William Bologna

1985 Other matches May 31, 1985 Omiya City Gymnasium Antonio Inoki＆Tatsumi Fujinami＆Kengo Kimura VS Dick Murdoch＆Adrian Adonis＆King Kong Bundy This is like a stress test. "OK, you four had a pretty good match last week. Let's see what happens if we add a couple of stiffs." I'm going to nitpick extensively about Inoki: Inoki's done this thing a couple times, and I don't like it. Before the match starts, he'll get all mad at someone on the other side and make one of his teammates hold him back. "Let me go, Kengo! I'ma get this fool!" "No, Antonio! It's not worth it!" As if he's going to face repercussions for starting a fight half a minute before it was going to start anyway. I think he missed Murdoch trying to build some drama. Captain Redneck is at whom Inoki is woofing pre-match, and he looks like he's going to be first guy for his team, but when we start, Adonis is in there. I think Murdoch was trying to do the thing where he teases us with the matchup we want to see, but Inoki wasn't paying enough attention to do anything with it. He also misses an opportunity when Bundy comes in. Everyone's been in the ring and exchanged headlocks except Bundy, who's obviously the most imposing man in the match. As soon as he tags in, Inoki runs over there as fast as a he can and gives him a martial hug. What he should have done was back off and maybe try to look intimidated or at least concerned at how he was going to address this threat. He's not good at subtleties. Oh, and at one point Kimura does what's probably a cool sunset flip to Adonis, but we miss it because the camera's showing us Inoki. This may be slightly unfair to Antonio even by my standards, but if I can blame Gedo for the state of NJPW World, I feel comfortable pinning this one on the boss. I liked Bundy! He moved well enough, used his bulk effectively, had some solid offense (including a really vicious-looking kneedrop), and showed some personality. Kimura took his time on a clean break, so Bundy just shoved him away and yelled at him. He hit Fujinami with a splash, but Kimura came in to break up the pin. Not missing a beat, Bundy transitioned into a headlock and took a minute to admonish the ref (swole, WWF polo) for not being able to control things. It's no surprise that Murdoch was great, but he was extra great this time. He's as good at the little things as Inoki is bad at them. In an early exchange, I said to myself, "Man, he's giving Kimura nothing." Kengo was trying to wrestle or whatever, but Murdoch wasn't interested, preferring to hit Kimura really hard over and over. Ten minutes later, the crowd pops huge as Kimura takes the upper hand and hits that leg lariat, which of course Murdoch sells like he was murdered. We wind up with an out of control, chair-swinging brawl leading to a DCOR, but it was OK. Things had been heating up enough that everyone losing their temper didn't feel perfunctory. I may be getting Stockholm syndrome with these terrible 80s finishes, though. I enjoyed this. Bundy turned out not to be a stiff after all, and for all his faults, Inoki is pretty good at getting beaten up and then looking angry about it. The participants played to their strengths.

1985 Other matches May 24, 1985 Kobe World Memorial Hall Tatsumi Fujinami＆Kengo Kimura VS Dick Murdoch＆Adrian Adonis This is what I was waiting for when I saw that Gedo added a whole new pile of Fujinami matches and realized that I'm never going to be done with this (this thread turned two years old a couple months ago. It has a favorite dinosaur and is speaking in intelligible sentences. Mostly about dinosaurs). This is for the vacant WWF International Tag Team Championship, which is made up even by the standards of pro wrestling titles. Still, our play by play man does his best to convince us that they're important. I can't understand half of what he's saying, but the other half is "WWF" and "New York." Look at what an insider this guy is, referring to the WWF as "New York." Yeesh. The titles on the line may be extra fictitious, but this is an event. Flowers handed out, and Adonis sets the tone by throwing his at Kimura. It's already getting chippy out there. It's a good match, and the crowd is pumped for every Murdoch/Fujinami exchange. After a pair of dueling backdrops (which Fujinami would re-use against Vader), Fujinami plays face in peril for a while. But we really get to see Dick Murdoch shine after a dropkick and a hot tag leads to Kengo Kimura beating the hell out of him. He's just a master of showing sudden vulnerability, and he makes Kimura look like a buzzsaw. That's been a theme here: People selling like crazy for Kimura. Were there plans for this guy that never panned out? People act like his leg lariat hurts more than anything Hase ever did. He's treated with more respect than you would expect for someone with his resume. This is a long match, and it reveals Murdoch's one weakness: Stamina. He holds Fujinami up for a Davey Boy-ish amount of time (revealing more of the Dragon's bikini zone than I ever wanted to see) and then just collapses. It counts as a brainbuster, but only technically. He can't quite get Fujinami out of the ring a moment later, and Adonis has to help. This leads to the finish. They brawl, but our heroes get the foreigners to run into each other, whereupon Fujinami dashes back into the ring for the countout win. Adonis and Murdoch do not take this well. They grab the belts, kick the trophies, rip up the certificates, and generally throw a tantrum. Murdoch flings a trophy into the ring and almost hits Kimura, who looks legit surprised. They're finally dispatched with a belt shot and double dropkick, and these hallowed, prestigious tag team belts are presented to our heroes. The WWF International Tag Team Championship, by the way, had been deactivated 13 years prior to this and would again be deactivated in October. Kimura and Fujinami were the only champions. But it's OK because this was good.

1985 Other matches May 10, 1985 Fukuoka Sports Center Antonio Inoki＆Tatsumi Fujinami VS Andr? the Giant＆Jimmy Snuka Have you ever heard Meltzer go on and on about why Andre got over while Paul Wight never did? You know, Vince Senior made sure Andre was a special attraction, didn't overuse him, etc. etc. It's nonsense because it assumes that all giants are created equal. But you look at Andre and you look at Big Show, and you can see that statement is not true. Even when he's not doing a whole lot, Andre has this menacing but engaging presence. And he's good at this job, too. This match is all about Fujinami and Inoki taking turns trying to wear him down, and he is very convincingly worn down. You believe that these twerps are gradually getting to the giant. The other smart thing they do here is keep is short. You don't want the man out there for 20 minutes, so let's get to our annoying DQ finish quick. Snuka was barely in this. Or maybe I didn't notice him as much because he wasn't a bellowing evil giant.

Those sound pretty intriguing. We're in a chronologically coherent stretch now, and those will fit right in as we proceed (again) through the 80s.

Big Fight 2nd series In April 1985, 18 days Ryogoku Kokugikan Tatsumi Fujinami VS Strong Machine No.1 We've been getting a lot of Strong Machine content lately, and now they're multiplying. They're rolling five deep before the match starts: KY Wakamatsu is there accompanied by no fewer than four Strong Machines. But Strong Machines 3, 1, and 2 make themselves scarce before the action. I feel like I'm missing something culturally with Wakamatsu. What is he supposed to be? He's got a lab coat, bow tie, derby hat, Mardi Gras beads, a crucifix, a megaphone, and a whip. Did they spring it on him right before a show? "Hey, Inoki says we need a manager for these here robots. Go over to the lost and found and get an outfit together." But if it works it works, and KY earns his paycheck this time out. Fujinami and Machine have a solid 80s match - the kind of thing where they sit in holds, get up and do a highspot, and then go back to the holds. Whenever the crowd begins to quiet, Wakamatsu yells into his megaphone, and they're right back in it. It works every time. This is a longish match, and there's something about the pacing and SM's deliberate, bodyslam-intensive offense that makes it feel like it's happening in the background of a movie. Like, our hero meets an informant at the sumo hall and they have a tense conversation while Machine plays to the crowd behind them. That's not a complaint - this is real solid stuff. Junji Hirata (the ring name Strong Machine #1 settled on after he took off the mask) always surprises me with how good he is, and this is when Fujinami could still move. We get a really dramatic finish. Hirata has Fujinami in a waistlock, and Wakamatsu hops onto the apron and throws powder. Fujinami ducks, and Hirata takes the powder followed by a dragon suplex for the pin. It was so good one fan let the spirit of the sumo hall take over and threw his cushion into the ring. And here we begin to see cracks in the Machines/Wakamatsu partnership. Hirata is understandably upset at his manager's tomfoolery; they come to blows, and Wakamatsu leaves without his #1 Machine. Fujinami follows, and alone in the ring Hirata seems to be having something of a personal crisis. Does he rid himself of his mask and manager? Or is the way of the Machine too Strong? This man vs. machine struggle gets over like crazy, and we fade out to the thunderous din of every fan in the building chanting "HI-RA-TA!" I had no idea this was going to be so much fun.

Hacks wouldn’t have imitated him if he did it badly.

December 6, 1984 Hiroshima prefectural gymnasium Super heavyweight battle royal Fujinami and Murdoch are pulling double duty! Later in the same evening as their epic double count-out showdown, both are here for the Super Heavyweight Battle Royal! This is my kind of battle royal. It's five minutes long, they get the chumps out of there quick, and it tells a story which despite its brevity is full not only of twists but also of turns. Inoki sees KY Wakamatsu (whose name is Japanese for "Jimmy Hart") and a couple Strong Machines outside the ring and is so incensed that he eliminates himself going after them. The swole ref in the WWF polo really has to put his foot down about Antonio getting back in. It's like, yeah I gave you a pin on a two count last time, but the rules of the battle royal are sacred. I'll have to keep an eye out for this guy - we may never see him again after he crosses the boss like this. I gather that there's an issue between Fujinami/Kengo Kimura and Murdoch/Adrian Adonis. Kimura and Adonis eliminate each other like they're Eteocles and Polyneices before one of the seven gates of holy Thebes. The rest of the match tells the tale of Murdoch, Fujinami, and the near-literal elephant in the figurative room, Andre T. Giant. Andre is down, and Murdoch takes the unexpected but expedient route, motioning for Fujinami to cooperate with him in dumping the giant. The crowd is thrilled. But can Captain Redneck be trusted? You will not be surprised to learn that he cannot. He betrays his momentary ally but comes close to eliminating Andre accidentally as Fujinami ducks a double team maneuver. Murdoch recovers to dump Fujinami, only for Andre to bring things to an abrupt end by dropping Murdoch atomically with such force that he springs over the top rope. It hurts more when you're a giant. My heart sank when I saw there was a battle royal on the docket. The last one I saw was that time the Rock tried and failed to convince everyone that Roman Reigns was extremely tough and cool, so I'd soured on the whole concept. But this was a hoot. Five minutes. Told a story. Made Inoki look stupid. A triumph.

1984 Other matches December 6, 1984 Hiroshima prefectural gymnasium Tatsumi Fujinami VS Dick Murdoch Finally we get some Dick Murdoch! He's been hanging out in the margins of this project, even giving Fujinami a postmatch handshake at one point, but this is the first time we see him in action. He's awesome, of course. The match is built around his peerless punches. Fujinami gets a transition off blocking one and complains to the ref (resplendent in a WWF polo shirt) about them. The crowd is good but unusual. They're just loud in general. There's a high level of background noise, but they don't always react to the things you'd expect them to. There's a repeated chant that I don't understand, but at least they're enjoying themselves. Murdoch is a perfect opponent for Fujinami. Consider: Fujinami is at his best when he's getting hit really hard. Hashimoto, Tenryu, Dynamite - these are the guys who bring the fighting spirit out of him. He's a pretty colorless guy unless he's getting pasted in the face, and Murdoch is happy to oblige. He has a tendency to get overshadowed and eaten up when he's in the ring with a dominant personality. I love the Hogan matches, but you don't remember Fujinami's performance in them. Against Flair he's the proverbial broomstick. Murdoch, however, complements him. He's got all kinds of personality, but he uses cartoonish selling to make his opponent look like a badass. He's physically imposing in spite of his physique (he towers over Fujinami), and his offense is as believable as fake fighting can be, so it really means something when he switches gears and starts staggering around after getting punched. This is a lot of analysis for a ten minute match with a typical 80s non-finish (DCOR), but man is Dick Murdoch good. I liked this a lot, but I'm not objective about this guy. He's the gaijin Tenryu - I'd watch him order lunch and give it four stars.

1984 Other matches November 30, 1984 Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium MSG Tag League Antonio Inoki＆Tatsumi Fujinami VS Strong Machine No.1＆Strong Machine No.2 This may look like a mismatch in the ring - you have a couple IWGP champions vs. Junji Hirata and some Korean guy - but the Machines have backup. KY Wakamatsu is yelling into his megaphone, and Hiro Saito is ready to make his presence felt. The good guys, meanwhile, have only a young, pimply Masa Chono in their corner. There's plenty of heat; the crowd is going banana as they brawl among the streamers, and the enthusiasm doesn't really let up. Not even when Inoki wraps a towel around his hand to punch a Machine. Must have been extra fighting spirit in it or something. Inoki is just not any good except when he's brawling (when he's really, really good). He lacks ring awareness or something. There's a spot where he gets one Machine (either 1 or 2) to run into the other one (either 2 or 1), and instead of following up, he just strolls in the direction of his corner while the Machine waits for him to do something. But it's far from the worst Inoki experience, since he keeps things moving and throws a lot of punches. The finish is very mid-80s sloppy. Whichever Machine loses (presumably the less Super Strong one) lands kind of under the ropes on an enzuigiri, so he has to move his hand and Inoki has to move his ass to stay in bounds for the pin, which I swear is only a two count. Different rules for the guy who owns the place. Hiro Saito immediately runs in, and we brawl again. One other thing about Inoki - in kayfabe, he's just an awful tag partner. Fujinami hit a dragon suplex, which got a huge pop from the crowd, the announcer, and me, and Inoki could barely be bothered to get into the ring to protect the pin attempt. Even worse is in the post-match brawl. Saito is choking Fujinami with a rope, and Inoki completely ignores it. He at least waits until Saito stops to raise his hands in triumph, but his partner's suffering is obviously not troubling him.

Absolutely. They're clearly taking the long view on this, willing to put unknowns in the spotlight and resisting the urge to hotshot. It speaks well to management.

Pulling out the “those other guys are fanboys!” card isn’t the best tactic after you’ve argued that your favorite promotion lost just cause WWE fans are teetotalers who stay at home knitting.

Wardlow’s tie is a great touch.

Was that the first actual squash in Dynamite history? Dark Order has go away heat.

Interesting to compare this to the Omega/Janela dark match. Longish, lots of plunder, clear underdog. The big difference is that this was good.

I never realized how much Omega works like Michael Elgin. Which is to say that he’s awful.

Riho’s amazing. She gets over by having people watch her wrestle. Novel concept. I can’t imagine anyone thinking a bunch of Isaac Yankem shit is going to get Baker over. Weird misfire.

The people behind me were absolutely marking out about Swagger. I don’t know if that’s representative.

That was great. Crowd was thoroughly roped in by the end.

Here’s Britt Baker. I’m going to start an argument with the people sitting around me about whether it’s OK not to know who she is. Get that PWO experience.

Hebner getting some “you screwed Bret” chants in the building.

1984 Other matches November 1, 1984 Tokyo Gymnasium WWF International Heavyweight Championship Tatsumi Fujinami VS Cowboy" Bob Orton This is the first time I've seen Bob Orton since my Hulkamania-plagued childhood. I liked him! He did these theatrical, Curt Hennig-style bumps. They weren't quite smooth enough to be described as Perfect, but still they were interesting. I like his offense. His super deliberate elbows to the throat were cool. He brought more high-flying than I would have guessed. He prefigured Gran Naniwa by getting on the second rope at the turnbuckle and shuffling to the middle, whence he dropped a knee on Fujinami. He also tried a Vader Bomb, but Fujinami got his knees up on that one. And he hadn't even wrestled Vader yet - how did he know? The thing about Cowboy Bob Orton is that the crowd just did not give a damn. Did he not have a pedigree in Japan? He did a bunch of cool stuff, Fujinami did some cool stuff, Orton emoted largely, all to tepid reactions from the Tokyoians. They tease a couple countouts, but we do get a finish as Fujinami throws Orton off the top and procures a scorpion deathlock for the win. This was a pleasant exercise worked at a very nice pace. I don't understand why the people watching it didn't like it as much as I did.

1984 Other matches September 7, 1984 Fukuoka Sports Center Tatsumi Fujinami VS Abdullah the Butcher We spend some time doing clean breaks here until things pick up. Fujinami hits Abdullah with some kind of flying chop, which of course gets the Butcher to bleeding. I didn't see him blade, but he must have, right? I'm sure Abdullah's better at cutting himself than I am at noticing it. Fujinami presses the advantage with an enzuigiri and a God-bless-him-he-tried bodyslam. Then the gentlest dropkick I've ever seen sends the Butcher outside. Abdullah drags Fujinami outside with him, and the ref waves it off almost immediately. There definitely wasn't time for a countout, but I guess Abdullah's reputation preceded him. The ref knew they weren't getting back in, so why tax his brain counting to twenty? I was expecting more of a madman vibe from the Butcher. He didn't move with any urgency, and other than a couple throat chops (followed by his little Abdullah dance), most of his offense was holding Fujinami real close. The bell-to-bell part of this wasn't the worst four minutes, but the post-match was really bad. All Abdullah did was hold Fujinami against something and bleed on him, and this was before we knew how dangerous it was to get that guy's blood on you.

I'll keep that in mind. On the one hand, this project has made me realize that Masa Saito is really great and I need to watch more of him. On the other, I was fully intending to go seek out more Fujinami from other sources before they doubled the number of matches I need to get through. So we'll see if I can stomach any more of the old bastard after I get through this.

1984 Other matches March 30, 1984 Korakuen Hall Seiji Sakaguchi＆Tatsumi Fujinami VS Masked Superstar＆Don Muraco Super hot crowd. During the milling around after the introductions, they launch into a deafening "Muraco" chant. Don is eager to maintain heel status by dismissing this enthusiasm, so they respond by chanting "Sakaguchi" but somehow cramming it into three syllables. I've been sitting here trying to do it with limited success. I'm glad I have the place to myself. The trick is to barely enunciate the "gu." SA-KA-(gu)CHI! This is a fun trip down memory lane. Remember that swole referee in the skin-tight polo shirt? He's back! And Fujinami is all young and dynamic again. I forgot how fast he used to run the ropes. We even get a terrible, obvious 80s finish. Mr. Superstar comes in to save his partner from Fujinami's octopus hold. Fujinami tries to cross bodyblock the two of them out of the ring for the countout, but of course it doesn't work - one of the biggest difference between wrestling now and wrestling then is simple execution. So they kind of pull each other out, everyone brawls, and Fujinami rolls in for the win. Sakaguchi is a pretty impressive physical specimen, but he seems to have gotten old early. He's only 42 here, but he's all hunched over. Neither of the foreigners made much of an impression except for the audience's unrequited love for Don Muraco.

New Year Golden Series January 27, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, 1984 Antonio Inoki＆Tatsumi Fujinami VS Hulk Hogan＆Iron Mike Sharpe As I step out of my time machine and back into 1984, I'm thrilled to see the Hulkster. It makes up for also seeing Inoki. We also get Iron Mike Sharpe, who's a lot of fun here. He just heels like crazy. He hits Fujinami with the semi-foreign object around his wrist; he whines to the referee; he grabs hair and generally cheats. It's a little confusing, because his partner is, if not the good guy, certainly not the bad guy. Hogan does all the stuff he always does in Japan, but neither I nor the crowd is tired of it. What they really want is a showdown between Hogan and Inoki. They get it after Fujinami puts Sharpe in the scorpion deathlock. Hogan comes in and axe bombers Fujinami out of the ring. Inoki comes in, and the two illegal men have a sequence hot enough to bring the crowd to its feet. It is the 80s, though, so the bell rings halfway through the confrontation: Fujinami has been counted out. This worked because the crowd was so hot for it and because it felt like the silly-ass 80s finish was building to something. I don't know if the Hogan vs. Inoki payoff happened. If it did Fujinami wasn't in it, so it's really not any of my business.