[1980-09-30-NJPW-Bloody Fight Series] Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ron Starr

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-09-30
NJPW - Fan Appreciation Super Fight
Tatsumi Fujinami (c) vs. Ron Starr
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match
Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Card
★★★★

For the first ten minutes or so this seemed like a nice little showcase for Fujinami to do his stuff and that Starr was a capable enough canvas to not have to be carried along for the ride. However at the midpoint Starr took over and he really got his hands dirty here. It almost followed an extended shine -> heat structure which I thought worked really nicely. 
Fujinami’s shine had him handling the bigger Starr with a number of headlock takedowns. If Starr showed any sign of gaining an advantage Fujinami would merely turn on the afterburners and blitz him into submission and we went back to the control. Eventually Starr had enough and resorted to bending the rules, in this case with a sneaky hair pull or two, then he grabbed an arm and went to work. His arm work here was fantastic. I think he had at least three variations that he used over a several minute stretch, the best being a simple arm bar that he really yanked up on, giving the impression he was seriously wearing Fujinami down. Once they were both standing, Starr continued the beat down with vicious strikes and clubbing blows before they transitioned to the slug it out finale. 
Fujinami’s win, with a surprise Dragon Screw and a flash transition into a deep Full Boston Crab, wasn’t a surprise, but the dual exhaustion selling by the end felt really earned and the little peaks that they built to down the stretch, like Fujinami’s tope or Starr hitting a Brainbuster from the apron gave, this a somewhat epic feel. Two absolute bangers back to back for Fujinami to close the month.

[tcg91]

I feel like this was a bit of a mismatch and they didn't find enough chemistry along the way, which is a shame because Fujinami was on form and he showed a lot of fire. Was it Starr's fault then? I wouldn't say so either, but he looked a bit clumsy in the heat segment and that's not ideal for a heel. I liked his armwork though, he looked like a threat and Fujinami's selling definitely helped here. The finish was fine as well, even though it was a bit too rushed for me. Seeing Starr tapping to a boston crab, after no legwork at all, was a bit strange, as that was not even a finisher for Fujinami.
***

[TheBean]

A very good match that felt a little slow in the middle. When this was cooking, it was hot. But when Starr was working the arm in the middle, it didn't keep my interest. Re-reading SAMS entry, he liked Starr's armwork. So, take that into consideration. That sounds like the lynchpin between this being a very good or great match. I really liked the rest of Starr's offense. He and Fujinami have really good chemistry. He almost felt like the junior version of Stan Hansen...technical when he needs to be but a rough neck at heart. So, it's something I would recommend checking out 🙂