 The Great Kabuki,c. 1980s | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1948-09-08)September 8, 1948 (age 77) Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Japan |
| Children | 4 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Akihisa Takachiho[1] Yoshino Sato (II)[1] Devil Sato (II)[1] El Gran Kabuki The Great Kabuki[1] Hito Tojo[1] Kabuki[1] Mr. Kiyomoto[1] Mr. Sato[1] Professor Takachiho[1] Rising Sun #1 Takachiho[1] |
| Billed height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 110 kg (243 lb)[1] |
| Billed from | Singapore[2] |
| Trained by | Giant Baba[1] Umanosuke Ueda[1] |
| Debut | October 31, 1964[1] |
| Retired | September 30, 2018[1] |
Akihisa Mera (米良 明久,Mera Akihisa; born September 8, 1948), better known asThe Great Kabuki (ザ・グレート・カブキ,Za Gurēto Kabuki), is a Japanese retiredprofessional wrestler. He is famous as the first to blowAsian mist in his opponents' faces.
Mera was born on September 8, 1948, inNobeoka,Japan. He started wrestling in 1964 at the age of 16 for theJapanese Wrestling Association. He left Japan to compete in theUnited States in the 1970s.[2] From there he wrestled all over the world, includingAll Japan Pro Wrestling, several territories of theNational Wrestling Alliance includingJim Crockett Promotions,Mid-South, Continental Wrestling Association andWorld Class Championship Wrestling under the nameAkihisa Takachihō. He also used the namesYoshino Sato andDevil Sato (with authorization from his mentor the originalYoshinosato, former sumotoriJunzo Hasegawa, who lead JWA during its dying days), which was later shortened toMr. Sato (not to be confused withAkio Sato, who later used the moniker in other American territories).
Mera adopted the Great Kabuki persona in World Class in 1981. The character was created byGary Hart,[3] based on an old gimmick used byFilipino wrestler Rey Urbano, a former partner of Hasegawa's in the U.S.[4] Kabuki kept his hair in a mop cut which kept his facial features mostly hidden; he also painted his face. Hart explained that his face was scarred in a bed of hot coals during a match withTiger Jeet Singh inSingapore.[5] He was most often a heel and was managed by most of the top heel managers of the 1970s and early 1980s. When he was ababyface, he was very unpredictable and could turn at any time, making him somewhat of an anti-hero, or tweener. Kabuki had a pre-match ritual of showing his skills with thenunchaku that intimidated most opponents. In WCCW, he joined H & H Limited while managed by Arman Hussein and Gary Hart and tagged with masked wrestlerMagic Dragon while building on his singles work. After an injury in 1983, he joinedSkandor Akbar's Devastation Inc.
In the early 1980s, the Kabuki character would sometimes be portrayed by wrestlerKazuharu Sonoda, who had been Mera's teammate Magic Dragon in the WCCW.[6] These were mainly appearances forWorld Class Championship Wrestling,Jim Crockett Promotions, andGeorgia Championship Wrestling, as well as appearances in Japan from 1981 to 1984. Sonoda's Kabuki would never appear alongside Gary Hart. Gary Hart did not want Mera or himself to work elsewhere due to their characters' drawing power, but he would allow Sonoda to play the role as deal to promoters who wanted Kabuki for their shows. These appearances continued until Sonoda's death in 1987.
Kabuki was the first wrestler to blowAsian mist into his opponents' faces.[2] WhenKeiji Mutoh debuted in Jim Crockett Promotions as The Great Muta in March 1989, Mutoh was billed by manager Gary Hart as Kabuki's son due to the similarities in style and the use of Asian mist. In reality, they are not related.
Some of Kabuki's major feuds were againstJimmy Valiant,Scott Casey,Abdullah the Butcher,Dusty Rhodes,Toshiaki Kawada,Chris Adams,Genichiro Tenryu,Bruiser Brody, and theFabulous Freebirds. Kabuki's battles against Adams were billed asthe battle of the superkicks, as ring announcerBill Mercer often asked which kick was better: Adams' superkick or Kabuki's thrust kick.
In July 1990, Kabuki won theWorld Tag Team Championship withJumbo Tsuruta, but within days, he joined Tenryu in creating theSuper World of Sports promotion. In 1992, he joinedNew Japan Pro-Wrestling'sHeisei Ishingun, until leaving in 1996. From there he went on to be one of the co-founders ofIWA Japan.
In theWorld Wrestling Federation, Kabuki participated in the1994 Royal Rumble, from which he was eliminated byLex Luger. He also helped take outThe Undertaker in the previous match of the night.[2]
Kabuki retired in 1998.[2] He had a series of retirement matches. On July 20, he would main event at the Tokyo Korakuen Hall in IWA Japan by teaming up with Kendo Nagasaki to wrestle Keisuke Yamada andShigeo Okumura; his last bout in theindependent circuit. On August 8 he teamed up with The Great Muta to defeat Michiyoshi Ohara andTatsutoshi Goto forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling, one of the major Japanese circuits. (Giant Baba would not let him retire inAll Japan Pro Wrestling due to his jump to SWS.) September 7 was the grand finale for Kabuki, as he teamed up withTerry Funk andDoug Gilbert to defeat Freddy Kruger,Leatherface, andMetalface - symbolically his last match involvingforeign wrestlers.
Mera appeared in a band's music video "The Emeralds" under his Great Kabuki gimmick.[7]
On January 4, 2015, Kabuki made a special appearance for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, taking part in theNew Japan Rumble on the pre-show ofWrestle Kingdom 9. He was quickly disqualified upon entering the ring due to using the Asian Mist.[8] Kabuki returned a year later, taking part in theWrestle Kingdom 10 pre-show New Japan Rumble, where he was once again disqualified for using the mist.[9]
Wrestled at aPro Wrestling Noah show on December 22, 2017, teaming with his Heisei Ishingun teammatesShiro Koshinaka andAkitoshi Saito to defeatGo Shiozaki,Yoshinari Ogawa andMasao Inoue.[10]
Kabuki wrestled his final match on September 30, 2018, at 70 at a show that was independently produced byMasakatsu Funaki in Osaka, Japan, teaming with Giant Small Baba, Small Antonio Inoki, and Teruko Kagawa to defeat the team of HIRO Dai Circus Yasuda, Mitsukuni Daiso, Waka Shoyo, and Yamaishi Meijin in an 8-man tag team match.
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