Earthquake vs. Kitao

[BlackoutCreature]

So recently I obtained some DVD's of old SWS shows, most co-promoted events with the WWF. One of those shows included a 1991 match between John "Earthquake" Tenta and Koji Kitao (for those not familiar with Japanese wrestling he was the guy who teamed with Tenryu against Demolition at WrestleMania VII). This match is somewhat infamous, I'd heard of it before but never seen it. I imagine it was something of a dream match at the time for Japanese fans considering both guys legit sumo backgrounds. For those that don't know early in the match Kitao decides to go into business for himself and makes an attempt to, it looks like, break Earthquake's arm. Quakster gets out of it with a back hand to Kitao's face, they exchange a few shoot shots, Kitao tries a few low kicks to Earthquake's legs that Tenta shakes off and after a prolonged stare down a very angry Earthquake finally gets Kitao to back down. Kitao follows this up by randomly kicking the referee giving everybody an excuse to end the match, giving the win to Quake by DQ. Post match Kitao goes nuts and starts calling the fans idiots over the house mic. I believe he was blackballed from the business after that.

So I was just wondering if anybody has any more info on this situation or maybe if John Tenta might've talked about the whole incident before his death? I'm just curious if there's any more background on it. Did Kitao have a legit beef with Tenta over something or was he just looking to make a name for himself? What was the response to all this backstage by the WWF guys? Anything at all that anybody might know.

[dbostick]

All I know is that Kitao said roughly after their "match" that he was a "monkey in this fake business."

[Spider2024]

I remember seeing this showcased on Botchamania 62. It doesn't give much explanation, just shows Quake and Kitao and some rough, very uncoordinated fighting, but mostly circling the ring. Then they show Kitao's DQ and grabbing the mic. BM translates his words, roughly, as calling Quake "a monkey in this fake wrestling business." Watching it again, it does look like Kitao is trying to grab Quake's arm.

[Super Weak Machine]

Essentially Kitao was an ass. Being a former yokozuna (and pet project of Tenryu), he never trained, thinking his status put him above the other workers, which made him sloppy and dangerous. Needless to say, the guys in the locker room hated him. He had a particular dislike for Tenta simply because he outranked Tenta in sumo.

A couple of days earlier Tenta had gone over clean, but now Kitao didn't want to do the job again. Before the show, Kabuki took Tenta aside and told him not to put up with Kitao's crap if he tried anything (and he did.) Kitao was used to half-assing it and using his position to bully people, but suddenly he didn't like it when he was in there with someone who could stand up to him. They were all too eager to fire him after that.

Legend has it that Hogan and Bret (and possibly Savage) were ready to back up Tenta if anything serious went down, but that part's a little more fuzzy.

[sdoyle7798]

I bet if you search the Tenta archive on here, you could find something.

I seem to remember him posting about it.

EDIT: Scratch that. I just did a search, and he only mentioned it as his shoot with Kitao when someone asks about an argument he had in the ring. He never went into detail.

[jason1980s]

Too bad it didn't happen before the wrestlemania match and we wouldn't have had to see such a downfall to Demolition, even if it was the new version.

[Deleted]

Kitao wasn't blacklisted for this. According to Wikipedia, he was fired for this one, and left for a little while to start an MMA career, but came back and was doing both (though I think he focused more on MMA). Tenryu hired him for one of his groups a few years later also.

[BlackoutCreature]

May 9, 2013 7:18:14 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Too bad it didn't happen before the wrestlemania match and we wouldn't have had to see such a downfall to Demolition, even if it was the new version.

Somewhat unrelated, but on another one of those SWS shows I had featured Demolition (Smash and Crush version) defeating the Takano Brothers. I'm not too familiar with Japanese wrestling and don't know much about the Takano's, but based on how they were being used on the shows I got the impression they were a pretty big deal in SWS. Kinda surprised to see them job to a WWF tag team that was pretty much on its last legs like Demolition. In fact in most of the WWF wrestler vs. SWS wrestler matches, I think the WWF guys went over about 9 out of 10 times. Not something I could see happening if they were having those shows in the US. Then again I'm only about halfway through the set so maybe this changes.

[celticjobber]

May 9, 2013 15:05:58 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Kitao wasn't blacklisted for this. According to Wikipedia, he was fired for this one, and left for a little while to start an MMA career, but came back and was doing both (though I think he focused more on MMA). Tenryu hired him for one of his groups a few years later also.

Yeah, Kitao even had another match with Tenta in 1996:

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Remember the Big Japan "W*ING Crisis Big Born Death Match"? That huge 8-man tag team deathmatch that had EVERYTHING that Big Japan had used up to that point? (Specifically, May 1st, 1998)

Koji Kitao was in the match before the main event, a WAR vs. Big Japan 8-man tag match.

That's the only other match I've seen him in...

[MolotovMocktail]

May 9, 2013 7:18:14 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Too bad it didn't happen before the wrestlemania match and we wouldn't have had to see such a downfall to Demolition, even if it was the new version.

Didn't he piss off pretty much everyone in the locker room at Wrestlemania, and that's why he and Tenryu were never seen again (aside from two Rumble appearances from Tenryu)?

[EyeofTyr]

May 13, 2013 1:28:22 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

May 9, 2013 7:18:14 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Too bad it didn't happen before the wrestlemania match and we wouldn't have had to see such a downfall to Demolition, even if it was the new version.

Didn't he piss off pretty much everyone in the locker room at Wrestlemania, and that's why he and Tenryu were never seen again (aside from two Rumble appearances from Tenryu)?

Yup. Literally everywhere Kitao went, he tried to throw his weight around and usually didn't last very long at, burning his bridges. More often than not because he'd come across someone like Tenta, who wouldn't put up with his crap.

I forget who exactly, but I remember an infamous incident later in his career that pretty much ended it in a major way. He was in there with somebody and they pretty much wrecked his shit.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

May 13, 2013 19:19:34 GMT -5 EyeofTyr said:

Yup. Literally everywhere Kitao went, he tried to throw his weight around and usually didn't last very long at, burning his bridges. More often than not because he'd come across someone like Tenta, who wouldn't put up with his crap.

I forget who exactly, but I remember an infamous incident later in his career that pretty much ended it in a major way. He was in there with somebody and they pretty much wrecked his shit.

Possibly Nobuhiko Takada? There's a snippet of video of Takada KO-ing Kitao with a kick to the face during a UWFi match.

I read his Wiki page, and it sounds like he behaved the same way during his sumo career...

[EyeofTyr]

May 13, 2013 22:08:16 GMT -5 El Pollo Guerrera said:

May 13, 2013 19:19:34 GMT -5 EyeofTyr said:

Yup. Literally everywhere Kitao went, he tried to throw his weight around and usually didn't last very long at, burning his bridges. More often than not because he'd come across someone like Tenta, who wouldn't put up with his crap.

I forget who exactly, but I remember an infamous incident later in his career that pretty much ended it in a major way. He was in there with somebody and they pretty much wrecked his shit.

Possibly Nobuhiko Takada? There's a snippet of video of Takada KO-ing Kitao with a kick to the face during a UWFi match.

I read his Wiki page, and it sounds like he behaved the same way during his sumo career...

Hm, must've been blurring two incidents together. Because I remember another one but that is definitely partially what I was remembering. Good find.

Yeah, by all account he led a similar life in his sumo career and why he left that. And, supposedly he was black balled by alot of MMA promotions for similar behavior.

[CMWaters]

Wow, Fred was a real jerk.

[Yes, I just posted here to make that reference.]