Masanobu Fuchi vs. El Samurai (NJPW, 6/6/01)

More often than not, Masanobu Fuchi rules. El Samurai has the capacity to rule but in general, he rules less so. He did not necessarily rule here against Fuchi, although the match itself was a lot of fun. Primarily because of Fuchi. This thing starts off with Fuchi hitting a backdrop and Samurai flying around before it settles into some classic Fuchi matwork. Loved him scooting across the mat with Samurai stuck in the headscissors and of course, the wishbone leg split. Samurai rubbing forearms while he's got Fuchi in the clutch is a old-school heel shenanigans, which I enjoy, but then Fuchi shuts him down with backdrop after backdrop after backdrop after backdrop after backdrop after backdrop after backdrop. That's seven, right? Samurai was toast after that. 

Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka (NJPW, 12/14/00)

Easily, one of the best tag matches of 2000. It hits a lot of highs, never any lows, although there's a decent little plateau (mesa) in there at parts. Everyone had a role to play: Iizuka the tough underdog with a thing for sleepers, your asshole Uncle Fuchi, proud dad Nagata, and the man, Toshiaki Kawada. I really loved his messy mat scramble with Nagata to open their exchange before they start throwing each other at themselves with boots and elbows. Iizuka's on the rocks for much of the match, as Fuchi starts breaking him down at the knees, catching a wave in the corner on his Iizuka surfboard. Kawada picks up where he left off with the stomping single leg crab and when he's got Iizuka in the bow-and-arrow, Fuchi pops in to stand on Iizuka's throat like a shithead. 

Iizuka gets bullied inside the ring, Nagata's bullied outside -- and some of his facials are incredible. At one point, it looks like he takes a little cat nap on the ring apron. Iizuka's trying to fight back but can't overwhelm the AJPW team, and when he finally gets a break, he tries to grab the sleeper again on Fuchi. But he tags in Nagata, and Nagata and Kawada go at it. On a whole, I think their exchanges could've used an extra dab of Cholula, but whatever, it was fun. Loved all the enziguris and Kawada's selling before Nagata hits the German suplex hold. They each lock in their submissions, and each submission is broken up by their wounded partners. Really good selling from both Fuchi and Iizuka there at the end. There's stereo submissions from both teams, a dope dropkick to the knee by a stumbling Fuchi, and, and a final kick and face slap exchange between Nagata and Kawada to heat it up just before it cools down on the time limit draw. Draws are hard to pull off, especially tag draws, and I think this had it right for the most part. 

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 7/1/00)

One thing I love about pro-wrestling is a good, hard-hitting, extended squash match, and Toshiaki Kawada knows how to squash his way into my heart. After a stalemate opening, Fuchi slaps Kawada in the face to let him know that he’s the vet and Kawada starts hacking at Fuchi’s leg with kicks…you know, because Fuchi doesn’t wear kneepads so it’s an easy target. Hamstring kicks, face kicks, nasty stomps to the head, slaps, extended wristlock sequences – Kawada gives you a bit of everything. Fuchi finally catches a kick, dropkicks Kawada’s opposite knee, which is such a great counter, then proceeds to step right on his fucking face. When Kawada is peppering Fuchi with those shitty little face kicks, Fuchi stands up like “what!”, and Kawada slaps him and puts him back down for more shitty face kicks. Awesome moment. Fuchi heats up toward the end, delivering three consecutive backdrops to Kawada but that’s about the only whiff of victory he gets. Kawada runs through some of his offense, trying to set-up the powerbomb and after a big high kick and an enziguri, he’s able to put Fuchi down with the folding powerbomb. My kind of match.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 7/18/91)

I heart both of these guys and I heart this match like I heart a good cup of coffee in the morning. A little sugar from Fuchi on the mat, a little cream behind Kawada’s kicks. Unfortunately, this is clipped but when it picks up, Fuchi’s going after Kawada’s left leg with the old man stomps. He lays into a leglock, transitions into an STF, and then just starts cranking on the leg. When Kawada gets pissy, it’s one of the better things in life, with his baby headbutts and punting Fuchi out of the ring. Even when he’s lying on the ground, he’ll still try to take out Fuchi with a low kick. But Fuchi takes advantage of a prone Kawada with a nasty looking stomp. He avoids the powerbomb, backdrops Kawada, then slides into a facelock, forcing Kawada to take a breather out of the ring but goes right back to it when Kawada re-enters. Kawada finally clobbers Fuchi and uses his own facelock, which produced this fantastic visual of Fuchi scrambling to get out of it until Kawada applies the body scissors and submits him. Really fun stuff.

Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 4/20/91)

This match rules -- easily my favorite six-man tag in All Japan up until this point. Kenta Kobashi’s babyface stellar babyface in peril performance, the Taue/Kawada hate still bleeding into this match, Fuchi being a dick, and of course, the rivalry between Jumbo and Misawa continuing to unfold. Taue himself is quite the dick early on as he keeps harasses Kawada on the apron until Kawada finally kicks the shit out of him while Taue’s laid back in a cross armbreaker. Violence ensues, with Kawada pummeling Taue into the canvas with his little shitty headbutts. Jumbo and crew are such good heels here, especially Jumbo, who goes from playing to the crowd to either piledriving Kawada on the floor or just stepping on his face. Fuchi’s the dirty daddy crass technician, immediately working Kawada’s neck with the headscissors after he and Taue double teamed him with a second piledriver on the floor. Kawada’s finally able to get some revenge on Jumbo with his face kicks – I love that when Jumbo tries to hulk up, Kawada puts him right back down and continues pelting him with those shitty face kicks.

The young guns control for a while, isolating Taue, with Misawa launching Kobashi with a top rope plancha onto Taue outside the ring. Fuchi spoils the fun by getting the tag and immediately starts destroying Kobashi’s knee with great stomps and a knee crusher onto a chair. Terrific selling from Kobashi as he desperately tries to fight back but his knee is fucked and Fuchi takes advantage of it, using an STF and then just rolling back and cranking on the leg. Loved the look of intensity on Jumbo’s face as he’s wrenching on the single leg crab. They milk the teased tag outs by Kobashi with the crowd wanting nothing more than Kobashi to get the hell out of there but Jumbo and crew are absolute bullies, especially Fuchi, who ties Kobashi’s knee in the ropes and cheapshots him with punches. Kawada at one point enters the ring and kicks Jumbo, trying to help Kobashi out, but it ain’t happening. Kobashi FINALLY tags in Kawada, and while he and Misawa go at it with Fuchi, Fuchi’s such a badass that he fights off both and puts Misawa on the rocks against Jumbo. The final fews minutes of the match are incredible, with terrific nearfalls, a super hot crowd, and a hell of a pin break up by Kawada after the chokeslam from Taue. Once the ring has been cleared, Misawa’s up and he’s able to pick up the win with the tiger suplex hold. Fantastic!

Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 10/19/90)

Masanobu Fuchi is such a surly fucker in this, between his chair jab and dirty, nose-busting stomps to the face. Of course, the bloodied Kenta Kobashi plays a terrific face in peril but the underlying narrative of the match is that the young lads can't quite catch a break. Sure, they get a little revenge here and there, like Kawada suplexing Taue on the floor and Kobashi's moonsault press and German suplex hold to Fuchi. But even when Kawada gets that hot tag after Kobashi's beatdown, he unloads on Taue only to get shut down soon thereafter. The crowd turns molten when Misawa gets the tag and starts elbowing Jumbo in the corner, taking the fight to the outside but getting taken out by an awkward Taue plancha. Daddy Jumbo eventually gets the kids reined and I love that final interaction with Misawa, stopping Misawa's attempt to save Kobashi from the powerbomb with an elbow to the face. Kobashi tries one last comeback effort but the thorn in his side, Fuchi, cuts him off up top, allowing Jumbo to the super backdrop and a regular one to put Kobashi away. As always, this is the good stuff.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 8/18/90)

What I love about these six-mans (and most AJPW six-mans in generals) is that everyone has a role to play, and for the most part, they play it so well. Here, we've got Misawa as the crowd-favorite, Kawada as the baby-faced aggressor pissing off Jumbo, and Kikuchi taking a hell of a beating but not staying down. On the other side, Taue is the gangling bruiser, coming in off a tag and immediately lariating the shit out of Kikuchi. Fuchi is his usual grumpster self but I thought Jumbo was really awesome here, really taking a lot from the youngsters but also dishing it out in stiff fashion. Kawada isn't scared to go hard in the paint against Jumbo but he pays for it. Jumbo busts Kikuchi open with an elbow late in the match and this after nearly beheading him with a lariat but I loved Kikuchi toward the end, desperately clubbing away at Jumbo to save Misawa and his final exchange with Taue where he managed a few hot nearfalls before taking the fall. Really fun match with lots of fire throughout. 

Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & Great Kabuki vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 5/26/90)

And so it begins...again. The "Golden Age of AJPW" and my introduction to Japanese 'pure wrestle' 15+ years ago.  I watched WWF as a kid in the early 90', rooting for Tatanka with my dad and Max Moon because he looked like Mega Man. At the very same time, unbeknownst to 8-year old me, Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, and Taue were shaking the pillars of heaven over in Japan. I stopped watching WWF when Tatanka joined the Million Dollar Corporation and grew out of wrestling. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college that I found myself watching a handful of borrowed DVD-R's. Over the course of "Best of Japan" volumes one through four, I re-discovered my love of pro-wrestling and discovered a newfound appreciation for the beauty and chaos in it .

A lot of this stuff, I haven't revisited since college, and some of it, including this match, I've yet to witness. As expected, this was a total blast, with everyone playing their respective roles so well. On team Jumbo, you had the cantankerous Captain Tsuruta himself, Grampa Fuchi destroying limbs, and crazy Uncle Kabuki doing...uh, a little bit of everything. On the other side, the young gate-rattlers: the babyface fire of young Kobashi, the "too cool for school" 'tude of middle child Misawa, and the gangly big brother power of Taue. When Kobashi comes in, he's red-hot, blasting Fuchi with a beautiful top rope dropkick and getting antsy Jumbo. Jumbo lays him out with the jumping knee and takes out all the kids on the apron, pissing off middle child Misawa, who wants in there so bad and when he does, he gets lariated the fuck down. The stern dad vs. disrespectful teen dynamic between Misawa and Jumbo was terrific, and even when they were quarreling somewhere the ring, I liked that the other guys were still trying to wrestle the match.

Kobashi's arm gets bullied for awhile, with Fuchi being especially relentless and awesome, targeting arms and legs both, wrecking Kenta's knee on the timekeeper's table. Love Jumbo waving off Kobashi's dropkick to pummel him with knees and boots. Misawa and Taue take over after teaming up on Tsuruta with a double dropkick. Misawa gets to show off his Tiger Mask offense with Taue knocking bodies around. Kobashi gets a little revenge on gramps the end, picking up a great nearfall off a German suplex hold on Fuchi. When Misawa tries to finish Fuchi off with the Tiger Driver, Jumbo creams him with a lariat. But, alas, youth prevails and Misawa's able to pin Fuchi with the tiger suplex hold. A great start to what is perhaps the greatest decade in Japanese pro-wrestling.

But the 1980's were pretty great.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 4/6/92)

A fun little build to the backdrop but nothing too exciting in the only singles match between these two legends. A slower start, with Jumbo cheap shotting Fuchi against the ropes. Fuchi gives Jumbo a taste of his own medicine with some low kicks to the knees, smartly retreating before Jumbo can retaliate. Fuchi continues to counter Jumbo's backdrop attempts with submissions, working him on the mat. I like when Fuchi keeps grabbing Jumbo's arm to prevent him from using a rope break. For awhile, Jumbo wears down Fuchi with abdominal stretches and sleeper holds. When Jumbo finally hits the backdrop, he can't immediately capitalize and Fuchi kicks out at two. But Jumbo hits a second one and that's all she wrote. Great selling from both men, and fun build, but a simple and safe tournament match. 

Masanobu Fuchi vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW, 2/28/93)

Welcome to the original Suplex City, Kikuchi-bitch. I remember the first time I saw this match back in high school and my prayers went out to Kikuchi’s neck. Short, violent match, with Fuchi brutalizing Kikuchi with at least 10 belly-to-back suplexes. Fuchi tries to bully Kikuchi early on but Kikuchi ain’t having it and he unloads with forearms and a German suplex hold for a believable early nearfall. Great running dropkick from the apron, a series of snap suplexes and a big diving headbutt. A busted open Fuchi reels toward the ropes as Kikuchi stalks him for another German and counters the attempt with an awesome armbar takedown. At one point, he just wrenches the arm and punches Kikuchi in the trapezius. Kikichi gets in a couple of more suplex two counts before Fuchi goes to town on Kikuchi with back suplex after back suplex after back suplex. Kikuchi wants to survive, he’s trying to survive – he hooks the leg to block another attempt and grabs the ropes but Fuchi connects with an enziguri and dumps him on his head again. I loved the desperation of Kikuchi as he crawls around on the canvas, looking for a way out, but the merciless Fuchi continues to backdrop him until there’s nothing left in the tank. These two have such great in-ring chemistry and watching Fuchi's hyper-aggressive onslaught is something to behold.