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Post by fxnj on Mar 13, 2019 19:01:16 GMT -5
What a war this was. I was surprised to look back on my old 80's NJPW ballot after watching it and found it didn't even make my top 20 as it probably wouldn't have had much difficulties getting in there if I redid it today. As I've said before, if you want to understand shoot-style you shouldn't watch MMA but instead the old Fujinami and Inoki matches that came before it, and this is the perfect match to point to in bridging the gap. Though it's clearly grounded in the pro-style matwork tradition, there's a lot of emphasis put on positioning work and bodypart submissions are respected. Comparing it to the Inoki matches from the time period, this showcases the differences in Fujinami's grappling philosophy as he works a faster pace and tends toward more complex holds than basic headlocks and hammerlocks, yet it still manages to maintain a great sense of struggle to it all. Further, the high risk moves actually are treated as high risk moves in that they seem to end up failing more than they do in succeeding. There's a great moment where Kimura tries to showboat by deadlifting Fujinami to get out of an armbar, but he just ends up falling over and sells it like he sprained his arm. Fujinami plays a Thesz-esque crafty champ, slipping in some cheapshots to try to bait Kimura into making a mistake without heeling it up too much. Kimura keeps up just fine as the intensity ramps up and eventually has Fujinami reeling after he scores this sick gonzo bomb. They do a great double count-out tease and both guys juice before doing a double KO as the finish. The camerawork doesn't make it that clear exactly what busted open either guy, but otherwise felt like a fitting ending that put over Kimura big. ****1/2
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Post by mrjmml on Jul 19, 2023 4:10:28 GMT -5
Talking about escalation, the first few minutes were full of very good technical wrestling, what Fujinami usually brings to the table in his matches but there’s always the sense that this is about to get heated and heated exchanges we had, the entirety of the final stretch is full of big moves that both of them hit to put their opponent down, I felt like the match ending sequence was incredibly ironic, it’s the most fitting finish for something like that, Tatsumi Fujinami was great in this one, he has been great in every match I covered, there are many wrestlers with a high volume of great matches without being the best wrestler in those matches, Fujinami isn’t one of them, Fujinami makes every great match he has had and that’s something to consider in his Greatest Wrestler Ever case, everything I’ve covered from 1978 to 1980 proves it but let’s see how his career turned out, for now, he deserves a spot among the greatest to ever do it.
The match is amazing as a technical match turned brawl, I love how comfortable Fujinami feels in both scenarios, the brawling benefited Kengo Kimura’s style otherwise he wouldn’t have a chance against the wrestling wizard that Fujinami is and he took advantage of the situation making the match as difficult as possible for Tatsumi Fujinami, it’s a star-making performance by Kengo Kimura, he felt like a real threat to his opponent throughout the match, so much so that it ended in a double knockout draw and somehow that ending was inmensely satisfying, it wasn’t a problem for me, if two people go as hard as they did I feel like a double knockout is the only possible ending, the people at ringside had to helped them to get up afterwards.
I’d recommend this match to everyone who liked the previous one, I feel like this match it’s wilder than the last one although less technically sound.
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Post by tetsujin on Jul 19, 2023 5:24:00 GMT -5
I remember watching this some years ago and really liking it, but the quality of the vid was so bad and both guys were wearing black trunks and boots and had the same hairdo and kinda similar height, that (and I know this is very stupid on my parte) I couldn't tell who was who. I'm sorry, the vid was THAT bad. I would love to watch this again with better footage.
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Post by mrjmml on Jul 19, 2023 13:18:30 GMT -5
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Post by elliott on Sept 2, 2023 13:29:17 GMT -5
Another great one from this era of Fujinami's career. Someone should do a Kengo Kimura deep dive. He looks great.
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