Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Shinya Aoki-NEW 5.4.2017.

The first match in NEW history faces off a shoot style legend and one of the most notorious japanese MMA fighters of today. When you choose to work a mat-based shoot style match in a more conservative manner, with not many nearfalls and highspots, it's not uncommon to see it become uninteresting. These two absolutely nailed it. Aoki seems to intuitively *get* pro wrestling-their sequences just seamlessly flow. It is like a lucha title match, except wacky lucha holds are replaced with armbars and leglocks, and the use of realistic guard positions almost makes it like a high end jiu jitus exhibition. Almost-because the match retains a certain flair of catch wrestling you'd want a Fujiwara match to have, in that how they utilize their joints to put pressure on their opponents makes for a significant aspect of the match, but they also pull guard, block transitions, use ankle picks and so on, giving the match its own unique feel rather than just copying an old style. Fujiwara tones down the goofiness-there's no ramming his head against the pose or cracking jokes, but he can't help but fake a handshake and blast Aoki with some headbutts (which looked great, and way better than some he was doing 25-30 years ago, no holding his opponent's head with one hand, just a quick straight motion).  Not something I'd imagine people who aren't big on the style would be blown away with, but I doubt NEW is gonna for them anyway. ****

Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Minoru Suzuki vs Kazunari Murakami & Kensuke Sasaki-Big Mouth Loud 19.4.2006.

Total dream match for me right here. Ten seconds in Kensuke and Murakami quarrel over who's going to start and chop and punch each other for a second before Kensuke starts things off, that spot is awesome in that setting but when you have like, Sekimoto and X modern puro guy doing it for twenty minutes it's boring. MiSU-Kensuke interactions sound least intriguing since I've seen them go at it plenty of times including a 40 minute match. They do a quick strike exchange and Kensuke irish whips MiSu into the ropes and-stare offs might not work in junior matches after doing kung fu sequences but they totally work here when MiSu suddenly stops as Kensuke is going to chop him. That's UWF blood for you. Fujiwara and Murakami do some nice grappling and MiSu stomped Murakami when they were near his corner which was a great touch and him not so subtly repeteadly kicking off Murakami's feet of the ropes to break the rope break was awesome as well. Murakami is just the best, he might be the greatest ever at conveying disgust and disdain through facial expressions. Minoru Suzuki can phone it in but man he is great when he wants to be, it's so much fun watching him troll Murakami and just act like a dick. The Murakami peril in section was absolutely hilarious, you gotta love the tremendous pastice of shoot style and comedy Fujiwara and MiSu present here. Loved the way Fujiwara fell down after Sasaki Lariated him, it looked like a beast of a man hit him in the back of the head and that's how he sold it. I fucking lost it when Kensuke fucked up the save, laughing out loud while Fujiwara punches people in the face is about as ennjoyable as wrestling gets and they immediately followed it up with Suzuki stomping on Murakami's head in the corner (which is Murakami's signature move), Fujiwara shitbeating Murakami and then choking him when Murakami yelled at him in an insulting matter AND then Fujiwara distracting the ref so Suzuki could choke Murakami and just pull his nose and do all these disgusting things. Murakami's comeback is the world's greatest uppercut (boxing, not european) and the finishing run is awesome as Kensuke Sasaki runs over people, Murakami and MiSu beat the shit ouf of each other and Fujiwara bleeds a lot at the age of 200. ****1/4

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger-UWF 5.12.1984.

This is my favourite Fujiwara/Super Tiger match. They work it with Fujiwara having the upper hand on the mat and Tiger being the dominant striker but the gaps aren't huge and both can hang and fire back in both departments. Fujiwara is awesome here, busting out awesome takedowns, countering Tiger's strikes, reversing his holds on the mat etc. but he also has all time great punches and just rocks Tiger with them when they're standing. There's a really great moment when Fujiwara starts choking Super Tiger with a Sleeper and Sayama sells it with this disgusting cough. Finishing stretch is just unreal with Sayama killing Fujiwara with brutal kicks seemingly forever and his knee drop is also up there with the best there have ever been. Fujiwara is the master at blocking kicks and reversing everything so you can buy he could come back at any time but Sayama just keeps on kicking him in the head and destroying him and it's this super dramatic struggle and then one time when Fujiwara finally gets a comeback in he gets cocky and throws a headbutt that knocks HIM down. That spot played up so many things, from Fujiwara's arrogance to the damage of Sayama's offence neutralizing a spot that I don't think had ever been neutralized before. And he just keeps on killing him and pretty much invents the shoot style KO/TKO finish in the process.*****

Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara-UWF 25.10.1990.

A classic and a truly fascinating match, especially if you take their february match into account. Fujiwara comes out swinging early which sets the pace of the match-he rocks Takada with brutal punches and headbutts and establishes dominance early on. Takada is extremely cautious in his attacks against him having already been reversed in their february bout. The majority of the knockdowns don't really serve as nearfalls, rather their point is to establish who is in control off the match and set the stage for the finish. The exception to this is the last time Takada is knocked down as he falls down before just making it to his feet at the last second. That moment completely changes the atmosphere kicks off the finishing run. Takada's selling is crucial to the match quality-the way he wobbles after Fujiwara's Leglock and slowly falls down after a standing knock down in the corner keeps the crowd on their toes. Fujiwara's downfall is his character-whenever he goes for his usual quirks it costs him. Him laughing about finally getting Takada in a dangerous Leglock allowed Takada to counter it by palm striking the shit out of him and thus gaining one of his first openings in the match. Takada's strategy is to kick through Fujiwara-and he varies his kicks and strikes a lot due to Fujiwara's amazing defence. If he kicks too high too early he'll get reversed and leglocked. If he doesn't time a low kick well it's getting checked. That creates and unparalleled sense of struggle giving everything that happens importance, and the action itself is just epic-Takada kicking Fujiwara in the face is an amazing spot on its own but context allows it to truly bloom. *****