Tatsumi Fujinami Tatsumi Fujinami ( December 28 , 1953 ) is a Japan ese professional wrestler who is famous for his nickname as " " The Dragon " " . He is credited for inventing the dragon sleeper and the dragon suplex . He is also the owner and founder of the Dradition wrestling promotion . In 2015 , Fujinami was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame , while also signing on as an ambassador for the company . Career . Japanese Wrestling Association ( 1971 – 1972 ) . Fujinami started in the old Japanese Wrestling Association ( JWA ) under Antonio Inoki ' s wing at the age of 17 . When Inoki was fired from JWA in 1971 , Fujinami and a few others followed him in forming a new promotion , New Japan Pro Wrestling . Inoki , Fujinami , Osamu Kido and Kotetsu Yamamoto are recognized as NJPW ' s founding fathers . New Japan Pro Wrestling ( 1972 – 2006 ) . In those early days , he served as opponent for debuting rookies , such as Mr . Pogo , Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Gran Hamada . Fujinami , Fujiwara , Hamada and three other rookies competed in the 1974 " Karl Gotch Cup " ( a tournament for rookies , forerunner to the later " Young Lions Cup " ) . In the late 1970s , Fujinami was sent abroad , to Mexico ' s Universal Wrestling Association and to Jim Crockett Promotions in the U . S . In the late 1970s he went to the World Wide Wrestling Federation ( WWWF ) where he first made a name for himself . He won the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship on January 23 , 1978 . and brought it to Japan , establishing it as the premier junior heavyweight title in Japan . In October 1981 , he graduated to the heavyweight division . Fujinami would be the first wrestler to be successful in both the junior heavyweight and heavyweight divisions . 1988 proved to be Fujinami ' s banner year . On May 8 , he defeated Big Van Vader by disqualification , to win the title vacated by Antonio Inoki . However , within days , the title was held up after he fought Riki Choshu to a no contest ; he would win the title back a month later in the rematch . In October , he won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship , and he ended the year by winning the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship in December . 1989 proved to be a heartbreaking year for Fujinami . In April , he vacated the title to be determined in a tournament at New Japan ' s first Tokyo Dome show ; he would lose to eventual winner Big Van Vader in the semi - finals . In June , during a match with Vader , Fujinami suffered a severe back injury and pulled a hernia . He wouldn ' t wrestle at all until he returned in September 1990 , changing his kanji from " 辰巳 " to " 辰爾 " ( both are pronounced Tatsumi ) . In December 1990 , he regained the title he never lost , the IWGP Heavyweight title from Choshu . His reign was short - lived , as he lost the title to Vader a month later . Fujinami rebounded by regaining the title two months later . Within days , Fujinami made history , as he defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship , making him the very first man to hold the IWGP and NWA World titles simultaneously . His " most remembered " match in the U . S . was when he defended his NWA World Heavyweight title against Ric Flair in a title vs . title re - match at the first ever WCW SuperBrawl in Florida after a controversial match in Japan that March . Flair retained his WCW Championship and regained Fujinami ' s NWA title by a school boy pin with a handful of tights . In 1993 , Fujinami won the G1 Climax tournament , defeating Yoshiaki Fujiwara , Osamu Kido , Keiji Mutoh , and Hiroshi Hase to win the tournament . In April 1994 , he defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win his fifth IWGP Heavyweight title , but lost it back to Hashimoto three weeks later . In January 1997 , he reunited with Kengo Kimura to win the IWGP Tag Team titles from Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan . They would hold onto the belts for over three months before losing them to Riki Choshu and Kensuke Sasaki . In April 1998 , Fujinami won his sixth and final IWGP Heavyweight title by defeating Sasaki . He would hold onto the belt for over four months , before losing the title to Chono . In recent years Fujinami has decreased his work load upon being named President of NJPW in 1999 ( he was nevertheless ousted in 2004 ) . His last title reign in NJPW was an IWGP Tag Team Championship with disciple Osamu Nishimura in October 2001 , and his last title shot ever was a Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship bout against Keiji Mutoh in December of the same year ( Mutoh had not affiliated himself exclusively with AJPW at the time ) . In 2006 , after nearly 35 years in the company , Fujinami left NJPW , after giving an ultimatum of either Riki Choshu leave or Fujinami leave . New Japan stuck with Choshu , causing Fujinami to leave . Another veteran and Fujinami ' s long - time tag team partner , Kengo Kimura , would follow suit . Muga World Pro Wrestling / Dradition ( 2004 – present ) . Recently he and Nishimura began running their Muga promotion again , focusing on pure catch wrestling which seems to have been relegated by NJPW . In a tag team dream match , Fujinami , along with his close friend Nishimura beat Mitsuharu Misawa and Go Shiozaki in the main event of the first " Muga World " show . The name of Fujinami ' s new promotion has since been changed to Dradition , after the departure of Nishimura . On August 18 , 2012 , Fujinami won his first title in eleven years , when he took part in DDT Pro - Wrestling ' s 15th anniversary event in Nippon Budokan , during which he and Mikami defeated Kudo and Makoto Oishi for the KO - D Tag Team Championship . Fujinami remains an active competitor even at the age of 60 and shows little sign of slowing down . On March 19 , 2015 , it was announced that Fujinami would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2015 . Fujinami was inducted by Ric Flair at the ceremony , which took place on March 28 in San Jose , California . On July 12 , it was announced that Fujinami had signed a " Legends " deal with WWE . The contract effectively made him an ambassador for WWE , but did not restrict his Japanese bookings . Personal life . Fujinami is married to a woman named Kaori . Fujinami ' s son Leona made his professional wrestling debut for Dradition on November 19 , 2013 . He received a WWE tryout in July 2015 .