|
by
Les Honig
Many would say that the most impressive wrestlers of the modern era create a persona that is larger than life and for exceptional 28 year-old Ultimate U trainee, Mark Fujita, such a description would hit a definitely responsive chord.
This American of Japanese descent, who moved to the States with his family at age 2, is also a gifted illustrator, and has spent much of his life admiring the superheroes found in the pages of many comic books; particularly those most prominent in the Land of the Rising Sun.
“My parents always wanted to keep my appreciation of my culture an active part of my life so after turning 7, my dad took me with him on a trip to Japan. Unsure of my new surroundings I became a bit rowdy and he found that one thing that would really calm me down were Japanese comics.”
Particularly fond of one called Kinnikuman, which also was a successful televised animated series, Mark’s love for the bizarre hard-edged action-packed stories only grew but found a different mode of expression when he also was introduced to American pro wrestling of the mid-80s.
Returned back home to the San Francisco Bay Area, he became pals with an elementary school buddy who was a big-time WWE fan and superheroes like Hulk Hogan and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat soon also made him a devotee of that growing sport too.
Such interest did wane, however, for a long period of time as Fujita’s folks decided he needed a source of physical conditioning and enrolled the then 12 year-old in judo classes. A successful student of that ancient discipline, Mark continued his studies for a decade, participating in various tournaments in the San Jose area close by his home. He also complemented such activities with a successful high school amateur wrestling career, eventually becoming captain of his school’s team by senior year. Along with these positive athletic activities continued Mark’s passion for cartoons, comics and above all art; as he developed into a talented artist as well.
One of the consequences, however, of the gifted athlete’s involvement with martial arts and grappling was a falling out of love with his childhood professional wrestling passion. “I developed a snobbery that many serious competitors do, considering it to be beneath me. I didn’t understand at the time that it too, is a serious art form.”
It was a new developing appreciation of the artistic side of sports entertainment that was to draw Fujita back to his childhood fan-aticism when after growing tired of judo and abandoning it, a college friend told him about the new excitement he was now re-discovering with weekly WWF television.
Turning on the shows again himself, he was immediately smitten by talents like the Rock and Mick Foley whose performance skills and creation of large character panoramic self-portraits seemed absolutely amazing.
“I became enthralled because it was not only athletic but I saw also saw them doing all these wild moves while totally commanding the audiences on the mike. It was like a whole new creative form combining art with athletics; paralleling much of my own activities through life.”
After reading Mick Foley’s autobiography where the now-retired superstar mentioned that he had himself wrestled on his high school team and then coming across an article by Lita where she described her own involvement earlier with judo, Mark began to put the pieces together and determined that his own involvement on the pro mat might be just the recipe for him to get back into shape while becoming part of something that might prove to be a tremendous amount of fun as well.
Seeking out local schools in his Northern California area, Mark settled upon the House of Wrestling run by promoter Kirk White and immediately enrolled in what was to become more than a four-year successful training/competing run.
“The fed was Big Time Wrestling and my teacher was Jason Styles. He immediately was surprised by the speed and ease with which I mastered the first moves he taught me; the roll and the back bump. Usually new students would take a whole first class to learn those two basic maneuvers but I got them right away. In judo I had been exposed to rolling and bumping all the time so all that was second nature to me.”
Going on to debut within several months for the fed and soon teaming up with a fellow student going under the French Napoleonic gimmick of The Emperor, Mark’s So-Cal connection was soon to appear via our own Ballard Brothers, who had hooked up with BTW were making a number of trips up North to the Fremont area (where the company was based) to compete. As luck would have it, promoter White set up an ongoing series of matches which allowed Mark to get to know the highly accomplished Canadian team even better.
Continuing with regular jobs that he hoped to help him land an eventual comic illustrator’s position, another beneficial moment came when after being offered an Japanese animation internship in the Los Angeles area, Mark was forced to make a move down to our region and discovered that the Ballards were actual instructors at Southern California’s premiere indy promotion, UPW.
“They invited me to check out Ultimate University and I thought it was a great idea.” Beginning new training in early January, Fujita has spent the last eight months perfecting the skills he learned earlier at his No-Cal wrestling training venue. Already with a developed semi-comedic Asian character used in his other fed; a guy that he calls Hop Sing Lee, “an Asian stereotype with the white collared shirt, black slacks, a ‘happy’ coat and a bandana with a rising sun on it”, Mark hopes to either market that persona again or develop a whole new image for another larger than life mat creation.
More than anything, however, he has immensely enjoyed the experience of learning under his two instructors, (once ring rivals), who he describes as “awesome teachers”. He hopes to soon prove them proud by not only stepping out of the training ring and competing here at major venues but also eventually testing his talents in some future Asian mega-arenas.
With so much ring experience under his belt already and a thirst to build upon his basic ring knowledge, one can only expect great things from the subject of this month’s Student Spotlight, Mark Fujita, and we wish him only our best in all he strives to do to make our sport even greater.
|
