Pride Shockwave 2006 – DVD Review

Pride FC had been known for having some of the best fighters in the business. However, by 2006, the company was on it’s last legs, but you wouldn’t know it based on their fight cards. This New Year’s Eve card was quite the event. Loaded from top to bottom, there really wasn’t a true bad fight, although some did border on boring at times. But how can you argue with a card that includes Shogun Rua, Takanori Gomi, Gilbert Melendez, Antonino Rodrigo Nogeuira and Fedor Emilianenko? The answer – you can’t, really.

The main event features perhaps the last competitive match that Fedor has had – surprising since Hunt would probably not be considered at top 10 heavyweight at any time in his career unless you include kickboxing. However he makes a good account here against the best heavyweight in MMA. Once can only hope that Tim Sylvia doesn’t last half as long.

I hadn’t seen a whole lot of Gomi before watching this, and after seeing his match (a non-title affair… not so much that Gomi couldn’t defend it but his opponent really wasn’t worthy of a title shot. Yet, Mark Hunt got a chance. Hmph) I have to say that I’m impressed with the man. However we’ve seen how fighters have had problems going from ring to cage so it’s hard to say how good Gomi would be in the UFC.

Speaking of the ring, I think that Pride’s unique rules have created a sort of “specialist” who have tailored their fight to account for their 10-minute opening round and that has created problems for those fighters who have fought in a cage under Unified Rules. But with that said, you’d be a fool not to take note of the unique rules and dimensions of a particular venue if you have the l. There’s also the question of judge’s bias, which is even more pronounced than what we have allegedly seen in the UFC – basically, when in doubt count on the winner being the guy who’s more “over”.

Getting back to the disc, it is cut similar to the UFC’s PPV on DVD, where ring entrances have been cut from the feature (which is a pity because some of these entrances are incredibly fun to watch, but it’s a licensing thing, I’m sure). Full ring introductions, however, are included. Which, if you speak Japanese, is probably quite nice.

Here’s the lineup:

Fights:

• Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen
• Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Kazihuro Nakamura
• Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Gilbert Melendez
• Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Eldar Kurtanidze
• “The Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
• Hidehiko Yoshida vs. James Thompson
• Josh Barnett vs, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
• PrideFC Heavyweight Championship: Fedor Emilianenko vs. Mark Hunt

The feature switches from 4:3 in the prefight interviews to 16:9 for the fights. No big deal, as far as I’m concerned. The sound comes off well, but the commentary team on occasion sound a bit TOO loud, perhaps because they didn’t kill the Japanese commentary feed?

• Fighter Walk-In Highlights
• Fighter Picture Montage
• Opening Chorus
• Bonus Fight: Akihiro Gono vs Yuki Kondo
• Bonus Fight: Ikuhisa Minowa vs Kiyoshi Tamura

The DVD has thankfully included the only-the-Japanese-could-think-this-up Opening Chorus, as well as some entrance highlights (which I believe includes Gono’s unique entrance). We also get two bonus fights, which I didn’t watch. However, I found it interesting that these two fights were on the card, but somehow relegated to bonus status.

I’ve never been much of a fan of Pride FC, but I think that had I seen this DVD before seeing some of their other events, I’d be made a believer. There really isn’t a bad fight to be seen here, however I feel like I was robbed of something because I had to go to the extras to see some of the “spectacle” that is a Pride FC event. But if you’re a fan of MMA, or want to see what the hype for Fedor or Gomi is all about, this is the disc for you.

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Navarre Corporation presents Pride Shockwave 2006. Starring Joachim Hansen and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Not Rated. Running time: 158 minutes. Available on DVD: May 6, 2008. Available at Amazon.com.