Volk Han vs Kiyoshi Tamura - RINGS 9-25-96
Added 2024-09-16 16:00:14 +0000 UTCContext from ElSche:
Rings was a shoot Style promotion in the early to late 90s. Shoot style was a "wrestling style movement" of pro Wrestlers in Japan, who wanted a more reality based fight, you will realize as soon as you watch. Leagues like Rings, Pancreas, UWF etc. would be created and hold these more realistic matches laying the ground for MMA in Japan (Rings later actually turned into an MMA promotion and Volk Han would be one of the trainers of MMA greatest Heavyweight, Fedor Emalienenko). Important for the match itself is that Volk Han is the Veteran Sambo fighter and Tamura is relatively new. The rules are: Either you submit your opponent or have him down for a ten count or have him lose by points because of too many knockdowns or Rope Breaks. Open Hand Strikes and kicks to a standing opponent only, no Elbows.
Comments
I think the biggest difference between something like this and something like the WWE "MMA rules" match is how urgently the competitors try to scramble out of a submission, and I really like how it's done here. In general I feel like the WWE style relies more on selling the effect of your opponent's offense instead of selling the anticipation and avoidance of it, which AEW's style does better IMO.
prototype27
2024-09-18 00:59:39 +0000 UTCI had no idea that Vader and Albright and Bob backlund was there in that time. Dude I think I know things(I dont). Thank you
Diruroru
2024-09-17 02:03:36 +0000 UTC96 was the beginning of UFC getting any traction and it got big quick. That's all I know on that field
Diruroru
2024-09-17 01:58:18 +0000 UTCI get where you’re coming from. I’m not a fan of constant camera cuts in almost any promotion but the way Fu-Ten was filmed, with the camera looking up at the ring, is something I really love, so it balances out for me.
Lucas Biersack
2024-09-17 00:46:42 +0000 UTCI've tried to watch some Fu-ten but the camera work and editing is way too obnoxious for me, it's like Kevin Dunn on steroids
Dagur Hall
2024-09-16 21:01:51 +0000 UTCIt was interesting learning about yet another style. I enjoyed it a lot!
Tallywags
2024-09-16 20:22:16 +0000 UTCI agree with most of this. Shoot Style got me into older MMA promotions like Pride & Pancrase (though you can argue about how real some of the fights were in the latter), but overall I still prefer Shoot Style compared to MMA on the whole. Also I concur that BattlARTS, or Fu-ten, would be the easiest promotions to look into as a gateway.
Lucas Biersack
2024-09-16 19:04:30 +0000 UTCI was hoping for a rings/shoot style match would be submitted at one point, it’s certainly a big shift from most other wrestling you will see. I love shoot style, some of my favorite promotions ever, including Rings, would fall under that banner, so I’m glad to see that you two seemed to enjoy it. The emergence of shoot style/MMA may also just be the most interesting part of wrestling history to learn about for me. Super fascinating stuff which heavily affected Pro-Wrestling in Japan and created a whole new type of combat sport.
Lucas Biersack
2024-09-16 18:51:30 +0000 UTCIs there any interest in Juijitsu or olympic wrestling? Not trying to get you away from this at all, I'm just super curious if there's any relationship to other sports
Nate Cruz
2024-09-16 18:17:44 +0000 UTCIt used to be similar for me, so I totally get it. Maybe if you try getting more into shoot wrestling but you want more pro wrestling antics at the same time, try out UWFi or espacially Battle Arts. I personally just enjoy nice grappling, that is why I enjoy watching Volk Han and all those Rings Sambo Fighters, they brought something unique in to shoot style wrestling in the 90s.
ElSche
2024-09-16 18:12:13 +0000 UTCFascinating! I love any form of combat sports, but there's like a switch in my brain that I flip when I watch wrestling, so this kinda thing comes across....awkward to me? Not bad at all, just can't make heads or tails of what I'm watching.
Nate Cruz
2024-09-16 18:07:22 +0000 UTCThe best MMA is just pro wrestling in disguise
Dagur Hall
2024-09-16 18:06:24 +0000 UTCI did not grow up with it but I like Shoot Style a lot and my appreciation for MMA definetly grew because of it, but I love Wrestling still much more. I mean, in a real fght you wil rarely see such swift reversals and fluid grappling. For good reason of course, in a real fight you defend submissions much more (allthough the Rope Break is good kayfabe explanation why they do not defend Submissions as hard in Rings as in actual MMA now that I think about it), but the fluidity and different techniques make Shoot Style more exciting than actual MMA.
ElSche
2024-09-16 17:58:01 +0000 UTCGenuine question: are the one's who either gravitate towards or grew up w this style of wrestling, do you like/prefer MMA now?
Nate Cruz
2024-09-16 17:51:38 +0000 UTCIn regards to this being seen as real or not, it was indeed better protected than "normal" wrestling. Espacially in Rings, the further we go into the 90s, the more we have actual fights along with worked fights. There are actually quite a few Rings matches on guys MMA records that are from todays view clearly works. Including this one by the way :D As far as the gambling goes, sports bets are illegal in Japan anyway. And the illegal gambling circuits in Japan are usually unfortunately close enough connected to the wrestling world to know that the matches were fixed. Thank you for watching this match, I am glad you enjoyed this as much as you did. And I agree btw., if people like Rondy Roussey and Shayna Baszler have a martial Arts background they should make more use of it as seen here.
ElSche
2024-09-16 17:20:10 +0000 UTCHell yeah. This match rules, their next two matches are all time classics though, Volk Han is so awesome.
Dagur Hall
2024-09-16 16:37:32 +0000 UTCThe readiness and urgency to grapple and scramble to get out of holds in order to lock in your own is lovely. The importance placed on submissions and how dangerous one unlucky movement can be is amazing. How dangerous striking can be to the point that one desperation kick to Volk Han almost shifted the momentum over to Tamura. And omg the selling is great from both men. When Tamura gets frustrated at 14:55 that he couldn't hook in another armbar is great. Then later he's desperate to end the match with a sleeper cause he's losing by points only to have Han punish him for his recklessness by locking in a double wrist lock to win the match. I love shoot style soooo much and their trilogy exemplifies why! RINGS, Pancrase and UWFI are shoot style organizations with Pancrase and RINGS resembling traditional MMA fights more than UWFI with had more hints of pro wrestling in its presentation along with having pro wrestlers being featured there like Big Van Vader, Bob Backlund and Gary Albright. Pancrase is often considered the first MMA company and has had a ton of MMA legends walk through the company like Ken (called Wayne) Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Bas Rutten, Guy Mezger, and a pioneer of MMA and the co-founder of Pancrease, Minoru Suzuki. Both Pancrase and RINGS would later turn into full MMA promotions.
Kidd Kingpin
2024-09-16 16:28:20 +0000 UTCA couple months ago you were doing Undertaker vs Mankind, and now you’re doing 90s japanese shoot style. Things have really escalated quickly lol. Regardless of that, RINGS is awesome and this is one of the best feuds in wrestling history imo. Every match they had was great. I’m excited to watch your reaction.
Will Humphries
2024-09-16 16:07:27 +0000 UTC
