Antonio Inoki

Antonio Inoki is a politician as well as a very famous pro-wrestler.

When he was fourteen, his family settled in Brazil. And when he was sixteen, he won the first prize in the discus throw and the shot put at All Brazil Athletics Championships.

In 1960, he was scouted by Rikidozan who was old wrestler, famous for his Karate chop. So he went back to Japan, and became a pro-wrestler. In 1966, he organized "Tokyo Pro-Wrestling," but it was unsuccessful. After that, he made a comeback with "Japan pro-wrestling." But in 1972, he became independent again, and set up "New Japan pro-wrestling." There he held a battle event, which many different kinds of fighters participated in, for example, the king of judo, William Ruska, and the king of boxing, Muhammad Ali. He became a world-famous pro-wrestler at the tournament.

He had many brilliant records, for example, "International tag match title," "Asia tag title," "North-America tag," "NWF heavy class title," and so on.

Antonio Inoki's deadly techniques are "the Manji Scissors," and "the Enzui-gri."

In 1971, he married Mitsuko Baisho who is a very famous actress at present, but in 1987 they were divorced.

In 1989, he organized "Sports Peace Party" and won the election for the House of Councilors. And then, his party merged with the Democratic Socialist Party.

In 1991, he decided to run for the Governor of Tokyo, but he stepped down before the election.

In 1993, he was charged with tax evasion and election law violation by a former secretary, and resigned as the party leader.

He is 52 years old now, but he is still a very strong active pro-wrestler.

References: Gendai Nihonjin Meiroku Reported by: Motonari Izawa
Data verified by: Shinji Matsumoto
Date of Report: November 1995

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