Control21

UWF Newborn Special Press Conference August 14th, 1988 (assume all comments are translated) Reporters quickly gather in the press room and get their cameras ready as the “two-minute warning” is given. The cameras quickly get to work as Satoru Sayama and Shinji Jin come out, nicely dressed in tailored suits. They sit down as the sound of cameras snapping photos fills the room. Shinji Jin: I would like to thank everyone for being here today. This is a special day not only for UWF but for wrestling as a sport. I am incredibly honored to be joined by Satoru Sayama today. Satoru Sayama is widely regarded as one of the best to ever grace the ring, and he has continually innovated himself and the industry as a whole. We are very pleased to announce today that Satoru Sayama will be joining UWF to present his new vision of fighting to the world. As you may know, Sayama is currently the president of Shooto, an organization that is focused on producing a modern approach to combat sports. As part of our deal with Mr. Sayama, some other renowned individuals from Mr. Sayama’s organization will be joining UWF as well. We will also promote Shooto through other means, such as through our programs and promotional material. Again, we are very pleased to announce Satoru Sayama is now an active wrestler for us. I will now let Mr. Sayama speak. Satoru Sayama: Thank you, Mr. Jin. It is an honor to join you today and have the opportunity to rejoin the world of combat sports. I say combat sports because I not only believe in my work with Shooto, but I also believe that UWF represents wrestling as a real sport. Mr. Jin has done an incredible job to revitalize the UWF idea and make its vision a reality once again. With that said, I am also very eager to present my ideas that will make this vision even stronger. Mr. Jin was very kind to meet me in private, without anyone else, and any press. He listened to my ideas and desires very thoroughly. Mr. Jin presented a very interesting and fair offer. With the support of Mr. Jin and UWF, I felt that I could improve as a wrestler and fighter and that my fellows in Shooto would benefit as well. I am sure in time the Shooto way of fighting will prove to be the strongest in UWF. I know that you will have many questions for me, as I have not been entirely public over the past few years. Please keep in mind that I will be fully honest with my answers. Thank you. Reporters rush to get their questions out, and the UWF media representative slowly gets to them one by one. Reporter #1: Mr. Sayama, you left professional wrestling in 1985 after a confrontation with Mr. Maeda. Have you spoken to Mr. Maeda at all? What did you say to him? Sayama: I have not spoken with Mr. Maeda, and I do not feel the need to. I am sure in time we will cross paths. But for now, it is not something that is required. Mr. Jin assured me that there would be no issues, and I do not think this deal would be possible with the objection of Mr. Maeda. Reporter #2: Do you have any regrets about writing your book a few years ago? Many have said that it exposed professional wrestling and harmed its reputation. Sayama: I do not have any regrets. I am sorry if certain people felt offended by my book, but I wanted to speak truthfully about professional wrestling. As I stated earlier, I do not view UWF as professional wrestling. In my eyes, it is real wrestling. I think the fans understand this difference as well. I do not think there will be any problems. Reporter #3: You have not wrestled in three years. The last time we saw you in the ring, you were yourself. While another Tiger Mask has popped up in All Japan Pro Wrestling, people have had a hard time accepting it. Is Tiger Mask dead? Sayama: I had many great memories wrestling as Tiger Mask. It was an honor to inspire so many with that mask. Tiger Mask will always be with me, but I want to move on. I believe I can inspire so many more as myself. I have great respect for Mr. Baba and I understand business, but their Tiger Mask is a different one. I apologize. As far as I know, Tiger Mask is no more. I have done my work in Shooto with the belief that I can be recognized by changing the world of combat sports without the mask. Reporter #4: Can you speak more about your work with Shooto and how you envision your approach in UWF? Sayama: Yes, of course. I know it’s been difficult for the press to access my Shooto events, but I did not trust the media to cover it. I believe Japanese combat sports media is still dominated by those who respect their connections with professional wrestling promotions. I apologize again for offending anyone, but I think there was a reason why my departure from professional wrestling was criticized, and that’s also why my book was widely criticized. In any case, Shooto is combing the art form of kickboxing, Japanese jiu-jitsu, and catch wrestling. As some who have attended my events can attest, it is a modern form of fighting I believe it can become the top fighting style in combat sports. I will carry that style into UWF, along with my fellows in Shooto. Some murmurs and audible comments can be heard from the press, and another reporter is picked out to ask a question. Reporter #5: Can you tell us more about who will be joining you? Sayama: I am very pleased to say that my former student and now a teacher at Shooto, Yorinaga Nakamura, will be joining me. As you may know, Mr. Nakamura is a talented catch wrestler who has traveled the world teaching the art form and learning other fighting styles. He is also the winner of the first Shooto event I held in 1986. Mr. Nakamura’s most prized student, Erik Paulson, will also be joining us. Mr. Paulson has been trained by Mr. Nakamura in the United States. He was the first American to fight in Shooto this year. Mr. Paulson is an excellent catch wrestler, and he has the potential to become even better than Mr. Nakamura himself. I am sure Mr. Nakamura would agree! I even heard he gave a fellow by the name of Rickson Gracie some trouble. Laughs But in all seriousness, Mr. Paulson was scouted by Mr. Jin last week and he was very impressed. Finally, two of my current trainees will also be joining. Yasuto Sekishima is one of my best fighters from the past two years and has a very respectable record. He is still learning, but he has earned several great victories against other opponents. Mr. Sekishima will prove to be an excellent fighter. Manabu Yamada will be joining the UWF dojo. Mr. Yamada has just started training at Shooto, and he will combine the training that he will receive at the UWF dojo to become an even better person and fighter. Young Yamada will please any crowd he will fight in front of in due course. Thank you all for your questions. I would like to turn this over to Mr. Jin, who I am sure would be pleased to answer any other questions you may have. Jin: Thank you Mr. Sayama for your comments. I look forward to working with you. I think this relationship will reshape the world of combat sports. Additionally, I would like to announce that Mr. Sayama will wrestle his first match with us on August 22nd. UWF will hold its biggest event to date at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. Mr. Sekishima, Mr. Paulson, and Mr. Nakamura will also make their first appearance on that show. Ticket details will be released very shortly. I will now be happy to take any questions. Reporter #1: Mr. Jin, ticket sales for UWF have been very strong so far. What made you decide to host the next show at Ariake Coliseum? Jin: Thank you for your question. So far, our indicators have shown there is a great demand for what we are presenting to the fans. We decided that an outdoor show in August that aligns with other public festivities for the month would be a great idea. We are very confident that we can put on a great show for the fans and we thank the fans for their continued support. Reporter #2: Can you provide any details on how the agreement with Mr. Sayama came about? Jin: I am sure Mr. Sayama would be happy to provide further details if he wishes in the future. I would like to respect the privacy of our discussions for now. I will say though that Mr. Sayama has always had a passion for wrestling and combat sports, and that we share a mutual love for bringing UWF to the world. Reporter #3: It was previously reported that Mr. Maeda would be making a trip to the Soviet Union next month. Can you confirm if this trip is still planned, and how Mr. Maeda was selected to be an ambassador? Jin: As you are aware, Mr. Maeda was selected by the Japanese government to be one of our sporting ambassadors to the Soviet Union. In this official capacity, he will be attending the Moscow World Cultural Festival scheduled for September 8th – September 14th. Mr. Maeda is deeply honored by this role given to him by the government and looks forward to representing UWF and our sport in Russia. He will be attending several Soviet combat sports exhibitions, including SAMBO, freestyle wrestling, and Greco-Roman wrestling. I will let your imagination do the rest, but Mr. Maeda is focused on representing our country in a very important occassion ahead of the Olympics this year. I am not a politician and will limit my comments here, but I think this event will further the cause of world peace through sport and culture. Reporter #4: Mr. Maeda also visited the Netherlands last week. Can you comment on how that meeting went? Jin: Thank you for asking that question, I planned on commenting on that. Mr. Maeda told me that the trip went very well and that Mr. Chris Dolman was very open to working with us and providing talent. Mr. Dolman himself commented that he was eager to test his skills against the best wrestlers in the world. I believe we now have an agreement in place with Mr. Dolman where we will see at least one other fighter from his Free Fight Holland gym participate in our show on August 22nd. We will announce the card at a future date, but you can be assured you will see Dutch representation. Reporter #5: We previously reported at Weekly Pro Wrestling that UWF will send scouts to the Olympics. Can you tell us more about what you would be looking for? Finally, Mr. Sayama mentioned the UWF dojo, can you tell us more about that? Jin: UWF is very eager to attract the best fighters and wrestlers in the world. Naturally, we would be interested in viewing relevant events unfold at the Olympics. We don’t have anything in particular in mind, but we will certainly be watching with a keen eye. As for the UWF dojo, we have indeed established one. Mr. Yamada will join the incoming class. We are still applying entrance exams to applicants and nothing is official yet, but I will take the liberty to mention some of our top candidates. Kiyoshi Tamura, Masahito Kakihara, and Yusuke Fuke have proven to be very promising and I am sure they will be successful in finishing all required trials soon. Once again, thank you all for your questions. We also thank the fans for their continued support and hope we can continue pleasing them. We will be happy to take any further questions through our media representative. With that said, I would like to conclude our press conference. I look forward to seeing some of you again at our show on August 22nd.

It's weird because if you click on the matches for Tajiri on WD, it only goes back as far as 1993. Not sure where they got 1989 from because I'm struggling to find anything on 1989 for Tajiri. And all the google results I'm seeing say he debuted in IWA Japan in 1989, but IWA Japan didn't exist then.

I'm not too fussed about this since at the end of the day these are just names on a message board and they have no real bearing on things, but there were two other names that might need some more consideration: 1) Rey Mysterio - Assuming this is Rey Mysterio Jr, he was 14 when he debuted in 1989 and doesn't really get his career going until 1992 with AAA. It might be a better idea to have him for 1992, but if people really want him in the game now, they should probably keep his age in mind. 2) Tajiri- If this is the Tajiri we all know and love, he doesn't debut until 1993/1994 according to Cagematch/Wrestling Data. I can't find anything that suggests he was active in 1989. He might have been a kickboxer somewhere going by his Wikipedia page, but he wasn't active as a professional wrestler as far as I can tell. There's a Wordpress page that claims he debuted in 1989 for IWA Japan, but this is misinformed as there is no record of IWA until 1994.

Yeah, he did some goofy things in his career but always delivered when it counted. I love your backstory for W*ING USA, gave me a good laugh. Can't wait to see where it goes.

Can't wait to see Kerry von Erich in AWA. A good show overall with interesting things going on and some nice set-ups as well. Title Night should be pretty fun!

Really excited to see what people have planned! I already have the first few shows of RINGS sketched out. I have some interesting match-ups in store!

That might be a good idea

Official RINGS Roster: Akira Maeda (President and currently active as a wrestler, RINGS Japan) Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS Japan) Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS Japan) Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS Japan) Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS Japan) Masayuki Naruse (RINGS Japan) Wataru Sakata (RINGS Japan) Kazushi Sakuraba (RINGS Japan) Yoshihiro Takayama (RINGS Japan) Hiromitsu Kanehara (RINGS Japan) Kenichi Yamamoto (RINGS Japan) Sanae Kikuta (RINGS Japan) Naoyuki Taira (RINGS Japan) Kazuyuki Fujita (RINGS Japan) Rumina Sato (SHOOTO) Caol Uno (SHOOTO) Hyato Sakurai (SHOOTO) Akihiro Gono (SHOOTO) Volk Han (RINGS Russia) Andrei Kopylov (RINGS Russia) Nikolai Zouev (RINGS Russia) Mikhail Ilyukhin (RINGS Russia) Grom Zaza (RINGS Georgia) Bitsadze Tariel (RINGS Georgia) Bitsadze Ameran (RINGS Georgia) Todor Todorov (RINGS Bulgaria) Dick Vrij (RINGS Holland) Willie Peeters (RINGS Holland) Hans Nyman (RINGS Holland) Semmy Schilt (RINGS Holland) Joop Kasteel (RINGS Holland) Valentijn Overeem (RINGS Holland) Egan Inoue (RINGS USA) Maurice Smith (RINGS USA) Frank Shamrock (RINGS USA) Kevin Randleman (RINGS USA) Carlos Newton (RINGS Free) Christopher Haseman (RINGS Australia) Ricardo Morais (RINGS Brazil) Adilson Lima (RINGS Brazil) Wanderlei Silva (RINGS Brazil)

A fun show topped off by a big main event with Plowboy sending the crowd home happy by bringing home the gold!

Muta and Konnan in 1980s WWF will certainly be interesting to follow!

I'm fine with keeping deaths out of the game, This is an alternate timeline after all. No telling what happens in this universe, so keeping deaths on a strict timeline doesn't make much sense. I'm not too fussed about retirements either, although we should keep a general guideline to keep rosters fresh and make people think about how to use certain wrestlers.

I would say for Toyoda and Dynamite Kid, 1996 seems like would be their last year since Dynamite Kid didn't have a match beyond 1996 and Toyoda had her last match in 1996, but came back in 1998, 1999, and 2008 for special appearances but maybe we could use retired wrestlers for one-offs like DoW. Kudo had her last match in 1997.

Seems fine to me. There's a few guys on the BattArts roster like Sekimoto who weren't active in 1996 but I don't think it's a big deal. Going forward there should be a 10 match rule (maybe 5?) or some proof that they started training or fighting in a certain year. At least when considering debuts. Retirements might be a different story.

Oh yeah...he should be on my roster and I think he is.

I was going to say Vampiro would have been perfect for your roster. La Parka might be a good fit too.

RINGS signs Kazuyuki Fujita from NJPW and Carlos Newton, bringing its roster total to 40.

Everything looks good on my end. Thanks for working to get these up!

UWF Newborn – “Fighting Network Sapporo” August 8th, 1988 Nakajima Sports Center Sapporo, Japan Attendance: 5,200 (sold out) As usual, the UWF wrestlers on the card are introduced one by one as they enter the ring. Maeda and Takada speak, thanking the fans for coming to Sapporo and making the show a success. Maeda promises a great event for the fans and says that Takada will be in the main event tonight as he has earned the opportunity. Masakatsu Funaki vs Yoji Anjo Funaki came out sharp and determined after his brutal loss to Ryuma Go on the last show. Anjo initially kept up the pace with him during an extended grappling battle on the mat, but Funaki was slicker and had better counterwork, making Anjo expend his energy faster. On the stand-up, Funaki’s striking abilities were on full display with stiffer strikes than before. With that said, Anjo knocks down Funaki once while Funaki gets two knockdowns before the 12:00 mark. In the closing stretch, Anjo is forced to use his second rope escape during the match making the match 2-2. Funaki decides to take the match to the mat for the final time to finish Anjo off, quickly capturing him in a heel hook during a leg lock exchange. Anjo is caught by surprise and taps. Funaki wins via submission (heel hook), 12:32 Minoru Suzuki vs Shigeo Miyato While things have not gone Miyato’s way, nothing is stopping him from improving. There is a bit of a “young lion” rivalry here if you can call it that, as both are eager to cement themselves in the promotion as the better talent. Miyato and Suzuki start things off the canvas in a grappling contest, with Miyato showing off his ability in catch-as-catch-can by keeping Suzuki grounded and working for a better position. Miyato prefers a slower pace, and his more calculated approach keeps Suzuki from working on the quick transitions that he prefers. Miyato goes 1-0 up on Suzuki after he forces Suzuki to get to the ropes twice. A frustrated Suzuki stands back up with Miyato and shows him his ability as a striker is not far from Funaki’s. Miyato keeps his cool and exchanges with his opponent, delivering some sharp low kicks aimed at putting pain on Suzuki’s legs. Miyato catches Suzuki off guard with a high kick and goes 2-0 up after another knockdown. The match continues on the mat again after Suzuki gets Miyato back on the canvas and this time he is the dominant grappler and keeps Miyato moving with some excellent counterwork, even reversing a standing rear-naked choke into a kneebar by rolling through Miyato’s legs. In the finishing stretch of the match, Suzuki catches Miyato with a stiff palm strike. As Miyato goes down, Suzuki quickly takes advantage and gets his opponent into a guillotine choke on the canvas. Miyato struggles to break free and despite his reluctance to do so, taps out. Miyato leaves the ring after the match in clear frustration, kicking guard rails as he exits. Suzuki wins via submission (guillotine choke), 15:34 Tatsuo Nakano vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara Nakano is looking to test his luck against the veteran ring general, Fujiwara. Nakano shows he is not afraid to step up to his superior, throwing some vicious palm strikes to get his opponent on the back foot. Nakano gets a surprise a few minutes in when he knocks down Fujiwara after some furious strikes to the face. Fujiwara dusts himself off in a timely fashion but Nakano continues to keep on the pressure. Nakano even manages to click onto Fujiwara and gets a belly-to-belly suplex off. Nakano tries to work a cross armbreaker on Fujiwara, but this is where he makes his first mistake. Fujiwara reverses it by leaning into Nakano and managing to somehow get Nakano’s leg for a heel hook. Nakano quickly scrambles to the ropes for a break and the two stand up. Nakano manages to get two more knockdowns on Fujiwara in the next few minutes! Nakano goes 3-0 at around the 8:00 mark and the crowd begins to rally firmly behind Nakano in this shocking development. Fujiwara realizes that he needs to teach the young Nakano a lesson and begins to show why he is one of the best defensive wrestlers in the world. Fujiwara lures the firey Nakano into several traps, and even manages to catch Nakano by surprise with a vicious headbutt! Nakano is knocked down and the score is now 3-1. As Nakano gets up in time, Fujiwara gets wrist control and brings Nakano down to the canvas. As Fujiwara manages to get Nakano into a grappling contest, he keeps his young opponent scrambling for the ropes and after a rope escape, Fujiwara gets the score at 3-2. Fujiwara keeps the pressure on Nakano, becoming a demon on the canvas, and begins to toy with his opponent in several ways. After Nakano struggles for more rope escapes, Fujiwara gets the score at 3-3 around the 16:00 mark. Finally, Fujiwara shows Nakano that sometimes you have to bring more to a match to beat a cold-blooded veteran by giving him a series of headbutts as they are locked up near a turnbuckle. Nakano collapses into a heap and the referee gives a full 10 count before Nakano can recover. Fujiwara wins via KO, 17:11 Akira Maeda vs Ryuma Go This was a contest of pure technical ability in the art of striking. Ryuma Go continued his form from the last event and was not afraid to get up close and personal with his opponent, even if it is Maeda himself. Go showed off his abilities in palm striking, and low kicks, and even uses several forearm uppercuts to keep Maeda staggered. Maeda is on the back foot for the first half of the match and goes down 2-0 in knockdowns after the first 6:00. As Ryuma Go appears to gain the advantage though, Maeda comes roaring back with his trademark high kicks and even a rolling roundhouse! Maeda begins his comeback as he gets Go for the first knockdown and it is 2-1. A firey striking contest continues, with some brief exchanges of grappling on the canvas, but the two prefer to settle this the old-fashioned way. Knockdown after knockdown, the match approaches the 16:00 mark with both men tied at 4-4. An increasingly violent Maeda finally lures Ryuma Go in, catches him with a counter palm strike, and then finishes him off with a vicious high kick that clearly connects and is audibly heard in the arena. Ryuma Go collapses to the canvas and Maeda wins via TKO. An excellent contest if you love striking in the mold of a heavyweight boxing fight. Maeda wins via TKO, 16:55 Nobuhiko Takada vs Kazuo Yamazaki Takada is on a hot streak, and Yamazaki is looking to put a stop to that. Takada comes out swinging, testing Kazuo’s striking ability with his own by being active with both low kicks and high kicks. Yamazaki does a good job of playing defense and is content with exchanging strikes with his opponent for now. With both unable to get their opponent on the backfoot, they lock up in the middle of the ring and Yamazaki quickly takes down Takada by wrapping his leg with his own. Takada plays turtle defense and does a good job of keeping Yamazaki looking for an opening. Yamazaki attempts to go the rear-naked choke but Takada doesn’t give an inch. Takada attempts to go for Yamazaki’s leg in a reversal but Yamazaki dodges and the two stand back up to the applause of the crowd. The next stage of the match features some more grappling on the canvas, with Yamazaki having a slight edge as he forces Takada to go for a rope break twice in the span of a few minutes. Yamazaki is 1-0 up at around the 7:00 mark. This gets Takada going, and he is more forceful in his strikes as he launches some fierce high kicks which send Yamazaki stumbling. Takada gets Yamazaki in the clinch and he delivers some sharp knees, this is enough to send Yamazaki to the canvas and the referee starts his first count of the match. Yamazaki gets up relatively quickly. With things tied at 1-1, they go back to the canvas. Another round of grappling sees neither gaining the advantage. They decide to take things back to the stand-up and this is where things get interesting. It doesn’t take long for each to score a knockdown and things are tied at 2-2 in the 15:00 zone. This is an even contest and neither are looking to give an inch. Yamazaki manages to get Takada to the canvas again after hitting a snappy side suplex. He doesn’t waste much time to get side control on Takada and he works for a kimura. Takada has excellent defense still, and this frustrates Yamazaki as he attempts to weaken Takada with a few palm strikes to his ribs. Takada feels their effects and feels his arm tighten enough to scramble for the ropes. This happens to be the second rope break for him in this stretch and the score is now 3-2 Yamazaki. The rest of the match is very even, and it is now Takada’s turn to get Yamazaki scrambling for the ropes after he manages to catch Yamazaki’s leg for a kneebar. It’s 3-3 now at the 22:00 mark as Yamazaki is also forced to use a second rope break. The last few minutes pick up the pace and they start landing some strikes, sending each other stumbling backward. The ring announcer calls out the 25:00 mark in typical dramatic fashion. Proving that any moment can end a match in UWF, Takada catches Yamazaki with one of his trademark high kicks to the cranium. Yamazaki is out! The referee sees no point in a count and he calls for the bell. Takada jumps in the air in celebration and climbs the turnbuckles to take in the adoring crowd. What a match! Takada beats Yamazaki via KO, 25:46 Takada is sure to raise Yamazaki’s hand as well, congratulating him on the great match. The crowd gives their approval for Yamazaki and they appreciate his effort in the main event. Afterward, Takada grabs the microphone and he thanks the fans for coming and supporting UWF. He also says that winning feels great and he wants to prove himself further. He is open to any match at any time. Takada bows in the ring and the fans chant “TA-KA-DA! TA-KA-DA!” as the UWF theme plays In the background.

Billionaire Ted never sleeps, and when he doesn't see something he likes, he just moves on to the next target. Case in point here with the acquisition of WCW. This time, it will be guided by very talented southern-style wrestlers who should know how to lead the promotion back to its previous heights. With key pieces already set in place, Ted Turner might be already looking to dominate the wrestling landscape in the US. Lots of pieces are already moving on the chess board, should be interesting to see what is next!

Shane Douglas seems to be positioning himself as a future top star. Meanwhile, the Pacific Island Connection is set to face off against the Sheepherders in what should be a great match. Junkyard Dog continues to show why he is one of the best. The Bash on the Beach card looks really cool! The Road Warriors vs Beasts of Burden should be another great tag match. And of course, the main event between Junkyard Dog vs Col Debeers should go down to the wire.

Fighting Network RINGS ruleset: Matches can end in a submission, KO, 10-count KO, TKO, referee stoppage, doctor stoppage, or judges' decision Each wrestler has 10 "points" that can be deducted. A loss of all 10 points ends in a TKO. 30-minute time-limit for all matches, except for RINGS' round system, which is 5 rounds for 3 minutes each. Points are deducted when a wrestler uses a rope break or gets knocked down. Rope breaks result in a 1-point deduction, knockdowns result in two points being deducted. Yellow cards and red cards can be used by the referee in any given match. Yellow cards serve as a "caution" and result in a point deduction. Red cards serve as a "warning" and result in two points being deducted. Three red cards results in an automatic disqualification. In the case time expires, the wrestler with the fewest points deducted will be declared the winner. If there is no point difference at time expiration, the decision will go to a judge panel. Fist strikes to the face are prohibited but are allowed for anything below the face except for the groin. Palm strikes are allowed except for the groin area. Knee strikes are allowed. Headbutts are prohibited above the neck area. All kicking techniques are allowed. Hitting a downed opponent is prohibited. An opponent is considered downed when both knees or hands are touching the mat. All joint techniques are allowed except for knuckle techniques. "Soccer kicks" are prohibited, even if the opponent is not fully downed. Grabbing or hitting the groin area is prohibited. All strangulation and throwing techniques are allowed. Tag team matches will be sanctioned starting August 1996. Under RINGS rules, tag team matches will be 20 minutes with five points for each wrestler instead of 10. Matches will be in an elimination format, meaning if one wrestler is eliminated, the team can still win if the remaining wrestler eliminates the other two opponents, or a single opponent if an elimination for the other side has already occurred. Vale Tudo rules are also sanctioned occasionally, with the same rules applying as above, but in these matches, opponents can choose to wear gloves. If they wear gloves, closed fists to the face are allowed. If no gloves are being worn, closed fits to the face are still prohibited.

The Top Ranked Pro Wrestlers by Rookie Year-1997 (ainsworthsports.com) Some other wrestlers making their debuts in 1997: CIMA Rocky Romero Togi Makabe Magnum Tokyo Rob Conway Snitsky Ricky Banderas

Owner: Akira Maeda Commentators: Kenichi Takayanagi, Hideyuki Kumakubo, Shigesato Itoi Referees: Ryogaku Wada, Yuji Shimada, Motoyuki Kitazawa Ring announcer: Nobuyuki Furuta, Lenne Hardt Location: Tokyo, Japan Fighting Network RINGS, established in 1991, is the promotion founded by Akira Maeda after the collapse of UWF Newborn in 1990. Other UWF stars founded their own promotions as well and took most of the talent with them. Maeda was the most isolated of the group and started from scratch. He only had himself and one promising UWF trainee named Mitsuya Nagai. This was perhaps a blessing in disguise for Maeda as he had to use his old contacts in Holland to help build a roster for the promotion's first few shows. This international flavor quickly grew, as Maeda also ventured to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to find new talent in the wake of political upheaval in the region. In time, RINGS would develop a unique identity in the 1990s, becoming known as a shoot-style promotion that billed itself as "real fighting." This wasn't any different from UWF Newborn, but the use of international talent who had legit backgrounds in various combat sports gave it more legitimacy. WOWOW, Japan's HBO equivalent, would air RINGS shows from 1991 onwards, treating their shows as boxing-esque special events. RINGS was somewhat of a pioneer, using fancy video game-style graphics to serve as match introductions along with high production values to give fans a "big fight feel" on almost every show. While RINGS was not a top drawing promotion in the 1990s, they did carve out a unique spot for themselves in the professional wrestling landscape and often drew more than 10,000+ fans to their big "Mega Battle Tournament" show every January at Budokan Hall. By 1996, RINGS was reaching its zenith and had become known for its high-level grappling, state-of-the-art wrestlers, and a growing mix of both worked matches and shoots to add more flavor to their shows. This was out of necessity as MMA organizations such as UFC, Pancrase, and even Shooto were growing in popularity. RINGS was still a "professional wrestling" promotion though, and it would not transition into full MMA until late 1999 after PRIDE's growing strength forced its hand. For now, as RINGS enters August 1996, a shifting professional wrestling landscape is presenting some very unique opportunities for Akira Maeda. Perhaps this will make RINGS more resilient in the long run, as the tides of shoot-style retreat thanks to the growing presence of MMA across the globe. Can Akira Maeda forge a path for RINGS and retain its unique identity?

Who's better than Kanyon?!? Kanyon back in WCW should be interesting!