Among the crazy pantheon of professional wrestling personalities, there has never been anybody quite like this man. In a sport built upon deceit and exaggeration, his life has been mythologised to such an extent that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. But when the facts are so bizarre, then even the craziest rumours can become believable too. To fully explain his importance, influence and insanity (the true three Is, Kurt Angle!) will take some doing, so strap yourselves in.
Born into a wealthy family during World War II, Kanji Inoki’s politician father died when he was 5 and the family struggled post-War. When he was 14, they decided, like many others, to immigrate to Brazil to work on coffee plantations. Mitsuyo Maeda, who had taught Jiu-Jitsu to Carlos Gracie 40 years prior, promoted Japanese emigration to Brazil and, as things would turn out, MMA would become a big part of Kanji’s future. Inoki proved himself a high school athletics star and returned to Japan after 3 years to become a pro wrestler, after being spotted by Rikidōzan in 1960.
In the 1950s, Rikidōzan had become the father of puroresu, popularising professional wrestling in Japan and using the increasing television audience to become a national hero, helping remedy the collective bruised ego by defeating dastardly American wrestlers, including Lou Thesz. His top two students were Kanji Inoki (now taking the stage name Antonio as a homage to Antonino Rocca) and Shōhei “Giant” Baba.
Getting on the wrong side of the Yakuza is never a wise move and a stabbing from a piss-soaked blade left Riki dead in 1963. In his absence, Baba became the top man in the Japan Wrestling Association promotion and Inoki left for the United States to hone his skills. Upon his return in 1966, the JWA president had left and set up his own promotion in Tokyo Pro Wrestling. Inoki was the top star but it quickly folded and he was forced to return to JWA the following year and be Baba’s second. This wasn’t going to sit well with Inoki and he plotted a takeover that led to him being turfed out of the company in 1971. The following year he founded New Japan Pro Wrestling and, in response, Baba left the dying JWA to form All Japan Pro Wrestling. A new era of puroresu had begun.
While AJPW took over JWA’s spot in the NWA and continued using the NWA style, Inoki planned a different take on pro wrestling – strong style. He would use catch wrestling taught to him by mentor Karl Gotch (whom he would lose to in the main event of the first NJ show) as well as martial arts style strikes, including his innovated enzuigiri. Inoki was determined to portray wrestling as not only legit but the strongest of all the fighting disciplines and began booking himself to go over in worked proto-MMA matches against karate practitioners, sumos, even a double Olympic gold medalist in judo. Inoki was building himself a reputation as a tremendous promoter and, while clearly a skilled shooter, he was also creating a myth about the extent of his legit toughness. His crowning moment was about to come.
Muhammad Ali was in the twilight of his career. He had prevailed over George Foreman in 1974’s Rumble in the Jungle, he had outlasted Joe Frazier in their Thrilla in Manilla rubber match in 1975 and had spent the first half of 1976 out of top condition and beating inferior competition in underwhelming fashion. In early 1975, the typically braggadocios Ali had said to the president of the Japanese Amateur Wrestling Association "Isn’t there any Oriental fighter who will challenge me? I’ll give him one million dollars if he wins". A more beautiful opportunity could not have presented itself for a promoter who was trying to cultivate a legit reputation. Of course, the quote was made into headline news and Inoki accepted the challenge, calling Ali out. When the money was right, the match was agreed upon and set for June 26, 1976.
Knowing Inoki was a pro wrestler and being wise to the game – Ali took his cocky shtick and mic work from Gorgeous George after all – Ali was expecting a work and one that he would win. Things would not be so easy however, with different versions of how the story played out. One is that Inoki originally proposed a ref bump finish where his opponent could save face in defeat but Ali refused. Another is Inoki’s claim that Ali thought it was to be an exhibition but when he asked when the rehearsal was, Inoki told him it was a real fight.
Either way, the rules of the contest were renegotiated massively in the days before the fight, as Ali’s team realised this was now going to be a shoot and potential cause of embarrassment. Inoki would not be allowed to perform takedowns or to kick, unless he was on the mat, basically taking away his wrestling ability. Because of the fact this would severely limit the match, the rule changes were not announced to the fans. Not only was there a sold-out Budōkan Hall eager to see these man clash, but Vince McMahon, Sr. had promoted a live closed-circuit screening of it as the main event of a Shea Stadium show that drew over 30,000 and featured his own Wrestler vs. Boxer match before the screening, with André the Giant taking on Chuck Wepner (who had taken Ali to 15 rounds the year prior).
With the rules as they were, what followed was basically 15 rounds of Inoki crab-walking and landing 64 kicks to Ali’s left leg with the boxing heavyweight champion only landing 5 punches in total. So that everyone could save face, Inoki, who had been leading by 3 points on scorecards, was conveniently docked 3 points for fouls and a draw was declared. Ali was left worse for wear. Not only was he bleeding from his leg, but two blood clots had formed and he contracted an infection, which was serious enough that amputation was considered at one point. He would never really recovee. Ali and Inoki would become close friends following the match and Inoki adopted a song from the 1977 Ali biopic The Greatest for his theme music and fashioned Bom-Ba-Ye (from the chanting Zaire fans at Rumble in the Jungle) into his catchphrase. While the fight itself may have been a complete dud, Inoki was now a made-man around the world.
He travelled to India later that year and took on Akram Pahalwan, student of the legendary Great Gama, in front of a stadium crowd on December 12, 1976. Pahalwan is purported to have attempted to shoot on Inoki and ended up having his arm broken in return, with the ref stopping the match when he refused to submit. Inoki had humbled a national hero in his own country and, understanding diplomacy, returned 30 months later to face Akram’s nephew Jhara Pahalwan. The two men went to a draw, but Inoki raised his opponent’s hand afterwards to symbolise him (and his family and country by extension) as the true winner. But he made sure he didn’t do the job, brother!
On December 8, 1977, Inoki had one of his most infamous matches with a different type of attraction, in the form of the Croat-Canadian Great Antonio. Antonio Barichievich was a former strongman with feats and myths of his own - in terms of not just strength but eccentric behavior. There are stories of him hijacking buses full of passengers by hooking a chain to it and dragging it for a few hundred yards. By the time of this match, The Great Antonio was far from the great physique of his past and, like the crazy guy that he is, decided it would be fun to no-sell Inoki's offence, act comical and hit Inoki with some stiff shots. Inoki responded by shooting on him, kicking his head in and bloodying him. You would think The Great Antonio would've learned his lesson as he refused to cooperate with RikidĹŤzan 15 years prior and is supposed to have gotten a Yakuza beating as a result. It makes you question whether this match may have in fact been a work, as an Inoki recreation, or if The Great Antonio is simply just as crazy as his legend proclaims.
In 1978, Inoki's relationship with the then WWWF grew as he worked matches with champion Bob Backlund and was even awarded his own title - the WWWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship - at Madison Square Garden by Vince McMahon, Sr. Inoki would defend this title in “shoot wrestling fights” with no ropes and different rules than your standard matches. Inoki would also become an unrecognised WWF (name now changed) Champion as he defeated Backlund for the belt in Japan on November 30, 1979, but due to typical territory-era shenanigans, it was swept from the record books. It is at the whim of the now WWE whether they acknowledge the change, which currently they do not.
Inoki continued as president and dominant ace into the 80s, including battles with gaijins such as Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Dusty Rhodes and Stan Hansen, and New Japan was the most successful pro wrestling company on the planet. But things weren't all rosy, with Inoki skimming the till to fund a failed cattle ranch venture in Brazil, and Satoru Sayama (the wildly successful Tiger Mask) kicking up enough of a fuss to cause Inoki to step down as president. NJ booker Hisashi Shinma took the heat for the money "mismanagement" and was fired, meaning he was also replaced as figurehead president of the WWF (a role he'd held since 1978) by Jack Tunney!
This led to Shinma forming the Universal Wrestling Federation with NJPW breakaways like Sayama, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada – a new promotion that took Inoki's approach and went even further towards realism, giving birth to "shoot style". They proclaimed to be real, unlike other pro wrestling, and this led to the first NJPW/UWF invasion feud, which actually took place after the UWF had dissolved as a company. This is the feud that would ultimately help inspire the nWo angle. While the initial UWF did not last long, Sayama, Fujiwara, Maeda and Takada would, at differing points, found Shooto, PWFG, RINGS and UWFi respectively, promotions which were precursors to the birth of modern MMA.
When the opportunity arose, Inoki was still keen for more Wrestler vs. Boxer matches and on October 9, 1986 he submitted former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, who had traded wins with an old Ali in 1978. But almost a year later, on October 4, 1987, he would deliver surely his craziest match idea.
In 1612, there was a legendary samurai duel where Miyamoto Musashi (hey, just like shinobimusashi!) slay Sasaki Kojirō on the island of Ganryū-jima. So obviously Inoki thought it would be a great idea to book himself to defeat Masa Saito in a "fight to the death" (which didn't actually mean they would fight to the death) on that very island. In a match that lasted over two hours. Where Inoki didn't come out of his tent for the first half hour, mimicking Musashi showing up late for the duel. And with them fighting in and out of the ring as day turned to night. Do not seek out this match. Don’t do it to yourself.
I think we should take pause from this career retrospective for a moment to focus on two of Inoki's key traits. Number one being the chin. Quite simply, Antonio Inoki possesses the single greatest chin in the history of the human race. Look at that thing. It could dismiss Godzilla with a single glancing blow. It could break continents. The sheer majesty. Behold.
The second is The Slap. Once, while visiting a school, some punk student decided it would be a good idea to punch Antonio Inoki. If it was not obvious enough by now, Inoki was clearly not going to stand for that shit and responded by slapping the kid down. The child got up and bowed and this showing of respect and stoicism spoke to the Japanese psyche when it was shown widely on television. Ever since, it has become common for people to ask Inoki to slap them and impart some of his Moeru Toukon (Fighting Spirit That Burns). Inoki basically walks about slapping the shit out of people now, from fellow wrestlers to MMA protégés to female pop stars to... well, everyone. Or more accurately, they walk up, ask for it, and are damn grateful!
Anyway, back to business. Another infamous Inoki match occurred on December 27, 1987 at Sumo Hall. The big booked main event that drew the crowd was Inoki vs. Riki Chōshū (who had left New Japan in 1983, set up his own promotion JPW and “invaded” All Japan, before recently returning as a huge star) with the newly introduced Big Van Vader teaming with Masa Saito against Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura as the highlight of the undercard. Convoluted booking resulted in Chōshū taking Vader’s place in the tag match, then the big advertised main only going 6 minutes before a run-in DQ led into Vader challenging and squashing the weakened Inoki in under 3 minutes.
This was supposed to be the start of a feud between Inoki and famous Japanese comedian/TV personality/actor/not-yet-director Takeshi Kitano (you may know him as the teacher in Battle Royale or as Takahashi in motherfuckin’ Johnny Mnemonic) with Vader as the jewel of his stable. However, negative reaction to this entire angle and being gypped on their big main caused the fans to revolt and riot, tearing apart Sumo Hall and almost setting it alight, with police taking an hour to calm things down. Not only were New Japan banned from Sumo Hall for over a year, but their primetime TV slot was changed, leading to salary cuts. Akira Maeda would not accept this and left New Japan for a second time, restarting UWF, which again did not last long, but eventually led to the founding of RINGS.
With the Cold War thawing, Inoki was now able to attract legit athletes from the Soviet Union to go up against. On April 24, 1989 he lost his WWF World Martial Arts title to Olympic gold medalist judoka Shota Chochishvili and this led to a big money rematch the next month where Inoki regained the belt. After the success of this Soviet angle and with the 80s coming to a close, Inoki was ready for a new phase of his life.
For the best part of two decades, Inoki had basically been the biggest wrestling star and greatest wrestling promoter in his country. Essentially Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon combined. However, this wasn’t enough for our Antonio. He wanted to be those two plus Linda McMahon as well. Well, a successful Linda that is. For Inoki followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the world of politics. He set up the Sports and Peace Party, with his belief that sports (and likely his wrestling in particular) could bring peace around the world, and was elected into the House of Councillors, the equivalent of the US Senate.
Now, while Hogan and Vince were simply exploiting the troubles in the Middle East for storyline purposes, Inoki was actively getting involved. 141 Japanese had been taken hostage by Saddam Hussein’s regime for use as a human shield and Inoki just took it upon himself to travel to Baghdad three times in late 1990 and organise a “peace festival” featuring wrestling, karate, judo, taiko drumming and more. And it worked! Not only did the Japanese get released but the day after they were, Saddam announced that the over 5,000 foreigners being detained in Iraq could leave. And all Hogan did was beat Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa! Legend has it that Saddam gifted Inoki traditional golden swords upon his departure but he managed to lose them in record time at the airport. Adding even more to this is that during his visit, Inoki was the first Japanese to ever be allowed in the mosque at Karbala and he converted to Islam, taking on the name Muhammad Hussain Inoki – a fact would not be revealed by the man until 2012.
This wasn’t the end of Inoki the diplomat, as he travelled to North Korea and set up the Collision in Korea show in Pyongyang in April 1995. Inoki, perhaps helped by his mentor Rikidōzan actually being born in what is now North Korea, had been fostering relations with North Korea for years. He had undertaken visits going back to the mid-80s and gifted “eternal leader” Kim Il-sung a Japanese camera that took pride of place among a collection, including a crystal glass from Jimmy Carter. Kim Jong-il was now in charge (having succeeded his dead father the year prior) and he was there as Inoki used his promotion’s relationship with WCW to produce a joint-event featuring the likes of himself, Flair, Shinya Hashimoto, Hiroshi Hase, the Steiner Brothers, Road Warrior Hawk, Chris Benoit, Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto and Manami Toyota, along with an appearance by his mate Muhammad Ali. The event is purported to have drawn 150,000 fans for night 1 and 190,000 for night 2 and even if those numbers are likely worked, the crowds were enormous. Enormously full of terrified people that is – being forced to go and watch a sport that didn’t exist in their country, during a famine, with no fucking idea what was going on.
A few months later, Inoki was not re-elected into his political position. Scandals had rocked him the previous year with accusations of bribery and working with the Yakuza, which he had almost certainly been tight with since the 60s due to their close links with puroresu. In among all this, Inoki was doing his “Final Countdown”, which had started in 1994 and was building to his retirement. The most famous match from this extended victory lap was on the January 4, 1996 Tokyo Dome show where an almost-53 Inoki took the most hellacious German suplex of all time in getting his win back on Vader.
Inoki retired as an in-ring competitor on April 4, 1998, defeating legit badass Don Frye in under 5 minutes in front of 70,000 adoring fans. However, his obsession with pushing pro wrestling as super duper legit and the strongestest of all would not end there. With MMA getting crazy big in Japan in the early 00s, president Inoki would push guys that couldn’t work but had legit backgrounds into top spots and convince wrestlers to dabble in MMA to help their perceived legitness, typically with them coming out the worse. Croatian MMA fighter Mirko Cro Cop was even given the nickname “pro wrestler hunter” and you can his destruction of Yuji Nagata below. Nagata would win New Japan’s top prize the IWGP Title 5 months later, but was unable to fully recover his reputation.
Business dropped and the standing of pro wrestling and its wrestlers had been damaged. These tough guys had been made to look not so tough. In 2005, with New Japan in a bad way, Inoki sold his majority share to Yuke’s (yes, the video game company that makes the WWE games) and only recently has the company recovered to a decent degree. A couple of years later, Inoki set up the Inoki Genome Federation – a MMA and wrestling company – and in 2010 he became the first man inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame whose career and legacy was not mainly based in the United States.
In the battle of the crazy promoters, Vince McMahon may have booked himself in a match against God in 2006 but Inoki is never one to be outdone. In 2011, Inoki put himself on a cross for his entrance during a MMA/kickboxing/pro wrestling show to do an in-ring angle with old rival Tiger Jeet Singh and his son Tiger Ali Singh, of Lo Down fame, with the latter cracking him with a kendo stick. It is just as bizarre as it sounds.
For his careful handling of the Pahalwan family situation back in the 70s and his conversion to Islam, Inoki is a beloved figure in Pakistan and travelled there in 2012. He announced his plan to establish wrestling academies, held another peace festival and even offered to lead negotiations between the Pakistani government and the Taliban. Just Inoki being Inoki.
In 2013, Inoki returned to the House of Councillors after 18 years and made an unauthorised trip to North Korea, presumably to become mates with the third generation in Kim Jong-un. This got him suspended from the House for 30 days since Japan had cut-off official ties with North Korea over its nuclear program since 2006. But Inoki just brushed this off in typical fashion and the purpose of his visit became clear in August 2014 as the IGF held two events in Pyongyang, nearly two decades after Collision in Korea. It is anyone’s guess what Inoki will have up his sleeve in the future?
That should do for now, but don’t think that’s it. There is plenty more to dig into about a man with his own line of fighting spirit condoms; who is claimed to have bought an island, which he named “Inoki Friendship Island”, from the Cuban government because Fidel Castro convinced him it contained buried treasure; and is rumoured to have been spending New Japan profits on trying to make a perpetual motion device that would disprove the laws of thermodynamics.
So after all that, it is my esteemed honour to present the first international inductee into the PW Wrestling Hall of Fame – a legendary wrestler and promoter; the innovator of strong style; a pioneer of mixed martial arts; a slapper of men, women and children alike; hostage negotiator and best bud to dictators the world over…
ANTONIO INOKI!
There it is. I had to recreate it, since I couldn't transfer it to this thread. Credit to
Strobe for originally posting this here.
