[1994-08-05-NJPW-G1 Climax] Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Yoshiaki Yatsu

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Phil Schneider]

Just an old fashioned slugfest between two nasty dudes. Fujiwara is at his dickish cheapshotting best. Landing a sneaky headbutt after a knuckle lock, kidney shots in the corner, and slaps to the chops. Meanwhile Yatsu lands some big throws, and some of the nastier stomps I have seen in a while. There is an awesome nearfall, as Yatsu hits a couple of super brutal bulldogs, but as he goes for a third, Fujiwara slips out and locks in the Fujiwara armbar. I also really liked how after getting caught with a suplex for the pin, Fujiwara went right back to throwing blows. He didn't really give a shit he lost, he just wanted to take a chunk out of Yatsu's ass.

[Loss]

Couldn't get into this. They never really kicked it into the next gear. You got the feeling these guys weren't crazy about each other, but this doesn't really build heat. Even the things that I did enjoy like Yatsu's cheapshot when the referee was trying to restrain Fujiwara didn't get the reaction it should have. Felt like they missed the mark.

[jdw]

I was generally ducking the suggestions of Yatsu-Fujiwara love that Ditch made, since I was generally bored by these matches back in the day. It's a little too bad that the Final didn't make it. Not as a great match or anything, but it was Chono establishing himself as Mr. August, and as a comp to the Carny Final. Also, it's Chono right before the Blackjack Chono heel turn, and Sasaki at the near-end of his Hellraisers period right before transitioning into the singles push (he would main event the coming Dome show in January).

[Loss]

I wasn't clear on what the final was. I figured it was Hash/Kosh since that was the last chronological match I could figure out from the listings. But yeah, so far, this has been a disappointing G-1.

[Kevin Ridge]

I was just waiting for Fujiwara to counter the running bulldog with a armbar. Best thing about this match was Fujiwara's random headbutt after the match. That had me laughing. Okay the best thing is Yatsu having the Back to the Future music as his theme. Another okay match with a random finish out of nowhere. G1 overall seems to be lacking in high quality matches.

[Exposer]

This is solid. Both guys beat the hell out of each other and throw in some nice cheapshots. Fujiwara is nailing excessive headbutts and Yatsu gets pissed and low blows Fujiwara. He gets in a few more big moves and gets the win.

[soup23]

Best of the three G-1 matches so far but never really built to the dramatic finish I was hoping for.

[PeteF3]

Another solid match, but just that, with another fluky upset finish. I like this return of the spry, vigorous Yatsu, and one who heels it up at that. But this is an underwhelming G1, with all the upsets serving to make everyone look mediocre instead of making getting everybody over.

[Zenjo]

Again this was average, inoffensive and fairly short. Both men were heeling it up as best they could. The finish came out of nowhere, which was both surprising and predictable.

[JKWebb]

Yeah, I dug this a lot.  I agree it was the best of the G1 to this point, but I also seem to have liked it a little more than most here... it felt like two fighters slugging it out, like seeing Yatsu here & props for the Back to the Future theme...