Transform From Koi Into A Beast, Dragon

Tatsumi Fujinami (c) VS Dynamite Kid - Stampede Wrestling WWF Junior Heavyweight Title 8/17/1979

JJZ: I've never been one to pretend to know more than I actually do, and late 70s early 80s wrestling is an area I'm not super knowledgeable in. So from my perspective this match is way ahead of it's time. A big reason I picked it besides it being very good is I'm eager to hear your thoughts. I do know that Dynamite was a trendsetter in the world of wrestling so that isn't much of a surprise to me. But what is a surprise is Fujinami in this match. If I had to describe him to someone it wouldn't be like this. So again CJD your point of view is something I'm excited for. Great back and forth in this match with a pumped crowd. The pops for little things really got me in this one. The quickness matched with the aggressiveness made for a captivating watch.

CJD: Trading voicemails back and forth leading up to finally making time for this match, I could hear a level of excitement in your voice that I knew meant you found something special. So first off big thanks to Nik Bali for the upload and an entire treasure trove of Stampede and AJPW goodness to explore. And yes, I think no matter what your familiarity of wrestling from this era, this is indeed a special kind of match. It immediately transports you to a moment in time. Fujinami's jacket! Dynamite's mop of hair! That crowd! This match rules. They are so hot for Fujinami and Dynamite is such a sly grimey heel. I wonder how he projects a believable grumpy bastard so effectively. Huh. Fujinami was definitely a bit of a different beast as a junior heavyweight but that babyface fire that we saw VS Vader is still very much his strong suit here. There's so much that stuck with me about this match that it's hard to recap. But I'll close my thoughts out with this. Consider when you watch this, that every bit of the psychology is built around beating the other man, and beating him badly. This is such an exciting, workrate focused match, which I think is what you're getting at John with how ahead of it's time it was. But they didn't lay this out to impress the crowd with the depths of their talent as performers, they executed this match to impress with their skill as competitors. They just happened while doing so to deliver a gangbusters spectacle of a performance. There's a lot to be learned in this one! And a lot to enjoy as fans.