Talk about it here.

One of the first matches I've seen where I really get the Fujiwara hype, perhaps because it's wrestled like an actual pro-style match and isn't really all that shooty. I much prefer this side of him. Chono bleeds and plays underdog and they work super stiff, but this never becomes the match it deserves to be because of the abrupt finish. After being obliterated and fighting from underneath, Chono just casually pins Fujiwara, which gets almost no crowd reaction because it happens so quickly. I even thought there's no way what I thought I saw actually happened and had to rewind. Weird ending to what was building to a great match.

Fujiwara straight wrestling matches seem to have those really quick finishes out of nowhere. The pin didn't feel right as happened too easy and Fujiwara was right up on his feet after looking to continue to fight with Chono.

Shaping up to be one of the all-time great Fujiwara matches, on a level with the best stuff with Choshu. And then...that. One Yakuza kick, when Chono had been on the defensive almost the whole way, and it's over. A quick fluky finish is fine in theory but it wasn't even executed that well. Before that this was stiff and gritty as fuck, the kind of match NJPW was doing better than anyone else. Fujiwara heels it up with chokeholds and working on a Chono cut, while Chono has to Hulk Up just to get out of danger. The post-match confrontation teases more between these two.

This was a shame we didn't get around 7-8 minutes more. Chono finally shows so fire which is got out of him by Fujiwara. Fuji was really awesome here just being relentless in going after the cut and every opening Chono allows him. Then we get a headbutt vs. Yakuza kick exchange with Chono coming out on top and that is that. Real shame. ***

I'm not sure, but I think the idea was supposed to be that Chono went for a cover no one expected and caught Fujiwara by surprise before he could kick out. Either that or they were running really short on time for the card and needed some quick finishes.

 

Anyway, what was here was very good. Chono's slap in the face is what sets Fujiwara off; from then on, he does everything he can to make sure Chono pays dearly for insulting him. To be honest, Fujiwara doesn't have the biggest moveset in the world, but when you use your main weapon (in his case, the headbutt) as effectively as he does, who needs a moveset? He looks like the world's toughest man for most of this, and while Chono gets a fluke pin, there's no mistaking who got the better of things.

 

Chono really needed to look better coming off of his performance against Tenryu, but this match wasn't the place for that. Hopefully we'll get a rematch between these two soon which shows what he can do.