Yusuke "Wally" Yamaguchi (May 5, 1958 – March 9, 2019) better known by his ring name Yamaguchi-san, was a

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 o ...

manager and sports journalist. Yamaguchi was a former writer for ''Gong Magazine'', and attained his greatest fame in the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWF), as the manager of

Kai En Tai Kai En Tai (also spelled Kaientai) was a professional wrestling stable made up of Japanese wrestlers Shiryu, Dick Togo and Men’s Teioh, later joined by Sho Funaki and Taka Michinoku. The group was managed by Yamaguchi-San when they were in t ...

in 1998.

Professional wrestling career

A lifelong fan of professional wrestling, Yamaguchi's career began in the 1970s as a writer for ''Gong Magazine''. In the 1980s, he began working for various Japanese promotions in both behind-the-scenes and in-ring positions such as referee, manager, and commentator. He founded

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their ...

with

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing Japan to the deathmatch style of professional wrestling. He founded ...

in 1989,

Universal Lucha Libre Universal Lucha Libre (Universal Pro-Wrestling until 1991; Federación Universal de Lucha Libre afterward; UWF and FULL used as acronyms) was a professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1990 to 1995. The name Universal Lucha Libre is used to ...

with

Gran Hamada , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler, the first to adopt the high-flying Mexican lucha libre style. He has wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, Michinoku Pro and All Japan Pro ...

in 1990, and

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (originally known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather ...

with

The Great Sasuke , born July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and politician, currently wrestling for Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW) under the ring name . Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly l ...

in 1993. Because of his fluency in English, he was responsible for booking gaijin talent in Japan, as well as booking Japanese talent overseas. He would also accompany Japanese talent booked overseas to not only oversee the tour, but to assist them in making the travel easier and fun.

World Wrestling Federation (1998)

In March 1998, Yamaguchi signed with the

(WWF) under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Yamaguchi-san. He recruited

Sho Funaki (born August 24, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and color commentator signed to WWE, where he is a one-time Cruiserweight Champion and a one-time Hardcore Champion. He currently works for WWE as a Japanese-language play-by-play co ...

Mens Teioh (born December 16, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Men's Teioh (also written MEN's Teioh). The English translation of his ring name, Terry Boy, is a homage to American professional wrestler Terry Funk. ...

, and

Dick Togo , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Togo is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Bullet Club stable, and its sub-group House of Torture. Togo has spent the majority of ...

to form the stable

, who feuded with

Taka Michinoku (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (with his first name usually stylized in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the ...

. They defeated Michinoku and Bradshaw at the Over The Edge pay-per-view. Following this, the stable began a storyline with

Val Venis Sean Allen Morley (born March 6, 1971), better known by the ring name Val Venis, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE) from ...

, who had been sleeping with Yamaguchi-san's wife, Kiyoko, with an enraged Yamaguchi-san being shown a pornographic video of the incident. The following week, during a Val Venis match, Yamaguchi-san cut a promo in which he chopped a salami in two with a sword as a threat to Venis that he would " choppy choppy ispee pee". Taka Michinoku turned on Venis during a tag team match against Togo and Funaki, effectively turning heel and joining Kaientai, Mrs. Yamaguchi was also later revealed to be Michinoku's sister. Venis was dragged backstage to seemingly have his penis amputated, which led to the infamous "castration" scene on the 3 August episode of ''

Raw Is War ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

''. Venis later explained that Yamaguchi's sword narrowly missed his penis, owing to a "little shrinkage" and some timely assistance from "friend"

John Wayne Bobbitt John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. Yamaguchi, Togo and Teioh were later granted their release and returned to Japan, while Taka and Funaki stayed and became a regular tag team.

Personal life

Yamaguchi's younger brother, Shun, currently works for WWE as a Japanese commentator for pay-per-view events.

Death

Yamaguchi suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

in December 2017 that left him bedridden. He died on 9 March 2019 at age 60, after a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness.

References

1958 births 2019 deaths People from Tokyo Professional wrestling managers and valets Deaths from cerebrovascular disease

External links

* * {{Professional wrestling profiles