August 31, 201312 yr Author comment_5559663 Super match. I love this style and wish we got more of this type of thing in pro wrestling, and outside of the groups like RINGS and UWFI. Frye is awesome for taking cheapshots in this context too. Great, great, great, and listen to the crowd when Frye vs Ogawa is teased!
September 16, 201312 yr comment_5563061 I really wanted these two to just beat the crap out of each other until they had nothing left. Ogawa is hanging out ringside and I want to see him get beat up too.
September 20, 201312 yr comment_5563948 Frye looked and worked like such a nasty fucker. That punch-suplex-choke finishing combo was fantastic. I agree with Loss; I love this as a change of pace on a New Japan card, and it's a shame they ultimately lost their way in balancing Inoki's shoot fantasies.
December 6, 201311 yr comment_5575271 Frye just has the best look of a bar room brawler that has legit skill. He works a fabulous match here with his little jabs that he mixes in. The finish sequence also looks devastating and this was super overall. The real gem is after the bell though as Ogawa and Frye standing off feels like a Warrior vs. Hogan moment. Inoki even gets in on the action riling the crowd up and having a little shoving match with Frye. Super super stuff that had me real excited in New Japan overall.
November 18, 20159 yr comment_5710612 Our first look at Frye and man was he awesome, and I really wish a guy like him who was capable of believably heeling it up to a degree not seen in shootstyle could have had a run in UWFI or RINGS, just to see what it would have been like. This is all-action and ends before it can possibly wear out its welcome, but Frye is slow to break his winning hold and that draws in Naoya Ogawa and then Inoki himself.
November 9, 20168 yr comment_5774919 Fought in the shoot style. Frye wore gloves so he could throw punches. Quite short and entertaining for what it was. Fujita was young and not yet the force that he would become. The Don won comfortably and then heeled it up afterwards to presumably set up a fight with Naoya Ogawa.
March 23, 20196 yr comment_5882534 Don Frye vs Kazayuki Fujita - NJPW 8/2/97 Don Frye looks like the long lost Blackjack in this match. Badass muthafucka. I have seen a couple Frye worked bouts and none of them have been all that great, but this was pretty damn fun. Fujita was a monster in 2000s New Japan here he is the lamb to the slaughter. They are building to Don Frye and Naoya Ogawa in the short run and Frye vs Inoki for Inoki's farewell match in the long run. Frye just kicks ass. He stymies Fujita's takedowns with wicked punches and gets a nice armbar takedown. On the fourth try, Fujita finally gets a takedown to a pop. The best sequence of the match was Frye holds a top wristlock even though Fujita is in the ropes. The crowd boos. Then Fujita takes him down with an STO and attacks him while he in the ropes and the crowd loves it. Frye holds a choke long in the ropes. He is throwing great punches and Fujita has no stand up game. Frye takes a cheapshot. Headlocking him and punching him in the face. He tries to rain down blows to the back of the head, but the ref pulls him off. It is academic at this point as Frye throws him around and chokes him out. He doesnt let go so the wrestler bum rush the ring and Ogawa hops the barricade. Nuclear heat! This is Inokiism at its finest. Inoki is out there. It is Pandemonium and the crowd loves it. Short, but effective match to get Frye over as a killer gaijin heel. ***1/2
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