Mr. Moto

**Masaru "Charlie" Iwamoto** (August 11, 1915 – July 6, 1991) was an American professional wrestler best known for playing the role of Japanese wrestling villain **Mr. Moto** (or the **Great Moto**) in the 1950s and 1960s.

## Early life

Masaru Iwamoto was born on August 11, 1915, in Hawaii to Japanese immigrants. He found time for a career as a sumo wrestler and also worked jobs as a bouncer and carpenter.

## Professional wrestling career

While on a trip to Hawaii, Iwamoto was told that there was good money to make in the United States, and with his sumo background, he was determined to make it work. His first match took place on November 28, 1939, where as Young Shiranuhi he defeated Doc Kawarsky. The bearded giant continued to work in California as Charlie Shiranuhi before adopting the gimmick that would define his career.

In March 1960, Iwamoto adopted the character of Japanese heel The Great Moto, or Mr. Moto at times. Accompanied by his servant Suji Fuji, Moto would perform rituals prior to matches as a reference to his sumo days, and angered fans with his dirty tactics on his opponents. Clad with a fan, often painted nails, tiny glasses, kimonos and clogs, the barefoot brawler Moto was one of the first wrestlers to use sacred salt to attack his foes, which became a common practice among Japanese heels.

On February 2, 1956, Moto won the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship from Miguel Guzmán and Ray Gunkel with Duke Keomuka, who teamed with him before his Japanese gimmick. They held the belts until August 15, when they dropped them to Guzmán and Rito Romero. Over the next few years, Moto continued to win belts, holding the Texas Heavyweight Championship, International Television Championship, and the Georgia Southern Heavyweight Championship.

On July 19, 1954, Moto and Kinji Shibuya defeated The Coughdrop Brothers (Al Smith and John Smith) to win the Mid-Atlantic Southern Tag Team Championship; he held it three more times with Shibuya and Keomuka. In 1956, Moto formed a partnership with actual Japanese heel Mr. Hito in Canada, winning the Canadian Open Tag Team Titles. He also teamed with Tor Yamato for the NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1960, shortly before Yamato's murder. Other titles Moto held included the Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship in Vancouver with Mitsu Arakawa in March 1961, the Hawaiian Tag Team Championship with Nikita Mulkovich in July 1964, the WWA Tag Team Championship in Los Angeles with Freddie Blassie in October 1964, the Western States Championship in Long Beach in 1966, and the WWA tag belts again in 1968 with Arakawa.

Moto's nature of being a villain in the ring led to him being the subject of threats and attacks. In March 1955, he was ripping a bandage off the head of his opponent Freddie Blassie when Mary Eleanor Clements, Blassie's then-girlfriend, slashed Moto in the leg with broken glass from her shattered pocket mirror. He was then escorted away by police as Clements was arrested. One day in Florida, Moto was walking through a drug store when a World War 2 veteran welted Moto in the head with a stick; he simply chose to ignore it and decided to question the man's actions. During a match with Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer, Moto was struck in the toe by a hammer, courtesy of Beyer's son, Kurt, who twice jumped the guardrail to try to save his father, not knowing it was all staged.

Wrestling his final match in July 1979, Iwamoto was also a booker responsible for developing talent and storylines at the famous Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, along with Freddie Blassie and Jules Strongbow. He was also part of the pipeline of wrestling talent between the States and Japan, bringing Freddie Blassie and the Destroyer to Japan and Giant Baba and others to America. Moto resided in Huntington Beach, California following his retirement from the ring and spent the rest of his life golfing and fishing.

## Death

Iwamoto died on July 6, 1991, at the age of 75, and was survived by five children, Earl, James, Charles, Raymond and Andy.