Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Tatsumi Fujinami'.
-
Talk about it here.
-
I LOVE 80s JUNIOR WRESTLING! And this has prime Fujinami in a match with interpromotional flavor. We know junior Hara is game from his match with Zrno the year before, and he was game here once again. But this match was less about matwork and more about building intensity, as they would work uncooperative holds, slap eachother, stare and make you root for Fujinami kicking Hara in the mouth. In terms of technical work this bout isn't on the level of the high end 1980 stuff, but the general sense of "these two really are about to kick the shit out of eachother" is awesome in it's own way. Like all great old junior wrestling the timing is great, as they really build towards the dropkicks and other basic highspots. Hara busts out the rugby tackles and his insane backflip suplex once again, and gets so mad by Fujinami retreating that he busts him open with meaty punches and headbutts. Match felt like it ended 5 minutes too early, altough I take a pissed off Hara stomping a bloody Fujinami in the face and Fujinami making a desperate flash comeback over lengthy sections of 2,9999 counts and shocked faces. -
Talk about it here. -
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
At this point Fujinami was mostly relegated to tag work. Now he takes on Inokis project Yasuda. Before the match starts Yasuda insists Fujinami puts on MMA gloves, so when Fujinami does so Yasuda rushes him. One punch exchange later and Fujinamis nose is gushing blood. This really feels like a fight to the death with Yasuda trying to choke out Fujinami, but the old guy can always hit a surprise move. Only 5 minutes but a surprisingly good match.
-
Thanks GOTNW. This was phenomenal and one of the best pure skill vs. pure rage matches I've ever seen. Fujinami wants to open this MUGA style, but Hash blitzes him with a DDT and follows up with a huge barrage of kicks, setting the tone for the rest of the match: Hashimoto demolishing the old man, and wily Fujinami trying to catch the beast. No one kicks a man when he's down like Hashimoto, and he lays an all time epic beating on Fujinami including one of the most gorgeous high kicks I've ever seen. Fujinami is great withstanding the beating, selling his leg and making comebacks, and the psychology is top notch: In isolation, Hashimoto's leg sweep is a cool enough spot, but integrated into the match like this as a "fuck you" to Fujinami's leg screws and Figure 4s it becomes something entirely different. It all builds to some of the best submission nearfalls (and breakups) I've seen, Fujinami teasing the Dragon Suplex, a glassy eyed Hashimoto refusing to go down, a big "Dragon" chant breaking out etc. Great match.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
This is for the vacant CWA Intercontinental title. A fancam from germany where the crowd is hot for Fujinami as the babyface. Really awesome savage massacre. Vader was just obliterating Fujinami, like only Vader can, just trying to bash his skull in for the entire duration of the match, but eventually Vader ends up with a bloody eye and Fujinami gives it back to him, punching and chopping the cut, including a big leaping forearm smash right to Vader's eye. Vader is great as a wounded monster who can come back and crush his opponent anytime, and they work a nice finishing run where Fujinami looks really great, landing a GAEA Girls missile dropkick on Vader and catching him in believable fashion while remaining an underdog. This went 20+ minutes with no rounds and really could have been worked the exact same anywhere else in the world and would have worked. Best 90s Fujinami match I've seen and maybe the best Vader has had in Germany, depending on how much you like Otto Wanz.
-
I'm trying to put into words how much I liked this match but I don't think I'll be able to do this justice. If the match was about ten minutes shorter I think it could've rated it as a top ten match of all time. It's still an absolutely incredible match, an the crowd never really dies but after a certain point they just aren't buying the submissions as much as they did and it's more of a "clap for rope breaks/escapes/general effort" thing. This was a perfect showcase for both wrestler's abilities, the matwork was phenomenal and they managed to escape a perfect sense of one-upmanship. It is a match that manages to excel both at the little things and the big things, there's a moment where Inoki does a bridge and Fujinami tries to drive him to that and I swear Inoki did the most beautiful bridge I've ever seen, the kind of thing that could only be possible because of stuff like this: The crowd was fucking insane, you get shots of people standing up and not leaving their feet for about ten minutes just mesmerized by the drama of the match, Inoki firing up while Fujinami had him in a Figure Four was one of the greatest spots I've ever seen and Fujinami responded appropriately by pushing himself up as far as he could and trying to rip apart Inoki's leg, the struggle over everything was so well done here and the match also served as a great display for their character though I'd find it understable if people used to gigantic bumps for irish whips and WWF wrestling didn't pick it up (not actually trying to call anyone out here fwiw), Fujinami has a chip on his shoulder and while being a great athlete in his own right doesn't really possess Inoki's strength and they play it up really well, Inoki goes for an illegal Sleeper in the beginning and Fujinami sells it like a huge threat, later on Fujinami uses the same maneuver several times but never manages to damage Inoki as much as Inoki had damaged him, I think that came off really well every time Fujinami would grab a hold for a longer period of time where, he'd just come off as the most tenacious wrestler ever, and later in the match when Inoki stars slapping the shit out of him and Fujinami sells it enough so it doesn't come off as no selling (especially with his facial expression) but no sells it enough so the crowd can put his awesome facial expressions together with him refusing to go down to Inoki's strikes and it's this humongous amazing moment and everyone is losing their shit and pro wrestling fucking rules mate. I also find it amusing how Fujinami's character seems to consistent both in his on air presentation and in scummy backstage videos and stories (him slapping Kevin Nash comes to mind, also there was a video where him and Inoki just yell at each other for five minutes and Fujinami responds to Inoki's weak fifth grader bully slap by Bas Ruttening him). ****3/4
-
UWF top dog delivers a monstrous beating to New Japan's hero, who will not stay down no matter what. Maeda is good as the destroyer but Fujinami's epic selling performance makes this a classic. The top NJPW match of the 80s. ****5/8
-
This was a pure 70s grappling epic with an absolutely molten last 10 minutes or so. The grappling here wasn't intricate or anything, but they worked an ultra tight contest and did a good job bringing the intensity up and down. Most importantly, the match never felt slow or dry, so I'll take this over your Dory Funk Jr snoozefest. Inoki is very dominant early on, running through his holds including a great briding indian deathlock, but then Fujinami slaps him like a bitch and finally starts bringing the fight. I especially liked the sequence where Inoki teases the Butterfly Suplex and goes for a fireman carry. He didn't even hit that butterfly suplex later! Inoki's defensiveness ends up backfiring on him and Fujinami puts him in a Figure 4. The Figure 4 segment eats up a good chunk of thise 35 minuteish match so better have a good book ready. I didn't have a problem with it though because the payoff was strong and Inoki's selling was right on the money. Seeing Fujinami pushing the mythical Inoki to the limit was spectacular and the crowd was surface of the sun level hot for the possible dethroning. The finish was inevitable but atleast we get a massive pop for Fujinami powering out of the Octopus Hold. This went over half an hour with barely a bump in it but it was still totally spectacular pro wrestling.
-
The most impressive thing about this match is that in 90 minutes there is literally no downtime at all. Even the Inoki vs. Choshu matwork was compelling. The crowd heat is insane and the fact that that level of heat was consistently maintained for 90 minutes is even more insane. I would say Fujinami was the MVP with Animal as a close second but everyone was great in it. Incredible match to say the least but one I have had trouble rating because it is difficult to distinguish the individual pairings from the overall story. -
1980-04-04 NJPW Mike Graham (c) vs. Tatsumi Fujinami NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title Match City Gymnasium, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan Card ★★★ Graham was rocking this spectacular 70s afro perm complete with the porno moustache. He tried his best but he didn’t quite match the sleaze factor Steamboat managed with his moustache at this time. Fujinami must have taken around 90% of this, working over the arm again and again and thoroughly controlling Graham every step of the way. The pacing was very staccato, Graham trying to make comebacks every once in a while but each time Fujinami would efficiently cut him off. The fact that this dynamic continued through ⅔ of this match was a bit much though. It would have served it better if they’d cut bait, shaved off the additional 5 minutes and transitioned into the finish earlier or just decided to go in a different direction. After teasing it a few times and commentary mentioning it relentlessly all match, Graham finally had the opportunity to lock on his version of the figure four. Fujinami missed a knee drop off the top and Graham went to work. I liked how they built the necessary tension this way but they weren’t able to milk it for all it was worth though and Fujinami somewhat easily made it to the ropes. The finishing stretch had a nice plancha from Fujinami and he teased his tope but Graham continuing to go after the leg opened him up to receiving a German Suplex and Fujinami bridged perfectly to seal the win and snatch the title from the Floridian.
-
1980-12-05 NJPW Kantaro Hoshino & Riki Choshu vs Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami MSG Tag League 1980 Match City Gymnasium, Tokushima, Japan ★★★ Card After watching several All Japan tags in a row it’s interesting to see how starkly different the New Japan style actually is. Whereas All Japan seemed to veer between wild brawls or old school mat work, New Japan has a crisper pace and a more rough, formless structure. This match could very well be described as workrate-y, and maybe it’s because I’m less familiar with 80s New Japan in general, but I do struggle at times to pluck the narrative threads out of their matches. This was eminently enjoyable though, but had the air of more style than substance, lacking any real character or soul. It was fun to see two Japanese teams face off, which feels like a novelty at this time, and despite my comments above, this didn’t feel like a disappointment. It was good, but never close to being great. The Fujinami/Kimura team felt a bit more established, with Kimura operating as the younger brother or kohai member, looking to Fujinami to lead the way, and they ended with the Lucha finish of hitting the big dive to clear the ring which allowed Fujinami to pin Hoshino with an O’Connor Roll. -
[1980-11-06-NJPW-Toukon Series] Tatsumi Fujinami vs Steve Keirn
Loss posted a topic in November 1980
Talk about it here. -
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Talk about it here.
-
Great intense grappling with the crowd popping for everything, pretty much. I thought it built pretty damn well to the finishing stretch. ****
-
Conclusion of their series of awesome 70s junior title matches. There is some animosity at this point – Go doesn't want to shake Fujinami's hand. The ref makes him do it, but Fujinami slaps him in the face! The body of the match is fantastic as they go back and forth between tight matwork with nifty throws and takedowns and escalating into knocking the crap out eachother. Go slaps Fujinami back, and Fujinam shows he can go there, even kicking Go in the eye! Fujinami really is quite the skillful prick here. Go goes into a greco roman knuckle lock only to headbutt Fujinami in the eye, so Tatsumi does this smooth takedown, into a front headlock... they end up in the ropes, clean break right? Nope because Fujinami headbutts him right back. Fujinami really looks like a worldbeater here, even bridging up from a modified armbar, which was a damn impressive athletic mat spot. They tease the big throws and work a great finishing run where they wipe eachother out with awesome 70s dives and do hanging by a thread-nearfalls. Great little match, and Ryuma Go looked like the best wrestler ever to have fought space aliens.
