Great Kabuki - Professional Wrestling Career

Professional Wrestling Career

Akihisa Mera was born on September 8, 1948 in Nobeoka, Japan. He started wrestling in 1964 at the age of 16 for the Japanese Wrestling Association. He left Japan to compete in the United States in the 1970s. From there he wrestled all over the world, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, several territories of the National Wrestling Alliance including Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-South Wrestling, Mid-Southern Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling under the name Akihisa Takachihō.

Mera adopted the Great Kabuki persona in Southwest Championship Wrestling in the late 1970s. The character was created by Gary Hart. Kabuki kept his hair in a mop cut which kept his facial features mostly hidden; he also painted his face. The storyline went that his face was scarred in a bed of hot coals during his childhood. He was managed by most of the top heel managers of the 1970s and early 1980s, and he most often was a heel. When he was a baby-face, he was very unpredictable and could turn at any time. Kabuki had a pre-match ritual of showing his skills with the nunchaku that intimidated most opponents.

He was the first wrestler to blow Asian mist into his opponents' faces. When Keiji Mutoh debuted in Jim Crockett Promotions as The Great Muta in March 1989, Mutoh was billed as Kabuki's son due to the similarities in style and the blowing of the mist. In reality they are not related, but did team under masks as "The Rising Suns" under the management of James J. Dillon in Crockett.

Some of his feuds were against Jimmy Valiant, Scott Casey, Abdullah the Butcher, Dusty Rhodes, Toshiaki Kawada, Chris Adams, Genichiro Tenryu, Bruiser Brody, and the Fabulous Freebirds. Kabuki's battles against Adams was billed as the battle of the superkicks, as ring announcer Bill Mercer often asked which kick was better: Adams' superkick or Kabuki's thrust kick.

In July 1990, he won the AJPW Double Cup tag-team title with Jumbo Tsuruta, but within days, he joined Tenryu in creating the Super World of Sports promotion. In 1992, he joined New Japan Pro Wrestling's Heisei Ishingun, until leaving in 1996. From there he went on to be one of the co-founders of IWA Japan.

He participated in one World Wrestling Federation match in 1994: the Royal Rumble where he was eliminated by Lex Luger. after he helped take out The Undertaker in the previous match of the night.

Kabuki would sometimes be done in the early 80s by another wrestler, Magic Dragon(Masked Wrestler who teamed with Kabuki in WCCW). No one would be able to tell the difference when it was done too. This would mainly happen in Japan, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, and in Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1981-84. It was also done mainly because of Gary Hart's commitments to a Promotion that he and the real Kabuki that would not want them leaving to work elsewhere do to there drawing power. Gary Hart would create this as a deal to other Promoters that also wanted Kabuki for a show that they would be doing. Magic Dragon as Kabuki would always be without Gary Hart and would do it that way until his death in 1987.

Kabuki retired in 1998. He had a series of retirement matches. On July 20, he would main event at the Tokyo Korakuen Hall in IWA Japan by teaming up with Kendo Nagasaki to wrestle Keisuke Yamada and Shigeo Okumura; his last bout in the independent circuit. On August 8 he teamed up with The Great Muta to defeat Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto for New Japan Pro Wrestling, one of the major Japanese circuits. (Giant Baba would not let him retire in All Japan Pro Wrestling due to his jump to SWS.) September 7 was the grand finale for Kabuki, as he teamed up with Terry Funk and Doug Gilbert to defeat Freddy Kruger, Leatherface, and Metalface - symbolically his last match involving foreign wrestlers.

Akihisa appeared in a band's music video "The Emeralds" under his Great Kabuki gimmick.