There are a lot of things that separate the good from the great and then, a level past that, the great from the exceptional, or the all-timers. You have your own, I have a lot of ones that come to mind, it’s a prompt with some extensive answers that often do not frequently overlap, and now is not the time to list every single one.
One of the things that can really make that distinction for me though is just what happens when it doesn’t matter all that much.
For example, I find it very instructive to look at not only what someone does in a match in which they have a main event spotlight and time, and essentially, the runway to do just about anything, but what happens absent those things. It’s not to say it is easy to have a great match of any kind, it seems much easier to have a bad match of any length than a good one of any length, but a short great match is so much more impressive than the alternative. When looking at these matches and the performances in them, the occasion matters too, like said sub-ten minute match also happening in the middle of a card and being a pseudo-squash. Essentially, I like to look at circumstances under which many other wrestlers would mail it in or tone it down or simply not deliver the best work they are capable of.
Given under ten minutes in a showcase against a wrestler in Niikura — who is far from bad but not really anyone of note and whose most known work to some fans might be as half of the so-inappropriately-named-that-it-becomes-comical Viet Cong Express in Stampede with an on-excursion Hiroshi Hase — many wrestlers would and have taken it a little bit easier.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara does not do that, and the match is great as a result.
That’s not only why this is so impressive on Fujiwara’s end, performance wise, but it’s also the narrative push that helps make this a borderline great match.
Fumihiro Niikura has no business in there, let alone in there in the way he puts himself in there. Constantly taking shots off of breaks, going after everything, and generally being ambitious in a way that not only has his head out far over his skis, but in a way that seems irresponsibly dangerous for his own health. Everyone always talks about the old standard trope of a rookie trying it in a tag before being abused by your standard mean veteran and not without cause, but there’s a comparable thrill here in what Fujiwara does. Being shocked and offended, but saving it until that revenge can not only be gained much easier, but in a way that also allows the younger wrestler to build up confidence before it’s crushed. There’s a thrill to the more popular way to do this that’s undeniable, but the approach of Fujiwara offers up a rebuttal that I find so much crueler and more interesting.
On a performance level, it is one of those Fujiwara masterclasses, and among my favorite yet.
Not only is the match full of these wonderful looks, like when Niikura first gets him when Fujiwara isn’t expecting him or when he finally gets him later on, but every single motion Fujiwara makes brings something to the match. Be it those sly little looks or bigger things, like how he keeps dodging late match attempts by a now hurt Niikura to repeat earlier success, or most of all to really spell it out, putting more effort into a routine hold than most within this style ever had before or would in the future, everything he does makes this a better and more interesting match. That’s not to say this is a one man show or anything like that. Niikura’s strikes are all good looking and sounding and his selling of his left arm after the Fujiwara Armbar is not only mechanically great, but the perfect complement to Fujiwara’s renewed cockiness at having his ass now, making the match better in his own right.
It’s not a match that leaps off the page. It’s basically a Fujiwara showcase, Niikura could be just about anyone with a base level of skill, and it is bare bones as hell on paper.
None of that matters.
Fujiwara baits him again at the end, capturing the legs of Niikura inside cradle style when going into a double wristlock (aka Kimura) takeover, holding him upside down there, and the poor guy has no other recourse but submission.
The match does not leap off the page, but it’s one of those that rewards those who give thing like this a chance. Brutal both in spirit and physicality, always interesting, and it does that in a real tight window. Deeply impressive pro wrestling, as expected when handled by one of the all time masters.
One of the great one-man showcases in the history of this little project.
HANDWERK 