International Wrestling Enterprise
After he finished his rugby career, Susumu Hara was scouted by International Wrestling Enterprise in 1976. After a couple years of training, he finally made his debut on June 23, 1978, against Isamu Teranishi. Shortly after his debut, he went to Stampede Wrestling in Canada, under the name Fighting Hara, where he won his first championship, the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship, defeating Norman Frederick Charles III in July 1978. He would lose the title back to Charles five days later. In October 1978, he would tour Europe with Otto Wanz's Catch Wrestling Association. By December 1978, he returned to Japan and was given the name Ashura Hara by author Akiyuki Nosaka, who happens to be a fan of Hara's.