How the WWE Almost Killed Mixed Martial Arts in America

themadness is right, MMA wouldve emerged anyway. It was only a matter of time.

MMA has bled over into pro wrestling so they are benefiting off of eachother. My wife's family is still really big into WWE and sometimes I am forced to watch it. One thing that I have noticed is that the run of the mill "show holds" are becoming actual submission holds and the commentators are starting to use MMA terminology as well. I think this is a bad move for the WWE/TNA b/c by trying to make their matches look more realistic they are giving MMA more exposure.

Why would anyone want to watch a simulated fight when they can watch a real one? This is the mindset that pro wrestling fans are starting to convert to.

The Fertitas just barely retained control of their casinos after they went into bankruptcy last year. They pulled some pretty dirty moves and got out of billions of dollars in debt, so they're less wealthy than they were five years ago by far.

I'd also like to agree with other about the fact that MMA would have emerged with our without WWE.

Here's why. We all watched wrestling growing up, because it was to guys fighting the flip out of each other. It was awesome. Then it started to get tired and silly, and ECW came out. That was MUCH closer to fighting than WWE ever was, and the theme was oriented more towards an adult male audience. At that point Pride was huge, but UFC was still getting rapzored by state athletic committees.

ECW got petered out and left but it was only a couple years later that Pride was putting fights on FSN. From there, the UFC got spike and both were competing for the U.S. market. It was just the evolution of televised fighting. Kids will watch theatrics and men will watch fights. And girls...we'll also watch girls.

P.S. my buddy Rick is fighting at WEC 50 tonight, so check it out. I called him last week and said "good luck this weekend, man." He said "Thanks bro, the fights are on Wednesday." I'm a good friend.

This article doesn't get all of it right.. but its pretty close..

Mention the words "professional wrestling" in the United States and most martial artists will picture in their minds bad acting, ridiculous costumes, and cartoon like tactics such as jumping off the top rope. Certainly, they will not equate it with practical fighting techniques much less the relatively new reality based martial arts competitions. However, the situation in Japan is quite different and can be, to the outside observer, quite confusing. In Japan, the line between the new reality based martial arts competitions and professional wrestling is blurred. Japanese magazines such as BASEBALL SHA and TV shows such as CHAMPION'S CORNERM mix "shoot" organizations such as Pancrase, shooto, SAW and RINGS in with it coverage of mainstream "worked" pro-wrestling organizations such as the WWF, WCW and ECW.

In fact, there is significant cross over in Japan between the two seemingly unrelated groups. All of the important individuals in these "shoot" organizations began in the "worked" All Japan Pro-Wrestling organization. They have also frequently stepped back into the world of Pro-Wrestling. Important figures such as Akira Maeda and Satoru Sayama have periodically returned to engage in "worked" matches. While many focus upon Brazil, the Gracie family and their Jiu-Jitsu when talking about the development of realty based martial arts competitions, there is another story to be told. That story is how "worked" professional wrestling in Japan also developed into a legitimate sport.

Ed "Strangler" Lewis
Pro-Wrestling Dojo
It is important to remember that professional wrestling wasn't always the circus it is today. In the past, there were men who dedicated themselves to the very real tradition of wrestling and engaged in completely real professional bouts. Furthermore, this wrestling was not the collegiate, free style or Greco-Roman wrestling we see today. It was submission wrestling, using techniques these men called "hooks". If you are interested in what real wrestling was I strongly recommend two books; COMBAT SPORTS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD by Michael B. Poliakoff and WESTERN BOXING AND WORLD WRESTLING by John F. Gilbey. In the works is also a book on the many traditions of wrestling by Robert W. Smith. That book, more than 20 years in the making, is eagerly awaited by this author!

Billy Riley
Pro-Wrestling Dojo
These real submission wrestlers, called "hookers" by those in their trade, were the sort of en who sought real challenges and were not afraid to learn anything. Of course, this lead to cross pollination of wrestling styles. European styles mixed with Russian, Indian, Chinese and Japanese styles. There were also many style vs. style matches. In this way, the Japanese became aware of the European traditions.

In 1914, the World Light Heavyweight Champion Ad Santel defeated Tokugoro Ito, a 5th degree black belt in judo, in a jacket match. Because Ito had claimed to be a "Japanese judo champion", after the match Santel claimed to be the "World Judo Champion." This apparently embarrassed the founder of judo, Professor Kano. In response, Professor Kano sent another challenger, 4th degree black belt Daisuke Sakai, to defeat Santel. However, Santel also defeated Sakai.

Ad Santel
Pro-Wrestling Dojo
The challenge matches continued in 1921. In March, Ad Santel challenged the Kodokan to disbute his claim as "World Judo Champion". In the first match, Santel defeated 5th degree black belt Reijiro Nagata by TKO. Santel then drew with 5th degree black belt Hikoo Shoji after fighting for 60 minutes. Based upon these performances, the Japanese became fascinated with the European style of submission wrestling. Given the first opportunity, Japanese wrestlers would flock to learn the secrets of European "hooking".

Two western wrestlers, who as it happen were also two of the greatest western wrestlers ever, had a direct impact upon the Japanese. Lou Thesz is considered by many the greatest "hooker" of his century. Thesz was trained by wrestling legends such as George Tragos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis ("Judo" Gene LeBell's teacher as well), and Ad Santel and won the NWA, the so-called "Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship" in 1948. He was the first "world heavyweight champion" to step onto Japanese soil. Today, the Japanese still consider this belt the most important belt in wrestling and the UWFi used the actual belt donated by Thesz.

The second great western wrestler was Karl Gotch. Karl Gotch received his training at the famous "Snake Pit" Billy Riley Gym in England and won a number of big tournaments in Europe before moving to the United States in 1959. However, Gotch was not treated well in the United States since he was simply a "shooter" (by this time, pro-wrestling in the United States had already deteriorated and consisted mostly of "works") and many were afraid of his "hooks". In contrast, in Japan people considered Karl Gotch the "the God of Pro-Wrestling".

Both wrestlers, but particularly Karl Gotch, enjoyed the admiration they received in Japan and were impressed by the interest of Japanese wrestling stars in European "hooking". Eventually, Gotch taught this tradition, also referred to as "shooting", to a group of Japanese professional wrestlers including Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Satoru Sayama (the "Tiger Mask"), Masami Soranaka and Akira Maeda. What is interesting to note is that most of these professional wrestlers already had backgrounds in legitimate martial arts. Masami Soranaka had been a student of "hard core" karate, kodokan judo and sumo. Yoshiaki Fujiwara was already a Muay Thai fighter and black belt in judo. Satoru Sayama had studied Muay Thai with Toshio Fujiwara, and went on to study Sambo with Victor Koga. Thus, the ground was fertile for the development of new hybrid methods.

Antonio Inoki
Pro-Wrestling Dojo
While many people have been critical of Antonio Inoki, saying his wrestling skills were weak and noting (correctly) that he was a "work" fighter, he should receive credit for introducing the idea of mixed style matches. Beginning in 1976, Inoki staged a series of mixed matches against fighters of other sports including Willem Ruska (judo gold medalist in the Olympic games in Munich), Chuck Wepner (a tough club boxer) and Willie Williams (world kyokushin karate champion). Of course, the most famous of these was the Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali match.

Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali
All Sports page &
Hisaharu Tanabe
Stories vary about whether this was originally supposed to be a "shoot" or a "work" but apparently Ali's camp feared Inoki would try to turn it into a "shoot". It was publicly announced that Inoki was not allowed to use any suplex or submission moves. The result was a 15 round time limit draw, arguably the most boring match in history.

Anonio Inoki's mixed style matches and his pro-wrestling organization's incorporation of many martial arts techniques (notably low kicks and judo/jiu-jitsu submissions) began to interest many of the wrestlers into creating an even more realistic style. On April 10, 1984 Akira Maeda, Rusher Kimura, Ryuma Go, Mach Hayato, and Gran Hamada formed the original UWF, Universal Wrestling Federation. The UWF promoted a "stiff" style of wrestling. The matches remained "worked" but all the strikes and submissions were delivered with full force. Based upon the already existing pro-wrestling tradition, matches were set up with hand signals, body movements, and even talking. However, the UWF was particularly good at setting up matches with very few cues.

The "stiff" style can appear quite realistic to those unfamiliar with it. Matches would end only when one fighter was either KO'd legitimately or decided to stop fighting a submission and gave up. If the pre-determined loser had the pre-determined winner in a tight submission, he would simply release the hold or loosen it up. A few months after the creation of the UWF, Satoru Sayama (who had gained success as the original Tiger Mask in New Japan Pro Wrestling), Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Nobuhiko Takada (who had begun training in "hooking" with Lou Thesz) joined the organization. They moved the UWF in an even more realistic direction. In fact, a few real matches were arranged between UWF wrestlers and outsiders such as boxers or sumo players.

UWFi match
Bushido web site
The original UWF lasted a little more than a year. During a Akira Maeda-Satoru Sayama match on September 2, 1985 Maeda intentionally kicked Sayama in the groin. Those who observed the match say it quickly became 100% "shoot" as Sayama tried to KO'd or choke Maeda in retaliation. After the match, Maeda was fired but the event also revealed that many wrestlers were unhappy with Sayama as well. On September 11, the UWF held its last card at Kourakuen Hall.

Satoru Sayama as "Tiger Mask"
Pro-Wrestling Dojo
(Photo by Dr. Mike Lano)
With the end of the first UWF, Satoru Sayama attempted to establish his own gym and create a new organization. By 1987, Sayama was able to establish Shooto, a completely realistic and legitimate organization with no "worked" fights. Sayama also introduced true NHB to Japan, organizing the Japan Open Vale Tudo and bringing Rickson Gracie to fight.

Others returned to traditional "worked" pro-wrestling. Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, and Yoshiaki Fujiawara, returned to Antonio Inoki's New Japan Pro-Wrestling organization under the guise of an interpromotional UWF-New Japan feud. However, the situation was short lived. On November 27, 1987 Akira Maeda once again intentionally kicked a wrestler, this time Riki Choshu. The kick, aimed at the face, broke three bones and Maeda was eventually fired, when no wrestler wanted to work with him, in March 1988.

In April, Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada announced that they would start a new UWF. The new UWF limped along without either Satoru Sayama or a young charismatic star. However, in April 1989 Akira Maeda reached an agreement with Antonio Inoki to let Masaharu (Masakatsu) Funaki and Minoru Suzuki leave New Japan for the UWF. Maeda personally trained Funaki and Suzuki in the UWF's "stiff style" wrestling and the group began to thrive with the addition of the two young wrestlers. Later, Maeda also acquired and trained two American wrestlers, Bart Vale and Wayne (Ken) Shamrock.

The UWF reached its peak with their "Atlantis" show at the Tokyo Dome on October 25, 1990. The card featured Akira Maeda vs. Masakatsu Funaki and Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara as well as Yoji Anjoh and Wayne (Ken) Shamrock in individual bouts. Unfortunately, the UWF continued to have internal problems and on December 1, 1990 UWF President Shinji Jin announced that all wrestlers were fired and disbanded the promotion. This resulted in the creation of three separate and very different organizations in March 1991.

Akira Maeda responded by creating RINGS, an organization which is said to be approximately 60% "worked" but which uses a lot of Russian Sambo fighters and Muay Thai style kickboxers. Among the more notable names recruited are the American Maurice Smith, Dutch fighters Dick Vrij and Peter Aerts, and Russian Sambo fighters Volk Han, Andrei Kopylow and Nokolai Zouev. In recent years, RINGS has also promoted reality based martial arts competitions using Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara formed the Professional Wrestling Fujiwaragumi (PWFG) with the support of Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, Yusuke Fuke and the American Bart Vale. The PWFG was, like the original UWF, a "stiff style" wrestling organization with worked matches. The next year, Bart Vale would become the PWFG champion and would hold the title for close to three years. Having an American as champion brought some attention to the PWFG. In addition, Bart Vale promoted the PWGF in America as a legitimate, "no holds barred" organization. In the United States, Bart Vale has also created the International Shootfighting Association (ISFA).

Nobuhiko Takada
Pro-Wrestling Dojo
Shortly after the formation of RINGS and the PWFG, Nobuhiko Takada formed the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFi), using the remaining UWF talent. Takada succeeded in getting Japan Satellite Broadcasting (WOWOW) to became the new UWFi's sponsor. Takada also created legitimacy for his new organization by using the original NWA belt, donated by his mentor Lou Thesz, as the official UWFi championship belt.

Masa Funaki
Pro-Wrestling Dojo
In 1992, Wayne (Ken) Shamrock left the UWFi to briefly join the PWFG. He then united with Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, and Yusuke Fuke to form the Pancrase organization. Led by Masakatsu Funaki, they claimed to be looking to establish a wrestling organization that was 100% "shoot". Pancrase had their first show on September 21, 1993. In December 1994, Wayne (Ken) Shamrock became the first King of Pancrase, defeating Funaki in semi-final and Manabu Yamada in final. However, to establish themselves and sell tickets, early Pancrase matches were frequently "stiff style" with pre-determined outcomes. Recently, Pancrase matches have become more legitimate.

Despite the prevalence of "worked" matches, most Japanese wrestlers considered what they did to be "real". They believed their techniques were valid and that they were good fighters. The same month Wayne (Ken) Shamrock captured the King of Pancrase title, UWFi wrestler Yoji Anjoh traveled to Los Angeles to challenge Rickson Gracie. Unfortunately for Anjoh, Rickson Gracie brutally defeated him in around 3 minutes. The defeat raised questions about the impact of "worked" matches and led some wrestlers in organizations such as RINGS and Pancrase to call for more "shoot" matches.

The blurred line between "shoot" organizations and mainstream "worked" (and quite ridiculous) wrestling was once again demonstrated in 1995 when the magazine BASEBALL SHA sponsored an interpromotional event at Tokyo Dome. Wrestlers from "shoot" organizations like RINGS, Pancrase, UWFi and the PWFG appeared on the same card as wrestlers from New Japan, All Japan, FMW, and IWA Japan. Later that year, New Japan Pro-Wrestling promoted a New Japan vs. UWFi card with a record-breaking crowd of 67,000. In main event, Keiji Mutoh defended the IWGP heavyweight title against Nobuhiko Takada.

UWFi match
Bushido web site
By combining with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the UWFi scucessfully rebounded after nearly going out of business early in 1995. Nobuhiko Takada's "winning" of the IWGP title (the match, like all New Japan bouts was a mainstream pro-wrestling "work") helped save UWFi financially. However, in the view of some fans it compromised the UWFi's "stiff style" reputation. Lou Thesz, upset by the blatant mixing of the two styles, asked Nobuhiko Takada to vacate his UWFi title. Takada complied and subsequently established a new organization called Kingdom.

Suzuki vs. Rutten
Full Contact archives
The creation of Pancrase in 1993 deprived the PWFG of four of their major stars and in the following years the organization started having fewer and fewer shows. In an effort to finance the organization, Yoshiaki Fujiwara once again appeared on mainstream "worked" professional wrestling shows for New Japan. The appearances further undermined the image of the promotion and did not provide the necessary funds. On November 19, 1995 the PWGF folded. All of its members, with the exception of Yoshiaki Fujiwara, left the Fujiwaragumi and formed "Battle arts."

The current situation remains rather blurred. The Shooto organization has lost Satoru Sayama (who has returned to mainstream "worked" pro-wrestling for financial reasons) but remains 100% "shoot". Pancrase appears to have evolved into a "shoot" organization as well. However, they have lost their major star, Wayne (Ken) Shamrock, to the WWF. RINGS remains approximately 60% "worked" with a few reality based martial arts matches on its cards. Akira Maeda participates in both RINGS matches and the occasional mainstream "worked" match for New Japan. Nobuhiko Takada's Kingdom organization continues to promote the "stiff style" but yet Takada has faced Rickson Gracie in a reality based martial arts match and two Kingdom wrestlers were in a recent UFC tournament. There is another "shoot" organization called SAW (submission arts wrestling). Unfortunately, I have no information at this time about either SAW or "Battle arts".

Took the words right out of my mouth, but with much richer detail, Kev.

I've been on the 'Indie' circuit of wrestling for 12 years and I've seen first hand what it's degenerated to. Thankfully, I've always been a fan of puroresu and after getting my hands on U-Style last year and lots of backtracking, both intentional and otherwise, as well actually training for and having my first ammy match in October, I'm glad I made my decision so far. Wrestling is still a passion, and I couldn't bring myself to watch mainstream since '05. Even running into names like Tatanka in Germany, I've learned that they can't make much of the current nonsense on television either, and I see why - they were the ones who had a legit athletic background. If you go to an Indie show now, the majority of the 'wrestlers' you see look like anything but wrestlers. Given all that I've done recently with training my (the guy I roll with has a BJJ Purple Belt, with a background in Judo and Muay Thai), I've taken that knowledge and added it to what smattering of Catch I had and thankfully found Erik Paulson and Coach Iaskevich's footage to be very helpful in guiding back to what wrestling used to be. I also look forward to getting back in the cage when it's time as well the grappling circuit. I still get in the ring, but don't expect me to do any bodyslams, which I don't to begin with.

That half hatch takeover, on the other hand, I'd do at the first opportunity...

Thanks again Kev.

You can thank some of the time Angle spent in Japan for his switch up in TNA; I don't think Vince would let him do that if he was on contract, lol. Much of what you see on television now is a highly diluted version of what use to be wrestling - even Lucha Libre, the Mexican form suffered. Rey Misterio, Jr., who practically invented new acrobatic moves every night when he was in Mexico, got dumbed down to 2 or 3 'signature' moves when he got to WWF/WWE, because McMahon didn't want everyone doing what someone else did, so he everyone on the roster crystallized to a specific set of moves. It's practically slow death when that happens. Meanwhile, in MMA and grappling, you have innovations to basic techniques popping up left and right, from different defenses to set ups for basic submissions.

What finishers did he outlaw, out of curiosity? Must have been some crazy stuff. I have mad respect for guys who can fling their bodies from crazy heights onto other guys and objects and then get up and do it again. I have trouble talking myself into basic acrobatics off of the high dive LOL.

Yeah I would imagine the room for error on that move is very slim.

Like I said, mad respect for those who are daring enough to do that stuff. It hurts me to belly flop at the pool, I couldnt imagine doing that type of stuff onto canvas, plywood, concrete etc.