Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara-UWF 25.10.1990.

A classic and a truly fascinating match, especially if you take their february match into account. Fujiwara comes out swinging early which sets the pace of the match-he rocks Takada with brutal punches and headbutts and establishes dominance early on. Takada is extremely cautious in his attacks against him having already been reversed in their february bout. The majority of the knockdowns don't really serve as nearfalls, rather their point is to establish who is in control off the match and set the stage for the finish. The exception to this is the last time Takada is knocked down as he falls down before just making it to his feet at the last second. That moment completely changes the atmosphere kicks off the finishing run. Takada's selling is crucial to the match quality-the way he wobbles after Fujiwara's Leglock and slowly falls down after a standing knock down in the corner keeps the crowd on their toes. Fujiwara's downfall is his character-whenever he goes for his usual quirks it costs him. Him laughing about finally getting Takada in a dangerous Leglock allowed Takada to counter it by palm striking the shit out of him and thus gaining one of his first openings in the match. Takada's strategy is to kick through Fujiwara-and he varies his kicks and strikes a lot due to Fujiwara's amazing defence. If he kicks too high too early he'll get reversed and leglocked. If he doesn't time a low kick well it's getting checked. That creates and unparalleled sense of struggle giving everything that happens importance, and the action itself is just epic-Takada kicking Fujiwara in the face is an amazing spot on its own but context allows it to truly bloom. *****