Antonio Inoki

###

Yokohama, Japan

**Muhammad Hussain Inoki** (born Kanji Inoki (猪木寛至, *Inoki Kanji*); February 20, 1943 – October 1, 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. He was best known by the ring name **Antonio Inoki** (アントニオ猪木, *Antonio Inoki*), a homage to wrestler Antonino Rocca. He also wrestled under the ring names **Moeru Toukon** and **Tokyo Tom**. Inoki converted to Islam in 1990 and took the name **Muhammad Hussain Inoki**, something he did not publicly reveal until 2012. Inoki is a twelve-time professional wrestling world champion, notably being the first IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the first Asian WWF Heavyweight Champion – a reign not officially recognized by WWE.

Inoki began his professional wrestling career in 1960, working for the Japanese Wrestling Association and became a wrestling promoter in 1972 when he founded New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) that he remained the owner of until 2005 where he sold his controlling share in the promotion to the Yuke's video game company. He later founded the Inoki Genome Federation. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010. As a professional wrestler he became one of the most respected wrestlers of Japan, bolstered by his mixed martial arts match against boxer Muhammad Ali in 1976. Inoki headlined two shows in North Korea that drew 150,000 and 190,000 spectators respectively, the highest attendance in professional wrestling.

In 1989, while being an active wrestler Inoki entered Japanese politics as he was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors and as part of his first term with the House of Councillors successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages before the outbreak of the Gulf War. His first tenure in the House of Councillors ended in 1995, but he was reelected in 2013. In 2019, Inoki retired from politics.

## Early life

Inoki was born in an affluent family in Yokohama in 1943. He was the sixth son and the second youngest of the seven boys and four girls. His father, Sajiro Inoki, a businessman and politician, died when Kanji was five years old. Inoki entered the Higashidai Grade School. Inoki was taught karate by an older brother while in 6th grade. By the time he was in 7th grade at Terao Junior High School, he was 180 centimeters tall and joined the basketball team. He later quit and joined a track and field club as a shot putter. He eventually won the championship at the Yokohama Junior High School track and field competition.

The family fell on hard times in the post-war years, and in 1957, the 14-year-old Inoki emigrated to Brazil with his grandfather, mother and brothers. His grandfather died during the journey to Brazil. Inoki won regional championships in Brazil in the shot put, discus throw, and javelin throw, and finally the All Brazilian championships in the shot put and discus.

## Professional wrestling career

### Japan Wrestling Association (1960–1966)

Inoki met Rikidōzan at the age of 17. He went back to Japan for the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) as Rikidōzan's disciple. One of his dojo classmates was Giant Baba. After Rikidozan's death, Inoki worked in Baba's shadow until he joined the original Tokyo Pro Wrestling in 1966.

### Tokyo Pro Wrestling (1966–1967)

After a long excursion of wrestling in the United States, Inoki found a new home in Tokyo Pro Wrestling. While there, Inoki became their biggest star. Unfortunately, the company folded in 1967, due to turmoil behind the scenes.

### Japan Wrestling Association (1967–1971)

Returning to JWA in late 1967, Inoki was made Baba's partner and the two dominated the tag team ranks as the "B-I Cannon", winning the NWA International tag team belts four times. Wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino tells a story about Inoki trying to "shoot" him during a tag match in Osaka to build his reputation against the then-world champ. Bruno powered out of the hold, pounded Inoki mercilessly and threw him out of the ring. Inoki allegedly refused to re-enter the ring with Sammartino and tagged in Baba to finish the match.

### New Japan Pro Wrestling (1972–1994)

Fired from JWA in late 1971 for planning a takeover of the promotion, Inoki founded New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in 1972. His first match as a New Japan wrestler was against Karl Gotch.

On November 30, 1979, Inoki defeated WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan to win the title. Backlund then won a rematch on December 6. However, WWF president Hisashi Shinma declared the re-match a no contest due to interference from Tiger Jeet Singh, and Inoki remained Champion. Inoki refused the title on the same day, and it was declared vacant. Backlund later defeated Bobby Duncum in a Texas Death match to regain the title on December 12. As Inoki refused the title, his reign is not included nor is it recognized by WWE in its official history, and Backlund is recognized as having one reign from 1978–1983.

In 1995 the Japanese and the North Korean governments came together to hold a two-day wrestling festival for peace in Pyongyang, North Korea. The event drew 150,000 and 190,000 fans respectively to Rungnado May Day Stadium. The main event saw the only match between Inoki and Ric Flair, with Inoki coming out on top. Days before this event, Inoki and the Korean press went to the grave and birthplace of Rikidōzan and paid tribute to him.

### Final Countdown and retirement (1994–2019)

Inoki's retirement from professional wrestling matches came with the staging of the "Final Countdown" series between 1994 and 1998. This was a special series in which Inoki re-lived some of his mixed martial arts matches under professional wrestling rules, as well as rematches of some of his most well known wrestling matches. As part of the Final Countdown tour, Inoki made a rare World Championship Wrestling appearance; defeating WCW World Television Champion Steven Regal in a non-title match at *Clash of the Champions XXVIII*. Inoki faced Don Frye in the final match of his professional wrestling career.

Culminating in 2006, Inoki's influence within New Japan declined. An example of this has been the purchase of his share by Yuke's, who in 2005 purchased his controlling 51.5% stock in New Japan. As a result, Inoki would leave New Japan and began a new promotion in 2007 called Inoki Genome Federation.

On February 1, 2010, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced on its Japanese website that Inoki would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2010. Inoki was presented with a Hall of Fame certificate by WWE's Ed Wells and stated that he would be attending the WrestleMania XXVI weekend festivities, during which he was inducted by Stan Hansen.

In 2017, Inoki created a new company, ISM. ISM held its first event on June 24. On March 23, 2018, Inoki left IGF.

In October 2019, Inoki appeared at a Pro Wrestling Zero1 event at the Yasukuni Shrine, which is controversial for its relation to World War II.

In October 2022, Inoki was originally planed to return to NJPW as a Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the promotion with Inoki accepting the promotion's request on September 1, with news originaly being planed to be announced on October 10 at Declaration of Power; however, those plans would ended up being canceled due to Inoki's passing on October 1.

## Personal life and religion

Inoki was married to actress Mitsuko Baisho from 1971 to 1987, and together they had a daughter, Hiroko. Inoki's second wife, Tazuko Tada, died on August 27, 2019. In 2021, it was reported that spinal issues had confined Inoki to a wheelchair.

Inoki converted to Shia in 1990 during a pilgrimage to Karbala, the Shiite holy city in Iraq. He was in Iraq negotiating for the release of several Japanese hostages. This was only revealed in 2012, along with the declaration that he had changed his name to Muhammad Hussain Inoki. Inoki has reportedly described himself as both a "Muslim" convert and a Buddhist.

Inoki opened a wrestling themed restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo named Antonio's Inoki Sakaba Shinjuku.

## Death

On October 1, 2022, at age 79, Inoki died from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis.

## In media

Inoki appears both in the manga and anime *Tiger Mask*, in a secondary role: in the Japanese series he is the only one who was able to win over Naoto Date, i.e. Tiger Mask, and the two became best friends subsequently.

Inoki appeared in the film *The Bad News Bears Go to Japan* as himself. A subplot in his scenes involved Inoki seeking a rematch with Ali. Gene LeBell, who also appears in these scenes as a manager of Inoki's scheduled opponent, Mean Bones Beaudine, was the referee of Inoki's match with Ali. Inoki's appearance in the film culminates with a match against the main character, Marvin Lazar (played by Tony Curtis), when Beaudine suddenly becomes unavailable to participate. Professional wrestler Héctor Guerrero served as Curtis's stunt double for the wrestling portions of this scene.

Inoki had the starring role in the film *Acacia* directed by Jinsei Tsuji.

In Oh!Great's manga Air Gear, Inoki is regularly referred to by the author, and also the characters as an influence on their fighting style. The manga also makes several less than complimentary references to Inoki's large chin. Along with Inoki, Steve Austin of the World Wrestling Federation has been referred to in Air Gear's pages, often in naming things.
(This is based on the translation by Tanoshimi Manga, and later by Balantine Books/Del Rey Books. Other translations may omit these references)

The pro-wrestler character Kanji Igari in the manga (and anime) series Baki the Grappler is based heavily on Inoki.

Inoki made an appearance as the guest in 2005 Doraemon episode "The Pitch-Black Pop Stars", where he was wrestling Gian after he splashed ink on his face.

Several episodes of the Japanese comedy show *Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!* (most notably 2007's "Do Not Laugh at the Hospital" and 2009's "Do Not Laugh as a Hotel Man") have included parodies of Inoki. In the former, three "patients" are presented as being Inoki, with each imitating Inoki's in-ring persona; while in the latter, the guest known only as *Shin Onii* was asked to imitate Inoki as if he were a hotel bellhop.

In May 2021, Inoki appeared on the Vice on TV series *Dark Side of the Ring* in an episode covering the 1995 Collision in Korea event.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ Bridging fallaway slam
	+ Enzuigiri – innovated
	+ *Manji-Gatame* (Octopus Hold)
	+ Sleeper hold
* **Signature moves**
	+ Bare knuckled punches
	+ *Cobra Twist* (Abdominal stretch)
	+ Cross armbreaker
	+ Diving knee drop
	+ Dropkick
	+ Indian deathlock
	+ Seated armbar
	+ Slap
	+ Stepover standing armbar
* **Nicknames**
	+ "Moeru Tōkon (Japanese for Burning Fighting Split)
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Honō no Fighter" (炎のファイター) – originally used in the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic *The Greatest*
	+ "Pacific Zone" (WCW)

### Wrestlers trained

* Akira Maeda
* Bad News Allen
* Brian Adams
* First Tiger Mask
* Hartley Jackson
* Heddi Karaoui
* Hiroshi Hase
* Kazuyuki Fujita
* Keiji Muto
* Kengo Kimura
* Masahiro Chono
* Masanobu Kurisu
* Naoya Ogawa
* Nobuhiko Takada
* Osamu Kido
* Riki Choshu
* Rocky Romero
* Shinya Hashimoto
* Tadao Yasuda
* Tatsumi Fujinami
* Tatsutoshi Goto
* TJP
* Victor Zangiev
* Yoshiaki Fujiwara

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Cauliflower Alley Club**
	+ Lou Thesz Award (2004)
* **Japan Wrestling Association**
	+ NWA International Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Shohei Baba
	+ All Asia Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Michiaki Yoshimura (2) and Kintaro Ohki (1)
	+ 11th World Big League
	+ 1st and 2nd World Tag League (with Kantaro Hoshino and Seiji Sakaguchi)
* **National Wrestling Federation**
	+ NWF Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
* **New Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ NWA North American Tag Team Championship *(Los Angeles/Japan version)* (1 time) – with Seiji Sakaguchi
	+ WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (1 time, inaugural and final)
	+ NJPW Real World Championship (1 time)
	+ NJPW IWGP League (1984, 1986, 1987, 1988)
	+ NJPW Japan Cup Tag Team League (1986) with Yoshiaki Fujiwara
	+ MSG League (1978–1981)
	+ MSG Tag League (1980) with Bob Backlund
	+ MSG Tag League (1982) with Hulk Hogan
	+ MSG Tag League (1983) with Hulk Hogan
	+ MSG Tag League (1984) with Tatsumi Fujinami
	+ Six Man Tag Team Cup League (1988)  with Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino
	+ World League (1974, 1975)
	+ Greatest Wrestlers (Class of 2007)
* **NWA Big Time Wrestling**
	+ NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ NWA World Tag Team Championship *(Texas version)* (1 time) – with Duke Keomuka
* **NWA Hollywood Wrestling**
	+ NWA North American Tag Team Championship *(Los Angeles/Japan version)* (1 time) – with Seiji Sakaguchi
	+ NWA United National Championship (1 time)
* **NWA Mid-America**
	+ NWA World Tag Team Championship *(Mid-America version)* (1 time) – with Hiro Matsuda
* **Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum**
	+ Class of 2009
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ PWI ranked him #5 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
* ***Pro Wrestling This Week***
	+ Wrestler of the Week (June 7–13, 1987)
* ***Tokyo Sports***
	+ Lifetime Achievement Award (1989, 2022)
	+ Best Tag Team Award (1975) with Seiji Sakaguchi
	+ Best Tag Team Award (1981) with Tatsumi Fujinami
	+ Service Award (1979, 1982)
	+ Match of the Year Award (1974) vs. Strong Kobayashi on March 19
	+ Match of the Year Award (1975) vs. Billy Robinson on December 11
	+ Match of the Year Award (1979) with Giant Baba vs. Abdullah the Butcher and Tiger Jeet Singh on August 26
	+ Match of the Year Award (1984) vs. Riki Choshu on August 2
	+ MVP Award (1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981)
	+ Special Grand Award (1983, 1987)
	+ Technique Award (1985)
* **Universal Wrestling Association**
	+ UWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **World Championship Wrestling**
	+ WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
* **World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment**
	+ WWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) (unofficial)1
	+ WWWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (2 times, inaugural and final)
	+ WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)
* ***Wrestling Observer Newsletter***
	+ Promoter of the Year (2001)
	+ Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

1 **^** Inoki's WWF Heavyweight Championship reign is not officially recognized by WWE.

## References

1. ↑ Antonio Inoki Home Page. Twc-wrestle.com. Retrieved on May 10, 2014.
2. ↑ Shoemaker, David 2013-07-01. Wrestling's Greatest Shoots, Volume 3: Antonio Inoki vs. the Great Antonio .
3. ↑ Yuke's Media Creations . Archived from the original on 2009-10-27. Retrieved on 2010-02-10.. uk.games.ign.com
4. ↑ Yuke's Buys Controlling Share of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Gamasutra.com (November 15, 2005). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.
5. ↑ Rothstein, Simon (February 9, 2010). "Inoki gets Hall of Fame nod". *The Sun*. London.
6. ↑ .アントニオ猪木は“戦友”倍賞美津子（２）. ZAKZAK (October 30, 2004). Retrieved on May 10, 2014.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Legendary Japanese wrestler converts to Islam . Press TV. Retrieved on 2014-10-04.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Wrestling, anyone? Pakistan welcomes back a flamboyant Japanese hero of the ring. . Washington Post. Retrieved on 2014-10-04.
9. ↑ Seeto, Damian 2012-12-22. Antonio Inoki Embraces and Accepts The Nation Of Islam . Rantsports.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-10..
10. ↑ Legendary Japanese wrestler Muhammad Hussain Inoki revisits Pakistan on a Peace Festival . Pakistan Explorer  (2012-07-12).
11. ↑ Antonio Inoki, Wrestling Legend, Converts To Islam, Promotes International Peace (video) . The Huffington Post. Retrieved on 2014-10-04.
12. ↑ http://taiken.co/single/antonio-inoki-sakabar-shinjuku
13. ↑ "Int'l film festival begins in N. Korea, playing Japan's 'Acacia'". *Kyodo News*. September 20, 2010.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `wwebio`
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Finishing Moves List . Other Arena. Retrieved on 2009-08-28.
16. ↑ 16.00 16.01 16.02 16.03 16.04 16.05 16.06 16.07 16.08 16.09 16.10 16.11 16.12 16.13 16.14 16.15 16.16 16.17 16.18 16.19 16.20 16.21 16.22 http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=1096&page=14
17. ↑ http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/t/t-j-perkins/
18. ↑ Japan Cup Elimination Tag League « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database. Cagematch.net. Retrieved on May 10, 2014.
19. ↑ NJPW Greatest Wrestlers. New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on August 23, 2014.
20. ↑ Miyamoto, Koji. Antonio Inoki . Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2011-05-14. Retrieved on 2011-05-22.
21. ↑ Pedicino, Joe; Solie, Gordon (hosts) (June 13, 1987). "Pro Wrestling This Week". *Superstars of Wrestling*. Atlanta, Georgia. Syndicated. WATL.
22. ↑ *ja:東京スポーツ　プロレス大賞* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports*. Retrieved on 2014-01-20.
23. ↑ *ja:東京スポーツ　プロレス大賞* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports*. Retrieved on 2014-01-20.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 *ja:東京スポーツ　プロレス大賞* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports*. Retrieved on 2014-01-20.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 *ja:東京スポーツ　プロレス大賞* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports*. Retrieved on 2014-01-20.
26. ↑ Centinela, Teddy 2015-04-13. En un día como hoy… 1980: Cartel súper internacional en El Toreo: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh — Fishman vs. Tatsumi Fujinami  (in Spanish). *SuperLuchas Magazine*. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.

## External links

* Puroresu.com: Antonio Inoki
* Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Profile
* TWC: Antonio Inoki Home Page
* Antonio Inoki and Mizutani-sensei form Kansuiryu Karate in 1979