The origin of current shoot-style wrestling can arguably be traced back to
April 10, 1984, when a group of professional wrestlers, led by Akira Maeda, formed
the Japanese group UWF. A couple of months after that, Satoru Sayama, who had
already gained an immense success as the original Tiger Mask in New Japan Pro
Wrestling, and Kazuo Yamazaki joined UWF. With the later arrival Yoshiaki Fujiwara
and Nobuhiko Takada, the group moved from professional wrestling into a stiffer,
stronger style. The outcomes of the matches were predetermined, but the bruises
and submissions were real.
By the end of 1985, the original UWF had broken up. On September 2nd of that
year, Akira Maeda had a match with Satoru Sayama that went horribly wrong. Maeda
threw several intentional kicks to Sayama's groin, and the match went from shoot-style
to a true shoot, with the two men trying to kill each other. Maeda was fired from
UWF. The UWF had their last show nine days later, at fabled Korakuen Hall. Many
of the wrestlers were unhappy under the selfish leadership of Sayama, but didn't
have the organization to keep the promotion alive when Sayama left on October
11, 1985. Many of these shoot-style wrestlers, including Fujiwara, Maeda, Takada,
and Yamazaki, went back to their roots in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The second incarnation of UWF started on November 27, 1987, when Akira Maeda
(once again) intentionally kicked wrestler Riki Choshu in the face, breaking three
bones. Maeda was suspended, and then fired in March of 1988. In April, Maeda,
Takada, Yamazaki and others formed the new UWF. The group began to thrive with
the addition of wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki in April of 1989.
The UWF's peak came with their show "Atlantis" at Tokyo Dome on October 25, 1990,
a show that pitted Akira Maeda v. Masakatsu Funaki, Nobuhiko Takada v. Yoshiaki
Fujiwara, and featured wrestlers Yoji Anjoh, Naoki Sano, and American Wayne Shamrock.
On December 1st, 1990, UWF president Shinji Jin fired all of the wrestlers after
a show in Nagano, Japan, and disbanded the promotion.
On March 4, 1991, Yoshiaki Fujiwara formed Professional Wrestling Fujiwaragumi
(PWFG) with Funaki, Suzuki, Yusuke Fuke and American Bart Vale. Shortly after
that, the other two major names in Japanese shoot-style wrestling formed their
own promotions. Nobuhiko Takada formed the Union of Wrestling Forces International
(UWFI), using most of the leftover UWF talent. Akira Maeda created RINGS, using
a lot of sambo players and kickboxers from Europe. The two Americans made important
moves in 1992. One, Bart Vale captured the PWFG title, a title he would hold for
the better part of three years. Wayne Shamrock left UWFI to join PWFG in 1992
as well, uniting with Funaki, Suzuki, and Yusuke Fuke.
These four men left PWFG and formed Pancrase. Led by Masakatsu Funaki, they
were looking to establish a wrestling organization that had no predetermined outcomes,
the first of its kind since the early days of pro wrestling in the U.S. Pancrase
had their first show on September 21, 1993, and became a big success, culminating
so far in their first U.S. PPV in April of 1996. With Shamrock becoming a star
through his involvement in the Ultimate Fighting Championships, Pancrase has developed
a lot of momentum for the future.
Without four of their major stars, PWFG started having fewer and fewer shows.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara went back and appeared on professional wrestling shows for New
Japan, in order to help finance PWFG. They had their "official" final show on
November 19, 1995. Bart Vale has had successes with his "Shootfighting" organization
apart from PWFG, and continued establishing his style with a good performance
at the World Combat Championship PPV.
Currently, UWFI is enjoying a strong resurgence after nearly going out of business
early in 1995. They have combined with New Japan Pro Wrestling, putting on several
joint shows, including one in front of a record 67,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome.
Nobuhiko Takada won the IWGP title, the top belt in the New Japan promotion, and
helped save UWFI, but in the view of some fans, compromising the UWFI style.
With the burgeoning success of Pancrase and UWFI, the RINGS promotion has had
a tough time in the past couple of years creating its own niche in the shoot-style
market. Akira Maeda is still the icon of the promotion, but none of the Europeans
brought in have been fully embraced by the Japanese fans. It will be difficult
for them to return to prominence without a new, preferably young, star.
With three established shoot-style promotions in Japan, plus Sayama's "Shooto",
Fujiwara's new "BattleArts", Submission Arts Wrestling, coverage of the Ultimate
Fighting Championships and others, shoot appears to now be firmly entrenched as
a true sport in Japan. Next stop: the United States.
A - C