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Keiji Mutoh and Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Fujiwara and Akira Maeda
on February 5th, 1987

Event: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Location: Tokyo Sumo Hall
Announced Attendance:  11,020

Fujinami and Maeda start things off. They circle each other, and Fujinami is reeled back by a Maeda kick. They jockey for position with neither getting the advantage, takedown by Maeda but Fujinami returns to his feet. Armdrag takedown by Fujinami and he applies an arm submission, but Maeda returns to his feet. Fireman's carry takeover by Maeda and he goes for Fujinami's arm. Maeda goes for a cross armbreaker but Fujinami rolls out of it and applies a reverse chinlock. Maeda Irish whips out of it but Fujinami shoulder blocks him down. Maeda grazes Fujinami's head with a heel kick, so Fujinami tags in Mutoh. Mutoh and Maeda circle each other, tie-up, Maeda takes Mutoh to the mat but Mutoh returns to his feet. Maeda tags in Fujiwara, Fujiwara and Mutoh circle each other, takedown by Fujiwara and he applies an arm submission. Fujiwara goes for the Fujiwara Armbar, but Mutoh dropkicks Fujiwara in the knee to get out of it. Mutoh goes for Fujiwara's leg and gets him down, but Fujiwara quickly reverses it. Mutoh gets into the ropes to break the hold, back up, side headlock by Mutoh but Fujiwara applies the Fujiwara Armbar. Mutoh rolls out of it, snapmare, Mutoh applies a reverse chinlock, snapmare, and Mutoh slaps on a headscissors. Fujiwara gets out of it and applies a cross kneelock, but Mutoh rolls over and tags in Fujinami. Fujinami and Fujiwara tie-up, Fujinami gets Fujiwara to the mat but Fujiwara pushes Fujinami into the corner and delivers a series of punches. Back in the middle of the ring, takedown by Fujinami and he goes for Fujiwara's arm, side headlock by Fujinami but Fujiwara gets out of it with a backdrop suplex. Headscissors by Fujinami and he tags in Mutoh. Mutoh comes in the ring with a diving knee drop, punches by Mutoh, but Fujiwara tags in Maeda. Mutoh and Maeda circle each other, tie-up, Irish whip by Maeda but Mutoh shoulderblocks him down. Mutoh goes off the ropes but Maeda catches him with a dropkick. Mutoh avoids the second dropkick but Maeda grabs Mutoh and hits a capture suplex for a two count cover. Modified sleeper by Maeda and he goes for the crossface chickenwing, but he can't get it locked in as Mutoh hiptosses out of it. Waistlock by Maeda and he delivers a German suplex hold for a two count. Maeda tags in Fujiwara, Fujiwara takes Mutoh to the mat and applies a headscissors. Mutoh rolls to the ropes to force a break, double arm suplex by Fujiwara but it gets a two count. Fujiwara tags in Maeda, who hits Mutoh with a heel kick. Backdrop suplex by Maeda, cover, but it gets two. Maeda slaps on the Scorpion Deathlock, but he releases the hold and tags in Fujiwara. Fujiwara puts Mutoh in a crab hold but Mutoh gets out of it. He can't tags in Fujinami in time however and Fujiwara applies a knee lock. Mutoh kicks out of it and finally tags in Fujinami, Irish whip by Fujinami to Fujiwara and he delivers a dropkick. Scoop slam by Fujinami but Fujiwara tags in Maeda. German suplex by Maeda to Fujinami but Mutoh breaks it up. Heel kick by Maeda, cover, but Fujinami kicks out of it. Backdrop suplex by Fujinami and he tags in Mutoh. Vertical suplex by Mutoh to Maeda, Irish whip to the corner and Mutoh delivers the Space Rolling Elbow. Backbreaker by Mutoh, he goes to the top turnbuckle but Maeda rolls out of the way of the moonsault. Mutoh lands on his feet, but Maeda catches him with a heel kick. More kicks by Maeda but Mutoh catches one and dumps Maeda over the top rope. Mutoh falls out as well and Maeda kicks Mutoh on the outside. Again Mutoh catches one and dumps them both over the guard rail. Maeda recovers first but they are counted out before they can return to the ring. Double Count Out.

Match Thoughts: Aside from the lame ending, not a bad little tag match. Mutoh was the standout in this match, as he put over Fujiwara and Maeda's moves before taking Maeda to the outside for the double countout. Course, both times Mutoh went out he didn't really go with Maeda and kinda had to throw himself over the top which took out some of the effect. The match felt like it should have been longer, like they were building to something with the matwork that ultimately wasn't critical to the match. But the last two or so minutes of in-ring were really good with Maeda being Maeda and Mutoh taking punishment while showing glimpses of goodness when he could get the upper hand. But the ending definitely took it down a peg. Score: 5.0


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