(NOAH) A great veteran with a forty year industry history: Referee Akihiko Fukuda's story
BBM Sports/Yahoo.co.jp
"I borrowed the ring announcers microphone to play theme songs at the venue by putting it next to the cassette player at the head office's table"
Akihiko Fukuda, who will retire as a referee at Noah's Takasaki event on April 3rd, has supported the systems of All Japan and Noah in the field in the wrestling world for many years. He has an industry history of forty years, thirty-five of those years he has been a referee, and he has constantly judged more than one hundred matches a year.
We look back on the pro wrestling history in which Referee Fukuda's life has been spent.
Akihito Fukuda became interested in pro wrestling in Elementary School due to his fathers influence, and mainly watched All Japan. Overseas wrestlers where of particular interest and he was strongly influenced by watching the Funks vs The Sheik & Abdullah The Butcher in the final round of the Open Tag Championship in December 1977 on television at his grandfather's house. On reflection it is fate that he watched the debut match of Mitsuharu Misawa on August 21st 1981 at the parking lot in front of the main gate of Saitama Urawa Racecourse.
He has had forty years experienced in the industry since he from High School started helping as a member of All Japan's ring staff, which was centered on Referee Kyohei Wada and ring announcer Ryu Nakata. Generally speaking at that time, he was thinking of getting a job related to pro wrestling, so he did not do any job hunting. However, while living in Maebashi City, Gunma, he had a hard time travelling out to Tokyo, so after graduating from High School he entered a photography related vocational school and moved to Tokyo for the time being. The reason for choosing this course is that even if he could not work as ring staff, he tried to get involved in pro wrestling as a cameraman. In the end, Fukuda quit vocational school after about four months, and went on tour as ring crew in a part time job. It was the summer of 1982. There was a vacancy in January 1983, and he officially joined All Japan, entering the pro wrestling industry which he had always longed to do. He became a member of the "Royal Road", helping to put up the ring and working at the merchandise booth. He entered All Japan just after Toshiaki Kawada.
The next job he was given was audio. If it was a large venue than the NTV* staff did it, but other than that they had to do it themselves. If a venue had a broadcasting room, they could use the equipment, but the problem was an analog gymnasium where only one microphone was connected to the speakers in the hall.
"I borrowed the ring announcers microphone, and put it against the cassette player at the head official's table to play theme songs at the venue. But, since there was only one microphone, as soon as a wrestler enters I had to turn the sound down and hand over the microphone to the ring announcer in the ring. But Stan Hansen's theme song is short as a minute or so and so after one venue, he finally came out on the third time. Of course, as it was on cassette tape, I had to rewind it as soon as it finished. In my mind he should have come out much sooner" (laughs"
On March 31st 1987, immediately after the departure of Riki Choshu et al to Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan had had three referees up until then. Tiger Hattori left, leaving only Joe Higuchi and Kyohei Wada. Therein, Giant Baba asked him if he would like to be a referee.
"At that time, there were only big promotions sich as New Japan and All Japan, and wasn't there only pro wrestling referees like Kyohei-san, Hattori-san and Takahashi-san? I thought I couldn't do it, and so I declined. However, Kyohei-san told me to give it a go, and so I decided to prepare."
It's hard to imagine, but everything from the consultation to going to up to the ring, happened in one day, and it was in this way that Fukuda decided to referee for the first time at the Toyama/Uozu event. He had been watching pro wrestling for a long time and so he had a background in the industry as ring staff, as well as a knowledge of refereeing. He was told to try it on the day and made his debut during an actual match, but he was able to judge without any difficulty. However, the match ended in a time out draw, so he did not have to count a pin.
Truly carried out, the job of the referee is full of "difficult things". Before the opening, Fukuda practiced by judging young people having mock matches, and gained experience from receiving advice from his seniors in Higuchi and Wada. At the same time, he went to the dojo to cultivate his basic physical strength. Since that time he has judged All Japan and Noah matches to that day. His motto is to "Say the count loudly so that the customers can hear it, and not get in the way of the wrestlers and the cameramen".
But, living the life of a referee for more than a quarter of century cannot be said to be without injury. At the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium on October 11th 1989, Shinichi Nakano managed to get out of Masanobu Fuchi's cobra twist during the World Junior Challenger qualifying league match, and fell on his left foot. The impact injured a ligament, and although he managed to finish the match, he had to rest for nearly a month. In the fight between Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, he was hit bu their ring shoes and bled from his left eyelid. Even in Noah, Vader trod on his right foot, and he had a big bruise. He has also had dozens of dreams that its his turn to referee, but he has not finished changing clothes yet.
These were only temporary injuries, and he did suffer more serious ones. He was holding on to Daisuke Ikeda, who was struggling with Tamon Honda's Dead End* and was thrown in a triple German Suplex*. He smashed his back on the canvas and still suffers sequelae.
At the GHC Heavyweight championship, where Kensuke Sasaaki challenged the champion, Takeshi Morishima, at the Budokan on the 6th September 2008, Fukuda had injured his left ring finger while seeing up the ring two days before. The next day an examination at the hospital turned out to reveal a hairline fracture, and there was no substitute referee for Shu Nishinaga as the referee was absent. Fortunately he was able to use his right instead to take the count instead of the injured left hand. Fukuda refereed the main event without telling anyone of his injuries. His professional grit is just as good as a pro wrestlers. Even so, being able to continue working as a referee is nothing but the mysterious charm the ring has. It is difficult to explain it in words, but, "I'm addicted to it. It's the same as the wrestlers. I've had dozens of dreams that it's my turn to referee and I haven't finished changing into my clothes yet".
In forty years of life in the industry, there is an unforgettable day. June 13th 2009, Hiroshima. It was the day when Misawa, who he had been travelling all over the country with in the same promotions, died during an accident during the match*. After Noah's launch, Fukuda had been responsible for being Misawa's secretary for eight years. After Misawa, who collapsed during the main event, was taken to the hospital he was praying for his safety while dismantling the ring. During this time he was shocked to hear the death confirmed, while at the same time he felt disconsolate. After removing the ring, Fukuda went to the hospital and then returned to the hotel where he was staying, and took part in the general meeting. After it was decided to hold the Hakata event the next day, the hospital asked him if someone would stay with Misawa, and he went to the hospital again and spent the night in the intensive care unit where Misawa was resting. He says, "I had a lot of fun memories of 28 years". In the morning, he returned to the hotel as he was replaced by Mrs Misawa*, and others who had rushed from Tokyo, went to Hakata and made an effort to make the event a success. Since then, in addition to refereeing, Fukuda has played an important role behind the scenes on tour such as driving the Noah wrestler bus, operating the merchandise stands, and so on. Even when off tour, he works hard for Noah as he is busy with various office tasks.
Fukuda, a walking encyclopedia of Japanese wrestling, will retire from refereeing at Noah's Takashi G Messe Gunma event on April 3rd 2022. He will continue to be involved in Noah events and tours as a member of backstage staff such as driving the wrestler bus and setting up the ring, but he will not be refereeing. Engrave this last ring into your mind.
Translated from BBM Sports/Yahoo.co.jp
Picture credits: BBM Sports/Yahoo.co.jp
*NTV: Nippon Television
*Dead End: Suplexes
*Known as "Mount Bizan", whose peak forms a perfect arch which is the name given to this move as the opponent forms this arc. Ironically, the mountain is from Kenoh's home island of Shikoku.
*Although the catalyst was probably years of nasty bumps, Mitsuharu Misawa himself thought that his neck problems stemmed when he took a bump the wrong way during the match with Genichiro Tenryu in 2005. He writes in "Donmai Donmai" that he found it hard afterwards to walk to the showers, and washing his hair was difficult.
*Mayumi, who Misawa had met during the All Japan era. She presented him with flowers in the ring, and at a party afterwards he gave her his phone number.
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