What a pairing Fujiwara/Super Tiger is. You know, just in case you'd forgotten. I don't even remember the last time I watched an original UWF tag, but this was badass as fuck and Fujiwara was sublime from start to finish. It's closer to what these four would've done in New Japan around this point than your classic shoot style, but Fujiwara is one of the best pro style wrestlers ever AND one of the best shoot style wrestlers ever so you're not surprised that he can straddle the line between both worlds, even with shoot style very much still in its formative phase. He tried to cave Tiger's skull in with those headbutts, which is really one of the best parts of the Fujiwara/Super Tiger rivalry. It was his selling that stood out more than anything else, though. He made Sayama look like the most dangerous man alive with how he ate and sold those kicks. It didn't hurt - well, it didn't hurt US - that those strikes were as good as they've ever been. Sayama actually looked phenomenal in this, agile and quick and dynamic as ever, but everything was laid in with more force than it had been in the past. This wasn't about the snappy pirouette on his rolling hammerlock, this was about him spin kicking someone in the guts as hard as possible. His one backflip kick looked like the death blow in a martial arts film and then he about fucking kneedropped Fujiwara's head through the canvas, which is another staple of their rivalry. His diving headbutt looked sensational and it came after a hellish tombstone. Fujiwara/Takada was fun as well and I'll always pop for the spot where Fujiwara and an opponent trade snapmares to get out of being choked to death with a chinlock. Maeda was maybe a wee bit low key in this, but I don't say that to knock him. He let Fujiwara and Tiger drive things and if nothing else that set the table for those two trying to kill each other several times over the next year. I guess it's time I watch every one of their matches together all over again.
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