Quebrada

by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)

Thirty nine months after he co-founded Pancrase, Masakatsu Funaki finally realized his goal and became King of Pancrase. Funaki, who is as skilled an all-around athlete as you’ll find in wrestling, began his career twelve years ago in the New Japan dojo. Funaki, 15 at the time, was trained with the famous class of 1984 that included Liger, Benoit, Muto, Chono, Hashimoto, Nogami, etc. He was considered the fastest learner and best athlete of that New Japan camp. Funaki debuted for New Japan in March of 1985 using his real name Masaharu Funaki. He was never highly pushed by New Japan because of his age, but he was over with the crowd and one of the hottest young workers in the sport when he left them for the second incarnation of the UWF in 1988. Funaki and his friend Minoru Suzuki, who was signed by New Japan in 1987 as a college champion, were positioned as the rising stars of the UWF. In September of 1990, Ken Shamrock entered the UWF and shortly became the top foreigner in that strong style promotion.

When UWF’s top stars Nobuhiko Takada, Akira Maeda, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara split in 1991, Funaki, Suzuki, and Shamrock joined Fujiwara’s PWFG. Funaki and Suzuki became the top stars of PWFG and wanted to change the style to a new form of wrestling. Fujiwara was too old to start doing the real thing, so obviously he was against this change. Realizing Fujiwara wouldn’t change, Funaki, Suzuki, and Shamrock formed Pancrase in 1993 with the help of promoter Masami Ozaki. The group debuted the new, almost entirely legitimate, shoot style on September 21, 1993 in front of a sold out (7,000) Tokyo Bay NK Hall.

The group ran a 16-man tournament on December 16 and 17, 1994 to determine the first King of Pancrase. Funaki defeated Robert Bjornethun and Vernon "Tiger" White in the first and second rounds respectively. All three founders advanced to the semifinals, but only one would make the finals. Suzuki was upset by Sayama trainee Manabu Yamada in the semifinal leaving the Shamrock vs. Funaki winner with a great shot of winning the tournament. Shamrock came out on top defeating Funaki in 5:50. Shamrock went on to win a 30:00 decision from Yamada to become the first King of Pancrase. Shamrock held the title for six months before Suzuki stopped him on May 13, 1995 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall with a kneebar in 2:14, though he might have held it a lot longer had the promotion not panicked their reputation would be damaged if their champion lost at UFC and asked Shamrock to drop the title PWFG style. This left Funaki, the trainer of all the natives and the best of the founding three, as the only one of the three founders who hadn’t been King of Pancrase.

The most lethal striker in the promotion was a shaved-headed former Thai boxer from Amsterdam named Bas Rutten. Rutten had been with the group since the debut show. His background didn’t allow submissions, so it took him some time to learn to use and block submissions but none of the submission fighters had a chance standing with him. Rutten defeated Suzuki for the King of Pancrase on 9/1/95 at Tokyo Budokan Hall with a choke sleeper. Rutten broke his wrist training, so they created a provincial King of Pancrase which Frank Shamrock won. When Rutten was healed, he defeated Shamrock and the provincial King was dropped.

Funaki had a great chance to capture the title on 9/7/96 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall, a match that will likely remembered for decades and probably be on the short list of the matches that made shooting if the styles popularity continues to multiply. Funaki was favored to beat Rutten because of his far superior technical and submission skills and no one knew if Rutten had fully recovered from his car accident. This was the first show under the new rules though. The new rules called for stand-ups and restarts when the action on the mat got stale. This was a huge advantage for Rutten because his strength and Funaki’s weaker side is stand-up fighting. Funaki dominated the early part of the match on the ground until he let Rutten get his legs lose and use them to push Funaki off him. Rutten quickly stood up. Funaki landed a kick, but after that Rutten took over. Rutten stunned Funaki with a palm blow then tried to unload. Funaki dodged two palm blows and a hook kick, but was off balance. Funaki tried a weak front kick, which since he was off balance gave Bas an opening to deliver a vicious palm blow that knocked Funaki down. A still dazed Funaki unsuccessfully shot for the leg and wound up getting caught with a palm blow to the nose. This not only resulted in a knockdown, but it broke and bloodied Funaki’s nose. Funaki showed great courage in continuing. Rutten knocked Funaki down for the third time with an uppercut followed by a left hand. Funaki probably should have been out, but he popped up. Funaki had one point left. The crowd was chanting, "Funaki, Funaki, Funaki!" Rutten unloaded a series of palm blows and knee lifts and finally Funaki was knocked down. I believe this was called a knockout, but Funaki had lost 5 points so either way the match was over. Due to his tremendous display of courage, Funaki proved almost as much in defeat as he would have in victory. This was probably the best Pancrase match ever, certainly the most dramatic.

Rutten vacated the King of Pancrase for a second time on 10/19/96 when he took time off because his wife gave birth. Pancrase had a four-man tournament to decide the next King of Pancrase. The first round was held on 11/9 in Kobe with Funaki defeating promising rookie Yuki Kondo in 1:43 with a choke and Jason DiLucia defeating Osami Shibuya in 11:45.

This brought us to Pancrase’s final major show of the year, ’96 Truth 12/15 at Budokan Hall. Funaki vs. DeLucia headlined the show. Funaki used his striking ability, kicking DeLucia in the leg until DeLucia couldn’t stand. Funaki won via TKO at 7:49 becoming the 4th King of Pancrase. Also on the card, #2 ranked Guy Mezger kept his ranking by winning a 20:00 decision from Yuki Kondo. Kondo was 8-1 after defeating Frank Shamrock, but it looks like he’s coming down to earth. The other promising rookie in the promotion, Kiuma Kunioku, scored a huge upset. Kunioku, who was unranked, defeated #1 ranked Frank Shamrock via decision in 20:00. The rankings actually have meaning in this promotion. You can only get a title shot if you are ranked (top 10 are ranked). Non rankers are qualified for ranking matches against rankers and if they defeat them, they take their rank. Hence Kunioku is now ranked #1. The first ranker doesn’t necessarily get the next title shot, but he is preferentially qualified to challenge for the title within one year. The other notable match was Yusuke Fuke returning from injury to defeat Kim Jong Wan. Next show, which is the first on the Alive Tour, is 1/17/97 at Korakuen Hall.

Another longtime great finally got her first world title reign on 12/8 at sold out (10,500) Tokyo Sumo Hall. Kyoko Inoue became the 43rd WWWA (World Women’s Wrestling Association) champion when she pinned Manami Toyota in 24:52. Kyoko won with a newly invented move that is basically an inverted version of Etsuko Mita’s Death Valley Driver. She started the move in torture rack position and then dropped Toyota on her head like the Death Valley Driver. This sounds like a dangerous move. This gives them a reason to rematch in 1997, so were guaranteed another great match.

Here’s a bit of history about the WWWA title. Mildred Burke, who formed the WWWA in Los Angeles in the 1950's, was the original holder of the WWWA title. She was never defeated, so she vacated the title upon retirement in August of 1970. A tournament was held in Los Angeles for the vacant belt in August of 1970. Mary Vagnone won the title and Burke presented her the belt. Vagnone dropped the belt to Aiko Kyo on 10/15/70 in Tokyo and AJW has possessed the belt ever since.

Takako Inoue recently unified the IWA Title and All-Pacific Title. Kyoko and Takako will meet in early 1997 to unify all three titles, thus creating AJW’s version of the triple crown. Contrary to some people’s belief, Kyoko and Takako are not related. Both were born in 1969 (Kyoko is 7 months older) and they made their professional debut against each other on 10/10/88 in Tokyo. The unification match should be interesting because the two are usually teammates and have rarely fought. I would be shocked if Kyoko didn’t win the new triple crown.

Also on the card, 16-year-old Momoe Nakanishi defeated Miho Wakizawa in the final of the best rookie tournament. It seems that AJW is getting back to attracting the school girl audience a bit, which is very important since that is the group that the new workers need to come from. Rie Tamada retained her All Japan womens championship pinning Chikako Shiratori of Jd’ (former AJW). Supposedly Tamada is getting to where she should be although the last time I saw her she still wasn’t there. Shiratori is on a great run since doing her "naked" book as she jobbed at two major shows in 3 days. As expected, Chaparrita ASARI retained her WWWA super lightweight championship pinning JWP’s Fusayo Nouchi with La Magistral in 14:24.

The worst news for AJW was Yumiko Hotta, who they have been trying to get over as a legitimate fighter, lost again to Rosina Elina in a Vale Tudo rules match. The whole idea of the unsuccessful U*Tournament they had in August was to make Hotta legitimate and losing to Elina in the finals of that plus losing this match is exactly the opposite of what they hoped for. Everything else on this show went as planned, so the only match I predicted wrong was the main event.

FMW’s final major show of the year on 12/11 in Komazawa Olympic Gym drew a full house of 7,923 fans. The card was reworked a bit. In another case of why it’s bad to have more than one booker, Koji Nakagawa and President Arai had a behind the scenes altercation at the 12/10 show because Nakagawa wanted to put himself over in the main event. Nakagawa, who was already relieved of his booking duties starting in 1997, was told to take a leave of absence. Masato Tanaka, who is a much better worker, replaced him in the main event. The team of Tanaka, Atsushi Onita, Mr. Pogo, and Tetsuhiro Kuroda defeated The Headhunters, Terry Funk, and Hisakatsu Oya in the main event when Tanaka pinned Headhunter A. Even though it was Pogo’s retirement match, it was a good idea to put over the future (Tanaka) rather than the past (Pogo and Onita). This was said to have been a wild brawl and from the pictures I saw on Zach Arnold’s FMW web page (http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/6619/welcome.htm) it certainly was bloody. Pogo, who was recently married, will most likely return from "retirement" on 4/29/97.

An even bloodier match saw Shinobu Kandori of LLPW defeat Megumi Kudo in 14:30 via ref stoppage from a choke out. Kandori was said to have totally dominated the match. It sounds like Kudo exceeded Hase/Muto juice gusher standards. I heard the stitch count for this match was more than 200. Kudo’s juice job was compared to Cactus Jack at IWA Kawasaki Dream. Kudo and Kandori had a post match brawl in the locker room, which is rare in Japan but will probably lead to a rematch. There was actually legit heat here as Kudo wasn’t happy with some of the stuff Kandori was doing. Kandori won the WWA and Independent Women’s title’s, but at the post-match conference she said she didn’t care about them and threw them down. No rematch has been scheduled and the status of the belts is up in the air. The other women’s match saw Shiratori & RIE (formerly Bad Nurse Nakamura) lose to Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari when Shiratori jobbed again. FMW’s women’s division is really in sad shape and it can only get worse since Kudo retires soon. For some reason TAKA Michinoku vs. Nanjyo Hayato didn’t happen. This is unfortunate because that could have been the best match.

In a very good move, FMW decided against the ridiculous stipulations for the Hayabusa vs. Great Sasuke match and had a wrestling match rather than a garbage match. Hayabusa defeated Sasuke with his Falcon Arrow in 19:12. This was said to have been a good flying match. Hayabusa would be my pick for FMW’s most unimproved in 1996, but 1997 looks promising for him. Hayabusa faces the winner of the J Crown match on 1/4 (more on this later). Working in New Japan and All Japan if that happens should tremendously improve this extremely talented, yet misused and oft injured wrestler.

Gladiator used his Kamikaze Bomb to pin W*ING Kanemura and unify the Independent World Title and the World Brass Knucks Title. This title is now being referred to as the FMW Unified World Championship. The Independent World Title doesn’t have much history because it was just created on 8/1 at the Shiodome. At the time, they needed another draw for the Shiodome show so they held a tournament with the finalists meeting for the new title on 8/1. Kanemura defeated Tanaka in one of the best FMW matches of the year to win the title. By November, FMW changed their minds about having two heavyweight titles and booked the unification match. The unified title adds prestige to the belts and keeps things more focused, so as far as I’m concerned it was a good idea (at least in their case since they don't have enough good or major wrestlers to warrant two major belts). Gladiator’s title reign will most likely be short lived as he defends the Unified World Championship against Hayabusa on 1/5 at Korakuen Hall. Supposedly the planned All Japan fued was canceled. This sounds like an angle because Hayabusa bashed All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi on the house mic after the show (I don’t think Hayabusa is a Yoji Anjoh). Assuming Hayabusa defeats Gladiator, Kobashi vs. Hayabusa could be a Triple Crown/World Unified Title match. Adding two belts to what is already the most prestigious title in the world would certainly draw a crowd. I can’t see Kobashi losing if that were to happen. Before this can happen, Kobashi is defending the Triple Crown against Mitsuharu Misawa on 1/20 in Osaka. Misawa rarely does jobs (3 in 1996 was a big deal) and Kobashi has never pinned him. If Kobashi pins Misawa and AJ goes through with the FMW feud, the most traditional company in wrestling will be abandoning tradition overnight.

Speaking of abandoning tradition, FMW will not run their biggest show of the year on 5/5 at Kawasaki Stadium this year. Kawasaki Stadium is unavailable at that time due to repairs, so FMW will run FMW will be running the major show on 4/29/97 at Yokohama Arena. This is very bad for FMW since Yokohama only seats 17,000. FMW relies heavily on the Kawasaki revenue and Yokohama can’t come close since it seats roughly 1/3 the people. Another possibly bad thing is New Japan, WAR, and Michinoku Pro are running a combined show at the Tokyo Dome on the same day. I really don’t see this being a factor though since they are in different parts of the country. I’d be shocked if the FMW show didn’t sell out. One thing to note is that Yokohama Arena doesn’t allow death matches. This is further reason why FMW will become a much more serious league in 1997.

The next major show in Japan is New Japan at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4/97. New Japan has been running the Tokyo Dome at least once a year since 1989. 1/4 has become the traditional date for their biggest show of the year and they will certainly have to rely on tradition here. It’s fair to say that this is the weakest and least anticipated lineup that New Japan has ever presented in the Tokyo Dome. You can talk about the 1989 show with the New Japan vs. Russian amateur feud, but no one had seen any of those guys so no one really knew what to expect and in any case it was one of those deals where world relations made it bigger than a regular sporting event. In addition, that show had Keiichi Yamada’s debut under the Liger gimmick.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu for Hashimoto’s IWGP title headlines this year’s show. Choshu, 45, is eons past his prime and is limited to the scorpion and the Riki lariat. These two, somehow, had a good match at the G-1 Climax that some people really marked out for to the point the Japanese press will be giving it MOTY support, but I don’t know if lightning can strike twice. Choshu is retiring in 1997, so this may be his last shot at the IWGP Title. If Choshu, the booker, puts himself over in this one it will prove what a short-sighted egomaniac he really is. Any booker with sense would keep the title on the 31-year-old Hashimoto, who will be a star for years to come, but this is Choshu we’re talking about so you never know.

The show stealer should be Ultimo Dragon defending the J Crown against Jushin "Thunder"Liger. Ultimo will definitely retain the J Crown at Starrcade because he’s booked to defend it here. Ultimo is going almost full time with WCW in February, so Liger will avenge his 1st round loss in the J Crown tournament and capture the J Crown. Ultimo will really be up for this one since it may be the last time he works in front of a crowd that large. Though Ultimo fell apart from nerves the first time they fought at the Dome and their J Crown match was ruined by Liger's health and the Nitro brevity, I'm betting Ultimo will go out in style losing a match that should be no worse than 4 stars. Liger’s first defense will be against Hayabusa. Liger will probably job to Misterio Jr. at Starrcade, which would put him in contention for the J Crown and give New Japan an excuse to use him.

The heel duo of Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defend the IWGP Tag Titles against the reformed team of Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura. Fujinami & Kimura became the 1st ever IWGP Tag Champs when they defeated Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi in the tournament final on 12/12/85. Fujinami & Kimura held the titles three times before splitting up and feuding on and off since 1988. This is the first time Fujinami & Kimura have teamed in years, so that’s part of the attraction. Unfortunately, Fujinami & Kimura are both 43 and only a shell of the great wrestlers they were back in the 1980's. Like Fujinami and the back injury, Chono hasn’t been good since he was injured in 1993 and Tenzan isn’t worthy of his push. All four of these guys need to be carried, so this has 1 star written all over it. Fujinami & Kimura are the only three time IWGP Tag Champs, but their glory is in the past. It would be a major surprise if they become the first four time champs, but maybe Fujinami & Chono have enough left to fire up and get it into the 2 1/2 range.

What could have been a good match turned into a stretch for a good match when the doctors ruled that Shiro Koshinaka wouldn’t be healthy enough to compete. Koshinaka’s HI teammate Michioshi Ohara replaces him and faces Michinoku Pro’s Jinsei Shinzaki. Shinzaki is both an enigma and a Jekyll and Hyde. If Shinzaki shows up, this could be good, but otherwise good luck. Koshinaka is the best wrestler in the world at carrying a lesser wrestler to a good match. Ohara is just a lesser wrestler. This is not to say that Ohara is bad, but he isn’t good either. Ohara patterns himself after Animal Hamaguchi, who was a good worker. This will most likely be an average match. Shinzaki should win because Ohara isn’t high on the priority list.

Keiji Muto vs. Kensuke Sasaki could have been good, but we are "treated" to seeing them wrestler under their stupid gimmicks. Great Muta vs. Power Warrior will be average to bad. Muta will probably win because he’s the bigger star. Sasaki, the Choshu clone, is 30 and still isn’t over so his push has decreased. Power, the Road Warrior clone, is considered a tag team wrestler, which is all the more reason he should lose.

Antonio Inoki vs. Willie Williams will be horrible. Both guys are old and past their prime. They had a legendary match some centuries ago that made Williams famous enough to make a good living working Japan ever since. This will be a worked shoot style bout that Inoki will undoubtedly win and feed his oversize ego. This match is why the x2 button on the VCR remote was a great invention.

Double booking Chono is further reason why the tag title match will be bad. Chono faces Big Japan’s Shoji Nakamaki in one of the four Big Japan vs. New Japan matches. Nakamaki is the craziest wrestler in the world, but it’s doubtful that New Japan is going to allow barbed wire and the other pleasantries he’s accustomed to using. I’ve never seen Shoji in a straight match, but I imagine it’s not a pretty sight. Nakamaki will probably juice, but that’s it. This match presents a bad style clash. Chono is a great heel who has good psychology and can draw heat. As far as actual wrestling goes though, Chono does his couple of patented moves and that’s it. Both wrestlers are limited. Chono will win.

Tatsutoshi Goto faces Big Japan’s top star Kendo Nagasaki. Goto is 40 and he’s the younger of the two. Goto used to be pretty good for a fleeting period when he was still a junior, but now he is a stiff with a tough guy gimmick. Nagasaki is also a "tough guy" as he even thinks he can win shoots (key being thinks). This will be a stiff match with little in the way of technique. Goto is set up to be the one New Japan (actually HI, but HI is a branch of NJ like NWO is a branch of WCW) guy that jobs. At least this one will probably be kept short.

Shinjiro Otani takes on Yoshihiro Tajiri of Big Japan. Tajiri, who you may remember from IWA Japan, can work. Otani has carried a lot worse to good matches. This will be a good jr. style match with mat work and flying. The transitions are always good when Otani is involved. Otani will win, but Tajiri will get over in the loss.

In what I will bill as a Jurassic Park Match, Masa Saito meets Big Japan’s Shinya Kojika. Both men are 54. Saito has no business being in the ring these days and Kojika is just a garbage wrestler. Basically Big Japan is a bad garbage wrestling league that copies the archetype FMW. Right now, FMW has several guys who can work and Big Japan has Tajiri. When you take away the chairs, barbed wire, etc. away from the Big Japan guys they are just a bunch of primarily over the hill bad indy workers, much like the guys Onita fought at the dawn of FMW. This will challenge Inoki vs. Williams for the worst match on the card. Kojika is the president of Big Japan, so he has some chance of winning but I doubt it.

Koji Kanemoto who recently returned from a broken leg takes on a mystery opponent. Kanemoto is one of the best and he is supposed to be healthy now. Without even knowing who he is fighting, I’d be surprised if this wasn’t at least the 5th best match on the show.

The last match is an 8-man tag with Junji Hirata, Manabu Nakanishi, Santoshi Kojima, and Osamu Nishimura vs. Kazuo Yamazaki, Takashi Iizuka, Osamu Kido, & Yugi Nagata. Nagata is the best of these eight right now, but once he goes to WCW the damage may be irreparable. Yamazaki’s career was on the downside with UWF-I do to some of the grossest misuse in the history of Japan, but he has been rejuvenated in New Japan and his matches are usually good because of his craftiness. Iizuka had no spot for years, but with Yamazaki he has a push and his workrate went back up to where he was in 1995 when he was one of the most underrated workers in the business. Kido is a lousy working 46-year-old, but supposedly he is over with the crowd lately. Nishimura is a dying breed of good solid worker who just comes to wrestle so he's supposedly boring and lacking charisma. Then these people wonder why we are stuck enduring all those DUDS that supposedly please the Hulkamaniacs. Kojima is a slightly better working version of Tenzan, but doesn’t have the facials or charisma of Tenzan. Nakanishi is Kurasawa, enough said. Junji Hirata gets ripped a lot for not having facials, but give me five 40-year-olds who are better workers. This match should be good. There are two stiffs, but they can both do something on the mat. Nishimura working with Iizuka should be good. Good bet for a 3 star match. Yamazaki’s team will most likely win, but there is no certain fall guy in this match.

This week’s match of the year candidate is Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Otani from 8/4/96 at Tokyo Sumo Hall. This was round two of Liger’s great brainchild, the J Crown Tournament. Ultimo was the WAR International Jr. Heavyweight Champ & the British Jr. Heavyweight Champ. Otani was the UWA Lightheavyweight Champ & NWAWelterweight Champ. The winner of the match would unify the four belts.

Otani was certainly the underdog here. The match started off with matwork. The first high spot turned into an awesome sequence. Otani took the flip bump in the corner and as soon as he landed on the apron, Ultimo caught him with a springboard dropkick knocking him to the floor. Ultimo did the Sayama fake tope (jump, but grab the top rope and spin around then land on your feet in the ring) then dropkicked Otani through the ropes. Otani tried to grab Ultimo, but Ultimo skined the cat back into the ring and tried a plancha. Otani moved out of the way and Ultimo crashes to the floor. That was a superbly timed sequence with pinpoint accuracy. Otani suplexed Ultimo on the floor then hit a rolling bodyblock off the apron. From the point they reentered the ring it was one great near fall after the other. Otani hit his springboard spin kick for a 2 3/4 count. The crowd went nuts when Ultimo kicked out. Otani tried to finish with his Dragon suplex, but Ultimo fought it off desperately. When Ultimo finally broke the attempted Dragon, Otani Tiger suplexed him for a 2 9/10 count. Otani missed a springboard dropkick and Ultimo used La Magistral for a 2 ½ count. The crowd was really popping because La Magistral is the most over finisher in the jr. matches in Japan and the underdog kicked out of it. Ultimo set Otani up with a tombstone then moonsaulted him for a 2 ½ count. Ultimo landed on his feet after an attempted back body drop and immediately Dragon suplexed Otani for a near fall. Ultimo used his Asai moonsault (quebrada) for a near fall. One thing that made the near falls so great was that on every near fall, both workers were hooking the leg like it was the finish. Ultimo tried a huracanrana, but Otani powerbombed him. Otani hit a springboard dropkick to the back. Otani was working the crowd so well that he even had me, one of the biggest Ultimo fans on the earth, pulling for him and the upset. Otani used his Dragon suplex for a 2 ½ count. This was really an intense match. Otani fought to suplex Ultimo off the top, but Ultimo knocked him off the ropes twice. Otani tried for a superplex a third time. Just when it looked like Otani had the superplex, Ultimo gave him a front layout superplex. Ultimo picked Otani up by the corner, ran diagonally across the ring, and hit a great jumping Liger bomb for the win. *****

Anything great you can say about a match applies here. The work was great, with hot moves and excellent transitions. The psychology was good and the intensity was even better. The crowd was really hot. This was a rare match that seems better the 2nd or 3rd time you watch it. The underdog storyline worked well because even though Otani didn’t win, he was super over in the loss. Otani was the best worker in this tournament because he’s younger and has more charisma. His facials are great but it’s an unfair comparison because Ultimo, Sasuke, Liger, and Samurai all wear masks.