WWE Announces First Japanese Hall of Famer
The Class of 2010 is shaping up to look pretty damn good. Our next Hall of Fame Inductee…Antonio Inoki.
Inoki will be the first Japanese wrestler inducted in to the Hall of Fame. Hopefully, he will not be the last. There’s dozens of deserving guys from New Japan, All Japan and NOAH that deserve to be honoured. More on one in particular later. First, let’s take a look at our latest Inductee.
Antonio was born Kanji Inoki on February 20, 1943. His family left Yokohama in 1957 and immigrated to Brazil. Inoki met Rikidozan at the age of 17 whilst working on a coffee plantation. “In those days it was like living as a slave,” Inoki once said. “Now it is good to think I worked on the plantation in 45 degree heat. I struggled to eat, but such a life gave me the spirit to fight.”
Inoki went back to Japan as Rikidozan’s disciple, working for the Japanese Wrestling Association, training with Giant Baba. Baba and Inoki would later form a tag team, winning the NWA International tag titles four times. Inoki was fired from JWA in 1971 after planning a takeover of the promotion. He would found New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972. In the same year, Baba left JWA and founded All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Inoki’s defining moment came in 1976, when he challenged Mohammad Ali to a mixed martial arts contest. Inoki was way ahead of his time when it came to MMA. He had already fought several fights against stars of various disciplines. When Ali’s camp arrived in Japan, they expected a work – or at the very least an exhibition match. But Inoki was serious. At a press conference, Inoki told Ali, “When your fist connects with my chin, take care that your fist is not damaged.” Speaking would say afterwards, “I don’t know how seriously Muhammad Ali is taking the fight, but if he doesn’t take it seriously, he could suffer damage. I’m going in there fighting. I may even break his arm.”
When Ali saw Inoki training, they realised how serious he was. Allegedly, Ali asked Inoki when they would rehearse the fight. Inoki told him there would be no rehearsal. It was a real fight. Budokan Hall was sold out. Vince McMahon Sr had a closed circuit telecast of the fight from Shea Stadium. At the last minute, Ali’s crew demanded the rules of the fight be changed and not advertised until the last minute. The strangest restrictions meant Inoki was not allowed to throw or tackle Ali, and could not land any kicks unless he had one knee in contact with the mat.
The fight went the full 15 rounds. Ali threw six punches. Inoki spent all but thirteen seconds laying on the mat, kicking Ali from the canvas. Inoki did manage a takedown at one point. The match was a draw, although Inoki was technically ahead on points – those extra points were conveniently docked for fouls. The two would later become close friends. Ali was at Inoki’s final match in 1998.
In 1979, Inokoi defeated Bob Backlund for a brief stint as WWF Heavyweight Champion. He would be the first man to win the belt since the company had been renamed the World Wrestling Federation (Backlund won it when it was still the WWWF Championship).
In 1995, Inoki drew 190,000 fans to May Day Stadium for a two day wrestling festival for peace in Pyongyang, North Korea. Inoki fought Ric Flair – their only match. Inoki came out on top.
Inoki left New Japan after selling his controlling 51.5% stock in 2005 to YUKE’s. He began a new promotion in 2007 – Inoki Genome Federation. Setting up his own version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The belt was held by Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle before being unified with New Japan’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship (February 17, 2008 by Shinsuke Nakamura).
WWE announced Inoki’s HoF induction at a Tokyo press conference on February, 9. He will be inducted by Stan Hansen.
The induction of Antonio Inoki should open the floodgates for other Japanese stars to receive recognition by the WWE. One that immediately stands out is Mitsuhara Misawa, who died 2009. The second Tiger Mask, Misawa feuded with Dynamite Kid and was the Wrestling Observer’s Wrestler of the Year on three occasions. For that matter, why not induct the first Tiger Mask – Satoru Sayama – the only man to hold both the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship at the same time.
How about the guys that made these legends – even guys who made Inoki – such as Rikidozan and Giant Baba? And then, if you’ve honoured legends such as Rikidozan and Lou Thesz, why not Santo and Frank Gotch?
In recent years, with the inductions of the Von Erichs, Verne Gagne, Gordon Solie and now Antonio Inoki, WWE have expanded their Hall of Fame outside of the ‘WWE Universe’. How long will this hold up? Will WWE continue to honour wrestling’s greats from beyond their organisation? Let’s hope so. Only by inducting stars that WWE did not create (even stars that WWE are no longer on friendly terms with) can their Hall of Fame truly be recognised as the pinnacle of wrestling’s accomplishments.
Congratulations to Antonio Inoki. A great decision to induct on behalf of WWE.
