Here is Akira Maeda totally "not" doing Inoki spots
UWF Fighting Square Hakata - 24/07/1989
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Poor Nakano, having his nose and face busted within minutes. The skill level was so apparent in every regard. Even in looks and charisma, Funaki has in spades but that helped Nakano in this case. Here is someone who is matched up against someone above his level, and better in every way so he's going all out to prove otherwise. The Hakata crowd was firmly behind him. Funaki lights up Nakano with strikes, dominates him on the mat, all with the air of utter arrogance. ****
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Awesome 29 minute match. This has all the things you'd expect from Fujiwara and the best of Yamazaki, too, who can be a bit of a dud on his day. The grappling was excellent as always but the defensive side of it was the strongest aspect of the match rather than the offence. Even when Fujiwara was floored by Yamazaki, he'd twist and turn to block some of the kicks. They used the striking smartly with even Fujiwara throwing some low kicks to knock Yamazaki off balance enough with Yamazaki while trying to avoid getting them on his own. I loved it when he'd gloat and tease Yamazaki after he'd side step them. The finish is sick. Yamazaki busted Fujiwara's mouth open, causing it to bleed so Fujiwara headbutted him 4/5 times in the skull to cause the KO. I hope that was Fujiwara giving Yamazaki a receipt and the match was supposed to go 30 (that's a draw). That would make it so much better. Those are the best kinds of finishes - the ones that can be bought as either worked or shoot. ****1/2
UWF Midsummer Creation - 13/08/1989
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Shigeo Miyato
Super good opening match. The crowd was hot for the introductions and that carries over to the opening match between the rookie and the respected midcarder. Miyato is the clear senior of the two and he let's Tamura know with his approach to ground Tamura and not give him an inch. Tamura is plucky enough to gain some openings but he's put back down with strikes and loses ultimately. ***1/4
Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
This was incredible, like always. Both bring out each other's aggressive tendencies which inevitably turns them into being annoyed with each other, leading to Maeda kicking Fujiwara hard in the back after the rope break and Fujiwara nailing Maeda with running headbutts to the mouth. The grappling wasn't as tricked out as Fujiwara can offer. It was simple and basic but both were persistent and rugged with it. Maeda even had to ease up on an over the top shoulder lock to avoid snapping the arm long before the finish. The main component of the match was the striking. Even outside of the petty cheap shots. Fujiwara had some great hooks to the body and Maeda responded with his powerful kicks that break through Fujiwara’s defence, eventually causing the TKO after knocking him down three times with kicks to the left side of the torso. My favourite moment of the match was Akira Maeda living up to his initial role as the next Inoki after Fujiwara almost broke his patella with a kick. Maeda dropped to his knees and challenged Fujiwara to bring it. Fujiwara tested the waters a little but he didn't fancy it and Maeda got back on his feet. Obviously this is shoot style and you can't be doing “bullshit New Japan” spots so we got a UWF version of it and it's still incredible. It had me marking out big time. God bless Maeda. ****1/2
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