Mitsuo Momota Mitsuo Momota is a Japan ese professional wrestler and executive , known for his work in the Japan ese promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling and later in Pro Wrestling NOAH . He is the son of Rikidōzan , a legend of Japanese wrestling often regarded as the " Father of Puroresu " . Career . All Japan Pro Wrestling ( 1972 - 2000 ) . In 1972 , Momota helped establish All Japan Pro Wrestling . Despite this and being the son of Rikidozan , Momota never enjoyed much success as a wrestler as he spent the majority of his career opening matches and working with young talent . In 1974 he showed up in Mexico ' s Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre as " Rikidozan Jr . " , and learned the " Tope Suicida " maneuver , putting it into practice in Japan long before Gran Hamada from the rival New Japan Pro Wrestling became the first Japanese wrestler to use Lucha - inspired aerial maneuvers regularly in his matches . His only title victory came on April 20 , 1989 where he won the World Junior Heavyweight Championship defeating Shinichi Nakano , he would hold the title for over 2 months successfully defended it 2 times against Johnny Smith and Isamu Teranishi before losing it to Joe Malenko on July 1 , 1989 . After losing the title , Momota returned to opening matches , by the 1990s his role began to change as he began wrestling mostly in comedic tag matches with fellow aging wrestlers . Despite not finding much success as a wrestler , Momota made a bigger impact behind the scenes as a co - Vice President and member of the All Japan directory . After numerous years on the All Japan Pro Wrestling roster , he left in 2000 to join Pro Wrestling NOAH . Pro Wrestling NOAH ( 2000 - 2009 ) . In June 2000 , Momota , along with the majority of the All Japan roster resigned and joined Mitsuharu Misawa ' s new promotion : Pro Wrestling NOAH , in NOAH , Momota was appointed Vice President of the company . Despite being in a new promotion , his spot on the card was the same . Like All Japan , Momota spent his time in NOAH in opening matches or low on the card wrestling against young up and comers and fellow aging wrestlers . Despite this Momota was given several title shots at various titles . His first title was for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on December 11 , 2003 when he teamed with Tsuyoshi Kikuchi to challenge Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA but failed to win the titles . His next title shot was on February 15 , 2004 when he challenged New Japan legend : Jushin Thunder Liger for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship hoping to bring the title back to NOAH but he came up short . His last title shot was exactly 4 years later on February 15 , 2008 , when he challenged Kishin Kawabata for the GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship , despite another good effort he would come short again . Following the death of Mitsuharu Misawa on June 13 , 2009 , Momota would finish the tour and resigned from NOAH as both wrestler and vice president in June 2009 . Freelancer ( 2009 - present ) . After leaving NOAH , Momota began wrestling in the independents specifically for Genichiro Tenryu ' s new Tenryu Project . On June 9 , 2010 , Momota teamed with Tenryu and Koki Kitahara to face Yoshihiro Takayama , Tatsutoshi Goto , & Daisuke Sekimoto in a decision match for the Tenryu Project Six Man Tag Team Championship but lost . On July 15 , 2015 , Momota and his son Chikara defeated Hikaru Sato and Masaaki Mochizuki to win the Tokyo Intercontinental Tag Team Championship . They lost the title to Kikutaro and Stalker Ichikawa on December 1 . Personal life . Momota is the son of Wrestling legend and the Father of Puroresu : Rikidozan . He also had an older brother : Yoshihiro Momota . Like his brother , Yoshihiro also was a wrestler but found little success . He found bigger success behind the scenes as served on All Japan and later NOAH ' s board of directors . Yoshihiro died in 2000 at age 54 . Momota has a son named Chikara , who made his professional wrestling debut on December 16 , 2013 .