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Post by jetlag on Nov 25, 2018 18:09:16 GMT -5
tl;dr really great technical contest, probably my Top pre-1980s US match. I did an insanely detailled breakdown for some of the moves in this contest on twitter.
It's pretty insane to think Fujinami was having matches as good as this as early as 1978. Talk about peaking early. Then again, he was up against Mando, who looked world class here. I mean this easily wipes the floor with many highly praised WoS or japanese matches from the time period. Just an excellent, highly competitive technical match. It has that unique genuine feeling to it where it doesn't feel like two workers showing off. There are a handful of „highspots“ (meaning dropkicks and hip throws) which never feel like showmanship. There isn't even a ton of hold for hold work, as much of this is them battling over position, mostly from amateur wrestler position with guys trying to chop eachother down or get a cradle. Really loved the constant pin attempts aswell as the missed throws and takedown attempts. Tons of nice subtleties here: Mando does a weird head bobbing thing to distract Fujinami for a possible takedown. When Fujinami is finally able to hit a suplex Mando immediately rolls over to his belly to prevent a pin. Fujinami clocks Mando with an enzuigiri which Mando sells in a big way by flying across the ring; later Fujinami is again able to hit a dropkick which sets Mando loopy on his back, but he is able to retaliate in a desperation effort. I also loved all the counters Mando had for Fujinamis throw attempts, he would push him off, roll him over or simple try to snap his arms. Should mention Fujinamis hip throws looked awesome. This was about 25 minutes of great back and forth wrestling that paid off its story nicely. It's an aquired taste but it's one of my all time favourite matches and if you can get into this kind of old school mat based wrestling at all required viewing IMO.
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Post by KB8 on Apr 30, 2019 5:05:23 GMT -5
Yeah, this was an awesome ~25 minutes of grappling. You definitely had the WoS/Euro type hold-trading, but there was more niggliness to it than the slickness you often associate with those high end WoS bouts, so in that respect it was maybe a little closer to the best stuff Fujinami was doing with Kimura in New Japan around the turn of the decade. Mando is my least explored Guerrero of the four Gory children but I guess that family really can do no wrong because he looked fucking tremendous in this. There was one sequence where he'd continually try and transition and roll through by using a headstand, and beyond the impressive strength in his neck to be able to do it like he did, it never felt like he was doing it for the flash. It was all leverage and shifting position and Fujinami had to constantly bridge out of pin attempts. I guess if I had one minor criticism it would be that I never got a huge sense of escalation, but at the same time I never thought it was exhibitiony and the way they tried to dropkick each other's head off at the end was spectacular. Fujinami's in particular was an absolute rocket of the highest order. Great, clean finish as well. I could watch this again right now and find new wrinkles to dig.
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Post by andylfc on Jan 15, 2021 9:25:17 GMT -5
This was excellent stuff and a real nice discovery for me. I expected Fujinami to be rock solid but Mando blew me away, not only with his skills but selling and little details throughout. I would just be repeating what was said in the previous posts - 20+ minutes of watertight mat wrestling that flew by and a satisfying finish. A match that I hope to check out again before ballot time. It's funny how a match like this in 2021 can feel like a breath of fresh air.
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Post by tetsujin on Apr 16, 2021 7:24:28 GMT -5
Watched this yesterday. Very interesting matwork going on, as fluid, original and intense as the best matwork you'll see anywhere else. I thought Fujinami was gonna be the star of the match, and he did great, but Mando is the one that gave the best moments, details, and overall "soul" of this. The doble dropkick spot might be the only time ever it didn't felt stupid. Still a pretty generic match in terms of character work, more sport-only focused, but a very, very solid athletic display that shouldn't be underlooked and ages pretty well.
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Post by mvz on May 24, 2021 5:36:35 GMT -5
I liked that they were doing some very intricate work but they never felt like they were cooperating.i did feel like there was a lack of escalation that I look for in my favorite matches. I confess I missed out on some of the subtleties other people pointed out in this thread, so I am sure I am not appreciating everything about this, but it struck me as impressive but not something I loved.
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Post by mrjmml on Jul 14, 2023 6:08:05 GMT -5
[1978-08-11-Los Angeles, CA] Mando Guerrero vs Tatsumi Fujinami
We continue Fujinami’s 1978 with his match against Mando Guerrero in Los Angeles, his style is awesome, the match is for Fujinami’s WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, his opponent is a part of the famous Guerrero family, he is the son of Gori Guerrero, one half of La Pareja Atómica, the other half being El Santo and the brother of Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Sr all of them were great wrestlers who had successful careers of their own, Mando (short for Armando in Mexico) is the challenger for Fujinami’s crown, they had a mat classic, I just hope this is the average quality for a great Fujinami match, this is at least at same level as his previous match against Ryuma Go that I analized yesterday, I can’t believe how good 70’s Fujinami is, his 1978 has been awesome so far, I think Fujinami is the best NJPW I’ve ever seen, even better than Jushin Thunder Liger in the 90’s, he is far ahead of his competition in every match, there’s an aura around him, he looked like the wrestler in the world in 1978, let’s see if he can mantain that momentum throughout the coming years.
The limbwork in this match is outstanding but I still feel like it didn’t pay off at the end, Fujinami does it pretty well but there isn’t any moment when Tatsumi takes advantage of that damage inflicted in Mando’s leg and that’s a missed opportunity. It’s smooth though, the match never feels dragged or slow because of that leg work, it’s an excellent example of what I want out of a junior style match, fast but effective limbwork and at least in that aspect it delivered big time, the match ended with another German Suplex pin combination, I assume that was his finisher.
I strongly recommend everyone to watch this match, maybe it’s slightly worse than the last one but still worth your time.
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Post by elliott on Aug 31, 2023 12:41:19 GMT -5
Terrific technical match. Makes you wish these two went to UWF 1.0.
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