Team New Japan vs. Team UWF (NJPW - 9/19/86)
Oct 4, 2022 10:30:06 GMT -5
Post by KB8 on Oct 4, 2022 10:30:06 GMT -5
Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Shiro Koshinaka, Kantaro Hoshino & George Takano v Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido (NJPW - 9/19/86)
New Japan King of Sports! Dios mio what a wrestling match. I didn't remember a single thing about this and that is just ridiculous because I thought it was legitimately incredible. It's basically a full sprint version of one of these elimination matches and I guess a bit of a low key one at ~20 minutes. It certainly doesn't get talked about in the same breath as the others. I never watch a match and actively want to play-by-play it if I'm writing it up, but I kind of wanted to play-by-play this entire thing. I mean I won't because nobody can be arsed with that, but I wanted to because something brilliant was happening every four seconds. All of the opening matchups were great. Fujinami/Maeda picked up where they left off in June, Kimura/Kido had an awesome bit of grappling, Fujiwara/Hoshino was an electric 30 seconds, Takada/Koshinaka wrote another chapter in their feud and this was some of their best stuff together, and Yamazaki/Takano rounded it off with a great 'lower-ranked guys proving their worth' exchange. They all went about business with urgency, and like in March it took a quick pin for the first elimination, this time Kido being the victim. I guess the UWF guys were susceptible to a good backslide?
At this point I need to talk about the Fujiwara/Hoshino exchanges, and Fujiwara in a broader sense, because their stuff together was spectacular and Fujiwara was fucking unbelievable in this. Initially it's Takano who gets in with him and Fujinami is on the apron frantically pointing at Hoshino like "no no let the wee madcunt in!" They both lock up and Hoshino immediately punches him in the ear like Hoshino will punch everybody in the ear and Fujiwara goes down like a ton of bricks. Just flat on his back, looking at the lights. It was an amazing moment, one that came off the way it did because Fujiwara is who Fujiwara is. What I've come to appreciate about Fujiwara over the years, from watching the footage of not only him but the wrestlers he trained, watching the promotion he founded, watching the style he had a hand in driving, is that he almost has a Hansen quality to him. He has this end boss aura that makes every contest feel special, every exchange, every hold or strike or move feel important. That sounds verbose and honestly kind of stupid, but I really believe it. Stan Hansen is someone who was perpetual motion, always moving forward and would only give an opponent what the opponent decided to take, if that opponent was even willing to try. Maybe not against a Baba or Inoki or Funk where there was less of a hierarchal gap, but certainly against someone further down the ladder. Like a Kikuchi, hypothetically, a Kantaro Hoshino. It meant a lot of his stuff in the 80s kind of bordered on him smothering opponents, but at the same time that needed to happen for him to build the aura that he emanated, which in turn made those moments where someone managed to hang with him feel huge -- or monumental if they actually beat him. It's not EXACTLY the same because I don't really think of Fujiwara as someone who gobbled folk up, but if nothing else he made you earn absolutely everything and when he goes down like he did here it feels like Hoshino has damn near slain a deity in the mortal realm. Their second exchange has Hoshino come in throwing wild punches and combos to the head and body, followed by Fujiwara charging him out the corner and caving his skull in with a headbutt. It was about fifteen seconds all in and it was phenomenal. And then there's Fujiwara's elimination, which is as perfect a sequence as I've ever seen. First Takano hits him with THE absolute bastard of all unholy bastard tombstones you've ever seen in your entire life, and Fujiwara's selling is off the charts amazing for the next couple minutes. Takano follows it up with a splash that Fujiwara rolls out the way of, but he doesn't get up and can't capitalise. This again is one of those things that you pick up on if you've seen enough Fujiwara, where he's clearly selling the effects of the tombstone by being groggy, basically giving Takano the rub by not mounting any sort of comeback. But you're also watching it thinking Takano better put him away now or Fujiwara will pull something out the bag. I knew the counterstrike was coming and I legit popped for it when it happened, the way he just ripped Takano into this disgusting armbar. Fujinami then comes in and grabs a choke (maybe a call back to the March match?), Fujiwara is going out - defiantly, as he manages a grin and then a scowl - but Fujinami drags him to his feet and Hoshino comes in and torpedoes both himself and Fujiwara through the ropes for the double elimination. In all of these matches there'll be one pairing that stands out above the rest. In this match it was Fujiwara/Hoshino, how they used a fairly short amount of time together to build this great little story, where Hoshino dropped the master early and got emphatically repaid in kind, yet refused to be beaten and wanted the satisfaction of eliminating Fujiwara, even if it meant going down with him, Fujinami more than happy to throw him that bone. But even more than all that it was Fujiwara being god.
I loved the Fujinami/Maeda double elimination as well. They were going wild leading up to it, countering and countering again, the Scorpion deathlock into a Boston crab, Maeda grabbing a full nelson and looking like he's for hitting the dragon suplex. Fujinami must've been expecting it too and made a beeline for the ropes, ducking at the last second, but in forcing Maeda through them his momentum carried him along for the ride, just a fingertip short of grabbing that bottom rope. It was different from the March match. In that one Fujinami willingly sacrificed himself for the team, whereas this time he took a gamble and it didn't fully pay off...though under the circumstances you might still call it a success. The Koshinaka/Takada matchup to take us out was pretty great. I'm not about to go back and re-watch everything they did together but maybe I've been harsh on them as a pairing for over a decade now? I certainly didn't recall Koshinaka destroying guys with hip attacks this early in his career. He was nailing Takada right in the face with these. It was back and forth and I guess it meant they had to forego some of the selling, but it was molten hot and they were killing each other so I can't really complain. Takada about slapping the jaw off Koshinaka before wrapping things up with the swank cradle was a good finish. This wasn't as much of a spectacle as 3/26 and didn't have the star power of Inoki, but I liked this one even more. It just did not stop, yet it never felt rushed. For a balls to the wall sprint it might actually be the GOAT. Just a wonderful match and REALLY the very best wrestling there is.
New Japan King of Sports! Dios mio what a wrestling match. I didn't remember a single thing about this and that is just ridiculous because I thought it was legitimately incredible. It's basically a full sprint version of one of these elimination matches and I guess a bit of a low key one at ~20 minutes. It certainly doesn't get talked about in the same breath as the others. I never watch a match and actively want to play-by-play it if I'm writing it up, but I kind of wanted to play-by-play this entire thing. I mean I won't because nobody can be arsed with that, but I wanted to because something brilliant was happening every four seconds. All of the opening matchups were great. Fujinami/Maeda picked up where they left off in June, Kimura/Kido had an awesome bit of grappling, Fujiwara/Hoshino was an electric 30 seconds, Takada/Koshinaka wrote another chapter in their feud and this was some of their best stuff together, and Yamazaki/Takano rounded it off with a great 'lower-ranked guys proving their worth' exchange. They all went about business with urgency, and like in March it took a quick pin for the first elimination, this time Kido being the victim. I guess the UWF guys were susceptible to a good backslide?
At this point I need to talk about the Fujiwara/Hoshino exchanges, and Fujiwara in a broader sense, because their stuff together was spectacular and Fujiwara was fucking unbelievable in this. Initially it's Takano who gets in with him and Fujinami is on the apron frantically pointing at Hoshino like "no no let the wee madcunt in!" They both lock up and Hoshino immediately punches him in the ear like Hoshino will punch everybody in the ear and Fujiwara goes down like a ton of bricks. Just flat on his back, looking at the lights. It was an amazing moment, one that came off the way it did because Fujiwara is who Fujiwara is. What I've come to appreciate about Fujiwara over the years, from watching the footage of not only him but the wrestlers he trained, watching the promotion he founded, watching the style he had a hand in driving, is that he almost has a Hansen quality to him. He has this end boss aura that makes every contest feel special, every exchange, every hold or strike or move feel important. That sounds verbose and honestly kind of stupid, but I really believe it. Stan Hansen is someone who was perpetual motion, always moving forward and would only give an opponent what the opponent decided to take, if that opponent was even willing to try. Maybe not against a Baba or Inoki or Funk where there was less of a hierarchal gap, but certainly against someone further down the ladder. Like a Kikuchi, hypothetically, a Kantaro Hoshino. It meant a lot of his stuff in the 80s kind of bordered on him smothering opponents, but at the same time that needed to happen for him to build the aura that he emanated, which in turn made those moments where someone managed to hang with him feel huge -- or monumental if they actually beat him. It's not EXACTLY the same because I don't really think of Fujiwara as someone who gobbled folk up, but if nothing else he made you earn absolutely everything and when he goes down like he did here it feels like Hoshino has damn near slain a deity in the mortal realm. Their second exchange has Hoshino come in throwing wild punches and combos to the head and body, followed by Fujiwara charging him out the corner and caving his skull in with a headbutt. It was about fifteen seconds all in and it was phenomenal. And then there's Fujiwara's elimination, which is as perfect a sequence as I've ever seen. First Takano hits him with THE absolute bastard of all unholy bastard tombstones you've ever seen in your entire life, and Fujiwara's selling is off the charts amazing for the next couple minutes. Takano follows it up with a splash that Fujiwara rolls out the way of, but he doesn't get up and can't capitalise. This again is one of those things that you pick up on if you've seen enough Fujiwara, where he's clearly selling the effects of the tombstone by being groggy, basically giving Takano the rub by not mounting any sort of comeback. But you're also watching it thinking Takano better put him away now or Fujiwara will pull something out the bag. I knew the counterstrike was coming and I legit popped for it when it happened, the way he just ripped Takano into this disgusting armbar. Fujinami then comes in and grabs a choke (maybe a call back to the March match?), Fujiwara is going out - defiantly, as he manages a grin and then a scowl - but Fujinami drags him to his feet and Hoshino comes in and torpedoes both himself and Fujiwara through the ropes for the double elimination. In all of these matches there'll be one pairing that stands out above the rest. In this match it was Fujiwara/Hoshino, how they used a fairly short amount of time together to build this great little story, where Hoshino dropped the master early and got emphatically repaid in kind, yet refused to be beaten and wanted the satisfaction of eliminating Fujiwara, even if it meant going down with him, Fujinami more than happy to throw him that bone. But even more than all that it was Fujiwara being god.
I loved the Fujinami/Maeda double elimination as well. They were going wild leading up to it, countering and countering again, the Scorpion deathlock into a Boston crab, Maeda grabbing a full nelson and looking like he's for hitting the dragon suplex. Fujinami must've been expecting it too and made a beeline for the ropes, ducking at the last second, but in forcing Maeda through them his momentum carried him along for the ride, just a fingertip short of grabbing that bottom rope. It was different from the March match. In that one Fujinami willingly sacrificed himself for the team, whereas this time he took a gamble and it didn't fully pay off...though under the circumstances you might still call it a success. The Koshinaka/Takada matchup to take us out was pretty great. I'm not about to go back and re-watch everything they did together but maybe I've been harsh on them as a pairing for over a decade now? I certainly didn't recall Koshinaka destroying guys with hip attacks this early in his career. He was nailing Takada right in the face with these. It was back and forth and I guess it meant they had to forego some of the selling, but it was molten hot and they were killing each other so I can't really complain. Takada about slapping the jaw off Koshinaka before wrapping things up with the swank cradle was a good finish. This wasn't as much of a spectacle as 3/26 and didn't have the star power of Inoki, but I liked this one even more. It just did not stop, yet it never felt rushed. For a balls to the wall sprint it might actually be the GOAT. Just a wonderful match and REALLY the very best wrestling there is.
