May 8, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Backlash review, Sakuraba defeats Gracie, tons more

Mark Coleman was the big winner but Kazushi Sakuraba came out as the big hero in the highest profile MMA show in history on 5/1 at the Tokyo Dome.

Coleman defeated Akira Shoji, got what amounted to a forfeit win over New Japan’s Kazuyuki Fujita and became the first man in nearly five years to tap out Igor Vovchanchin, who went into the tournament as the top rated heavyweight in the world, before 38,000 fans (ticket prices ranged from $950 for ringside down to $57 for the upper deck so the gate was several million dollars). In doing so, Coleman became the only man who can truly have a legitimate claim to being the toughest all-around fighter on the planet and the first Pride world heavyweight champion, scoring a rare double since he was also a former UFC champion.

Sakuraba, a Japanese pro wrestler who started with the old UWFI promotion, went into the martial arts history books, gaining an untainted victory over Royce Gracie, who had never lost in MMA fighting and captured three of the first four UFC tournaments in 1993 and 1994 establishing himself as the pioneer and first legend of the sport.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.