was a Japanese

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

ist and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, best known for his time with

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their ...

(FMW) between 1990 and 1995. He was usually utilized in martial arts fights during his FMW career and won the promotion's

World Light Heavyweight Championship The World Light Heavyweight Championship was the first recognized professional wrestling world light heavyweight championship created in 1905 Title history See also *World Light Heavyweight Championship (Australian version) The World Light ...

three times ''Three Times'' ( Chinese: 最好的時光; ''Zuìhǎo de shíguāng''; lit. 'Best of Times') is a 2005 Taiwanese film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. It consists of three separate stories of romance, set in different eras, using the same lead actors ...

. He was also a bodyguard for

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing Japan to the deathmatch style of professional wrestling. He founded ...

Professional wrestling career

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling

World Light Heavyweight Champion (1990–1992)

Trained and skilled in martial arts and kickboxing, Katsuji Ueda was brought into

(FMW) by

, who created the promotion to prove that professional wrestling was better than martial arts and held many fights between wrestlers and martial artists. Ueda's first professional wrestling match in FMW took place in the Battle Resistance Tournament on January 7, 1990, where he lost to Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in the opening round. Initially a

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

, Ueda headlined the July 16 show against company's top star Atsushi Onita in a martial arts match, which FMW dubbed "different style fight". At Summer Spectacular in Shiodome, Ueda teamed with

Mr. Pogo was a Japanese professional wrestler best known for his work under the ring name . He helped popularize hardcore wrestling in the 1990s with "death matches" in promotions such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, W*ING and Big Japan Pro Wrestlin ...

and

Ricky Fuji Ricky may refer to: Places *Říčky (Brno-Country District), a village and municipality in the Czech Republic *Říčky v Orlických horách, a village in the north of the Czech Republic *Rickmansworth, a town in England sometimes called "Ricky" ...

to defeat the team of Kim Hyun Han, Lee Gak-soo and Sambo Asako. He scored a major victory over

Tarzan Goto , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled on the independent circuit most of his career. He is best known for his exploding steel cage matches against Atsushi Onita in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ( ...

on August 25. On September 25, Ueda defeated The Shooter, Ricky Fuji and Jimmy Backlund to win a tournament for the vacant

AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship The AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was a title in the American Wrestling Association from 1981 until it closed in 1991. In 1988 Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling claimed that Jim Backlund won the championship, something not officially ackn ...

. This began a

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

with Backlund, which culminated in a mixed fight at the 1st Anniversary Show. Ueda turned fan favorite and joined forces with Atsushi Onita on the FMW team. On August 31, 1991, Ueda knocked out

Mark Starr Mark Ashford-Smith (December 26, 1962 – June 7, 2013) was an English professional wrestler best known by his ring name Mark Starr. He competed as a member of several tag teams. Wrestling career Continental Wrestling Association (1986–198 ...

to win his second FMW World Light Heavyweight Championship. The following month, Ueda lost a mixed style fight to former WWA World Martial Arts Heavyweight Champion

Grigory Verichev Grigory Vladimirovich Verichev (russian: Григорий владимирович Веричев; April 4, 1957 – May 25, 2006) was a Russia, Russian judoka who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1988 Summer Olympics. In 1988 he won th ...

via knockout at 2nd Anniversary Show. Ueda would then enter the World's Strongest Tag Team Tournament with Calypso Jim for the newly created WWA World Martial Arts Tag Team Championship, in which their team scored only three points. Ueda successfully defended his World Light Heavyweight Championship against The Shooter on February 8, 1992. On March 23, Ueda lost the title to

Dr. Luther Len Olson (born October 30, 1968), better known by the ring names Dr. Luther or simply Luther, is a Canadian professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling, where he is also a producer. He is also known for his appeara ...

. Ueda regained the title by defeating Luther for his third WWA World Martial Arts Junior Heavyweight Championship on September 7. This would be the last match of the title as it would be retired in 1993. Ueda would lose a different style fight to Loc Matrere at 3rd Anniversary Show.

Different style fights (1993–1995)

Ueda became a major fixture on FMW's mid-card and he was usually utilized for different style fights against various professional wrestlers, kickboxers and martial artists but FMW began phasing away the martial arts style in 1993 and mainly focused on the deathmatch wrestling style and Ueda was restricted to mainly different style fights in the mid-card. At 4th Anniversary Show, Ueda teamed with

and The Great Punk against Team Canada's

Big Titan Richard Bognar (January 16, 1970 – September 20, 2019) was a Canadian professional wrestler, actor, and motivational speaker, best known as the "fake" Razor Ramon who debuted in the World Wrestling Federation alongside the "fake" Diesel in a s ...

and

The Gladiator ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

in a captain's fall losing captain leaves town no rope barbed wire tornado street fight deathmatch. At Summer Spectacular, Ueda got a knockout win over former boxing heavyweight champion and former WWA World Martial Arts Heavyweight Champion

Leon Spinks Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

in a different style fight. At Year End Spectacular, the kickboxer Ueda teamed with former

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

and former sambo fighter Sambo Asako against the team of Big Titan, Ricky Fuji and The Gladiator in a street fight. Ueda continued to perform in the mid-card, usually getting wins over lower and lesser-known talent. He knocked out Katsutoshi Niiyama in a different style fight at 5th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1994. He continued to perform in FMW's mid-card for the next one year. His last major different style fight took place at the 6th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1995, in which he knocked out

Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's cl ...

. His last match was a loss to Katsutoshi Niiyama on June 27.

Independent circuit (1998–2016)

Katsuji Ueda retired from active competition after quitting FMW and competed occasionally. He returned to wrestling after three years on January 18, 1998 by losing to

George Takano , born June 23, 1958, is an American-Japanese retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler better known under the ring name . He was also billed from Uganda under the alias The Cobra, a Lucha libre#Masks, masked wrestler Glossary of prof ...

for a

Tokyo Pro Wrestling Tokyo Pro Wrestling is the name of two unrelated Japanese professional wrestling promotions. Despite their common name, they did not share management, promotional style, or talent in any way. Original Tokyo Pro Wrestling The original Tokyo Pro W ...

show. He would then work for

's promoted shows between 1998 and 2002. On November 23, 2004, Ueda appeared for a

Pro Wrestling Zero-One (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wrest ...

event, where he teamed with Koji Ishinnki to defeat Rikiya Fudo and Shinsuke Z Yamagasa in a tag team match. On March 14, 2016, Ueda defeated The Shooter in a mixed martial arts match at an Atsushi Onita–promoted show. He then competed in two matches for Cho Sento Puroresu FMW.

Death

Ueda died from a heart attack on April 20, 2017. He was 71 years old.

Championships and accomplishments

** AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship / FMW World Light Heavyweight Championship / WWA World Martial Arts Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 3 times) ** AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship Tournament (1990)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ueda, Katsuji 1945 births 2017 deaths Japanese male kickboxers Japanese male professional wrestlers 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers AWA World Light Heavyweight Champions