Posted October 24, 200816 yr comment_5435354 Another excellent showing from these two. After some smooth opening matwork, they settled into the ruling dynamic of the match; Maeda tried to cave in Fujiwara's skull and ribs with kicks while Fujiwara tried to lure him into traps. If Fujiwara maneuvered Maeda to a corner, he unloaded with head butts and body punches. If he caught one of Maeda's kick's mid-ring, he took him to the mat. Would Maeda knock Fujiwara out before Fujiwara caught him in an unescapable predicament? It was a great question to build a match around, and the finish paid off the story perfectly. Fujiwara is the rare wrestler who seems a lot more impressive if you're a serious boxing and/or MMA fan. Anyway, easy nomination.
October 24, 200816 yr Author comment_5435357 According to the listings, they wrestled both 1/10/86 and 2/5/86 and it sounds like Maeda won the one you reviewed where as Fujiwara won this one with the armbar. I'll get to that one shortly.
May 11, 200916 yr comment_5439340 Yeah I need to watch all of your Fujiwara singles again to see what will end up my number one, but this could make it. Fujiwara is amazing as always, I think he is the best seller I have ever seen, and I loved the different levels that he was selling Meada's kicks. Maeda was awesome here too, I had never seen him throw headbutts before, but those were Fujiwara level headbutts on Fujiwara, finish was incredible. Awesome stuff, slam dunk nomination.
August 13, 200916 yr comment_5442743 MAeda kicking the shit out of Fujiwara while Fujiwara cowered in the corner like a pussy was pretty great. However, I don't know where Phil gets the idea that Fujiwara is the best seller he has ever seen. Getting knocked loopy with shoot kicks is alot different than a typical wrestling move that doesn't "really hurt". Maeda connects with a spinning kick in the corner and Fujiwara just grins and no sells it. How is that great selling? With that said, Maeda is becoming one of my favorites and seeing him knock Fujiwara around until he got caught with a nasty elbow and the armbar made this an easy nomination... just not for the reasons Phil described.
