RINGS 9/25/96: MAELSTROM 7th

Maelstrom 7th
September 25, 1996 in Sapporo, Japan
Nakajima Sports Center drawing 3,853

NOW THAT YOSHIHISA YAMAMTO LIES BROKEN BEFORE US, WHAT REMAINS? Well for one thing Akira Maeda (if not him, who?) is seemingly of the view that what we the RINGS public might enjoy Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Volk Han and I expect him to be correct about that, so let's see about it. That last show was a wild scene, though, wasn't it? I will be "shoot" surprised if there is a single other RINGS show in all our time together that is as top-to-bottom RINGS as that one in its intoxicating admixture or mélange of fast-paced shoot-style works that are exemplars of their high genre, lower-key shoot-style works that are so close to shoots that you aren't sure what they are until the finish and even then you doubt yourself (if only briefly), and shoots that you would much rather have been works because of the sheer human cost. It's the best! This next note is less about RINGS itself than the RINGS box itself but disc sixty-four here does not run on the mostly-busted-yet-venerable little old laptop I chiefly use to correspond with you but luckily it works on the computer I use to rip and upload the discs (it is newer; we got it with Air Miles; it is unclear if it will be fast enough to run the new Fire Pro; word on the boards suggests I should at least try). A couple of times (maybe more? maybe like three or four times?) there have been RINGS discs that would run on this trusty little buddy of a laptop but not on the new computer and so they have gone unripped (R.I.P. unripped RINGS shows, you will never be known outside of the RINGS box unless I try again on another computer I guess).

WATARU SAKATA who has probably had as many opening matches on these shows as anyone--and why shouldn't he have them, he's good at them--is in yet another, this time against Peter Dijkman. It's good! The finish (at 5:26, and again I should point out that I am not timing these out like an IRL Dave Meltzer but instead read these results off a screen) seems to me at first to be an accidental shoot finish to a worked match in that Sakata falls to the mat clutching his knee like it has been wrecked and as a man of græppz I like to think I have a pretty solid understanding of what it looks like when someone goes down in such a way that they are going to need you to help them home or to the hospital or, like when someone wrecks their back trying to daki-age (抱上 high lift) their way out of a sanakaku-jime (三角絞 triangle choke) and it goes terribly awry, you have to ask the front desk to call an ambulance because lol this guy is not moving even a little (don't worry he was fine in time but he plays less judo and mostly DJs now [like at festivals]). And yeah I am reasonably sure Sakata has actually been hurt for real at the end of this otherwise planned (or at least cooperative) encounter but then one cannot help but note that his knee is all wrapped up (I missed this until the finish despite my uncommon eye for even the teensiest detail [in fact my vision is poor and my hearing is not so hot either and my sense of touch impeded by a choice case of græpplehands so don't actually believe my impressions or reports of anything {welcome to my RINGS blog}]). They worked me, Jerry; they worked me, Jerry.  

Masayuki Naruse has just done tremendously well for himself by letting his hair grow out, and you never know how that's going to go, so good for him. To continue on with my physical insufficiencies and deformities for a moment, I had my hair (and beard) super short for years due to the ease of it for judo and indeed for all things: one sets one's trimmers to number one and visits it upon the head entier excepting the eyebrows (I left them lush), and you're good for a couple weeks, no need to attend to yourself otherwise in the least. So it was stylish and practical! When, in time, I decided it would be better to look like a wodewose I was stunned to learn as I grew my hair out that I was balding (don't worry, it only strengthened my resolve, so it's really a very happy ending). Masayuki Naruse has not found this, but has found instead that he grows an unreal head of hair:

He puts Christopher Haseman down in a flurry of strikes to (and about) his entire person in the corner to win at 9:12 in another solid match. Playing over the replay we have what must be a KISS song and it must be called "Dr. Love" and it is no good to me despite owning as a lad a copy of Crazy Nights on cassette ("Everybody's got a reason to live, but it can't be your love" why not? what?) and having walked by the Commons when they played an outdoor concert here years ago whilst middle-aged men from the suburbs (I mean no disrespect, I have friends who are that and they are some of my best pals even if they are much less cosmopolitan and sophisticated than I am [I am as urbane as you will find and yet I maintain an earthiness; it's not easy]) were arrested for public intoxication (imagine how drunk and how public you need to be to be arrested for public intoxication at a KISS concert in this city). And I wonder just how copyright restricted this video will be. And I say to you that I think I have figured out how to have it so even the videos that get muted get largely unmuted if I press the right buttons so if at any time you find that I have not pressed the right buttons please alert me and I will endeavour to press them for you, for us.  

TSUYOSHI KOHSAKA vs. MITSUYA NAGAI is promising to me! Lately Nagai has started wearing shorts more like what you would see in kickboxing and he is also kickboxing a lot like you would see in kickboxing. Kohsaka wrangles him down and attempts juji-gatame before the leg-entanglement of ashi-garami (足絡) and then sankaku-jime and juji-gatame again and then there is a rope break (that's fair). I am pleased to have already noted that Nagai has been getting ever more kickboxy because if I hadn't it would be hard to account for how he just clobbered TK in the corner for the first knockdown. Unfazed, except that he has been knocked down from hitting and the match had to be stopped while the referee counted and checked if Kohsaka was able to continue (in the secondary world, I mean; this is shoot-style), Kohsaka throws with osoto-otoshi (大外落) much as Svitlana Iaromka (UKR +78kg) did over the weekend in Tbilisi to the sheer delight of the assembled Georgians:

Nagai continues to kickbox a lot though, which is something Iaromka didn't have to deal with at all in Tbilisi (nor should she have). Kohsaka gets the best of all græppling exchanges, Nagai the better of the striking; and so they dance (TK has lost four points, Nagai three). For an instant, Kohsaka looks to settle into the reverse-scarf-hold of ushiro-kesa-gatame (袈裟固) which the Kodokan classifies as the broken-scarf-hold of kuzure-kesa-gatame (崩袈裟固) and I am pretty into it because that is where several of the best Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki passes end, I am very high on them; please encounter his ne-waza here if you have never done so previously (you are in for a real treat!). Kohsaka throws with both the hand-wheel of te-guruma (the Kodokan calls it sukui-nage or scooping throw but my approach here is ecumenical) and KANI-BASAMI, the flying crab scissors; he does this better than anyone else of of the several people who have scissored crabbedly thus far in RINGS (though it is not a TK scissors, yet it is TK, scissoring). Perhaps that is unsurprising, that TK would be best at this? From kani-basami he transitions expertly and at once to ashi-kansetsu leg-locking, obviously, but you didn't need me to tell you that I bet. A rope is very near by and so Nagai is back up in an instant and filling TK in. On the ground once more, Nagai escapes a mae-hadaka-jime front choke and messes with Kohsaka's arm in the mode of te-gatame (the humble "hand arm-lock") to such an extent that it is TK who must needs rope escape; what a turn of events! Nagai, emboldened by his success in ne waza, attempts a takedown, which Kohsaka stuffs utterly before circling around with gorgeous weight for the juji-gatame I want very much to end the match but it does not as Nagai makes the ropes and knocks TK out pretty much right after at 11:05 OF A VERY GOOD MATCH WITH A SURPRISING FINISH IN THAT TK HAD BEEN ROLLING IN BOTH WORKS AND SHOOTS.

The History of RINGS 1995 is visited upon us and then it is . . .

KIYOSHI TAMURA VS. VOLK HAN because yeah that is the era of RINGS we are in, the era that gives you Volk Han vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka two shows in a row and then Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Volk Han like it is not even a big deal but it *is* a big deal it *is* one. That our referee for this contest is Yuji Shimada is only right and fitting. Volk Han is in his pale blue, Tamura his iconic red; Volk Han throws with yeah throws with a standing gyaku-ude-garami arm entanglement and Tamura in his wisdom kept himself just heavy enough to make it just credible enough to keep it right where it needed to be in terms of both effect and affect. Han wanted juji-gatame out of it but found instead Tamura's hiza-juij knee-bar but of course Han countered that as well and ultimately attacks with juji-gatame because it is what he is here for (in these realms of love, I mean).  That all took I guess a minute? It is very important to remember I think that Volk Han is now definitely forever not in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame ever ever and that Kiyoshi Tamura's candidacy hangs by a thread, great job everybody. Han whips Tamura down by his shapely leg (don't act like you haven't noticed) and after much rolling comes close with another gyaku-ude-garami/figure-four-arm-lock but Tamura again makes the ropes. So far they have spent like no less than 95% of their time in ne waza and this is the most correct decision they could have made with what to do with themselves and their art. Han needs a break from a knee-bar. Have you noticed whilst playing about with the knee-bar of hiza-juji that if it is applied nice and slow it is a very pleasing stretch? I bet you have noticed if you have knee-barred! Tamura counters and escapes from Han's hadaka-jime (naked strangle) by crossing up his ankles in hiza-tori-garami, the knee-taking-entanglement that you absolutely owe it to your students to catch them in if ever/whenever they cross them up and you owe it to them also to say flatly "don't cross them up." We are to the point in all of this that the counters and escapes are so gripping that they are not just met with a cheer or with applause but with the HWWOOOOAAAHHHs of surprised but learnèd delight. I would like to hold a round robin tournament between Kiyoshi Tamura, Volk Han, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in which each faced the other an infinity of times and you never go in knowing if they will work or shoot, please. As I articulate this thought we have all long shared I distinctly hear one of the commentators say "Kohsaka" which leads me to believe he is articulating it right now too. WAKI-GATAME WAKI-GATAME (armpit arm-lock/Fujiwara armbar) is the call now as Han is driven to the ropes. Off the stand-up Han knocks Tamura down with a knee and many shoooteeeeiiiiis so let's see where we stand in terms of points here, Tamura has lost six points, Han has lost four, and I believe the announcement of ten-minutes passed is made and yes it must have been because when Volk Han escapes Tamura's hadaka-jime to finish with the gyaku-ude-garami he has been looking for since the match's earliest moments we are told that that very nice finish came at 10:32. THIS WAS GOOD; I THINK YOU WILL LIKE IT. The two are shown shaking hands in the locker-room and why wouldn't they; why wouldn't they.

Bitsadze Tariel will face Hans Nijman in a battle of big boys (R.I.P. Hans Nijman, death the biggest boy of all, and yet can fit comfortably inside a Golf) that will certainly feature kicking prominently. Yeah ok if you do not like kicking then mister and also of course missus you will not enjoy this match. But if you do you might! Bitsadze Tariel wins by knockout at 5:19 . . . from kicking! (Also knees [realistically knees are a kind of kicking].)

FRESH OFF HIS RECENT DEATH the lifeless corpse of Yoshihisa Yamamoto takes dead aim (in that he has died) against Andrei Kopilov who I want to say is an underrated RINGSist but, truly, who is rating any of these RINGSists now but us and so no he is in fact not underrated but instead properly rated by us . . . as excellent. How will the people respond to Yamamoto in his first appearance since his coarse victimization? The reaction seems somewhat subdued and I feel that he looks slightly sheepish but that could be the product of his new haircut as much as anything so i don't want to overstate this. Andrei Kopilov kind of nearly gets a shoot(style) sharpshooter (sharpSHOOTer?) together in the early going, and what a moment that would have been if you're me! Yeah I think maybe it actually is time to worry about Yamamoto's standing with his public now, as he just leapt onto Kopilov's back for a standing hadaka-jime choke and the people felt nothing; an instant later he put Kopilov down with strikes but, again, nothing. This is so dark. Yamamoto has gone from being probably the best-loved rising guy of RINGS given his fine shoot-showing against Rickson Gracie (kind of) and the considerable emotional intensity of his shoot-stylings to being, one show later, less "over" than either Mitsuya Nagai or Masayuki Naruse, and all because Maeda booked him into a shoot with a literal hill giant (greatclub +16/+11 melee [2d8+10] or 2 slams +15 melee [1d4+7] or rock +8 ranged [2d6+7]) and he got greatclubbed. This crowd is QUIET and not in the way that Japanese crowds are often quiet but actually that's a really easy thing to overstate because they are not quiet when Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido tag against Antonio Inoki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Maeda and Inoki wouldn't sell anything for each other; Maeda flew all over the place the second Fujiwara stepped in) in 1986 or when Maeda somehow manages to overcome the struggle within betwixt shooting and continued gainful employment in his 1983 match against Hulk Hogan to mention for illustration the two matches I watched on NJPW world late last night (it is a very good service!). Andrei Kopilov has won by kani-basami crab scissor into just a great-looking hiza-juji knee-bar at 12:33 and I cannot believe the way this result is being treated and just the unreal extent to which it is seemingly all over for Yamamoto already. This is so, so dark.

WHAT DID DAVE MELTZER SAY, WHAT OF THE LONG SHADOW OF 8/24/96 ("More notes on the 8/24 RINGS show. This was definitely one of the most important wrestling cards all year on several levels . . ."):

September 16, 1996: 

"I saw the top two matches on the RINGS 8/24 show. The Denilson Maia vs. Illoukhine Mikhail match was a shoot. What actually happened after the match is that it was ruled a draw and the Brazilians, in particular Maia and Renzo Gracie, started screaming to the ref that Maia should have won via decision (which he probably should have). Mikhail by this time had gone back to the dressing room, but his manager, Volk Han, was still in there arguing with Gracie and with Akira Maeda. The argument didn't occur backstage as was reported here. Anyway, I guess Gracie told them that unless the match continued, they weren't going to have Ricardo Morais come out for the main event so Maeda ordered a re-start. Mikhail didn't seem thrilled about it coming out but even in the re-start the finish was controversial as the ref stopped it when Maia caught Mikhail in an inverted cross armbreaker, but Mikhail hadn't submitted yet. Morais vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto went 46 seconds and it was really too short to tell if it was a work or a shoot although I'd guess the latter. It looked no more or no less real than the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon match and even though the fans were nicer about it than the boxing fans, you can imagine that they weren't thrilled that "their" top star losing that fast in the main event.


What was surprising after seeing it on tape was the Kimo vs. Kazushi Sakuraba match on 7/14 which I figured was a work since it set up Kimo's appearances on the UWFI shows. From seeing the tape, that match was a shoot and an exciting one at that as Sakuraba was impressive being competitive."

Another letter from the king of writing letters to Dave:

"THE READERS PAGES

THESZ BOOK

I recently had the chance to compare the Lou Thesz book "Hooker" with the Japanese translation edition by Koji Miyamoto and the difference was shockingly large. Although the Japanese hard-cover fancy book contained 200 photos and was sold nationally through Baseball Magazine Sha as opposed to the mail-order process of the American book, the Japanese book completely omitted any kayfabe information and was written as an autobiography of a hero called "The Iron Man."

I can't say that it was bad, since the Japanese appreciate pro wrestling living legends more than Americans and circulation figures are everything in that industry. Because the book sold to the general public, the publisher decided to keep the myth and fantasy about Lou Thesz and pro wrestling. The final outcome is there are two very different autobiographies of the same person. But I was deeply moved by the historical facts one could only learn from the English version and I speak very highly of that book. It was another example of Weekly Pro Wrestling style which is heavily edited and skewed print journalism.

I found a letter in the readers page saying that Tarzan Yamamoto should have covered New Japan shows from paid seats and not doing so was his mistake. However, Weekly Pro has never been true journalism. It's a double structural illusion derived from pro wrestling. It's part shoot journalism of course, and even includes worked-shoot print angles, but it is still the magazine fantasy that we all love, so it would have been foolish for it to report on New Japan matches at that time.

I know that many Observer readers subscribe to Weekly Pro only for the photos and I would rate it as the world's finest photo journalism wrestling magazine. It's worth paying more than $10 each week to get it in the United States. But as evident in the Lou Thesz book, you may be aware that in essence it is still the same as a Bill Apter magazine. I have nothing against that. As with being in the ring, customers and readers have a right to choose and pay for what they want and pro wrestling is a work business. Some people prefer Atsushi Onita's theatrical wed drama. Others enjoy shootfighting. I personally enjoy Lucha Libre. The problem in Japan is that there is no Observer or 900 lines and that's why Yamamoto's last word was that "journalism was dead."

The only true wrestling journalism in Japanese was probably my own book, "Worldwide Pro Wrestling," published in 1995 by Shuei-sha. Sheui-sha is the nation's top publisher and it's rare that the giant Random House type firm published a pro wrestling book for the mass market. The reason I bring my own book up is that when I read "Hooker," it was if I was reading my own book in English, especially the first chapter was amazingly similar to a chapter in my book. I was so happy since the biggest legend in pro wrestling explained this bizarre world in the same way I did.

The 8/14 Observer was your masterpiece issue and it's my regret that many Japanese fans have not yet discovered it. As a native who grew up watching Antonio Inoki, the article shows the realization of the international video age. Regardless of nationality or where you currently live, wrestling fans share many of the same values of this universal industry.

I'd like to bring up two matches in detail since I felt it made sense for readers.

The first was the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki match on June 26, 1976. Although you stated it ended up as a shoot, I believe the time limit draw decision was predetermined. But it was not a worked match. They never rehearsed anything or discussed doing high spots. My belief comes from reading Hisashi Shinma's book called "Good-bye Antonio Inoki" (1993). The manager of Inoki for 26 years never stated this in print, but there were hints if you read between the lines. He wrote it as if the draw ending was the provision that allowed New Japan to not pay Ali the $6.1 million. The $1.8 million had already been paid in advance before Ali had arrived in Tokyo. Remember at that time the exchange rate for $1 was 300 yen, and money figures of this type were simply unheard of in Japan for any form of show business.

No matter what happened before hand, it was still something of a shoot match and it's the right thing to compare it to the Dan Severn vs. Ken Shamrock match. I found the same strained atmosphere in that match. What happened was beyond both fighters' wildest imaginations or game plans, as they fought a very serious fight with enormous fear of the skills of the other. Ali himself admitted that the match with Inoki was a very fearful experience. I firmly believe had there never been an Ali-Inoki match, there would have been no UWF, Rings, Pancrase or even UFC today.

It's interesting to note that in the 20th anniversary Ali-Inoki book published by Weekly Gong, the editor stuck to his beliefs that the match was a shoot and that's why it was so boring for the general public. While I didn't learn anything new from that book, it's great that Japanese are always trying to learn from the past and that new wrestling fans are learning important history from buying that book.

Karl Gotch, who taught the art of hooking to Yoshiaki Fujiwara and many others, seconded Inoki in the match with Ali. He was interviewed in the book and talked about Pancrase, his ideal pro wrestling promotion. While he praised Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki, his last two true students, he questioned why the Shamrock brothers were pushed in Pancrase since he sees them as streetfighters and not wrestlers. He's sure never changed after all these years.

Although Inoki lost a lot of his reputation with the public and well as experienced a financial debt from the Ali match, he learned an important lesson which made him a strong leader of the innovative venture capital business known as New Japan Pro Wrestling. That leadership later led to him earning a Senatorial seat for one term, so pro wrestling historians need to focus more on the importance of that one night in Budokan.

Inoki took the blame for the poor match, but there was a difference from the Shamrock-Severn UFC match since Inoki was both the wrestler in the match and the promoter of the match. Unlike the Vince McMahon-Hulk Hogan relationship, Shinma, a real-life religionist was a business and artistic manager so Inoki's burden as a top star was much bigger than that of Shawn Michaels today.

Everyone liked seeing Ali at the Atlanta Olympics. I'd like to mention that Inoki was the only opponent of Ali who kept in contact with him. Over the last few years, they appeared together in Peace and Harmony related events in Cuba, Los Angeles, North Korea and Tokyo. It is well-known that Ali learned his showmanship that made him the world's most famous athlete by growing up watching Gorgeous George and Fred Blassie. However, it was Inoki who made him respect pro wrestling as a sport.

The other match I'd like to talk about was the Hulk Hogan vs. Inoki match on June 2, 1983. Your writing might give the impression that an accident happened during the match, but it was actually a work. It was a Hisashi Shinma super angle which fooled everyone, long before Brian Pillman-Kevin Sullivan took place and the impact was huge. A famous example was that many young Japanese including 15-year-old Minoru Suzuki decided to become pro wrestlers after watching that match in order to gain revenge on Hogan for their hero.

The most amazing fact was that all of the national media, network television news and newspapers blindly bought the angle. The media that didn't cover pro wrestling reported Inoki going to the hospital and legitimate major news. Naturally after finding out the truth, the media bashed pro wrestling as fake so Shinma's absolute peak as booker actually ended up hurting the industry.

While things didn't take place as planned, it was an angle to explain the physical decline of Inoki. Most agree that Inoki's peak as an athlete was 1974-75 and by this point in time, Inoki suffered from a serious case of diabetes. He was unable to wrestle for three months, but not because of an incident in that match but from diabetes and other related illnesses. Where New Japan is distinguished as different from WWF and WCW is the concept of athletic credibility. Although the IWGP tournament was Inoki's baby, because of his illness, the booking committee gave the chance to a young and powerful Hogan.

Neither the AWA nor the WWF created Hogan. Japanese fans first discovered his enormous potential as a star and 1983 was during his athletic prime. It's sad that most Americans saw Hogan after 1984. Vince McMahon's brilliant marketing idea was simply a theft, using what had already happened within New Japan as his own market research plan.

The last thing I'd like to mention wasn't a wrestling match, but something that happened on October 14, 1989. While Senator Inoki was delivering a speech at a political meeting, a thug assaulted him with a knife and Inoki was bloodied. All the television and newspapers covered it as a major news story and nothing different has ever been revealed today. But I wasn't the only one who smelled an angle. I'm not surprised by anything that happens within the wrestling world, but I was scared when I saw the television coverage all over the place. I believe that was the point when Shinma recognized Inoki wasn't living in reality. When Shinma learned that Inoki made a secret deal to offset his big debt in exchange for dropping out of the race to be Mayor of Tokyo, Shinma went public. It was Shinma's mercy is not revealing everything that may have kept Inoki out of jail and enabled him to finish his Senatorial term.

This year is the fifth anniversary of Riki Choshu being the Executive Booker of New Japan Pro Wrestling. At the fifth G-1 tournament, he finally put himself over. But as a long time New Japan follower, I never liked his way of thinking including his views of wrestling journalism and I know I'm not the only one with that feeling among the generation that watched the Ali-Inoki match live on television.

Choshu made a famous remark saying that Tarzan Yamamoto is the UWF concept itself. It was funny that the man in charge of New Japan admitted that the UWF movement was not created by Akira Maeda or Nobuhiko Takada, but manipulated by the editor of a wrestling magazine. He recognized Yamamoto as not only his biggest enemy but his main rival as being the most influential person in the pro wrestling industry.

As a wrestling booker, it is impossible to satisfy all the different types of wrestling audiences at the same time. However, Keiichi Yamada is the rare exception so he is the best booker in the world in the New Japan junior heavyweight division. If one is running a major league promotion, they need to target the marks, smarks and smart fans combination. Choshu focused too much on what smarks think through reading too much Weekly Pro. I believe that's the real problem with the pro wrestling scene in Japan today.

Live attendance is record breaking and magazine readership is high, but that's all within the pro wrestling village. In the real world outside the village, weekly television ratings air in the late night time slot and ratings are low. The turnover rate among wrestling fans has shortened because they don't promote in a way to cultivate long-time fans. Many pro wrestling insiders were happy to see Yamamoto go, but I hope Choshu ends up being punished as well. Otherwise, many will point to the peaking of the New Japan empire very soon.

Tadashi Tanaka

New York, New York


DM: Over the years I've talked with a lot of people regarding the Ali-Inoki and I'm pretty sure the story in the 8/14 issue was accurate as I heard basically the same story from several insiders to the match over the years. Independently, in the Ali biography by Thomas Hauser, which is an excellent and extremely accurate book, the story of Ali-Inoki was related the same way. I've heard many different version of the Hogan-Inoki match story including the one mentioned. The key point whether or not it was a planned finish of that match or not, is that the post-match changed the face of wrestling in Japan and the screwed up finish in the rematch one year later only made a bad situation worse."

September 23, 1996:

"More notes on the 8/24 RINGS show. This was definitely one of the most important wrestling cards all year on several levels. There were either four or five true shoots on an eight match show, which is an amazing situation for a group that was a working group for the most part up to this point. Willie Peeters (who recently won a UFC style tournament in Holland) beat Wataru Sakata in a match that appeared to be a shoot. Then Egan Inoue of Sayama's shooting promotion faced Masayoshi Naruse of Rings in a shoot match that was really exciting for a shoot match. There was a Kyokushin Kai karate match (no blows to the face allowed) that was obviously a shoot, although boring to a pro wrestling audience since pure legit karate has limited offensive moves (basically limited to forms of strikes). The final two matches under Vale Tudo rules appeared also to be shoots, although with a 46 second match that is short enough that you don't have to be a great worker to be able to pull it off. The Brazilian who fought Illoukhine Mikhail that we referred to as Denilson Maia was actually named Adilson Lima. That 25:00 match resembled a Ken Shamrock match with Oleg Taktarov or Royce Gracie minus the head-butts (which weren't allowed) but it didn't appear the audience was bored because they understood what was going on. The best match on the show was Volk Han vs. Tsuyoshi Kousaka once again. It was a rematch of their 7/16 classic and it was clearly a worked match again. Within the framework of the RINGS style was a fantastic match because it looked legitimate (the only "flaw" is it was "too exciting" to be legitimate) but maintained true believability while being a work and still maintaining tremendous heat and excitement with constant submissions and reversals to an audience totally educated to what they were doing. It's nearly an impossible balance but I guess it's not impossible after all. Although these guys don't know pro wrestling selling and bump taking, within their style, these guys are both fantastic workers. Actually Han is probably the most underrated great worker in the world right now. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Maurice Smith appeared to be a work, but was done in a fashion that it was pretty convincing as well and the fans were into it even though there really wasn't a lot of action. The other match, Dick Vrij vs. Mitsuya Nagai, was a super stiffly worked kick and slap fest. From start-to-finish this was the best RINGS show I can remember and you can see this group that was stale for a long time becoming a hot promotion. It will almost have to go back to primarily or even totally worked matches since starting in November they do the annual Battle Dimension tournament, with it starting 10/25 at Aiichi Gym in Nagoya, 11/22 at Osaka Castle Hall, 12/21 at Fukuoka International Center and finishing up on 1/22 at Tokyo Budokan Hall.

The "U" Japan put tickets on sale this past week ($45 to $180) for 11/17 at Ariake Coliseum and is advertising Kimo vs. Vader on top, even though our reports were that Vader hasn't been booked for the show.

It's almost a definite that Ken Shamrock won't be returning to Pancrase. According to those close to him, the current plan, subject to change, is that Shamrock is training for Ultimate Ultimate with the idea that it'll be his last fighting competition and to go out with a bang. Because of the increase in strikes to the face, the photos of the last Pancrase after the show in the magazines, particularly Funaki, really looked brutal. Pancrase has Budokan Hall booked on 12/27.

The next UWFI show is 9/30 in Morioka with Nobuhiko Takada & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yoji Anjoh & Kenichi Yamamoto, Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masahito Kakihara, Yuhi Sano vs. Nikolai Gordeau, Tiger Mask Sayama vs. TBA and Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Billy Scott."

September 30, 1996:

"OTHER JAPAN NOTES

Apparently the Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Maurice Smith match on the 8/24 RINGS card was a shoot [was it really though?--ed]. The Rings Battle Dimension tournament, which has to be a work since it's booked four shows in, beings on 10/25 in Nagoya. The first round matches are Gokiteza Berkley vs. Todor Todorov, Illoukhine Mikhail vs. Kiyoshi Tamura, Tsuyoshi Kousaka vs. Dick Vrij, Mitsuya Nagai vs. Willie Peeters, Bitzsade Tariel vs. Nikolai Zouev, Volk Han vs. Masayoshi Naruse, Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. David Hahareshivili (an Olympic medalist in judo in 1992 from Russia) and Akira Maeda vs. TBA.

10/8 Pancrase in Nagoya has Bas Rutten vs. Manabu Yamada in a non-title match, Jason DeLucia vs. Yuki Kondo, Frank Shamrock vs. Yoshiki Takahashi, Minoru Suzuki vs. Takafumi Ito and Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Semmy Schiltt. Shamrock may not be on that show as he's wants to take off until December to heal up. Shamrock said that the first year he was in Pancrase he'd have two easy matches and one tough one and it would go like that, but now there is no such thing as an easy match as the young guys know both the old style and the new style and coming back every six weeks with a hard match every time is why everyone is breaking down.

Vader is definitely out of the U Japan show, not that he was ever in. U Japan is looking for a pro wrestler to face Kimo in what has to be a worked match, since the two names they were looking at were Terry Gordy or Sabu. I'd be pretty well certain Sabu wouldn't do it and I'd hope Gordy wouldn't because it would kill the promotion before it starts. Becky Levy, who is the big powerlifting woman who has been in the corner of Don Frye and Scott Ferrozo at UFC's, will do a womens match on that show against Yoko Takahashi, a former pro wrestler who lost in the first round of the U womens shoot tournament in August on the AJW big shows."

October 7, 1996:

"RINGS ran on 9/25 in Sapporo and drew 3,853 fans for its final show before the Battle Dimension tournament and was filled with surprises in that all the Japanese stars and top ranked Hans Nyman all did jobs on the show. The only win by a Japanese wrestler was Mitsuya Nagai, and that's because he beat another Japanese, Tsuyoshi Kousaka, which has to be a mild upset since Kousaka was coming off the two great matches against Volk Han and his stock was rising. Top pushed star Yoshihisa Yamamoto suffered his third loss in a row, this time losing to a knee cross submission by Andrei Kopilov in 12:33. This sets up Kopilov as Akira Maeda's first opponent in the tournament that starts on 10/25 in Nagoya. Bitsaze Tariel become the No. 1 ranked wrestler according to the ratings, beating Nyman in a match for that position via KO in 5:19 (Nyman had won the spot from Yamamoto in July). Volk Han retained his No. 3 ranking beating hot newcomer Kiyoshi Tamura in 10:32 via submission with a reverse armlock in the other top match. With Yamamoto having lost three matches in a row and having looked unimpressive in a 30:00 decision win over Maurice Smith before losing the three bouts, this is either being done to set him up to win the Battle Dimension tournament or because he failed in shoot situations and this is a so-called shoot group, they feel they have to phase him down from the top. It'll be evident as the tourney goes on two months back.

9/25 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center (RINGS - 3,853): Peter Dykman b Wataru Sakata, Christopher Hazemann b Masayoshi Naruse, Mitsuya Nagai b Tsuyoshi Kousaka, Volk Han b Kiyoshi Tamura, Bitsaze Tariel b Hans Nyman, Andrei Kopilov b Yoshihisa Yamamoto"


October 14, 1996: 

In response to a reader who writes an asks if Dave is "an ECW basher," Dave notes (in part):

"ECW is very important in that it is the most successful small group in the U.S. and from an idea standpoint and gimmick standpoint, we've all seen how much WWF and WCW have taken and tried to take from them. At the same time, on a world wide basis, we are still talking about a company that has yet to draw 2,000 paid to a house show in its history and plays regularly in Philadelphia, one of the biggest markets in the world, and has run several shows in New York, the nation's No. 1 market, so it has to be put in its proper perspective. Taking things on a world wide perspective, compare it with RINGS, which started as about the same time, often draws 5,000 and occasionally 10,000 fans to its shows, has strong television coverage, has created a style all its own, and has run successfully not only in its home country but drawn well in Russia and Holland as well. Or compare it with Pancrase, which is only three years old, and has been so revolutionary that it has taken pro wrestling almost or completely to the realm of legitimate sport, and also packs 5,000-seat arenas for its shows."


Perhaps interestingly (there is no way this is interesting) I don't care about ECW even a little? Like I have never watched an episode of ECW television and cannot see why I ever would? And I mean who even has the time with half a RINGS box to go? Join me next time, won't you, as we sound further its depths? Thank you once again for your time!