Vol. 47: Antonio Inoki (1943-2022)

Antonio Inoki, arguably the most influential wrestler of all time, passed away this past year at the age of 79. Outside of the ring, he is also arguably the second greatest promoter of all time behind Vince McMahon. His whole story is way too long to tell in a single episode but we will do the best we can.

Inoko popularized the inter-promotional show concept where wrestlers from multiple promotions appeared on the same card. He wanted to present pro wrestlers as being just as tough as other combat sports fighters, so he billed himself as a World Martial Arts Champion. He is believed to be the only person to defeat both Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant by submission. Fans even pleaded with him to slap them, because they believed his fighting spirit might be slapped into them.

Antonio Inoki slapping a bunch fans Early Days With Rikidozan

Kanji Inoki was born February 20th, 1943 in Yokohama Japan. He was an accomplished athlete in basketball, discus, and javelin.

While living in Brazil, Inoki met Rikidozan. He returned to Japan to train with Giant Baba under Karl Gotch. In these early years, RikiDozan was a mentor, while Baba was the bigger star. The relationship between Baba and Inoki would take a major turn in the next decade.

Rising to Superstardom

Inoki spent the mid-1960s in the United States and became an international star. While wrestling in the States, he used several ring names including Tokyo Tom, Mr. Kazimoto, Little Tokyo, and Kamikaze. He used his real name Kanji Inoki in Memphis and Texas.

When he returned to Japan, he and Baba won the NWA International Tag Team Championship four times. This time was considered a golden age of Japanese wrestling with all the star power and box office business.

Baba and Inoki conspired to take over JWA but their coup was discovered. The two lost the tag titles to The Funks as a result. Inoki then no-showed several big matches and was fired while Baba quit to start his own promotion, All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Forming New Japan

Inoki founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in 1972. The next 15 years or so were his peak years, both as an in-ring competitor and as a promoter. This is also when he became professionally known as Antonio Inoki. He took the name as a tribute to Antonio Rocca.

NJPW would go on to be one of the most popular promotions not only in Japan but also with international wrestling fans. It was a part of the NWA from 1975 until 1985. New Japan is considered the innovator of the inter-promotional, company vs. company match, angles based on shoots, and mixed martial arts, and a company v. c.

Match with Muhammad Ali

The famous match took place on June 26th, 1976. It was meant to be a work, but Ali refused to lose because he thought it would hurt his image and boxing in general. So the match turned into a shoot with secret rules not known to the public where there could be no suplexes, slams, etc… Also there would be no standing kicks. In the end, Inoki lay on the mat and kicked Ali’s legs. While he didn’t win, Inoki messed up Ali’s legs pretty badly. Boxing judge Ko Toyama scored 72-68 for Inoki. Gene LeBell scored it 71-71. MMA fighter Connor MacGregor studied the fight and said Inoki’s tactics were sound and that he had a real shot at winning the fight.

The match flopped everywhere except Shea Stadium where it was paired with Bruno/Hansen. However, Inoki’s international stardom wasn’t hurt much and he spent the rest of the 1970s as the biggest international wrestling star.

Wrestling Prime

Giant Baba and Inoki did actually team one more time in 1979 to defeat Tiger Jeet Singh and Abdullah The Butcher. The match was meant to plant seeds for an eventual match between the two, but that never happened due to a falling out between New Japan and All Japan.

Inoki actually defeated WWE (then WWWF) Champion Bob Backlund on November 30, 1979. However, Tiger Jeet Singh interfered in the match, the title was declared vacant. The title change was never officially recognized by WWE, and Backlund was still billed as the world champion. Backlund and Inoki would have several rematches, but they would end in count-outs or draws, so the title wouldn’t change hands. Unrecognized title reigns were not uncommon in those days since there were no national promotions, let alone the internet or national TV. They were used to sell tickets locally, and in almost every case, the champion would win back the title, and the change was ignored by the promotion.

Peak New Japan Popularity

By the 1980s, NJPW was considered the largest company in the world. They also had a partnership with WWWF complete with their own version of a WWF Championship, the WWF International Title. (possibly similar to IWGP US Title) This meant huge international matches with top Japan stars including Riki Choshu, and Tatsumi Fujinami with foreign stars the likes of Hogan, Masked Superstar, and Andre, along with then up-and-coming stars like the original Tiger Mask, Dynamite Kit, and Bret Hart This era is credited with when smaller wrestlers started being portrayed in a larger light.

This arguably came to a peak in 1983 with the first IWGP League. The story told was that there were several tournaments around the world to determine national champions, with the final tournament to determine a world champion taking place in the IWGP League and the first IWGP Champion being crowned. The tournaments were as fictitious as WWE’s IC Title tournament in 1979.

The finals saw the infamous tournament final in which Hulk Hogan knocked out Inoki with an Axe Bomber. Officials and personnel instantly gathered around Inoki. Even Hogan, who was the heel in the match, showed concern. Hogan was awarded the belt via Count-Out. However, even this was a work and was the baseline for the next tournament in 1984.

Twilight In-Ring Career

Inoki announced his retirement from full-time competition in 1995 and went on a tour called “The Final Countdown”. He then focused on promoting New Japan full-time and wrestled sporadically over the next couple of years, His final regular match on April 4, 1998, against Don Frye packed people into The Tokyo Dome and set a new all-time box office record in Japan. Unfortunately, Inoki broke a rib so the match was cut short.

Career Accomplishments

WCW HALL OF FAME – 1995

WRESTLING OBSERVER HALL OF FAME – 1996

TRAGOS/THESZ HALL OF FAME – 2005

PRO WRESTLING HALL OF FAME – 2009

WWE HALL OF FAME – 2010

INTERNATIONAL PRO WRESTLING HALL OF FAME – 2021

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