[1979-12-13-NJPW] Tatsumi Fujinami vs Kengo Kimura

[superkix]

I’m loving the proto-shoot-style of these late 70’s junior heavyweight matches that feel like transition pieces into the 80’s mentality of “more is better”. Kengo Kimura is awesomely aggressive throughout, staying on Fujinami like salt on pretzels. He tries overwhelming him with offense right out of the gate and then works to keep him grounded, utilizing a great Indian deathlock and the grounded headscissors. Fujinami plays defense for much of the match but his reversals are slick per usual. They pick up the momentum midway through with a fun little snapmare exchange and Kimura starts tapping his cache, hitting a plancha to the outside, backdrop suplexes (including one on the floor), and what looked like a deadlift sheer-drop double arm suplex, but he can’t put the champ away. At one point, he tried to backdrop Fujinami into the corner but Fujinami hangs onto the ropes. The finish comes out of nowhere, as Fujinami counters a backdrop attempt with a German suplex hold and follows up with a piledriver for the win. Kimura ruled here if you like your early juniors bomb-tastic but this wasn’t Fujinami’s most captivating performance and the abrupt finish didn’t help.