RINGS 1/23/93: MEGA BATTLE TOURNAMENT 92: GRAND FINAL

Mega Battle Tournament 1992: Grand Final
January 23, 1993 in Tokyo, Japan
NK Hall drawing 6,570

It is only two days later (blog time, not RINGS time [which would be a month]) but I remain really very charged-up about Chris Dolman's entirely stunning (to me) hiza-hishigi defeat of Akira Maeda in the second MEGA BATTLE TOURNAMENT 92: SEMI-FINALS semi-final. Would it be overstating the matter to position Dolman's victory in the broader context of other large-Dutch-judoman triumphs over Japanese græppling that would include among them those of Anton Geesink, Willem Ruska, and Mark Huizinga? To me it is not overstating it all that much at all, other than that this one was fake, and also I am reminded by the mere mention of his name that I really should check and see if NJPW World has the MSG Tag League matches where Willem Ruska and "Bad News" Allen Coage were a team because that is extremely the team, in my view, just extremely the team. 

For the first time since we began this journey we have formally titled TK Scissors but which is commonly called RINGS Blog, we witness a parade of fighters that does not end with Akira Maeda: in deference to their Mega Battle finalism, it is Dick Fry (Dirk Vrij) and Chris Dolman who come out last, although it is Maeda alone who speaks. Except then it isn't, as also addressing the crowd is Dutch judo (9th dan) and kyokushin (10th dan) and European mixed-fight elder statesman Jon Bluming! That's unexpected! Bluming's direct relevance here is that he is Chris Dolman's coach (and indeed sensei) but his place in the martial arts more broadly was secured years before when he kind of did just about everything, like hang out with Donn Draeger in Tokyo and defeat Kaminaga and Inokuma to earn his judo yodan (so the legends tell), train under Mas Oyama for years before mysteriously falling out with him (who could say or know), feud with Anton Geesink (who was not known to be a jerk so conclude what you will about this situation), coach Willem Ruska, who you may recall as having been the best, and exhibit a high enough taste level to have spent a year (1958) teaching judo at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada's Dalhousie University, a venerable institution that has produced not only prime ministers (several of Canada, and one of Fiji, although that guy is kind of a coup-based guy so I don't know) and artists and scholars and subjects and citizens of both great distinction and humble worth but also kind of a lot of pretty good judo if you add up all of the judo and then also evaluate it qualitatively. Look, I even found an article from the Dalhousie Gazette:  

Let us all enjoy a Judo, fellows.

If Jon Bluming teaching for a year at Dalhousie as he tried to make his way back to Tokyo (he took the long way) does not fill you with a sense of judo's internationalism, to say nothing of its techniques (limitless) and its spirit (sublime), then we are very different people, you and me, and that's okay, but now that we know that about ourselves let us try and find that which might unite us (it could be judo). 

And look at how well he is keeping, this Jon Bluming: 

He looks big and strong and well, and though I am almost unbelievably in no place to judge anyone's Japanese, his totally sounds like Japanese to me! He was about to turn sixty when we see him here on this day of Mega Battle, and twenty-three years later he is with us still, and remains involved in the martial arts, as I understand it, both through his schools and through the occasional interview where he takes pains to point out that none of the Gracies wanted anything to do with Chris Dolman at any point, despite Dolman's eagerness. He is proud of his student!

I could go on feeling moved about a 1958 clipping from a school newspaper all day (actually that is how I spent yesterday), but let us attend instead to the matter at hand. RINGS officials from around the FIGHTING NETWORK are introduced at ringside and acknowledged politely by the crowd, lending these Mega Battle finals an air of ceremony. Slow motion, soft-voiced replays show us not just the tournament highlights one would perhaps expect here, but also an explanation of the rules as they currently stand, and they are as we had sort of figured, but here they are for sure: five downs are a TKO, and three rope breaks equate to one down. This is the best part:

Mitsuya Nagai and Masayuki Naruse open this evening's account in an extremely non-tournament bout that I expect to be good! Naruse looks about a foot shorter than I remember him, and we should I think attribute ten of those twelve apparent inches to my faulty memory but the other two inches perhaps to Naruse bulking up a bit, which changes things visually doesn't it. Nagai knocks him down early, but Naruse fires ups and throws with a kubi-nage headlock takeover but it is only a moment before they are back to their feet and it is Nagai who throws and then hooks a heel until a rope escape. Oh, Naruse: that spinning heel kick was terrible. Also, Maeda is probably going to do like an infinity of those later so maybe settle down with them? Nagai goes for precisely the same application of hiza-hishigi that Dolman used to overcome Maeda, so maybe this is going to be the hot new waza? Naruse had better watch it, I think, with slinging dudes right up onto his shoulder and doing what I believe is categorized in Fire Pro as a waterwheel drop, because it looks way less real than things should look here. Or perhaps that is on his uke for not struggling appropriately? In truth I feel both are to blame. Naruse, on the whole, is getting creamed here like the fermented yak butter that goes in a kind of tea enjoyed in the Himalayas I heard about on CBC radio last night, and let me say that my experience of students (literature, not judo, in this instance) from the Himalayas who make it over here to study is that they are pretty serious about their studies and I admire them very much. Nagai finishes with juji-gatame like so many before him.

Sotir Gotchev against Todor Todorov of Bulgaria, as in the Todor Todorov of Bulgarian judo? So far he is driving knees into Todorov's body from a fairly wacky (not to be confused with waki, haha) armlock which is I suppose a kind of judo (impure). HOLY SHIT his ippon-seoi-nage was as pure as driven snow though, the commentator was perfectly correct to describe it as IIIIIIIPONZEOOOOOIIIIIIIIIII. It was as the work of Koga, this seoi-nage, or Nakanishi, or indeed Inokuma Yawara. Oh man he has a heck of a harai-goshi, too! That's a hip sweep! And what a hip sweep! His juji-gatame attacks are credible but not overwhelming and this is not Sotir Gotchev's first outing, is it, so he finds his way to the ropes when he needs to. Gotchev's throws here have been of the arching-ura-nage-from-bear-hug classification and themselves a delight, if different in not only execution but also in spirit from Todorov's. Todorov just did de-ashi-barai, the advancing foot sweep! This is getting subtler by the moment! All subtly disappears, though, when Gotchev hoists Todorov up in a te-guruma/sukui-nage bodyslam position and walks around with him a little bit before slamming him down, and the Tokyo Bay NK Hall people are not having its unreal theatrics, not to the point of booing, but with absolutely no reaction to the throw (and this crowd likes throws). They prefer, and are in my view correct to prefer, when Gotchev nearly does a murder with his second bear-hug-ura-nage. Gotchev's kata-guruma/shoulder-wheel/fireman's carry seems likely to be countered by juji-gatame but Gotchev slips out, takes the back with his hooks curiously be neatly securing a single weirdly-bent leg, and sinks the hadaka-jime to finish this imperfect but strong bout that had some great things in it at 10:56. The moments where they lost the crowd through slight instances of slight fakery where telling! I think a process that is well underway here is the RINGS crowd's rising expectations of vraisemblance (truth-seeming): the only time they will accept techniques that do not appear totally and completely and immediately shoot-credible is in a match heated to the level of say a Maeda bout, where they are so overwhelmed with emotion not to notice or mind at once; only when real emotion rises to its peak can they overlook sub-real techniques, and I wouldn't even want to push that too hard at this point, these crowds seem discerning. Like, they started out discerning, but almost two years into this, they are discerrrrrrrnnnnninnnnng.     

Here comes Yoshihisa Yamamoto, whose hair is somewhat floppier and whose acne seems to be improving a little but is still an affliction and curse. I like him, and also Yoshinori Nishi, so am ready to enjoy! From a tight, close clinch, Nishi takes Yamamoto down with a kosoto-gake outside hook, and takes the back ably, before sliding up for a rolling juji-gatame but kind of blows it, and so now it is Yamamoto who has the back (such is the way of things). Something to watch out for, I think, is the way Nishi crosses his legs when he has the back, which could leave him vulnerable to the hiza-tori-hishigi footlock we have seen already in RINGS and will in time see again (there is a Tamura/TK match! not the famous one but a different one!). JUDO WRESTLING KENPO KARATE the commentator says in an appropriate tone in which to utter those thrilling things, those thrilling ways. Perhaps he is describing Yamamoto's style? Nishi really, really favours the kosoto-gake from a tight clinch, and I totally get it, as that is what I teach beginners to go for when they step in deep after a duck-under a high grip or to recover from the "Russian grip" that is in truth a Georgian grip (that should not be effaced). Square up your hips, drive in chest-to-chest, and, as you twist them down to the hooked-side, think Mongolian thoughts, I sometimes tell them, and they are like "Okay, I guess?" because they have not yet seen enough Mongolian judo to understand, but, in time, they will; in time, they will. He just did it again! I totally get Yoshinori Nishi, like I get him. I would say he is low-key getting the best of this match so far, though Yamamoto certainly has his moments. He likes to entangle a single leg with both of his to flatten out Nishi's turtle defense, which is canny, and this time it works out especially well, as he rides up into the kubi-nage cross-face at let's seeeeee 12:38. Nice match!

Andre Tournamidze (sometimes presented as Ruminezei, I have no idea which is right) looks ready for Volk Han but who could ever be (physically, technically, emotionally). The crowd is pretty into Volk Han at this point but I think Dirk Vrij is still probably the most popular non-Japanese? It's hard to say. After some early slapping and kicking (some kneeing), Tournamidze goes for a classic pro-wrestling hammerlock but does it in such a fashion as to seem a little real for the first time ever in the history of hammerlocks in professional wrestling, I think, and the crowd ate it up, and then Volk Han rolled for a hiza-juji-gatame knee-bar, and the crowd is like haha here we go! As luck would have it, I just stumbled upon gifs of these precise waza: 

pretty . . .

. . . neat!

When I began to RINGS Blog I resolved to not make any gifs of anything lest I slow my momentum and fail to see all of this through to completion (the horror of this proposition is too much to consider, I know) but I am certainly not averse to the posting of illustrative gifs happened upon whilst seeking out the spelling of a dude's name. That would be ideology. 

Tournamidze drives Han to the mat with knees to the body for the first knockdown but Han is of the view that we will just see about that and so announces himself with a dragging, twisting armlock takedown assisted by the slightest foot-prop (*boop*) into a juji-gatame that was pretty near the ropes. Surely if Tournamidze did not previously know, he now does. And it is Han who scores a knockdown! This time through slapping! And then we roll on. I think Tournamidze is pretty good but does not always press his positional advantages when he has them, like he will do some pretty half-hearted hitting in moments where he really should be hitting pretty seriously if this were serious and he has chosen to hit at all, and it brings things down a little, but he largely gets it, and this match is good. Han has had him in the ropes with leg locks three times now and I am thinking maybe it is all a trick and he will finish with an armlock? As soon as this idea occurs to me Volk Han finishes with a deeply weird kata-ashi-hishigi (single-leg-crush) like this, which shows what I know (nothing):

And now we are into the MEGA BATTLE TOURNAMENT 92 GRAND FINAL itself, or actually not the Grand Final Final but the Grand Final Third Place bout which highlights the extent to which other professional wrestling tournaments don't have third place matches, do they? I could easily be mistaken here but I can't think of any. Real sports do it all the time obviously and so this is yet another Akira Maeda conceptual masterstroke. One can be as sure of few things in this life as of the inevitability of Maeda's win over the despised (not true, but I do not enjoy his work) Herman Renting for third place and some measure of redemption in the Mega Battle that has not, on the whole, gone his way. Maeda is looking big and strong and increasingly lumpy not in the sense of muscly but instead in the sense of Tenryu (he wears it well [as did Tenryu, even in that retirement match where Kazuchika Okada pretty much had to powerbomb himself onto his own head to try and keep it all together; ***3/4]). Renting is first with the takedown and the mat-control but I am not concerned. Renting is first with the rope escape, too, as he sees no reason to take his chances once Maeda grabs a foot (of his). Renting comes pretty close to accidentally kicking Maeda in the head for real, I think, which calls to mind the ***** moment in Pride FC when, in Nobuhika Takada's retirement match, Kiyoshi Tamura accidentally connected too well and knocked Takada out and was mortified. Nothing like that happens here; I am just reminiscing. Maeda stuffs a Renting throw and lands in the scarf-hold that is kesa-gatame, and transitions neatly to juji-gatame for the armlock but Renting slips away. Now it is largely kicking, which I am not that into (it is not the kicks, it is me), but Maeda catches one and turns it into a hiza-juji-gatame knee-bar for ippon at 8:52 and I am not made of stone. So third place for Maeda! Not what any of us would have expected when the MEGA(-)BATTLE began, I bet!

Tournament(o) Grand Final! To be contested in a series of five three-minute rounds! Earlier I heard them say total point(o) which suggest to me that might be the means of rendering a decision should all five of those three-minutes elapse without the symbolic death of ippon. Dick Fly, who remains a RINGS-favourite, enters first, and do you remember how last time he said he hoped to face Maeda in the final, because Dolman was his teacher, and when he said that, it was humanizing? Here comes Dolman now, still looking not as good as he could in my view because of those loose, high-waisted shorts worn over the singlet. He is wearing them because he is bashful, I think, but I am sure he would look better if he just put it all out there, man. He takes Fry down immediately as though to use Fry's body to cover his shame. Fry is wearing eensy weensy shimmery athletic shorts, and I only say this because I know you had been wondering. Unsurprisingly, Dolman is the better græppler here, and while unable to put Fry on the mat at will exactly (that would really saying a lot), he is able to do it without too much fuss, usually. Fry certainly looks the fresher as the first round ends, which is only right as he is at least slightly young whereas Dolman is, as discussed previously, kind of super old. 

Fry comes out kicking to open round two (as well he might), but Dolman again rides him down. Back up, the kicking resumes, and Dolman even catches Fry with a little kick that is right on the line between kick and sweep to my eye but the commentator says ashi-barai! (which is to say foot-sweep) and the referee elects not to score a knockdown so a consensus is building and I am on the wrong side of history.  Pretty even second round! I think I would give it Fry? Except the scoring, such as it is, is strictly rope escapes and knockdowns, and so no hantai (decision) as such will be required of anyone, least of all me. At the beginning of round three, Dick(uuuuu) Fry wears Dolman out in the corner for a knockdown, and looks close to another a moment later, but Dolman hits his slick little de-ashi again to stay out of trouble. Dolman looks exhaaaaauuuuuusted at the end of round three but in fairness that's how he looked at the end of round three and his judo/sambo-bear-like way has yet to be truly compromised. The slow-motion replay reveals just upsetting levels of jiggly wobbling as each Dick Fry (Diiiiiiiiiiick Frrrrryyyyyyy a man screams just now) body-kick lands. Poor old Chris Dolman. OR IS HE POOR AND OLD NOW THAT HE HAS HIT THE WEIRDEST HEEL-HOOK EVER TO BECOME MEGA BATTLE TOURNAMENT(oooooo) 92 CHAMPION HERE EARLY IN 93 WHAT OF IT:

THAT'S WEIRD

The crowd approves! This was a very good result! Not the best RINGS match you are going to see but we know what the best RINGS match you are going to see is (it is TK/Tamura 6/27/98) but we are still here anyway! A hot crowd for a hot finish! And everyone seems to be sticking around for the championship ceremony! And indeed not only a championship ceremony but a true and proper awarding of first, second and third-place because this is the sport of Fighting Network RINGS not your dumb pro wrestling (in that it is my dumb pro wrestling). A very tiny old Japanese man reads a proclamation of some kind--one might even say he proclaims it--and places golden laurels atop Dolman's brow, a fitting diadem of RINGS, as he is saluted by RINGS officials, the crowd, and both Maeda and Fry. Dick Fry bounces his pecs as he receives his nice plaque and I obey the universal natural law that holds that whenever anyone can be seen to be bouncing their pecs you also have to bounce your pecs as well, however meagre, if you are so blessed as to be able (this is a demanding stricture, especially if you have NJPW World and see a lot of Satoshi Kojima, but rules are rules). Maeda also gets a plaque, but not a sweet trophy like Dolman does! I think maybe someone from Tokyo Sports is presenting it? Much eludes me here I am sure.

"Thank you very much all for supporting RINGS, the best all-around fighting style in the world!" is what Chris Dolman wishes to share with us all. "I feel very happy today, and I think this is one of the greatest moments in my sports career," he continues. "Mr. Fry did very very hard kicking on me, I feel everywhere, I feel his kicks, but I had to take him in ne-waza, and I knew if had him in ne-waza in the centre of the ring I can beat him, but he is very strong in kicking, so strong, I feel my whole body. This tournament is I think a great success, and a tournament of this is never nowhere in the world, this is unique in the world, and all the best fighters, all-around fighters of the world participated and I am very happy to be one of the participants, and I am very happy to be the champion." He thanks the spectators for their support and hopes they will continue to come and watch RINGS! I know I will! Fry says Dolman is the stronger fighter this day, and the stronger must be the winner (makes sense), so he is happy with second place, and he adds that this was as a difficult fight for him because Dolman is his teacher and taught him everything he knows. When asked what he thinks will happen if they fought again, Fry says he hopes the day never comes, and the crowd thinks this is the correct answer because apparently they understand a thing or two about loyalty. I don't know what Maeda says (I do hear the word "judo" once but only once, sadly); it is clear though that whatever it is it it delights all assembled.

Okay that's it! 

OUR CHAMPION seen here with his interpreter . . .

. . . and Jon Bluming!

WHAT, AS THE MEGA BATTLE ENDS, DID DAVE MELTZER SAY (kind of a tonne, as it turns out):

January 15, 1993: I like this because of how many times it says "Egg Dome":

"TOP TEN RECORDED WRESTLING CROWDS OF ALL-TIME

90,817 -- 3/29/87 Hogan vs. Andre Pontiac Silverdome ($1.6 million)

80,355 -- 8/29/92 Warrior vs. Savage Wembley Stadium ($2.2 million)

69,300 -- 8/28/86 Hogan vs. Orndorff Toronto Exhibition Stadium ($800,000)

64,500 -- 3/21/91 Flair vs. Fujinami Tokyo Egg Dome ($3.2 million)

64,287 -- 4/1/90 Hogan vs. Warrior Toronto Sky Dome ($3.4 million)

63,900 -- 2/10/90 Tenryu & Misawa vs. Choshu & Takano Tokyo Dome ($3.2 million)

63,500 -- 1/4/93 Tenryu vs. Choshu Tokyo Egg Dome (? $3.5-4 million estimate)

60,000 -- 11/29/89 Maeda vs. Wilhelm Tokyo Egg Dome ($2.9 million)

60,000 -- 1/4/92 Choshu vs. Fujinami Tokyo Egg Dome ($3.7 million)

53,800 -- 4/24/89 Inoki vs. Chochyashivili Tokyo Egg Dome ($2.8 million)


Note: Wrestlemania IX in Indianapolis this past April drew 62,167 fans (Hogan vs. Justice), however the show was heavily papered with a $1.25 million house."

also


"Shinji Jin, who was the front office leader responsible for the break-up of the second UWF (1988-90 version) because of his dispute with Akira Maeda, is the money man behind the new group that Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki are forming in Japan. All the PWFG wrestlers with the exception of Yoshiaki Fujiwara and one prelim wrestler jumped, however Fujiwara is still planning a 1/16 Korakuen Hall show plus big shows over the next two months although I don't know how he can pull off big shows with no native wrestlers. The foreign wrestlers, mainly Florida wrestlers and Wayne Shamrock, will stay with PWFG."

 What could that even beeeeeeeee

January 20, 1993: "RINGS 1/23 at Tokyo NK Hall as Chris Dolman vs. Dick Fly for the Mega Battle tournament championship, Akira Maeda vs. Herman Renting to determine the next No. 1 contender for the title and Volk Han vs. Andre Tourmanidze of Graziya as the top matches." 

Also Maeda shows up in some end-of-year categories here.

MOST CHARISMATIC
1. STING (106) 898
2. Atsushi Onita (91) 767
3. Ric Flair (90) 663
4. Vampiro Canadiense (61) 385
5. Undertaker (38) 285


Honorable Mention: Hulk Hogan 277, Akira Maeda 275, Ultimate Warrior 237, Jushin Liger 155, Mitsuharu Misawa 135, Rick Rude 132, Randy Savage 106, Perro Aguayo 97, Bret Hart 68, Konnan El Barbaro 61, El Hijo del Santo 60

READERS FAVORITE WRESTLER
1. RIC FLAIR 154
2. Jushin Liger 74
3. Manami Toyota 72
4. Cactus Jack 33
5. Kenta Kobashi 13
Shawn Michaels 13

Honorable Mention: Bret Hart 12, Jumbo Tsuruta 12, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 12, Akira Maeda 11, Ultimo Dragon 11

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
1. SHOHEI BABA 251
2. Vince McMahon 122
3. Jim Cornette 76
4. Seiji Sakaguchi 50
5. Akira Maeda 25


Honorable Mention: Antonio Pena 14

And look who shows up here:

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. REY MISTERIO JR. (216) 1,609
2. Psicosis (119) 948
3. Diamond Dallas Page (41) 457
4. Volk Han (24) 263
5. Erik Watts (16) 212

Honorable Mention: Max Steele 145, Bill Wilcox 104

February 1, 1993: "Akira Maeda's Rings promotion drew a sellout 6,570 fans to Tokyo Bay NK Hall for the finals of the Mega Battle tournament as Chris Dolman became the first champion and took the gold medal beating Dick Fly in 1:08 of the fourth round via submission. Maeda took the bronze beating Herman Renting in the semifinal. Next shows are 2/28 and 3/5. Yoshiaki Fujiwara's PWFG is definitely finished because the sponsor (Megane Super Opticals) is in the process of pulling out of the wrestling business after blowing nearly as much money as TBS has. Maeda is trying to get Fujiwara to join RINGS along with Wayne Shamrock and Bart Vail, which would be intriguing because they would be the first 'pro wrestlers' to join the promotion that is working so hard as to not be categorized as pro wrestling." Oh my goodness, what might have been.

February 8, 1993: This issue has the André the Giant obituary (R.I.P.) and includes the following: 

"In April of 1986, Andre got into the ring with Akira Maeda. The circumstances behind what happened were never explained. Maeda was one of the leading stars for the first UWF in Japan in 1984-85, which worked matches in a so-called "shooting-style" and many of its wrestlers, particularly Maeda, decried pro wrestling for not being true sport and Maeda in his youth often had outbursts at fans, wrestlers and reporters regarding such a thing. The first UWF went out of business at the end of 1985, and Maeda, who was first trained in New Japan, was invited back to the fold. Apparently swallowing his pride because he needed to work and it was the only way to remain in the business, Maeda agreed, and actually turned into a phenomenal worker combing his submission style (which was the catalyst in changing the entire work style of Japanese wrestlers) moves with some pro spots. Maeda never did a job in the New Japan rings except to Yoshiaki Fujiwara, which was okay since Maeda acknowledged Fujiwara as a true wrestler. Maeda's statements about wrestling and American wrestlers in general often led to a lack of cooperation in those matches. It was well-known in those days that Maeda's matches would be phenomenal against the Japanese, but largely nothing with Americans. The two got into the ring and whatever spirit of cooperation he had with other Americans wasn't even there. Andre never sold any of Maeda's submissions, and was almost mocking his shooter gimmick. It appeared Andre kept going for Maeda's eyes, which would be scary when someone of that size makes a move in that direction. Soon, all cooperation was gone and the match had fallen apart and nearly turned into a real fight. Andre, as immobile as he was by this time, was still more than 500 pounds. Maeda started getting into a fighting stance and throwing wicked kicks at Andre's knee time after time. Andre just stood there, acting like he didn't feel a thing, and maybe he didn't. The few times Maeda got closer and went for a single-leg, Andre's lack of balance was evident as he went down easily like a redwood tree that had just been chopped through. Maeda never jumped on him, because strategically, if Andre snatched him, the size difference could prove embarrassing to the self-proclaimed super shooter. Andre would get to his feet, Maeda would kick the knee, go for the single-leg and Andre would go down. Andre, who wasn't in any kind of condition by this time in his career, after a few series, just decided to stay down and dare Maeda to jump on him. At this point Maeda asked one of the older wrestlers if he had permission to finish Andre off, but the wrestler shook his head no. Antonio Inoki, the promoter, finally jumped into the ring with no explanation and they broke the match up without an ending. Andre was furious and screamed to Frenchy Bernard, his traveling companion and the referee of the match, that he wanted Maeda back in the ring. Maeda threw his best kick of all after being ordered out, only the opponent was the guard rail." 

and

"1/23 Tokyo Bay NK Hall (Rings - 6,750 sellout): Mitsuya Nagai b Masayoshi Naruse, Satir Gotchev b Todor Todorov, Yoshihisa Yamamoto b Ryo Nishi, Volk Han b Andre Tourmanize, Mega Battle tournament consolation match: Akira Maeda b Herman Renting, Mega Battle tournament championship: Chris Dolman b Dick Fly"

February 15, 1993: A reader writes: "I have collected all but three issues of the Observer published in the last ten years and I can't recall any piece being better written than your obituary on Andre the Giant. Ironically, I happened to watch the Maeda vs. Andre match from April, 1986 on the same morning of, but prior to finding out about Andre's death. The only picture that I could conjure up of Andre during the past week was one of a wretched freak that we have spent years ridiculing laying there on his back. I want to thank you for putting both his stature within the industry and his debilitating disease into proper perspective." What the hell.

also

"All Japan, New Japan and Rings have all released Gameboy video games."

March 1, 1993: "Bart Vail ran another shoot-fighting card in Miami using all the PWFG regulars except Yoshiaki Fujiwara on 2/19 drawing 2,700 fans. Fujiwara's crew looks to be going to RINGS, although that isn't a definite."

OK Thank you for your company throughout MEGA BATTLE TOURNAMENT 92!