About a month ago a friend messaged me to ask if I’d ever been to watch any fighting sports such as boxing, MMA or Pro-Wrestling. This wasn’t as random as it may sound as we often talk about events we’re planning to go to, and he is aware of my ever-growing portfolio of live sporting action. I subsequently went on a ticket site to see what sports tickets were available as I tend to do from time to time. Within about 5-10 minutes of reading my friend’s message, I had booked a ticket to see a sport I’d never seen before.

By luck, there was actually a four-day event taking place just a few days later. I originally thought it was at Yoyogi Gymnasium before realising a couple of days later when I got the ticket from the convenience store that it was actually at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium which was where I watched a karate tournament last year.

The 2024 Meiji Cup was a wrestling event but probably not the sort of thing you’re now thinking! This form of Olympic-style wrestling is quite far removed from the more popular WWE and Pro-Wrestling spectacles, as the focus is strictly on athletic competition, with no scripted elements or fake personas.

It turned out to be an eventful day, and I’m not just referring to the wrestling! Just as I was approaching the gymnasium (located across from Japan National Stadium) I felt my bicycle tyre go and within seconds it was completely flat. I parked my bike in the place I usually leave it when in this area and thought I’d just push it back and stop off at the first bicycle shop on the long walk home. I then realised it might be better to see where the nearest one was then and there. As it was, it was just a few minutes walk away and must have been pretty much right at the point where I got the puncture!

This particular area of Tokyo has a few sports complexes in close vicinity of each other. The National Stadium, Meiji Jingu Stadium and Chichibunomiya Rugby Ground are all located within a short walk of each other but there is another sporting venue which was used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium is situated on the border of Shibuya Ward which is across the road from Japan National Stadium. It’s from the 1950s and still looks futuristic today if not a bit worn down.

Starting to look a bit old and worn down…..as is the gymnasium!!

The days proceedings had begun at 9:30 am (the doors were open from 9:00 am) but I decided that seeing it from about 1:30 pm onwards would be more than enough to justify value for my 1000 yen ticket. Other than seeing a few Japanese female wrestlers in action on TV (Saori Yoshida won three consecutive Olympic gold medals between 2004 and 2012) in the last few Olympic events I had never really seen this sport.

The two disciplines being contested here are known as freestyle or Greco-Roman; the former allows the use of the wrestler’s entire body whilst the latter restricts athletes to using only their upper bodies and arms. Without knowledge beforehand though I doubt I’d instantly be able to notice which of these Olympic wrestling forms was taking place!

Other than a few notable exceptions, the atmosphere was generally as flat as my bicycle tyre! 2021 World Wrestling Championship silver medalist Rin Miyaji had a sizable fan base sat on the opposite side of the venue to me who cheered her on during her semi-final victory in the 68kg category.

At one stage of the afternoon, both mats were in use as two bouts took place simultaneously. As is usually the case for trying to watch more than one event, it was quite difficult to know which one to focus on.

A small congregation of people to my right were fully focused on one guy wrestling (Kirin Kinoshita???) on the B mat so I watched his match. Just before he was introduced to the crowd, these fans put on some red shirts and chanted to a rhythm with their air sticks for the whole time (two periods of three minutes) he was wrestling. Sadly for them, he lost and that was it. The air sticks were soon deflated and the tops were removed. Fans of other sports like football and rugby in Japan probably won’t be surprised by this as many locals do just put their replica shirt on for the time they’re inside the stadium! I have become that type of person too!!

All of this tournament was shown live on YouTube and having watched a little before going to the gymnasium, I knew where I could be seen. With a two minute delay it meant I could pose for the camera and then watch the coverage on my phone where moments later I’d appear!. This is the kind of fun I have when I’m on my own!!!

My original plan was to just watch 2-3 hours of action to satisfy my curiosity but I ended up staying till the end. As I’d made the effort, I thought I might as well see the Gold medal matches taking place from 4:00 pm onwards. If I’d known the schedule in advance, then I might have just turned up mid-afternoon.

As was the case at the karate in this same venue, the atmosphere, pace and action was ramped up a notch or two for the nine gold medal contests. Typically the three I was most interested in were the last ones so after watching the first three or four I decided to wander round the arena to sample the action from some different angles.

The three women I was vaguely aware of were Umi Ito (50kg), Naomi Ruike (65kg) and Rin Miyaji (68kg). The former was the 2023 Under 23’s World Championship gold medalist but she was outclassed by her opponent here.

Naomi Ruike, who won gold at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championship, was involved in the penultimate contest and it was a heartbreaking climax for her as defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory in the final second. Naturally, she walked off right in front of me feeling absolutelt dejected.

Rin Miyaji then lost her final match too meaning that all three females I’d stayed around for lost their finals! Whilst the entertainment may be a far cry from WWE, it is a more straightforward test of skill, strength and strategy and, as something of a sporting purist, the uncertainty of it all makes it a more interesting spectacle.

Click here to read ‘Cobra Kai Inspired Me To Go To A Real Karate Tournament But How Did Reality Compare With Fiction?’

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