"In 1989, the Universal Wrestling Federation was flying high, announcing a November 29 date at Japan's Tokyo Dome. They sold out the front row in less than five minutes. By the end of the first day, there were more than 40,000 tickets sold. The final tally was 60,000 in the building, a Japanese wrestling record. The group was formed by some of Japanese pro wrestling's biggest stars to present a new style of wrestling to the fans. Their leader, Akira Maeda, was very vocal about how phony traditional wrestling was. All the outlandish moves, leaps from the turnbuckles, and devastating strikes with steel chairs were obviously staged. This style of wrestling, they promised, was the real thing. And in a world before the UFC and Pride, many fans believed. The contests were unmistakably fake, the results scripted and shared with both performers before the bout. But the action in the ring was based on reality. Kicks and open hand blows were hard and fast and on the ground the wrestlers used submission holds from catch wrestling and judo. It was no wonder that the wrestlers knew exactly how to mimic a real contest; their main instructor was Karl Gotch, the hooker known as the "God of Wrestling" in Japan. The UWF had many of the same stars that would go on to build the MMA industry in Japan. Joining Maeda were Nobuhiko Takada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Yoji Anjo, Masakatsu Funaki, and Minoru Suzuki. There were, perhaps, too many stars, a collection of chiefs with no Indians. In 1991, this powder keg exploded. The stars all went a different direction. Takada formed the UWFI, a showier and more traditional form of professional wrestling. Funaki and Suzuki, after a pit stop in a UWF-style promotion led by Fujiwara, formed the first MMA promotion in Japan, called Pancrase, in 1993. And the biggest star of them all, Maeda, formed Rings."
— From the book; The MMA Encyclopedia
"In the early 1980's a group of wrestlers electrified the Japanese pro-wrestling scene. At the height of their popularity they quit pro-wrestling and joined a new promotion called the U.W.F. Their style was called "SHOOTING" (and old wrestling term for when you mean to really do someone in). Combining elements of kickboxing, sambo, jiu-jitsu, and catch-as-catch-can wrestling into a new exciting, dangerous and deadly promotion, they began moving professional wrestling away from the theatrics and back toward sport. The addition of kicks and hitting created more action than had ever been seen before. Some of the members found the fighting too physically grueling and injury inducing. They retired from the ring or they went back to the pro-wrestling circuit. The remaining fighters regrouped and quickly rose to great popularity. At their peak they were able to sell out the 50,000+ seat Tokyo Dome in three hours (a feat the even UFC hasn't matched). People lined up the day before and slept in the streets to see them."
— Ted Pelc, on the success of the UWF.
"Like a phoenix, shootstyle emerged again in 1988, propelled this time by a Maeda cheapshot to the face of Riki Choshu, metaphorically a kick to the face of the entire wrestling establishment. Maeda took his original UWF compatriots and their proteges with him on his way out the door, in the blink of an eye creating a powerhouse promotion from nothing. The UWF was back—and this time fans were waiting for it. Immediately a hot ticket, by 1989 they were on fire, putting an announced 60,000 in the Tokyo Dome without the power of a major television deal. If you wanted to see the UWF, you had to show up to the building and watch it live. The result was a full building every month, fans desperate to watch the self-proclaimed toughest wrestlers in the business."
— Jonathan Snowden
