This review was commissioned by Pro Wrestling Outsider over on my Ko-fi account.
There’s a start-stop rhythm to this match that hinders it. A fair amount of that comes built in from the narrative these two are telling. This singles match is a piece of the first NJPW/UWF rivalry, pitting pro wrestling against the burgeoning genre of shoot style. Fujinami’s out here trying to defend New Japan against Maeda, and playing the heel role, Maeda works to stunt Fujinami’s momentum as much as possible. What that translates to is grounding Fujinami constantly, grabbing a limb and clinging on to wear down the spirit of the home team wrestler.
In this instance, I’d argue it works against the match as a whole though. It’s a focused attack for the most part, with Maeda creating an early target on Fujinami’s leg. He does so with some great leg kicks early and then working his way towards leg bars on the ground to potentially get a submission. Whenever the match gets back to a standing position too, Maeda’s wont to kick out the bad knee to take Fujinami back down or even just to open the latter for further attacks like kicks to the body and head.
Those exchanges when these two are on their feet work really well. Maeda’s kicks can be hit or miss but when they land, they feel really great, and Fujinami’s turning in something of a masterful selling performance throughout this whole bout. There’s such expressiveness to that man, registering every blow, struggling through the growing pain in his leg, it’s absolutely wonderful. All the while retaining the essence of that frustration being turned as much towards himself as to his opponent. When I use the term “Fujinami-esque” in other reviews, it’s because of performances like this.
Unfortunately for our man Fujinami, Akira Maeda gives me a lot less to work with here. I greatly unfamiliar with Maeda’s work, but his performance here does little to inspire any active interest. Emotionally speaking, he reads cold, which might work for the shooter persona he’s working with here, but more often than not comes across vacant instead. It doesn’t help that his work itself can read very vacant too. He has none of the speed and intricacy that makes his successors like Tamura or Kohsaka exciting. He doesn’t work holds so much as lay in them, and while Fujinami’s selling makes the most of those long stretches on the mat, Fujinami does little to make the struggle against the holds or attempts to escape all that interesting either.
Maeda really only shines in the back half of this match with greater emphasis on the standing combat. For one, there’s a flash of malice there with him utilizing Fujinami’s own Dragon Suplex against him, rubbing some salt in the wound of the beating Fujinami’s absorbed all match long. Then, there’s that abesigiri Maeda nails that splits Fujinami’s face open delightfully. God, what a great bit of late game blood, it looks awesome on Fujinami’s face, which makes it all the more painful that the match isn’t long to go after that. The finish itself feels like a downer too with Fujinami seemingly intercepting a spinning wheel kick, leading to a double KO. Again, the match’s momentum cut off before it could really get going.
There’s a lot to enjoy here though, primarily from a pretty stunning one-man show in Tatsumi Fujinami’s performance. The crowd in Osaka-Jo Hall are eating pretty much everything up to, especially with their love for Fujinami. They explode for basically every piece of offense our hero gets in, and I can’t say I blame them either. This match ends up just an inch on the right side of great. It’s a one-man show, but what a man that is.
Rating: ***3/4
