Akira Maeda
Encyclopedia
is a retired Japanese
professional wrestler, also known as Kwik-kik-Lee for his time on the British Wrestling show World of Sport
. He helped develop the shoot-style of professional wrestling during the late 1980s.
dojo in 1978 and debuted the same year. Like many other New Japan stars before and after him, Maeda embarked on a foreign tour to the United Kingdom
, where he adopted the Kwik-kik-Lee moniker. In 1983, he participated in the first International Wrestling Grand Prix tournament, won by Hulk Hogan
. He was one of three Japanese entrants to the international tournament, alongside Antonio Inoki
and Rusher Kimura.
, and other New Japan defectors formed the Japanese UWF
. It was during his time in the first incarnation of the UWF that his willingness to show his displeasure in the ring became known; he quarreled with Satoru Sayama
(the original Tiger Mask
) over the direction of the UWF, as Maeda wanted the promotion to feature wrestling and grappling holds, while Sayama (a kickboxer before he went into wrestling) favored kicks. Some in the UWF were also reportedly resentful of Sayama's booking himself to win all his matches, where others, Maeda included, "jobbed" in the worked matches. The promotion folded a year later, and Maeda returned to New Japan, where he became one of the promotion's biggest stars.
; neither man could agree to losing the match, and Maeda proceeded to shoot kick André's legs and then back off, while the giant repeatedly blocked Maeda's attacks and threw him out of the ring. After 30 minutes of this, André voluntarily laid down to be pinned (in spite of being assured that Maeda would lose the match), but Akira refused to do so. Inoki eventually came to the ring and demanded the match to end, much to the bewilderment of the audience. On November 19, 1987 during a six-man tag team match, as Riki Chōshū
was putting his opponent, Osamu Kido
, in a Sharpshooter, Maeda delivered a legitimate kick to Chōshū's face, breaking his orbital bone. The resulting injury would sideline Chōshū for well over a month. Maeda was suspended, and later fired, by New Japan.
and others, this time as its number one star, using the notoriety he gained in New Japan to draw large crowds. Maeda's UWF became the first promotion to hold a show at the Tokyo Dome
, drawing 60,000 to watch Maeda defeat Willy Wilhelm in the main event. In December 1990, Newborn UWF dissolved due to disagreements over the direction of the company.
in 1991, while Nobuhiko Takada
formed Union of Wrestling Force International with most of the Newborn UWF roster. Fighting Network RINGS would no longer bill itself as wrestling in 1997, after the collapse of UWF International
. In 1999 he retired from active competition after being defeated in a match against three-time Olympic Gold medalist Alexander Karelin
, drawing an incredible gate of $2.5 million. The match gained widespread media coverage, including mentions in the New York Times and Sports Illustrated
.
fighting. The new Rings held two King of Kings tournaments, which introduced such mixed martial artists as Fedor Emelianenko
, Dan Henderson
, Randy Couture
, Jeremy Horn
and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
to the Japanese audience. RINGS folded in 2002, due to the growing popularity of PRIDE.
When K-1 wanted to start a new Mixed Martial Arts group after their previous attempt with Romanex, FEG (the group that owns K-1) hired Maeda as a consultant for the new group called HERO'S. However, FEG retired HERO'S in February 2008 to team up with former PRIDE staff to create DREAM. Maeda's newest project is called "The Outsider", an amateur MMA group that uses HERO'S rules.
television series. By the time he was in high school, his only interests were motorcycles and karate.
Maeda formerly bore the name Il-Myung Koh (Korean
: 고일명, Hanja
: 高日明), as he was born a third-generation Zainichi Korean
(or person maintaining his Korean nationality, although permanently residing in Japan).
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
professional wrestler, also known as Kwik-kik-Lee for his time on the British Wrestling show World of Sport
World of Sport (UK TV series)
World of Sport was a British television sport anthology programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 to 28 September 1985 in response to competition from BBC's Grandstand...
. He helped develop the shoot-style of professional wrestling during the late 1980s.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (1978-1984)
Maeda entered the New Japan Pro WrestlingNew Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
dojo in 1978 and debuted the same year. Like many other New Japan stars before and after him, Maeda embarked on a foreign tour to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where he adopted the Kwik-kik-Lee moniker. In 1983, he participated in the first International Wrestling Grand Prix tournament, won by Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
. He was one of three Japanese entrants to the international tournament, alongside Antonio Inoki
Antonio Inoki
is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist who now resides between New York City and Tokyo. He was also the founder and former owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling before selling his controlling share in the promotion to Yukes...
and Rusher Kimura.
Universal Wrestling Federation (1984-1985)
In 1984, Maeda, Yoshiaki FujiwaraYoshiaki Fujiwara
is a Japanese actor, and professional wrestler who has worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, and UWF.-New Japan Pro Wrestling and Universal Wrestling Federation :...
, and other New Japan defectors formed the Japanese UWF
Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan)
The original Japanese-based Universal Wrestling Federation was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion from 1984 to 1986, formed by wrestlers who had left New Japan Pro Wrestling. It was a pioneer in the shoot-style of pro-wrestling, which emphasized realistic moves. It was revived as the...
. It was during his time in the first incarnation of the UWF that his willingness to show his displeasure in the ring became known; he quarreled with Satoru Sayama
Satoru Sayama
is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He's wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, Tiger Mask and The Mask of Tiger...
(the original Tiger Mask
Tiger Mask
is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. The series was first published in Kodansha's Bokura Magazine from 1968 to 1969 and was later published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1970 to 1971...
) over the direction of the UWF, as Maeda wanted the promotion to feature wrestling and grappling holds, while Sayama (a kickboxer before he went into wrestling) favored kicks. Some in the UWF were also reportedly resentful of Sayama's booking himself to win all his matches, where others, Maeda included, "jobbed" in the worked matches. The promotion folded a year later, and Maeda returned to New Japan, where he became one of the promotion's biggest stars.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (1985-1988)
Maeda became involved in a real-life feud with New Japan booker and top star, Antonio Inoki, refusing to work with him in what could have been a huge moneymaking program. In April 1986, he was involved in one of the most surreal moments in wrestling history during a match with André the GiantAndré the Giant
André René Roussimoff , best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His best remembered acting role was that of Fezzik, the giant in the film The Princess Bride...
; neither man could agree to losing the match, and Maeda proceeded to shoot kick André's legs and then back off, while the giant repeatedly blocked Maeda's attacks and threw him out of the ring. After 30 minutes of this, André voluntarily laid down to be pinned (in spite of being assured that Maeda would lose the match), but Akira refused to do so. Inoki eventually came to the ring and demanded the match to end, much to the bewilderment of the audience. On November 19, 1987 during a six-man tag team match, as Riki Chōshū
Riki Choshu
Mitsuo Yoshida , better known by his stage name Riki Chōshū , is a Korean-Japanese professional wrestler who is most known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a wrestler and a booker...
was putting his opponent, Osamu Kido
Osamu Kido
is a Japanese professional wrestler that wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling. He participated in the foundation of New Japan of 1972 and the foundation ofUWF in 1984...
, in a Sharpshooter, Maeda delivered a legitimate kick to Chōshū's face, breaking his orbital bone. The resulting injury would sideline Chōshū for well over a month. Maeda was suspended, and later fired, by New Japan.
Newborn UWF (1988-1990)
In 1988, Maeda formed Newborn UWF with Nobuhiko TakadaNobuhiko Takada
Nobuhiko Takada is a Japanese mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler. He is best known for helping to popularize shoot-style professional wrestling, as one of the biggest stars of the Universal Wrestling Federation and Union of Wrestling Force International in the '80s and '90s. He...
and others, this time as its number one star, using the notoriety he gained in New Japan to draw large crowds. Maeda's UWF became the first promotion to hold a show at the Tokyo Dome
Tokyo Dome
Tokyo Dome is a 55,000-seat baseball stadium located in Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo, Japan.The stadium opened for business on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome which was next door to the site of the predecessor ballpark, Kōrakuen Stadium...
, drawing 60,000 to watch Maeda defeat Willy Wilhelm in the main event. In December 1990, Newborn UWF dissolved due to disagreements over the direction of the company.
Fighting Network RINGS (1991-1999)
Maeda would go on to form Fighting Network RINGSFighting Network RINGS
Fighting Network Rings, trademarked as RINGS, is a Japanese combat sport promotion that has lived three distinct periods; puroresu promotion from its inauguration to 1995, mixed martial arts promotion from 1995 to its 2002 disestablishment, and the revived mixed martial arts promotion from 2008 to...
in 1991, while Nobuhiko Takada
Nobuhiko Takada
Nobuhiko Takada is a Japanese mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler. He is best known for helping to popularize shoot-style professional wrestling, as one of the biggest stars of the Universal Wrestling Federation and Union of Wrestling Force International in the '80s and '90s. He...
formed Union of Wrestling Force International with most of the Newborn UWF roster. Fighting Network RINGS would no longer bill itself as wrestling in 1997, after the collapse of UWF International
UWF International
Union of Wrestling Forces International, better known as UWF International, U-Inter, or simply UWFi, was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1991 to 1996. Although the matches were worked , the UWF-i was very convincing for its time, promoting a more hard-hitting, realistic...
. In 1999 he retired from active competition after being defeated in a match against three-time Olympic Gold medalist Alexander Karelin
Alexander Karelin
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin, or simply Alexander Karelin, is a Hero of the Russian Federation and was a dominant Greco-Roman wrestler for the Soviet Union and later, after its dissolution, for Russia. He won gold medals at the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympic Games...
, drawing an incredible gate of $2.5 million. The match gained widespread media coverage, including mentions in the New York Times and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
.
Retirement
Following Maeda's retirement, he switched his promotion's style from shoot-style to competitive mixed martial artsMixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
fighting. The new Rings held two King of Kings tournaments, which introduced such mixed martial artists as Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko) is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial artist. He has won numerous tournaments and accolades in multiple sports, most notably the Pride 2004 Grand Prix and the World Combat Sambo championship on four occasions, as well as medaling in the Russian national Judo...
, Dan Henderson
Dan Henderson
Daniel Jeffery Henderson, is an American mixed martial artist and former Olympic wrestler, who competes as a middleweight and light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and was the last Welterweight and Middleweight champion...
, Randy Couture
Randy Couture
Randy Duane Couture is a retired American mixed martial artist, Greco-Roman wrestler, actor, a three-time former heavyweight champion, two-time former light-heavyweight champion, former interim light heavyweight champion and UFC 13 tournament winner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
, Jeremy Horn
Jeremy Horn
Jeremy Graham Horn is an American mixed martial artist. He is one of the most experienced fighters in the sport with a professional record of 88–21–5...
and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira is a Brazilian mixed martial artist known for his technical mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is a former UFCInterim Heavyweight Champion...
to the Japanese audience. RINGS folded in 2002, due to the growing popularity of PRIDE.
When K-1 wanted to start a new Mixed Martial Arts group after their previous attempt with Romanex, FEG (the group that owns K-1) hired Maeda as a consultant for the new group called HERO'S. However, FEG retired HERO'S in February 2008 to team up with former PRIDE staff to create DREAM. Maeda's newest project is called "The Outsider", an amateur MMA group that uses HERO'S rules.
Personal life
Maeda's interest in martial arts developed as a schoolboy while watching the UltramanUltraman
is Japanese television series that first aired in 1966. Ultraman, the first and best-known of the "Ultra-Crusaders," made his debut in the tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, , a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q...
television series. By the time he was in high school, his only interests were motorcycles and karate.
Maeda formerly bore the name Il-Myung Koh (Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: 고일명, Hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
: 高日明), as he was born a third-generation Zainichi Korean
Zainichi Korean
Koreans in Japan are the ethnic Korean residents of Japan. They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan. The majority of Koreans in Japan are Zainichi Koreans, also often known as Zainichi for short, who are the permanent ethnic Korean residents of Japan...
(or person maintaining his Korean nationality, although permanently residing in Japan).
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Single leg Boston crab
Championships and accomplishments
- European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
- European Union Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Fighting Network RINGSFighting Network RINGSFighting Network Rings, trademarked as RINGS, is a Japanese combat sport promotion that has lived three distinct periods; puroresu promotion from its inauguration to 1995, mixed martial arts promotion from 1995 to its 2002 disestablishment, and the revived mixed martial arts promotion from 2008 to...
- RINGS Battle Dimensions Tournament (1993–1996)
- New Japan Pro WrestlingNew Japan Pro Wrestlingis a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Osamu Kido (1) and Nobuhiko TakadaNobuhiko TakadaNobuhiko Takada is a Japanese mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler. He is best known for helping to popularize shoot-style professional wrestling, as one of the biggest stars of the Universal Wrestling Federation and Union of Wrestling Force International in the '80s and '90s. He...
(1) - Greatest Wrestlers (Class of 2009)
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Osamu Kido (1) and Nobuhiko Takada
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
- PWI ranked him #40 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
- PRI ranked him #13 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" with Nobuhiko Takada in 2003
- Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
- Best Bout (1986)- vs. Tatsumi Fujinami on June 12
- Effort Prize Award (1981)
- MVP Award (1989)
- Special Grand Prize (1988)
- Technique Award (1983)
- World Wrestling FederationWorld Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
- WWF International Heavyweight ChampionshipWWF International Heavyweight ChampionshipThe WWF International Heavyweight Championship is a former championship recognized by NWA Northeast, the World Wrestling Federation, New Japan Pro Wrestling and the Japanese UWF.The title existed from 1959 through 1963 and again from 1982 through 1985....
(1 time)
- WWF International Heavyweight Championship
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
- Promoter of the Year (1989)
- Wrestler of the Year (1988)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameThe Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to the sport. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is not...
(Class of 1996)