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[1985-UWF] Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara


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Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - UWF 6/24/85

 

Holy Shit. Holy SHIT! This is supposedly the worst match of their five match series in the Original UWF and I freaking LOVED IT! These two can do no wrong together. Six months after their ground breaking five star classic in December of 84 they come back with a totally different match that rules. Sayama no longer has the mask, which bums me out, but these two deliver the goods.

 

Totally different dynamic in this match. In September, Fujiwara felt like the favorite being bigger and stronger but Super Tiger pulled out the win. December was all about Tiger proving it was no fluke with a spectacular knockout of Fujiwara. Two victories, now Tiger is the favorite and it shows. Fujiwara flinches at the mere flick of Tiger's foot love it. Fujiwara is way more cautious. He is letting Tiger come at him and catch the kick then trying to convert that into offense. I love how the matches are building and telling a greater story. Fujiwara has shifted from offense to defense. Tiger is taking Fujiwara down now and that never happened in the first match. Some really nice double underhook bridging takedowns. Nothing has really changed on the mat, Fujiwara is still the man. There are two big NEAR MISSES where Tiger almost connects with the kick. Loved Fujiwara's sell, like he knows how close he was to doom. Then he catches Tiger's foot and BOOM! eats a big one in the mush and he falls out of the ring. Fujiwara's selling makes the match. Fujiwara follows up by punching Sayama right in the face. Sayama is not very good at selling, which is why shoot style fits him better. They go on the mat, bundle of leg locks lame. Sayama gets a single leg crab. Then as they coming up from a tangle on the mat he connects with a WICKED KICK to the face. Shades of December! It feels like the match is over from how Fujiwara is selling. Sayama misses with a kick to head, but connects with kick to the leg. He is cornering Fujiwara, but has not gotten him off his feet. Fujiwara with a desperation takedown and leg lock...middle of the ring...nowhere to go...SUPER TIGER TAPS OUT! WOW!

 

Fujiwara needed win and he pulled that one out from the jaws of defeat. Also that is Sayama's first loss in UWF. Great booking. Another Sayama knockout would have killed the series, but teasing the knockout then having Fujiwara get the submission victory. Really looking forward to the July match now. ****1/2

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 15 August 2018 at 1:35 AM, paul sosnowski said:

Can anyone confirm the date or location on this?   I can't find a record of UWF running any shows in June 1985

According to WrestlingData Super Tiger's first loss to Fujiwara in the UWF was 1/16, so based on the write up I'd guess that's the correct date.  Then again the write up says 'five match series' and they wrestled each other seven times so who knows?

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  • GSR changed the title to [1985-UWF] Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara
  • 1 month later...

So I fucked up. "Five match series" came from the fact that DVDVR Men's Other Japan had five Fujiwara vs Super Tiger matches. I should have done my due diligence to see if there were only matches or not. The date "6/24/85" actually comes from indeedwrestling.com which hosts the results for the DVDVR series. I will do my best right now to figure out the correct date. My apologies. 

 

From a Phil Schneider review on Segunda Caida, I can confirm this is NOT 1/16/85. The finish I saw was a leglock and the finish he saw was an armlock. He describes it as a handheld and the finish as "The finishing submission is awesome, we get to see Fujiwara work through every step of the hold, before finally snapping the elbow which causes Tiger to very quickly tap, the submission was a great combo of fast and slow, much like the whole match" 

Segunda Caida lists the match as 6/24/85 in this review: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-30-thursday-other-japan-30-super.html

Prowrestlinghistory.com notes that Sayama stopped wearing the Tiger Mask in February of 1985. They list a loss to Fujiwara on May 31, 1985 in Korakuen Hall. If I had to guess thats the match I watched. But now I cant find the video anywhere to corroborate. :( 

 

 

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