Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (NJPW - 2/6/1986)

19860206 Inoki vs. Fujiwara

For a guy that rubes like to characterize as a HHH-type figure who held down talent and often refused to sell, Inoki sure does put on an incredible performance here getting over Fujiwara and making him look worthy of main eventing NJPW against the ace. I had watched an absolutely breathtaking grappling shootfight before this (Garry Tonon vs Rousimar Palharas, FYI. If you haven't seen it, absolutely go check it out as the work is easily up there with the best RINGS stuff) and, though the technique on display in this could not hope to live up to that, it's still a fantastic pro wrestling match because of all the dramatic flourishes worked in. The thing that really struck me about the match when watching it after the shoot-fight is how slow paced it is and lacking in what we'd call "slick" matwork. So much of the match is told simply through facials and body language. In fact, in terms of "big match feel" type spectacles, this might be my favorite. The crowd treats this like a huge match in the ring intros, and early going is defined by a tentativeness to engage that really gets over the seriousness of that match. Fujiwara had already built a rep for himself in UWF as the greatest counter-wrestler out there, and he brought that into NJPW when he was booked to beat Maeda by flash armbar in their excellent January match. Inoki acknowledges all that with how careful he is in picking his spots. Fujiwara, as is to be expected, delivers with hanging on the mat and even seems to get the better of Inoki in a lot of exchanges. An early highlight is Inoki going for a standing wristlock that gets fought off and Fujiwara, not to be outdone, being sure to get in his own attempt on a rope break. What really defines this match, though, is how they work the leglocks. Specifically, after the first leg lock ends in a stalemate, Inoki can't help but shit talk Fujiwara the next time Fujiwara grabs the hold. As best as I could interpret, the idea seemed to be that Inoki was mocking Fujiwara and wanted to show how easily he could reverse the hold. I remember some people on the DVDVR set disliking it as they saw it as Inoki burying Fujiwara. What those people seemed to miss, though, is that after Inoki would try to reverse it that Fujiwara would just wrench in harder and end up getting the better of the exchange. If that isn't a put over job then I don't know what is. The dynamic that seems to develop is that not only is Fujiwara going hold-for-hold with the ace but actually surpassing him. Thus, moments like Inoki trying to blitz Fujiwara with strikes that might seem like fun little moments in other matches end up coming across like a huge deal here as Inoki finding his opening for his best shot at winning the match and indirectly admitting Fujiwara's mat superiority. I should also mention Fujiwara also gets Inoki in an armbar that's probably that most brutal hold of the match. Fujiwara spends some time just wrenching on it and I couldn't help but wince as it looked like it might have been doing some real damage to Inoki's elbow tendons. Inoki is sure to sell it for the rest of the match, and I wondered how much of it was legit. Inoki busting out the headbutts later on is an incredible moment as well. What struck me even more, though, is how smart Fujiwara was in handling it. Rather than doing the obvious and immediately trying to get revenge on Inoki for stealing his signature move, he bides his time and waits until later on to get his payback. Then, when Fujiwara does end up doing his headbutts when an accidental low blow pisses him off, Inoki ends up having them scouted and counters one of them with a hard as fuck elbow. Pro wrestling rules. The low blow shenanigans are what they are. I think I might have liked the match a tad more if they got the chance to work a real stretch run, but I acknowledge that the low blow and the post-match brawling was an awesome spectacle in itself on top the epic big match that they had built as a base. Just an incredible spectacle and one of my favorites from either guy. ****5/8

Read more: gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/686/watching-project?page=4#ixzz5if8WXezd