UWF 30/09/89 and 01/10/89 - FORCE KORAKUEN 2 DAYS (16/31 & 17/31)

UWF Force Korakuen 2 Days (Day 1)
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
30th September 1989
att. 2300

In spite of the unwieldy title up there, and the months that have passed awaiting the transition of the stars and oceans and gods that deign to re-align and offer us the beauteous bounty of shoot-style tapes unearthed, the most important thing is that this blog continues in its quest to bring to you (and mostly to me) the good news about the olden tymes wrestling that purported to be real (it was not but also...it was). 

Let me recap in Plain English for those of you playing catch-up. The second version of wrestling company UWF emerged in 1988 and died in 1990. In their time spent on earth before ascent to heaven (RINGS) they produced 31 shows of gripping and profoundly moving professional wrestling that merit special discussion. The first 11 shows were easily available and have been covered within this parish. A gap of two missing shows vexes before reviewing shows 14 and 15. Then another gap of two shows before covering the final two shows of 1989 (18 and 19). The remaining 12 shows, taking place in 1990, are the least widely disseminated. And up to now I have only covered one of them (show 23).

UWF 27/02/1989 - FIGHTING BASE TOKUSHIMA (08/31)

UWF Fighting Base Tokushima
City Gymnasium, Tokushima
27th February 1989
att. 4200

The eighth event of the travelling ode-to-grappling excellence known as UWF visits Shikoku, the smallest of the four major islands of Japan, zealously completing its first national circuit of missionary shoot-style goodness. Though if you have seen Silence (2016) (for many weeks this was written as Sacrifice in a potent example of the way things sometimes get switched in my head, apologies), Martin Scorsese's tale of what happens when a strange new ideology attempts to penetrate the core culture of the Japanese people, you will know what lies in store by the end of this blog.

please, Maeda-san, consider a push for Yamazaki

On the horizon for UWF are a few significant changes. In a way this show represents the end of the initial 'shoot-style six' period of the UWF Newborn Era (itself part of the shoot-style eon under the PRO-WRESTLING supereon which as we know is infinite). What follows it will soon become clear.

UWF 10/01/1989 - DYNAMISM (07/31)

UWF Dynamism

Budokan, Tokyo
10th January 1989
att. 14130

NINETEEN EIGHTY-NINE!
The number! Another summer (get down)
Sound of the funky drummer
Maeda hittin' your heart cause I know you no sold!
(link)

To the sound of TA-KA-DA! TA-KA-DA! we emerge into one of the sickest opening montages ever attempted by a pro-wrestling company:

UWF 22/12/1988 - HEARTBEAT (06/31)

UWF Heartbeat
22nd December 1988
Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka
att. 7000

A-ho-ho-ho and MERRRRRRRY CHRISTMAS from the St. Nicholas of Japan Akira Maeda! You'd better not laugh, you'd better not cry, you'd better not pout - I'm tellin' you why: because Akira Maeda will put you in a locker backstage after SHOOT kicking you in the head in front of many paying customers.

not taken from this event, but what a t-shirt!

The opening montage soundtracked by a gorgeous drumbreak features none of our sainted promotion head, some of Nobuhiko Takada, but quite a lot of former (and future) WWF Champion ROBERT LOUIS "BOB" BACKLUND.

At this point in time Bob was 39 years old and had been out of wrestling for around three years after his dispute with WWF and a brief period working all the territories opposed to Vince McMahonism (noble).

UWF 24/09/1988 - FIGHTING NETWORK HAKATA (04/31)

UWF Fighting Network Hakata
Hakata Star Lanes, Fukuoka
24th September 1988
att. 4000

After a slightly confusing (but entertaining) show, comprising three regular-style UWF bouts in the emerging genre known as 'shoot-style' alongside three actual shoot-boxing bouts and one match thrilling in its indeterminacy of style and rules between promotion kingpin Akira Maeda and fabled Dutch grump Gerard Gordeau, UWF scale things back for the first in their Fighting Network pair of shows.

After some scrolling text (white on black, very Nagisa Oshima) that I think heralds our interesting new addition to the rules (more later) comes a classic-if-slightly-workmanlike peppily-soundtracked montage featuring wrestlers training and fans arriving at the SHOOT bowling alley-cum-wrestling venue of the low-ceilinged Hakata Star Lanes. It is good and breezy fare but it feels as if it was cobbled together on the day. For instance: we see Kazuo Yamazaki jogging around the venue in a manner that rings slightly false for a man so clearly meticulous in his preparations.

UWF 13/8/88 - "THE PROFESSIONAL BOUT" (03/31)

UWF "The Professional Bout"
Ariake Colosseum, Tokyo
13th August, 1988
att. 12000

The second version of UWF thus far has comprised two tightly-run shows of three bouts apiece, with an established roster of six New Japan defectors and only one guest, that focus heavily on the establishment of the parameters of a completely new style of wrestling. They've been really great to watch. 

Having quickly and clearly established himself as the king of the realm, Akira Maeda takes inspiration from his former boss Antonio Inoki by casting his net to the wide wide world of sports to find a man suitable to meet his mettle. What he reels in is something we will talk about down-post.

UWF 11/6/88 - STARTING OVER 2ND (02/31)

UWF Starting Over 2nd
Nakajima Sports Centre, Sapporo
11th June 1988
att. 5200

Before we kick-off allow me to alert you to the excellent Hybrid Shoot blog that is covering the birth and expansion of the deeply-influential proto-MMA company Pancrase. Lee & Jonathan have a nice back & forth dynamic - a kind of dialectic if you will! - already and I particularly like the emerging themes of eroticism that much wrestling reportage shies away from.

After the blackness representing Maeda's soul dying in New Japan and the UWF logo that birthed it anew we see an aeroplane...and...hang on a second! As a stray comment I remarked the the last show opening could be a reference to the 1983 Chris Marker classic Sans Soleil. It was meant as a slightly swotty joke. HOWEVER...is this opening a reference to the 1962 Chris Marker classic La Jetée which details a transformative event that occurs at an airport such as the one that is happening to the world of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts right here on our screens? Is UWF a lengthy exercise in honour of this reclusive director? This I feel is unmistakable.