10 Most Shocking NJPW Upsets

6. Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi - IWGP Tag Team League - Day 25

Okada Naito
New Japan World

Antonio Inoki's legacy is complicated; he is both the creator and very nearly the destroyer of the very company.

The company found itself embroiled in scandal by the mid-1980s; Inoki and Vice President Seiji Sakaguchi stepped down (only to mysteriously return) after it emerged that the former had embezzled NJPW live event profits and funnelled them into his failing bio-tech supplement company. This, in addition to the stranglehold Inoki seized over the top of the card, compelled several name acts to depart the company, creating offshoot renegade and shoot-style promotions in the form of Japan Pro-Wrestling and the Universal Wrestling Federation.

With the problems traceable to Inoki, Inoki removed the focus from himself as the IWGP governing body added a fictional coherence to a company in chaos. Fans had clamoured to see the vastly influential technical wizard Tatsumi Fujinami reign over the jungle, and on this night, he emerged, using his fighting spirit and advanced scientific nous to reverse Inoki's old school abdominal stretch with his state-of-the-art, innovated Dragon suplex.

A finish and indeed a match based on succession, that Inoki very rarely lost, much less to a fellow native, much less cleanly, put Fujinami over as an established main event talent.

(Should you wish to learn more about New Japan's fascinating history, Chris Charlton's Lion's Pride comes highly recommended.)

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!