Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (NJPW 8/29/1987)

Easy second.

Fucking hell what a match. Is this the best Fujiwara v Maeda bout? It's been ten years since I've watched any of them but if there's a better one then I need to check it out again, because I thought this was a masterpiece. I mean I've watched a handful of amazing Yoshiaki Fujiwara performances the last few days and this might be the best of the lot. I thought he was absolutely phenomenal in this. People much smarter and far earlier to the party than me have written many words about how Fujiwara is one of the best defensive wrestlers ever. They've written many words about how he's someone who conveys actual strategy in wrestling better than maybe anyone else. Words upon words about his matwork and skill as a grappler. Countless paragraphs about his selling. Just a whole bunch of stuff typed up and flung onto the internet singing his praises (you'll find plenty on this here nonsense of a blog as well). All of that is present in this bout, and all of it to a stupidly high level. It started with him weaving in and out, lots of energy without overextending. He throws a little kick to Maeda's knee - specifically the knee; it wasn't just a leg kick - and goes for a kneebar, but generally speaking he's happy to keep most of this on the feet. We even get a glimpse of his striking early as he reels off a quick combo of body punches and a slap, then he immediately backs up as Maeda stalks him down. And that kind of sets the tone for much of this. Fujiwara isn't as prolific a striker as Maeda, but these were some of the best strikes I've ever seen him throw and by christ he was laying them in. There were punches to the body, slaps to the face, punches right to the temple, full blown Tenryu punts to the head, those nasty kicks to the knee, it was as vicious as I'd ever seen him and that was even before the headbutts (just wait). You question how viable a strategy that might be because Maeda will inevitably catch him with a howitzer, and yet the whole time he's doing this he's grinning and throwing goofy feints and very clearly reeling Maeda in. You can put it down to him being a carny and you might be onto something, but if you've seen one Fujiwara match where he's setting traps then you've seen a dozen and this was classic Fujiwara. It really had the feel of a red hot young sports team coming up against a group of veterans, where the latter have seen it all before and know how to use their experience to manipulate an outcome. You can see it unfolding and you KNOW it's happening, but the young guys either can't and stick to what had been working up until now, or they can and are powerless to actually do anything about it.

Fujiwara's selling is amazing from beginning to end. Maeda obviously gets his licks in and there are several moments where Fujiwara will sell them brilliantly. Moments where you can find yourself getting super pretentious trying to write about them because it's like, this is pro wrestling not fucking Broadway but I don't know man, they don't teach this at your Royal Academy of Drama or whatever. The very first shot Maeda lands, Fujiwara stumbles in the corner and half slumps to the mat, and as Maeda throws another shot Fujiwara catches it, grabs hold and almost curls around the foot for a few seconds just to recover. There are shots that partially land and Fujiwara laughs them off, still goading Maeda, then there are shots that land more than partially, that clearly sting, and he laughs at those ones BECAUSE they sting. There's a bit later where Fujiwara's been downed for an 8-count and is visibly rocked, and as Maeda presses ahead Fujiwara backs into the corner for some respite, hanging through the ropes while Maeda throws knees to the body. The first chance Fujiwara gets he grabs Maeda and switches their position, then he pins Maeda in the corner and throws some shots to the body and head, but between those flurries you get the sense his goal is more to keep the fight in the corner for a minute just so he can recuperate. It was such a cool bit of defence from the best defensive wrestler ever. He's also the best headbutting bastard ever and this might be the GOAT Fujiwara headbutt spot. He actually hadn't thrown any in the match before the last couple minutes, and it wasn't even him who started it. Maeda's frustration had boiled over, because it was always going to, and as he backed Fujiwara into another corner it was him who threw that first headbutt. Fujiwara took it and covered up, absorbing a few body shots, then when Maeda paused Fujiwara just smashed him in the jaw with one of the grossest headbutts ever. This was a genuine headbutt to the face, not one of those bowling ball headbutts that makes you wince when you hear one head clonk off another. I mean both types are hellish but I think the surprise factor of this was what made it truly vile.

The finish is pretty much perfect. Fujiwara had been throwing those little kicks to Maeda's knee all match. They all bent the knee at awkward angles and he was clearly using them to try and set up something else, but Maeda was always onto it and nothing materialised. Maeda throws a kick to the body and Fujiwara buckles over like he's been shot, so Maeda throws another, because why wouldn't you? And the old bastard knew it was coming because he caught that kick, booted Maeda's planted leg twisting it at a disgusting angle (I'm talking snapped MCL angle), and followed up with the kneebar. Just a wonderful finish to a wonderful match, with a wonderful Fujiwara performance. And maybe the best shoot style match to ever happen outside of an actual shoot style promotion.

I'll have this ridiculously high.

I liked this match and it clearly had some great moments, but it didn't connect with me as much. I think the match lacked urgency, there's too many resets throughout it when they just went back to a neutral position and basically restarted the fight, with no signs of progression. This surprised me coming from Fujiwara, because he's usually a master of body language to help you see how he's becoming weaker or tired. I knew the finish could come at any moment because this is shoot style, but still. Fujiwara's subtle strategy towards Maeda's knee was very well executed, that's true. A good match, but not something I would highlight as recommended from neither guy.