(born December 28, 1953) is a Japanese

professional wrestler 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 ...

currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority sha ...

(NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He was famously nicknamed "The Dragon", and is credited for inventing the dragon sleeper and the dragon suplex. He is also the owner and founder of the

Dradition Dradition Pro-Wrestling (Dradition) is an independent Japanese professional wrestling promotion that, until 2008, was known as Muga World Pro Wrestling. The promotion was founded by and is owned by puroresu legend Tatsumi Fujinami, who has owned ...

wrestling promotion. In 2015, Fujinami was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, while also becoming an ambassador for the company.

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling back ...

said of Fujinami: "I always wanted to be the great wrestler that Tatsumi Fujinami was". He is a nine time World Champion, winning world titles in NJPW, NWA, UWA and WCWA.

Professional wrestling career

Japanese Wrestling Association (1971–1972)

Fujinami started in the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) under

Antonio Inoki Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born ; 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 , a homage ...

's wing at the age of 17. When Inoki was fired from JWA in 1971, Fujinami and a few others followed him in forming a new promotion,

. Inoki, Fujinami, Osamu Kido and

Kotetsu Yamamoto , known by his ring name was a Japanese professional wrestler, referee, and color commentator for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He was named "''Kotetsu''" ("Little Iron") by former Japanese pro wrestler Toyonobori after the famous knight, Aizu-No-K ...

are recognized as NJPW's founding fathers.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1972–2006)

In those early days, he served as opponent for debuting rookies, such as Mr. Pogo,

Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a Japanese Professional Wrestler and trainer. He is famous for his long career in wrestling, having worked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE (ZERO-ONE), and the two incarnations of shoot style promotion Universal Wr ...

and Gran Hamada. Fujinami, Fujiwara, Hamada and three other rookies competed in the 1974 '' Karl Gotch Cup'' (a tournament for rookies, forerunner to the later ''Young Lions Cup''). In the late 1970s, Fujinami was sent abroad, to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

's Universal Wrestling Association and to

Jim Crockett Promotions Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promot ...

in the U.S. In the late 1970s he went to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) where he first made a name for himself. He won his first title, the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, on January 23, 1978, by defeating José Estrada in

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

, and brought it to Japan, establishing it as the premier junior heavyweight title in Japan. In 1981, he was moved to the heavyweight division to make room for Tiger Mask in the junior heavyweight division. Fujinami would be the first wrestler to be successful in both the junior heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. 1988 proved to be Fujinami's banner year. On May 8, he defeated

Big Van Vader Leon Allen White (May 14, 1955 – June 18, 2018), better known by his ring names Big Van Vader or simply Vader, was an American professional wrestler and professional football player. Throughout his career, he performed for New Japan Pro-Wrest ...

by disqualification, to win the title vacated by Antonio Inoki. However, within days, the title was held up after he fought

Riki Choshu , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler who is best known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a wrestler and a booker. He is considered one of Japan’s most influential wrestle ...

to a no contest; he would win the title back a month later in the rematch. In October, he won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship, and he ended the year by winning the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship in December. 1989 proved to be a heartbreaking year for Fujinami. In April, he vacated the title to be determined in a tournament at New Japan's first Tokyo Dome show; he would lose to eventual winner Big Van Vader in the semi-finals. In June, during a match with Vader, Fujinami suffered a severe back injury and pulled a hernia. He wouldn't wrestle at all until he returned in September 1990, changing his kanji from "辰巳" to "辰爾" (both are pronounced Tatsumi). In December 1990, he regained the title he never lost, the IWGP Heavyweight title from Choshu. His reign was short-lived, as he lost the title to Vader a month later. Fujinami rebounded by regaining the title two months later. Within days, Fujinami made history, as he defeated Ric Flair to win the

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus (wrestler), ...

, making him the very first man to hold the IWGP and NWA World titles simultaneously. His "most remembered" match in the U.S. was when he defended his NWA World Heavyweight title against Ric Flair in a title vs. title re-match at the first ever WCW SuperBrawl I in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

after a controversial match in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

that March. Flair retained his WCW Championship and regained Fujinami's NWA title by a school boy pin with a handful of tights. In 1993, Fujinami won the G1 Climax tournament, defeating

, Osamu Kido, Keiji Mutoh, and Hiroshi Hase to win the tournament. In April 1994, he defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win his fifth IWGP Heavyweight title, but lost it back to Hashimoto three weeks later. In January 1997, he reunited with Kengo Kimura to win the IWGP Tag Team titles from Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. They would hold onto the belts for over three months before losing them to Riki Choshu and Kensuke Sasaki. In April 1998, Fujinami won his sixth and final IWGP Heavyweight title by defeating Sasaki. He would hold onto the belt for over four months, before losing the title to Chono. Fujinami decreased his work load upon being named President of NJPW in 1999 (he was nevertheless ousted in 2004). His last title reign in NJPW was an IWGP Tag Team Championship with disciple Osamu Nishimura in October 2001, and his last title shot ever was a

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. History The championship was established after the unification of its then-flagship title the PWF World Heavyweight Championsh ...

bout against Keiji Mutoh in December of the same year (Mutoh had not affiliated himself exclusively with AJPW at the time). In 2006, after nearly 35 years in the company, Fujinami left NJPW, after giving an ultimatum of either

leave or Fujinami leave. New Japan stuck with Choshu, causing Fujinami to leave. Another veteran and Fujinami's long-time tag team partner, Kengo Kimura, would follow suit.

Late career (2006–present)

In 2006, Fujinami and Nishimura began running their Muga promotion again, focusing on pure catch wrestling. In a tag team dream match, Fujinami, along with his close friend Nishimura beat Mitsuharu Misawa and Go Shiozaki in the main event of the first "Muga World" show. The name of Fujinami's new promotion was later changed to Dradition, after the departure of Nishimura. Fujinami returned to NJPW in 2008 where he would teamed up with Riki Choshu, and Masahiro Chono in tag team matches. On June 27, 2008 he teamed with

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Champion. He is also part of the All Japan Board of Directors. He ...

in the Yuke's Cup PREMIUM One Night Tag Tournament where in the first round they defeated Kohei Sato and Shiro Koshinaka, then in the second round they lost to Jushin Liger and

Manabu Nakanishi is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler, who was primarily associated with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, one-time G1 Climax winner and three-time IWGP Tag Team Cha ...

. On August 18, 2012, Fujinami won his first title in eleven years, when he took part in Budokan Peter Pan, during which he and Mikami defeated Kudo and Makoto Oishi for the KO-D Tag Team Championship. Fujinami remains an active competitor even at the age of 63 and shows little sign of slowing down. On March 19, 2015, it was announced that Fujinami would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2015. Fujinami was inducted by Ric Flair at the ceremony, which took place on March 28 in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. On July 12, it was announced that Fujinami had signed a "Legends" deal with WWE. The contract effectively made him an ambassador for WWE, but did not restrict his Japanese bookings. On January 4, 2020, Fujinami was a part of Jushin Thunder Liger's team for the first of Liger's retirement matches at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On January 4, 2022, he was a part of Wrestle Kingdom 16 as a surprise entrant in the New Japan Ranbo battle royal.

Personal life

Fujinami is married to a woman named Kaori. Fujinami's son Leona made his professional wrestling debut for

on November 19, 2013. He received a WWE tryout in July 2015.

Video games

Fujinami appears as a gang member in the 2017 video game '' Yakuza Kiwami 2'', alongside

, Masahiro Chono, Keiji Mutoh, and

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 hi ...

. He is a playable wrestler in ''

WWE 2K16 ''WWE 2K16'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It is the sequel to ''WWE 2K15'', and was succeeded by ''WWE 2K17''. ...

'' as DLC and in ''

WWE 2K17 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 vari ...

'' and ''

WWE 2K18 ''WWE 2K18'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports. It is the nineteenth installment in the WWE game series (fifth under the ''WWE 2K'' banner) and a follow-up to '' WWE 2K17''. It was released wo ...

'' as unlockable content.

Championships and accomplishments

* Catch Wrestling Association ** CWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) * DDT Pro-Wrestling ** KO-D Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Mikami *

International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame The International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (IPWHF) is an American professional wrestling hall of fame and museum that is located in Albany, New York. The museum was founded by Seth Turner, Tony Vellano, the founder of Professional Wrestl ...

**Class of 2021 *

** IWGP Heavyweight Championship ( 6 times) ** IWGP Tag Team Championship ( 5 times) – with Kengo Kimura (4) and Osamu Nishimura (1) ** NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) **

( 1 time) ** WCWA World Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** WWF International Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time, final) ** WWF International Tag Team Championship ( 1 time, final) – with Kengo Kimura ** WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** G1 Climax ( 1993) **

Super Grade Tag League __NOTOC__ The is a professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a spin-off of the popular singles tournament, the G1 Climax. It was created in 1991 as the Super Grade Tag League, as a continuation of ...

( 1991) – with

** Karl Gotch Cup (1974) *

Pacific Northwest Wrestling Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) (also known as Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling) is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. ...

** NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *Pro Wrestling Heat Up **Heat Up Universal Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with

Kazuhiro Tamura is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Pro Wrestling Heat Up where he is the owner of the company and the current Heat Up Universal Champion. Tamura also works for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) where he is a former Gaora TV ...

* '' Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' ** PWI ranked him #31 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003 ** Ranked No. 12 of the top 100 tag teams of the "PWI Years" with

in 2003 * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame **Class of 2017 *''

Pro Wrestling This Week ''Superstars of Wrestling'' is a nationally syndicated professional wrestling television program that aired throughout the United States from 1986 to 1992. Created and produced by Joe Pedicino, the series broadcast eight hours of wrestling from ...

'' **Wrestler of the Week (February 1–7, 1987) * '' Tokyo Sports'' ** Best Tag Team (1981) with Antonio Inoki ** Distinguished Service Award (1978) **

Fighting Spirit Award The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

(1984) ** Match of the Year Award (1983) vs.

on April 3 ** Match of the Year Award (1986) vs.

Akira Maeda (born Go Il-myeong ( Hangul: 고일명, Hanja: 高日明), January 24, 1959) is a Japanese mixed martial arts promoter, writer and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist of Korean descent. Maeda was also known by the ring ...

on June 12 **

MVP Award In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

(1985) ** Outstanding Performance Award (1980, 1982, 1987, 1988) ** Rookie of the Year (1974) ** Technique Award (1979) * Universal Wrestling Association **

UWA World Heavyweight Championship The UWA World Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial peso Completo de UWA'' in Spanish) was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally promoted by Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) until it closed in 1995. Af ...

( 1 time) * World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation/WWE ** WWE Hall of Fame ( Class of 2015) ** WWF International Heavyweight Championship ( 3 times) ** WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (

) * ''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four W ...

'' ** Best Technical Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1988) ** Most Outstanding Wrestler (1988) ** Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame ( Class of 1996)

References

External links

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fujinami, Tatsumi 1953 births IWGP Heavyweight champions Japanese catch wrestlers Japanese male professional wrestlers Living people NWA World Heavyweight Champions Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Professional wrestling trainers Sportspeople from Ōita Prefecture WWE Hall of Fame inductees Stampede Wrestling alumni 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champions KO-D Tag Team Champions UWA World Heavyweight Champions NWA Americas Tag Team Champions