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Post by elliott on Jul 29, 2019 1:19:03 GMT -5
Maybe of the Japanese pro-stle wrestler of the 80s. Another "do it all" wrestler who excelled in any situation against any opponent and could seemingly do anything in the ring. Great mat worker, one of the great athletes of his time period, great offense, great selling, incredibly underrated bleeder, etc.
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Post by microstatistics on Aug 6, 2019 16:15:59 GMT -5
His post-1989 drop-off is way overblown. In fact I think he could be a Top 100 contender just based on his post-prime. Throw in his 11 year peak and his versatility and you have an all time great.
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Post by bossrock on Aug 6, 2019 17:54:47 GMT -5
There are a few 90's Fujinami matches I really like. The Hashimoto series is really good and I love the Tenryu nose-break match.
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Post by elliott on Aug 6, 2019 18:42:20 GMT -5
His post-1989 drop-off is way overblown. In fact I think he could be a Top 100 contender just based on his post-prime. Throw in his 11 year peak and his versatility and you have an all time great. Make the case for this. I need words. Lots of words.  |
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Post by microstatistics on Aug 6, 2019 19:49:28 GMT -5
vs Flair WCW 5/19/1991
vs. Muta NJPW 9/23/1991
vs Vader Bremen 12/21/1991
Multiple tags vs. Tenryu and co NJPW/WAR 1992/1993
vs. Tenryu NJPW 4/29/1996
vs. Hashimoto NJPW 6/5/1998 and 10/9/2000
vs. Nishimura MUGA 9/25/2006
Miscellaneous tags across the 90s in NJPW
Not bad for a guy who was supposedly finished after 1989.
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Post by elliott on Aug 6, 2019 21:05:05 GMT -5
Sure its not bad but its really not a strong top 100 case on its own.
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Post by microstatistics on Aug 6, 2019 21:27:01 GMT -5
I don't know, that seems enough for a 75-100 ranking. A bunch of great matches against a variety of people and one all time classic (vs. Nishimura).There is some other stuff too that I'm probably missing.
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Post by elliott on Aug 7, 2019 3:15:27 GMT -5
I think he'd really struggle to make a top 100 of just post 1990 wrestlers. Just being conservative and leaving off a ton of people who would probably be no-brainers for other people (thinking of a bunch of indy and post 2000 japanese folks)...
1. Aj Styles
2. Aja Kong
3. Akira Hokuto
4. Akira Taue
5. Alexander Otsuka
6. Arn Anderson
7. Atlantis
8. Atsushi Onita
9. Bestia Salvaje
10. Black Terry
11. Blue Panther
12. Bret Hart
13. Brian Pillman
14. Bull Nakano
15. Carl Greco
16. Cesaro
17. Chris Hero
18. Christian
19. CIMA
20. CM Punk
21. Daisuke Ikeda
22. Daniel Bryan
23. Dean Malenko
24. Devil Masami
25. Dick Togo
26. Dr Wagner Jr
27. Dustin Rhodes
28. Dynamite Kansai
29. Eddie Guerrero
30. El Dandy
31. El Hijo del Santo
32. El Mesias
33. El Samurai
34. El Satanico
35. Emilio Charles Jr
36. Felino
37. Finlay
38. Fuerza Guerrera
39. Genichiro Tenryu
40. Gran Hamada
41. Great Sasuke
42. Haku/Meng
43. Hiroshi Hase
44. Homicide
45. Ian Rotten
46. Ikuto Hidaka
47. Jaguar Yokota
48. Jeff Hardy
49. John Cena
50. Jun Akiyama
51. Jushin Liger
52. Juventud Guerrera
53. Kazuchika Okada
54. Kazunari Murakami
55. Kazuo Yamazaki
56. Keiji Muto
57. Kenny Omega
58. Kensuke Sasaki
59. Kenta Kobashi
60. Kiyoshi Tamura
61. Koji Kanemoto
62. Hiroshi Tanahashi
63. Kyoko Inoue
64. LA Park
65. Lizmark
66. Low Ki
67. Manami Toyota
68. Mariko Yoshida
69. Mark Henry
70. Marty Jannetty
71. Masato Tanaka
72. Mascarita Dorada
73. Matt Hardy
74. Mayumi Ozaki
75. Megumi Kudo
76. Meiko Satomura
77. Mick Foley
78. Mima Shimoda
79. Mitsuharu Misawa
80. Naoki Sano
81. Necro Butcher
82. Negro Casas
83. Negro Navarro
84. Owen Hart
85. Perro Aguayo
86. Perro Aguayo Jr
87. Pimpinela Escarlata
88. Pirata Morgan
89. Psicosis
90. Rey Jr
91.Ric Flair
92. Ricky Steamboat
93. Riki Choshu
94. Rush
95. Sabu
96. Samoa Joe
97. Sasha Banks
98. Scott Steiner
99. Sean Waltman
100. Shawn Michaels
101. Shinjiro Ohtani
102. Shinobu Kandori
103. Shinsuke Nakamura
104. Shinya Hashimoto
105. Silver King
106. Solar
107. Stan Hansen
108. Steve Austin
109. Steve Corino
110. Super Dragon
111. Taka Michinoku
112. Tarzan Goto
113. The Rock
114. Undertaker
115. Too Cold Scorpio
116. Toshiaki Kawada
117. Toshiyo Yamada
118. Trauma I
119. Trauma II
120. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
121. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
122. Ultimo Guerrero
123. Vader
124. Villano III
125. Villano IV
126. Virus
127. Volk Han
128. William Regal
129. Yoji Anjoh
130. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
131. Yosihiro Tajiri
132. Yoshihiro Takayama
133. Yoshihisa Yamamoto
134. Yoshinari Ogawa
135. Yuji Nagata
136. Yuki Ishikawa
137. Yumiko Hotta
This is giving Fujinami every benefit of the doubt possible. I think Terry Funk & Lawler were clearly better post 90 but I left them off. If I thought they were pretty lateral post 1990, I erred on the side of giving it to Fujinami. So folks like Scott Norton, Jericho, Savage, Sting & Jeff Jarrett who are probably actually better post 90 than Fujinami to one degree or another, ended up being left off.
I love the guy and he's not terrible post 1990 by any means. "Good-Very Good" is perfectly acceptable. He had some great matches and it'd probably be fair to say lots of good matches post 1990. But he didn't adapt as well as some of his peers to changing times. Its notable that his best match of the last 30 years was against a guy known for working a throwback style.
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Post by fxnj on Aug 9, 2019 22:50:41 GMT -5
Haven’t seen the 2000 Hash match, but I’d say the 4/94 and 6/98 Hash matches have Fujinami performances that are better than the best from a fair amount of guys on that list (really, Haku?). I’d like to draw attention to those matches in particular as they surprised me for how much they went against the narrative that he was too injured or couldn’t adapt well enough that I’d always heard. It’s him working 90s NJ heavyweight against the top guy in that style and he’s awesome in the role of the tricky older technician, balancing vulnerability with craftiness.
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Post by elliott on Aug 10, 2019 2:48:23 GMT -5
Really, Haku. He was really good post 1990, although he's definitely one of the weaker names on the list. Fujinami's top 2 or 3 matches were almost certainly better but Haku/Meng was consistently fun and the 96/97 Faces of Fear run was awesome.
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Post by bossrock on Mar 31, 2020 17:35:33 GMT -5
Looking for some Fujinami recs.
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Post by elliott on Mar 31, 2020 18:52:34 GMT -5
Monster
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Post by elliott on Mar 31, 2020 19:06:30 GMT -5
Here's a quick 10 or so to get you started: vs Ryuma Go 7/27/78, 2/10/79 vs Steve Keirn 2/1/80 vs Dynamite Kid 2/5/80 vs Kengo Kimura 9/25/80 vs Dick Murdoch 7/6/82 vs Riki Choshu 4/3/83, 4/21/83, 7/7/83, 8/4/83, 9/21/83, 5/27/88, 6/24/88 vs Akira Maeda 6/12/86 vs Kengo Kimura 1/2/87 vs Antonio Inoki 8/8/88 vs Vader 4/24/89 vs Genichiro Tenryu 4/29/96 vs Shinya Hashimoto 6/5/98 vs Osamu Nishimura 9/25/06 He's a key player in all of the big 10 man gauntlet's and elimination matches in the 80s. I recommend you watch all of those. But the one with the best specific Fujinami performance is: Fujinami & Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi 9/17/87
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Post by bossrock on Mar 31, 2020 19:33:30 GMT -5
Here's a quick 10 or so to get you started: vs Ryuma Go 7/27/78, 2/10/79 vs Steve Keirn 2/1/80 vs Dynamite Kid 2/5/80 vs Kengo Kimura 9/25/80 vs Dick Murdoch 7/6/82 vs Riki Choshu 4/3/83, 4/21/83, 7/7/83, 8/4/83, 9/21/83, 5/27/88, 6/24/88 vs Akira Maeda 6/12/86 vs Kengo Kimura 1/2/87 vs Antonio Inoki 8/8/88 vs Vader 4/24/89 vs Genichiro Tenryu 4/29/96 vs Shinya Hashimoto 6/5/98 vs Osamu Nishimura 9/25/06 He's a key player in all of the big 10 man gauntlet's and elimination matches in the 80s. I recommend you watch all of those. But the one with the best specific Fujinami performance is: Fujinami & Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi 9/17/87 My man. |
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Post by bossrock on Mar 31, 2020 21:05:11 GMT -5
Do you know where I can find 9/17/87? All the other elimination tags/gauntlet are on NJPW World or the Ditch but this is the only one I can't find.
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