UWF International
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Acronym | UWFI |
| Established | 1991 |
| Style | Shoot style |
| Location | Japan |
| Founder(s) | |
| Owner(s) | None; no longer in business |
Union of Wrestling Forces International, better known as UWF International, U-Inter, or simply UWFi, was a shoot-style professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1991 to 1996.
It was founded on May 11, 1991. Essentially the main continuation of the UWF, it featured most of its roster, led by Nobuhiko Takada as the top star and face, Kazuo Yamazaki as the main face enforcer, and Yoji Anjo as the main native heel. Other natives included Kiyoshi Tamura, Tatsuo Nakano, Yuko Miyato, Masahito Kakihara, and perennial opener, kickboxer Makoto Oe.
UWFi adopted its own set of rules for its matches: The combatants would start with 15 points each, with points lost for knockout attempts, for how long they were at a disadvantage during a hold, or for breaking a hold by grabbing the ring ropes with their hand(s) and/or feet. Tag team matches would be allowed as well, with 21 points given to a team at start time. In reality, however, the points system was rarely referred to, as a wrestler or team of wrestlers losing points could still win by forcing his opponent (the legal opponent in a tag match) to submit or by knocking him out. Whilst still worked (i.e. predetermined), this style was very convincing for its time, as it conveyed a more hard-hitting, realistic style. In retrospect, UWFi, along with other shoot-style promotions, served as a precursor to the popular MMA promotions of today, particularly PRIDE.
In 1992 Yoshihiro Takayama, now one of the top heavyweights in Japan, and Hiromitsu Kanehara debuted. That same year came to a battle for the UWFi's first championship, the "Real Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Title", between Takada and the top foreign antagonist of the era, Gary Albright. As a gimmick, Lou Thesz acted as commissioner and gave his old 1950s NWA World title belt to be used as the distinction. They also shrewdly employed vintage shooter Billy Robinson as a trainer in their gym (the UWFi Snakepit), and occasionally jr. heavyweight legend Danny Hodge as a judge in their pursuit of old-school credibility. Takada won and became the first champion, seemingly endorsed by these past masters as the real deal.
The theme of UWFi being "real pro-wrestling" was central to the promotion's image. Thesz and Takada would deride other Japanese promotions such as New Japan Pro Wrestling for being "fake", claiming themselves to be legit; top star Takada took on genuinely tough men such as Russian wrestler (and former IWGP Heavyweight Champion) Salman Hasimikov, and former WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick (which degenerated into a bizarre shoot). In reality UWFi was no more real than any other group at the time. They went so far as to challenge the champions of other major Japanese promotions - Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW), Masahiro Chono (NJPW), Masakatsu Funaki (Pancrase), and Akira Maeda (RINGS) - to matches to determine who was the true world champion. These (rather unprofessional) tactics would eventually backfire on the promotion.
In 1993 Naoki Sano, formerly of New Japan Pro Wrestling and SWS, joined in, changing his given name to Yuhi for stage purposes. The same year saw the rise of Super Vader (aka Big Van Vader), who already held the WCW World title, as the top foreigner in UWFi. The picture that UWFi painted was that Vader had accepted Thesz' grandstand challenge whereas the aforementioned champions were too afraid of Takada to face him. A rookie named Kazushi Sakuraba also debuted at this time as an undercard wrestler for the promotion.
Takada was the top man in the promotion, no doubt; in fact, no other native wrestler ever managed to beat him in a singles match throughout the promotion's five-year existence. Foreign stars Super Vader and Gary Albright were second and third in the promotion's pecking order respectively, despite the popularity of native talents like Tamura and Yamazaki.
After Gary Albright - feeling that he was being unjustly "jobbed" to Tamura - quit UWFi to join All Japan, and Vader left over money disputes, the UWFi was left with a vacuum in the top positions. Despite the popularity of Yamazaki and others, they were left with a lack of credible challenges to Takada's title, and interest in the promotion began to wane. The company soon found itself running into financial difficulties.
In 1995 Anjo and other UWFi bookers proposed co-promoting with their root promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling, seeing this as a potential solution to their financial problems. New Japan booker Riki Chōshū agreed, under one condition - that New Japan book these interpromotional matches their way. Thesz, who saw New Japan as another gimmicky promotion, withdrew his support as a result, taking the belt with him. Thus, the UWFi-New Japan "feud" began. For Chōshū, this was more than about just generating record-breaking ticket sales; it was payback for Thesz and Takada's earlier derision of their wrestling style. He would ensure that every pro-wrestling fan see for themselves who the real stars were. With the exception of Takada, who took on the top stars (Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto) and obtained the IWGP heavyweight title, the UWFi stars, despite putting in great effort, mostly lost matches. Yamazaki, who had in fact quit UWFI and rejoined New Japan earlier in the year, participated in only a few matches on New Japan's side, but displayed his good talents as a teacher by training New Japan rookies Yuji Nagata and Kendo Ka Shin in the use of the shoot-style. He later would replace Kotetsu Yamamoto as head trainer in New Japan's dojo. Tamura, the most groups best shoot-style worker and seen by most as Takada's successor, saw the writing of the wall and left UWFi in 1995 to join rival promotion, RINGS.
In 1996, as the New Japan feud died down, UWFi formed another alliance this time with Genichiro Tenryu's WAR, but the damage to its credibility had already been done. UWFi, which once could sell out Meiji-Jingu Stadium, now had to resort to using WAR and Tokyo Pro-Wrestling talent, and even that could not draw above 15,000 fans to its shows. On December 27, 1996, UWFi had its farewell card, "UWF FINAL" at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall arena.
The UWFi wrestlers separated yet again, with most of the roster going to Kingdom, which would promote a similar product on a smaller scale.
UWFi matches can still be seen in re-runs of "Bushido - The Way Of The Warrior", an English-language program originally made for British TV, in which early to mid 90's UWFi matches were featured. Kickboxing matches were also occasionally shown. The program showcased UWFi in a serious manner and promoted the matches as legitimate and real. Possibly due to this fact, the 1 hour episodes excluded matches containing Big Van Vader (he was a well-known WCW and WWF professional wrestler), and the UWFi-New Japan feud.
Whilst the promotion's lifespan was relatively short, its importance and influence upon Japanese pro-wrestling should not be underestimated. UWFi's aura of legitimacy allowed for a crossover between pro-wrestling and MMA fans, and furthermore provided an impetus for PRIDE's early events in the form of its roster. PRIDE's successes , such as Sakuraba (who became one of Japan's most popular fighters), would perhaps not have been possible had it not been for the interest generated by Takada's name value and his fights against Rickson Gracie.
The final chapter of UWF-International came at PRIDE 23 when Kiyoshi Tamura defeated his former mentor Takada by KO. UWFi's theme was then played as they both joined their former colleagues in celebration of an era gone. The torch of "real pro-wrestling" had been passed to Sakuraba, who was to compete (and win) in the main event of the night. Essentially, UWFi's worked shoot-style had been superseded by the legitimate fighting of PRIDE, and a new generation of "real" pro-wrestling.
[edit] Roster
- Natives: Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki, Naoki Sano, Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshihiro Takayama, Koji Kitao, Masahito Kakihara, Yoji Anjo, Tatsuo Nakano, Hiromitsu Kanehara, Kenichi Yamamoto, Yuko Miyato, Masakazu Maeda, Kiyoshi Tamura, Makoto Oe (kickboxer)
- Foreigners: Super Vader, Gary Albright, Dan Severn, Mark Fleming, Victor Zangiev, Salman Hasimikov, Vladimir Berkovitch, Iron Sheik, Bob Backlund, Gene Lydick, JT Southern, James Stone, Bad News Allen, Tom Burton, Steve Nelson, Mark Silver, Billy (Jack) Scott, Dennis Koslowski, Tommy Cairo, Steve Cox, Greg Bobchick, Pez Whatley, Jim Boss, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Bowy Chowaikun (kickboxer), Danny Steel (kickboxer)
[edit] External links
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Major promotions |
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Independent promotions |
