[1989-01-20-AJPW] Masanobu Fuchi vs Joe Malenko

[superkix]

What a nice find. A match mostly dominated by matwork, with some really good reversals and counters, especially from Malenko. I really liked how Malenko had Fuchi in the double arm hold and tripped him down into a butterfly lock. Fuchi works the arm for a bit and when Malenko bridges out of a hold, Fuchi armwhips him down and tries for the crossface chickenwing, but in a great counter, Joe hooks the leg to take Fuchi down to the mat before going back to the leg. Loved how Fuchi sells Malenko's holds and the annoyed expression on his face when he's able to escape. The finishing stretch is a suplex exhibition from Joe, who hits a snap fisherman suplex hold, a fallaway suplex into the pin, a German and finally, the Northern Lights suplex hold to pin Fuchi. Really good stuff.