Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Fujiwara was the first graduate of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo (Mr. Pogo was the first debutante in the promotion, but he and Gran Hamada had trained with Tatsumi Fujinami before he and Antonio Inoki left the Japanese Wrestling Association).

All the while, Fujiwara remained a strong member of the undercard, but rarely would he get opportunities for big singles matches or tag teams with better-known stars.

On February 2, 1984, however, all that would change when Fujiwara appeared before a match to attack Riki Choshu, then the promotion's main villain.

In 1989, however, Fujiwara felt the need to continue shoot-style wrestling, also due to the rise of Choshu in backstage politics, so he moved to the UWF with Funaki and Suzuki.

Problems involving the collapsing Japanese economy and the essence of Fujiwara Gumi's wrestling, however, forced its roster to assess their individual futures.

Funaki, Suzuki, Fuke and Takahashi, apparently unsettled by the "performing" direction Fujiwara was taking, abandoned him in late 1993 to form Pancrase.

Fujiwara already had back-up talent - Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda, Minoru Tanaka, Mamoru Okamoto, Muhammad Yone, and Shoichi Funaki.

In 1995, he had a major role in the Toshihiro Sato movie Roppongi Soldier along with Satoru Sayama and Itsumi Osawa, playing an eccentric kickboxer named Sabu.