Akihisa Mera

September 08, 1948

Akihisa Mera, better known as The Great Kabuki, is a Japanese professional wrestler. He was famous for being the first to blow "Asian mist" in his opponents' faces. Mera was born on September 8, 1948 in Nobeoka, Japan. He started wrestling in 1964 at the age of 16 for the Japanese Wrestling Association. He left Japan to compete in the United States in the 1970s. From there he wrestled all over the world, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, several territories of the National Wrestling Alliance including Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-South Wrestling, Mid-Southern Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling under the name Akihisa Takachihō. He also used the name Yoshino Sato (with authorization from his mentor the original Yoshinosato, former sumotori Junzo Hasegawa, who lead JWA during its dying days), which was later shortened to Mr. Sato (not to be confused with Akio Sato, who later used the moniker in other U.S. territories). Mera adopted the Great Kabuki persona in World Class in 1981. The character was created by Gary Hart, based on an old gimmick used by Filipino wrestler Rey Urbano, a former partner of Hasegawa's in the U.S. Kabuki kept his hair in a mop cut which kept his facial features mostly hidden; he also painted his face. Hart explained that his face was scarred in a bed of hot coals during a match with Tiger Jeet Singh in Singapore. He was most often a heel and was managed by most of the top heel managers of the 1970s and early 1980s. When he was a baby-face, he was very unpredictable and could turn at any time, making him somewhat of an anti-hero, or tweener. Kabuki had a pre-match ritual of showing his skills with the nunchaku that intimidated most opponents. In WCCW, he joined H & H Limited while managed by Arman Hussein and Gary Hart and tagged with masked wrestler Magic Dragon while building on his singles work. After an injury in 1983, he joined Skandor Akbar's Devastation Inc.