Born: February 20, 1943 (Kanji Inoki) | Birthplace: Yokohama, JapanDied: October 1, 2022 (Systemic transthyretin amyloidosis)Billed Weight: 224 lbs Other Aliases: Tokyo Tom, Little Tokyo, Mr. Kazimoto Antonio (Kanji) Inoki was born on February 20, 1943 in Yokohama, Japan. From a young age, he excelled at sports and athletics. In the sixth grade, he was taught karate by an older […]
Born: December 12, 1964 (Terry Brunk) | Birthplace: Staten Island, New YorkBilled Hometown: Bombay, Michigan / Saudi Arabia | Billed Weight: 235 lbsOther Aliases: Sabu the Elephant Boy, Terry SR, Terry Brunk, Samu The future Sabu was trained by his uncle The Sheik, one of the most notorious rulebreakers in professional wrestling. After a long process of training and refereeing, […]
Violent brawler? West Texas University alumni? Beloved in Japan? One could be forgiven for thinking I’m talking about last week’s edition with Terry Funk – but this man ticks many of the same boxes. It’s Stan “The Lariat” Hansen. Stan Hansen started his career in the territories but it wasn’t long before he hit upward momentum. He debuted 1973 and […]
We could probably have a month of Roadtrip Music posts each week discussing the various memorable themes Keiji Mutoh has had over the years. It took a little while to decide, but we have gone with “Trans Magic,” one of the killer tunes he used in All Japan Pro Wrestling. It was also his 59th birthday recently (December 23), so […]
Note: This article was written in 2017 2007: Minoru Suzuki © vs Yuji Nagata – Triple Crown titleWrestle Kingdom (attendance: 28,000 / 18,000)http://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00168_1_7 It’s the first appearance of the Wrestle Kingdom name. New Japan celebrate their 35th anniversary by inviting All Japan to compete in a joint celebration (AJPW was founded in the same year) with the intention to recapture […]
1992: Tatsumi Fujinami © vs Riki Choshu © – IWGP Heavyweight & Greatest 18 title unification Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome (attendance 50,000) http://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00104_1_12 The feud that netted New Japan two of its biggest stars (not named Inoki) in the 1980s, Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami put on a number of classics over the years. Fitting that as we start […]
