GEORGE REY URBANO. For over 3 decades, this trailblazing Philippine-born
wrestler made waves in the American wrestling circuit as Rey Urbano, Tokyo Tom,
Taro Sakuro, and his most famous wrestling persona—the Great Kabooki.
Wrestling has always had a worldwide audience, ever since the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), was founded in 1948 as a governing body for professional wrestling. Based in America, NWA began promoting brawling matches on television back in the early 1950s. By 1961, canned wrestling programs (Men’s and Women’s) were seen regularly on late-night Philippine TV over DZBB Channel 7.
Curiously, Filipinos did not catch on to wrestling despite their love for contact sports, preferring boxing instead. After all, the boxing world included many Filipino champions—Pancho Villa, Ceferino Garcia, father and son Cely and Anthony Villanueva, Flash Elorde, among others-- fighting figures of our national pride. They were the best reasons to root for the sport—not alien names like Bobo Brazil, Gorgeous George, Killer Kowalski, and the Fabulous Moolah.
Not until the mid-1980s that Filipinos took a second look at wrestling. By then, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) took command of the sports, booking champions and producing big wrestling events, beamed on cable TV from huge venues like Madison Square Garden and Shea Stadium.
SMACKDOWN
SOUVENIR. A 1950s fight program from the first golden age of American wrestling
features a match between Rey Urbano of Manila versus Axel Cadier from Sweden.
WWF signed up and headlined wrestlers Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Roddy Piper and Bret Hart, in shows like WWF Superstar, set amidst music, lights and much theatrics. Merchandising gimmicks were launched for its pool of talents, spawning action figures, video games and toys. When the programs went into syndication, they were lapped up by a mainstream audience who found new heroes to idolize.
The entry of Filipino-American grapplers further fueled the Filipinos’ crazy fascination, and later, obsession, with wrestling. There was Dave Batista (David Michael Bautista), a hulking 6’6” wrestler who was snapped up by WWF (now World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) in 2000. Now retired, Batista remains visible in action films like “Riddick”, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, and “Avengers: End Game”.
Benny Cuntapay (B.Boy), has also successfully fought in the All-Pro and Combat Zone Wrestling. While T. J. Perkins, who used to fight as “Pinoy Boy”, won the inaugural WWE Cruiserweight Championship in 2016. Recently, Fil-Am Michael Paris (aka DJZ), 2-time Impact X Division Champion, was reported in March 2019 to being squired by WWE.
REY OF LIGHT. Rey
Urbano resplendent in a Philippine Muslim costume. Photo by Libnan Ayoub, 100
Years of Professional Wrestling in Australia via Online World of Wrestling.
The extraordinary feats and skills of these world-class Filipino matmen, however, were foreshadowed not too long ago by a Manila-born strongman who blazed trails by breaking into the competitive world of international wrestling—in his time, the only professional wrestler in all of the Philippines: GEORGE REY URBANO.
FATHER JUAN. Rey’s father was born in Samar and
became an inventor, the first Filipino to own a U.S. patent for a fountain pen
and pencil that can write in the dark. He later entered the movies business
back in the Philippines.
Born in Manila on 25 Apr. 1924 to Juan and Sixta Urbano, Rey had quite a comfortable life. His father was a successful inventor and businessman, the cousin of famed movie director and actor, Manuel Urbano (screen name: Manuel Conde), who had made waves in Venice in 1952 with his opus, “Genghis Khan”.
COMING TO AMERICA. As
a student of the San Francisco City College, Rey Urbano (on the right) was a
valuable member of the school’ football team in 1948. Photo courtesy of The
Guardsman via RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with permission.
Four year old George Rey, his older 3 siblings (Belen, Marina, Isidro) and their mother Sixta moved to America in 1928, to follow Juan, who had gone there ahead to set up a manufacturing business. Sixta boosted the family income by selling jewelry pieces. The children went to schools in the San Francisco area where they had settled.
Things were going well for the family, until tragedy struck in 1939 with the death of their mother. Rey was only 15 then, still a student at the San Francisco Polytechnic High School. To make things worse, his father Juan decided to return to the Philippines to look for business opportunities in the field of movie production—an obvious influence from his showbiz cousin whose career was about to peak.
Left in the U.S. in the care of relatives, Rey immersed himself in football and judo. The war in his native Philippines cut short his college dreams, and so, at age 19, like his brother Isidro before him, he joined the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment in early 1943.
REMEMBER THIS ALAMO SCOUT. 19 year old Rey Urbano, Rey
Urbano, as a member of the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment in 1943.
He and his brother would also sign up as volunteers of the Alamo Scouts. Used
with permission from RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue.
The 2 brothers would later volunteer to become Alamo Scouts, an elite reconnaissance unit that saw action in the jungles of New Guinea. The next year, Rey and Isidro were deployed to the Philippines as part of the Allied landing forces.
When the war ended, the young veteran left his military career to go back to school. He entered San Francisco City College in 1947 which had an excellent football program. Though a bit underheight for the sport (he was 5’9”, 200 pounds), Rey became an outstanding player of the 1948 team, which snagged a mythical national junior college championship.
To build his stamina and strength on the gridiron, he took to an alternate sport he had also been avidly indulging in: wrestling. He underwent intense training in the school put up by the acclaimed Filipino wrestler Pantaleon Manlapig, who had previously held many Pacific Coast titles, under the name Tony Aguinaldo in the 1940s.
MENTORED BY MANLAPIG. Rey Urbano trained under Filipino
wrestling legend, Pantaleon Catanghal Manlapig, who fought in Hawaii under the
name Tony Aguinaldo. He held the Pacific Coast title in the 1940s for several
times.
Rey was instantly hooked. He came to master many fighting styles and techniques—Greco-Roman, Sumo, catch-as-catch-can styles. Bitten by the wrestling bug, he passed up a football scholarship from the University of Southern California, ignored his father’s pleading to return to the Philippines and be a movie star, and instead, chose to focus on a new goal: to become a professional wrestler.
STRIKING A FIGHTER’S POSE. Rey Urbano in his first
official photo as a professional wrestler, taken in 1950. Photo courtesy of
L.A. Public Library via RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with
permission.
He debuted in a match held in Honolulu, Hawaii on 23 April 1950, using his real name, “Rey Urbano”, defeating Chico Garcia in his very first professional outing . The Ogden Standard-Examiner in Utah was effusive in its review of Rey’s performance: "Rey Urbano came here recently from the Philippines and has impressed with his ability under all kinds of fire… The Islander uses the side of his hand in a cutting manner not unlike the chopping knife he used at home in the sugar cane fields. It is both legal and effective."
Rey was on his way. The next year, Rey was billed in a match at the Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum, capturing the attention of the nearly ten thousand screaming wrestling fans that crammed the venue. The one sad setback he experienced was the death of his brother, Isidro, who was killed in action in the Korean War of 1952.
Though he found steady work throughout the west and southwest in the next few years, Rey realized that the crowd drawers of wrestling bouts were not the favorites like him, but the villains of the ring. In fact, they also brought in the big bucks! Rey, thus, in a complete turn-around, shed his clean, good boy image to assume a villainous wrestling persona.
TURNING JAPANESE. Rey Urbano made a major career shift by
becoming a wrestling villain in the person of
“Taro Sakuro”, a name he used from the late 50s and 60s. Photo courtesy
of RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with permission.
As it was just a few years after the terrible War in which the Japanese earned a reputation as heinous villains for their war crimes, Rey chose to be known as “Taro Sakuro”. In 1959, in his first fight in Tennessee, the bearded “Japanese” hulk in a short robe and wooden sandals, ascended the ring and struck fear with his evil eye gaze and calm, but fearful exterior. But most of all, his behavior and fighting tricks disgusted the crowd—which he had hoped would happen—a despicable anti-hero that the audience loved to hate.
Rey enjoyed immense success with his new wrestling character. In 1962, he won the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship, and, with Oyama Kato, the NWA U.S. Tag Team title. Promoters began matching him with more popular, more high-profile wrestlers. Needless to say, this move paid off, and he began collecting more susbtantial paychecks.
THE TERROR THAT WAS TARO. Rey Urbano as “Taro Sakuro”
demolishes Alberto Torres in a 1962 fight. Photo courtesy of Wrestling Revue.
Via RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with permission.
As the new bad guy of wrestling, Rey had to deal with the backlash of fans. He survived a shooting, stabbings, and countless verbal and physical attacks. The most serious of all was being spiked on the foot by a woman using her sharp, stiletto-heeled shoe, a bloody injury that required surgery. He took all these in stride as occupational hazards that he had come to expect from the job.
Through all these, Rey carried on and retained the Japanese guise that helped revitalized his career. Appearing in Texas in 1965, he briefly became “Tokyo Tom” and a substitute for “Tokyo Joe”, a convicted wrestler who was banned from the ring. He introduced gimmicks like incorporating over-the-top karate chops and thrusts in his moves that had the audience reacting wildly.
Shortly after the Texas stint, Rey faced another difficult, life-threatening hurdle. He was afflicted with a brain tumor and underwent a crucial operation. Thankfully, the mass was benign. He spent his 5-year long convalescence by going back to the California State University-Hayward to finish a college degree (Recreational Studies). He found gainful employment at a recreational park where he held P.E. classes and occasionally wrestled to raise funds for his advocacies.
THE GREAT KABOOKI. The most well-known wrestling character
conceived by Rey Urbano was a huge, hulking menacing Oriental warrior, a
villain that the audience loved to hate. Alex Castro Photo.
Though doctors believed he will never wrestle again, he defied their dire prognostications and returned to the ring in late 1972 in a new incarnation. This time, he transformed himself into a villainous Japanese warrior of unspeakable brutishness, with a fierce-looking face painted for battle, and a name that no one will forget: The Great Kabooki.
He took his Japanese character to heart, dressing in authentic robes, and performing the ceremonial sumo ritual of throwing salt in his fights, which he also used to blind his foes. Everywhere he made an appearance, the Great Kabooki was a daunting figure to behold, inspiring fear and awe. His triumphant rebound was met with roars from the audience, who lapped up his acts and antics on the ring, catapultin him again to national prominence.
THAT KABOOKI FACE. Rey Urbano was the first wrestler to
use paint make-up to make his Japanese character more theatrical, and more
fearsome.
Rey, as The Great Kabooki, made a surprising comeback and toured the Midwest and the Southwest region. In 1973, he secured a spot in a Detroit promotion starring top wrestling star, The Sheik. He also worked the Great Lakes area, and wrestled in a few International Championship Wrestling shows. Approaching 50, he still managed to complete 22 matches that year but the tolls of advancing age had begun to show, and he felt it.
To slow down, he accepted a job as a part-time chef in a California restaurant. He also seemed to have inherited his father’s creative genes. He devised “First and Ten”, a football board game and “Knockout”, a boxing game, both for kids. He formed a company—Urbano & Associates—to market these, but they generated little interest, so he eventually sold them off.
THE NAME OF THE GAME.
“First and Ten” was a gameboard developed by Rey Urbano, who inherited
his father’s inventive genes.
With failed financial expectations, he returned to wrestling at age 58, reviving his Great Kabooki image. This posed some confusion, however, as by 1981, a younger Japanese wrestler by the name of Mera Akahishi, had started using the same name using the original spelling—the Great Kabuki.
In his 1982-83 farewell tour with ICW in the Midwest, the Great Kabooki finished 16 matches, including one against the hugely popular Macho Man Randy Savage. His final fight was staged in a high school gym in Illinois. Like a true professional, he fought with his partner, Ratamyus, in a tag team match and won---this, despite an audience of only 250.
KABOOKI FOR THE KILL. As a wrestling villain,
Rey Urbano was jeered and harassed by hostile fans, but he took all these in
stride. He entertained fans with his nasty stage demeanor, his tricky karate
chops and martial art moves.
In his twilight years, Rey joined an association of both retired and active wrestlers and boxers known as the Cauliflower Alley Club, which, in 1992 gave him recognition for his valuable contribution to the sport. Though he was married 3 times in his lifetime, Rey had no children; his family consisted of fellow wrestlers with whom he kept in touch regularly in annual reunions.
His fame reached the Philippines, but he was largely overlooked by his countrymen as they were more engrossed with rising boxers who were starting to win world championships in the 60s and 70s. His occasional trips to his original homeland were more for family visits.
Jun Urbano, the TV funny man known as ‘Mr. Shooli’, remembers meeting his uncle twice. In one of his uncle’s rare homecomings, his family hosted him lunch and was served a specially-large dish of “kare-kare”. He watched him eat until he finished everything off. Then, Rey turned to Jun’s mother, smiled and hollered: “O-kay! Now bring out the main dish!”. His relatives were stunned at his voracious appetite. “Ang laking tao niya! (Such a big man)!”, Jun Urbano recalled.
GOLDEN GEORGE. In
his golden years, Rey Urbano became a member of a fraternal wrestling group,
and joined wrestling reunions for 15 years.
But Rey Urbano also had a big heart. In his own, quiet way, he managed to entertain hundreds of wrestling fans for many decades, never mind that he did not attain the great financial success he worked so very hard for.
Described as “an all-around good person”, Rey made many friends along the way. In all, he fought a total of 989 matches in his lifetime career under 4 names, and wrestled against revered names like Bobo Brazil, Bruno Sammartino, Randy Savage and Mighty Igor—credentials that are nothing short of impressive.
Rey spent his remaining days in a Las Vegas nursing home, passing away on 16 Oct. 2007 at age 83. He is interred at the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery.
Today, wrestling and its related full contact disciplines like mixed martial arts, have a large, loyal Filipino fan base that continues to grow, thanks to a constant fare of TV wrestling shows: Raw, Smackdown, This Week in WWE, Bottomline and UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), among others.
URBANO LEGEND.
George Rey Urbano, (b. 25 Apr. 1924/ d. 16 Oct. 2007)
While Filipinos are currently rooting for Seth Rollins, Finn Bálor, The Miz Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss, they are also rediscovering their very own Dave Batista, Brandon Vera, T. J. Perkins, Michael Paris and Kris Wolf who have become worthy sports icons for legions of Filipino fans. Add to that the name of George Rey Urbano—the Great Kabooki—a kickass Pinoy came before them, who broke barriers and made history to become the only Filipino international wrestler in the first golden age of American professional wrestling.
Zedric, Lance.
By Any Other Name the Story of Alamo Scout George Urbano
RECON MAGAZINE,
March-April 2017 issue, pp. 1-8. http://www.alamoscouts.com/news/RECON_MarApr2017_OL_Magazine.pdf
Pictures used with permission from Mr.Lance
Zedric, unless otherwise noted.
-Drason, Dave.
Wrestling Revue. 2007.
-Urbano, Rey. www.Wrestlingdata.com
Other Photos:
·
The
Great Kabooki close-up photo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQ7YXXQ_L4
· Rey Urbano older photo: Rey Urbano at the 2003 Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas., Photo by Rose Diamond
·
Rey
Urbano photo by Libnan Ayoub, 100 Years of Professional Wrestling in Australia
via Online World of Wrestling, http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/r/rey-urbano/
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