History Wrestling / AkiraMaeda

** 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 interview in the UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship UFC 23 event.

* CrazyPrepared: When Maeda was slated to wrestle kickboxer Don Nakaya Nielsen in 1986, there was the suspicion that Inoki had ordered Nakaya to shoot on Maeda to teach him a lesson for his rebellious ways, so Maeda made sure to train like a machine and spar with Caesar Takeshi and Singsak Sosiripan, two kickboxers in league with the UWF guys.

->''"In the gym, when they would go for real, Maeda was the man. No one could touch him."''
-->--'''Wrestling/KenShamrock''' about Akira Maeda.

->''"RINGS will declare the strongest man in the world."''
-->--'''Akira Maeda''', declaiming his promotion's philosophy.

From 2009 to 2010, following the tradition of Japanese pro wrestlers of dipping in politics, he was also a candidate to the House of Councillors for the Democratic Party of Japan.

As usual, you can find the basics at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Maeda The Other Wiki]].

** There was a years long bad blood between Maeda and Pancrase's Kazuo "Yoshiki" Takahashi. It started when some Pancrase officers told Fuji TV that RINGS was a worked pro wrestling company. Even although it was mostly true at the time, Maeda took offense and claimed to the press that he was going to destroy Pancrase. Takahashi rapidly challenged Akira to a fight, but Maeda refused, instead wanting to face 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.

* BadassTeacher: He trained or helped to train several wrestlers and fighters, like Wrestling/MitsuyaNagai, Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura, Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka, Wrestling/WataruSakata, Wrestling/HiromitsuKanehara, Wrestling/MasayukiNaruse, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and more.

* TheArtifact: Even after the UWF wrestlers abandoned all the theatrical moves, Maeda kept his spinning heel kick to the face and single leg Boston crab submission, which always got him a big pop. (To be fair, those moves are not impossible to perform in real fighting, but are simply too impractical).

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 [[UsefulNotes/{{Sambo}} sambists]] and Dutch [[UsefulNotes/{{Kickboxing}} 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.

From 2009 to 2010, he was also a candidate to the House of Councillors for the Democratic Party of Japan, following the tradition of Japanese pro wrestlers of dipping in politics.

* TheAlcoholic: When he was in Russia to recruit fighters for RINGS, the Russians were apparently impressed with his drinking habits.

* BadassTeacher: He trained several wrestlers and fighters, like Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura, Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka, Wrestling/WataruSakata, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and more.

** Back when he was a delinquent turned karate fighter, Akira was challenged in the street by a huge traditional kung fu practitioner, who claimed he would show him the superiority of his style in a no rules fight. Only seconds after they started, Maeda grabbed the chap by the hair and landed a knee strike right in his face. When the guy got up, he tried to argue it had been an illegal move, cue Maeda obviously pointing out he had said no rules.

** In a 1994 RINGS match, the notoriously hard-to-work-with Dick Vrij gave Maeda an eye poke between strike and strike. Maeda got angry enough to reach himself for Vrij's eyes in a choke attempt, and then submitted him to a leglock and finally kicked him in the head for the trouble, causing a minor brawl. (There's controversy about whether this was legit ot staged, though.)

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

** He also wanted Inoki to send him to United States to fight Benny Urquídez. He became furious when he heard NJPW had invited Urquídez to fight a special match in 1989, only after Maeda had returned to UWF.

* CovertPervert: Aside from his philosophy readings, he also admitted that he also reads pornography.

* DavidVersusGoliath: In an infamous instance, he was pitted against an inebriated Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, who was completely uncooperative. Maeda's response was shoot kicking his legs until flooring him.

* OpposingCombatPhilosophies: Notably hates ground and pound, and was the first to outright ban it in RINGS while the other shoot-style promotions merely discouraged it (even when the promotion adopted vale tudo-esque rules, ground and pound was still limited to the body). He reluctantly had to allow it in HERO'S and The Outsider because MMA had evolved past that debate.

* ProWrestlingIsReal: He initially came to New Japan on the popular Japanese belief that their pro wrestling was real, and it was Satoru Sayama who had to tell him the truth. Sayama, however, also told him that Inoki wanted to make pro wrestling real, and advised him to train grappling with Fujiwara because he would need legit skills to catch up.

* RedBaron: "Kowashiya" ("Destroyer") and "Shin Kakuto O" ("The New King of Fighting"; the former being Inoki, of course), "Super Dangerous Hero", and "Sparkling Flash". He was also referred by more creative journalists as "Kick no Senjukannon" ("The [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Multi-Armed God]] of Kicking"; yeah, a bit counter-intuitive) and "Kurokami no Robesupiēru" ("The Black-Haired Robespierre").

** He also had another in Yuko Miyato. In a magazine interview, Maeda said something to the effect of that if he fought Miyato, he'd beat him 200 times out of 200 and that if he caught him on the street he'd prove it and made some remarks about Miyato's family, which apparently resulted in some kind of civil action filed by Miyato and UWFI against Maeda. Though Maeda later made a public apology to Miyato, saying he was very sorry for his threats in the interview.

** He also had another in Yuko Miyato. In a magazine interview, Maeda said something to the effect of that if he fought Miyato, he'd beat him 200 times out of 200 and that if he caught him on the street he'd prove it and made some remarks about Miyato's family, which apparently resulted in some kind of civil action filed by Miyato and UWFI against Maeda.

* SadistTeacher: The tradition among shoot-style trainers. He once brutalized his trainee Wataru Sakata in front of a TV reporter for the sole reason that Sakata had not impressed him during a match.

* BadassTeacher: He trained several wrestlers and fighters, like Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura, Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka, Wataru Sakata, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and more.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: His parents got divorced when he was in highschool and he chose to follow his father, who had a badly paid work. Maeda was often alone and with little money, and suffered bullying for being Korean. For this reason, his first years in the NJPW Dojo weren't much better.

** There was a years long bad blood between Maeda and Pancrase's Kazuo "Yoshiki" Takahashi. It started when some Pancrase officers told Fuji TV that RINGS was a worked pro wrestling company. Even although it was mostly true at the time, Maeda took offence and claimed to the press that he was going to destroy Pancrase. Takahashi rapidly challenged Akira to a fight, but Maeda refused, instead wanting to face 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.

* BrickJoke: Before joining NJPW, Maeda wanted to travel to United States and become a professional boxer under UsefulNotes/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.

* CaptainErsatz: ''Videogame/FireProWrestling'' started including these of him with Combination Tag in 1989. He also appeared in the videogame ''Saikyou: Takada Nobuhiko'' under the name of "Hishida".

* InsistentTerminology: Fighting Network RINGS was about combat sports, not pro wrestling (never mind it was originally called Pro Wrestling Network RINGS). Maeda took it to the extant that he banned Weekly Pro Wrestling from covering his shows because it was a puroresu magazine.

* RollingAttack: His patented abisegiri kick, which is even his finisher in the videogame ''RINGS Astral Bout 3''.

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.

** The main one, aside from Wrestling/RikiChoshu, is Wrestling/SatoruSayama. Their hostility started in 1985, when Maeda shot on Sayama during a match and caused the fall of the original UWF. They continued badmouthing each other during years until 2006, when they were reunited in an interview by Hisao Maki and acknowledged (rather grudgingly, but with sincerity) each other's accomplishments. Currently, they seem to have regained respect for each other.

** Back when he was a delinquent turned karate fighter, Akira was challenged in the street by a huge traditional kung fu practitioner, who claimed he would show him the superiority of his style in a no rules fight. Only seconds after they started, Maeda grabbed the chap by the hair and landed a knee strike right in his face. (When the guy got up, he tried to argue it had been an illegal move, cue Maeda obviously pointing out he had said no rules.)

* DisproportionateRetribution: During the infamous match against Riki Choshu, the latter was showing himself clearly uncooperative, no-selling Maeda's kicks and holds, making difficult to Maeda to escape from a hold, and even outright slapping Maeda in a clearly unscripted moment at some point. Maeda's answer? Capitalizing on another moment to kick Choshu with enough force to break his orbital bone. Akira claims that it the spot was scripted and that it was Choshu's fault for not turning his head, but the strength of the kick was clearly meant to give Choshu a lesson even if he came away without an injury.

** The main one is Wrestling/SatoruSayama. Their hostility started in 1985, when Maeda shot on Sayama during a match and caused the fall of the original UWF. They continued badmouthing each other during years until 2006, when they were reunited in an interview by Hisao Maki and acknowledged (rather grudgingly, but with sincerity) each other's accomplishments. Currently, they seem to have regained respect for each other.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: He '''lived''' it. In fact, he got over among young fans thanks to his [[CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority rebel, hot-tempered persona]]. Still, UWF might still be going had Maeda just bit the bullet and agreed to showcase at least one other style of wrestling besides "shoot" or else find a way to get money at least two other non shoot promotions were willing to give.

* AxCrazy: In RealLife, he was fired from NJPW for kicking Wrestling/RikiChoshu 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.

* CovertPervert: Aside from his philosophy readings, he also admitted that he still reads pornography.

** In the same line, he is considered the Brawns to [[BeautyBrainsAndBrawn Takada's Beauty and Sayama's Brains]].

* GunNut: He is one and collects them like his katanas, luckily he only collects and uses airsoft guns as he loves the sport and even has regular hangouts with his "The Outsider" students over the sport.

** Is the perpetrator of the most known traitorous kicks in professional wrestling, one to Wrestling/SatoruSayama's groin and another to Riki Choshu's eye.

* OpposingCombatPhilosophies: Notably hates ground-and-pound and was the first to outright ban it in RINGS while the other shoot style promotions merely discouraged it. He reluctantly had to allow it in HERO’S and The Outsider.

* UnstoppableRage: Whether you are a wrestler, a fighter, a reporter, or even his wife, accept our advice: if Akira Maeda gets angry on you, run away and don't look back.

** Maeda also innovated the abisegiri or rolling heel kick, which was later adopted by [[Wrestling/JushinThunderLiger Jushin Liger]].

* HeroesGoneFishing: Literally. Maeda loves fishing.

** Once Maeda came against five big American soldiers from the Roppongi military base, who were sitting on 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 scream "[[YouNoTakeCandleDon't be fun of Japanese!]]" to them.

* 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 him because his own record was 10000-0. Nowadays, [[OverlyLongGag he is still claiming it is true]].

** 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.
** In a probably staged incident in a 1994 RINGS match, Dick Vrij eye-poked Maeda between strike and strike. Maeda got angry enough to reach himself for Vrij's eyes in a choke attempt, and then submitted him to a leglock and kicked him in the head for the trouble, causing a minor brawl.

* RedBaron: "Kowashiya" ("Destroyer") and "Shin Kakuto O" ("The New King of Fighting"; the former being Inoki, of course). He was also referred by more creative journalists as "Kick no Senjukannon" ("The [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Multi-Armed God]] of Kicking"; yeah, a bit counter-intuitive).