WRESTLER PROFILES

	Wrestler: Akira Maeda Real Name: Birthday: January 24, 1959 Hometown: Osaka, Japan Marital Status: Height & Weight: 6'3" - 225 Lbs. Trained by: Karl Gotch Debut: August 1978 Previous Names: Kwik-Kik-Lee Finishing Move: Crossface Chickenwing Favorite Moves: Armlock Leglock Submission Kick to the head Notable Feuds:
European Heavyweight title (as Kwik Kick Lee) defeating Wayne Bridges (January 25, 1983); WWF International Heavyweight title defeating Pierre Lefebvre (March 25, 1984); IWGP Tag Team titles w/Osamu Kido defeating Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami (August 5, 1986); IWGP Tag Team titles w/Nobutaka Araya defeating Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Mutoh (March 26, 1987);
New Japan Pro Wrestling: 1977: Akira Maeda was discovered by Hisashi Shinma, and trained by the legendary Karl Gotch. and debuted in August 1978.. ~~~Hisashi Shinma had plans to groom Akira Maeda to be the next Antonio Inoki for New Japan Pro Wrestling.. April 1982: After a stint wrestling in England, Akira made his return to Japan, pinning Paul Orndorff.. April 10, 1984: Akira Maeda left New Japan Pro Wrestling to join the UWF in Japan, which had a working relationship with the WWF.. UWF & WWF: Akira Maeda's relationship with Vince McMahon soured, and he became a glorified jobber for the WWF for a while.. Akira Maeda tried to change the UWF into a shoot fighting league out of his distaste for "worked" matches.. September 2, 1985: Akira Maeda vs Satoru Sayama ended in a no contest when Maeda starting shooting on Sayama.. ~~~Akira Maeda lost his temper and started throwing legit kicks at Sayama until the referee stopped the match.. ~~~Akira Maeda was immediately fired and the UWF folded on October 11, 1985 after Sayama quit the promotion.. January 1986: Akira Maeda made his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling.. New Japan Pro Wrestling: 1986: Akira Maeda faced Andre the Giant in a match that turned into yet another shoot fight.. ~~~Antonio Inoki appeared and confronted the participants and eventually threw the match out.. June 12,1986: Akira Maeda faced off against Tatsumi Fujinami, and accidentally kicked him in the face, busting him open! August 5, 1986: Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido defeated Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura for the IWGP Tag Team championship.. September 23, 1986: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura defeated Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido to recpature the Tag Team titles! March 26, 1987: Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada defeated Keiji Mutoh & Shiro Koshinaka for the IWGP Tag Team championship.. September 1, 1987: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki defeated Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada to win the IWGP Tag Team titles! November 19, 1987: Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada vs Masa Saito & Hiro Saito & Riki Choshu.. ~~~In the middle of the match, Akira Maeda landed a vicious intentional shoot kick to the face of Riki Choshu, breaking his orbital bone.. ~~~Riki Chosyu got to his feet and had to be held back by the other four wrestlers to stop him from attacking Akira Maeda! ~~~As a result of this action, Akira Maeda was suspended, and eventually fired in March of 1988... UWF: May 12, 1988: Akira Maeda opened the new UWFi promotion along with Nobuhiko Takada & Yoshiaki Fujiwara.. ~~~The UWFi promotion was the beginning for Japan combining shoot matches with worked matches.. November 10, 1988: Nobuhiko Takada defeated Akira Maeda by Knockout.. January 15, 1989: Akira Maeda defeated Nobuhiko Takada by submission at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan.. May 4, 1989: Akira Maeda defeated Chris Dolman by submission in Osaka, Japan.. November 29, 1989: The UWF drew 60,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome, which featured Akira Maeda beating Willie Wilhelm by submission.. October 25 1990: Akira Maeda defeated Masakatsu Funaki at the Tokyo Dome.. December 1, 1990: UWF president Shinji Jin fired all UWF employees and disbanded the promotion after a show in Nagano, Japan.. RINGS: 1991: Akira Maeda formed RINGS, another promotion showcasing both worked and shoot matches.. ~~~Akira Maeda pushed himself as RINGS top star until his retirement in July 1998.. July 20, 1998 - Retirement Show: Akira Maeda defeated Yoshihisa Yamamoto by decision at the Yokohama Arena.. February 21, 1999: Aleksandr Karelin defeated Akira Maeda in his final match ever..

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