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| Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Pancrase | |||
| Date | September 21, 1993 [1] | |||
| Venue | Tokyo Bay NK Hall [1] | |||
| City | Urayasu, Chiba [1] | |||
| Attendance | 7,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1 was the first mixed martial arts event held by Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. It took place at the Tokyo Bay NK Hall in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan on September 21, 1993. [1] The card featured many future MMA champions.
Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1 was the inaugural event of the mixed martial arts promotion Pancrase, which was founded by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki in 1993. The background of the formation of the organization took place in the pro wrestling organization Fujiwara Gumi. In 1992, a rare legitimate match was booked where Ken Shamrock (fighting as Wayne Shamrock) faced international kickboxing champion Don Nakaya Nielsen. Shamrock took Nielsen down immediately and submitted him with an arm lock in 45 seconds. [2] The success of this match made young pro wrestlers Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki question what they had been told since breaking into predetermined wrestling: that nobody would ever pay to see real matches. [2]
Shamrock, Funaki and Suzuki then spearheaded a group of pro wrestlers and decided to abandon everything people had told them about real matches not being marketable. [2] / They formed a promotion called Pancrase, named by ’60s wrestling star Karl Gotch after the sport of Pankration in the ancient Olympics, which combined all different forms of fighting into one sport. [2] Using pro wrestling rules – no closed fist punching to the face (closed fisted punches were allowed to the body), breaks on the ropes, but fighting for real – Shamrock beat Funaki via choke in 6:15 in the main event of the first of what was billed as an all-shoot match pro wrestling show. [2] The show drew an enthusiastic sellout crowd of 7,000 fans, who did not know what they would be seeing, but when it was over, both the fans and media heavily praised this new form of fighting. [2]
The main event featured Pancrase founder and future King of Pancrase Masakatsu Funaki fighting against future UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock. The fight between Shamrock and Funaki was intriguing because Funaki was Shamrock's teacher and trainer. Shamrock ultimately submitted Funaki with an arm triangle choke. The event also saw victories by future MMA champions Minoru Suzuki, and Bas Rutten who won by a palms strike sending Ryushi Yanigsawa to the canvas in 43 seconds. [3] Kazuo Takahashi and Takaku Fuke also won, with Fuke defeating future King of the Cage Light Heavyweight champion Vernon White
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Ken Shamrock | def. | Masakatsu Funaki | Submission (arm triangle choke) | 1 | 6:15 | ||
| Kazuo Takahashi | def. | George Weingeroff | KO (head kick) | 1 | 1:23 | ||
| Takaku Fuke | def. | Vernon White | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 1:19 | ||
| Bas Rutten | def. | Ryushi Yanagisawa | KO (palm strike and knee) | 1 | 0:43 | ||
| Minoru Suzuki | def. | Katsuomi Inagaki | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 3:25 | ||
Kenneth Wayne Shamrock is an American bare-knuckle boxing promoter and retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and kickboxer. He is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other combat sports. A member of the UFC Hall of Fame, Shamrock is widely regarded as an icon and pioneer of the sport. He has headlined over 15 main events and co-main events in the UFC and Pride FC and set numerous MMA pay-per-view records. In the early part of his UFC career, Shamrock was named "The World's Most Dangerous Man" by ABC News in a special called "The World's Most Dangerous Things". The moniker has stuck as his nickname.
Pancrase Inc. is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki.
Frank Shamrock is an American former professional mixed martial artist. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship and retired a four-time defending undefeated champion. Shamrock was the No. 1 ranked pound for pound UFC fighter in the world during his reign as the UFC Middleweight Champion. Shamrock has won numerous titles in other martial arts organizations, including the interim King of Pancrase title, the WEC Light Heavyweight Championship and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Shamrock is widely regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, as well as one of the first complete mixed martial artists, adapting his game from a grounded style of fighting to a more complete, well-rounded, and versatile style that included always improving striking to go along with his skilled ground game.
Kiyoshi Tamura is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Once a student of legendary professional wrestlers Lou Thesz, Billy Robinson and Akira Maeda, Tamura was known for his skills in catch wrestling and is considered to be one of the greatest shoot wrestlers of all time.
Shootfighting is a martial art and combat sport, with competitions governed by the International Shootfighting Association (ISFA). It incorporates techniques from a multitude of traditional martial arts, the most principal of these being wrestling and kenpo.
Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that originated in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to use more realistic or even "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement. The name "shoot wrestling" comes from the professional wrestling term "shoot", which refers to any unscripted occurrence within a scripted wrestling event. Prior to the emergence of the current sport of shoot wrestling, the term was commonly used in the professional wrestling business, particularly in the United Kingdom, as a synonym for the sport of catch wrestling. Shoot wrestling can be used to describe a range of hybrid fighting systems such as shootfighting, shoot boxing and the styles of mixed martial arts done in the Shooto, Pancrase and RINGS promotions. Organizations, promotions and gyms with origins in shoot wrestling are referred as the "U-Kei".
Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten is a Dutch-American actor, former mixed martial artist, kickboxer and professional wrestler. He was a UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three-time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak. FightMetric wrote this when Rutten got inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame: "[We] ran the numbers on Rutten's career. They back up the Dutchman's inclusion into the UFC Hall of Fame and then some. In the 4-hours, 27-minutes and 8-seconds he spent as a pro fighter, Rutten scored 13 knockdowns without getting dropped himself, his significant strike accuracy was 70.6%, the highest FightMetric has ever recorded, attempted a record 53 submissions and successfully swept his opponents a record 46 times." From 2007 to 2016, Rutten was the co-host of Inside MMA on AXS TV. Rutten became a naturalized American citizen receiving citizenship in the late 1990s.
Yuki Kondo is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division. He has officially 103 professional fights, making him one of the most experienced mixed martial artists ever. He has also competed for the UFC, PRIDE, Sengoku, Palace Fighting Championships, BodogFIGHT, and DEEP. He has competed overseas only four times, and holds a record of 2–2. He is the former Pancrase Light Heavyweight Champion as well as the former Pancrase Middleweight Champion.
Maurice L. Smith is a retired American kickboxer and mixed martial artist. In kickboxing, he held the WKC world light heavyweight championship, the WKA world heavyweight championship, and the ISKA world heavyweight championship. In mixed martial arts, he held the Heavyweight championship in Battlecade Extreme Fighting and the UFC, and became a member of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2017. A professional competitor since 1980, Smith has formerly competed in kickboxing for the companies All Japan Enterprise and K-1, Pancrase, RINGS, PRIDE, Strikeforce, International Fight League and RFA.
Masaharu Funaki is a Japanese actor, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler known professionally as Masakatsu Funaki, who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG), Newborn UWF (UWF), and Wrestle-1 (W-1). He is also the co-founder of Pancrase, one of the first mixed martial arts organizations and non-rehearsed shoot wrestling promotions. Funaki was also Pancrase's biggest star; Josh Barnett described him as the "symbol of Japan", Frank Shamrock labeled Funaki "the golden boy" of Pancrase, and Guy Mezger called Funaki "hands down the smartest and most skilled fighter in Pancrase next to Ken Shamrock".
Guy Mezger is an American martial artist, who competed in professional combat sports including Full Contact Karate, Kickboxing, and Boxing, but is most recognized as a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter. Mezger retired from professional competition on January 25, 2005. He is associated with Lion's Den and runs their school in Dallas. Mezger was a champion in mixed martial arts in two different promotions, the UFC and Pancrase. He holds wins over Tito Ortiz, Masakatsu Funaki, Yuki Kondo, Semmy Schilt, and Minoru Suzuki.
Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Group was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan, operating from 1991 to 1996. It was formed by Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki after the collapse of the second incarnation of the UWF. The company had the financial backing of eyeglass brand Meganesuper Co., Ltd executive Hachiro Tanaka who was also funding Super World Sports (SWS). Its motto was "ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE". Although the company was considered the smallest of the three UWF offshoots, it had a strong roster which included former UWF wrestlers Yusuke Fuke, Bart Vale and future MMA star Ken Shamrock. One of its most successful shows took place at the Tokyo Dome on October 4, 1992, headlined by Funaki versus Maurice Smith, which was attended by a record 40,000 fans. In December 1992, Suzuki, Funaki, and Fuke left the promotion over Fujiwara's decision to send PWFG wrestlers to appear for SWS, Universal Lucha Libre and W*ING. The trio would go on to form Pancrase several months later. Fujiwara decided to close down PWFG in November 1995, however, the company was revived briefly for a few of shows during the following summer. After 1996, when everyone on the roster except Fujiwara left to form BattlARTS, the Fujiwara Gumi name was kept as the name of the booking office handling Fujiwara's appearances for other promotions.
Manabu Yamada is a retired Japanese mixed martial arts fighter. He is best known for his participation in Shooto and Pancrase fighting organizations. On December 17, 1994 Yamada advanced to the finals of the King of Pancrase Tournament where he lost to Ken Shamrock via unanimous decision.
Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 2 was a mixed martial arts event held on October 14, 1993 at the Tsuyuhashi Sports Center in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
Ryūshi Yanagisawa is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and kickboxer. His real name is Atsushi Yanagisawa. As a martial artist, he competed in K-1, Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling (Pancrase) and Fighting Network RINGS. As a professional wrestler he competed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Inoki Genome Federation (IGF).
Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 3 was a mixed martial arts event held by Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. It took place at Kobe World Commemoration Hall in Kobe, Japan on November 8, 1993.
Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 4 was a mixed martial arts event held by Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. It took place at Hakata Star Lanes in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan on December 8, 1993. The main event featured Prancrase co-founder Masakatsu Funaki fighting against Yoshiki Takahashi. Also appearing on the card were Pancrase veterans Ken Shamrock, and co-founder Minoru Suzuki.
Pancrase: King of Pancrase Tournament Opening Round was a mixed martial arts event held by Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. It took place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on December 16, 1994. The event began the 2 day, 16 man tournament to crown the first ever champion of Pancrase and featured the Opening Round and Quarterfinals of the tournament.
Pancrase: King of Pancrase Tournament Second Round was a mixed martial arts event held by Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. It took place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on December 17, 1994. The event continued the 2 day, 16 man tournament to crown the first ever champion of Pancrase and featured the Semifinals and Finals of the tournament.
Takaku Fuke, born Yusuke Fuke (冨宅裕介) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial arts fighter. He was most notably involved in the early days of Pancrase, at infancy of Mixed Martial Arts in Japan. Fight Matrix ranked Takaku Fuke as #2 Heavyweight and #4 Pound-for-Pound best MMA fighter in the world in 1994.