RINGS 6/17/95: RISING SERIES IV: MINAZUKI

Rising Series IV: Minazuki
June 17, 1995 in Tokyo, Japan
Ariake Coliseum drawing 7,156

BY DAY GROM ZAZA'S COAT IS SILVER, BY NIGHT AN UNSEEN SHADE so it is too bad he is not booked for this RINGS event billed as a RINGS Russia vs. RINGS Japan dantaisen (団体戦) or team battle. As is the case in any dantaisen situation one wonders at once if it is to be contested as taishosen, senposen, or kachinukisen? In the first of those formats, each teams sets their own roster; in the second, the roster is set by seniority; in the third, it is a knockout bout where the winner stays and a draw retires both contestants! Imagine it! I say all of that but it is almost certainly going to be taishosen so there is no point. Just today the IJF released a slick little promotional video that constitutes part of its proposal for a dantaisen to be part of the Tokyo 2020 games (three men, three women per side), and it gave the number of current judo participants (presumably in member federations?) at 28 million, in case you had been wondering (in my view it would be weird if you were not). 

We begin with Yuri Bekichev, who is new, and Wataru Sakata, who, though young, already seems venerable as Bede himself. He is being pummeled, though, our Sakata. A koshi-waza (hip technique) into the scarf hold of kesa-gatame grants him but brief respite as he gets spin-kicked to the canvas really very soon thereafter. And then a real, like, hooking kick? Like Marafuji? Is this a "question mark kick"? I admit freely that I know nothing of kicking beyond the basest and even that is questionable. Anyway, he's down. And again. That was a head kick that I would just call a head kick and though Sakata gets all fired up after his fourth knockdown he eats a knee directly to the barbaric yawp and that is a TKO at 5:06.

Our next bout sees Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, best guy of this, against Sergei Sousserov, and this contest interests me greatly, please let me tell you why that is: it is because Sousserov has all the attributes one would want in a shoot-stylist and yet his matches are not all that good because he has a flair for the fvkkn fake and one is taken right out of things at once, isn't one, whereas TK's work is the realest and best and look at his squad, a squad with goals:

tksquad.blogspot.com

Surely I have spoken on this before but every year without fail for really a lot of years in a row I suggested we get tracksuits at the judo club and not only did we never do it but, in time, my only true ally in this effort graduated and moved to Montreal, that glorious city of græppz (he continued to train, and last I heard was a judo brown belt and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple at a respected academy [this was years ago, he has no doubt held black in both disciplines for ages now] after receiving his blue pretty much for walking in the door there [not an ideal thing to happen, socially], such was the extent to which we had honed his ne waza in our time together [also he watched a lot of tapes]; we went nearly fifteen-minutes submission-only ne-waza randori one day that nobody else showed up and it was, as I completely accurately remember it for sure, pretty much Carlos Newton vs. Kazushi Sakuraba at PRIDE 3 except in judogi and way better; out of respect to the sanctity of the dojo [the mat area that we set up in a badminton court] I will not tell you who emerged the victor that day [he totally caught me, I bet it was sankaku-jime]). A new ally has emerged in my pursuit of club tracksuits, however our number is still too few; and so this year it shall be t-shirts, which are themselves a blessing, I should be thankful. 

Still with looks, and which looks are good, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka has forsaken orchid and instead emerges out of the mists of waza in the all-black attire with which we most closely associate him: 

tklooks.blogspot.com

Sharp kicks are the way this contest begins before TK grants Sousserov the great favour of pretending that Sousserov could take him down (this is giving of him, and kind) but it is Sousserov who must first seek the safety of the ropes to escape ashi-kansetsu (leg-bone-locking). TK again visits this mercy upon Sousserov and is thrown but this time Kohsaka takes his back with the speed of a centipede (in the Wu-Tang sense; I have never thought of centipedes as that fast outside of that poetical context but such is the power of art [witness it now before us]) and nearly sinks the choke. Clearly the narrative of the match is that Sousserov is quite able to throw Kohsaka (an absurdity) but that TK's ne waza is of such a quality that Sousserov is threatened severely whenever he does so, like for example there with the ude-hishigi-juji-gatame (an armbar!) just now that was really good. Koshaka hits a low morote-gari (two-hand reap, double-leg takedown) and harries with a heel hook but, again, ropes. That this is the best Sousserov match by a lot is obvious as TK draws the crowd into his grasp for the bottom rope without any apparent drama because apparent drama would rend the shoot-style gossamer (it's real, shut up) and so it must be implicit drama and it is. The people of Ariake Coliseum (有明コロシアム Ariake Koroshiamu) love him and I support them in their love. His juji-gatame to sankaku-jime *escape* from kesa-gatame is ideal and should be incorporated at once into the Kodokan's katame-no-kata (固の形 "forms of græppling") perhaps in a newly added fourth set of waza or maybe just replacing some of the existing stuff, I am open to all possibilities in this moment of waza. Sousserov ends the bout by kicking and then following that kicking to the ground for a final juji-gatame at 11:30 but no one is fooled, we know what we saw.

tklockers.blogspot.com

As a final note on Kohsaka for today (there will be further notes in the very near future, I assure you) let me say briefly that over the weekend I was teaching kami-shiho-gatame (上四方固, upper-four-quarter-hold [never order the salmon kami at a Japanese restaurant even though it is the cheapest appetizer unless you go in knowing all you are getting is a head, man, just a head and maybe a little neck to pick at] and naturally kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame (崩上四方固, broken-upper-four-quarter-hold) and a very slick step-over juji-gatame from same when the question of escapes naturally arose and so we drilled the classic one where you pull uke down as you tic-tac-toe your hips and plant your feet near your seat and bridge (of course), but when everybody had that down well enough I did not hesitate to add "or you can get low, roll back over your shoulder and (TK) Scissor your leg to the far corner, hook whatever you can hook, and end up in your own juji-gatame" and let me tell you, this waza was a hit! 

I strongly suspect but do not know for certain that this next match between Mikhail Ilioukhine and Masayuki Naruse is the first to actually count in the five-on-five dantaisen (団体戦) of which much was made earlier (by me). I say this because, including this match, there are now five matches left on the card, suggesting the first two were only to give us a taste for blood as regards Russo-Japanese conflict (what's the worst that could happen). So when Masayuki Naruse emerges the victor by TKO at 9:26 of this fine match, I don't think he is getting RINGS Japan back on track so much as starting them out on the right foot of things. Or this could be totally wrong.

This show's Q&A session sees Volk Han in splatter pants and a fanny pack perform sleight-of-hand magic to the delight of our host. This is all true.

I don't have anything to add to that really other than that it was wonderful and also pure.

Here's another pleasant surprise: it's Mitsuya Nagai (no surprise there) versus Carl Greco aka Carl Malenko aka Carl Contini aka Carl Ognibene (the name his mother gave him), introduced as a representative of Purofesshonaru-resuringu Fujiwara-Gumi プロフェッショナルレスリング藤原組 which is one of the nicest things you could say about anybody. Carl tosses Nagai around ably for a short while before he is knocked out at 3:35. Is he RINGS Russia? Isn't he RINGS Florida (with I guess Bart Vale)? I am lost, I admit it. 

Akira Maeda meets the probably-débuting Vladimir Klementiev in what is, surprisingly, not at all the main event. Klementiev, a Kyokushin (極真) ultimate-truth-fistist so far as I can tell, has Meada pretty nervous about being kicked (I get that) and so Maeda attacks with the lowest of morote-gari (two-hand reaps) and kibisu-gaeshi 踵返 (one-hand reversal/ankle-pick) en route to I think three rope breaks from shime-waza (strangulation techniques), two from ashi-kansetsu-waza (leg-bone-locking techniquees), and then, for the finish at a mere 3:26, the naked strangle of hadaka jime 裸絞め. This wasn't much of a match, really, but the crowd seemed even more into Maeda than usual as he came out, and in his lengthy post-match locker-room interview, Maeda clearly said dantaisen at some point which is a massive vindication for me with regard to knowing what at least some things are even called. 

Our main event is VOLK HAN vs. YOSHIHISA YAMAMOTO in a pretty major match in this world of 1995 RINGS and in truth no less of a contest in the world of 2017 me on my couch. Maeda is plainly as serious as can be about pushing Yamamoto to a new position of prominence following his lengthy appearance versus that unmatched slayer of men Rickson Gracie (it's so weird) and one's thoughts turn for a moment to the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J '95, let me check . . . oh ok it is not until October that Tsuyoshi Kohsaka enters and then triumphs in that august græppling tourney by means of repeated. remorseless TK Scissors. It will be interesting to see how Maeda responds to that, as well! Imagine his position in 1995, Maeda's, I mean, trying to keep his shoot-style wrestling promotion afloat in a world of increasingly readily available actual mixed-fight by sending his young lions out into the world of straight shoots to establish and to maintain the credibility of his æsthetically flawless but demonstrably pretend fighting . . . it is an intoxicating proposition. It also sounds a lot like the "Management of the Ring" mode for the second GBA Fire Pro that someone made a complete English patch for and which you can just play on your phone now if you are so inclined, and maybe I am at last so inclined? Maybe I am? I have read that that same Fire Pro includes in its edit mode THE HEAD OF WILLEM RUSKA and so maybe I am a fool to put any of this off for even another moment. BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME IT IS YAMAMOTO IT IS VOLK HAN THIS SHOULD BE EXCELLENT LET'S SEE the kicking does not last long at all and we are right into Yamamoto's takedown attemps and Volk Han's still-very-upsetting standing gyaku-ude-garami armlocks that I swear are going to get someone hurt and then also his various ashi-kansetsu leglocks and the crowd is understandably horrified on Yamamoto's behalf. 

Yamamoto pries himself loose enough to attack with a heel hook of his own for like an instant before Volk Han has him set up first for a hiza-hishigi knee-crush/calf-slicer and then a stepover-toe-hold-facelock and there is only the rope. In a move that is far beneath his talents and sense, Han goes ultra-light on Yamamoto's morote-gari double-leg and ends up right up on Yamamoto's shoulder in the lightest, limp-legged, struggleless way possible and it is a nonsense thing to have occurred: where is your wolf-sense, Volk Han; where did it go. I am rooting for this bout to overcome that momentary lapse into sub-shoot darkness but I am not going to pretend that it did not occur. KANI-BASAMI, the flying crab scissor of Yoshihisa Yamaoto finds its mark (perhaps, in the final analysis, I am its mark?) and leads to ashi-kansetsu, however when legs are bone-locked your græppling pal has access to those same legs in many ways, does he not, and here we see Volk Han embrace that reality and profit by it.  Yamamoto does well with a sankaku-jime attack though!

It is for naught; ropes again. Yamamoto escapes a deep hiza-juji knee-bar into a choke (lol oh Volk) by the same means a moment later. Oh man SUPER hot finish as Yamamoto squeezes on a mae-hadaka-jime/guillotine/front choke for all he's worth only for Volk Han to pop out and finish with juji-gatame at 15:15! This one really got going! Nice! Volk Han gets a trophy on behalf of RINGS Russia and that is a wrap on this . . . dantaisen.

AND WHAT DID DAVE MELTZER SAY:

June 12, 1995: "Gerard Gordeau promoted the first European UFC tournament on 6/3 in Antwerp, Belgium at the Sports Palace. The matches were held inside a much smaller octagon cage, called an octagoncito. There were local newspaper stories fearing the event would be too violent. The show drew 2,000 fans in a 10,000-seat building. Most of the fighters would be unknowns although of the original eight, one (Andre van den Oetelaar) has done Pancrase, one (Bob Schreiber) Rings and one (Renee Rozen) Vale Tudo. Rozen was the only one of the three who won a match, and he had to forfeit after his first win because of a knee injury. In the first match, Rozen beat van den Oetelaar with very hard kicks to the face after knocking him down and he bled very heavily and the doctor worked on him in the ring for about 15 minutes. The police tried to stop the show at this point but a compromise was worked out where they changed the rules immediately to not allow kicking when someone was down. All the rest of the matches went right to the ground where the ground fighter won using a choke. Ed de Kruif, a Gordeau protege, beat Rudy de Loos in the finals. At the show it was announced that Dick Vrij (Rings) would do an American UFC in the fall. Vrij is a tough kick boxer/bouncer type who has a great tough-guy look with the Dolph Lundgren physique but probably won't do well because he's more of a stand up fighter."

June 26, 1995: "6/17 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum (RINGS - 7,156): Vegchev b Wataru Sakata, Andrei Susserov b Takasaka, David Micha b Masayoshi Naruse, Baroja Kuromenchev b Akira Maeda, Volk Han b Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Mitsuya Nagai b Greco"

"Rings did its Japan vs. Russia card on 6/17 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo before 7,156. Newcomer Baroja Kuromenchev beat Akira Maeda in 3:36 via submission [strike that, reverse it--ed.], while Volk Han beat Yoshihisa Yamamoto (in his first match back from the pounding he took from Rickson Gracie at Vale Tudo) [I'm not at all sure that's fair--ed]. Of the five Japan vs. Russia matches, Russians won all five. Don Nakaya Neilsen, who was to debut on this show, canceled."

July 3, 1995: "A correction from last week's issue. In the 6/17 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum Rings card, we listed Baroja Kuromenchev, a Russian making his debut, as beating Akira Maeda in 3:26 via submission but it was actually Maeda who won that match. Maeda is working once again on putting on a card in the United States. His next show is 7/18 in Osaka with Maeda vs. David Hahareshivili, a Russian who captured the gold medal in judo in the 1992 Olympics at 95 kilos (209 pounds) plus Volk Han vs. Tony Halme (Ludvig Borga)."

"In last week's issue when we were referring to Olympic gold medalists that went into pro wrestling, we of course were referring only to the sport of amateur wrestling. There have been several Olympic gold medalists from the sport of judo that have gone into pro wrestling. I don't have the records in front of me but do know that Wilhelm Ruska of the Netherlands, who was a star in Japan in the late 70s, captured a gold medal and that Anton Geesink, who was a headliner for All Japan in the mid-70s won either a gold or a silver [yeah gold--ed]. Allen Coage (Badnews Allen) of the United States captured a bronze as a heavyweight in 1976 and was a multi-time national champion. David Hahareshivili (Rings-Russia) was the gold medalist at 209 pounds in the 1992 Olympics and Klaus Wallas, who worked in the 1980s for Otto Wanz in Austria I believe captured a silver medal as a heavyweight either in 1980 or 1984 [I don't think so but he took a bronze at the Turnoi de Paris one time so that's legit as hekk to have done--ed]."

And that's it, see you next time, thanks again!