Kimura was not one of the better workers in NJ. But he could take an unholy beating and pull the crowd in with his fiery rallies. Fujiwara made a perfect opponent as all his stuff looked like it hurt, and he excelled at conveying sadism. Together, they made this random mid-card match more dramatic than it had any right to be. Fujiwara jumped Kimura outside the ring and bloodied him badly. He then worked the cut to the point they were both bathed in Kimura's blood. Kimura attempted his first rally by clocking Fujiwara with a chair. But Fujiwara had the world's hardest head, so that didn't work. Fujiwara then tried to end it with a leg submission. Kimura fought to the ropes. Fujiwara reapplied the hold with more resolve. Again, Kimura fought to the ropes. Fujiwara clenched his teeth to show he was sick of this shit and went to the well one last time. Kimura fought out once more. Kimura sort of rallied at that point, but it felt more like his resilience simply outlasted Fujiwara's will to punish him. So Fujiwara tossed the punk to the outside, threw a few more vicious head butts for good measure and tossed him over the rail to end the match. This succeeded beautifully in getting across Fujiwara's potency but also allowing Kimura a moral victory for his courage. Nomination.

 

Match appears on both NJ TV 5/16/86 and NJ Classics 232

Fuck yeah. On first watch this felt like the peer of some of the better bloody brawls from Memphis and Mid-South. Fujiwara is great at underdog, but maybe even better as a nasty fucker blooding someone up. I just loved all of his cocky smirking and gesturing. Serious no one ever is better.

This started off as good as any match on the set with Fujiwara busting Kimura open and seeing Kimura's drops of blood fall tothe floor and his hand. Sick stuff. I love the choking and punching and brawling but all of the mat work seemed to be a waste. Why is Fujiwara wasting time in leg locks when he could be headbutting or punching Kimura in the face? I wouldn't compare this with the better Southern brawls so far since they spent way too much time laying on the mat but the nbrawling parts were really fucking great. The ending was kind of lackluster and this won't finish high on my ballot but I have no problem pushing it through.