Super-Handicapped Pro-Wrestling LIVE in Tokyo!

In the face of insurmountable adversity there are some who really show us what it means to have gumption. We’re talking like the kind of kicked-down, dragged-out, non-stop, winner-take-all, never-say-die gumption that only society’s disabled can fully comprehend. Self-proclaimed “super-handicapped pro-wrestling” organization Doglegs gives disabled people a platform for flair, an outlet for aggression, and a chance to challenge the able-bodied community’s expectations and preconceptions of handicapped people.

Doglegs was founded in Tokyo back in 1991, after two young men with cerebral palsy came to blows. When their unsuccessful attempts to woo one of their caregivers lead to her departure, a brawl of unexpected intensity erupted. Volunteer organizer Yukinori Kitajima was amazed by the two men’s sudden display of life and will. He saw the two men transform and come alive. It was then that he was inspired to establish Doglegs.

Wrangle back your moralistic tongue, and put down your picket signs; Doglegs participants do so of their own volition. No one is forced to fight, and the whole affair, though at times played up for entertainment value and extremely amusing, is meant not to be exploitative. Rather this unconventional arena of exceptional athletes strives to both positively encourage the participants and highlight the social point that the disabled are far more capable than most able-bodied people give them credit for. As explained on the Doglegs website, “Doglegs is somewhere the wrestlers can define themselves on their own terms – and it doesn’t matter a damn if polite society can’t handle it.”

Documentary filmmaker Heath Cozens explains, “After watching a Doglegs match, one can’t help but feel fundamentally changed in their thinking of the handicapped.” As an audience member at his first match, Cozens found himself completely unable to process what he was seeing. Bewildered but excited, he left the event convinced that the preconception-shattering power of Doglegs had to be shared with the world.

On Saturday, June 2nd, at Tokyo’s Las Chicas, Doglegs will be hosting Party For The Right To Fight. This event will showcase two matches. The first bout will feature Tsuruzono Makoto as he takes on Geki Oodama. Then, don’t miss as Sambo Shintaro, star of the documentary, squares off against rival Nagano V Akira. Both matches promise to be action packed. Also, expect a special musical performance from Osaka’s Yoshitake Expe Band, and a brief screening of excerpts from the upcoming documentary. are ¥3000, but ¥4000 at the door. All profits will be used to fund Cozens‘ documentary, Doglegs: Super-Handicapped Pro-Wrestling.

Party For The Right To Fight
Saturday, June 2nd @ 18:00
/ Door ¥4000
Las Chicas, 5-47-6 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Doglegs Website