KRS-PRIDE

KRS-PRIDE (PRIDE 1)

Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan

10/11/1997 47,860 in Attendance

Hey! There's no KINGDOM show during October in 1997. I wonder why that is... oh yes I know why! The man behind KINGDOM Pro-Wrestling, our dear leader Nobuhiko Takada, is about to have a legitimate fight against Rickson Gracie in front of a massive crowd at the Tokyo Dome. This is the same man who turned down a fight against Takada way back in 94, the same man who beat up our cocky yet talented friend Yoji Anjo to the delight of the Japanese press. The man who claimed to have over 500 wins (he didn't) is about to fight Takada and this event is so big in fact that they created the Kakutougi Revolutionary Spirits (KRS) company to promote it. This event would do so well that they continued promoting shows and in a few years time (and a change of owners) they would be giving birth to some of the greatest examples of shoot fighting ever seen. But let us focus, and handle the task at hand: KRS-PRIDE and the impending annihilation of Nobuhiko Takada!

This intro starts off with some nice synth rhythms as Alexander Otsuka (I am pretty sure that is him) has electricity flow through him and a CGI dragon does some stuff! OK but we are right into the first fight between Kazunari Murakami (AN ABSOLUTE FAVORITE OF MINE) and John Dixon. Our commentators are “The Fight Doctor” Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten who inform us that Dixon has lost both of his MMA fights (nice).

Kazunari comes out flying and there is a nice brawl to start. Dixon gets a takedown and is in Kazunari's half guard. Kazunari pushes Dixon off and they get back up. Kazunari quickly lands a HUGE hip throw and wins with the armbar! Ok so I have some sad news, this match is widely purported to be a work and that is confirmed by Kazunari Murakami's terrible punches to the mid-section of John Dixon to set up the armbar. At least that one was fairly fun.

BUT WE CANT DILLY DALLY, as Gary Goodridge is about to fight Oleg Taktarov and heavy metal music is playing! We all know Big Daddy Goodridge, the great arm wrestler and face puncher, and Oleg Taktarov who won UFC 6 by choking out Tank Abbot. Taktarov is a sambo guy mostly but according to Bas Rutten, hes been training in boxing for this fight (hence his boxing shorts). 

Taktarov lands a nice combo on Goodridge but you just know this one is gonna pop off soon. Goodridge is able to get a cut on the left cheek of Taktarov. This is a little slower than you would expect then BAM Goodridge lands and Taktarov is on on the ground and getting wailed on. As they get back up, you that Taktarov is really banged up. He shoots but Goodridge sprawls and completely shuts it down (“Interesting fight” notes Rutten). After some toying, Goodridge lands a huge right hand knockout (with 2 extra shots on the ground which were a little much but its justified since this is NO HOLDS BARRED, BABY) and screams at a very silent and scared crowd! We end this segment with a shot of Oleg Taktarov being stretchered out and Bas comments “Now hopefully everything is gonna be ok with Oleg... I guess we will find out later........ but its good.”

The crowd was so afraid of Gary Goodridge

After that fun matchup, now its time for a 30 minute draw! We have Akira Shoji going up against a member of the Gracie Family, Renzo Gracie to be exact. A quick aside: these early PRIDE rules are strange in that if you go the full 30 minutes, its an automatic draw. Obviously, thats a bit buns but we will have to deal with it. This first round is a lot of pushing into the corner by Akira Shoji and then control on the ground by Renzo. Akira Shoji famously gets out of numerous submissions that Renzo locks in strongly. I don't mean to convey that this is a bad bout, there is a technicality on display here but I found myself a bit tired with it. In the second round, Shoji gains top control but can never finish the fight. Renzo can't seem to lock anything on strong enough and also fails to finish anything. The round finishes with Renzo laying on his back and Shoji standing there.

This third round starts off with some striking with Shoji landing a jab and leg kick combo. Shoji is able to block a takedown attempt by Renzo. This match, and many more in the coming years, would really chip away at the mystique of the Gracie family as they began losing more and being unable to finish fights strongly. Shoji continues to land those kicks to the leg and Renzo is getting bruised. Renzo shoots in and Shoji stuff the takedown and begins raining knees but the ref says NO NO NO as the viewer and the commentators learn that knees to the head on the ground are not allowed! These early PRIDE rules are... not good lol. Shoji is maintaining a very tight top control to prevent any submissions and even lands some nice knees to Renzo's tailbone area. Renzo sets up a submission but switches up to a mount but then Shoji twists out! Bas Rutten is impressed with thus "Mr Pride" Akira Shoji, who sadly lost more than most people would have liked! Shoji stuffs ANOTHER takedown and wails on Renzo for a bit before being pushed off, but the fight is over shortly after this sequence. I was probably too harsh on this fight at the beginning, as on this second watch of this bout while doing my write up I came to quite enjoy it in the later rounds!

UP NEXT Nathan Jones, famous for being in the WWE for like 5 seconds, is up against Koji Kitao, a former yokozuna and pro-wrestler who was shoot kicked in the face by Takada years earlier (“WOW THESE GUYS ARE BIG” exclaims Quadros). Jones shows off a huge crescent kick (but it misses) and then locks on a guillotine choke (poorly). Koji catches a leg and brings it down into side mount and locks in a KEY LOCK for the win. That match, even more obviously than the Kazunari and Dixon bout earlier, was a work. It was a fun little thing but as Quadros remarks “Neither one of these guys are gonna be breaking into the top ten anytime soon.”

UH OH WE HAVE KICKBOXING NOW! From what I understand of these earlier PRIDE events, they were meant to have some combination of No Holds Barred events with Kickboxing, worked fights, etc. mixed in and here we see an example of that. Branko Cikatic, a famous and ill tempered former K-1 Grand Prix champion, is up against Ralph White. These guys are not wearing standard kickboxing gloves, but some uhhh strange fingered kickboxing gloves. Cikatic starts it out with a cheapshot spinning body kick to start and that is a bad omen for what is to come. As White falls after some strikes a bit laterr, Cikatic shin kicks him in the head with an illegal strike to a downed opponent. As White's team argues with the officials for minutes, the commentators are just having a huge fucking laugh with Scanners, John McCain, and Clearasil jokes. Goddamn this is a treat just for the banter. As you might expect since this is not a NHB bout, Branko Cikatic gets disqualified for doing an illegal kick to Ralph White.

OMG its Kimo Leopoldo vs Dan Severn. 

This match stinks. Nothing happens for an entire 30 minutes, like actually nothing. The commentators progressively get more agitated throughout and by the end are revolting. This is a stinker. The crowd boos so loudly and let me tell you they deserve it!

WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, We can now handle the real task at hand: Rickson Gracie vs Nobuhiko Takada! Unfortunately I am watching the english dvd release of this show and it doesn't have their entrances sadly!!! 

Right out the gate, Bas comments on how Takada will just not be able to win this fight. You can just feel it in your bones that this fight will be a weird one. “I just want to see him fight like a top guy also” laments Bas (oh man we all did). Quadros really tries hard to get over Takada as a big deal in Japan, but also mentions how he's about to go against someone many (at the time at least) thought was the best at MMA.

The fans are chanting for the founder of the great KINGDOM, Nobuhiko Takada, as they announce his name and then Quadros goes “he's not gonna win.” OMG THIS STANCE THAT TAKADA BUSTS OUT AT THE BEGINNING. Robot Rickson walks around as Takada circles endlessly. “Throw a high kick” the commentators plead of Takada but he just circles some more (now hes running lol). “THERES A LOW KICK” says Quadros and I think he wants Takada to win secretly. After a break from the corner (an unfair call), Gracie gets a double leg/slam takedown on Takada and gets the mount. Rickson then crossfaces and punches Takada to grind him down for the upcoming submission. 

 As Takada tries to get out, Rickson slaps on an armbar for the very quick submission. Nobuhiko Takada books it out of the ring afterwards with Yoji Anjo and others in tow. He disappears into the back as Rickson Gracie celebrates with his big trophy.

A sad day for Takada but let us not be down as waiting in the wings of our KINGDOM to revenge pro-wrestling's greatest defeat is Kazushi Sakuraba! As we continue our exploration of KINGDOM, we will be checking in on Sakuraba and Takada's continuing adventures in MMA. However, our next outing will be KINGDOM Gyakushuu at the venerable Korakuen Hall! Before you go, I leave you with an ode to Takada, the hero we all needed.

KINGDOM: Prelude for the World

KINGDOM: Prelude for the World 

(full show posted above)

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

9/3/1997 2,300 in Attendance

WE ARE BACK! Sorry for the long wait, I was distracted with watching W*ING and enjoying the trash wrestling stylings of Jason the Terrible and the mystical booking of Victor Quinones. I apologize for this but I am only human. But lets not dilly dally as we have to urgently get back to Takada's KINGDOM of fake mma that is sometimes real (maybe)!

Finally past our initial BIRTH STEPS, Kingdom enters it maturity as PRELUDE FOR THE WORLD comes to us from the incredibly venerable Korakuen Hall. Opened in 1962, this important hall has been the steadfast venue of numerous pro-wrestling organizations since its early history. KINGDOM is no different in this regard as it will find a home here in the later part of the promotion. We are greeted as usual with a training montage of our roster, stretching, grappling, and doing cardio work with one another as a nice little rock diddly plays. I would like to point out that this is a long show, clocking in at 2 hours and 8 minutes. Takada is seen doing some practice in these nice muay thai shorts, unfortunately he never put that interest in muay thai to use in PRIDE (more on THAT in later posts!).

AND SO IT BEGINS with the KINGDOM Pro Wrestling robot voice intro and theme music! The crowd is so hot for this and is packed to the rafters, high fiving the fighters as they come down to the ring in the fighters parade. I would like to note here that Anjo is wearing a shirt with his own portrait on it, and while I used to hate this man, I think I am really beginning to see the appeal.

OUR FIRST FIGHT is between Wayne Haas and the man with a nice goatee, Shunsuke Matsui. I literally cannot find any information on this Haas guy so he is a complete unknown to me and all of you who are reading. Perhaps his history is just lost to shoot style time. Unfortunately I have some bad news for my readers... this match is fucking buns. It is extremely long with long periods of nothing happening. I like a good ground fight but I honestly had serious trouble paying attention to this. This one goes THE FULL TIME (a first in the history of KINGDOM) and Matsui wins on point advantage. I was not into it to say the least, maybe on a third or 4^th watch I will come to appreciate it (probably not lol).

COMING UP NEXT is a battle between Masahito Kakihara and newcomer Masao Orihara. Orihara is the dude who I knew nothing about who gave a speech at the last show. This guy is a journeyman, spending his early career in SWS and WAR, then moving on to KINGDOM, BattlARTS, Michinoku Pro, and most recently appearing in places like Real Japan and GUTS World. I am quite excited for this one as Kakihara has been thouroughly trained in this style from his UWF lineage while Orihara is new to this whole thing. OMG Orihara just did a back flip off the top rope in his entrance. While I wouldn't mind this in other places, this is Takada's KINGDOM and flashy stuff like that is not allowed (my rules buddy). Kakihara comes out very intent with nice music that is different than other times where he came out to the old UWF theme.

As we start out people are screaming both fighters names and I am so into this. Did I mention that this place is PACKED! This attendance number is something you don't see in the modern Korakuen because of changed seating charts and new fire codes. Its always a thrill to see this space so full of dedicated fans. I also want to note I don't think there is commentary on this show and I REALLY like this. OMG Orihara is running the ropes FUCK OFF with that. Kakihara is clearly pissed about that and they scrap a bit. Orihara stuffs a take down then tries an awkward choke and now Kaki is on top. Kakihara is working hard for the leg lock but Orhara manages to grab the rope! The striking here is WILD, Kakihara is just boxing and kicking him to hell and back. Orihara hits the floor and right as the ref calls the down Kakihara SHOOT SOCCER KICKS ORIHARA IN THE HEAD. Orihara tries to get up but falls on his face and the ref calls it off! Kakihara absolutely punished Orihara for mocking this KINGDOM style, and I am a man against moralism, so while what Kaki did may have been harsh it seemed sick as hell. Orihara is stretchered out and Kakihara is jubilant!

KAKI OMG

WOW I know that was a hot one but I have a feeling this one will also be hot. Billy Scott will be facing off against Yoshihiro Takayama. Scott mentions the size difference between these two and how he really needs to avoid Takayama's knees. He talks about how happy he is to perform for these Japanese fans but he hopes he can get more wins (;__;). Takayama in his interview seems less serious and more jokey than usual!

Goddddd I am so pumped for this bout everyone, both these dudes are so good. This is a black trunks vs black trunks affair thus indicating the level of taste potential is high in this. Scott immediately goes for the leg but Takayama is able to get top control and stays with it. WOW the speed on Takayama on the ground in this is amazing, how quickly he has improved at this style in such a short time. Scott is able to dig in a heel hook attempt and forces a rope break! Standing exchanges as we get back up and you can really see the future bout between Takayama and Frye in this. Scott has to grab the rope as he's being choked in a strong side headlock on the ground.

The quality and impact of the striking in KINGDOM might be the strongest of any of the worked shoot promotions, its really a treat to watch and the allowing of closed fist striking really differentiates it from its contemporaries. THOSE TAKAYAMA KNEES start landing but Scott counters with a shoot style DRAGON SCREW and locks in a damn single leg crab! Takayama grabs the ropes to escape the submission. Takayama brings Scott down and begins controlling from the mount but Scott slips out and takes the back (this was done a bit sloppily unfortunately). As Takayama gets the cross arm bar in Scott grabs the rope for a break and he is down to 2 points! Scott is eating knees already and TAPS to an Americana. That was 2 straight barn burners that totally make up for that dud of an opener.

WE HAVE A REMATCH ON OUR HANDS! After the thrilling finale to the One Night Million Yen Tournament at the last event, Hiromitsu Kanehara is trying to revenge his loss to Yuhi Sano. I wonder what Sano spent the million yen on (I assume his rent or some other mundane thing we are forced into by the demands of Capital). The crowd goes silent right before this starts up and the tension is so real. A great exchange of kicks to begin! As we go to the ground, Sano has Kanehara's back and control of one ankle. Shortly after we see a cartwheel to pass the guard from Kanehara, reminiscent of what Sakuraba would deploy a few years down the line in some of his PRIDE bouts. It is so amazing seeing how these techniques were developed among fellow fighters in places like KINGDOM only to be fully expressed later on in the dastardly yet enthralling world of no holds barred fighting.

Kanehara is LANDING strikes all over Sano and is able to score a knockdown on a big punch. Sano returns with combos of his own also scoring a knockdown. You can see as Kanehara stands he is legitimately dazed! Sano is working for a Kimura but Kanehara rolls out. Sano maintains control and Kanehara is forced to lose a point on the rope break. Sano is always looking for a leg lock but in the process Kanehara is able to GET THE WIN WITH AN ARMBAR. I guess this could be called more realistic booking but killing Sano's momentum this shortly after the big tournament win is pretty silly in my book!

UP NEXT we have Keinichi Yamamoto going up against Nicholas Starks who we last saw in a losing effort against Kanehara at BIRTH STEP 3. Starks talks up the KINGDOM style and how unpredictable he is (if I remember correctly he is a sambo guy which makes his cool points go way up despite his record here in KINGDOM). Yamamoto, as usual, just oozes cool in his pre-fight interview. 

Big leg kick from Starks to start but Yamamoto lands some nice punches in return. Yamamoto stuffs a takedown but Starks lifts him straight up and sets him on the ground to a nice Wahhhhhhhh from the crowd. Yamamoto becomes trapped in Starks guard for some time as Yamamoto tries to work some kind of arm lock. After a period of no action, the ref makes them stand. BAM Yamamoto lands a big strike on Starks and they are back on the ground. A leg lock battle ensues and Starks is forced to take a rope break (he can barely stand afterwards). Starks falls as he starts to fight Yamamoto again and he can't get back up!! Keinichi Yamamoto wins as Nicholas Starks' ankle gives out on him. That was a nice fight but nowhere near as entertaining as the last two.

OUR SECOND TO LAST FIGHT is going to be between universal favorite of everyone Kazushi Sakuraba and Moti Horenstein who famously lost to Mark Coleman and Mark Kerr. Horenstein (1-6 in MMA) simply says he's a ground and standing fighter and that he doesn't know who Sakuraba is. Sakuraba is smiling and giggling throughout his pre-fight interview as is expected from the IQ Wrestler. I really love how KINGDOM has become a sort of refuge for forgotten early UFC guys who want to try their hand at a worked style. 

Horeinstein connects with a big kick out the gate but is taken down by Sakuraba as the crowd WAHHHHH's at this moment. Sakuraba is able to get into side control here and is preventing Horenstein from changing position. Sakuraba is able to gain the mount as the ref begins to chant HIT indicating that Sakuraba can punch Horenstein right in the fucking head from this position on the ground. Sakuraba slaps on an armbar but Horenstein is able to escape. Despite my mocking of Horenstein, his trunks have SURVIVAL across the back and that is a pretty cool look.

Sakuraba really is dominating this fight and controlling the ground game well. The ref makes them stand but Sakuraba brings it right back down. Back in side control, Sakuraba is looking for some kind of lock, constantly grabbing at various limbs. Horenstein seems to accidentally rope escape and complains to ref who just says ESCAPE. Sakuraba gains the mount then cranks on another arm lock that leads to a Horenstein rope escape. They continue to battle on the ground with Sakuraba always maintaining control of the situation. Sakuraba sort of tries to slap on a shoot Sharpshooter but decides to just sit on Horenstein's legs instead. The ref demands action until he breaks it up and makes them stand. After some striking exchanges and returning to the ground, Sakuraba is able to get the mount and finish the fight with a straight arm bar! That was a fun bout but it did drag on a bit as Horenstein was not nearly as active as he could have been.

OUR FINAL BATTLE is between Yoji Anjo and Patrick Smith (who also happens to be the one person that Horenstein has a win on but that would not come till 1999 at the Bas Rutten Invintational II). Patrick Smith says he has nothing to say and he has come here to fight (“Im finish!”). Yoji Anjo seems confident as usual in his interview and gets a HUGE pop as he enters Korakuen Hall for this headline match. Smith as he greets Anjo kisses him (oh no) and this one starts off HOT. This crowd is brimming with shoot style anticipation. They get on the ground but they stalemate so the ref brings them back up. Anjo lands some nice kicks and brings Smith down. Smith slaps on a rear naked choke but Anjo escapes and regains top control.

Lots of kicks and they wind up back on the ground but they stalemate in the guard again. The ref brings them back up, and as Smith slips while advancing Anjo slaps on an ankle lock for the quick win. Yoji Anjo seems pissed after the fight so I think Patrick Smith was not playing along with this thing. Smith even picks Anjo up after the fight but Anjo seems uhhhhhh not into it lol. As is custom with Yoji Anjo, he grabs the mic post-win and gives a rousing speech for the crowd and as he leaves the ring greets and high fives many fans. As this tape ends, the tracking gets weird and we get some wonderful images of distorted Anjo.

So that was a weird one, despite the wayyyyy too long opener and the way too short closer, the middle part of this show is packed with some great bouts. This incredibly excited crowd really helped make this show seem so important and it elevated the already great bouts. Before we visit the next event in this wrestling KINGDOM, we will be taking a look at PRIDE 1 to see what has been taking up so much of Nobuhiko Takada's time. I hope it goes well for the guy and I am sure it will be a blast for all!