[1994-08-06-NJPW-G1 Climax] Riki Choshu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Phil Schneider]

These two guys have just magically charisma with each other. Their June 1987 match is one of my favorite matches of all time, this doesn't live up to that, but it is a worthy entry in the cannon. Fujiwara knows exactly where he is going to win this match, he needs to get Choshu to the ground and submit him, while Choshu wants to keep the match on the feet and smash Fujiwara. It is worked very similar to a striker v. ju jitsu artist MMA match, although way more exciting then those matches usually are. Choshu ends up cutting Fujiwara on the temple and both guys are awesome at losing their temper and talking shit. Unusually for a Fujiwara match this wasn't about the arm, as Fujiwara is constantly moving Choshu into the corners and dragging him down and attacking his leg. FInish was pretty surprising as Fujiwara has a ankle lock variation and Choshu is pulling himself to the ropes to break, he gets almost their but can't take it and gives up. Seemed really abrupt, and that probably kept this from being an EPIC match, still excellent stuff, and Fujiwara really had a hell of a 1994

[Loss]

Excellent match. They really sell the drama like crazy, and these two do indeed have great chemistry. Fujiwara targets Choshu's leg. I love the snap and struggle to all the matwork, and Fujiwara's victory surprises me a little. Terrific - the best Fujiwara match I've seen in '94.

[Kevin Ridge]

Good match. Totally looks like Choshu is going to make the ropes while in the leglock and then taps. Quite surprising. I'm still not completely into Fujiwara but he has been impressive on this 1994 set though I still preferred in performance the most in the six man tag match.

[Exposer]

This was good. Both guys bring the intensity level pretty high with their impactful strikes. The detailed struggles on the mat are always nice and Fujiwara is definitely a master at it. The two indeed have great chemistry as well. I don't think I liked this as much as others but I still enjoyed it a good bit.

[soup23]

Between this and the 1987 match, these two guys have had some good 10 minute matches. This was very good and intense. All the submission holds looked tight and well applied and some had some interesting counters. The ending was surprising and on the surface abrupt, but pretty clever when reflecting back on it.

[PeteF3]

Another good match between two guys who know how to work--except Fujiwara is so much more dynamic and so much more of a threat than Yatsu at this stage. Very shoot-style ending as Fujiwara just gradually wears Choshu down until he has to tap to an anklelock in yet another surprise finish. This was really good on its own, but in the face of the rest of the G-1 it seems like yet another shortish match with a surprise-for-surprise-sake finish.

[Zenjo]

A few minutes of (proverbially) feeling each other out before tempers flared. Mr PWFG was on offence the majority of the time and gained the upset victory. Entertaining for what it was, but lack of ambition is a continual theme throughout this G1. It would've been interesting to see what these two could've done in a full length encounter.