Antonio Inoki, Japanese pro-wrestler politician, dies at 79

[mvcg66b3r]

Antonio Inoki, a Japanese professional wrestling star turned politician, widely known for his match with Muhammad Ali and ties to North Korea, has died aged 79, after years of battling a rare disease, media reported on Saturday.

Inoki became one of the biggest names in Japan's pro-wrestling's circuit in the 1960s. His fame went global in 1976 when he had a mixed martial arts match with boxing legend Muhammad Ali, billed as "the bout of the century".

The lantern-jawed, 1.9-meter-tall performer entered into politics, winning a seat in the upper house of Japan's parliament in 1989.

Antonio Inoki, Japanese pro-wrestler politician, dies at 79

Antonio Inoki, a Japanese professional wrestling star turned politician, widely known for his match with Muhammad Ali and ties to North Korea, has died aged 79, after years of battling a rare disease, media reported on Saturday. Inoki became one of the biggest names in Japan's pro-wrestling's...

japantoday.com

 

[Will_H_69_9]

the guy is also the founder of New Japan Pro Wrestling, a wrestling promotion that has been the #1 wrestling promotion in Japan that he ran up until he sold it in 2005 after running it down to the ground to the point it almost went out of business, today, his creation has saw a new lease of life and a rise in the western wrestling world as many of the big name starts of the 2010s came from there, and you can say there would be no AEW, no AJ Styles in WWE, no 2010s era ROH without Inoki.

Inoki along with Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Paul Heyman, Hulk Hogan, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Stone Cold Steve Austin are all the men who help put wrestling on the map in the big boom of the 80s and 90s. New Japan's boom in the 1980s was because of Inoki.