UWF The Professional Bout (8.13.88) review 

 

August 13, 1988 

 

We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Ariake Coliseum. Having run smaller venues and done good business despite having a tiny roster, Maeda’s UWF expanded for this third show and ran a bigger building. The Ariake Coliseum only opened in 1987 and is mainly a tennis venue. NOAH have used it as their ‘big building’ in Tokyo. For tennis, it seats 10,000 but the wrestling ring takes up less space so, for wrestling, capacity is higher. 12,000 for this show, which is a huge success.  

 

In order to step up their game, Maeda has brought in an opponent for himself. In a very Inokism move, he’s going to fight karate black belt Gerard Gordeau. The aim is to increase legitimacy for the sport of pro-wrestling, much like Inoki did in his assorted matches with shooters in the 1970s*. Of course here it’s not just the sport but Maeda that gets the rub. 

 

*Peaking, of course, with the fight against Muhammad Ali in 1976.  

Another attempt to increase legitimacy stemmed from promoting actual shootfights on the same card as pro-wrestling. This is something Inoki ended up doing with his offshoot promotion; IGF. Here, Maeda adds in a few shoot MMA matches, fought with boxing gloves. They don’t announce any of the participants, so I can’t tell you what’s happening, but this should serve as a lesson to all the workers as to what is actually effective.  

 

There’s a full-on backdrop driver in the first fight but the dude is fine. However, he’s decked by a big punch and generally strikes are way more effective. Another selling point is the boxing gloves, which mean there’s no mat grappling at all. Honestly though, if I went to a show and this opened it…I would be very happy. Blue pants takes a LOT of standing counts from inside knees. The poor bastard looks out on his feet, but the Japanese mentality is to never quit so the ref ends up stopping it for him after he slumps to the mat the sixth time. Concussion? Yes, probably. If I was giving this a star rating it would be ****+. It fucking ruled. More of this!  

 

There’s a second shoot match too, although this one is less ‘aim for the fences’ and more about sneaky takedowns, which go nowhere because you can’t tap a guy out in boxing gloves. Even worse is the failed takedowns. The guy in silver trunks has a huge hole in his guard and keeps walking into punches. He gets knocked down seven times before the ref calls it. Too stupid to know when to quit. 

 

All this business is making me hungry for some MMA. UFC is still five years away. Akira Maeda was ahead of his time as a promoter.  

 

Shigeo Miyato vs. Tatsuo Nakano 

These two fought on the last show and it went to a draw. Both guys had spells on top but no one could finish. As before Miyato tries to keep his distance with strikes while Nakano wants to take it to the mat. Also, as before, Nakano has more success early on but can’t get a submission. As Miyato begins to get somewhere with the kicks, Nakano grabs one and gets a leglock.  

 

This match doesn’t have the storytelling, nor the struggle of their first match. It feels sluggish and the last one didn’t, despite going to 30:00. It also feels unrealistic after the two actual shoot fights, with Nakano grabbing a rear naked choke and they treat it like a rest hold. In a shoot fight, Miyato would be unconscious at that point. UWF is still struggling with the concept and where it should exist.  

 

Nakano again has a big period of dominance. Including multiple throws, where he’s got Miyato beaten, and he can’t finish it. Miyato catches him with a kick to the temple, but it’s mostly blocked. They cinch up and Nakano, in an act of defensive madness, HEADBUTTS Miyato, which busts him open hardway.  

This feels like it should figure into the finish but instead Miyato just catches Nakano in a half crab, leans back, and it’s over. See, Nakano, that’s how you finish someone!  

This was a less interesting fight than the first one, but that huge headbutt should have been a game changer. Or Miyato’s blood loss should have finished the fight. They’ve not had blood in these things before and it felt like a big deal, only for the guy with the cut to win. ***. The crowd are very into the outcome, in their defence, and chant “Miyato” loudly as he continues to bleed all over the place. 

 

Yoji Anjo vs. Norman Smiley 

Both guys are 0-1.  

I thought Anjo looked great in his loss and Smiley was mostly competent. Smiley has been studying, clearly, as his defensive work in this looks like something straight out of amateur wrestling. Anjo has similar defensive stances and does a lovely floatover escape out of an armbar, which is a delight. Smiley does some weird side-on defensive posture when confronted with kicks, which isn’t ideal. 

 

There are some downright weird looking transitions. Smiley’s positioning just doesn’t make any sense for a shoot. The way he works himself into holds doesn’t quite look right either. The way the match is structured allows Smiley to dominate with holds, while Anjo looks like a better wrestler for escaping them. Anjo has a good spell near the end too, where he continually catches Smiley with strikes.  

 

Right after this couple of minutes, where Anjo is starting to look cocky, he gets caught in an armbar and tapped out. This finish is out of nowhere, but Smiley had targeted the arm, so it does make sense. Like both guys first fights for UWF, I liked this but wasn’t blown away. It was capable rather than exciting.  

 

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki  

Yamazaki, fresh off being fed to Maeda on show 1, is back for Takada. The vibe I got from Yamazaki’s loss, was that Maeda wanted to diminish Sayama’s kicky style in this promotion. Maybe that’s not Takada’s POV because he leans into that style to combat Yamazaki. From my point of view, it’s like Takada is telling Yamazaki he can beat him at his own game.  

 

Which is not how Maeda played their contest at all. Maeda played to his style and his strengths and just won. Takada spends ages in a side mount and while this is realistic, it’s not what you would want to take from MMA and put in a simulated version of it. There’s a lot of mat work, which feels like it’s designed to eliminate kicks. Leg for a leg. So, for a lot of the match a guy is just lying there getting his leg worked on.  

I much prefer Takada just kicking the crap out of Yamazaki because he can’t stand afterwards. In all honesty, that should lead to the finish but instead it’s back to another mutual leg hug.  

 

Maybe this is just me, but shootstyle matches should be short and to the point. I don’t mind the odd match running long but everything on these shows is 15:00+ and it’s starting to drain me. Especially when Takada gets a half crab, it’s already been a finish on this show and there’s no way out of it. Yamazaki drags himself into the ropes, at the second attempt. It’s proper shit. I hate it. 

 

The selling is way inconsistent and Yamazaki goes to kicks as his main offence, as always, as soon as the legwork section is over. Then they go to false finishes and near falls. Yamazaki catches Takada with a high kick and it’s over. The last 90 seconds felt like a completely different match. None of this fit together at all. Considering Takada was probably my favourite wrestler on the planet in 1987, I can’t believe he put this together.  

 

Akira Maeda vs. Gerard Gordeau 

This is different to the other matches they’ve done. We switch to a round system.  

R1. Gordeau comes in wearing gloves, while Maeda is bare-fisted. This is of a huge detriment to Gordeau. Early MMA was the wild west*. Where this benefits us though, is the focus on stand up. There’s a lot of circling and leg kicks. Gordeau gets taken down, which he can’t do much about with boxing gloves on. He gets pissed off and punches Maeda on the floor, which is apparently against the rules.  

 

*Who remembers Art Jimmerson? Wore one boxing glove when he took on Royce Gracie. That did not end well for him. MMA career? 0-1.

 

R2. This time Maeda goes straight for the takedown, but they go into the ropes. Another attempt is dodged because Gordeau now recognises that takedown before it happens. They do some clever stuff involving short strikes and Gordeau is dominating this fight. The trouble he has is when it goes to the mat, even when he’s in charge, he can’t do shit with those gloves on. So, he has to win it with a KO. However, with that knowledge he tees off on Maeda and goes for that knock out. Maeda is a punching bag for most of the round but pulls out an incredible armbar right at the end and Gordeau is saved by the bell. Holy shit, this round was the absolute best shit UWF has done so far. Awesome. 

 

R3. Gordeau uses his knees a lot here, knowing Maeda wants to get close for a takedown. They end up on the mat anyway and nothing happens so someone screams “BREAKOUT, BREAKOUT” over the microphone and we go back to stand up. This was a less great round with Maeda taking a knee to stop himself being punched, which feels like cheating.  

R4. This round tells a very simple story. Gordeau tries to kick Maeda in the head and knock him out. Maeda takes a couple of shots but in the process lures Gordeau in for a takedown into a heel hook. Gordeau survives the first one but Maeda does it again and gets the submission. ***¾ 

 

This was really good. If it was all at the level of R2, I’d be talking about for MOTY. If Gordeau had come in without the stupid gloves, it had potential to be MOTY. Everything was there, but they didn’t quite nail it. Unfortunately, Gordeau is a one-time only deal. His next wrestling match is in 1991 for Rings. The next time we’ll be seeing him is in UFC #1, where he made it to the final. Of course he went on to wrestle Antonio Inoki as well, in 1995.  

 

The 411: 

Maeda continues to be the focus with Takada getting lost in the noise. So far he’s had an exhibition, a silly loss to Maeda and a messy loss to Yamazaki. Maeda vs Gordeau is one of the best UWF Newborn matches. Yes, Gordeau wore boxing gloves but yes, it still fucking ruled. UWF might not be blowing me away at this juncture but they’re still putting on consistently good matches. Maeda is the consummate showman.