[1980-06-05-NJPW] Tatsumi Fujinami vs Bob Backlund

[SAMS]

1980-06-05
NJPW
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bob Backlund
Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan
Card
★★★

This is the best I’ve seen Backlund work an opening mat exchange. He and Fujinami were struggling to gain advantages in holds and he was able to do away with the usual faux-amateur stuff that I don’t think he’s very good at. There was a nice sequence where he had one of Fujinami’s legs and was trying to get the other to take him down and Fujinami did a great job of maintaining his balance on the one leg and brushing Backlund’s advances away at the same time. Eventually Bob had had enough and just wrenched Fujinami to the mat using his free arm.
This was set up to be a real classic, but I think they both settled into their comfort zones a little too much during the middle portion and we got headlock city. This can usually be dull as dishwater but they did well to keep this engaging, however it definitely wasn’t my preferred route for them to take this match.
The finish however was a major comeback as the desperation kicked in. We had suplexes and reversals and it felt like any move could be the finisher. Fujinami dropped Backlund with a beautifully savage Gut Wrench Suplex but Backlund endured and, after a little tease, flung Fujinami with a Butterfly Suplex for a near fall. In the end Backlund was able to do an O’Connor Roll into a bridge to put Fujinami away.
This was an okay match bookended by an excellent start and finish. Backlund showed some of his best work to date and Fujinami continues to impress. I thought this could have been great if they committed to a bit more escalation in the middle third, but for an exhibition of sorts, they definitely delivered.