UWF-I Moving On 1st 05.10.91

Korakuen Hall
Attendance 2,300

After enjoying so much early PRIDE FC, I thought I’d watch some early UWF-i to understand what fans were expecting from their shoot-style. And also because there’s some other stuff I was working on that isn’t ready yet so get ready for hot placeholder action!

From the ashes of Newborn UWF, three new companies emerged to disagree strongly about how strong-style should be presented! Oh and who should be the big star of this new movement, of course.

Akira Maeda wasn’t able to gain sponsors for UWF Part III and he’d lost the confidence of many of the wrestlers on the roster with his shit attitude which is why we ended up with PWFG, RINGS and today’s new company UWF-I all deciding to start up at the same time. You’d think this would saturate the market but all shows did very well at the gate (for the time being).

I’m still unsure if it’s typed UWFi, UWF-i or UWF-I so feel free to refer to it as “the one with Takada”, a man so important that this new company was able to sell out Korakuen Hall for a show with only three matches. Even though he had only managed to get as high as the second best wrestler (behind Maeda) in UWF, that would quickly change.

We start with two greenhorns practicing moves in the ring as the announcer explains there will be no headbutts, elbows, kicks to the head of downed opponents or head stomps. UWF-I would be the flashiest and least realistic of the three shoot promotions so this was needed to set the scene. Hilariously, the crowd makes their displeasure known at the lack of dodgy violence. No wonder PRIDE did so well, the children yearn for the strikes on downed opponents.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara

Both lads are holdovers from Newborn UWF so the fans are familiar and excited to see them.

Despite UWF-i being the “most flashy” that doesn’t mean both men don’t do their damndest to make this look as realistic as possible in the early going. Kakihara tries a flurry of slaps so Tamura attempts a takedown which is immediately sunk into a guillotine with both men pausing to consider their options. Tamura attempts a cross armbreaker but ends up in the ropes so we get a reset on the feet.

Tamura applies a headlock as the crowd make worried noises but Kakihara knows how to escape one of them. He attempts a hip toss but Tamura blocks it and nearly gets a chinlock but they end up in the ropes as we get our first look at the scoring system! You start with 15 points but lose one every time something happens to you. I think. So Kakihara loses a point for ending up on the mat because of the chinlock but Tamura follows with more slaps that connect and doesn’t succeed in knocking away any points. Huh.

Tamura rolls in a very harsh ankle pick that Kakihara is unable to immediately escape until he rolls himself near the ropes for the break. Well deserved point deduction there.

Tamura throws low kicks that again don’t reduce any points because Cecil Peoples is apparently judging this. Kakihara tries to roll through the legs with something but Tamura blocks and applies another ankle pick with the crowd going nuts. However, Tamura leaves himself wide open for an ankle lock of his own so Tamura sticks it in with Kakihara groaning and grabbing the ropes to lose a point.

Back on the feet, Tamura rolls his foe into a seated headlock position before keeping on top of Kakihara while maintaining control while not doing much as both wait for the other to blink first. Tamura pauses for half a second so Kakihara locks in a rear naked choke to a crowd expecting a finish but Tamura is able to struggle to the ropes again.

Kakihara allows Tamura to kick him in the mid-section so he can slap him in the face while he’s open which doesn’t work so he kicks him in the chin instead. Sadly Kakihara is so amazed at getting offence in that his follow-up high kick goes OVER Tamura because he’s winded which allows Tamura to recover and knee him to the mat for our first ten count!

Kakihara beats the count so Tamura takes him down for another potential cross armbreaker. He can’t synch it in so instead throws kicks at a downed oppon- HEY THAT’S AGAINST THE RULES. Ref stops the match to have the doctor check on Kakihara who assures him he’s OK and there’s no points deducted for Kakihara. Buncha bullshit.

Kakihara is fired up and throws more slaps so Tamura is easily able to deliver an exploder suplex to again ground his opponent. Kakihara is able to block but not get anywhere so both end up vertical and in the corner as Tamura throws some more kicks. However Kakihara receives an errant slap to the face and is dazed so dumb-dumb Kakihara again tries a spinning leg kick and again flies over Tamura. Kakihara is nice enough to daze around until he gets up and hits him properly this time so Tamura can get knocked down for a ten-count.

That’s enough selling as Tamura kicks Kakihara to the mat for another attempted seated headlock. That gets the rope break so Kakihara throws a high kick and Tamura kicks his leg from under his leg in a wonderful counter and Owen Hart’s approval.

Kakihara suplexes Tamura to the canvas with Tamura holding his ribs and over-selling that until he picks up Kakihara and slams him over his damn head in response. Ha! Ankle lock is quickly escaped thank to the ropes leading to both men throwing tired kicks at one another. The fatigue is showing with both men sweatily attempting to ankle lock the other which both ending up in the middle of the ring attempting the same hold until Tamura sinks his in deeper for the tap-out from Kakihara at 14:16

What a lot of fun this was! Crowd was very receptive for everything and even a luddite like myself could figure out what they were attempting to go for easily enough. Good start and the perfect opener for a new company.

Kazuo Yamazaki & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoji Anjo & Yuko Miyato

Nakano’s my current favourite and so is Anjo. Don’t tell either of them.

Miyato kicks Nakano as he tries to get closer. Once he does get get inside the guard, Nakako doesn’t do much aside from taking him down but this annoys Miyato enough to kick a downed Nakano to again, no punishment. C’mon maaaaan.

Anjo tags in and immediately lands a high front kick to Nakano’s face as the crowd explodes. Anjo can take Nakano down but can’t do lock anything in so he kicks him in the back instead. Again with the downed kicks! Miyato tags in even though Anjo was doing fine but then Anjo tags back in less than a minute later. Ah, they’re trying to tire out the larger guy. OK that’s fine with me. It’s not fine with Nakano who realises they’re trying to block him from tagging out, leading to a rough throw to the mat and a quick rabbit punch before tagging in Yamazaki.

Yamazaki locks in an ankle pick to Anjo who has to turn over his opponent to apply his own in order to be able to get the ropes. As soon as he’s out, Anjo forward rolls to the corner for the tag because he was a dick even in 1991.

Miyato kicks Nakano high but a man with a mullet and tache combo like him has a high pain tolerance so he ignores them. Nakano accidentally kicks Miyato low so the ref briefly pauses the action so Anjo can tag his swollen partner out.

Nakano grounds Anjo but the wonderful production captures his heavy breathing as he waits to get his breath back. I’m watching with headphones in so you can hear every bit of oxygen and pain leaving the lungs. Yamazaki tags in to attempt a Boston Crab? Or maybe it was a set up to roll Anjo’s whole body over with an ankle pick. Yeah that’s probably it. Either way, Anjo mostly blocks it by holding on to Yamazaki’s leg.

Both men throw strikes until Anjo attempts to block a takedown by holding the ropes. Doesn’t work but it rules that he’s showing bits of personality whenever he can in an environment like this. Anjo slaps Nakano who blocks everything with his elbows so Miyato tags in. His strikes do get through Nakano’s guard and pop open his nose leading to an angry Nakano deliver a sweet German Suplex to the crowd’s glee.

Yamazaki tags in to high kick Miyato to the mat instantly. Like in the previous match, Yamazaki gets too carried away and misses a wild spinning leg kick but recovers to lock in a standing guillotine which gets rope break’d easily. Miyato avoids the follow-up kicks and tries the strategy from earlier of kicking the non-kicking leg but Yamazaki pops up to no effect so he has enough and tags out.

Anjo tries kicking Nakano who ignores the offence to attempt a standing single crab? I guess that’s the best way to describe that. It doesn’t work so Anjo mounts Nakano but again can’t apply anything so throws another kick to a downed opponent (c’mon) but then accuses Nakano of striking him with an elbow. The ref deducts a point and Anjo continues to mouth off leading to a mad Nakano shove him into the corner, with Anjo then throwing elbows to get him off. Ha! Crowd boos the audacity of this bitch as ref deducts a point from Anjo too.

Worn-out Nakano keeps control of Anjo as the blood is all over him, his opponent and the ref’s shirt. Yamazaki tags in to throw more high kicks but Anjo blocks it with a push to send him down. Anjo sucks on the mat so both men reset leading to Anjo nearly connecting with a soccer kick to Yamazaki’s head as he’s sticking through the ropes! Phew.

Anjo motions for Yamazaki to “come on” before turning around and tagging in Miyato. Crowd are so mad their frenzied boos sound like a pissed off vacuum cleaner. Miyato lands some kicks to wear out Yamazaki in the corner and to start the ten count. He recovers but takes another kick to the mid section and just about survives. So Miyato tags in Anjo who lands a lot of quicks very quickly to again knock him down. Yamazaki mashes the pad and manages to get up but Anjo unleashes several knees to the mid section and this time Yamazaki doesn’t get up at 22:57.

Enjoyable, even if it took a while to get going. A tag match in this setting takes some getting used to, especially when it became obvious everyone was getting a chance to get their shit in which only highlighted the lack of immediacy on everyone’s behalf. Then again, on a three match show they also had to stretch this one as long as possible to keep the fans happy which detracted somewhat. Still, there was plenty of stiff strikes and Dick Anjo moments to keep it from being dull.

Anjo shakes hands with Yamazaki afterwards but Nakano declines. Crowd then chants for Anjo! These fans rule.

Edit: Oh a clarification of the rules is no kicks to the downed head so that explains some of the strikes. Hey, it’s my first rodeo.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tom Burton

Burton is the most 1991 American wrestler to ever live: Balding, pink-skinned, roid-gutted and spends his pre-match promo talking about how American wrestlers are better than Japanese wrestlers. AND OUR CARS ARE BETTER etc.

Takada is of course beloved by the crowd. Burton takes a low kick and is very vocal about disliking that so he takes Takada down for a cross armbreaker attempt. Takada escapes by trying an ankle lock and Burton’s rough growls are at least a welcome change of style. Crowd laughs as Burton slowly grabs a hold, favouring his knee. Burton tries something but Takada rolls him into a Hammerlock for a quick rope break.

Burton blocks a kick with a shove but follows by yelling “c’mon!” which isn’t a finisher, even in 1991. Burton grabs Takada to the mat for an Indian Deathlock but J.R. isn’t here to tell us how devastating it is so Takada grabs the ropes. Takada isn’t doing much to sell the danger of the guy who looks like he eats cigarettes. Takada waits for him to try a move, has a rest and then kicks Burton in the leg to start the ten count.

Once he gets up, Takada throws a flurry of slaps and connects with a high kick to the face which Burton ignores to take Takada to the mat with another shove. He’s still holding his leg when both men reset so Burton deals with this by taking Takada down again. Not doing anything, just preventing him from firing strikes. OK, I can get with that simple approach. It doesn’t work for long however as Takada throws a few kicks from the mat to stun Burton before knocking him on his arse with a follow-up.

Burton gets a brief crowd chant before absorbing more blows and ending up in a chinlock. Burton escapes by standing up and Takada kinda holds on so he can take a hip toss in a moment that seems comical when compared to the previous matches before Burton lands a German Suplex. Burton gets a single crab with Takada selling by putting on the same facial expression as I do when I’m deciding what flavour pasty I want from Greggs. Burton locks in a Full Nelson of all things, which he releases himself to spin Takada around to land a clothesline Rainmaker style as this match is going off the rails. Takada slaps Burton some more before getting a Boston Crab with no resistance for the tap-out at 10:46.

Eh. Burton’s selling was what the crowd wanted to see but Takada provided no help with building tension or making it interesting. Then again, with Burton’s inexperience I’m unsure if a motivated Takada could have helped a dude who was mostly focused with throwing clotheslines in a shoot-style company.

Overall: Maybe I’m too negative on the main event because the other two matches were so high spirited and stiff that I was surprised to see a WCW Pro dark match headline. Regardless, this made me want to watch more of the company so I’d recommend it as a starter pack if nothing else.

To Japan, where Takada’s new group UWFi debuted to a sellout at Korakuen Hall, and it wasn’t a very good show but the crowd liked it. The rules were confusing, with a wacky points system where you start with 15 and lost points every time something happens to you, plus they had tag team “shoot” matches, which is just weird.

Takada admitted afterwards that they’re just kind of making it up as they go.

Welcome to UWF-I!

I’ve been Maffew