Video link to the match on YouTube : https://youtu.be/jRC9NuFQVPE



Cagematch page for this match(Some matches won’t have this because they aren’t listed on Cagematch)

Who’s Who?

Tatsumi Fujinami

Tatsumi Fujinami is considered by many to be one of the best Puro talents to every lace up boots. At this time he was still a Junior Heavyweight and positioned that way. By this point Fujinami had won the NWA World International Junior Heavyweight Champion and WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion twice and was still holding the WWF Junior title. Soon he would grow past the Junior Heavyweight Division in 1983 capturing his first Heavyweight Title the WWF International Heavyweight Champion and later the UWA Heavyweight and even later than that becoming one of the main names associated with the IWGP Heavyweight title once that was made and became the main belt of NJPW in 1987. The only man to hold the belt more times than Tatsumi Fujinami is the more contemporary name Hiroshi Tanahashi.



Tatsumi Fujinami has a career full of classics, but probably became most widely known to The United States fanbase in 1991 when at an event called 1991 Starrcade in the Tokyo Dome Fujinami beat Ric Flair in a match where Flair put up his NWA Heavyweight Championship vs Fujinami’s own IWGP Championship. Fujinami would then go to The States to drop it back in a rematch where both put up belts again, this time Flair had the WCW to Fujinami’s NWA at an event titled WCW SuperBrawl - “Return Of The Rising Sun”.

NJPW worked with lots of companies over Fujinami’s tenure which meant he worked in places most might not think. UWA, Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Stampede, Championship Wrestling From Florida, WCWA, WWF and ECW. He was in NJPW until in 2007 he decided to found his own promotion Dradition Pro Wrestling which is a fairly small indie company in Japan which he still owns to this day. He has worked at least 1 match each year in that promotion since founding it, though he has yer to work there in 2018.

El Solitario

As of the time this match happened El Solitario was the most seasoned of the four and the most famous. Being a star in EMLL and debuting in 1960 while the rest of the field all made their debuts in the 1970′s. So Solitario is the relative veteran here. Being a Mexican superstar while the rest of these guys were just starting to make an impact. Much like Solar a bit of Solitario’s history is lost to the record books. Though magazines and other publications from the 60’s and 70s featured him and his many peers. By the time Solitario was in this match he had already had 4 three hundred plus day reigns with 4 different UWA or NWA branded belts.

Sadly, unlike the rest of the guys in this match El Solitario is no longer with us. In 1986 at the age of 39 he suffered an injury in the ring. Which ended up resulting in internal bleeding, he died on the operating table. At the time one of the biggest names in Lucha Libre. Although he may be gone, his son El Hijo del Solitario continues to carry his legacy. Mostly in the indies, though he was in major companies all of the 90′s and into the early 2000′s. His son currently being 46 and age that the original Solitario sadly never saw.

How is the match?

Very very good, I’d say the best match covered so far this month. Fujinami has some excellent headscissors takedown and nice suplexes, with Solitario trying to slow down the contest and keep Fujinami from working the pace he likes by keeping him grounded. By modern standards this probably won’t blow anyone away, but it is one of the oldest matches we will cover this week. This is a continuation of these two having a long rivalry. This was the 3rd and final time the two met for the a belt. First was the UWA World Light Heavyweight Title which Solitario retained, then WWF Junior Heavyweight which ended in a tie which allowed Fujinami to retain and then this match where Fujiwara finally slays the luchador who he couldn’t put away last time. This match is a little shorter than I’d like with 12 minutes of action, but there two icons do a fine job within that given time. I don’t know if I’d call it great, but more than worth a watch to see two of the biggest guys from Mexico/Japan clashing.