KINGDOM Birth Step 3 7/29/1997

KINGDOM Birth Step 3

7/29/1997 in Tokyo, Japan

Yoyogi National Gymnasium

3,300 in Attendance

HELLO! And welcome back for the final stop in Kingdom's Birth Step series. This has been a thrilling ride so far in shoot style and early MMA history! I have no doubt this event will prove to be any different! (as I write this my girlfriend is teasing me and repeatedly calling pro wrestling "hee haw videos" in some strange ploy to both demean me and make me laugh [it worked])

(I also want to give a big shout out to Kick Submission Suplex, a great and funny blog about the Newborn UWF who recently gave me a shout out. Also listen and subscribe to the Fighting Network Friends podcast, these guys are exploring shoot style history and posting great YouTube playlists to follow along. Hopefully they get to do an episode discussing Kingdom soon wink wink)

We open our show with a snazzy TV themed opening (nice songs throughout this whole event) and are greeted by more nice images of the Yoyogi National Gym. This gymnasium has been the home of all KINGDOM's Birth Steps, a delivery room for Takada's newest vanity project. Speaking of Takada, there is a massive line of people in before the show starts to get their VERY SICK Kingdom t-shirts signed by the man himself (Takada has a very nice signature). BREAKING NEWS: some guys in suits are announcing the upcoming ONE NIGHT MILLION YEN TOURNAMENT (adjusted for inflation its almost 9 thousand US dollars lol)! Now that we have that out of the way, we get to see Takada have a little Muay Thai practice in front of his loving fans. This is actually pretty cool seeing the guy train since this is just a few months away from Pride 1 (which will get its own blog post because I think its important here in the KINGDOM story) where Takada sacrificed himself for our shoot style sins to Rickson Gracie (please check out the great TK Scissors blog for more on this). After his little practice session, he gives an impassioned speech to the crowd for huge applause and screams of TAKADA!

But who cares about that when we have THE FIGHTER PARADE! The Kingdom theme blares as the fighters come out one by one (this show has the fighters being called out in both Japanese and English) and all I can say is I am very pumped for this whole show. The fighters are sporting black t-shirts with the red KINGDOM logo on the front. This event from the start clearly has more foreign fighters, both newcomers and active MMA guys, than the other 2 events. From looking ahead at later Kingdom cards, I think this is a trend that will continue. This almost half and half split between the main fight roster and MMA/Non Wrestler but Martial Artist/Whatever fighters was also seen in Inoki's Universal Fighting-Arts Organization (UFO) and his Inoki Bom Ba Ye events (especially 2000) which are not talked about nearly enough sadly.

Yoji Anjo gives a nice speech to end the fighter parade, and we are into our first bout between newcomer Brian Smith and Shunsuke Matsui! Smith is a newcomer in the truest sense, his fighting history includes being an all-state wrestler in Michigan and being the captain of.... the team. That's very modest but the guy is clearly young and seems excited to compete and I am excited to see him compete as well. Matsui seems quite energetic in his interview and he's clearly ready for this fight. Side note: I was watching some old King of the Cage, an American MMA organization that is still going somehow but used to be one of the major MMA promotions, and Matsui appeared frequently in their early days and mostly lost! Hey, at least he tried.

Before we go further in this event, I need to point out how absolutely top notch the production is on this final Birth Step show. Throughout the backstage segments, this lovely tech-house song plays across the entire show and really sets the mood for the event. The camera work is also superb, capturing the fighters emotions and body movements well, both in ring and backstage. The music selection for fighter entrances remains very strong and the graphic design of interstitials and other elements of the show is spectacular.

But back to the action, Smith comes out energetic and doing that weird thing amatuer wrestlers do where the bend their legs weird and snake back and forth (you know what I mean right?). Matsui comes out quickly and is ready to fight (his right shoulder is taped up completely). AND HERE WE GO! Smith as expected instantly goes for a double leg and gets it. Smith wrestles Matsui until Matsui manages to grab a rope. Smith keeps getting stuck in Matsui's guard, even managing a slam but not being able to get out while Matsui manages to gain control and is now working on an arm bar that Smith quickly taps to! Brian Smith was ok but once he got Matsui down he didn't know what to do except sort of floundered around on top like many freestyle wrestlers in the early days of MMA. Matsui seems glad to have this big win, especially after his grueling loss to Billy Scott at Birth Step 2. Smith tells us if he was more experienced he would how done better. That is true! (He seems nice and I do hope we see him again but I also hope he figures out this whole (fake) MMA thing.)

Now we get an interview with Kenichi Yamamoto, who looks chilled out and bad 2 the bone, wearing a tropical shirt and some very nice purple tinted shades (it is 1997 after all). Masahito Kakihara paces around the back, I assume hyping himself up for this upcoming clash. As usual, he seems very pleasant in his pre-fight interviews. Yamamoto comes out to his intense theme wearing a black KINGDOM tee with the sleeves removed. Kakihara is without his UWF jacket (what a change) but he still comes out to the UWF theme. As we near the beginning of the bout, these guys seem intensely ready.

DOUBLE KNOCKOUT SPOT! Yamamoto gets up and Kakihara just lays there. WOW this one was over fast. They hug afterwards but Kakihara is visibly shaken from that punch (was this shoot or just acting? I'm not sure). Yamamoto seems very excited over his win and for some reason has what looks like temporary tattoo of the KINGDOM logo. Kakihara was not interviewed sadly!

We cut backstage and Yoshihiro Takayama is being attended to while sporting his super villain jacket. Yuhi Sano is getting ready backstage and I bet is still super excited from his win over Mark “The Cobra” Hall at Birth Step 2. I've been surprised with how much I have disliked Takayama's performances so far so I hope this one is better! WE START THIS BOUT with some weird Takayama striking including some huge knees for a big early knockdown on Sano. This one is already much better than Takayama's earlier outings. He lands a nasty leg kick and is able to bring Sano down, but after a failed submission attempt Sano has Takayama's back and is desperately looking for a choke. After a failed arm bar from Sano, Takayama gets a knee bar in but Sano slips out.

Takayama is standing in Sano's guard and he is imposing to say the least. Takayama has been over powering Sano from the get go and its not looking too hot for him. This is definitely way more worked feeling than the other matches but this huge striking exchange between the two totally makes up for that. AND TAKAYAMA IS KNOCKED DOWN BY A BIG KICK. Standing again, Takayama goes back to his big knees and wants this german suplex sooooo bad but decides to just push Sano down onto his stomach. A brutal but effective takedown. After standing Takayama gets his nasty German Suplex and it is scored as a knockdown against Sano which is weird but I guess makes sense. Takayama is mauling Sano but Sano tries for an arm submission on Takayama forcing a rope break. Kick KICK KICK to Takayama and then Sano dead lifts him up for an overhead belly to belly which is SICK AS FUCK. Sano peels off an arm and starts wrenching for a long time but Takayama makes it to the ropes (that went on for way too long and wasnt good shame on u takayama). Sano is kicking once more!!!! REPEATED PUNCHES KICKS and a fucking JUDO THROW (not sure which one but DAMN) into arm bar for the HUGE win for Sano.

Sano seems super exhausted but obviously in high spirits over the big win. We do not get a post match interview with Yoshihiro Takayama unfortunately as he is pissed at his loss and slams the door in the reporters face. This was definitely Takayama's best showing so far in KINGDOM and Yuhi Sano continues to impress me each show!!

AH YEA here is Nobuhiko Takada chatting with the main commentator over the house audio system. The fans seem very interested, I really wish I knew what was being conveyed here. We are rapidly approaching the first PRIDE FC event in October (just a few months away) so maybe its about that! He gets a nice applause as he finishes his interview.

NEXT UP we have Orlando Wiet going up against the BEST Kazushi Sakuraba. Wiet (Veteran of UFC 2 and holder of a pro record of 1-5 LOL) says he is in the KINGDOM organization because he likes to try different things and fighting is like food and you need to try new food just like trying different kinds of fighting. That seems pretty agreeable albeit a weird analogy to me! Wiet says KINGDOM is more technical and safe than American style MMA (this is a worked promotion but sure!) and that since the UFC, he has learned its best for him to stay away from the ground entirely. This will be a problem as his opponent is none of than Sakuraba who is the best at specifically that thing Wiet is the worst at. Sakuraba is here and he looks lost and confounded as usual. He is rather chipper in his pre-fight interview, I expect because he knows he will wreck Wiet.

ALRIGHT its fight time. Wiet comes out to some... weird blues rock and Sakuraba has this snazzy little tune to bring him out. I am really looking forward to this bout, Sakuraba has not disappointed me yet in this KINGDOM of shoot-style. Right out the gate Wiet is kicking but eats a BIGGGGG belly to belly putting him in the situation he was trying to avoid as previously said. Sakuraba already is in full mount and the ref starts shouting HIT...... HIT............ HIT to indicate to the fighters that they are in a position where ground and pound is allowed! 

Wiet gives up back and tries to roll out but Saku holds on. Saku's glove gets messes up so the ref makes them stand. Wiet starts his kicking up again but Saku gets one of his own in. This is a kicky affair indeed! Saku grabs for a german suplex but Wiet rope breaks. After being tied up in the ropes for a bit, Wiet pushes Saku off but is then caught in a very pro wrestling capture suplex. I loved it but the crowd seemed a bit MEH on it (probably wasn't shoot enough for these diehards). Sakuraba really is just controlling this whole thing. Wiet is not great at real shoots or fake shoots honestly, what a sad fate. GODDAMN Saku is suplexing Wiet constantly and it ends in a rear naked choke! That was fun seeing Sakuraba completely maul someone but it was also probably the worst Saku match to date in KINGDOM. But do not let that fool you this was still surely a fun outing! A very smiley Kazushi Sakuraba greets us backstage and I am simply delighted by this sighting of happy Saku. Orlando Wiet says the fight was difficult “because of the rules” and how strong his opponent was, he also complements the ref which is seems like quite a genuine compliment to his skills.

BACKSTAGE we see Nicholas Starks (MMA record of 3-5) pacing around and getting ready for this bout against Hiromitsu Kanehara. Starks says KINGDOM is a tough organizations and really talks up Kanehara. He also talks up how great this rule set is, his sambo leg submissions (yesssssssss), and his leg kicks. Kanehara paces around in his leather top and he seems excited in his interview. In the interview he is sporting a veryyyyyy cool Birth Step tee that I would just... love to own. I am so excited for this bout to be frank with my (few) readers and I hope you are as well.

Both come out to great music but man Kanehara's theme has such a nice sound to it (KANEHARAAAAA we hear from a happy fan). Starks eats a body kick and takes Kanehara down immediately, this pace out the gate is so fast. Starks is clearly a natural at this shoot style, worked MMA thing that KINGDOM is doing and its just a joy to see. Starks maintains control for some time but Kanehara roles Starks and grabs a big Kimura/double wrist lock and OMG its already over!!! The short amount of ground work we saw was so good, it really had the weight of a real MMA fight. Kanehara is belated by his win and is just full of smiles. Nicholas Starks is bummed at the loss. He mentions how technical it is, and that since hes used to No Holds Barred he got caught in the middle of the ring and didn't use the rope break properly. He loves how kind the fans are and wants to be back soon (PLEASE COME back man you are good at this!).

AND WE ARE AT THE MAIN EVENT. “The Polar Bear” Paul Varelans will be taking on Yoji Anjo! Varelans talks up how KINGDOM, Pancrase, and New Japan all have different rule sets and how he enjoys playing with all of them. This is a great promo and I hope you all check it out through the link to Birth Step 3 I have put at the top of this blog post. Anjo has really impressed me over these last few shows, I'm still not fully sold on the dude but I am coming around to him. Varelans comes out to an absolutely sick electronic tune while Anjo comes out to his little rock theme. GOD DAMN Varelans is so huge, his kick pad and singlet look for KINGDOM is absolutely top notch.

AS WE START THIS BOUT I want to mention just how much bigger Varelans is than Anjo, himself no small man. Right out of the gate Anjo attempts a takedown but ends up just clinching Varelans into the corner. Varelans pulls guard and has to be reminded he can't punch cuz he has yet to be mounted (KINGDOM's rules are weird). Big kicks from Anjo but Varelans deploys a favorite technique of mine: the “let me fall on your head and neck” as patented by Nikolai Gordeau in Birth Step 1. Anjo gets up and proceeds to kick the hell out of Varelans' legs and slaps on a heel hook but its broken up by a rope break. 

Anjo is really landing some strikes on Varelans here, its definitely not a real shoot but Anjo is going hard! HUGE belly to belly from Varelans, throwing Anjo out of the corner and onto his back violently. NO PUNCH NO PUNCH announces the ref and then HIT HIT indicating the chance to punch on the ground. Anjo grabs the ropes and they are back up and HUGE COMBO from Anjo! Varelans is down strikes and Anjo gets the mount and starts punching Varelans in the face (is this a shoot? Maybeeeee but more likely is just tough as hell). Anjo is UNLOADING, gets a leg, and Varelans grabs the ropes but is out of points! TKO VICTORY FOR ANJO! Varelans says ANJO is outstanding and has great balance, and that he had a ton of fun here. He says this is faster than Pancrase, and that while similar in their sport orientation, both are quite distinct. Paul Varelans here is great and provides some really interesting thoughts on shoot-style and MMA which I honestly did not expect. He seems like he had a good time and thats really all that matters. Yoji Anjo is absolutely jacked up about this win!

Unfortunately, this brings us to the end of KINGDOM Birth Step 3. This event has the most MMA guys involved than either of the other 2 events of KINGDOM and I feel like this is a trend that may continue. While the highs of the last two events may have been higher, this was the tightest showing that KINGDOM has put on so far. The mix of pro wrestling and worked MMA was a treat. Even better, I was not bored by Takayama this time! Of all the things that stood out to me, the competitor's discussions of the rules really shows how MMA at the time was a real multitude, spanning from worked to fixed to completely shoot, no holds barred in some organizations and no head strikes allowed in others. What a great time it was in this regard but I digress! I hope you all enjoyed the end to this Birth Step series (please check out the full event through the link at the top of the post!) and we will continue this KINGDOM adventure soon at the Million Yen One Night Tournament!