User:Onekawa-Nukanoa/Sandbox1
Current season, competition or edition: 2024 Star League season | |
| File:WRLogo1.png | |
| Formerly | Kakari Tiamupiana |
|---|---|
| Sport | Mixed Martial Arts |
| Founded | 1910; 114 years ago |
| Inaugural season | 1910 |
| Owner(s) | Whetū Rīki Corporation |
| CEO | Ikei Taimona |
| Commissioner | Haru Piripi |
| No. of teams | 32 |
| Countries | Onekawa-Nukanoa |
| Most recent champion(s) | Takutaima Kōkōhīko (2024, 6th title) |
| Most titles | Takutaiwhero Tamawhiro (14 titles) |
| Sponsor(s) | Ahuriri Aerospace WhatiriMoa Pūhaka Southern Cross Sportswear |
The Whetū Rīki (English: Star League) is an Onekawan Mixed Martial Arts sports league. Originally founded in 1910 by husband-wife sporting duo Poto & Anahera Hariwana and originally titled Kakari Tiamupiana (English: Fighting Championship) with the inaugural match hosted in the capital Takutaiwhero on January 15 1910 between the then-named Takutaiwhero Kakari Hākinakina (English: Takutaiwhero Fighting Sports Club) and the Takutaikaraka Kakari Hākinakina (English: Takutaikaraka Fighting Sports Club).
Since it's founding in 1910, the Whetū Rīki has gone on to become one of the most popular and preeminent sports leagues in Onekawa-Nukanoa and one of the most prominent martial arts sporting competitions across the globe. Broadcast on both free-to-air and pay-per-view across Onekawa to audiences that can reach the tens-of-millions for the most significant events and millions more globally. It also posts significant live audience attendants, with the centenary league final, between the Takutaiwhero Tamawhiro and the Karoaroa Kopeo, holding a league record of 87,530 in attendance at the Takutaiwhero Royal Stadium.
Predominately an amateur competition from it's founding until 1957, the 1958 season saw a significant shift in the league, under the guidance of the then new CEO Hare Hakopa. The Kakari Tiamupiana had seen declining attendance throughout the 1940s and 1950s; and had failed to take advantage of the increasing prominence of television and had suffered from continued decline in revenue from radio broadcasts of the events. In conjunction with fierce competition from Onekawan Rugby Union and Sports car racing, Hare determined a radical shift in approach was needed.
The 1958 season saw the sport become professional and rebranded to the current name, Whetū Rīki, and saw all teams shift to be rebranded, whose names were decided by club locals and fans voting. This coincided with new television deals, new investment in arena and sports infrastructure and huge marketing campaigns. This shift proved to be a major success, and by the time Hare Hakopa retired in 1980, Whetū Rīki had risen to become one of the most popular sporting competitions in Onekawa, with regular television audiences in the millions and many of the most prominent fighters were national celebrities.
Team structure
Each Whetū Rīki team is composed of twenty Toa (English: Warriors) alongside various support staff. Each weekly match sees eight of the toa selected to compete by the teams coaching and management staff, with toa have a match cap so they are not permitted to compete in more then half of the matches throughout the regular season. Sixteen of the twenty toa must be split between evenly between the four weight classes (flyweight, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight), and each match the eight-strong squad must have two of each weight class. The final four may be of any weight class the team feels needed.
Season & match structure
Each Whetū Rīki regular season begins on the second Saturday of January each year and extends for four months and is split between two conferences, Whetū Rīki West and Whetū Rīki East. The season is held as a round-robin tournament, with each team to fight in fifteen matches against every other team within their conference, with one home and one away game whilst getting a single bye week.
Following the conclusion of the regular season, each conferences top eight in point totals are selected to compete in the two-month playoff season in a seeded single-elimination tournament to vie for the Whetū Rīki Conference Championship. Meanwhile, the bottom eight compete for their conferences Whetū Rīki Conference Cup in an otherwise structurally identical seeded single-elimination tournament. Once the conference champions and cup winners have been decided, both teams compete in the Grand Final, in which they compete againt their counterpart in the opposing conference for the Whetū Rīki Grand Championship and Whetū Rīki Unified Cup.
Teams
Currently Whetū Rīki hosts 32 teams which are split evenly between the two conferences of Whetū Rīki West and Whetū Rīki East.