April 30, 1993 in Tokyo, Japan
Korakuen Hall drawing 1,780
I am not at all sure which Megadeth song it is that gets played for a few seconds as these last few FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS shows have opened but because I thought at first it might be "In My Darkest Hour" but am now convinced that that is not quite right I am guessing probably something else off of So Far, So Good... So What! But I am not going to go back and listen to it just to know. Especially not right now, as there is no time at all before Mitsuya Nagai and Nobuhiro Tsurumaki have begun the first of a scheduled five three-minute rounds! No parade of fighters, no address to the people, just a quick commentary welcome to Korakuen Hall (thank you, gentlemen) and we are totally underway. These Korakuen Experiment shows are really short (less than an hour) so let's pay very close attention.
It is courageous for Mitsuya Nagai to be back at it again so soon after his weirdly heroic loss to Volk Han only days ago but I guess on some level you've got to get back on that shoot-style horse and knee Nobuhiro Tsurumaki so hard in the face for real that he is bloodied and the match ended at 0:37 of the third round. WOWOW only showed us two rounds though! The feel here is so different than in BATTLE DIMENSION.
I am pleased to see Koichiro Kimura (you will perhaps recall his singlet says SUBMISSION ARTS WRESTLING on it) again after what seems like months and here he is against Yuki Ishikawa yeah that's right Yuki Ishikawa founder of BATTLARTS and believe me when I tell you that Yuki Ishikawa looks hungry and seems entirely willing to slap the shit out of Koichiro Kimura (who is not unwilling to do very much the same). All I will say about Battlarts, other than affirm its overall flawlessness, is to mention that had any of us needed any further confirmation of judoka-turned-poet-clown-genius Anthony Carelli/Santino Marella's taste-level beyond the lived truth of his art, it came when he named the gym he opened in Mississauga "Battle Arts Academy," and went so far (and this is truly above and beyond) as to bring in actual Yuki Ishikawa as a trainer. Here, just now, Ishikawa seems to have somehow (inadvertently?) blinded Koichiro Kimura, who is forced to quit on his stool (just slightly off it, to be honest) between rounds. Yuki Ishikawa though!
I should probably mention that Yuji Shimada (Fire Pro: Shuuji Imada [come on, guys]) is the referee here in what I am pretty sure is his first RINGS appearance, and although I do not see or hear him saying NO HEADBUTT NO ELBOW NO ATTACK GROIN I think it is strongly implied by the existential fact of him.
Masayuki Naruse, who I enjoy, is up next against Atsushi Tamaki, of whom I had been utterly ignorant before just now learning that he shares his name with a boxer from the Hajime no Ippo/はじめの一歩 THE FIGHTING! cartoon, so that is one thing. Like his animated namesake, I guess, he does seem to want to strike, whereas Naruse prefers to drag people to the ground and then kind of fiddle around once there. He does seem willing, though, Naruse, to pummel Tamaki with great enthusiasm when he has him cornered, so he is not married to any one approach. It is odd how calming and settling I find Yuji Shimada's presence here, and I cannot say why, because what one associates most closely with him is the barely-bounded mixed-fight gilded atrocity of PRIDE (never die, btw), which was usually not that calm? There is simple familiarity of course, and I am sure that is all this is. Naruse--now bloodied, and I bet it is from one of those knees he totally ate--and Tamaki are going really long here, and this looks like very little fun at all for them. That they are working is the extremely overwhelming likelihood here, but they are hitting each other as hard as in any of the worked matches we have seen so far, for sure, and the grappling is strong, and Tamaki sprawls out of and away from probably like a dozen or more takedowns so far, which is just exhausting for everyone involved (I think of myself as involved). We could easily be headed towards a thirty-minute draw here, and I would be okay with that, and the Korakuen crowd has been into this whole thing so I do not think they would riot (as they did most recently, if memory serves, at one of those NOAH shows where Minoru Suzuki and his outsider-buddies took over). Naruse's face is such a genuine mess from these knees and both he and Tamaki seem so exhausted that I have almost convinced myself that this one is real! It probably isn't but think then of the achievement here! We are really coming down to it in terms of rope escapes and knockdowns, too. About a million minutes in, Naruse assumes tate-shiho-gatame (縦四方固) the vertical-four-quarters-hold some know as "the mount" (that's distasteful) while the crowd chants his name; he hops his hips to Tamaki's left-side into kesa-gatame (袈裟固), the scarf-hold someone once described to me as "scarf control" which has led to me throwing up every moment since that time including this one right now (and this one, and this one, and . . .), and applies a legitimately unpleasant kesa-gatame-kubi-hishigi "dislocation of neck in scarf hold," as Mikinosuke Kawaishi describes the technique, to end what was kind of a pretty awesome match. It really built!
Can a RINGS KORAKUEN EXPERIMENT truly be worthy of the name without a sambo exhibition? This one exhibits Grom Zaza, who we love, Hori Yone, who is new to us, but both guys reach deep for the near-side belt-grip we know to be Georgian, and compete to see who can deliver the sikkest Kahberelli (a waza named for the great Shota who bore that surname). There is a referee there but this is all just for fun and throwing.
Finally, Adam Watt just annihilates Nobuki Iwashita for real in a vicious kickboxing match that ends with an extremely real knockout. I am just now learning about Adam Watt, all-around man of boxing and kicking and kickboxing and karate and any number of things I am sure, but it is this part of his Wikipedia that really jumps off the page: "Arrest and assault[edit] In September 2008, Watt was arrested for conspiring to import chemical precursors to the drug methamphetamine.[2] While Watt was on remand awaiting trial, he was hit from behind with a sandwich toaster inside a pillow case. When ambulance officers reached Watt he was clinically dead, but they managed to revive him at the scene. The extent of his injuries has not been made public.[3]"
And that's it for this one, thanks! The tape I have that runs a little long suggests there is lots of boxing coming up on WOWOW EXCITE MATCH so stay tuned for that I guess (not here).
WHAT DID DAVE MELTZER SAY:
May 10, 1993: "RINGS announced an 8/21 date at the Yokohama Arena to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Akira Maeda's professional debut. Maeda's first match was actually August 25, 1978."
And also: "RINGS wrestler Tom Von Maurik died on 4/19 at the age of 34 in his home town of Amsterdam, Holland. The magazines had no other details on his death."
(The mystery remains; R.I.P. Ton/Tom Von Maurik)
And finally: "4/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (RINGS - 1,500): Mitsuya Nagai b Tsurumaki, Yuki Ishikawa b Koichiro Kimura, Masayoshi Naruse b Yukihiro Takemaki, Adam Watt b Iwashita"
. . . as well you know.
May 24, 1993: "RINGS has a major undertaking in the 12,000 seat Ariake Coliseum on 5/29 without Akira Maeda. Volk Han vs. Willie Williams (a famous karate star from the 70s from the U.S.) will headline. Actually when you get into that style, Han is amazing to watch and has turned out to be something of a draw."
Which is thrilling!
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