Trivia / Kiyoshi Tamura

• Harpo Does Something Funny:
  • He had a shoot match with Masahito Kakihara in UWF-I. The story behind the match was that they were checking out what Pancrase was doing at the time and decided to find out how they would fair against each other for real. The match only lasted a little over 2 minutes with Tamura choking out Kakihara.
  • The ending of his 1996 tournament match with Yoshihisa Yamamoto was a real scuffle. As both Tamura and Yamamoto were in midst of a push at the time (Tamura being groomed to be the next star, Yamamoto being slowly demoted but still with some momentum), the bookers could not decide who should win the match, and they told the two wrestlers to work a regular match and then fight for real at the ending. So it was done, and Tamura won by submitting Yoshihisa with a very real flying armbar.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • In real life, Kazushi Sakuraba. It's said that Tamura used to mistreat him back when Saku was his kohai in the UWF dojo, and anyway later in their lives they became aces for opposing companies. Sakuraba challenged him to a fight many times, but Tamura never conceded until 2007, when Kiyoshi (with a significant health advantage) defeated him by technical decision.
  • On the receiving end of the previous, Tamura also speaks pretty bad of his former sempai Tatsuo Nakano, whom he described as abusive and short-tempered.
• Promoted Fanboy: Was a fan of Tatsumi Fujinami while growing up.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Tamura could have been sent to challenge Rickson Gracie in his dojo in Los Angeles instead of Yoji Anjo. Even before that, the original plan was sending him or Masahito Kakihara to learn the style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Rickson and then challenging him.
  • After his tenure in UWF-i, Tamura was in talks with both Pancrase and RINGS and almost signed up with the former, as Pancrase was what had ignited his interest for MMA in first place. He ended up choosing the latter, though, as they offered him a better contract and a more relaxed schedule.
  • Tamura was approached to fight in the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Japan, but he turned down the offer, disliking the rule that allowed ground and pound and considering the paycheck too small.
  • The match between Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba was in the works in at least three separate points through the history of PRIDE, as Saku continiously challenged Tamura after every big match yet Tamura always had an excuse to decline. PRIDE even offered them a tag team MMA match similar to those which ZST would host years later, and Tamura actually accepted it, but then it was Saku who objected to the idea, wanting an individual bout. The matter was so heated that Tamura actually promoted his autobiographical book by announcing he would reveal in it the "true" reasons why he never fought Sakuraba in PRIDE.
  • During Tamura's return to pro wrestling at his U-STYLE project in 2003, there were talks about wrestling for All Japan Pro Wrestling, as his trainee Ryuki Ueyama had done a special match for them. Although Tamura was open to the possibility, it didn't happen, so he focused in U-STYLE and PRIDE instead.
  • PRIDE was interested in putting Tamura to fight a boxer in the event Shockwave 2003. Their first option was Evander Holyfield of all people, but he wasn't interested, so they later approached "Sugar" Ray Leonard and Osca de la Hoya, yet they refused as well. Only then the bookers desisted and brought kickboxer Rony Sefo, whom Tamura fought and defeated.
  • The promotion DEEP wanted a fight between Tamura and Minoru Suzuki in one of its first events, but Tamura turned it down, apparently due to the paycheck. Being healthier, better rounded and more experienced under that ruleset, Tamura would have probably taken that win, but you never know.
  • Tamura longed for a rematch against Hidehiko Yoshida, and it seemed that he would get it in 2006 after beating Ikuhisa Minowa in his own rematch, but it never happened.
  • After his fight with Wanderlei Silva, there were suggestions for Tamura to portray Tiger Mask in the PRIDE ring, having his first match against Ryan Gracie. However, those plans were abandoned.