History[]
Inspire Diversity Group International were created in a blaze of publicity in 2006, when a group of dissidents from BHOTWG walked out on the promotion to form their own group. The result was INSPIRE, headed by perhaps the biggest star in Japan, the legendary Tadiyuki Kikkawa.
At first, the promotion used a hyper realistic style, mixing wrestling with strong MMA influences. INSPIRE was portrayed as a "next generation" promotion where fighters from all backgrounds could come and test themselves. By 2008 that approach had been modified slightly, when it became clear that becoming too heavily MMA-influenced had led them to actually start competing with Japan's biggest Mixed Martial Arts promotion, the financially mighty Alpha-1. The promotion has now more clearly defined itself as part of the wrestling market.
The Crisis[]
In March 2006, the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) had its blackest day, when two fighters died, the first deaths associated with the sport. Both had fought earlier on a big card being promoted in Tokyo, and both had lost, suffering head injuries in the process. One fighter was knocked unconscious, never to awake, while the other left the ring under his own power but later collapsed backstage. The world's media had a feeding frenzy, finally able to lay into a sport that could always be relied upon to garner strong reactions. What few realised was that this night would also lead to the most fundamental shift in the landscape of Japanese pro wrestling that had been seen in over a decade.
Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods was the king of Japanese wrestling, having been on top of the business since the 1980s. While facing stiff competition from the up-and-coming Pride Glory Honor Wrestling promotion, many felt that BHOTWG - both with massive financial power and a massively talented roster - were virtually unbeatable in the long run. What had made BHOTWG so popular was their ability to fuse many styles of combat together; a tactic displayed most obviously by the amount of legitimate fighters on their roster, including world famous shoot fighters Mike Watson and Raul Hughes (their world champion). However, Kaneie Komine, the man who owned the company and had been the visionary behind their recent style, was rocked by what had happened in Tokyo that night in March. Realizing that the media backlash would be immense, he acted swiftly. Some would say too swiftly.
With dazzling speed, Komine had organised a press conference in which he told the gathered media that BHOTWG had decided that the time was right to return to its wrestling roots, and the MMA influence that had been obvious in the promotion for several years was going to be downgraded severely. It was clearly a safety tactic, to distance the company from the deaths in MMA, but it also clearly meant a period of change for BHOTWG. What we also know is that he addressed the locker room that very night, and said that the wrestlers were to downplay any mixed martial arts elements of their style, and up the wrestling content. After this, things are less clear, but from piecing together different bits of information, it is safe to say that what happened next went something like this...
After the meeting, several of the wrestlers were unhappy, having spent years building their styles to incorporate more realistic fighting elements. Obviously former shoot fighters Mike Watson and Raul Hughes were extremely unhappy, but they were joined by three other senior figures; company figurehead Tadiyuki Kikkawa (who was well known as a champion of MMA) and two other popular wrestlers, Masaaki Okazaki and Tasuku Iesada. We known that all five demanded a meeting with Kaneie Komine to try and get him to change his mind, and somehow that meeting then led to a massive argument. What we know for sure is that at the end of the meeting all five men had resigned from the promotion.
The news of the resignations was kept quiet, at least for two weeks, out of the wrestlers' respect for the company. BHOTWG had a major show coming up, which would be their final matches with the company, although nobody other than themselves and Komine knew that. Each took a defeat in their final match, and did so in a professional manner. Mike Watson was pinned by future star Hiroaki Nakasawa to help him in his run to the main event scene; Chuichi Sanda rolled over Masaaki Okazaki to end a feud that had been running for several months; Yasunobu Masuno made Tasuku Iesada submit to cement his reputation as a tough fighter; Tadiyuki Kikkawa was finally beaten cleanly by Kinnoji Horri, ending years of unsuccessful attempts by the youngster; and Raul Hughes lost his world title to Bruce The Giant.
The Birth Of INSPIRE[]
Seven days after that show, a press conference was held by the five men who were later to be christened the "Five Rebels" by Japanese journalists. Kikkawa was the spokesman, and announced both their departure from BHOTWG and the formation of Inspire Diversity Group International, INSPIRE for short, a new company of which he would be the CEO. All five men would be part of the initial roster. He also announced the concept behind the company, which would be that it'd be a place where fighters from all backgrounds could come and test themselves. The promotion would be based upon The Three Rules Of The Art Of Combat, which were:
- Only one-on-one matches were a true test of a fighter, and so that would be the only form of combat allowed.
- A fighter's physical size is of no importance, it is his spirit which matters; therefore there would be no weight limits.
- All fighters are expected to behave with honour and dignity. Cheating or other short cuts would not be allowed.
Kikkawa also announced that their first event would happen the following month, when they would crown the first King Of Fighters. This tournament happened on May 6th 2006, and proved a massive success, both commercially and critically. Eight men were entered into the tournament. The first match saw a dream bout, as Raul Hughes squared off with Mike Watson in their first ever meeting. Hughes won after knocking out Watson, but injured himself in the process with a broken wrist, meaning both were out of the tournament. Tadiyuki Kikkawa advanced, beating Puerto Rican shoot fighter Billy Russell by pinfall. Russian monster Marat Khoklov looked very impressive as he beat Tasuku Iesada (who was also head booker of the company) by knock out. Marat had only wrestled in Europe prior to this, but had been someone BHOTWG were very interested in due to his size and intensity. Rumour has it that Tadiyuki Kikkawa himself personally talked the Russian into signing with INSPIRE instead, marking a "steal" of sorts from BHOTWG. In the final first round match Masaaki Okazaki defeated Morimasa Kato by submission. In the semi-finals, Kikkawa beat Okazaki by pinfall while Khoklov received a bye due to the injury to Hughes.
The final has gone down in history. Tadiyuki Kikkawa is a legend in Japan, the figurehead of BHOTWG for the past ten years and a former three time world champion with reigns that spanned five years in total. Marat Khoklov is a behemoth, the most physically imposing wrestler since Bruce The Giant. The match was a brutal affair, with both men laying in the stiffest blows imaginable. After ten minutes of action, Kikkawa blasted the giant with his trademark Kikkawa Lariat, but couldn't take him off his feet. When he tried again he was nearly beheaded with a counter Lariat from the Russian. Khoklov promptly hit the most vicious powerbomb anyone had ever seen, knocking Kikkawa unconscious. Marat then started raining down punches from a mounted position, forcing the referee to call for the bell as Kikkawa was out cold and unable to defend himself. This was a massive shock, and not only made the previously unheard of Marat Khoklov into an overnight sensation, but also ensured that everyone was talking about the show the next day. In just six matches INSPIRE had made themselves a power player in Japan.
Death[]
At first using a hyper realistic style that was essentially 'worked MMA' and later a more balanced mix of puro and MMA, INSPIRE were always cutting edge but found themselves trapped between a rock and a hard place - MMA fans stuck with the giant ALPHA-1 organisation, wrestling fans stuck with the traditional BHOTWG and PGHW. As a result INSPIRE never caught on despite a lot of media interest, and the experiment was shut down in 2009.
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