it. Choshu gets a bit of advantage with some big lariats, and Fujiwara roles to the floor and grabs a bolt and tries to stab Choshu with it. The Army runs in and we get a big multi man brawl. More of angle then a match, but you have to love the intensity and heat from this period of New Japan

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger UWF 9/11/85- EPIC

This is the final UWF 1 match up between these two, and really their masterpiece. Kris Zellner described the beginning of this match resembling a heavyweight title fight, and that is really accurate. The first part has a lot of feints and shrugs, Fujiwara throws some jabs, Tiger tosses some range finder kicks but neither guy wants to make the first move. At one point Fujiwara grabs Tiger's wrist and just yanks him in to take him down.

Then you have the Fujiwara controlling Tiger on the mat. The two most trite moves in the first UWF are the half crab and sitting leg lock. Watch some of the lesser matches from this period and they are loaded with diffident half crabs and somnambulant sitting leg locks, watching Fujiwara work those moves shows the real gulf between him and everyone else. He is constantly moving and working to improve his position, and Tiger is constantly trying to counter. There is never a point in the hold where nothing is happening. After being controlled on the mat, Tiger is able to get a break and unloads a nasty jumping knee right to Fujiwara's face. Fujiwara gets up at nine, backs Tiger into the corner and just blasts him with one of the best straight right hands in wrestling history. And it is on. Most UWF1 matches have a slow build and a hot finish, but this was the best slow build of any of the UWF, and damn near the best hot finish.

The end run of this match was really all about establishing distance. Super Tiger needs to have some distance to unleash his kicks, and when he gets that distance Fujiwara does an amazing job of selling them as deadly, even when they don't land clean. He is drooling, eyes rolling back into his head, checking his tooth to see if it still there, gasping for breath when he gets hit in the belly, Tiger looks like a guy who has the eraser in his feet, he can end a match with one shot. Meanwhile Fujiwara is attempting to keep it close, either on the mat, or in the corners where he can land body shots or headbutts. The finish run is perfect example of that, Tiger gets a couple of near fall KO's, but makes the mistake of locking up with Fujiwara, he tries for a German suplex, but Fujiwara, throws a back elbow, and just drops into a Fujiwara armbar for the tap out. Just an awesome perfect finish for a great match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Antonio Inoki v. Akira Maeda/Tatsumi Fujinami NJ 9/7/87- GREAT

This is a battle of teams who really match up well against each other, Fujinami and Maeda are two of Fujiwara's best opponents, and Inoki also really works well with both. Built really well, with everyone hitting the mat with vengance, Inoki and Maeda had an especially neat exchange with Inoki using an Elevator to reverse position and land some nasty punches from the top. Finish was spectacular with Inoki avoiding all of Fujinami's attacks and catch him with his enzigiri, however Maeda comes in and catches Fujiwara with a nasty liver kick for the KO. Total chaos at the end which ruled.

The Complete and Accurate Yoshiaki Fujiwara

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