Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

[1993-06-14-NJPW-Explosion Tour] Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Osamu Kido


Loss

Recommended Posts

  • 2 months later...

This is the best Fujiwara match on a yearbook so far. He and Kido are a great match-up and the exchanges are really fluid. Fujiwara's selling is fun to watch because it fits the style and isn't overstated, especially when he's back at a standing position after Kido's legwork. Speaking of Kido and the legwork, it's really well done. And I love Fujiwara trying to get out of the headscissors. But as much as I hate to say it, I just don't see what other people see in the guy, at least not at the level at which he's rated these days. He's a great mat worker yes, but so are lots of guys, and I haven't come across anything yet that makes him stand out from guys like Ikeda and Ishikawa, or even someone like a Dean Malenko.

 

Good wrestling is about momentum to me. Wrestler X takes control for an extended period of time, either due his own opening or a mistake from Wrestler Y. I think what is keeping Fujiwara from really standing out to me is that no matter what happens in his matches, both guys are having another standoff a few minutes later and are right back where they started. So as a result, you get nice exhibition stuff, but it doesn't feel like a match. Everything is sold and executed well, but there doesn't seem to be much consequence when either guy gets in a good shot.

 

Kido, on the other hand, was super impressive. He mixed in pro style moves like the neckbreaker and belly-to-back suplex. The finish was also really well-executed.

 

I don't anyone to take this as me being down on Fujiwara. I'm definitely not. I see the appeal. I just don't see why he's quite as highly regarded as he is based on his '93 stuff so far. It's a small sampling, so that may be the only issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is far from a great match but I wouldn't exactly call it an exhibition. It's a fairly competitive bout. What's wrong with restarting from a standing position? It's a hell of a lot more realistic than feeding holds.

 

Anyway, I disagree with Ditch completely. I'd rather watch the Malenko match over cartoony pro-style Fujiwara any day of the week. Fujiwara was great at pro-style but I want to see him wrestle. 1993 into 1994 was pretty much the tail end of Fujiwara's run as the best worker in Japan and I don't think this or the Hase match are anything special but the Hashimoto match from '94 is incredible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

May I ask what Fujiwara matches aren't him vs a technician?

Phil's Complete and Accurate list is here:

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2009/08/c...-of-all-of.html

 

 

Fujiwara v Kido is always neat because they do work as equals, but that makes it unusual and not the norm. Majority of his matches v technicicans aren't worked as though both guys are equal.

 

The majority of the matches that Phil lists as EPIC tend to be Fujiwara v a striker.

 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Super Tiger UWF 9/7/84-EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Super Tiger UWF 9/11/85- EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Akira Maeda NJ 1/10/86 - EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Akira Maeda NJ 2/5/86- EPIC (this is more techniciany)

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Riki Choshu NJ 6/9/87- EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Kazuo Yamazaki UWF 7/24/89 - EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Nobuhiko Takada UWF 2/27/90- EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Masakatsu Funaki PWFG 7/26/91-EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Minoru Suzuki PWFG 11/3/91-EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Yusuke Fuke PWFG 2/24/92-EPIC

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Shinya Hashimoto NJ 6/1/94 -EPIC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are more matworkish Maeda or Takada v Fujiwara matches than the ones I listed, Those are worked again less back and forthish than the Kido/Malenko match. Those are worked with one guy having more strength or fire or something else (guy from above v below): not evenly. The matches I pulled out of Phil's list are ones where opponent does less matwork than you get in average Akiyama match.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 5 months later...
  • 7 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Some more Fujiwara showcase wrestling. I thought this was some great grappling built around escapes and was worked snuggly and effectively. The problem I had at times was the lack of desperation and escalation within the match. Kido was fairly limited in this setting to me which also hampered things overall. A nice showcase if nothing else. ***

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

This was neither fish nor fowl to me. It seemed like they were trying to work a shoot-style exhibition on a normal pro-style card until the final few minuted when we saw a couple of Irish whips and a couple of nice reverse neckbreakers. Overall, this was really tough for me to get into; they should have either worked a total shoot-style match or a total pro-style match. It may be possible to mix the two, but not in the way they did it here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • GSR changed the title to [1993-06-14-NJPW-Explosion Tour] Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Osamu Kido

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...