[1986-08-05-NJPW] Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Tag Team Champions Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido - NJPW 8/5/86

The inaugural IWGP Tag Team Champions were crowned in the previous Tag Team League in December of 85 when Fujinami & Kimura defeated the old guard of Inoki & Sakaguchi. They were still in their first reign. Then they ran into shoot kicking Akira Maeda and his his buddy Kido. I have never seen Kido before and he was fine, nothing too special based on this viewing. 

This match completely hinged on Maeda. I say the same thing over and over about Maeda. If he was doing worked kickboxing, he would be an all-time great. He is boring as hell on the mat. He is even worse than Takada for me at least. I am still trying to figure out Fujinami. I like big personalities. He doesnt have one. He is very good but I have not seen his ability to take over a match in the way a true GOAT candidate can. To me this was definitely a Maeda, just like the Hogan and Brody matches were Hogan & Brody matches. Fujinami & Maeda do some adequate chaining at the beginning the only thing that bothered me was the cross-armbreaker sell by Fujinami was not at the level I wanted it to be. Kido came in and just was all punt kicks. I dig that. Fujinamic catches the third one. Dragon Leg Screw. I have seen a couple Kimura matches and I like him. He pretty easily handles Kido. Piledriver and Fujinami comes in & applies a Scorpion Deathlock. Kido wisely tags out. Maeda just comes in like a whirlwind throwing high kicks with reckless abandon! The match heats up! Fujinami catches and tries to convert it into a Scorpion Deathlock but Maeda has tree trunks for legs and converts into a Single Leg and then a Full Boston Crab. Great form. Fujinami tags out. MAEDA KNOCKS KIMURA'S LIGHTS OUT! Damn. That's the beauty of Maeda I guess. You dont whats shoot and work. That legitimately looked like it was not pulled. Kimura "sold" it like he was fucking out. Maeda being Maeda sits in the laziest leglace you'd ever seen and then releases him and he throws him into Fujinami. Thats doesnt amount to much. What I liked was when Fujinami went to tag in Kimura he was busy using a towel to check his teeth. Kimura is selling loopy well as him and Kido dont do much. Maeda comes in and fells him with one kick. The cross-armbreaker sell is weak. The ref is trying to protect a groggy Kimura and Maeda blitzes him with kicks. Kimura SWEEPS THE LEG AND SLAPS MAEDA! As a Maeda hater, I enjoyed that. Fujinami & Maeda work a great criss-cross sequence ending with a nice Rainbow Spinning Heel Kick by Maeda. All the heat is on Maeda & Fujinami! This is about two months after their insane heated IWGP League match in June when Maeda busted Fujinami open hardway. Maeda goes for the same rolling Koppou Kick and MISSES! Fujinami pounces with a Figure-4 in an electric moment! Maeda tags out in the hold and Kido crashes down on Fujinami. Fujinami Saito Suplex and Kimura delivers the same. Kimura calls for a big move and hits a running knee into a Scorpion Deathlock, but Maeda smokes him with a kick to break. Butterfly Suplex. Looked like he was going to go for a Gutwrench Suplex when Kido countered into a pin. Everyone Fujinami, the ref, Kido and Maeda are shocked that was the finish! As was I and the crowd! 

The Maeda kicks were electric. Everything else was fine. Cant go much higher than ***3/4