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| FSM31 Page 62: Review - K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!! |
Sid Maxell |
DVD review:
K-1 PREMIUM 2006 DYNAMITE!!
DVD Region - Region 0
Distributor - Beatdown DVD
Price - £17.99
Release - Out now
Other info - Cert Exempt, 177 mins
Weblink - www.beatdown.com
You know the score with Japanese MMA, especially on New Year’s Eve: freak shows, mismatches and plenty of star power. There’s nothing that sums this up better than the fact that Dynamite!!’s submission of the night went to Giant frigging Silva – the Great Khali of MMA. When the other highlights are a superstar retiring and a legend being cheated out of victory in the main event, this show resembles the style-over-substance WrestleMania experience more and more every year.
It’s The Great Khali versus The Big Show – only without the workrate.
“The Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba – the man who built Pride – was the latest victim of uber-heel Yoshihiro Akiyama’s cheating ways. He lost a lopsided fight when Akiyama – who had greased his legs so that he couldn’t be taken down by Saku’s patented single-leg – grounded and pounded his face into the mat while the legend screamed bloody murder to the referee.
While the cheating Judoka walked away with the win that night, a huge investigation followed (see issue 11) that saw the decision overruled, Akiyama suspended for ten months and his purse withheld. And yet, two-and-a-half years later, no mention is made of that fact on the DVD – the show ends with Akiyama’s post-match promo, talking about the strength of his Judo, and if you didn’t read a mag like FSM you’d have no idea what really went down.
After coming to the ring accompanied (as always) by 40 fully-costumed dancers, body-popping submission wizard Genki Sudo made short work of American Jackson Page. He then shocked the industry by immediately announcing his retirement (prompted by a urinal sign reading “One Step Forward”), going out on top and in style, in a fitting end to his sensational career.
Genki’s entrances are the best in the business.
Kid Yamamoto, perhaps the best lightweight in the world, was matched against Olympic wrestling gold medallist Istvan Majoros in what can only be described as “spectacle”. Which is also an accurate description of the aforementioned Giant Silva match, as the talentless seven-footer somehow subbed the 500-pound Akebono with a Kimura. It was such a freak ending to such a freak show that it was tremendously entertaining.
Another giant, the 7’2” Hong-man Choi (who came to the ring rapping his new song surrounded by a squad of cheerleaders) was the focus of another freak fight, facing Nigerian TV personality Bobby Ologun. Let’s just say that it didn’t last long and you can probably guess who came out the worse for wear.
Elsewhere, the Gracie family was further exposed as former janitor Hideo Tokoro nearly tapped Royler; Taiei Kin became the latest fighter to slaughter New Japan’s Kendo Ka Shin; and a spectacular knockout ended Shuichiro Katsumura’s fight with Katsuhiko Nagata, as an attempted flying knee was wiped out in mid-air by an amazing counterpunch.
With maximum freak show factor and Genki’s emotional retirement, this is a pretty enjoyable show (albeit completely insulting to purists). However, it’s utterly unforgivable that no mention is made of the true outcome of the Sakuraba fight – for shame, K-1.
SID MAXELL
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