Perfect 1 9/21/93 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
History of Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki
U.W.F. 4/15/90 Hakata Starlanes: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Minoru Suzuki
Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. Inagaki's debut
Bas Rutten vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa 0:43
Yusuke Fuke vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. George Weingroff
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Wayne Shamrock
Perfect 2 10/14/93 Tsuyuhashi Sports Center
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Joop Van Dam. Exciting striking oriented match.
Bas Rutten vs. Yusuke Fuke
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Minoru Suzuki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
U.W.F. 11/29/89 Tokyo Dome: Minoru Suzuki vs. Maurice Smith
Wayne Shamrock vs. Yoshiki Takahashi. Takahashi took a lot of punishment, but he really put up a good fight here even bloodying Shamrock's nose.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
Documentary focusing on Funaki & Suzuki's training techniques, workouts, diet, etc. , Shamrock & the launch of the Pancrase promotion. Lots of Shamrock footage including unveiling the Lion's Den Pancrase sign in his gym & training the crew there. Also features the Initatiary Test at the Pancrase Gym, public sparring, highlights of the Pancrase debut show
UWF 4/15/90: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Minoru Suzuki
UWF 12/1/90: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ken Wayne Shamrock
9/21/93: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ken Wayne Shamrock
10/14/93: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Perfect 3 11/8/93 Kobe World Kinen Hall
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. The good thing about shoots is two guys that are mediocre can still have an excellent match. This was not great technically, but both men were willing to do whatever it took to win. White rearranged Inagaki's face, and Inagaki was blown up and looked like he was going to keel over, but then he'd find it in him to regain control.
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. James Mathews
Wayne Shamrock vs. Yusuke Fuke
Kick Rule: Maurice Smith vs. Minoru Suzuki R3 0:52
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kees Besems
KARATE JAPAN OPEN '93 Tournament 1/31/93 Tokyo Budokan
2nd Round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs.? Ishikawa
3rd Round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs.? Ishihara
4th Round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs.? Hiraoka
3rd Round: Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Taiei Kin
Quarterfinal: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Ryuji Murakami
Perfect 4
ALL JAPAN KICK BOXING SPECIAL BOUT EVOLUTION 11/27/93 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
WKO Tokubetsu Rule 2 minute 5 round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Vitali Klitschko
2 minute 10 round: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Maurice Smith. Awesome heat.
12/8/93 Hakata Starlanes
Yusuke Fuke vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Minoru Suzuki vs. James Mathews
Wayne Shamrock vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yoshiki Takahashi
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
1/19/94
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. Pretty good match
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar. Despite catching Andre low with a spinning savate and gouging him in the eye with a shotei, White wasn't even able to accident his way to victory. He really does suck.
James Mathews vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa. Total Yanagisawa domination. He would have beat Mathews in 10 seconds if not for the rope escapes.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Scott Bessac
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Bas Rutten. Funaki took Bas down so his strikes weren't an issue. About all Bas was able to do was punch Funaki in the face before Funaki put him in the ankle hold. Bas improved so much since these days that it's like, aside from his kicking, he's not even the same fighter.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki. These two were very cautious. An interesting finish because it took about 7 seconds from the time the finisher was applied for Shamrock to get the rope escape, and by that time he was too hurt to continue.
5/31/94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Manabu Yamada
Matt Hume vs. Scott Bessac. Hume was very active. He was pretty much the only guy in Pancrase up to this point in time that used strikes on the mat to open up his submissions.
Bas Rutten vs. Yoshiki Takahashi. Takahashi's knee just gave out on him and he was unable to continue.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Toon Stelling. As Fuke was getting up, Toon punted him in the nose. Vicious, but also illegal and worthy of the DQ.
Kick Rule 3 min 5R: Frank "Animal" Lobman vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock. Shamrock just didn't have the training in this style. He was fair defensively, but Lobman was able to block or avoid what little Shamrock threw.
Tokubetsu Rule 3 min 5R: Maurice Smith vs. Minoru Suzuki. The first and third rounds were kick rules with unlimited knockdowns, except Suzuki could go for takedowns and submissions with a 10 second rule. The 2nd and 4th were Pancrase rules except there were unlimited rope escapes. The 5th round was to be mixed rules. This was back in the day when Mo was "just a kickboxer." It was interesting, but since there was no limit on the rope escapes, Smith of course just dove for the ropes the second Suzuki got a hold of him. Mostly they avoided action to keep it from looking too unrealistic.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Gregory Smit
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
3/12/94
Dojo footage from earlier in the day
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. James Mathews
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Robert Bjornethun
Andre Van Den Oetelaar vs. Scott Bessac
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. Funaki decided to beat White in standup since that would be a bit more of a challenge.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Yusuke Fuke. Suzuki controlled the whole fight, and was generally close to winning.
4/21/94
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Matt Hume. This was one of those matches where if you can look past the opportunities lost, the guys not being that great made it better. There was action and near finishes for 18 minutes, rather than Hume choking Inagaki out in a few minutes like he should have been able to. Hume even did a cool suplex for a shoot.
Bas Rutten vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yusuke Fuke. Fuke put up a good fight. It was one of those matches that is very even and technical, but not a ton of things happened.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Thomas Puckett. Puckett is really scrawny. He was no match physically or technically.
7/6/94
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Remco Pardoel
Manabu Yamada vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar. Yamada was a bit quick for Oetelaar. He got good strikes in, causing Andre to bleed heavily.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Matt Hume. Hume claims this match was a work. Shamrock didn't appear to be working, but it looked like Hume may have been throwing the match. Cool finish where Shamrock does an overhead belly to belly then went into a chickenwing armlock for the win. The thing that doesn't make sense is that Shamrock would beat Hume in a shoot so why risk the integrity of the company to get the same result?
Yusuke Fuke vs. Gregory Smit
Minoru Suzuki vs. Bas Rutten. Bas' strikes were lethal.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Jason Delucia
7/26/94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. Nowhere near the goodness of their last fight, particularly because there was hardly any standup. White seemed to get better all of a sudden, at least to the point of passing Inagaki by.
Gregory Smit vs. Robert Bjornethun. Smit bled heavily from the nose.
Manabu Yamada vs. Matt Hume
Minoru Suzuki vs. Remco Pardoel. Pardoel had a big size advantage. Suzuki was much better in standup because he's so quick. Pardoel just kept going for the same takedown, but Suzuki had it scouted and it's hard to fool someone when you aren't trying many different things.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Scott "Bam Bam" Sullivan
Yusuke Fuke vs. Jason Delucia
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten. Rutten was really good by this time. Shamrock controlled positioning, but Rutten wouldn't give him openings. When Bas did get caught, he somehow just refused to submit and was able to get out one way or another. The downside of this match was Shamrock was in riding mode too much.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
9/1/94
Gregory Smit vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Richard Saar. This was good because White got some nice shots in.
Jason Delucia vs. Matt Hume. Even match. Both men had their moments. I thought Delucia could have been more aggressive, but even without being such, he seemed to tire after 10 minutes. Hume got a bloody nose.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Robert Bjornethun
Yusuke Fuke vs. Manabu Yamada. Highly competitive match. Both men kept going for submissions, and came close to winning on several occassions.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Masakatsu Funaki
10/15/94
Scott "Bam Bam" Sullivan vs. Matt Hume
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Robert Bjornethun
Manabu Yamada vs. Alex Cook
Jason Delucia vs. Bas Rutten
Yusuke Fuke vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock
Minoru Suzuki vs. Masakatsu Funaki. These two burst out of the gate. Very fast action with constant movement. The fans were really into it. Too bad it didn't last longer.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
12/16/94 King Of Pancrase Tournament 1st Round
Minoru Suzuki vs. Matt Hume. Good match. Both men were in control some of the time, trying submissions. Hume gave Suzuki a lot more trouble than I expected.
Jason Delucia vs. Thomas Puckett
Christopher Deweaver vs. Manabu Yamada
Bas Rutten vs. Frank Jaurez (Shamrock). Frank was better than I expected. He was often in control. Bas got some nice strikes in, but Frank was able to negate much of his striking ability by taking him down, where Frank was the better of the two.
Wayne Shamrock vs. Alex Cook
Maurice Smith vs. Yusuke Fuke
Vernon White vs. Leon Dijk
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Robert Bjornethun
2nd Round
Jason Delucia vs. Minoru Suzuki
Frank Jaurez vs. Manabu Yamada. Typical Frank match where they are constantly working on the mat. The advantage changed several times.
Maurice Smith vs. Wayne Shamrock
Vernon White vs. Masakatsu Funaki
12/17/94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Gregory Smit
Scott Bessac vs. Larry Papadopoulos. This is the only time I've ever seen someone in the guard get a KO from a punch to the stomach. Unreal.
King Of Pancrase Tournament Semifinals
Minoru Suzuki vs. Manabu Yamada. Really good technical match. They were always working.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock. Shamrock was just running through everyone in this tournament.
Tournament Final: (Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Manabu Yamada. Shamrock was always in control. Yamada's defense was good, but he had no chance for offense.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
Yusuke Fuke vs. Richard Saar. Fuke did an awesome uraken for the quick KO.
Takafumi Ito vs. Gregory Smit. Ito was in control and working, but he was pretty deliberate so it wasn't that hard for Smit to defend. Ito tried for submission after submission.
Frank Shamrock vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. Inagaki never did any damage or came close to winning, but he was a fairly tough out.
Masakatsu Funaki (#2) vs. Jason Delucia. Delucia put Funaki down once, but otherwise he was mainly on the defensive.
Rankingsen: Manabu Yamada (#1) vs. Bas Rutten (#4). Bas had Yamada trapped in a choke, but the ref couldn't see Yamada's face and Yamada wasn't tapping, so the ref couldn't tell how bad it was. The ref eventually stopped it, but Yamada was in it too long and his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. Luckily, he was okay after being out for a few minutes.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Leon Dijk. Dijk was screaming in pain when Shamrock got him in the heel hold.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
1/26/95
Yusuke Fuke vs. Richard Saar. Fuke did an awesome uraken for the quick KO.
Takafumi Ito vs. Gregory Smit. Ito was in control and working, but he was pretty deliberate so it wasn't that hard for Smit to defend. Ito tried for submission after submission.
Frank Shamrock vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. Inagaki never did any damage or came close to winning, but he was a fairly tough out.
Masakatsu Funaki (#2) vs. Jason Delucia. Delucia put Funaki down once, but otherwise he was mainly on the defensive.
Rankingsen: Manabu Yamada (#1) vs. Bas Rutten (#4). Bas had Yamada trapped in a choke, but the ref couldn't see Yamada's face and Yamada wasn't tapping, so the ref couldn't tell how bad it was. The ref eventually stopped it, but Yamada was in it too long and his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. Luckily, he was okay after being out for a few minutes.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Leon Dijk. Dijk was screaming in pain when Shamrock got him in the heel hold.
4/8/95
Takafumi Ito vs. Scott Bessac
Gregory Smit vs. Osami Shibuya
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Larry Papadopoulos
Jason Delucia vs. John Renfroe
Rankingsen: Bas Rutten (#1) vs. Yusuke Fuke (#5). Bas was getting way better on the ground. All his opponents are forced to take it to the mat because none of them can match him in standup, but by this point they don't necessarily have the advantage once they get it to ground.
Minoru Suzuki (#3) vs. Frank Shamrock. Considering Suzuki was getting a title shot next month and Frank wasn't respected like the other guys that are near his calibre, this was not the time to put him in with Frank.
Manabu Yamada (#4) vs. Masakatsu Funaki (#2). Yamada was one of the better fighters in the early days since he was more experienced. That said, I didn't expect him to be the better fighter of the two on this day.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
3/10/95
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Takafumi Ito. White is so good that he was being schooled by a rookie.
Scott Bessac vs. Osami Shibuya. Bessac dominated.
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Alex Cook. The problem with leg submissions is that your legs are also there for the taking.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Larry Papadopoulos. Fuke gave Papadopoulos a killer knee to the balls, which really had Papadopoulos groaning. Fuke was better in standup, but this was not one of his better showings because the fight was mainly contested on the mat where Papadopoulos was better.
Manabu Yamada vs. Jason Delucia. Yamada was cut on the cheek from an open hand that mainly missed. A bit later, he got a nasty cut to the right of his eye that resulted in a doctor stop.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Gregory Smit. Suzuki had way too much trouble with Smit. He blew a few good chances to win. Smit was cut on a shotei.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Frank Shamrock. Far from the classic you'd expect, but it was competitive. Funaki made too many mistakes. A young Frank was unable to capitilize though, while the more experience Funaki stayed calm and confident.
KING OF PANCRASE Title Match: Wayne Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten. Bas was too succeptible to takedowns, and Shamrock definitely had the advantage on the mat.
5/13/95
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Osami Shibuya. Even fight, but neither guy was able to do much.
Takafumi Ito vs. John Renfroe
Frank Shamrock vs. Allan Goes. Best Pancrase match up until Bas vs. Funaki 9/7/96. All kinds of fast action, takedowns, and reversals. Tempers were flaring. At one point, Goes had Frank in the hadakajime, but Frank was able to make it to the ropes for the escape. Goes continued to choke Frank out though, refusing to break, so he was given a yellow card.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Gregory Smit. Fuke tried a dropkick.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Alex Cook. Funaki controlled the match, but overall it wasn't one of his superior performances. Cook got a bloody nose.
Rankingsen: Manabu Yamada (#4) vs. Jason Delucia
Bas Rutten (#1) vs. Maurice Smith. Bas could have struck with Mo. It probably would have made for a great match, but there was no point since Mo was so inexperienced on the mat.
KING OF PANCRASE Title Match: (Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki. They had Shamrock drop the title because they were afraid of their champion losing to NWA Champ Dan Severn at the upcoming UFC. Short match. They did a good job of acting like it was real. In particular, Shamrock had good facials. Neither guy really made contact during standup then it went to the mat where Suzuki quickly caught Shamrock in a submission.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
Takafumi Ito vs. Osami Shibuya
Manabu Yamada (#4) vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. Lots of near submissions here, particularly trading leg locks.
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Toon Stelling. Stelling gets a yellow card for not breaking a submission quick enough then as soon as the ref turns his back to tell the judges to make the deduction, Stelling decides to start fighting again.
Masakatsu Funaki (#2) vs. Gregory Smit. Smit's nose bleeds like crazy.
Bas Rutten (#1) vs. Jason Delucia
Rankingsen: Yusuke Fuke (#5) vs. Frank Shamrock
Minoru Suzuki vs. Larry Papadopoulos
AJ Jumbo Memorial
4/18/89 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan International, UN, & PWF Nintei Sankan Heavykyu Oza Decision Match: Jumbo Tsuruta (International champ) vs. Stan Hansen (UN & PWF champ). Maybe it's me, but I was expecting a whole lot more from this match. It was stiff, but didn't have much else going for it. Slow paced and boring. Jumbo bladed from Stan using a chair on him. Stan basically demolished Jumbo for the whole match, but he telegraphed his lariat so Jumbo ducked it. Stan's momentum caused him to clothesline himself on te top rope and then Jumbo pinned him to become the first triple crown champion. Stan attacked Jumbo after the bell to keep heat on himself and build to a rematch. *1/2
4/19/88 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center International Heavykyu Senshuken: Bruiser Brody vs. Jumbo Tsuruta. Stiff, solid, well executed match. Big time heat. Psychology and finish were not as good as I expected though. Even in his late 30's, Brody was a really impressive athlete for a wrestler of his size. ***1/2
*I have a limited number of additional Pancrase 1st gen VHS available*
7/22/95
Ken Shamrock vs. Larry Papadopoulos 2:18
NEO BlOOD TOURNAMENT 1st Round: Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Osami Shibuya 10:00
NEO BlOOD TOURNAMENT 1st Round: Takafumi Ito vs. Jeff Masajiri 2:56
NEO BlOOD TOURNAMENT 1st Round: Gregory Smit vs. Vernon White 10:00
NEO BlOOD TOURNAMENT 1st Round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Christopher DeWeaver 3:38
Minoru Suzuki vs. Jason Delucia 9:23
7/23/95
NEO BlOOD TOURNAMENT Semifinal: Takafumi Ito vs. Katsuomi Inagaki 20:00
NEO BlOOD TOURNAMENT Semifinal: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Gregory Smit 7:30
Guy Mezger vs. John Renfroe 7:25
Bas Rutten vs. Frank Shamrock 15:00
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Leon Dijk 1:01
NEO BlOOD TOURNAMENT Final: Takafumi Ito vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa 30:00
9/1/95
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Larry Papadopoulus 10:00. Inagaki busted Papadopoulus's nose open with a good shotei.
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Osami Shibuya 5:12. Takahashi returned after being out injured since the 5/31/94 match against Bas. He wasn't that sharp, but he still controlled the fight.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Todd Medina 5:30. Even match, but not that exciting.
Takafumi Ito vs. Frank Shamrock (#5) 7:23. Ito did better than expected. Exciting match, although it died out toward the end.
Jason DeLucia vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa R1 2:25
Kick Rule: Maurice Smith vs. Manabu Yamada
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Guy Mezger 6:46. Funaki caught Mezger in submissions, the coolest of which was a nice roll into a hizajujigatame, but Guy was pretty resiliant.
KING OF PANCRASE Title Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Bas Rutten (#1) 15:35. Suzuki was able to take Bas down repeatedly and was in control forever, but he couldn't finish the job and wound up getting caught in a submission.
11/4/95
Osami Shibuya vs. Harout Tenzian
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. All on the ground. Pretty even, but also pretty dull.
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Guy Mezger. Guy controlled positioning the whole fight. He didn't do any damage, but Yanagisawa didn't have a shred of offense. The judges calling this a draw was a sham.
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Scott Bessac. Bessac got off to a fairly good start, but Takahashi KO'd him with two shotei's.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Todd Medina. Suzuki got off to a quick start in standup, but Medina was mainly concerned with getting a takedown. Unfortunately for Medina, he was also no match for Suzuki once it got to the mat.
Rankingsen: Yusuke Fuke vs. Jason Delucia. Good for a one-sided match because Delucia was working hard to get the submission. Delucia didn't look that great because he failed to capitilize on his chances to submit Fuke, but he did domiante the match.
Rankingsen: Masakatsu Funaki (#2) vs. Frank Shamrock (#4). The winner of this match would get a title shot. Very good, highly technical match. All on the mat, but constant action. Funaki controlled positioning, but Frank was going for submissions from the bottom. They were both active, of course, and kept trying for the win, but their reactions were so quick that they couldn't really catch their opponent. Funaki did catch Frank in an ankle hold. Even though Frank got to the rope quickly, just those few seconds of Funaki twisting it nastily did a lot of damage. Frank was definitely behind on points, but Funaki was unable to escape his ankle hold, so it didn't matter in the end.
Bas Rutten vs. Maurice Smith. This time we saw a little kickboxing from these two, and it was clear that even Smith couldn't kickbox with Bas.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
Leon Dijk vs. Osami Shibuya
Jason Delucia vs. Takafumi Ito
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yusuke Fuke
Wayne Shamrock vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Frank Shamrock vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Minoru Suzuki vs. Guy Mezger
Bas Rutten vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa