November 18, 1993 in Tokyo, Japan
Sumo Hall drawing 8,995
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| welcome |
Obviously it gives me no pleasure to inform you that late last night, or perhaps very early this morning, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (高阪 剛) was summarily smooshed by Baruto Kaito (把瑠都 凱斗, Estonian judo international Kaido Höövelson turned sumoist turned mixed fight) in a resoundingly unanimous decision loss at Rizin World Grand-Prix 2016: 2nd Round. But it delights me pretty tremendously to note that, with just under two minutes to go in the bout's second and final round, this was Kohsaka's escape from mune-gatame (chest hold) once Baruto attacked with ude-garami (arm entanglement):
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| my god |
That's right: TK Scissors.
I kind of couldn't believe it and yet I could because Tsuyoshi Kohsaka is the best he is the best like for example he spent pretty much all of round one being squished and eating (PRIDE-)knees to the head cushioned only by the little glove he would raise up in anticipation of each terrible blow from his hapless position and then in round two it wasn't going as horribly as that but still pretty horribly and yet look at the reserves of waza he possesses and also keep in mind that this waza could not find expression had he not also profound reserves of fight in him despite being a 46-year-old coach and teacher whose best fighting year was probably sixteen years ago (one can debate this, and please, let's) and whose best years as an athlete came well before that as a solid collegiate and corporate judo player (who then blew out his knee so that was that) who was facing here not just the humiliating diminishments of time (repellent age, your piercing eye will dim and darken; and death will arrive, dear warrior, to sweep you away) but also just suffocating relentless enormity, because Baruto is so big, man. He borders on sprightly given his size, but his size is just wild: he weighs more-than-me more than TK! And TK is pretty big to start with! Although I am not myself big! But Baruto is like (noble) TK (our hero) plus me plus my little cat Doris (a team that, if unleashed all at once, I am confident would make for a long night for Baruto, worthy foe though he may be). Plainly, though, if you should ever find yourself to be a 222.8 lbs person trapped beneath a 396.8 lbs person, or I guess just at your own walk-around weight you end up underneath someone who weighs 178% of you, you now have to at least consider this technique, these TK Scissors: its/their efficacy has been demonstrated at the highest level (underneath Baruto).
AND HOW WEIRD IS THIS in that right now when all I wanted to show you was how sikk the RINGS Bulgaria tracksuits are (I would suggest very?) who should appear alongside that sikksuit but that selfsame TK? He is one of the as-yet nameless young boys who accompany fighters as they parade to the ring and hold the ropes for them as they enter the ring and so on. It is possible that he has performed this service in a previous show only for me to not notice but I think we will all agree that that is not all that likely is it. This is a valuable reminder that TK's RINGS debut is less than a year away! And if you think I am enjoying RINGS now (obviously I am very much so) just you wait!
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| patience, my pet |
To the matter more immediately at hand, let us turn to our opening (non-tournament) bout between Naniev Oleg and Galdava Georgii, both of whom are new to us, both of whom have chosen as their attire the workmanlike singlet, but only one of whom consists almost exclusively of body hair, and that is Naniev Oleg:
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| all of it is |
I bring this to you not to shame Naniev Oleg but exalt him. Are there hairier men in this life? Possibly. But few; and it is doubtful we will see any of them in RINGS, so let us savour the sheer physicality and fact of him. In addition to their perfectly credible græppling both standing and par terre, Naniev and Galdava each do a fine job of slapping each other in the face for real so there are no holes in this at all, really. As an opening bout without any Japanese people in it, this is being received as well at Ryōgoku Kokugikan (両国国技館) as anyone could realistically hope for. Naniev Oleg, juji-gatame, 10:46!
Georgi Keandelaki and Masayuki Naruse are up next and as they are introduced, the ring announcer seems to have, with only subtle adjustments from what he has been doing previously, settled into the absolute exact cadence he will employ for the rest of the existence of RINGS, as best I remember (how I treasured its song on the VHS DVDVR Shootcomps of old). Keandelaki, who we all know to be a Georgian boxer, wears teensy little boxing gloves, whereas Naruse isn't even taped up. Keandelaki continues to be okay at this and likable but not great at this and likable; Naruse continues to deeply know the score out there and his light blue trunks are again a revelation. Keandelaki wins by KO in 7:19 and the crowd is on board with this though I am I guess slightly less so? (I really like Naruse.)
I don't know if I can handle back-to-back Masayuki Naruse and Mitsuya Nagai losses so the hope here is that Nagai is able to do something with and perhaps about this enormous Bulgarian Dimitri Petkov whose lime-green singlet does more than you would expect to match the splendor of his earlier tracksuit. Holy smokes Petkov can throw enormously and follow with juji-gatame, though, so this might be a problem for both Nagai (physically) and me (with regard to my feelings). Petkov threatens with an ura-nage lift only for Nagai to roll through for first the hiza-juji-gatame of the knee-bar and then the ashi-dori-garami of the toe hold only for it all to end with Petkov hoisting him aloft again in a sequence that is pretty much RINGS: the sequence. Petkov is essentially perfect, and his essence is that of massive Bulgarian foil to the young Japanese whose reach exceeds their grasp. If this match is not a literal poem, I intend to carry on on as though it were one at least until the finish which fortunately for all of us probably has come just now at 10:54 as Nagai finally catches Petkov with that rolling hiza-juji-gatame for the win! Delightful!
Bitsadze Tariel vs Dirk Vrij is a major match in 1993 RINGS, I do not need to tell you. Bitsadze Tariel is wearing his karate pants but no shirt, I also do not need to tell you. The crowd is extremely interested in each of their kicks so far. Vrij just did the neatest thing I have ever seen him do as he rushes in hard for a duck-under kosoto-gake (minor-outer-hook) and then applies ude-hishigi-juji-gatame (the fullest name we can give that armbar and we owe it to it to do so at least some of the time probably) and I am noticing not for the first time but certainly anew the extent of Dirk Vrij's back muscles I mean this guy has some back muscles. I think he is quite less Double Dragonesque than in 1991 but he is still huge; never forget that he is still huge. Tariel checks none of Vrij's hard kicks to the legs and even though this is a work for sure it is uncomfortable to watch those kicks just sink into all that karate-pants'd darkmeat like a cudgel. SOLAR-PLEXUS PUNCH KO BITSADZE TARIEL IS YOUR WINNER AT 4:48.
Chris Dolman versus Willie Peeters; it has finally come to this; my god. Before that actually happens though I am briefly intrigued by the small older woman we have seen before in her rôle as translator: at first I think she is wearying of Willie Peeters' delay in entering the arena and is urging him forward with a little hand gesture, but when I back it up I am reasonably certain she is making a little hand circle in time with the techno that then blared. She is an enigma to me and I want to know more.
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| attitude is always what's up |
Peeters comes out with spinning kicks and flurries of chest punching against the swatting, bearlike Dolman. I of course recognize Peeters as the early-RINGS mid-card super-worker that he is or has been or can be, but interestingly (to me), when he is in the ring with Chris Dolman, I am completely in favour of Chris Dolman. Part of this is the simple fact of Chris Dolman, but I think another is the creeping sympathy for the agèd athlete that grows throughout one's thirties (help the aged, one time they were just like you). Dolman really does just swat Peeters frenzied swarm of strikes away like a bear grown impatient of it all and then at 4:30 just chokes him with real viciousness in hadaka-jime for the finish. They embrace as sportsmen, though. Dolman, backstage, reveals that he has trained very hard since his defeat to Volk Han, and he would like to win the tournament again this year. Good luck to him!
There is no reason to expect anything less than 1993 RINGS perfection (which is to say perfection perfection) from Nikolai Zouev and Volk Han. This Han, this Volk Han is now at last greeted in the Sumo Hall of Ryōgoku Kokugikan (両国国技館) with near-appropriate appreciation for the scope and breadth of his art. Things start with cagey slapping and little kicks but we know where this one is heading and it is heading for HOLDS such as the standing gyaku-ude-garami/Kimura that Han has just applied but that Zouev has rolled through for some reason and now in the ashi-gatame leg-hold tangle that follows it is Han who is forced to the ropes and what is even going on. Don't let Volk Han have the overhook standing, Nikolai Zouev, it is just what he wants! Zouev somehow survives this error and takes Han down but once down it is Han who somehow gets another ude-garami arm-entanglement but this time from the crucifix position? How though? So far this is delivering as hekk. Rolling hiza-juji knee-cross/knee-bar from Zouev means another rope escape for Han and I think Han is going to have to burn another one on this hadaka-jime choke of nakedness and yes, yes he has done so just now. It is a Kata-guruma/shoulder-wheel/fireman's carry takedown for Zouev, and then I have no idea who is doing best with leg-locks, it is just too baffling and two many limbs are being potentially sliced until it is clearly Zouev's whose are sliced the worst but Zouev manages a kind of kata-gatame/shoulder-hold/arm-triangle-choke to force Han to relieve the pressure but no big deal, Han just switches to juji-gatame. This is VERY GOOD. Oh dear Volk Han please do not wring people's arms around with such vigour whilst standing, you are going to actually hurt someone for real on one of these not-yet-totally-real-RINGS shows, my word. I feel each of these terribly in my increasingly dried-up old shoulders (I feel many arm-locks in my shoulders now before my elbows, and I am including straight arm-locks here my friends, not just entanglements; this is how dried-up and old your shoulders can get [largely from judo {I can't throw a baseball or football over the top anymore}]). Rope escapes are traded; the best of these comes off of one of Han's always-sikk kani-basami flying scissors attacks into whatever ashi-gatame (leg-hold) he pleases. I am coming to admire his standing gyaku-ude-garami/reverse-arm-entanglements no less, though. WAIT WHAT OKAY Volk Han entangled Zouev's legs to roll through for something (maybe his split-leg hold?) but Zouev just rode it out, grabbed an arm in what became a waki-gatame (Fujiwara armbar!) and pinned Han's legs so he couldn't roll away from it and Zouev wins it at 11:31! This is extremely major and a huge surprise to me! Wow(ow)!
Our main event sees Herman Renting who is still not appealing to me against Akira Maeda who really is pretty appealing to pretty much everybody isn't he and if he isn't to you I would really be very interested to know what your thinking and perhaps more importantly feelings are on this subject (I mean this openly and honestly and sincerely), and I take comfort in the great likelihood of Maeda winning this one and ridding us of Renting for at least a while and maybe actually a good long while (he has not been around that much). Hey look it's TK again look:
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| I will not do this every time but for now I will do this I am sorry |
MA-E-DA MA-E-DA MA-E-DA oh dear he is wearing those long tights again. As a man sitting here watching this in his New Japan Pro Wrestling ringer-tee his wife thoughtfully got him as a kind gift this Christmas, rendered warmer by the New Japan Pro Wrestling hoodie he ordered for himself a long time ago because it says "SINCE 1972 STRONG STYLE" underneath the KING OF SPORTS logo on the back, I am here for black trunks on Akira Maeda and nothing else. We are barely underway but well into the condition of dueling ashi-gatame when Maeda starts punching Renting super hard in the legs and the crowd approves heartily. When they are restarted on their feet, Renting gives a mighty shout as he takes Maeda over with a kubi-nage neck throw of a headlock takeover and rides Maeda pretty hard on the mat. If Maeda is going to heroically pull this out he could do it anytime now and it would be very good, okay here he goes, he's going for kata-gatame (shoulder-hold, arm-triangle) but no, Renting reaches the ropes before my dreams of that hold choking him can be realized. AH HA a failed Renting forward throw has led to a Maeda hadaka-jime that somehow did not finish but then a kata-gatame that mysteriously did not either BUT THEN ON THAT DOES YAHHHH 5:54 MA-E-DA MA-E-DA MA-E-DA
WHAT DID DAVE MELTZER SAY:
November 29, 1993: "11/18 Tokyo Sumo Hall (RINGS - 8,995): Naniev Olegg b Georgi, George Gundelaki b Masayoshi Naruse, Mitsuya Nagai b Vladimir Petkov, Tariel b Dirk Leon-Vrij, Chris Dolman b Willie Peeters, Nikolai Zuev b Volk Han, Akira Maeda b Herman Renting"
also
"UWFI is remaining strong in Japan as the 12/5 Takada vs. Vader show has a huge advance. However, Rings is taking some lumps, as it was unable to come close to selling out Sumo Hall on 11/18, because of the popularity of Pancrase. From what I'm told, in Japan, most fans saw UWFI as a more realistic looking New Japan style promotion with angles, where as Rings was a hardcore thing that expected to be real. Unfortunately, Pancrase, by its style, has shown what a shoot really looks like and Rings fans aren't the kind who largely want to see stiff realistic working matches like UWFI fans. Maeda's matches have pro wrestling psychology (Maeda gets beat up and twisted around for several minutes, but makes a comeback to dramatically win) and Pancrase has no psychology since a shoot can't." Oh can't it? And, as TOM has asked, instructively, I believe when we were theorizing Naoya Ogawa/Gary Goodridge, that greatest of PRIDE FC works, "What is a 'shoot'?"
also I include this only because it was next and because Chigusa Nagyo was the best and also Crush Gals forever:
"Chigusa Nagayo, the biggest superstar in the history of women's wrestling, looks to be coming out of retirement full-time next year to work for JWP."
December 6, 1993: "Masakatsu Funaki of Pancrase Wrestling in what everyone is reporting as a legitimate shooting match, made World heavyweight Kick Boxing champ Maurice Smith of the United States submit with a sleeper/body scissors combination in 1:50 of the first round after taking him off his feet in a mixed match held at an All Japan Kick Boxing Association show which drew an overflow crowd of 7,450 fans to Tokyo Bay NK Hall. Several years ago the two had fought to a six round draw in a mixed match at the Tokyo Dome which probably had a worked finish before 25,000 fans. On 11/8, Smith had destroyed Pancrase wrestler Minoru Suzuki with a third round knockout in what was said to have been a shoot kick boxing match, a match where Suzuki clearly had no chance in. There are rumors going around already of a possible combined promotion of Pancrase and the Gracie Family (Royce Gracie, who won the Ultimate Fight held in Denver and on PPV on 11/12, and his brother, who promoted the PPV) for next October at the Tokyo Dome where Gracie would face Funaki on top. Both Akira Maeda and Masaake Satake (Japan's No. 1 martial arts hero and holder of another version of the World heavyweight karate championship) were at the show. Satake formerly worked for RINGS. Maeda said watching Funaki beat Smith made him for the first time regret that the UWF folded. In previous magazine interviews, Maeda had always tried to put UWF in his past and talked of RINGS as the present, but talked of how proud he was to see Funaki, who was a mid-card wrestler with the old UWF, come so far."
That's pretty nice!
December 27, 1993: As part of an extensive and super-interesting year-in-review, after talking at length about both New Japan and All Japan: "What is the most impressive about today's Japan wrestling isn't the success of All Japan and New Japan, but the number of groups in a geographically small country, many presenting a totally different product from the others, all enjoying success. FMW, with little in the way of quality wrestling, presents the Atsushi Onita show, filled with barbed wire and heavy juice on a nightly basis, and was largely successful, peaking for the May 5 show against Terry Funk that drew 41,000 fans. Onita drew in excess of 25,000 fans for another stadium show against Mr. Pogo, and at the end of the year sold out a 12,500 seat indoor building for his final major show of the year for a match with Mitsuharu Matsunaga. While Onita's personal popularity is nowhere close to what it was two years back, he still has drawing power when it comes to putting together a major show. The only period FMW faltered badly this year was when Onita was in the hospital after jumping into a polluted river in the winter with several open wounds from a just completed match. Pogo and Matsunaga had been the top two stars with the rival W*ING group, a promotion that finished the year, but largely struggled. W*ING featured even more bizarre gimmick matches, like the ring surrounded by a bed of nails, ring surrounded by fire, and barbed wire baseball bats which led to legitimate serious injuries. At the other end of the spectrum where the so-called "shoot" groups, UWFI, PWFG, Rings and Pancrase. PWFG, which still ran shows during the year, was largely dormant and not a major factor on the scene, with its leader, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, more remembered for his occasional big show appearances on New Japan shows. UWFI almost surely, on an average drew more fans to its events than any wrestling promotion in the world. If someone was to do a study of all the main event wrestlers in the world, and rate them by how well the shows they headlined drew, to determine who really is the biggest drawing card of them all, I'd be willing to bet No. 1 in 1993 would be Nobuhiko Takada. UWFI, which signed a "pro wrestler" type in Big Van Vader, later called Super Vader for copyright reasons, and slowly, methodically built to the dream match with Takada. The heavily-advertised show drew 46,168 fans, the largest pro wrestling crowd for a wrestling company in the world without television since the heydey of the legendary UWF in 1989 at the Tokyo Dome. However, on the surface, there seems nothing on the horizon for UWFI that can do anywhere near that business. UWFI also did a PPV show in the United States in October, which had shocking success in at least some parts. However, whatever momentum and interest that was gained by the PPV show which was well received, was lost because of a lack of anything done as follow-up promotion. Rings, which is largely the Akira Maeda show, didn't have a strong year largely because Maeda missed most of the year with reconstructive knee surgery. Rings was the favorite promotion of the true Japanese hardcore wrestling fan because it was the most believable of all, but may turn out to be the one hurt the most in the end because of Pancrase Wrestling. Debuting late in the year, Pancrase was the latest of many groups which touted their wrestling to be on the level, without predetermined finishes. But if it wasn't, it fooled more people than ever before. Although UWFI liked to push itself as the real deal, and it is stiff as hell, a lot of fans took him as a more realistic looking New Japan rather than like Rings, which Maeda incessantly tried to push as having nothing to do with and not being pro wrestling, to the point that virtually nobody but himself who had previous ties to pro wrestling was used. However, Pancrase, which its one minute matches, exposed Rings. What that will mean to Rings, particularly with Maeda back, is unknown. But Pancrase managed to parlay its image into a crowd of nearly 10,000 in Kobe for Minoru Suzuki vs. Maurice Smith, and has looked into booking bigger buildings including perhaps the Tokyo Dome in 1994. Several other groups started up this year or continued from last year, although they are all way back in the pack."
(The next section begins "The best wrestling held anywhere is undoubtedly on the major cards of the All Japan women's promotion" which is not shocking but I think worth noting.)
And that's it! Thank you for your attention once again!
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