Gauntlet Ten Man Tag Team Match: Team U.W.F. (Akira Maeda, Kazuo Yamazaki, Nobuhiko Takada, Osamu Kido & Yoshiaki Fujiwara) vs. Team New Japan (Keiichi Yamada, Kengo Kimura, Seiji Sakaguchi, Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsumi Fujinami) - NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 - Day 17 01/05/1986
Everyone knows how great these gauntlet matches are. Even though the 1984 Gauntlet was superior to this match - due to a better selection of matches in the middle with Kido having a few pedestrian matches - this still is absolutely great in many ways. It's filled with great individual performances, matches that link into the other and the overarching story of the whole match and climaxes pretty much as well as you'd want. Yamada vs Takada was the perfect opening bout. Both popular Juniors, Takada in particular, who have a seriously heated match. Yamada (Pre-Liger) puts in a super effort against the larger Takada. Kimura is out-matched by Fujiwara but he opens up a hint of vulnerability that Fujinami was able to exploit somewhat by drawing blood and draining Fujiwara of some stamina. Fujiwara vs Fujinami itself was exceptional with excellent selling by Fujinami, critical strategy implemented by the crafty Fujiwara who, at several points, tried to get he and Fujinami counted out which would've given UWF and Akira Maeda the win by proxy and a great finishing stretch where Maeda was able to pick what was left of Fujinami apart. The only flaw of the match was the Kido stretches of the match. And that's not a knock on Kido at all but the matches were short, not very memorable and only served to link the beginning to the end. It seemed like a waste of Koshinaka, if you ask me. Nevertheless, you can't go wrong watching this in full. It's an exciting match that pays off well. ****1/2
Well that's the overall review that I did. Here is the match-by-match breakdown:
Yamada/Takada - What a start to the match. The crowd is thunderously hot as Takada is a huge star already and Yamada (Pre-Liger) is a rising machine who is insanely talented. The match is mostly worked on the mat with Takada leading the grappling but Yamada's drive continuously causes him troubles. Yamada has some great shining moments and looks credible to upset Takada, but Yamada ultimately falls to a kneebar.
Takada/Sakaguchi - Short match which makes sense ater Takada’s surprisingly grueling match with Yamada taking a lot of energy out of him. The crafty veteran picks Takada apart with patient waiting and eventually scores the sub win with the rack
Sakaguchi/Yamazaki - Yamazaki is a young pup so the result was not in doubt, but he put in a hell of a fight, earning a Sakaguchi handshake after the match.
Sakaguchi/Kido - Sakaguchi is on his last legs and while he hits a brutal high knee, the match is rather easy for Kido who wins soon after.
Kido/Koshinaka - Such an interesting finish - protecting your Jr Heavyweight champion with a DQ loss. The match honestly didn’t have a lot going for it outside of some mundane grappling and a hip attack or two though.
Kido/Kimura - Short, precise.
Kimura/Fujiwara - excellent match. Kimura attacks and bloodys Fujiwara up as he is making his entrance. Kimura tries to go for the kill but Fujiwara is the master of working on the defensive and snuffs Kimura out with his outstanding grappling kill and hard headbutts. Fujiwara picks Kimura apart on the mat. Kimura has the crowd’s support but he is out of his depth and eventually succumbs to the animal that is Fujiwara.
Fujiwara/Fujinami - Glorious mini-match. Fujiwara has two aims; hurt Fujinami as much as he can for Maeda to pick apart or cause a double count out, giving the UWF the win. He fails to do the latter despite many tries - the struggle in those attempts was amazing with Fujinami desperately trying to squirm out of Fujiwara’s grasp and into the ring - but he fucks Fujinami up badly with his brawling and headbutts. Fujiwara got cut in the Kimura match but Fujinami was leaking blood all around the ring and on Fujiwara. Fujinami just sneaked the back slide pin but Fujinami is seriously hurt and Fujiwara knows it.
Fujinami/Maeda - No one, and I mean no one, sells being dangerously close to being out but still willing to fight better than Fujinami. Maeda is picking Fujinami apart with his kicks from every angle, opening up Fujinami even more than he already is but Fujinami is still fighting, still fighting for the win. His hope spots are tremendous, and genuinely make you think a miracle is going to happen, but Maeda keeps his composure and continues his game plan until the referee has to call it for Fujinami who is out on his feet. Fujinami tries to continue to fight after the match, not accepting the defeat before everyone stops him from going after Maeda who is as calm as you can be. But what a bossing performance by Maeda. Fujinami is exemplary with his babyface performance himself with outstanding selling and fire. Classic finish.
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