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Post by club on Mar 21, 2022 14:55:08 GMT -5
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Genichiro Tenryu (NJPW 04.29.96)
Their famous Tokyo Dome match. I’ve gone back and forth with this over the years. Tenryu killing guys without a flicker of emotion is just about my favourite thing in wrestling. Not sure if this is a great example of this or whether Tenryu's a heartless prick and I just feel bad for Fujinami.
A short, to-the-point demolition. Starts off as you’d expect one of these living legends matches to go down. Then Tenryu explodes Fujinami’s nose. Now you'd think Tenryu would avoid the nose and try to have a competitive match. You'd be wrong. Instead he smells blood, wrecks him.
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Post by lemming on Mar 22, 2022 15:19:24 GMT -5
Second.
Does anyone do 'casual, borderline disinterested violence' better than Tenryu? Fujinami's fired up comebacks are all great, and inevitably end with Tenryu jabbing him in his broken nose.
My favourite bit is possibly the post match where Tenryu appears to cheekily tell the (blood drenched) Fujinami that just FYI he may have a nose bleed.
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Post by club on Mar 23, 2022 4:12:29 GMT -5
My favourite bit is possibly the post match where Tenryu appears to cheekily tell the (blood drenched) Fujinami that just FYI he may have a nose bleed. YES. Also, Tenryu using Tiger Hatori's sleeve to wipe Fujinami's blood off his hands. |
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Post by microstatistics on Apr 4, 2022 0:17:39 GMT -5
Third. My PWO review from 2016. I stand by it; this was almost as good as the Hashimoto vs. Takada main event.
"I had heard Tenryu broke Fujinami's nose in this match but after watching this, it actually looked like he smashed his face in with Fujinami pouring blood everywhere. Tenryu was just the biggest prick here by ruthlessly targeting the nose and doing it so casually. Tremendous heel performance and Fujinami gave great fiery underdog performance."
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Post by makaiclub on Jul 20, 2023 9:17:43 GMT -5
Out of all Tenryu's Tokyo Dome dream matches, this may be my favourite. There isn't a lot of meat on the bones but it's a simple match, made simply by the fact that Fujinami's nose explodes within minutes. Fujinami gets the better of Tenryu and starts launching topes that send Tenryu crashing into the barricade head first but he pushes his luck on the 3rd attempt as Tenryu is able to scout it out and blocks it with what I can only imagine is a wicked punch to the nose (photographer is in the way so we miss the punch but we do see the follow up punches that land right on the mark). This puts Fujinami into an immediate vulnerable position. It's fight or flight time and it's amazing. Tenryu works the nose the only way he can, brutal punches and kicks, while Fujinami desperately attacks Tenryu's leg to get the quick win before Tenryu inevitably punishes him for his earlier mistake. The drama is palpable with Fujinami struggling to see or breath fighting for his life. Fujinami is able to snag a Dragon Sleeper but that was his last chance before being put away with a running lariat to end this classic. ****1/2
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Post by mrjmml on Sept 5, 2023 12:10:04 GMT -5
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Genichiro Tenryu (NJPW - 4/29/1996)
A match as packed as you’ll ever see, Fujinami and Tenryu go back and forth in an absolute classic with iconic images that will last in your brain forever, this match is spectacular in every sense of the word, it’s incredibly violent as well, I personally think it’s the most violent match Fujinami has had so far in his career, considering I’ve covered almost 20 years that’s quite a feat, Fujinami isn’t known for being especially violent but the last five matches of his I covered have been pretty rough, not what I expected going into this, I came here for his technical skill but I won’t complain because violent Fujinami is as good as technical Fujinami and he isn’t young anymore so losing some of his quickness on the mat is perfectly understandable, the change from the late 70’s to 1996 is very impressive he never fails to surprise me and this match is no exception, the WAR vs NJPW feud is over but there’s still some resentment left in both Tatsumi and Tenryu, around this time Tenryu was involved in a feud with the ace of UWF-I Nobuhiko Takada, they had a legendary trilogy in 1996 spanning two promotions (WAR and UWF-I) but I’d say this match is better than any Tenryu vs Takada, Tenryu’s specialty is beating people without showing any emotion whatsoever while Fujinami’s is his facial expressions and they shine even brighter in brawls like this one, this match is famous for an especific moment, Tenryu busted Fujinami’s nose for real in one of their heated exchanges which resulted in Fujinami having a bloodied nose for the rest of the match, absolutely worth watching, a masterpiece, two veterans beating each other up, it can’t get better than this.
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Post by elliott on Sept 15, 2023 15:30:14 GMT -5
A very good match I've never really seen as great. 3rd best match on the show.
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