Friday, April 21, 2017

Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 9/1/87)

This is a good companion piece to the May tag match, with the same intensity and hot exchanges. From Fujiwara and Maeda working holds to Yamazaki and Takada trading stiff kicks, this match has all the components of a raucous shoot-style bout. I loved Fujiwara in this -- his ability to take a beating from the opposition is one of his hallmarks but he does his fair share of dishing out the revenge slaps and headbutts. I thought Maeda looked really good here, especially in his interactions with Yamazaki, whether its catching a kick and dropping down into a leglock, snapping off a belly-to-belly suplex or sweeping the leg in a beautiful counter. At one point, he hits what looks like a capture buster! In the final minutes of the match, Takada is blasting Yamazaki with some nasty kicks, landing a few to the head and face, but when he tries for a big rolling solebutt and can't hit all of it, Yamazaki scores the pinfall with a quick German suplex hold. If you liked the May match, you'll probably like this match -- in fact, I think I enjoyed this a bit more.

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