Fujiwara v Maeda!

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v Akira Maeda (UWF, 8/13/89)

Another corker from one of the best match ups in wrestling history. This was more of a shoot style brawl, not a whole lot of matwork, but the grappling we did get was niggly as hell and served as a nice punctuation between them trying to knock each other unconscious. It couldn't have started any better. They clinch right away and end up in the corner, then Fujiwara hit one disgusting headbutt followed by an even more disgusting headbutt, the second one from a running start where he drove the top of his head right into Maeda's cheekbone. Fujiwara threw a number of them throughout the match and I loved how Maeda would respond with some of his own, at one point throwing about seven in succession that almost had Fujiwara through the ropes. There will always be moments in Maeda matches where his temper boils over and this time he tried to volley Fujiwara's liver into the fifth row off a break. Fujiwara was winding him up the whole match as well, as is Fujiwara's wont. Maeda would just about cinch in a hold and Fujiwara would briefly scream in pain, then he'd readjust and alleviate some of the pressure, and there were at least two instances where he went to grab the rope for the break but pulled back right before it. He'd tease it, pull back, tease it again, pull back again, and pretty soon the crowd picked up on it. He had no intention of grabbing the rope, had no intention of giving Maeda the satisfaction. He was being a prick and that was the long and short of it. He would also throw a bunch of kicks and the ref' kept having to admonish him like "you're not wearing kickpads, you can't be fucking doing that!" Of course he kept doing it anyway and eventually Maeda dropped to all fours as a challenge, something to get him in close, "come over here and wrestle." Fujiwara throwing another kick as his answer was perfect Fujiwara. I thought the finish was a wee bit of a lukewarm one, not the molten hot crescendo of the best Maeda maulings, but at the same time Fujiwara was made to pay dearly for all of those kicks. Maybe he should've listened for once.