KINGDOM: One Night Million Yen Tournament 8/22/1997

KINGDOM: One Night Million Yen Tournament

City Gymnasium, Niigata, Japan

8/22/1997 2,250 in Attendance

KINGDOM's birth is now complete as we enter into the One Night Million Yen Tournament! We have left the Kingdom nursery which was the Yoyogi National Gym in Tokyo, and have traveled to Niigata for this nights tournament. An 8-man, one night, single elimination tournament is ahead of us and I am sooooo excited for this! Like seriously excited!

We open the show with an ominous black and white intro before we cut to interviews with the participants of the tournament. This music is spooky, much different than the high beat tech-house featured on Birth Step 3. The participants in the tournament include Billy Scott, Hiromitsu Kanehara, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kenichi Yamamoto, Shunsuke Matsui, Yoji Anjo, Yoshihiro Takayama, and Yuhi Sano, and it looks like I spoke too soon as this music has turned upbeat! Before we start the event we see a title card that says BIRTH TOUR '97 so while we are out of the Birth Steps of Kingdom we are still on the Birth Tour. Weird to say the least!

We see shots of the venue which is customary and it seems like a nice building, it was built in 1960, designed by Eiji Miyagawa, and incorporates Brutalist stylings with a shell-like structure for something quite pleasant in my opinion! We cut now to images of the fighters working out and practicing holds before the event, and we see Kakihara shaking hands and signing autographs (he isn't on the card for some reason but its good to see him still helping out lol). We get a pleasant fighter parade and WHAT IS THIS Alexander Otsuka is here for what I assume will be a BattlARTS style match. Not only are we getting a pretty stacked tournament but we get to see the Diet Butcher himself at work. After the fighter parade, they each grab a ball out of box to decide the order of fights. This will be a fun one.

No entrances here as we HARD CUT to Yuhi Sano going against Keinichi Yamamoto in this first round bout. They are cautious at first and the Ref demands ACTION and Yamamoto is really looking to strike here. He lands some strongggg hooks, but Sano manages to catch a kick and bring Yamamoto down. 

Sano has the back and is hungry for a submission. DAMN he catches Yamamoto in a deep choke but Yamamoto scrambles back up but eats a quick German Suplex. After some back and forth Leg Locking, Sano gets the win by cranking the hell out of Yamamoto's ankle in a really gnarly position! Big win for the big boy Sano.

(side note: this gymnasium is definitely pretty empty with only 2,250 attendees in a place that can hold around 4,000 from the bit of research I did)

See what I'm saying?

NEXT UP we have YUJI ANJO and KAZUSHI SAKURABA scrapping so we know this is gonna be a hot one. As you might expect, Anjo starts striking and Sakuraba starts going for the takedown immediately. This is a nice back and forth with Anjo controlling the top position throughout. GODDAMN huge elbows to Saku's head as we are in a standing clinch against the ropes and the HUGE Belly to Belly to Arm bar finish from Saku! WOW that was way quicker than I expected. A very very strong win for our dude Sakuraba.

There he goes!

This event is flying by as we are already about to see BILLY SCOTT go up against HIROMITSU KANEHARA. Scott has impressed me immensely every time he has appeared so far, and Kanehara is always swell. Kanehara's nickname in the very fun Final Fire Pro is Young Worker, a befitting title for someone like him who sadly never reached the peaks he could have (maybe). But there isn't time for chatter as these guys start striking right out the gate. Kanehara really wants the take down but eats a stiff punch right to the head. The striking on this show so far has been stiff and unforgiving, I quite like it. 

God he punched him so hard holy fuck

WOAH Scott hits a great front trip (this probably has a specific name but I am at a loss) and brings Kanehara right down. Kanehara is going for the arm bar but Scott escapes and grabs the leg for a kneebar. Kanehara slips out and now has control from the top, but Scott escapes pinning Kanehara to the mat. This is soooooo fluid and after some extended working (may have held this too long unfortunately) on the ankle, Kanehara forces the submission! It's a bummer to see Billy Scott not go farther but that was really fun.

SHUNSUKE MATSUI and YOSHIHIRO TAKAYAMA are next! They shake hands but there is a real intensity here. Takayama employs his patented “Ill force you down and put all my weight on you” technique and so far he's just squishing poor Matsui. We see Matsui trying for an arm but Takayama is just really having his way on the ground. WOW Takayama maintains back control, slaps on the rear naked choke, and finishes clean. This event is definitely all worked but you can tell they are really trying for a heavy, intense vibe complete with brutally quick finishes. Of all their events so far, this one night tournament has exemplified the spontaneous shortness of MMA matches. 

BUT NOW ITS BATTLARTS TIME! We have Alexander Otsuka in a great light blue and fluorescent green singlet coming out to a very country western theme song, what a joy this is. He's facing Katsumi Usuda, who just recently ended his career in 2015 after having worked in BattlARTS, NOAH, Fu-Ten, Zero-1, BML, and numerous other hard hitting goodness. I am genuinely excited for this one! Side note: Otsuka is not wearing MMA gloves while Usuda is. Lots of quick takedowns and snappy ground work. Otsuka is so explosive while changing positions, forcing his way back up and taking Usuda over for a German Suplex to the delight of the fans! There have been a few rope breaks here but no point counter so I assume its unlimited rope breaks here. BIG kicks to the body from Usuda, and I notice as it goes to the ground that the back of Otsuka's singlet says simply ALEX instead of his more famous DIET BUTCHER.

Usuda is really working for the armbar but the rope break ends that venture. Otsuka with a double leg lifts Usuda up onto the ropes, and holds him in the air for wayyyyy too long for this shoot crowd who only give it a very small clap. Otsuka's following half-crab is also received poorly since the fans still have not recovered from that not-shoot-enough moment. DEEEEP choke on Otsuka but he manages the escape. KNEES from Usuda and an enzuigiri for the knockdown! Kick from Usuda that is reversed into a capture suplex from Otsuka who follows it up with a big German for the knockdown. Usuda somehow makes it up in time as Otsuka takes him back down. OK so there is also no weird KINGDOM ground punching rules here as Usuda lands shots on Otsuka's body and head. This might be going a bit long for a non tournament match to be frank but HEY Usuda just won with a leg lock! That was a fun time but did feel a bit out of place in Takada's realm of worked MMA.

Now to the second round of the tournament begins! Its the big dawg, Yuhi Sano, against nice guy Sakuraba. LOL those entrances were very rushed, I can just imagine Takada back there telling them to hurry because the flashy BattlARTS guys went too long. Sakuraba is in his salmon trunks and kickpads while Sano is in a pleasant blue. They are hesitant to start until Saku glues himself to Sano's back for a bit. A leg lock battle ensues and we get our first rope break. OK so apparently in the tournament rules in the first round you had only one break, this you have two, so I assume in the finals they will have three each. Good to know.

Sano is doing something which almost looks like a Texas Clover Leaf for a bit, honestly don't know what that was. Saku pulls him down but now Sano has Sakuraba's back. Sano has managed to get Saku in a side headlock choke but Saku, the slippery guy he is, manages his way out to a huge reaction from the crowd. WOAH Sano had Saku's arm in a really weird position and Saku yanked it way hard to get to the ropes that looked gnarly. Back up we have some kicking from both guys until Saku brings it back down again. However, a terrible thing occurs, Yuhi Sano has defeated our friend Kazushi Sakuraba with an excruciating leg lock (not sure of the exact name but holy shit that looked like it hurt). I know we all wanted Saku to win that million yen but it wasn't in the cards tonight (even in defeat Saku smiles)!

Young Sakuraba looking good even in defeat

HIROMITSU KANEHARA comes out first then TAKAYAMA hits the ring, stepping over the ropes because he has no need for them. Both fighters are wearing all black from the gloves to the kickpads so going in we know this is a serious, no-frills kind of deal, only for the highest of taste levels. For Takayama's poor performances in the first two KINGDOM events, he has really stepped it up in Birth Step 3 and this tournament. Out of the gate Takayama is pummeling Kanehara with strikes into the corner. Takyama beautifully throws Kanehara which makes a nice thud, and they exchange positions on the ground.

As they stand again, Takayama lands some strikes and then knees the absolute life out of Kanehara until he sneakily mounts Takayama from the back! He rides him to the ground for a choke but it gets stopped as they are tangled in the ropes. HUGE EXCHANGE OF STRIKING in the corner, Takayama captures Kanehara's arms and launches him across the ring. After a rope break, Kanehara is back to riding Takayama's back. Both guys look super tired since this is a one night tournament after all. After a failed choke and mount punch attempt, Hiromitsu Kanehara slaps on the arm bar for the win over Yoshihiro Takayama!

There was another fight listed on this show between Wayne Haas and someone only listed as ??? Serrano (on the great ProWrestlingHistory) but its not on this commercial release so we have to be content knowing that is most likely lost to time and fickle human memory. But hey, lets not despair as its time for the final round of the KINGDOM One Night Million Yen Tournament! It was a disappointment in ticket sales, but I am sure this final bout between YUHI SANO and HIROMITSU KANEHARA will not be one (hopefully).

These guys look tired but there is no time to be tired as they are kicking and punching the hell out of each other. HOLY MOLY these kicks from Kanehara are wild, we even see an axe kick (a favorite of mine) and an ungodly knee to the face that knocks Sano down. Kanehara is really ruling the striking game here, it is quite impressive as his punching is precise and kicks are violent. BIG backfist to Sano's face but he manages to get one of Kanehara's legs and the proceeds to punch Kanehara in the head a few times before bringing him down. Sano tries for a lock on the leg but Kanehara holds on and see-saws onto the top of Sano for the moment, but Sano regains control. Yuhi Sano definitely rules the roost so to speak on the ground in this matchup.

Sano is realllly working for this leg lock on Kanehara who just barely manages to get a rope break after scooting around for a bit while in pain. Ooooof big punches to each others heads and then Kanehara is down to one point! As they stand back up, Kanehara lands a big head kick and begins a torrent of knees to Sano, putting him down in the corner and forcing a knockdown with big hooks! Sano is down to one point as well, and these boys are straight tired. HUGGGEEEEEEE German Suplex to Kanehara then a rolling arm bar for the win!!!

Yuhi Sano is the winner of the modest prize of 1 million yen and Nobuhiko Takada appears with a nice little trophy (people scream TAKADAAAA but he just walks away, already forgetting about his little KINGDOM). A man brings Sano a check and he seems happy for this, the fans are a bit silent and many have already filed out so I feel a bit bad for Yuhi Sano (I think the fans wanted Sakuraba to win).

We leave our event to some backstage interviews with the finalists before we get clips of tonights tournament superimposed onto this dripping water graphic and musically set to some absolutely killer country rock. That was probably some of the best we have seen from KINGDOM. While Birth Step 3 showed the best of MMA guys mixing it up with Shoot Style pro wrestlers, this one night tournament was a showcase for the main roster of this KINGDOM.

Next time we will be going back to Tokyo at the Korakuen Hall to examine KINGDOM: Prelude to the World from 9/3/1997. This event is just a month before PRIDE 1, the ultimate source for the death of KINGDOM, but let us not get ahead of ourselves yet because we have more action packed, worked MMA shoot stylings in the future (from the past).