Deluxe Figure Collection Kazuyuki Fujita figure review

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Hot on the tail of our last deluxe figure coverage, Blog #154 covers the Deluxe Figure Collection
Kazuyuki Fujita figure.

Released in 2001, Kazuki Fujita is the 8th figure in Toukon Shop's Deluxe Figure line.

Instead of removable entrance accessories or ring pieces, the deluxe Fujita figure comes
with two (2) NJPW IWGP championship belts.

The first belt being the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship that was first introduced
in 1987.

The second belt is another incarnation of the IWGP Championship that was issued in the
1990's.

And, if you were wondering, there was indeed a point in Fujita's career where he held
two IWGP Championships at the same time!

The back of the packaging contains Fujita's stats and a bio.


               


A loose example. The deluxe Kazuyuki Fujita figure would be Toukon Shop's second
Fujita figure (the first being released one year prior as part of the Super Star Figure
Collection - 34 back in 2000).






         



A zoomed-in view of the 2nd IWGP belt design.

From Youtube belt expert Wick's IWGP belt video CLICK HERE, Wick states that finding
replicas of the second IWGP belt design is nearly impossible on the market these days.








Unlike Fujita's first Toukon Shop figure, Fujita comes dressed in black trunks with black
and silver sneakers and added kneepads. Fujita is also sporting a shaved head this time
around as well.


  


The front and back of Fujita's trunks contains the word "SOUL". The back of
Fujita's trunks contain the caption "SOUL AEC TRADEMARK".

With a quick google search online, I found two shirt designs featuring Fujita
with the SOUL logo. I'm assuming it's some kind of clothing brand sponsorship
that Fujita was endorsing at the time.










Fujita's sneakers look like Nike or Addidas branded. Though (for legal reasons)
no such logo is present on the Fujita figure.


Closing thoughts:

In Japan, there was high expectations and plenty of fanfare for Kazuyuki Fujita.
Antonio Inoki himself treated Fujita as a protege in an ill-fated attempt at bringing
MMA into New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the early 2000's.

After Rickson Gracie brutally defeated Yoji Anjoh in the infamous Gracie dojo fight,
Antonio Inoki offered $5 Million dollars to Gracie to take on Kazuyuki Fujita in a
match on Japanese soil. For whatever reason, Rickson turned down the offer.

Outside of Japan, Kazuyuki Fujita is only revered by the most hardcore of MMA and
Japanese Pro-Wrestling fans. Even worse, Kazuyuki Fujita's popularity among
Puroresu figure collectors mostly comes down to the fact that the deluxe Fujita
figures comes bundled with two official NJPW Championship belts.

I've even had potential buyers ask me to open the packaging and sell the belts by
themselves without the Fujita figure!

Whether you appreciate the man's in-ring exploits or not, the Deluxe Figure
Collection Kazuyuki Fujita figure set was one of the very first examples of
a Japanese Pro-Wrestling figure packaged with two Championship belts.

A package that still entices collectors to this day.