The Incomparable Mr. Fuji

"Was he the guy who cut off Val Venis's willy?"
-My sister

He was not the guy who cut off Val Venis's willy, no, but maybe the devious Hawaiian inspired a generation of insidious wee Japanese managers who threw salt in eyes and carried around canes or samurai swords and who knows, if not for Mr. Fuji maybe the Big Valbowski would still be making X-rated flicks to this very day. I had no idea the WWE Network had a special Mr. Fuji mini-section, but they do and for all I know it could be a goldmine (I feel like pre-80s WWF is a pretty big blind spot for me in general). Was he incomparable? Apparently not. But maybe he ruled and Tojo Yamamoto's spot as my favourite mangy Japanese goblin US territory mainstay of the 80s is under serious threat.

Over the next few days I hope to have an answer. For you, for me, for us all...


Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito v Tony Garea & Rick Martel (WWF, 10/19/81)

What a nifty little tag; the kind of match I could watch all day and not complain. Nobody did anything in this that will blow your socks off. They never reinvented the wheel. It was mostly Fuji and Saito on the back foot trying to find openings, but Garea and especially Martel did everything with such energy and zip that it just flew by. Martel was especially awesome and I don't know if there's ever been a babyface who could do house o' fire quite like him. I'm not talking about coming in off the hot tag as such, I just mean his general enthusiasm and how he always looks like he's ready to fight. On offense Fuji and Saito were mostly chops, a brief nerve hold for a second there and some apron-assisted cheating to rile the crowd up, but they were willing bumpers and gave the babyfaces plenty. They were also rocking a pair of awesome matching tights that looked like they'd been pillaged from the Japanese Olympic gymnastic squad. Fuji wasn't super spry or anything at this point in his in-ring career, but he got some nice height on a monkey flip and got slammed off the top rope in a spot I definitely wasn't expecting, so I guess that bodes well for some earlier stuff where he's closer to his physical prime. Match ended in a bit of a schmozz like you might've figured, but Martel's bump over the top rope was great and if I can get a hold of their title change from the same month I'll be all in on it.