The Orient Express (professional wrestling)

Not to be confused with the Orient Express.
For the full article on Badd Company, see Badd Company.
The Orient Express
Tag team
MembersAkio Sato
Pat Tanaka
Kato
Mr. Fuji (manager)
Name(s)The Orient Express
Billed heightsSato
5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Tanaka:
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Diamond:
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Combined
billed weight		Sato and Tanaka:
455 lb (206 kg)
Sato: 220 lb (100 kg)
Tanaka: 234 lb (106 kg)
Tanaka and Kato:
450 lb (200 kg)
Tanaka: 220 lb (100 kg)
Diamond: 230 lb (100 kg)
Billed fromTokyo, Japan
Debut1990
Disbanded1994
Years active1990–1994
2006–2008

The Orient Express was a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation in the early 1990s composed of Pat Tanaka and Akio Sato, who was later replaced by Kato.

History

American Wrestling Association

Main article: Badd Company

After Badd Company lost the AWA World Tag Team Championship, they split up and feuded with each other. Tanaka took on Sato as his partner and adopted a more martial arts based ring style. The two feuded with Diamond before together moving to the WWF in 1990.[1]

World Wrestling Federation

In early 1990, manager Mr. Fuji split up the team known as The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) as he sold their individual contracts to Slick who got the former and Bobby Heenan who received the latter, respectively. Fuji then brought in The Orient Express (Sato & Tanaka) as his latest threat to the WWF tag team division.[2] While the Orient Express was supposed to represent Japan, Pat Tanaka was born in Hawaii.

The Orient Express kicked off a prolonged feud with The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) that started at WrestleMania VI, where Sato and Tanaka were victorious via countout after Sato threw salt in Jannetty's eyes while they were outside of the ring,[3] and continued off and on for well over a year.[4] The Orient Express got involved in the feud between Legion of Doom (Animal and Hawk) and Demolition (Ax, Smash and later Crush) as Fuji reconciled with former protegés Demolition and resumed managing them. The angle was also intended to phase out founder Demolition member Ax and refresh Demolition's edge as villains after a series of house show losses to the Legion of Doom and the Ultimate Warrior. Following an incident in which all three Demolition members ran in on an Express vs LOD match and the manager and both his teams beat down Hawk and Animal six-on-two, WWF President Jack Tunney ordered that one Demolition member leave the WWF (this would be Ax) and the remaining two be placed under probation. Tunney additionally ordered the Orient Express, along with Fuji as an active wrestler, to take on the Legion of Doom in five man handicap tag matches in Demolition's place.[5] The feud between the Legion of Doom and the Orient Express and Fuji was extremely one-sided despite the three on two advantage, due to the Legion of Doom’s massive size advantage.[6]

After WrestleMania VI, Tanaka and Sato only made two pay-per-view appearances while in the WWF. Firstly at SummerSlam 1990 where the team were defeated by "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Nikolai Volkoff.[7] They were then a part of the Sgt. Slaughter led team "The Mercenaries" (that also included Boris Zhukov. Sato was pinned by Bushwhacker Butch 1:46 into the match and Tanaka was pinned by Tito Santana only moments later, 2:13 into the match.[8]

When Akio Sato decided to leave the US wrestling scene in the latter days of 1990, the WWF decided to reunite Badd Company, only this time with Paul Diamond wearing a mask to conceal his ethnicity and using the name Kato.[2] During this time the team had a very well received match with their old enemies the Rockers at the 1991 Royal Rumble[9] and another well received match against The New Foundation (Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and "The Rocket" Owen Hart) at the 1992 Royal Rumble[10] – which were the only two PPV appearances for the New Orient Express.

Sato briefly rejoined the team in 1991 to team with Tanaka and Kato for a series of 6-man tag-team matches on WWF house shows,[11] but Sato left the WWF after only a handful of matches together. Tanaka would leave the WWF in February 1992.[12] Diamond went on to wrestle as a singles competitor in the WWF, first as Kato, then later as Max Moon, replacing the departed Konnan,[13] neither gimmick meeting with very much success.

Post-WWF and split

After Kato also left the WWF, the two reunited as Badd Company, working for Eastern Championship Wrestling from late 1993 to early 1994, wrestling against the likes of The Bad Breed (Ian and Axl Rotten) and The Public Enemy, but never won the tag team titles.[14][15][16][17]

Pat Tanaka resurfaced in WCW during 1994 as a singles wrestler billed as "Tanaka-San".[18] Paul Diamond showed up with the Kato mask on using the name "Haito" shortly afterwards.[19] The two men even wrestled a couple of matches together, but they never achieved any notoriety in WCW and finally split up for good by the end of 1994.[2] Pat Tanaka showed up in singles matches during 1996 in WCW. The two reunited in 2006 as the Orient Express on the independent circuit until 2008.

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

  1. ^ Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  2. ^ a b c Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  3. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WWF WrestleMania Results (VI)". Retrieved April 3, 2007. The Orient Express (Sato & Tanaka) beat The Rockers (7:38) via countout
  4. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WWF UK Tour Results (UK Rampage 91)". Retrieved April 3, 2007. The Rockers beat The Orient Express via pinfall.
  5. ^ Graham Cawthon. "WWF Show Results 1990". Retrieved April 3, 2007. October 9, 1990: The Legion of Doom defeated the Orient Express (w/ Mr. Fuji) via disqualification at 3:21 when Demolition Ax, Smash, & Crush interfered; after the bout, LOD were assaulted by all five wrestlers, with Fuji using his cane as a weapon (Fuji's reunion with Demolition
  6. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WWF The Main Event Results (V)". Retrieved April 3, 2007. The Legion of Doom beat The Orient Express (Kato & Tanaka) (5:11).
  7. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WWF SummerSlam Results (1990)". Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  8. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WWF Survivor Series Results (1990)". Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  9. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WWF Royal Rumble Results (1991)". Retrieved April 3, 2007. The Rockers beat The Orient Express (Tanaka & Kato) (19:15)
  10. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WWF Royal Rumble Results (1992)". Retrieved April 3, 2007. Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart beat The Orient Express (Tanaka & Kato) (17:18)
  11. ^ Graham Cawthon. "WWF Show Results 1991". Retrieved April 3, 2007. Ricky Steamboat, Davey Boy Smith, & Kerry Von Erich defeated the Orient Express (Kato, Tanaka, & Sato) (w/ Mr. Fuji) when Steamboat pinned Kato with the flying crossbody at 10:28
  12. ^ Graham Cawthon. "WWF Show Results 1992". Retrieved April 3, 2007. February 17, 1992: Virgil defeated Pat Tanaka via submission with the Million $ Dream at 7:16 (this was Tanaka's last match in the WWF)
  13. ^ RD Reynolds and Randy Baer (2003). Wrestlecrap – the very worst of pro wrestling. ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-584-7.
  14. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "ECW Show Results October – December 1993". Retrieved April 3, 2007. Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka beat Ian & Axl Rotten
  15. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "ECW Show Results October – December 1993". Retrieved April 3, 2007. Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka beat The Public Enemy
  16. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "ECW Show Results October – December 1993". Retrieved April 3, 2007. The Public Enemy beat Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond (16:40) in a "South Philly hood" match
  17. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "ECW Show Results January – March 1994". Retrieved April 3, 2007. Kevin Sullivan & The Tazmaniac beat Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond
  18. ^ Graham Cawthon. "WCW Show Results 1994". Retrieved April 3, 2007. March 24, 1994: WCW US Champion Steve Austin defeated Tanaka-san
  19. ^ Graham Cawthon. "WCW Show Results 1994". Retrieved April 3, 2007. March 30, 1994: Arn Anderson defeated Hyeeto (Paul Diamond) via disqualification when Tanaka-san interfered

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