Quebrada

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

In last week’s column, I detailed New Japan and Antonio Inoki’s involvement with worked shoots. The gist of it was that New Japan has made big money off worked shoots and their style of pro wrestling. Unfortunately for New Japan, the up and coming groups in the country, as well as the world, are legitimate groups like K-1, Vale Tudo, UFC, Pancrase (ok there has been some matches that have been questioned, but not lately), MARS (a.k.a. Reality Superfighting which is on PPV on 11/22), and to some extent EFC (still poor buy rates, but the last show was vastly improved both technically and match wise). Even RINGS which had been almost completely worked has now changed to some shoots and some works (all Maeda’s matches). Some of these groups will go bankrupt within a few shows or at least years, but some of the others will be bigger than most if not all of the pro wrestling promotions. This presents a problem for New Japan and all the traditional wrestling organizations because they are covered by the media as if they are a legitimate sporting event. The repercussions of the media turning against traditional wrestling in the U.S. are still being felt (wouldn’t it be nice to not be persecuted for being a wrestling fan?). If the media turns against the product due to lack of reality then the product will suffer at the box offices. Obviously the main fear in wrestling is not only making less money, but having another organization and/or another style take your fans away and make more money.

Arguably the most controversial card in recent history will take place in Japan on 12/15/96 at the 69,000 seat Fukuoka Dome. The promotion running the card is Universal Vale Tudo. The lineup has not been finalized yet, but the main event is a rematch from 9/23/96 between New Japan’s Keiji Muto and Brazilian Luta Livre practitioner Pedro Otavio. There is an 8-man tournament with the biggest names being Oleg Taktarov and Dieseul Berto, a Luta Livre practitioner who works for Battlarts. There will be two other superfights. One will be former Sumo star Koji Kitao vs. TBA, who will most likely be Gerard Gordeau. The other was going to be Ken Shamrock vs. Hugo Duarte (one of the couple best Luta Livre fighters). Shamrock will not be appearing for a number of reasons though, so he will have to be replaced. Universal Vale Tudo is hopeful that a tape of the card will air in the U.S. sometime in early 1997.

This card sounds innocent enough, so why is it so controversial? The main reason is that Inoki is producing the show, but there are many different views on why he is involved. To explain the controversy, I need to explain the varying viewpoints.

There are many people that think, due to Inoki’s involvement, that UVT is a satellite of New Japan. Since it is universally agreed that hell will freeze over before this lineup can sell out the Fukuoka Dome, many people question New Japan’s motives in running it. No one will argue that from a moneymaking standpoint New Japan is by far the number one promotion in the world, so why would they embark on an endeavor that has little chance to make money? These people, who from what I have read include some officials in the legit groups in Japan, believe that New Japan is trying to kill the public’s fascination with shooting. After all, if New Japan nips the product in the bud then their style of wrestling is safe. There are several ways that this show could hurt shooting. First of all, it is part work and part shoot. This would not hurt RINGS, but if it airs on U.S. PPV it would be the first show to mix legit and worked matches. This would confuse the public as to what is and isn’t real, resulting in most of the talk not being about the quality of the product but rather endless arguments over the legitimacy of the more credible works or dubious shoots.

The event is taking place in an octagon which is UFC’s trademark. If you have followed the controversy over the legality of UFC and EFC, you will know that the media and politicians know nothing about the products and generally haven’t seen more than a 30-second highlight film of the most brutal blows and the legendary Severn suplex on Anthony Macias. These fools will continue to mix the groups up and confuse the public more. Soon people will be saying that UFC is worked because they saw this fake match in an octagon. Since the layman usually cannot tell the difference (I was just talking to someone today who swore to me that those Fight Zone PPV’s with Tony Halme are real) they will go by what they hear which may not be accurate. With EFC doing ratings below .25, they can’t afford to lose anybody over a mistake about their products reality. Right now they are all legit, so there is no problem, but one fake promotion will taint all the legit groups.

Another point of controversy is the use of Vale Tudo in their name. Vale Tudo, which basically means open (no rules) fighting is very prominent and prestigious in Brazil where it's a style of credible legit fighting. Vale Tudo is also a legit group formerly promoted by the legend Satoru Sayama that has no affiliation with Universal Vale Tudo.

The first Muto vs. Otavio match was said to be one of the worst works of all time. So bad that almost everyone in Yokohama Arena knew it was worked within two minutes. Obviously disgraceful matches like that or the infamous Sting vs. Tony Palmore match from 1/4/95 (the worst match I have ever seen in Japan. Palmore, a kickboxer, had no idea how to work so he threw the blows that looked like love taps and it was very embarrassing) turn people off to the style in general. People are even more turned off when they pay a considerable amount of yen and get a horrible main event. Tradition would dictate that Muto has to return the favor and job to Otavio. However, if there is a conspiracy to kill the shooting phenomena then the pro wrestler, Muto, will beat the legit fighting star once again. Kitao vs. Gordeau would most likely be worked with Kitao the wrestler beating Gordeau the veteran legit fighter. Kitao desperately needs a win because of his recent losses to Mark Hall in UFC and Otavio, which set the Muto fight up. Gordeau lost much of his credibility by losing to a young RINGS worker that was ½ his size named Yuki Nakai on the 4/20/95 Vale Tudo Open. If New Japan is trying to kill shooting then the pro wrestler will also have to defeat Gordeau. This show would be running head to head against competitor Pancrase’s biggest show of the year. Obviously that could only hurt Pancrase, who between injuries and a contract dispute with Shamrock already have enough problems. A major concern for New Japan has been the outstanding 15.6 rating that K-1 did for its 10/18 live special on the Fuji Network. The main event on that show, Masaake Satake vs. Andy Hug did an awesome 27.5 rating. The Fuji Network is supposed to run two live K-1 specials in 1997 and possibly one or two live Pancrase specials. Given this argument, New Japan would want to kill this style and make the Fuji Network specials a failure, or at least less successful. I’m sure that would please Tv-Asahi, who has an exclusive contract to air New Japan tv.

The weakest argument is the old if you can’t beat them, join them. They say it’s just another way for New Japan to make money. Inoki can inflate his ego and again exert some power in the shooting style. I find this argument weak because if New Japan is in charge and wants to make money then they should run the show in one of their regular arenas. New Japan rarely runs Fukuoka and they are established and vastly popular. Since the only thing everyone agrees on is that the show will flop then how can the reasons be to make money. You need draws to pack a house and they don’t have much there. Taktarov could be a big draw if he should beat Renzo Gracie on the 11/22 MARS show, but they can’t count on that. Since WCW would be the ones promoting the PPV in the U.S., you can guarantee the PPV’s buy rate will be below .25. New Japan have been the geniuses as far as self promotion and making money go, so how could everyone but them see that this show won’t be successful.

The third argument which for everyone sake is hopefully right is that New Japan isn’t involved at all. The idea here is that the company that holds the Fukuoka Dome decided to run the show. They then picked Inoki to be the producer and paid New Japan for the use of their top star Muto. These people believe that Inoki and New Japan are sitting pretty on top of the business and aren’t going to panic or do anything extreme. They would not do something so drastic that would have repercussions on the whole business. Or at least they wouldn’t at this stage.

Hopefully the third argument is correct. Either way unless they have an ace in the whole they aren’t going to pack the building. If they add some big names to the lineup, they might be able to run a profitable show. I don’t know the contracts or who the additions will be, so I don’t know what the break-even point on the show is. Hopefully this debacle will get as close to U.S. PPV as Inoki’s World Wrestling Peace Festival did. Unfortunately there aren’t any other promotions to deal with when it comes to PPV like there were with the peace festival. CWA in Dallas has already proved that if you put up the money you can get a PPV.

This weeks match of the year candidate is Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue from 5/26/96 in Sapporo, Japan. Kawada & Taue held the AJ double tag team titles and this was a title defense. This is the same big tag match that they have been running for the past 4 years, but Akiyama is replacing Kobashi. This was just after Akiyama started to receive his big push. The match was designed to get Akiyama over as a headliner because he was "the one who wasn’t supposed to be in the match."

Taue and Akiyama are in. Akiyama ducks a boot to the head, but then on the way back Taue hits the boot to the head. To prove he could hang with the big boys, Akiyama barely sold it then forearmed Taue and used his exploder (still sounds like exploiter when the announcers say it) suplex for a near fall. Taue rolled out of the ring, so Misawa came in and gave him an elbow suicida. Akiyama got a 2 count on Taue with a diving forearm off the top. Misawa tagged in. They double teamed Taue a bit then Misawa used his Tiger Driver’91 for a 2 1/4 count. All this action and the match isn’t even two minutes old. Kawada tagged in. Kawada gave Misawa a dangerous belly to back suplex where he drops his opponent on their head rather than back. Unfortunately this match was longer than the tv show, so they had to skip some. Kawada put Misawa in his stretch plum. Akiyama used his high knee on Kawada then dropkicked Taue knocking him off the ring apron. Kawada reversed an Irish whip and used a spin kick, but Akiyama caught his leg and slammed him to the mat. Akiyama attempted a verticle suplex, but Kawada blocked it and turned it into a wakigatamae. The wakigatamae is definitely the best submission hold when it comes to countering a move and going right into it. With Akiyama running off the ropes, Taue missed his boot to the head and a clothesline, but on the way back off the ropes he caught Akiyama in nodowa (chokeslam) position. Akiyama countered the nodowa by turning it into an armdrag. Akiyama attempted a German suplex, but Taue countered with a back elbow and had Akiyama set up for the DDT, but Akiyama delivered an overhead belly to belly. Misawa used a back suplex to set up his frog splash. Misawa went for his Tiger Driver. Taue countered it by back body dropping Misawa, who landed behind him on his feet and tried a Tiger Suplex. Taue blocked the Tiger Suplex until Akiyama came in and forearmed him. Taue kicked out at 2 3/4. Akiyama went for his exploder, but Kawada came in and leg sweeped him, Taue then Saito suplexed Akiyama who sold like he was knocked out. With Akiyama down, Misawa was double teamed. Kawada used a front enzuiguri and Taue his nodowa. AJ skips. Kawada used a series of Yakuza kicks on Akiyama. Taue tagged in and used a Samoan drop for a 2 ½ count. AJ skips. Taue used a high angle powerbomb for a 2 1/4 count. In a very heated scene, Taue tried to use his killer nodowa off the ring apron. Akiyama was blocking. Misawa came in for the save, but Kawada gave him a boot to the head. Akiyama blocked long enough for Misawa to get back up and throw a stiff forearm which knocked Taue off the apron. Misawa tagged in. He went outside and whipped Taue into the security railing. Back in the ring, Misawa gave Taue a diving forearm off the top and an unprotected German suplex. Misawa used his facelock on Taue. Taue boot to the head on Misawa. Taue ran off the ropes, but Misawa side stepped and got him in Tiger Driver position. Kawada broke it up with a clothesline. Kawada tagged in and unloaded his stiff kicks and knees. Misawa blocked Kawada’s powerbomb twice, but the third time Kawada hit it. Kawada & Taue did a back suplex/nodowa combination for a 2 3/4 count. Kawada tried for his powerbomb again, but Misawa turned it into a Frankensteiner. Misawa blocked Kawada’s jumping high kick and used his discus elbow. Akiyama used his northern light suplex on Kawada for a near fall. Akiyama tried for his exploder, but Kawada elbowed his way out. Akiyama used his high knee then tried for the exploder again, but Kawada countered with an ipponzei. Akiyama ducked a clothesline and attempted to German suplex Kawada, but Kawada countered with a bicycle kick. Misawa and Taue were also going at it. Misawa back body dropped Taue over the top then used a spin plancha. Akiyama the dragon screw (leg drag) and a German suplex on Kawada. Misawa got back in the ring and gave Kawada a throw out German suplex then Akiyama German suplexed Kawada for a 2 1/2. With Kawada weakened, Akiyama was able to use two consecutive exploder suplexes. Akiyama used his high knee on Kawada then another exploder for the pin fall. ****3/4

This match was pretty much flawless. There is no way you can do it justice by writing about it because every move had importance. Every move was done to tell the story or set something up later. The psychology, crowd heat, workrate, story line, etc. was superb. Not only did Akiyama win the double tag titles, but he got over big by scoring his first pinfall on Kawada. Even the graceless wonder Taue only looked goofy once. It’s amazing just to see the way they build the match around the signature spots. Definitely a must see.