WMAC Masters was a
live-action show featuring choreographed martial arts fights. It was
created and licenced by 4Kids Entertainment. WMAC stands for the
World Martial Arts Council, where the best martial artists compete
for the ultimate prize, the Dragon Star. The Dragon Star is a gold
trophy that looks like a shuriken surrounded by a dragon; it was
proof that its holder was the best martial artist in the world. The
show lasted for two seasons. The first season was hosted by Shannon
Lee, the daughter of the late martial artist,
Bruce Lee,
and the sister of the late actor
Brandon Lee.
Come season 2, Shannon was gone from hosting and the show focused on
fantasy rather than real-life issues.
Preliminary Matches &
Battledome Finals
In many episodes, it
featured some masters doing demonstrations, with some demonstrations
being known as "Master Blaster" competitions. Some are done to
inaugurate a new Master (such as Hien "Tsunami" Nguyen, Tracy
"Tracer" Swedom, and Carmichael "Kid Carmichael" Simon). Jamie
"Great Wolf" Webster did one to break a WMAC record held by Chris
"Red Dragon" Casamassa, which was successfully breaking 2 ice blocks
stacked on top of each other. Willie "Bam" Johnson did his form with
his son, Lil Bam, as a rite of passage ritual. Herb "Olympus" Perez
did one to test out his new weapon, the Disk Launcher. Richard "Yin
Yang Man" Branden did his to demonstrate the weapons of wushu.
Finally, Mike "Turbo" Bernardo and Ho Young "Star Warrior" Pak
demonstrated a speed breaking contest to settle a few weeks-long
dispute (which in the end was won by Star Warrior).
In most episodes, it
begins with 4 combatants, 2 of them fight in 2 separated matches.
They fight in the Battlezones against ninjas. After a short melee
with the ninjas, depending on your health gauge, the fighters will
fight each other until one of them is the victor. (In rare
instances, if the fighters fight each other long enough that there
is no winner yet, the ninjas will re-emerge).
There have been four instances where the match ended abruptly. The
first incident took place in the Doom City battlezone, when Jamie
Webster (Great Wolf) won by accidentally knocking out Johnny Lee
Smith (Tiger Claw) with a double inward crescent kick to both sides
of Smith's head; this kick was a move Smith taught Webster, who
promised Webster he wouldn't use that move against him if Webster
promised to not use it against Smith. The second incident occurred
at the Danger Dock battlezone, when then-rookie Kid Carmichael had
knocked Yin Ying Man into the water - because Yin Yang Man was all
wet, Kid Carmichael immediately won the match. Then, in the Stone
Valley battlezone, Red Dragon got disqualified after inadvertently
hitting Super Star with a live bare hand after he had removed the
glove from that hand due to a nagging, itching burn (this was due to
itching powder being placed in his gloves by Great Wolf and Baby
Doll, who were trying to get back at Warlock, but ended up
mistakenly booby-trapping Red Dragon's gloves minutes before his
bout, thinking those were Warlock's gloves). The final incident was
another where Red Dragon lost by getting knocked into the water by
the Machine in the Mayan Mystery battlezone and ending up all wet.
There was also one instance where the match ended in someone
surrendering, and this occurred in the second-ever episode of WMAC
Masters. The Pak brothers, Ho Young and Ho Sung (Star Warrior and
Super Star, respectively) were pitted in a preliminary match against
one another, and just as Super Star's gauge was almost at the bottom
when Star Warrior had him beaten, Super Star bowed to his brother,
signifying that he was giving up, thus awarding Star Warrior the
win.
The two combatants who win their respective preliminary matches will
face off in the "Battledome". The match lasts 2 minutes. Despite
interference from the ninjas, if the fighter pushes his opponent
into the cage wall, the fighter will get points. The higher the
points, the better chance of winning. In case of a tie, the fighters
will compete in sudden death. The winner will receive the opponent's
"Ki-Symbol" and have them placed on the Dragon Belt.
Ninja Challenges &
4-Man Battledome Finals
In other episodes, 6
combatants took part in what was called a "Ninja Challenge." One at
a time, they would compete in separate battlezones against a group
of ninjas in 45 seconds of time, and at the end they receive a
score. The 4 top-scoring combatants move onto the Battledome in a
2-minute free-for-all match with the same rules as the regular
matches (that is to knock your opponents into the cage wall in order
to score points), with the winner receiving 3 Ki-Symbols (one from
each of the defeated opponents). This kind of Battledome match has
no ninja interference, but Sudden Death rules still apply in case of
a tie at the end of the match.
Only three of these were ever held (one in the first season and two
in the second season). Before the start of the first Ninja
Challenge, then-Dragon Star Champion at the time, Olympus, was asked
to demonstrate a Ninja Challenge. He would be surrounded by ninjas
in the WMAC Arena, where he would then proceed to battle them for
the 45 seconds. Once the demonstration was finished, the real
challenge begun.
In the first one, the individual results, including the Battlezones
fought in and the final ranking going into the 4-Man Battledome
Finals, were as follows (in order of appearance. Those that moved on
to the 4-Man Battledome Finals are in bold print):
* Red Dragon (Mayan Mystery): 92 points. Final rank: 5th place
* Warlock (WMAC Arena): 102 points. Final rank: 2nd place
* Great Wolf (WMAC Arena): 126 points. Final rank: 1st place
* Tsunami (WMAC Arena): 101 points. Final rank: 3rd place
* Tiger Claw (Mayan Mystery): 90 points. Final rank: Last place
* Panther (WMAC Arena): 97 points. Final rank: 4th place
Battledome Finals Winner: Tsunami. Final score: Great Wolf 1,
Warlock 1, Tsunami 4, Panther 1.
These were the results for the second:
* Yin Yang Man (Mayan Mystery): 79 points. Final rank: 3rd place
* Turbo (Mayan Mystery): 77 points. Final rank: 4th place
* Great Wolf (Ghost Town): 73 points. Final rank: 5th place
* Star Warrior (Mayan Mystery): 91 points. Final rank: 1st place
* Bam (Ghost Town): 72 points. Final rank: Last place
* Olympus (Pressure Area): 80 points. Final rank: 2nd place
Battledome Finals Winner: Turbo, by Sudden Death. Final score:
Olympus 2, Yin Yang Man 3, Star Warrior 0, Turbo 3. (Note: With
Turbo and Yin Yang Man tied at the end of regulation, Olympus and
Star Warrior were ordered to leave the dome, so the other two could
conclude the match under Sudden Death rules. Turbo came out the
victor.)
These were the results for the third:
* Great Wolf (Ghost Town): 75 points. Final rank: 5th place
* Kid Carmichael (Doom City): 74 points. Final rank: Last place
* The Machine (Ghost Town): 92 points. Final rank: 1st place
* Tsunami (Ghost Town): 88 points. Final rank: 2nd place
* Warlock (Doom City): 86 points. Final rank: 3rd place
* Tiger Claw (Dark Alley): 86 points. Final rank: 3rd place
Battledome Finals Winner: Warlock. Final score: The Machine 2,
Tsunami 0, Tiger Claw 2, Warlock 3.
NOTE: As you may notice, Great Wolf is the only Master to have taken
part in all 3 Ninja Challenges.
Dragon Star Matches
Once you receive Full Dragon Belt (which takes about 10 Ki-Symbols
to do), you will compete for the Dragon Star. In the Dragon Star
championship, the champion and challenger fight on a rotating
pedestal. If you move out of the pedestal, a "Violation" will be
called and a ninja will come in for each violation and increase your
handicap. Once the opponent (and every last ninja) is thrown off the
pedestal, the combatant left standing is the Dragon Star Champion
and will have proven to be the greatest Martial Artist in the world.
Then the preliminaries start again until a new contender for the
Dragon Star emerges, and so on, and so forth.
NOTE: In Season 2, following the controversy which involved a ninja
knocking off both The Machine and Superstar in their Dragon Star
match, a Dragon Star rematch between the two was called with
different rules, since ninjas were ineligible from holding the
Dragon Star Championship. It took place in a battlezone (in this
case, the Subway Station Battlezone), where the fighters had to fend
off large numbers of assorted ninjas (aside from taking each other
on), and try to be the first to place their Ki Symbol into the
Dragon Star replica that holds compartments for the Ki Symbols. This
match wasn't without its obstacles however, as occurrences like
earthquakes and floods would take place. This is the only time in
which a Dragon Star match would follow this type of format. The
Machine emerged victorious in this battle.
Dragon Star Matches
Once you receive Full
Dragon Belt (which takes about 10 Ki-Symbols to do), you will
compete for the Dragon Star. In the Dragon Star championship, the
champion and challenger fight on a rotating pedestal. If you move
out of the pedestal, a "Violation" will be called and a ninja will
come in for each violation and increase your handicap. Once the
opponent (and every last ninja) is thrown off the pedestal, the
combatant left standing is the Dragon Star Champion and will have
proven to be the greatest Martial Artist in the world. Then the
preliminaries start again until a new contender for the Dragon Star
emerges, and so on, and so forth.
NOTE: In Season 2, following the controversy which involved a ninja
knocking off both The Machine and Superstar in their Dragon Star
match, a Dragon Star rematch between the two was called with
different rules, since ninjas were ineligible from holding the
Dragon Star Championship. It took place in a battlezone (in this
case, the Subway Station Battlezone), where the fighters had to fend
off large numbers of assorted ninjas (aside from taking each other
on), and try to be the first to place their Ki Symbol into the
Dragon Star replica that holds compartments for the Ki Symbols. This
match wasn't without its obstacles however, as occurrences like
earthquakes and floods would take place. This is the only time in
which a Dragon Star match would follow this type of format. The
Machine emerged victorious in this battle.
Battlezones
There were many different Battlezones for the fighters to compete
in, whether they were for Preliminaries or for Ninja Challenges.
However, in Season 2, only 5 of these would be used. These
battlezones included:
* Ghost Town - a traditional ghost town-like setting (presumably in
a long-abandoned wild west town), with abandoned buildings and
saloons, and other things like tumbleweeds, wagon wheels, and
haystacks lying about. Thunder and lightning could always be heard
and seen in this place.
* Doom City - a city scene with wreckage everywhere (cars,
buildings, etc.), and even some burning buildings. Searchlights
would roam around the area randomly.
* Mayan Mystery - a Mayan courtyard scene with waterfalls and
climbable boulders, including some with Mayan face carvings.
* Dark Alley - a city slum scene set in some alleyways, in front of
brick buildings which feature many balconies and dumpsters.
* Pressure Area - a nuclear power plant scene with buildings under
construction.
* Subway Station (used only for the Dragon Star Rematch) - the only
battlezone to take place indoors, and in this case, underground. It
is a typical seldom-used subway station setting which also features
some subway cars entering the station (only to transport the ninjas
to the scene). It is modeled to closely resembled a Bay Area Rapid
Transit San Francisco station.
* Stone Valley - a forest-like setting with many trees and huge
boulders (hence the name of the battlezone), as well as some
waterfalls and ponds.
* Nuclear Nightmare - a scene with many power plants, presumably the
predecessor to the later-introduced Pressure Area.
* Danger Dock - a typical harbor setting right by the river, which
has boardwalks, shacks, and a more open courtyard area fit for
battle.
NOTE: In Battlezones such as Mayan Mystery and Danger Dock (which
had water), if a combatant was knocked into the water during the
match, he or she would automatically lose the match.
NOTE 2: Stone Valley, Nuclear Nightmare and Danger Dock were not
used in Season 2.
NOTE 3: The Dark Alley battlezone is the only battlezone that has
been rained on during the show's run (despite the fact that it's
always thundering in the Ghost Town). A thunderstorm was appearing
in one episode, and Great Wolf and Turbo were battling it out in the
Dark Alley. According to the officials, if the rain was too great
for combat, then the match had to be cancelled or suspended.
Fortunately, however, as the rain began to fall, Great Wolf was able
to end the match by defeating Turbo.
Ninjas
There were many different types of ninjas that appeared in the show,
most of them specific to a battlezone, although they would appear in
other places, including the Dragon Star matches. They are all WMAC
Academy Cadets who would eventually become Masters, Tsunami and Kid
Carmichael were known to be a former ninja. Here are the different
kinds of ninjas that appeared:
* Ghost Town - Ninjas dressed in black garb with a skull-like mask
on their faces. They always appear in the Ghost Town Battlezone.
* Kabuki - Ninjas in black garb with a white-faced, red-cheeked mask
on both the front and back of their heads. They mostly appear in the
Doom City Battlezone, although they have also been seen in the Stone
Valley Battlezone.
* Black - Ninjas covered in traditional black garb. They appeared in
various battlezones throughout the two seasons, including the Dark
Alley. They are more frequently used for the 2-man Battledome
finals.
* Red - Ninjas covered in red garb. They seldom appeared in
battlezones, but they did appear once in Dark Alley, and also in the
Subway Station during the Dragon Star rematch. In some earlier
episodes they were seen in the Battledome finals.
* Cammo - Ninjas covered in camouflage-colored garb. They usually
appear in the Mayan Mystery Battlezone.
* Hazard - Ninjas dressed in black garb with 2 green stripes and red
stripes, and on their face they wear biohazard-like masks. They were
introduced in Season 2 and appeared in the Pressure Area battlezone.
* Jukido (Hooded Ninjas) - they are friends of Warlock (who is a
member of that group) who haven't appeared in any battlezones. They
once ambushed Warlock's brother, Wizard, and gave him a beating
until he was saved by Tiger Claw. Only one of these ninjas
officially appeared in a WMAC Masters competition, that being the
Dragon Star match between Red Dragon and Warlock. These ninjas are
covered in black garb with a hood on it; the hood is placed over a
red-masked face that also seemed to have a black bandanna over the
eyes.
Special Match: Mixed Doubles
On one occasion in Season 2, a male combatant would team up with a
female combatant to take on another male/female team in what was
called a Mixed Doubles match. In the lone case, Superstar had teamed
up with Lady Lightning in order to take on the team of Tracer and
Chameleon. Superstar and Lady Lightning were Team Yellow, while
Tracer and Chameleon were Team Red. The match took place in the Doom
City battlezone, where they also had to fend off a group of Kabuki
Warriors. It was just like a regular preliminary match, but there
would be only one health gauge for each team, meaning that the two
members of each team were competing as one. Team Yellow emerged
victorious, and for their victory, they received the Ki-Symbols of
their defeated opponents (Superstar getting Tracer's Ki-Symbol and
Lady Lightning getting Chameleon's).
Past Dragon Star
Champions
(In order in which they have held the title until someone beat them
for it)
Male
* Turbo
* Olympus
* Superstar
* The Machine
* Red Dragon
NOTE: Yin Yang Man was also a contender and he challenged Turbo for
the title (hence the reason that Yin Yang Man was starting on his
second Dragon Belt when the series started), but Turbo defeated him.
Similarly, Warlock was a contender who challenged champion Red
Dragon, but Red Dragon won the match.
Female
* Tarantula
* Lady Lightning
* Black Widow
* Chameleon (if that is, the Dragon Star were to ever be found after
being stolen)
NOTE: Baby Doll was the only female master in the series to lose the
Dragon Star match as a contender. Lady Lightning, who was
practically a dominant force in season 1 in the women's division,
had successfully defended her title against Baby Doll. But it was
revealed in season 2 that Lady Lightning was defeated by Black
Widow. Black Widow is the only ever champion, male or female, to
have willingly relinquished her Dragon Star, which then caused 3
competitors - namely, Lady Lightning, Princess, and Chameleon - to
be automatically eligible to compete in a Dragon Star match.
Cast
Overview:
-
Hakim Alston - The
Machine
-
Clayton Barber -
Hollywood (character never used)
-
Michael Bernardo -
Turbo
-
Erik Betts - Panther
(Season 1)
-
Richard Branden -
Yin Yang Man
-
Chris Casamassa -
Red Dragon
-
Mike
Chaturantabut - Wizard (Season 2)
-
Mer-Mer Chen -
Princess
-
Sophia Crawford -
Chameleon (Season 2)
-
Marco Johnson -
Little Bam
-
Willie Johnson - The
Bam (most times referred to only as Bam)
-
Michele Krasnoo
- Mouse (Season 1)
-
Larry Lam - Warlock
-
Lynnette Love -
Tarantula (Season 1)
-
Hien Nguyen -
Tsunami
-
Akihiro 'Yuji'
Noguchi - Cyclone (Season 2)
-
Tiana Noguchi -
Black Widow
-
Ho Sung Pak
- Superstar
-
Ho Young Pak - Star
Warrior
-
Herb Perez
- Olympus
-
Bridgett Riley -
Baby Doll (Season 1, with only one appearance in Season 2)
-
Rey-Phillip Santos -
Reign (character never used)
-
Christine Bannon
Rodrigues - Lady Lightning
-
Carmichael Simon -
Kid Carmichael/The Kid
-
Johnny Lee Smith -
Tiger Claw
-
Michael M. Foley
(Tracy Swedom) - Tracer (Season 2)
-
Taimak - Striking
Eagle (Season 2; archive footage)
-
Jamie Webster -
Great Wolf
-
Pedro Xavier -
Axeman (character never used)
Note: Tracy Swedom is also an anagram for "Destroy WMAC".