History Wrestling / AkiraMaeda

* EveryoneOwnsAMac: He does and is said to be an ardent UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh evangelist.

* HardHead: Which Kazuo Yamazaki learned the hard way when he tried to get out of a capture suplex by headbutting Maeda. Kazuo busted himself open with his own headutt and the match had to be stopped.

Akira Maeda (born Go Il-myeong, January 24, 1959)[[note]]He is of [[UsefulNotes/KoreansInJapan Korean descent]], but he kept it secret for a time, until he got naturalized Japanese in 1984[[/note]]) is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, best known for his role in the Japanese shoot-style wrestling chronicle and posterior MMA boom. Formerly a Kyokushin UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} competitor, he debuted in 1978 for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling and revealed as a promising rookie, traveling to England to wrestle there under the name of "Kwik-Kick-Lee", in storyline Creator/BruceLee's cousin. Eventually he left with Wrestling/SatoruSayama, Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada and other wrestlers to form Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation, pioneering the realistic shoot movement. However, he caused the fall of the promotion when shot on Sayama during a match due to an early disagreement. Upon their return to New Japan, he and Takada became the young leaders of a shoot invasion, gaining the IWGP Tag Team Championship with him and fellow shooter Osamu Kido. Maeda gained extreme amounts of popularity and was even considered to replace main star Wrestling/AntonioInoki, but Inoki vetoed the idea and Maeda left again, not without shooting on another wrestler. After another failed incarnation of UWF, Maeda contacted Russian sambo fighters and Dutch kickboxers and created Fighting Network RINGS, a shoot-style company who derived into full MMA over time. Maeda is currently retired from competition and figures as the head of the resurrected RINGS and an amateur MMA company called The Outsider.

!!! "Fighting Network Tropes":

'''Akira Maeda''' (b. 1959 as '''Go Il-myeong''')[[note]]He is of [[UsefulNotes/KoreansInJapan Korean descent]], but he kept it secret for a time, until he got naturalized Japanese in 1984[[/note]] is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, best known for his role in the Japanese shoot-style wrestling chronicle and posterior MMA boom. Formerly a Kyokushin UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} competitor, he debuted in 1978 for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling and revealed as a promising rookie, traveling to England to wrestle there under the name of "Kwik-Kick-Lee", in storyline Creator/BruceLee's cousin. Eventually he left with Wrestling/SatoruSayama, Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada and other wrestlers to form Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation, pioneering the realistic shoot movement. However, he caused the fall of the promotion when shot on Sayama during a match due to an early disagreement. Upon their return to New Japan, he and Takada became the young leaders of a shoot invasion, gaining the IWGP Tag Team Championship with him and fellow shooter Osamu Kido. Maeda gained extreme amounts of popularity and was even considered to replace main star Wrestling/AntonioInoki, but Inoki vetoed the idea and Maeda left again, not without shooting on another wrestler. After another failed incarnation of UWF, Maeda contacted Russian sambo fighters and Dutch kickboxers and created Fighting Network RINGS, a shoot-style company who derived into full MMA over time. Maeda is currently retired from competition and figures as the head of the resurrected RINGS and an amateur MMA company called The Outsider.

* AntiHero: To the crowd's eyes, he was an arrogant, violent thug of a pro wrestler and a person, but he usually went against bad guys, and on top of all he was damn cool.

** Maeda also innovated the abisegiri or rolling heel kick, which was later adopted by Wrestling/JushinLiger.

* AxCrazy: In RealLife, he was fired from NJPW for kicking Riki Choshu in the face and breaking his orbital bone. Even later, he didn't have a single year free of legal troubles due to his tendency to assault people. He even [[SeriousBusiness vowed to kill Yoji Anjo]] and was arrested for it.

* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: Maeda realized it, so he promoved to bring sambo fighters to Japan, and the fighting world rejoiced.

* BrickJoke: Before joining NJPW, Maeda wanted to travel to United States and become a professional boxer under Wrestling/MuhammadAli; in fact, he only signed up with the promotion when Hisashi Shinma told him they would help him with this venture. However, after a year of grueling wrestling training and no word about boxing, he had relinquished this aspiration and decided to be a full-fledged pro wrestler. Still, Shinma came one day and asked him casually when he was going to United States. They both laughed, even if Maeda probably wanted to rip apart his head.

* BrickJoke: Before joining NJPW, Maeda wanted to travel to United States and become a professional boxer under MuhammadAli; in fact, he only signed up with the promotion when Hisashi Shinma told him they would help him with this venture. However, after a year of grueling wrestling training and no word about boxing, he had relinquished this aspiration and decided to be a full-fledged pro wrestler. Still, Shinma came one day and asked him casually when he was going to United States. They both laughed, even if Maeda probably wanted to rip apart his head.

* JerkassWithAHeartOfGold: A hidden one, but one anyways.

** There was a years long bad blood between Maeda and Pancrase's Kazuo "Yoshiki" Takahashi. It started when Maeda claimed to the press that Pancrase was worthless and that he was going to destroy it. Takahashi rapidly challenged Akira, but Maeda refused, instead wanting to fight Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki. The affair didn't stop, because Maeda and him had a brawl in the Tokyo Dome parking at PRIDE 1 that had to be broken up by Yoshihisa Yamamoto, and Yoshiki later went to congratulate Yoji Anjo for his infamous aggression on Maeda at the UFC Japan. It took eight years and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka's intercession to get Maeda and Takahashi in good terms again.
** In general, Maeda doesn't have much sympathy towards Pancrase. He attacked its chairman Masami Ozaki (a non-fighter) at a hotel when he thought Ozaki was trying to convince RINGS member Jeremy Horn to jump to Pancrase. Ozaki later sued Akira for assault and won the trial, although according to Horn (who even testified for Maeda), Masami exaggerated greatly the incident in order to screw Maeda.

* TheArtifact: Even after the UWF wrestlers abandoned all the theatrical moves, Maeda kept his spinning heel kick to the face, which always got him a big pop. (To be fair, this kick is not impossible to perform in real fighting, but very much like the dropkick, it's simply too impractical).

* SuplexFinisher: Capture Suplex, also known as Captured or Akira Special.

* TheApprentice: Trained under a lot of people: Wrestling/KarlGotch, Wrestling/AntonioInoki, Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara, Kotetsu Yamamoto and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} master Shogo Tanaka.

* BadassBoast: Parodied once. At an interview for Weekly Gong, when he was being asked about Rickson Gracie and his supposed 400-0 record, Maeda jokingly stated that he believed it because his own record was 10000-0. Nowadays, [[OverlyLongGag he is still claiming it is true]].

* BullyingADragon: Once Maeda came against five American soldiers from the Roppongi military base, who were sitting in Akira's car and started taunting him with racist slurs. Predictably, Maeda's response was wiping the floor alone with the four guys (the fifth one wisely backed away) and make them swear not to make fun of Japanese people again.

** Like more or less everybody at the time, Maeda challenged Rickson Gracie several times, even proposing to create a new MMA event for them if Rickson didn't want to fight in RINGS, but the Brazilian turned all them down.

** He also wanted the NJPW to send him to United States to fight Benny Urquídez.
* CombatPragmatist: When talking about self-defense, Maeda could rival Creator/BasRutten's ruthlessness, as shown in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKzG5gWfl6w short instructional]]. He even nails a ''hair pull hip throw'' at some point.

* {{Face}}
** For a time, he was the most popular wrestler in Japan. Like Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto afterwards, Maeda could literally pack up an arena with just his presence at the event.
** Proved at PRIDE 1 when the crowd gave him the biggest roar of the night just for being briefly featured in the titantron. During a event that had Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada and Rickson Gracie, that is.

* GuileHero: Despite his general jerkness, Akira was good with people. He even persuaded Masutatsu Oyama to allow karatekas Willie Williams and Masaaki Satake to compete in RINGS.

* IKnowKarate: A Kyokushin Budokai eighth dan black belt. He has a black belt in Shorinji Kempo too.
* {{Jerkass}}: At least a bit.

* MilitaryBrat: Subverted. As a child, one of his solaces was reading military literature, and years after he tried to join the JSDF, but he couldn't as he was not yet a naturalized Japanese.

'''Akira Maeda''' (b. 1959 as '''Go Il-myeong''')[[note]]He is of [[UsefulNotes/KoreansInJapan Korean descent]], but he kept it secret for a time, until he got naturalized Japanese in 1984[[/note]] is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, best known for his role in the Japanese shoot-style wrestling chronicle and posterior MMA boom. Formerly a Kyokushin karate competitor, he debuted in 1978 for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling and revealed as a promising rookie, traveling to England to wrestle there under the name of "Kwik-Kick-Lee", in storyline Creator/BruceLee's cousin. Eventually he left with Wrestling/SatoruSayama, Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada and other wrestlers to form Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation, pioneering the realistic shoot movement. However, he caused the fall of the promotion when shot on Sayama during a match due to an early disagreement. Upon their return to New Japan, he and Takada became the young leaders of a shoot invasion, gaining the IWGP Tag Team Championship with him and fellow shooter Osamu Kido. Maeda gained extreme amounts of popularity and was even considered to replace main star Wrestling/AntonioInoki, but Inoki vetoed the idea and Maeda left again, not without shooting on another wrestler. After another failed incarnation of UWF, Maeda contacted Russian sambo fighters and Dutch kickboxers and created Fighting Network RINGS, a shoot-style company who derived into full MMA over time. Maeda is currently retired from competition and figures as the head of the resurrected RINGS and an amateur MMA company called The Outsider.

* TheApprentice: Trained under a lot of people: Wrestling/KarlGotch, Wrestling/AntonioInoki, Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara, Kotetsu Yamamoto and karate master Shogo Tanaka.

** There was a years long bad blood between Maeda and Pancrase's Kazuo "Yoshiki" Takahashi. It started when Maeda claimed to the press that Pancrase was worthless and that he was going to destroy it. Takahashi rapidly challenged Akira, but Maeda refused, instead wanting to fight Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki. The affair didn't stop, because Maeda and him had a brawl in the Tokyo Dome parking at PRIDE 1 that had to be broken up by Yoshihisa Yamamoto, and Yoshiki later went to congratulate Yoji Anjo for his infamous aggression on Maeda at the UFC Japan. It took eight years and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKoshaka's intercession to get Maeda and Takahashi in good terms again.

* FollowTheLeader: Aside his shoot and MMA pioneering, Maeda was the first in bringing sambo and kickboxing to Japan, and his fighting network helped to spread the MMA around the world, including countries in which the concept itself was virtually unknown. Finally, was the one who inspired Kazuyoshi Ishii to create the kickboxing promotion K-1 and provided him with kickboxers from RINGS who he couldn't pay anymore.

** Maeda also was enemies with Eiji Yamada, chief editor of the Full Contact Karate magazine who liked to criticize RINGS and the Seidokaikan dojo for being "fake". They supposedly had an incident in a Kyokushin tournament in 1994 in which they brawled inside the women's toilet of the stadium. Details are unknown, but judging for Yamada's comments thereafter, Akira kicked his ass quite a bit.

** There was a years long bad blood between Maeda and Pancrase's Kazuo "Yoshiki" Takahashi. It started when Maeda claimed to the press that Pancrase was worthless and that he was going to destroy it. Takahashi rapidly challenged Akira, but Maeda refused, instead wanting to fight Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki. The affair didn't stop, because Maeda and him had a brawl in the Tokyo Dome parking at PRIDE 1 that had to be broken up by Yoshihisa Yamamoto, and Yoshiki later went to congratulate Yoji Anjo for his infamous aggression on Maeda at the UFC Japan. It took eight years and Tsuyoshi Koshaka's intercession to get Maeda and Takahashi in good terms again.

* CulturedBadass: Likes reading the likes of {{Confucius}}, Paul Verlaine and Osamu Dazai.

** There was a years long bad blood between Maeda and Pancrase's Kazuo "Yoshiki" Takahashi. It started after the PRIDE 1 event, when a rumor says Maeda had a brawl with Takahashi in the Tokyo Dome parking which had to be broken up by Yoshihisa Yamamoto. After that, Yoshiki challenged Akira to a fight in Pancrase, but Maeda refused, instead wanting to fight Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki. Yoshiki didn't forget it, and he even shook Yoji Anjo's hand after his attack on Maeda at the UFC.
** In general, Maeda doesn't have much sympathy towards Pancrase. He attacked its chairman Masami Ozaki (a non-fighter) at a hotel when he thought Ozaki was trying to convince RINGS member Jeremy Horn to jump to Pancrase. Ozaki later sued Akira for assault and won the trial, although according to Horn (who even testified for Maeda), Masami exaggerated the incident.

** Yoji Anjo was another enemy of his. In 1994, Akira was arrested for claiming he was going to kill Anjo out of rage for a failed working agreement, and two years later, he backfisted Yoji in the face for disagreeing with him during a televised debate. Not surprisingly, some time later Anjo retaliated by knocking Maeda out cold with a sucker punch during an UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship event.

'''Akira Maeda''' (b. 1959 as '''Go Il-myeong''' - he is of [[UsefulNotes/KoreansInJapan Korean descent]], but he kept it secret for a time, until he got naturalized Japanese in 1984) is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, best known for his role in the Japanese shoot-style wrestling chronicle and posterior MMA boom. Formerly a Kyokushin karate competitor, he debuted in 1978 for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling and revealed as a promising rookie, traveling to England to wrestle there under the name of "Kwik-Kick-Lee", in storyline Creator/BruceLee's cousin. Eventually he left with Wrestling/SatoruSayama, Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada and other wrestlers to form Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation, pioneering the realistic shoot movement. However, he caused the fall of the promotion when shot on Sayama during a match due to an early disagreement. Upon their return to New Japan, he and Takada became the young leaders of a shoot invasion, gaining the IWGP Tag Team Championship with him and fellow shooter Osamu Kido. Maeda gained extreme amounts of popularity and was even considered to replace main star Wrestling/AntonioInoki, but Inoki vetoed the idea and Maeda left again, not without shooting on another wrestler. After another failed incarnation of UWF, Maeda contacted Russian sambo fighters and Dutch kickboxers and created Fighting Network RINGS, a shoot-style company who derived into full MMA over time. Maeda is currently retired from competition and figures as the head of the resurrected RINGS and an amateur MMA company called The Outsider.

* {{Badass}}