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Post by elliott on Dec 19, 2017 0:28:00 GMT -5
5x5 Gauntlet (NJPW - 5/1/1986)
Team New Japan (Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Seiji Sakaguchi, Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada) vs Team UWF (Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Kazuo Yamazaki & Nobuhiko Takada) (5x5 Gauntlet - NJPW - 5/1/1986)
Like all of the 80s NJPW 10 man's, this is a great match, and a very strong contender for my list. It isn't in the upper echelon like the 3/26/86 Elimination match or the 84 gauntlet, because I think it drags at times, which may be unfair for a 60+ minute segment. The Kido vs Koshinaka matchup I found to be pretty aimless and I didn't really like the Sakaguchi vs Yamazaki pairing as much as I expected. But Yamada vs Takada was truly excellent and once Kimura, Fujiwara, Fujinami and Maeda got involved, this exploded. Really it is a Fujinami performance for the ages. People don't think of non-death match Japan as a place to go for blood, but Fujinami can bleed with any luchadore or territory brawler you can come up with. His selling and comebacks in this are great. Awesome match.
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Post by childs on Jan 9, 2018 14:55:40 GMT -5
This one definitely had some down segments when you compare it to the '84 gauntlet match. But it also featured the closest thing we got to a Fujinami-Fujiwara singles match when both were near the peak of their powers. And boy, was that tantalizing.
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Post by exposer on Jan 12, 2018 13:19:28 GMT -5
I third this. I absolutely love this match as well. The Fujinami-Fujiwara showdown is indeed fantastic. Again, I'm ranking at least 5 of the 8 NJ 80s multi-mans from the 80s set & this is one of them. It comfortably makes my list.
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Post by microstatistics on May 2, 2018 1:41:34 GMT -5
Only a notch below the 4 84 gauntlet. Individually, the Yamada vs. Takada segment was really great and the Fujinami vs. Fujiwara/Maeda segments were off the chart. Many people have already pointed this out but a Fujinami vs. Fujiwara singles match was maybe the biggest missed opportunity ever.
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Post by wrestlingfan on Dec 8, 2018 15:18:48 GMT -5
When I watch this match, I see Fujinami as the top babyface and the ace of the promotion. I know that Inoki was more popular and probably drawed more. But that's the feeling I have when seeing his performance. He reminds me a bit of Misawa. It's really thrilling to see him covered in blood fight Fujiwara and Maeda. What a dramatic match ending. I really liked the moment when Fujiwara gave all he had to reach the ropes in order to get out of Fujnami's submission hold. Sakaguchi, Takada and Kimura were all of three more than decent. I cannot say the same thing for Koshinaka, Yamada, Kido and Yamazaki. It's a difficult match to evaluate because depending on the match-ups, it was boring, average, good and awesome. It's rather uneven. But I would be more tempted to give it a big note because the end with Fujinami, Fujiwara and Maeda supplants, in my opinion, the less glorious moments of the match.
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Post by makaiclub on Jan 18, 2021 8:03:39 GMT -5
Everyone knows how great these gauntlet matches are. Even though the 1984 Gauntlet was superior to this match - due to a better selection of matches in the middle with Kido having a few pedestrian matches - this still is absolutely great in many ways. It's filled with great individual performances, matches that link into the other and the overarching story of the whole match and climaxes pretty much as well as you'd want. Yamada vs Takada was the perfect opening bout. Both popular Juniors, Takada in particular, who have a seriously heated match. Yamada (Pre-Liger) puts in a super effort against the larger Takada. Kimura is out-matched by Fujiwara but he opens up a hint of vulnerability that Fujinami was able to exploit somewhat by drawing blood and draining Fujiwara of some stamina. Fujiwara vs Fujinami itself was exceptional with excellent selling by Fujinami, critical strategy implemented by the crafty Fujiwara who, at several points, tried to get he and Fujinami counted out which would've given UWF and Akira Maeda the win by proxy and a great finishing stretch where Maeda was able to pick what was left of Fujinami apart. The only flaw of the match was the Kido stretches of the match. And that's not a knock on Kido at all but the matches were short, not very memorable and only served to link the beginning to the end. It seemed like a waste of Koshinaka, if you ask me. Nevertheless, you can't go wrong watching this in full. It's an exciting match that pays off well. ****1/2
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Post by KB8 on Oct 8, 2022 8:06:23 GMT -5
One hour and twenty minutes! These gauntlet series are some of the coolest things New Japan ever did. They're not technically one match in the traditional sense, but in a narrative sense they pull together into one package with each individual segment contributing towards that overall story, flowing from one to the next, from beginning to end. The '84 gauntlet was my #1 on the DVDVR New Japan set and is one of the greatest things I've ever seen in wrestling. I have not re-watched that bastard however as it is an ENDEAVOUR and I didn't think I had it in me to do it in one sitting at this point in my life. Well to hell with that because I just sat on my arse for 80 minutes and watched this one front to back. In a novel concept I will now talk about each individual match, using no more than 150 words for each (I thought about doing 100 but Fujinami/Fujiwara was simply too good for me to be shackled as such).
Takada/Yamada fucking ruled. Have I mentioned how fun young Liger was? If he wanted to he absolutely could've been an amazing shoot style wrestler, right along the same lines as Sano. I know that's like saying Michael Jordan could've been a really good baseball player if he didn't like basketball so much, but still. This had lots of struggle and was more or less entirely shoot style, with Yamada going at the prince hammer and tong. Takada thumps him with kicks and it looks like Yamada is going to be counted out, but he keeps getting up and the nearfall off the backdrop driver was insane. Yamada sells the urgency of these shoot submissions better than most actual shoot stylists. Great opener and probably one that would be remembered super fondly as an early Liger match if it was its own thing.
Takada/Sakaguchi was a nifty enough styles clash, if a step down from what we just got. Takada aims to chop the big tree down with leg kicks and Sakaguchi is having none of it. Sakaguchi using his lankiness for leverage to escape holds is a cool way to get around the fact he shouldn't really be hanging with Takada on the mat. Canadian backbreakers are great. Bring back the Canadian backbreakers.
Sakaguchi/Yamazaki was a badass wee five minutes. Yamazaki is fired up going after the big lummox, throwing on legbars and slapping Sakaguchi about the face when he tries to sit out of them. Sakaguchi is LONG though and it's hard to keep him locked up. Eventually he just muscles Yamazaki into a half and then full crab and Yamazaki succeeds only in softening Sakaguchi up somewhat for Kido.
Sakaguchi/Kido wasn't so hot. Kido is tiny compared to Sakaguchi but probably quicker and Sakaguchi has had to deal with two people already. Which is part of the beauty of these gauntlets. Ordinarily there's no way I'd have expected Kido to win this, but under the circumstances he can keep plugging away and see what's what. If I'm him I'm thinking a small package is a decent way to go as well. So fair play to the wee fella.
Kido/Koshinaka was pretty okay. Koshinaka dragging Kido the floor immediately and hitting a piledriver ruled, then he went after the leg which was a fine enough idea if not the most compelling in execution. Kido slabbering him with a forearm was sensational. I am not particularly sure what the finish was all about.
Kido/Kimura was too short to really be much. Kido had already wrestled two guys and the last match ended with him lying arse-end up over the guardrail, so you maybe had an inkling of how this would go. Still, he went out a hero. Or at least a man deserving of mild applause.
Kimura/Fujiwara is where the match picked up again. I guess this answers why Fujiwara was out for blood in their singles match later in the month. Kimura jumps Fujiwara at the start (much like Fujiwara would do in a couple weeks), rams him into the post, and this time the rock solid cranium can't save him. He comes up bloody and Kimura is all over him like a rash. He digs his fingers into the wound and when Fujiwara gets up and looks him dead in the face there's this "ooohhhhh" reaction from the crowd. Right before Fujiwara obliterates him with a headbutt. Fujiwara's face as he tries to rip Kimura's arm out the socket was an absolutely incredible visual.
Fujiwara/Fujinami must be the best ever matchup that never materialised as an actual match. This was the closest we got to it and mother of god what a phenomenal bitta pro wrestling. Fujinami works the sleeper like he's trying to crush Fujiwara's windpipe and Fujiwara is the one true god of selling a chokehold, which you can add to the list of other things he's the one true god of. The struggle is just exceptional, the way Fujiwara tries to snapmare out of that choke only for Fujinami to keep hold, flip over with the momentum and go right back to it, Fujiwara's eyes glazing over more and more each time. There was one bit where he was reaching out for the rope, inches from that but closer to unconsciousness, so Fujinami wrapped a leg around the arm to cut him off and there was genuine belief that Fujinami might actually choke him out. As far as building drama with a single, simple hold it was pretty much perfect. Fujiwara knowing that Fujinami is the last one standing from Team New Japan and trying to get both of them counted out was so great. Fujinami sensed what the play was too and he was lunging to get back in the ring, but Fujiwara was feral and when that man has the bit between his teeth it's hard to pry it loose. I had no recollection of Fujinami hitting a total fucking gusher in this. Fujiwara ditching the count out strategy and piledriving Fujinami on the concrete instead was a pretty great way to bring about said gusher. It needed to be some real blood loss if he was going to sell being dead on his feet, and it was and the selling was phenomenal and so was Fujiwara whomping him with uppercuts and Fujinami just collapsing in the ropes. The backslide reversal to one of those uppercuts once again lends credence to the idea that UWF's kryptonite is the mighty backslide, but Fujiwara couldn't give a shit even after losing and goes right back to throwing headbutts. An unbelievable ten minutes and that might've been more than 150 words.
Fujinami/Maeda to take us home honestly wasn't that much of a step down from the last match, which means it was fucking awesome. Fujinami's selling again is just out of this world, taking bullet after bullet and staggering around energy-depleted, falling awkwardly into the ropes, making last ditch reversals, facing down the inevitable while refusing to blink. Maeda hitting the dragon suplex and Fujinami actually kicking out of it is one of the best nearfalls I've seen in ages, and if you're going to do a blood stoppage after all this then it better look legit. And brothers, this looked very legit. Bring on the singles match.
So there you go. Nine "matches" over 80 minutes. As a whole it wouldn't quite make my top three New Japan matches for the year, but things like Yamada/Takada and Fujinami/Maeda were awesome and that Fujinami/Fujiwara bit is as good as anything I've seen in ages. A hell of a thing.
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