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Bruiser Brody Memorial Show
The Bruiser Brody Memorial Show was a professional wrestling supercard held by Giant Baba , best known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota ... and All Japan Pro Wrestling as a tribute to wrestler Bruiser Brody at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on August 29, 1988. His wife and son were present at the event and his widow, Barbara Goodish, presented her late husband's chain to Stan Hansen so he could wear it in remembrance of Brody during his matches. The show received much attention from the Japanese press and, according to the Wrestling Observer, the media coverage ''"turned into almost an Elvis Presley type of thing as the magazines are still filled with Brody photos four weeks after his death and on Baba's show they mention his name dozens of times each hour"''. The show was atten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Professional Wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or—as in televised wrestling shows—in backstage areas of the venue, in similar form to reality television. Professional wrestling as a form of theater evolved out of the widespread practice of match fixing among wrestlers in the early 20th century. Rather than sanction the wrestlers for their deceit as was done with boxers, the public instead came to see professional wrestling as a performance art rather than a sport. Professional wrestlers responded to the public's attitude by dispensing with verisimilitude in favor of entertainment, adding melodrama and outlandish stuntwork to their performances. Although the mock combat they performed ceased to resemble any authentic wrestling form, the wrestlers nevertheless continued to pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenta Kobashi
is a Japanese former professional wrestler. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1988, where he became one of the promotion's top stars, holding the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship three times, and winning the Champion Carnival in 2000. Kobashi left All Japan in June 2000, taking part in a mass exodus led by Mitsuharu Misawa, which led to the formation of Pro Wrestling Noah. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Kobashi worked for Noah for thirteen years, and became the longest reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion of all time, holding the championship for 735 days between 2003 and 2005, a record that stands to this day. He was a four-time world champion. Kobashi spent many of the later years of his career sidelined due to various injuries. He underwent numerous surgeries on his arms and legs in the early-mid 2000s before retiring from in-ring action in May 2013. Kobashi continues to make sporadic appearances in bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashura Hara
(January 8, 1947April 28, 2015) was a Japanese rugby player and professional wrestler, better known by his ring name . Rugby career Susumu Hara began his rugby career in high school, playing for the Agricultural High School in the Isahaya region of Nagasaki. Upon graduating high school, he continued his rugby career in college for Toyo University. After college, he was drafted by the Kintetsu Liners. In 1976, he was elected to represent Japan. Wrestling career International Wrestling Enterprise (1978–1981) 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genichiro Tenryu
, better known as is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was his ''shikona''. He had two stints with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he spent the majority of his career while also promoting Super World of Sports (SWS), Wrestle Association R (WAR) and Tenryu Project. At the time of his retirement, professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer wrote that "one could make a strong case hat Tenryu wasbetween the fourth and sixth biggest native star" in the history of Japanese professional wrestling. Sumo wrestling career As a sumo wrestler, Tenryu was ranked as a ''sekitori'' for 27 tournaments, 16 of them in the top ''makuuchi'' division. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 1. Upon the death of his stablemaster at Nishonoseki stable he wanted to join former stablemate Daikirin's n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdullah The Butcher
Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling matches of all time. Over his time in wrestling he was given the moniker of "Madman from Sudan". One of Shreve's trademarks is a series of divot-like scars on his head that he has due to excessive use of blading during his career. The scars are so deep that, according to Mick Foley, Shreve is able to put gambling chips into them. An amateur martial artist, Shreve also has knowledge of judo and karate, often including this knowledge in his wrestling matches through throws and chops. Early life Shreve was born on January 11, 1941 and raised in Windsor, Ontario, as part of a family of ten people in a deeply impoverished household. He learned karate and judo as a youth and, teaching fellow children in the backyard, claims to have eventually earn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rusher Kimura
was a Japanese professional wrestler, best known by his ring name . He was a five-time IWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him a five-time world champion. Sumo wrestling career He was a sumo wrestler under the ''shikona'' Kinomura, a direct modification of his surname. He had taken up sumo to build his body for Western-style professional wrestling, thus by 1964 he decided to quit, considering that it would be harder to do so the higher up the divisions he went. Professional wrestling career Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (1965–1966) He debuted in 1965 in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance against Sarukichi Takasakiyama (long-time jobber Motoyuki Kitazawa, later known as Shoji Kai in New Japan Pro-Wrestling). As a protégé of Toyonobori, Kimura followed him when he left due to backstage struggles. Original Tokyo Pro Wrestling (1966–1967) Toyonobori, Isao Yoshiwara, Kimura, Antonio Inoki, Hiro Matsuda, Masa Saito and others formed Tokyo Pro Wrestling. Kimura did n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitsuharu Misawa
was a Japanese amateur and professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and also for forming the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Akira Taue, who came to be nicknamed AJPW's " Four Pillars of Heaven", and whose matches developed the '' ōdō'' (, "King's Road") style of puroresu and received significant critical acclaim. Despite never working in the United States during the 1990s, Misawa had significant stylistic influence upon American independent wrestling, through the popularity of his work among tape-traders in the country. Misawa is regarded by some as the greatest professional wrestler of all time. However, the physical demands and consequences of the style in which he worked and the circumstances of his death have made his legacy, or at least that of ''ōdō'', somewhat problematic. Debuting in 1981, Misawa became the seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Laurinaitis
John Hodger Laurinaitis (born July 31, 1962), also known by his former ringname Johnny Ace, is an American retired professional wrestler and business executive. He has wrestled for such promotions as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and WWE. He is the brother of Joe (Road Warrior Animal; one half of the former wrestling tag team The Road Warriors) and Marcus, and is also the uncle of former National Football League player James Laurinaitis. In WWE, Laurinaitis worked in the talent relations office for eight years, and as occasional professional wrestler from 2011 until 2012. After his on screen firing, he stepped down from his corporate backstage role to being a producer. He was promoted again to Head of Talent Relations in 2021 until his release in 2022. Prior to joining WWE, Laurinaitis worked as an executive for WCW. Early life John Hodger Laurinaitis was born on July 31, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Professional wrestling career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Snuka
James Reiher Snuka (born James Wiley Smith; May 18, 1943 – January 15, 2017) was a Fijian American professional wrestler. He is better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Snuka wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010s. He was best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in the 1980s and was credited with introducing the high-flying style of wrestling to the WWF. He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1996, but was quietly removed from the Hall of Fame section of WWE's website, in 2015, after he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in 1983. Snuka was the inaugural ECW World Heavyweight Champion (a title he held twice) in Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling). His children, Sim Snuka and Tamina Snuka, are both professional wrestlers. Snuka was indicted and arrested in September 2015 on third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges in relation to the May 1983 death of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Zenk
Thomas Erwin Zenk (November 30, 1958 – December 9, 2017) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. He was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1986 to 1987, American Wrestling Association (AWA) 1988 to 1989 and with World Championship Wrestling from 1989 to 1994, as well for his tours of Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Early life Zenk was born in Golden Valley, Minnesota. He attended Robbinsdale High School in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. His 1976 graduating class included fellow future professional wrestlers Brady Boone, Barry Darsow, Curt Hennig, Nikita Koloff, and Rick Rude. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in speech communications. Bodybuilding career Zenk competed as a bodybuilder. In October 1980, he competed in the "Mr. North Country" competition, placing third. In July 1981, he participated in the "Mr. Minnesota" competition, winning championships in the overall, heavyweight, and "most muscular" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takashi Ishikawa
is a former professional wrestler and sumo wrestler from Fujishima, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Sumo wrestling career He played baseball up to junior high school, but at Sakata Minami High School he switched to sumo and won the high school section of the National Sports Festival. He was an amateur sumo champion while at Nihon University, winning the All Japan Sumo Championships and the amateur ''yokozuna'' title. From 1975 to 1977 he was a sumo wrestler with the Hanakago stable and used the fighting name of Ōnoumi, which had also been his stablemaster's fighting name. He reached a highest rank of maegashira 4, but was forced to retire at the age of 24 after complications with diabetes. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1977–1988) After retiring from sumo, Ishikawa decided to become a professional wrestler and joined All Japan Pro Wrestling. Giant Baba sent him to Pat O'Connor for training. After training, he was sent to the F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wajima Hiroshi
was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nanao, Ishikawa. He was the sport's 54th ''yokozuna'' and remains the only wrestler with a collegiate background to reach its highest rank. Entering professional sumo in 1970, he won a total of 14 tournament championships or ''yūshō'' during his career before retiring in March 1981. He was later head coach of Hanakago stable, but after several controversies, Wajima was forced to leave the sumo world and turned to professional wrestling. Sumo career After graduating from Nihon University where he was twice the amateur sumo champion in 1968 and 1969, he made his professional debut in January 1970 at the age of 22, joining Hanakago stable. He was given ''makushita tsukedashi'' status, meaning he could begin in the third highest ''makushita'' division. He was undefeated in his first 14 matches and reached the ''jūryō'' division after just two tournaments. He was promoted to the top ''makuuchi'' division in January 1971. After finis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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