Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tully Blanchard (MUGA, 10/29/95)

A strange match but it had plenty of moments, mostly between the referee and Tully himself. Tully's so good at selling Fujinami's submissions and then getting pissy about everything. Loved how the ref would insert himself into the lockups while Tully and Fujinami are trying to wrestle around him. It's obvious Fujinami wants more of a MUGA-style match and he snags a few good holds but Tully ain't really having it. He takes a nasty dragon screw legwhip from Fujinami and the only real big piece of offense he gets in is a double arm suplex. The finish felt rushed and of course, Fujinami wins it. Not what I was expecting but still a super solid match.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (NJPW, 2/5/80)

The story is a simple but effective one, with the aggressive Dynamite Kid trying to re-open the champ’s bandaged forehead. Fujinami works from underneath for the majority of the match, firing off the occasional uppercut but ultimately being overwhelmed and bloodied by Kid’s snug forearm shots and headbutts. He tries for the dragon suplex hold but Dynamite fights out and continues to target Fujinami’s injury, using kneedrops and fistdrops, knuckling the forehead and at one point, even biting it! Dynamite's such a little shit here -- I mean, the fans are throwing rolls of toilet paper at him! I like that he's seemingly trying for the manjigatame as a heel move. Fujinami does a terrific job of garnering sympathy from the crowd as he sells his injury and the desperation of his retaliations. Dynamite is able to hit the diving headbutt for two but when he tries for the second, Fujinami is able to roll away and the crowd loses their shit. He’s able to dropkick him out of the ring but Dynamite walks away from the follow-up plancha, once again cutting off Fujinami’s momentum as he had through much of the match. But once inside the ring, Fujinami is able to pin him out of nowhere with the Japanese roll leg clutch and Dynamite is pissed. Really good stuff.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (NJPW, 6/12/86)

Awesome, awesome match -- one of my personal favorites -- and almost an all-time classic but with an unfortunately shitty finish due to the circumstances. This match sees Tatsumi Fujinami, the trusty hometown ace, taking on the UWF’s top striker in Akira Maeda in his best performances to date (that date being 1986). Like any good ace, Fujinami tends to blow off a lot of offense but here, he really sells the injured leg and Maeda’s kicks as dangerous weapons. Maeda continues to target the leg, although he keeps going back to the arm despite the easy target -- I guess as a way to neutralize Fujinami's dragon suplex or jujigatame? On top of that, Maeda himself keeps teasing the dragon suplex. They trade suplexes, Fujinami with a German and Maeda with his capture, before Fujinami slaps on the sasori-gatame, inducing the fans to collectively shit their pants. What a reaction! Then Maeda clips him with a rolling kick and when Fujinami touches his forehead and sees the blood on his fingers, he collapses. Maeda tries to finish him off with the dragon suplex hold and there's really terrific shock and relief from the crowd at the nearfall. The finish, as forewarned, wasn't good, as Fujinami hits a counter dropkick and it's enough for a double count out. It seems like an audible was called after Fujinami got busted open from Maeda's kick. Oh well, oh well -- still, an incredible match.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (NJPW, 8/4/83)

This, in my opinion, is the most complete match of their series.  While the line of tension threading these matches has been strained throughout, it finally snaps in what was perhaps the most heated and evenly-contested encounter.  Fujinami’s sense of purpose was a constant source of strength as he tries to overwhelm the slower, more prone to frustration champion. The sooner Choshu can end this, the better, but when he tries to open with a lariat, Fujinami hangs on the ropes in avoidance. He’s finally got Choshu’s number. Fujinami’s able to counter and reverse a lot of the champ’s early offense, once again trying to find a way to beat Choshu with the same sasori-gatame that cost him the previous match. When that doesn’t work, Fujinami tries to end it with the figure-four leglock but Choshu is able to once again fight through the submission attempt, the action spilling it to the outside and chaos ensuing. One of the recurring themes of this series has been the chaotic nature of their exchanges, and that’s once again prevalent here as they rebound off one another like pinballs. 

Fujinami emerges crimson-masked only for Choshu to suplex him back into the ring. Here, overcome with exhaustion, Fujinami gives his strongest selling performance of the entire series. After Choshu inadvertently takes out the ref, Fujinami hooks him with a nasty-looking lariat but doesn’t have the gas in the tank to follow up. The finishing stretch is red-hot and full of great dramatic moments -- stuff like Choshu pointing at his foot on the rope after a suplex and the aggravation that follows as Fujinami peppers him with slaps. Or Fujinami dumping Choshu to the outside on a lariat attempt only to get himself tangled in the ropes, unable to capitalize. But from the start, Fujinami has wanted it more and in the end, he’s able to thwart Choshu’s finishing blow, sending him into the ring post and hitting that crowd-popping enziguri. I loved the countout victory for the frustrated Fujinami, backdropping Choshu on the floor after having been unable to pin him or submit him in the ring.

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.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW, 6/5/98)

I think I'd only seen a clipped version of this a few years ago but having been able to see it in its entirety, this was pretty great. Tatsumi Fujinami's the weathered champion and a bit hesitant against the unpredictability of Shinya Hashimoto. He mostly plays defense in the early going, which only works for so long before Hash plants him with a DDT and Fujinami's like...whoa, okay, let's figure something else out. Hashimoto hones in on Fujinami's leg and destroys it with kicks, wearing Fujinami down almost on repeat. Really good old man selling from Fujinami, as he tries to avoid Hashimoto's crosshairs. When he's had enough leg bullying, Fujinami lays into him with some nasty slaps but that's like poking the hornet's nest and Hashimoto overwhelms him with a barrage of strikes. Awesome. Fujinami's finally able to fight in some of his dragon screw legwhips and tries a new strategy of taking out Hashimoto's kicking leg...but that doesn't work, as Hash backchops the hell out of him and hits a couple DDTs, looking a little more frustrated and rash. The finish was terrific, with Fujinami really tapping into the fluidity of the sleeper hold, transitioning into the dragon and grounded variations depending on Hashimoto's position or attempts to break free. The final look in Hashimoto's eyes before the referee calls the match cherry-topped it.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Antonio Inoki (NJPW, 08/08/88)

For whatever reason, time limit draws are in this year, whether it's half an hour or the full sixty. Some of them have been great (Okada/Suzuki, Suzuki/Sekimoto), some...eh, not so much (Takeshita/Endo, Omega/Okada). But one historic match that's been sitting in my queue is the time limit draw between Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami. There's a lot to digest with this one but on a whole, it's a pretty spectacular display of athleticism and endurance. I can see where some might be turned off by this as it's a lot of takedowns, counters, and matwork but they manage to keep the drama going and the crowd engaged. I'll hit on a few of my favorite moments instead of regurgitating sixty minutes worth of action.

Early on, Inoki stuns Fujinami with a takedown but when he tries for a high kick, Fujinami catches the leg and turns it into a giant swing to set up the figure-four leglock. I love the Indian deathlock teases and when Inoki's able to lock it in, he turns it into a bow-and-arrow hold, then goes back to the Indian deathlock, then again to the bow-and-arrow hold, but this allows Fujinami an opportunity to escape and in turn, cinch in the dragon sleeper. Fujinami's use of the choke was awesome, with the ref reprimanding him between counts. Inoki scores a two count off a German suplex hold and Fujinami takes a breather on the outside, returning to barrage Inoki with headbutts, hitting a Billy Robinson-style backbreaker to once again set up the figure-four. This time, they end up falling out of the ring with the hold still applied! With Inoki struggling back into the ring, Fujinami continues targeting the leg with kicks and a sasorigatame.

Inoki was really terrific in the last half of the match, getting pissy with Fujinami when he tries for the octopus hold, peppering him with slaps, then straight punches, before taking him down with the enziguri. He uses a seated torture rack and when Fujinami escapes, Inoki backdrops him. At this point, they're trying to wear each other down on the mat and as Inoki starts building some momentum, hitting a double arm suplex, Fujinami's able to cut him off with the octopus hold. Inoki's tried just about everything to beat Fujinami but he can't do it and in the end, you really see the desperation as Inoki repeatedly tries to pin Fujinami before the time limit expires. If you've got the patience and time, check this one out. It's the last of its kind in a lot of ways as the style transitions into what would become the more fast-paced, bomb-dropping routine of the 1990's.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Osamu Nishimura (MUGA World, 9/25/06)

In the age of purple Mountain Dew and 100% marshmallow Lucky Charms, this is a match I could see the modern wrestling fan hating. Two Japanese dads heating the crowd up with sometimes tired matwork, slow reversals, and zero high spots. But this is a throwback between teacher and student, and while Fujinami isn't near his peak...at all...Nishimura steals the show with his well-sold performance, intuition, and sense of struggle. I loved the way the figure-four played such a central role in this match, with Nishimura scouting it early on and turning the attempt into a small package to pick-up a fall. He goes after Fujinami's arm, supplementing holds with elbow strikes, but really, the story being told is based around Nishimura's leg and Nishimura playing defense. He cracks Fujinami with a desperate kick to the leg and in a moment of delayed selling, Fujinami crumbles...but it's not enough and Fujinami evens the score with a figure-four leglock submission. Nishimura's selling during the final fall is fantastic and he's able to block the succeeding figure-four attempts, finally reversing the third attempt to submit Fujinami in a...well, odd finish, as Nishimura had been working on the arm primarily but you could tell Fujinami's knees weren't in great shape. A charming match that was fun to revisit.

Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 3/26/86)

This was a riot. Everyone (mostly) was fired up, the exchanges were red hot, the atmosphere electric. Ueda was a peroxide turd but fortunately, he’s not in this much – I mean, he tags in only to tag in Inoki. But when Fujiwara and Maeda are in there shooting against Fujinami and Inoki, it’s fantastic. There’s a lot to love about this match but there’s also a lot going on. The aggressive jockeying between Fujiwara and Fujinami, Takada and Maeda murdering Team NJPW with kicks, suplexes everywhere. The apron drama during the elimination teases really translated well with the crowd. The double eliminations were awesome, especially Fujinami trying in vain to shake off Fujiwara’s sleeper hold until the only option is to spill over the ropes to the outside. Of course, Inoki is the hero of this particular story and the lone survivor of his team against the invaders. After submitting Takada with the sleeper, Inoki endures everything the fiery Kido throws at him and connects with the big enziguri to win it for New Japan. Tons of passion, intensity and non-stop action – highly recommended.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Isamu Teranishi (NJPW, 10/8/81)

This was short, slapdash, sometimes heated, but another solid Fujinami defense, with the champ working a little more aggressive this time with his shoot-style kicks and vicious slaps. They go back-and-forth from the mat to standing position and the submission play doesn't really factor into the match, despite some focused legwork from Fujinami. When Isamu starts peppering Fujinami with slaps, Fujinami unloads on him with his own stiff smacks and a couple closed-fists. He goes to town on Isamu's leg here but Isamu ignores it to hit a backbreaker and a dropkick, scoring two off a backdrop suplex. The set-up to the finish was a little sloppy but Fujinami's roll-through German suplex hold was a swank way to win the match. Good junior heavyweight fun.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura (NJPW, 12/13/79)

I’m loving the proto-shoot-style of these late 70’s junior heavyweight matches that feel like transition pieces into the 80’s mentality of “more is better”. Kengo Kimura is awesomely aggressive throughout, staying on Fujinami like salt on pretzels. He tries overwhelming him with offense right out of the gate and then works to keep him grounded, utilizing a great Indian deathlock and the grounded headscissors. Fujinami plays defense for much of the match but his reversals are slick per usual. They pick up the momentum midway through with a fun little snapmare exchange and Kimura starts tapping his cache, hitting a plancha to the outside, backdrop suplexes (including one on the floor), and what looked like a deadlift sheer-drop double arm suplex, but he can’t put the champ away. At one point, he tried to backdrop Fujinami into the corner but Fujinami hangs onto the ropes. The finish comes out of nowhere, as Fujinami counters a backdrop attempt with a German suplex hold and follows up with a piledriver for the win. Kimura ruled here if you like your early juniors bomb-tastic but this wasn’t Fujinami’s most captivating performance and the abrupt finish didn’t help.