Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go (NJPW, 10/2/79)

This match combines the best of their previous encounters from 1978, incorporating the suave matwork, the fiery strikes, cool paybacks and callbacks, and a little extra somethin’ somethin’ from Ryuma Go. Fujinami heats up Go with a slap right out of the gate and Go’s beside himself, tossing Fujinami out of the ring. There’s a great sequence with Go grounding Fujinami with a vicious-looking cravate takedown and Fujinami bridging out to snapmare Go. Once again, Go tries slapping his way out of a leglock but only succeeds in pissing off Fujinami, a recurring theme, in which Fujinami lays into him with hard slaps and kicks. In general, Fujinami treats Go like he’s beneath him, at one point shoving him out of the ring while he’s running the ropes. Awesome strikes throughout, especially those headbutts from Go. After Go cuts Fujinami up top, dropkicking him out of the ring, he goes high-risk with a diving body press – only to be followed up shortly after by a plancha from Fujinami. Terrific false finish off of the German suplex, with Fujinami just barely getting a foot on the rope, before Go gets the upset victory with the backslide.