[1985-09-06-UWF] Osamu Kido vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara

[Ma Stump Puller]

Kido's role in this UWF is fascinating. He's not a dominant force and mostly doesn't win matches against the big top card talent, but he's always positioned as a threat that gives them a lot of trouble. There's never a match where he feels like a afterthought despite him having zero strikes or any particular fancy moves to show off, instead just being a super ironed down grappler that you can't sleep on else he snaps on some obscure Gotch-taught move to escape. A main struggle in this match is Kido's defence and trickiness throwing Fujiwara off, especially when Kido has actually beaten the guy already, so you get that sense that this is not a good matchup for him. Seeing these two follow every hold to its logical conclusion is so satisfying, from the struggle over multiple Kido's Scorpion Death Lock attempts being more and more successful as fatigue sets in to the two drawing out the reactions to the throws used (the ones that Fujiwara uses especially, you can see the clogs moving before they happen and Kido at times even tries to convey him resisting it by hooking a leg or whatnot for leverage). There's good focus on the double wrist lock here as Kido keeps finding ways to either apply it or counter Fujiwara's versions, which leads to frustration, which leads to more mistakes, which then leads to even more frustration! They built up it up great with Fujiwara doing a bunch of cheap shots from clean breaks, typically little bitchy slaps and stuff that didn't even make a difference, he just wanted to be petty. Kido eventually just boots him in the face during a lockup to knock him down after tolerating the little shit for too long. What's funny is that Fuji STILL hasn't learnt anything and tries the same move for zero result lol.

As much as people love technical grandpa Fujiwara or as a angry headbutter, petty diva is probably one of his more fun incarnations, especially with how much mileage he gets from his cheating antics as he loses patience trying to keep this clean and just goes full tilt into being a ass. Him finally snapping and going for his signature headbutts felt great as both a outlet to do his cool headbutts while conceding the pure technical side of things to his opponent, unable to find any definitive cracks to poke at. Kido responds with more power moves when Fuji gets too comfortable afterwards, and he's basically lost all of that progress as soon as he's got it. He works over the legs in desperation while Kido also gets a really tense armbreaker snapped on. The finish works well with the tempo this has set as Kido lands another backdrop out of a desperate headlock, however leaves his arm exposed to a double wrist lock while he's trying for one himself and forcing him to submit. All in all, a solid sleeper hit of Original UWF, the kind of match that Fujiwara excels in with his mounting anger and befuddled nature really making this something more than the usual main event jaunt. Kido's not the most varied worker out there and he's not exactly a ball of charisma by comparison to his opponent, but there's just something about him that makes audiences really want to see him succeed. It's kind like that Marty Jones vibe, just a clean-cut technical underdog. You really see *that* kind of style, especially in such a technical match like this. Mat work is a bit simplified compared to more modern shoot-style performances if you look close, I'd say all things considered it's not to the detriment of the match plus this is more about the interactions alongside the work as opposed to just the work, if you catch my drift. Probably one of Kido's best performances all year and a good highlight of what he can do with a game opponent.