Review of "PRIDE FC: Shockwave 2005"

Introduction
We go just a little back in time here, with the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships promotion, to look at Shockwave 2005, the company's annual New Year's Eve spectacular.

Fight sports have become somewhat of a New Year's Eve viewing tradition in Japan, after the tremendous success of PRIDE, K-1, and Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye shows in 2002. That's in spite of the fact that the NHK concert had been a years-long tradition on the same date in Japan. And in 2005, with PRIDE running Shockwave, and K-1 also promoting their own event, the concert - which is Japan's biggest television tradition - drew the second worst TV rating in its 56-year history.

The main event that caused the stir at Shockwave was the battle of the Judo Olympic medallists, as Hidehiko Yoshida faced Naoya Ogawa. But also on the loaded show was Wanderlei Silva vs Ricardo Arona, Mirko CroCop vs Mark Hunt, and Kazushi Sakuraba vs Ikuhisa Minowa.

Shockwave took place on 31st December 2005, from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Video
Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent for a DVD of this genre.

In comparison to UFC, PRIDE is almost the WWE of mixed martial arts, incorporating lots of visual effects to wrestler entrances, to make the show seem all the more spectacular. That's certainly the case here, with a huge stage set-up, and liberal use of laser effects.

More importantly than that, though, the ring is always very well lit, meaning that the action is easily to follow at all times.

The transfer to DVD is also very good, with only minor digital artefacts noticeable on occasions.





Audio
Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good for a DVD of this genre. Everything is well-mixed, so that in-ring action, as well as commentary (provided by Mauro Ranallo and Frank Trigg) can be easily heard at all times.





Extras
There are no extras on this disc.





Overall
The first thing that is noticeable about the DVD version of this event, is that the match order has been switched around somewhat, meaning that the evening's main event of Yoshida vs Ogawa actually appears here half-way through the show. That is consistent with how the event was aired on tape-delayed American PPV, although all of the matches here are shown in full, unlike on that broadcast.

In any case, this mammoth four-hour, two-disc set began with a good, fast-paced contest in which the rather unique Charles Bennett faced Ken Kaneko. Then, in what was a tight, technical match, Yuki Kondo battled against Kazuhiro Nakamura. The fans in attendance at the Saitama Super Arena were rather unhappy with the eventual outcome.

Rochdale's own James Thompson then brought his own inimitable style to Japan, facing the incredibly awkward Giant Silva. This was far from a great bout, but everyone live in the arena seemed to quite enjoy seeing two huge men go after the other.

Much more was expected, than actually delivered, in the next bout, as submission wrestling champion Sanae Kikuta faced 2000 Olympic Judo gold medallist Makoto Takimoto. The fact that the latter received a yellow card for stalling, tells the story.

The Emelianenko brothers took part in matches five and six, as younger sibling Alexander faced Pawel Nastula, and Heavyweight champion Fedor fought Zuluzinho. Considering their reputations, the brothers' roles were reversed here, with the former bout being much better than the latter. Mind you, it would have helped to have matched Fedor with a worthy opponent.

Then came the evening's main event, shovelled into a position at the end of Disc One. The match of the Olympian judokas was unsurprisingly short, given the difference in experience between Hidehiko Yoshida and Naoya Ogawa. It was also rather anticlimactic, but that's no excuse for the serious editing that was enforced here.

In the final of the Welterweight Title tournament, Dan Henderson faced Murilo Bustamante in another fight that really didn't live up to its billing, but at least the Lightweight tournament final, which matched Takanori Gomi and Hayoto Sakurai, was very exciting while it lasted.

The reaction to the entrances of Kazushi Sakuraba and opponent Ikuhisa Minowa were nothing short of incredible in the next bout, but once the bell rang, it was obvious that Sakuraba really wasn't the fighter of old, stalling on the ground in a manner that belied his skill. The proceeding bout between former kickboxing foes Mirko CroCop and Mark Hunt was better, if only to see Hunt performing miracles in going toe-to-toe with the "Croation Sensation".

The DVD's main event penultimate Wanderlei Silva vs Ricardo Arona bout, for the Middleweight Title, was a fine contest, made all the more interesting by the intense feud that the two Brazilian fighters enjoy. This was a rematch from a rare loss for Silva four months previously.





Overall, Shockwave 2005 was an event that really didn't live up to its billing. Sure, it felt like the biggest show of the year, but there were no bouts here that were contenders for Match of the Year honours. Perhaps the stage was set for star-power over match quality, when Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko was matched with the ridiculous Zuluzinho.

That said, the bouts for the Lightweight and Middleweight titles are both very much worth watching. If you are more of a PRIDE fan, than a UFC fan, you'll likely want to pick this one up.