Rikki and company electrify crowd

Saipan was treated to an early Christmas present as the Clash of the Tropical Storm brought professional wrestling to the island with all its trimmings Saturday in Marpi.

All the pizzazz and flair of the sport was in full display that evening—from the completely transformed Kan Pacific Baseball Field, to the splendid costumes of the wrestlers, to the gruesome ballet they performed on the ring, to the brilliant fireworks display that ushered in the main event.

Chosyu Rikki and his band of professional wrestlers from Japan didn’t disappoint as the more than 1,000 people that paid as much as $35 to watch the spectacle were often on the edge of their seats and even braved brief showers just to see the performance.

Rikki as expected saw action in the main event—a three-man tag team fight that literally brought the house down.

First inside the ring were the challengers dubbed Appachi, made up of Kuroda Tetshuhiro, Bad Boy Hido, and Sasaki Takashi.

Rikki and the rest of the Revolution Warriors—Ishii Tomohiro and Aoyagi Masashi—then came up from the ramp and unto the ring amidst cheers and a brilliant fireworks display, which smoke brought an illusion of fog into the entire venue.

The announcers were not finished identifying the protagonists when two Appachi wrestlers jumped on Rikki and began to pummel him in the corner, as mayhem enveloped the ring.

It took about a couple of minutes before order was restored and Revolution Warriors and Appachi members proceeded to fight mano y mano with a splattering of illegal tags and double-team efforts along the way.

Tomohiro carried most of the fight for Revolution Warriors but Rikki and Masashi did wield their trademark moves on the mat. Rikki showed off his Scorpion Deathlock to the delight of the crowd, while Masashi displayed his arsenal of deadly kicks against the Appachi.

The fight ended with Revolution Warriors winning after Tomohiro pinned an Appachi wrestler.

Five equally entertaining fights preceded the main event. First in the undercard was the match between two German suflex-hold experts—Sekimoto Daisuke and Uwano Takashi.

As expected both wrestlers tried to out-suflex each other. Takashi came close to holding down Daisuke early in the fight but the former persevered and pulled off the win, following a double-kick from the top of the ringside pinned the latter for the coveted three count.

Asian Kuger and Miyawaki came next and the two behemoths entertained the audience with a combination of slapstick comedy and deft wrestling maneuvers.

Miyawaki played dirty most of the match and at one instance tried to unmask Asian Kuger. He even shouted to the crowd that he “wanted to see.” But in the end, Kuger thought Miyawaki a neat lesson in fair play, perfectly executing a reverse pin move to win the match.

The third undercard pitted King Adamo against Todd Shane. In one of the most entertaining fights of the evening, King Adamo quickly won the adoration of the crowd with his roly-poly disposition and Three Stooges antics.

For the most part, King Adamo appeared disinterested with the fight and once even uttered, “I’m hungry,” which seemed to justify Shane’s early move to keep his distance away from the 350-pounder.

When Shane finally engaged the big Samoan, he managed to get his attention with a couple of karate chops to King Adamo’s chest. Several minutes of close contact wrestling ensued with both getting their licks on the other. King Adamo eventually won the fight, literally throwing his weight around to pin Shane.

Shane’s twin brother Mike went up against blonde bomber Yaguchi Ichiro in the fourth fight. It was a bloody encounter to say the least with Ichiro’s flowing locks turning crimson following several brutal punches from Mike, who in the end would make it 1-1 for the Shane family that evening.

Ichiro and Mike transformed the use of foreign objects into an art form with both of them taking hold of metal folding chairs and even the announcer’s table to bludgeon each other.

The last undercard and penultimate fight of the evening had Koshinaka Shiro and Gentaro square it off. Gentaro immediately got the crowd going with his Power Ranger pink pants. Shiro, meanwhile, gave them something to think about when he battered Gentaro with his Hip Attack moves.

Gentaro dominated the match and appeared headed to victory when Shiro caught him climbing the corner post and then slammed him hard to the floor that put the period to the match.