Posted October 28, 200817 yr comment_5435412 Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiawara (06/02/86) Man is Fujwara awesome at singles matches. Lots of really great back and forth mat wrestling, and really stiff nasty shots by both dudes. Finish was totally awesome with Inoki drilling Fujiwara with a forearm while he was throwing his headbutt. Post match was nuts with UWF dudes brawling with New Japan wrestlers and the crowd pelting the ring with garbage. Awesome shit, slamdunk nomination. Akira Maeda vs. Umanosuke Ueda (06/02/86) This was really crappy, Ueda was awesome in the elimination match as the out gunned washed up dude who had one last trick up his sleeve. Here he is tooling Maeda on the mat, and not selling for him in stand up. The match ends with Ueda being DQed for working him over with a foreign object. Pile of crap, which I want to forget exists because it actually makes other matches worse. Akira Maeda vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (06/12/86) Legendary match, really great build to the finish and the ending with Fujinami gushing blood is about a great a blown finish you are ever going to see. No brainer match Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiawara (06/12/86) Not as epic as their match 10 days earlier, but still pretty darn great. Fujiwara spent the match choking out Inoki, starting with judo throwish snap mares. Nasty stiff chokes, and Inoki kept rabbit punching Fujiwara, finish wasn’t as awesome as their other match and it didn’t have the riot atmosphere, but this makes a set. Shiro Koshinaka & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada (11/03/86) Fun to see short tights Hash, and he is basically in the role of young rookie getting worked over, man I would have loved to see what Hash would have done if he left and joined the UWF. Takada and Hash worked really wel together too, there was an especially nasty spin kick to Hash’s face. Still with so much awesome shit from this feud, I don’t think this makes the cut Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (06/29/87) Earlier in this month they had maybe my favorite match of the 1980’s, this isn’t that, but it is pretty awesome. Fujiwara lays in some super theatrical headbutts, and they have this awesome spot where Choshu throws a lariat as Fujiwara is throwing a headbutt which looked awesome. It ended a little early which keeps it out of the top 20 with Fujiwara dying when Choshu lariats him coming into the ring. Fujiwara may be the best wrestler of the entire 1980’s Masaharu Funaki & Akira Nogami vs. Yoji Anjo & Tatsuo Nakano (07/18/87) Shocked at how much I enjoyed this. All of these guys were basically rookies and they go after each other hardcore. All out workrate tag with all four guys trying to kick each others heads off. Really fun, I am nominating this. Akira Maeda vs. Super Strong Machine (08/20/87) This takes a while to get going, as SS Machine doesn’t really deliver his stuff nasty enough at the beginning, to counter what Maeda is doing, but when it does get going it gets really great as Machine starts laying it in with big clotheslines and boots, crowd really starts going nuts too and the finish run is super hot, not everything is landed crisp. End is kind of awesome as it looks like Machine dislocates his shoulder legit, and Maeda is really great playing it up and really wrenching on the bad shoulder. Really fun stuff and a nomination.
November 28, 200817 yr comment_5436044 Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiawara (06/02/86) - I don't share the same Fujiwara love that Phil does. I enjoyed the matwork but not as much as the Takada-Yamada from the 5-on-5. The segments where they got off the mat and started countering each other worked much better. However, during the stretch run, when they are fighting over armbars, you can see Inoki's arm stretching and it looks as nasty as anything you would see in a UFC matchup. The ending was "real" I Guess but it is hard to come to grips with the idea of a chinlock ending a match but that elbow counter was sweet. I am not as high as Phil is on this match but there was some fun stuff mixed in. (After watching the Chochu match, I am actually leaning no on this one) Akira Maeda vs. Umanosuke Ueda (06/02/86) - Nothing match. Akira Maeda vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (06/12/86) - Phil said it... this is a must have classic. When Fujinami goes to a leg crab or leg bar, it makes so much more sense because Maeda will knock his fucking head off. The punishment that Maeda inflicts is off the charts and Fujinami's selling of the leg is great. The counters, the blood, the stiff strikes, all on point. This is another match that has a crack at #1. SLAM DUNK. Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiawara (06/12/86) - I actually liked this one more than the first one since this one played off the first match. They also seemed to move with more logic in their steps. I love how Inoki gets Fujiwara in the chinlock and you can see Fujiwara's face puff up, straining in hopes of keeping him from locking it in. The ending was also better in my view with Inoki failing to capitalize on the Enziguiris and eventually putting him away with the German suplex. Thumbs up from me. Shiro Koshinaka & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada (11/03/86) - There was some good stuff here but I may have to rewatch it. It just felt like there was no build and the ending came way too soon. Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (06/29/87) - Criminally short. However, this was all action. Choshu isn't going to be content to just lay there in a leg bar. He is going to slap Fujiwara in the face and then stomp on him after he gets out. Fuck, Choshu's lariat looked good. I think this match is so head and shoulders above the Inoki matches that I would be fine leaving both of those off since this exposes the flaws in Inoki's game (mainly no selling and laying around in holds) that are not apparent at any point in this match. Masaharu Funaki & Akira Nogami vs. Yoji Anjo & Tatsuo Nakano (07/18/87) - Akira Maeda vs. Super Strong Machine (08/20/87)
August 13, 200916 yr comment_5442744 I couldn't figure out what match Phil was talking about that I was knockin until now and I was completely wrong about the Inoki-Fujiwara match. I started watching these matches because I had not posted comments on them in the matches folder. After watching Maeda-Fujiwara which I had less appreciation of, that Inoki-Fujiwara stands out as maybe my favorite Fujiwara match and one of my top Inoki matches. going to rewatch 6/12 and 6/29 to see where my head is at.
