Akihisa Mera was born on
September 8, 1948 in
Nobeoka, Japan. He started wrestling in
1964 for the old
Japanese Wrestling Association but soon left Japan to compete in the
United States. 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. He originally used the name
Akihisa Takachihō, but adopted the Great Kabuki persona in Southwest Championship Wrestling in the late 1970s.
Mera, as the Great Kabuki, kept his hair in a mop cut which kept his facial features mostly hidden; he also painted his face. The storyline went that his face was scarred in a bed of hot coals during a match in Japan, and therefore kept his hair long and face painted to cover the deep scarring.
He was managed by most of the top heel managers of the 1970s and early 1980s, and he was most often a heel. When he was a baby-face, he was very unpredictable and could turn at any time.
He was the first wrestler to blow
asian mist into his opponents faces. When
Keiji Mutoh debuted in Jim Crockett Promotions as The Great Muta, Mutoh was billed as Kabuki's son due to the similarities in style and the blowing of the mist. In reality, they are not related but did team under masks as "The Rising Sun" under the management of
James J. Dillon in Crockett.
Kabuki had a pre-match ritual of showing his skills with the
nunchaku that intimidated most opponents.
Some of his feuds were against
Jimmy Valiant, Scott Casey, Abdullah the Butcher, Dusty Rhodes, Toshiaki Kawada, Chris Adams, Genichiro Tenryu, Bruiser Brody and the
Fabulous Freebirds. Kabuki's battles against Adams was billed as
the battle of the superkicks, as ring announcer
Bill Mercer often asked which kick was better: Adams' superkick or Kabuki's thrust kick.
In 1990, after losing interest in American wrestling, he went back to All Japan Pro Wrestling and won the Double Cup tag team title with
Jumbo Tsuruta, but then joined Tenryu in creating the
SWS promotion. From there he went on to be one of the co-founders of
IWA Japan.
He participated in one
World Wrestling Federation match in
1994. It was the
Royal Rumble and he was eliminated by
Lex Luger.
Kabuki retired in
1998.
