Kakutogi Road: The Chronological History of MMA
Chapter 33: PWFG Lion King Legend Part 1 4/19/92 Tokyo Taiikukan
By Michael Betz & Mike Lorefice 3/3/21

The lion, despite being Africa’s apex predator, only has a roughly 30% success rate in their hunts. This is due to their preference for wild game that is faster than they are, and in order to achieve victory against their nimbler foes, a considerable amount of teamwork is necessary. In a warped way, that is where we now find ourselves with the PWFG, as they have the raw talent in Shamrock, Suzuki, and Funaki, to overwhelm their competition, but only with the proper vision, execution, and a strong support system in place, undergirding them.

ML: Lion prides include two to three males, around a dozen females, and their young. Male cubs remain in a pride for about three years, after which they become wandering nomads for about two years until they either take over an existing pride or form a new one around the age of five. Their life expectancy is considerably shorter than females, so their tenure within a pride is relatively short. Lionesses are the primary hunters, exhausting and killing their often larger and faster prey by hunting together. If we are marking Funaki, Suzuki, and Shamrock as the Lions, one can see why PWFG is already in a lot of trouble.

When we last saw Fujiwara and Co., they were trying their hand at breaking into the coveted American market, thanks to Bart Vale’s Miami connection, with an event catered to the burgeoning karate/kickboxing scene at the time. This was an admirable effort, and to their credit they were the first of the Japanese shoot groups to land on American soil, but failed to follow up in any significant way, or find the proper American media outlets to try and create the needed buzz, going forward. Surely, having an exodus of talent leave at the end of 1992 completely nullified any chances of them moving forward in any significant capacity, let alone try and compete with the rise of the UFC. For now, however, let us enjoy their next step forward, as they attempt to ride the momentum of the UWF-I’s publicity stunt of having professional boxers fight their main talents, in this case, the main event between Masakatsu Funaki and Panamanian sensation, Roberto Duran.

Duran, despite being in his early 40s for this bout, would be an excellent choice for another experiment in the shoot-fighter vs. boxer sweepstakes due to his name value, that is, if he shows up in shape. He had attended the aforementioned PWFG event in Miami and was reportedly weighing around 250 pounds, which is a far cry from his weight of 135 in 1972, where he won his first boxing title. Hopefully, he will have managed to come into some semblance of fighting shape tonight, and with any luck, this will be a proper shoot, ala Scott/Warring, although I suspect that Funaki would obliterate any version of Duran without breaking a sweat. We are taken to the press conference that took place on 3-20-92, and Duran is looking far worse than I had expected. I am now rethinking the validity of this idea, despite his legit name recognition, he looks simply awful here, and wouldn’t be much bragging rights even if someone like me managed to beat him.

ML: Leon Spinks, who when he was still a relevant boxer put Antonio Inoki over on 10/9/86 in a dreadful match the same night Akira Maeda had a memorable mixed match with kickboxer Don Nakaya Nielsen, had just started his 2nd tour for FMW, capturing the WWA Martial Arts Heavyweight Title from Tarzan Goto on 3/25/92. He would soon, of course, lose the title to Atsushi Onita on 5/24/92. This was a time when boxing was for some reason thought to be the preeminent combat sport, at least in America where kickboxing was never recognized as the top striking sport, and with the success of Nobuhiko Takada in allowing Trevor Berbick to humiliate himself, I don't think PWFG cared much beyond getting a transcendent name on Funaki's resume, even if the win ultimately might mean more to those who didn't bother to watch it than those who suffered through what was sure to be a fiasco.

Kazuo Takahashi and Yuki Ishikawa start things off. This will be the pro wrestling debut of one of the more interesting characters to come from this era, Yuki Ishikawa. From a modern vantage point, he is primarily known for his work in Battlarts, the promotion that he formed in 1996 out of the ashes of the PWFG, which could be considered as its spiritual successor, of sorts. While Battlarts didn’t wind up strictly adhering to the shoot-style, they did have a tangential relationship with the late 90s MMA scene in Japan with several members of their roster, most famously Alexander Otsuka, having competed in places like RINGS, PRIDE, etc, and even had Quinten “Rampage” Jackson appeared at one of their events.

What isn’t well known is that Ishikawa had originally started under Satoru Sayama, and was even featured in Sayama’s debut Shooto pre-event (forever documented via the 1988 Shooto VHS release, “The Shooting”). The exact details are murky, but it would appear that after cutting his teeth in Shooto, he traveled to the United States in order to train with Boris Malenko and Karl Gotch. He reportedly received more training from Gotch and Malenko than any of the other members of the PWFG roster, save for Fujiwara. He would go on to spend his early years bouncing between PWFG and NJPW, even getting a chance to compete in the 1995 Young Lions Cup that NJPW hosted, but was unsuccessful in winning the event. Once the PWFG ran into money problems in 1996, it was rumored that their sponsors were going to completely restructure the promotion, which prompted Ishikawa to convince the roster to abandon ship, and head over to his new Battlarts promotion. He stayed with his promotion until it went defunct in 2011, and continues to work on the Japanese circuit today, as a freelancer.

Right away, we can see that this will be a trial by fire for Ishikawa, as Takahashi has fully engaged his game face, and looks ready to scrap. Takahashi opens with his usual lightning-quick single-leg takedown, but Ishikawa pulls out one of the fastest sprawls we’ve seen to date, negating the takedown, and winds up scrambling his way into side-control. As they are fighting on the ground we are seeing some very stiff shots being given by both men, probably the stiffest we’ve seen to date if you discount the time that Takahashi got his head punted by Shamrock.

This bout saw Ishikawa succumb to the more experienced fighter in Takahashi. Ishikawa would put up several valiant attempts but would always wind up being out grappled and caught in a submission. He was able to stay close to the ropes for most of these exchanges, but eventually, Takahashi wore him down and slapped on an armbar.

I went into this fully expecting a work, but honestly, after careful review, I believe this to be a shoot. The ground striking was legit, but was only used to either set up or escape from a submission, so one could argue that they could have beat on each other more, and while that’s true, I don’t discount the reality of a fight just based on how much two people could have been punching each other on the ground. Otherwise, we would have to throw out the majority of Pancrase fights due to the gentleman’s agreement that most adhered to of no ground strikes. Either way, I would rate this as a fast-paced, and exciting start to the show, and was a fine debut for Ishikawa, although we can see that he’ll need more experience before he can really hang in a shoot.

ML: This was an interesting shoot because Ishikawa actually had some takedown defense to deal with Takahashi's wrestling, and the ability to turn defense into offense on the ground. His problem is his offense was based on kicking, and that would just get him taken down. Takahashi ultimately wound up doing the smart thing, and just waiting for the less patient Ishikawa to attack him, resulting in much easier takedowns then when Takahashi took the initiative. Takahashi's submission game is improving, and while the Ishikawa showed some decent defense and resilience, ultimately he was just outgunned. Otherwise, it's just important because it's the debut of a wrestler who went on to become both very good and very important to keeping the shoot style alive.

Next up is Takaku Fuke vs a debuting Ryushi Yanagisawa. Yanagisawa and Ishikawa were the last of the “young boys” that competed in the PWFG before Funaki & Suzuki left, and tonight marks the beginning for both. Yanagisawa would become a regular fixture in Pancrase for almost a decade, until migrating back to pro wrestling in 2002, joining NJPW. Anyone that may only know Ryushi for some of his lackluster later showings in Pancrase, will get to see him move splendidly here, even making Fuke look slow by comparison.

After a brief feeling-out process on the ground, these two start really laying into each other with some ultra-stiff kicks, before Ishikawa manages to excuse himself from the melee by forcing Fuke to the mat. Here, the skill disparity is much less significant than the prior match, with Ryushi probably having the edge in the stand-up, but like Ishikawa, doesn’t yet have the experience on the mat. He was put in a heel hook by Fuke, but was positioned close enough to the ropes to escape. The next exchange was like the first, with Yanagisawa’s landing another excellent kick on Fuke, only to get taken down on the 2nd attempt, and put into another heel hook. Credit to Fuke for not falling back for the elementary straight ankle lock like so many of his peers did in these days and rather positioning his hands/wrists correctly as he was falling back, making for a very smooth entry into this attack. They continued to go at it for a few more minutes, with Fuke looking overwhelmed on his feet, but too smooth with his grappling, and he won via heel-hook. Another proto Pancrase fight here. I just wasn’t seeing any overt cooperation, or holes in this, outside of the fact that they were only punching each other on the ground enough to try and keep the grappling from stalling. Does that make it a work? Perhaps, but not in my estimation. Regardless, we have two highly realistic and exciting matches in a row, and if this continues we are on our way to having the most realistic PWFG card, yet.

ML: Ryushi Yanagisawa is an important, if overlooked figure, the most exciting big shooter of the era. He was everything Yoshihiro Takiyama wasn't, a fast, skilled, talented striker who could hang with anyone. Though his record in shoots wasn't that great, most of the fighters he lost to, including Bas Rutten (0-2), Masakatsu Funaki (0-2), Ken Shamrock, Jason DeLucia (1-2), Guy Mezger (0-4-1), Frank Shamrock, Evan Tanner, Randy Couture, Fedor Emelianenko & Mirko Cro Cop (in kickboxing), would be considered among the best of the era, if not all-time. This fight had some explosive scrambling and intense moments, but it wasn't a shoot. The strikes, Yanagisawa's kicks especially, were rarely designed to connect properly, even though he had success with the few low kicks he threw, often he would throw middle kicks with the top of his kick pad almost to where the knee pad starts, and then go with the takedown when Fuke predictably caught the leg. He even cooperated for a clean ipponzeoi. If the kick wasn't off high, it would basically be with his toes. Fuke also threw a mount elbow that purposely missed entirely, or almost entirely (Fuke brought his arm right back towards Yanagisawa's nose just after it passed to close the visual gap), which they did their best to make look brutal. Both fighters would concede positions and holds easily once the opponent was close. Fuke even managed to drag Yanagisawa, who must outweigh him by close to 50 pounds, to the center of the ring for the final submission. Stylistically, this was pretty much the same match as the previous, with the debuting fighter being the better kicker, but just being taken down and threatened with heel hooks and arm bars until he was finally caught. It was a pretty good match.

It looks like I may have spoken too soon, as another apex predator in the form of “Killer Whale” Kiraware is set to fight the newly christened “Champion of the World,” Bart Vale. It's amazing how after winning such a prestigious title, his first defense is against this portly behemoth. All we can hope for now is a quick and merciful death, as surely this match will surely be torturous if taken beyond a few minutes. Things start with Kiraware rushing Vale into a corner and both men trading heavy slaps back and forth, before a protracted ground battle. To be fair, this was passable, and would have been a reasonable bit of filler on a late 80s UWF card, but held up next to the first two bouts, let alone some of the output from their competitors, it is obvious that this does not belong. Thankfully, it ended quickly at the 7 ½ min mark. **

ML: The dreaded Vale vs. Whale matchup wasn't as atrocious as expected, though I'm sure Free Willy wasn't the only one rushing for a refund. No one will ever accuse Kiraware of being fast as a shark, but because the killer whale was on the attack, he at least kept Vale from humiliating himself with too many of his movie kicks where he is like Jerry Trimble, except at 1/100th the speed. Vale's kicks were extra fluffy today though. You'd think an opponent as gigantic as Kiraware could at least absorb more than a grazing impact. There was one funny spot just before Vale won with a high kick were Vale did a ridiculous jumping hook kick that cleared Kiraware's head entirely almost looking like an odd sort of leapfrog, but for the most part, this was a clinching and grappling battle, which while not particularly exciting, was less laughable than the typical Bart match.

Now to continue to push the envelope and risk the goodwill that the first two matches generated for us, is Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Jerry Flynn. This has the potential to be adequate if Fujiwara can keep the comedy to a minimum and give us a quick match. Things start with Flynn showing some tasty kicks, while Fujiwara responds with his usual unathletic variations. Thankfully, it went to the mat quickly, and Flynn is looking good here, by showing a lot of intensity, and it’s clear that his confidence is growing. Tto his credit, Fujiwara allows himself to be a grappling dummy/punching back for Flynn, until there was a good moment where Fujiwara looked to have no answers for Flynn, before restoring to a desperation single-leg takedown.  Fujiwara would get moments of mat control, but spent most of the match trying to ward off Flynn’s aggression. Eventually, Flynn succumbs to an ankle lock, but thanks to Fujiwara he looked good throughout, and his intensity led to a *** outcome.

ML: There was a huge discrepancy in the quality of kicks, with Flynn throwing some snappy low kicks, while Fujiwara looked more like a dog who had found an appealing tree. Fujiwara had a better attitude here, at least, and was willing to allow Flynn to show growth, dominating the stand-up, and even having good moments on the ground, early on. As the match progressed, it began to durdle, with Fujiwara controlling until he found the finisher. It was ** if you want to be really generous, but when you follow the Bartman, all you really have to do is something that bares some resemblance to an athletic contest and you will probably seem like a return to form.

Now for the 4th conflict between Suzuki and Shamrock, which has always led to a satisfying result, but can they continue their winning ways. They put on the best match at the prior Miami event, so this may be a bit soon to go back to this well, but hopefully, it pays off. The first thing I am noticing is how impressive Suzuki’s movement is. He constantly bounces up and down, feinting the takedown, and using it to set up a thigh kick. Shamrock responds by impersonating Don “The Dragon” Wilson, awkwardly shifting into a side-stance, which rightfully gets him immediately taken down. What followed would be akin to a chess match minus the boredom. Suzuki was constantly trying to explode but was stifled by Shamrock using his strength and weight to try and keep him stationary. There were some slick skills on display from Suzuki throughout, at one point he escaped a standing rear-naked choke by doing a backward somersault as Shamrock was falling back to finish the choke. Shamrock was not without his charms as well. At one point, he was grinding his forearm/elbow into Suzuki’s face back and forth, in what was a painful way to get him to move and make a mistake. It did cause Suzuki to eventually turn and give up his back, but he was too quick to be punished by Ken over it.

The stand up was also a treat. While it was never a full blitzkrieg, there were a lot of shifts and feints from both men, as they were trying to find the right moment to force their way in. Things eventually end when Suzuki secures a weird variation of a guillotine choke for the victory. This was an excellent match, and a rare example of a match that can equally work on multiple levels. It was both urgent and methodical, exciting and thoughtful, and nuanced without being boring. This had the least amount of traditional pro wrestling spots in their matches so far, so while that may have taken down the entertainment value a notch, it made up for it by being more serious. ****

ML: I'm assuming someone was impressed by their Miami match, and decided to have them run it back in Japan, but this was a far more positionally oriented version, with less payoff. Again, this is the sort of match that is difficult to rate. It was an intense and thoughtful work that was very much ahead of its time, especially positionally with Shamrock, in particular, doing a lot better job controlling with front and rear mounts. Because there was minimal ground striking, and they were setting their submissions up rather than just going wild on the ground, to the modern viewer, a lot of times it may just seem like an even duller version of an early Pancrase match. It was an important match, and it had its moments, but again, their 1991 matches are far more entertaining from a pro wrestling perspective, while their 1992 matches are more transitional matches between the old UWF style and the new Pancrase style. Suzuki looked much better than Ken on his feet, showing a lot more footwork and explosion. Ken's side stance was pretty bad because he didn't strike with the lead leg or hand to keep Suzuki off, so it was really just slowing down his right kick, which now was further from the target. He was the better grappling though, with Suzuki mostly being there on the defensive looking for a way to sneak around and take the back, and grappling was most of the match. I didn't really buy the finish where Ken tried to slam after his double leg failed, but Suzuki managed to choke him out flat on his stomach without any body control whatsoever. Another good match from these two, but definitely their worst so far. ***

Now for the main event: Duran vs Funaki. I am desperately hoping that this will be a shoot, although I am not getting my hopes up. The first thing that is evident (outside of Fuanki’s gloriously huge hair) is that Duran did lose some weight in the month leading up to this, but not enough to want to take his shirt off. This will be contested under a round system, and I’m not sure, but I assume that the rules are in the normal PWFG style.

Funaki dances around Duran for most of the round, until finally taking him down, when I hear the ref start to count, which makes me think that the rules only allow for 8 (?) seconds of ground fighting. Duran is able to land a couple of shots before the round ends, but nothing significant.

Round 2 starts, and it’s obvious that Funaki can end this fight anytime he wants to, but is presumably trying to carry Duran to try and pad things out. He continues to dance around Duran’s jabs before finally blasting him down and grabbing an ankle, but refrains from really torquing the hold, thus allowing Duran the 8 seconds needed to be restarted. Funaki ate a few decent body shots from Duran, before heading into round 3, but was mostly unscathed.

Round 3 sees Duran start to take this more seriously, and land some nasty body shots to Funaki when he was attempting to clinch. After several of these, Funaki seems to have had enough, and quickly takes Duran down, and submits him. This was a disappointing and needless affair. At first, I thought that Funaki was simply carrying Duran, and was going to try and toy with him for a while before ending things, but the finish was contrived, Duran disgracing himself with a blatant work. Funaki facing a real boxer in a shoot was a good idea at this stage of the game, but beating a ridiculously out-of-shape 42-year-old was not. This was one of the dumber ways of trying to pull off what Takada accomplished with his Berbick stunt. At least that was a shoot that had the potential of backfiring on the UWF-I, even if the odds were in Takada’s favor. This was just a silly cash grab for Duran, and left a sour taste in my mouth, especially when things were going well with the rest of the card.

ML: At some point, Duran decided if he cant beat Sugar, he'll just eat sugar. I never expected this to be a shoot. I'm not really sure what to think of it. It wasn't good by any means, but it wasn't an embarrassment, as most of these matches, especially the New Japan ones, usually are. From a story perspective, they fought a smart match telling the logical, if predictable, tale of Duran trying to use his jab to keep Funaki off, and getting to the ropes as fast as he could once Funaki managed to get hold of him. On one hand, the problem is the match was mostly air, as very little of significance actually happened. On the other hand, because there were so little actual contact, Duran got away with not having to learn to actually work, which for a one off was never really going to happen. This was pretty forgettable, but at the same time, it was a lot less unrealistic because they didn't try much, which again, I suppose, shows the low standard of the show, in general. Funaki was light on his feet, and showed a good head movement, so Duran barely touched him. Meanwhile, Funaki only had seconds to do anything to Duran even under the best of circumstances, so he wasn't getting anything done either. In the end, this was mostly shadowboxing, which is better when Burt Young is around to get in his digs like "He can't train to the jungle junk music."

Conclusion: Despite the absurd ending, and the mediocrity of Vale/Kiraware, this was one of the best PWFG shows, so far, and probably the most realistic feeling. It’s also the first show in a while, that gives a glimmer of hope for the future of this promotion. There are still obvious problems, but the addition of Yanagisawa and Ishikawa accomplishes what they need most, and that’s more worthy talent on the bottom end. We still have to accept that every card will have Fujiwara and Vale on it, thus leading to two mediocre-at-best matches, but if they can book smartly from here on out, and add 1 or 2 more key players, then they have a chance to take the lead. Overall a good event.

ML: I thought this card was basically as uninspiring as PWFG has been for the past several months. It had the usual one good match involving Shamrock, with most of the rest being forgettable. At least the additions of Ishikawa and Yanagisawa give some hope, as the undercard could potentially be much better with Fuke having some actual opponents, but the match making is so ridiculously lacking in creativity that every show feels almost exactly the same.

*In other news*

Some good news for the PWFG, wWhile promoting their latest event to feature a matchup between Roberto Duran and Masakatsu Funaki, they had to compete with the SWS promotion using Ric Flair vs Genichiro Tenryu as the main event (on 4/17/92 at Yokohama Bunka Gym). As of 4-3-92, the PWFG has reportedly outsold the SWS event by a 10-1 ratio.

The UWF-I has a major show coming up on 5-8-92 that is set to see the first championship match in the company with Takada vs Gary Albright. Also, Koji Kitao has signed on, to a reported $75,000 per match deal, and will be debuting at this event as well.

The recent Sediokaikan/RINGS event was a success with a sellout crowd of 8,500 being reported.

The PWFG is reportedly in negotiations with Don “Nakaya” Neilsen to fight at an upcoming event. No word on his opponent yet, but the rumor is that it will be Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

Akira Maeda has reportedly taken a trip to Bulgaria, in an effort to scout out possible new talent for RINGS.