[1991-10-24-AJPW-October Giant Series] Masa Fuchi vs Dan Kroffat

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Awesome match that I wish we could have seen in full. What we got had Fuchi doing his typical cavalier heel act to great results while Kroffat sold the fuck out of his knee. I think the finish was built to create rematches that I'd love to see if they ever happened, but the few minutes we got were excellent.

[Ditch]

We did get rematches, though IIRC all were JIP.

[PeteF3]

If Kroffat had gotten the opportunity to work matches like this in the WWF, then maybe the team could have gotten over as babyfaces after all. He pulls off the sympathetic babyface act beautifully here, though it helps that he's working opposite a master in body part dickery in Fuchi. Kroffat gets in some great hope spots but Fuchi just methodically tears the knee apart until he wins by referee stoppage.

[Kevin Ridge]

Kroffat’s knee is already injured as joined in progress. Fuchi must have been all over it from the opening bell. Furnas throws the towel in but Kroffat tosses it back out as he wants to continue. Showing good fight. Fuchi is great at continuing to go at the knee. Too bad this wasn’t full too see everything leading up to the referee stoppage.

[soup23]

Man Fuchi has been the man in October. He was a complete dick throughout this match working over the leg and leading to a logical finish. Kroffat was very sympathetic and timed his short bursts and comebacks well. Awesome little stuff that I wont rank because of how little we saw overall but enjoyed immensely.

[El-P]

This match reminds me why I was buying all those AJ TV blocks from Lynch in the early 00's.

[garretta]

We didn't see a whole lot of this, but what we did see was a master class in tearing up a body part taught by Professor Fuchi. Almost every move he makes is targeted to the knee, and although Kroffat tries to keep fighting bravely, even throwing the towel Furnas tossed to stop the match back at him, the referee eventually sees enough and awards the match to Fuchi over Kroffat's heated objections.

 

Does anyone think Kroffat could/should have been disqualified for throwing the referee around so much? I've seldom seen anyone abuse Japanese refs the way Kroffat did while he was still ambulatory. Could the ref have been a dojo student who needed to learn how to bump and sell in the referee's role?

[dawho5]

Referee was Wada Kyohei. I'm not sure if he is head referee yet, but he will be very soon if he isn't. Easily my favorite referee ever. Kroffat and Fuchi were both brilliant in their roles here. Kroffat seemed like he was channeling Kobashi as the match went on. I liked the part where Kroffat decided he'd had enough and just started punching the fuck out of Fuchi. So before Fuchi goes back to the leg he repays that in kind because, well, he's Fuchi goddammit. Usually these juniors matches are meant as midcard, get the crowd riled up type deals but these two made this so much more.