In July 1951, the Torri Oasis Shrine Club sponsored a $50,000 drive for crippled children, and wanted to bring the American style professional wrestling to Japan.  Officials contacted promoters in the United States to import the likes of Primo Carnera, Sandor Szabo, Oki Shikina, Andre Adoree, and Vincent Lopez to the Far East for appearances.  The Pacific Stars and Stripes newspaper stated that “it will be the first American grunt and groan show in the history of this country.” Bernard Dimon, chairman of the fund raising campaign, explained the plan on Friday afternoon.  The shows would be promoted by Maurice Lipton with assistance from Kenneth R. Pearson, Joe Miller, A.B. Shattuck, and Frank H. Scolinos, which would make up the committee sponsoring the show.

The newspaper indicated that the "American style" of professional wrestling had never been performed before the public in Japan, wrestlers had been performing on military bases as part of USO tours.  For example, in 1946, wrestlers George Bruckman, Soldier Burns, and Jim Atlas appeared in Japan to entertain military personnel with grappling exhibitions.  These events were always very popular.

However, our friend Hisaharu Tanabe of www.wrestling-titles.com and www.nyprowrestling.com  tells us that there were several attempts to spark interest of catch-as-catch-can wrestling in Japan going back to tours in the 1910s.  He noted that this tour was the first time the sport really caught on.

During the summer of 1951, amateur wrestlers from the United States were also venturing to Japan for special exhibitions.

On Tuesday, September 4, 1951, promoter Al Karasick announced that “American-style” wrestling would make its debut in Japan later in the month.  Karasick, the Honolulu wrestling promoter, speaking from San Francisco, finalized an arrangement that would create a circuit in Japan for wrestlers to tour.  The cities involved in the “large scale” promotions would be Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, locations on Okinawa, and on military installations.  In the deal, Karasick was going to be associated with Tokyo and Honolulu businessman Maurice “Moe” Lipton and San Francisco promoter Joe Malcewicz.  Karasick made it known that leading wrestlers would be sent to Japan and that the initial program was tentatively set for September 16.  Six grapplers would be departing San Francisco on September 7 by plane.  The bouts would be sponsored by the Torri Oasis Shrine Club of Tokyo, which was raising money for crippled children.

Karasick would be operating a central booking agency out of Honolulu for the matches in Tokyo, with affiliation back in the United States through fellow National Wrestling Alliance member Malcewicz.  Lipton was going to actually travel with the troupe in Japan, and oversee the operations on the ground.

Wrestlers Casey Berger, Andre Adoree, Leonard Hall, Harold Sakata, Ovila Asselin and Bobby Bruns were expected to arrive at Haneda Airport on Saturday, September 15, and prepare for their first show on September 28 at Korakuen Stadium.  Matches were then to be held every other Sunday beginning on October 7.  Promoters announced that Gorgeous George and Primo Carnera were going to wrestle on matches in October and that Japan was already being worked into a regular circuit for a U.S.-Hawaii-Japan tour.  Grapplers would also appear in Korea for Allied Forces stationed there.

Andre Adoree, Bobby Bruns, Ovila Asselin and Harold Sakata, four wrestlers, became the “first in Japan when they arrived on Saturday at Haneda Airport.  They were met by officials, photographers and fans.  Two more grapplers were expected to arrive the following Wednesday on a Pan American flight.

The date for the debut show was rearranged again, and finally locked in for September 30 at the Memorial Hall in Tokyo.  The group would hold an exhibition of holds and maneuvers at the Tokyo Army Hospital on September 28.  Other events were planned, but nothing was defifinite as of yet.  There was still speculation, in Sgt. Clarkson Crume’s column in Pacific Stars and Stripes, that Japan was going to become part of a circuit to include Australia, Hawaii, China, and the Phillipines.  For results of the series of matches, click the link at the bottom of the page for 1951.