KinchStalker

Necroposting a bit here, but it is HILARIOUS that that finish was the cover of Weekly Pro after the previous week showed Inoki on a track field with the buzzcut of shame.

Glad to see you back on the project, and glad to hear the updates. Unrelated, but I have to share this with the world and it pertains to this era of Nooj. I dearly hope that all the (mostly uncited) things I just read on Kengo Kimura's Japanese Wikipedia page are true. Some highlights: - He quit sumo by sneaking out of his stable at night with his loincloth tied around his head. - He fell for his wife at first sight solely on account to her resemblance to his crush...Inoki's actress wife. - While in LA, he drove to the DMV to test for a US license. Also during his excursion, he would take his wife to what he thought was Disneyland. It was a Denny's. - He frequently rode on his motorcycle to Tokyo shows despite common downpour. - Every time he got his paycheck, he would buy a wheelchair and donate it to a resident of his hometown in need. What a dude.

Antonio Inoki shakes hands with Strong Kobayashi in press for their first match. In the background stands Tokyo Sports president Hiroshi Inoue, who made the match happen by paying the IWE 10 million yen to not try to stop it. (An investment which the success of the match, and its importance in establishing New Japan, would pay back tenfold.)

Late low-effort entry into the Hypothetical Max Caster Bar Sweepstakes: “Calling our spots as we work the coochie/Just like Johnny learned from Masa Fuchi”

Jumbo Tsuruta and Mimi Hagiwara go clubbing, circa Dec. 1981

Baby Tenzan's going-away party.

He worked as "Tengu" in World Class and Florida. Kazuo Sakurada said it was a Gary idea. Ueda did bring the gimmick to All Japan in a one-off singles match against Kabuki.

I can tell you what Sagawa Express is; It's a big transportation company in Japan. Their founder and then-chairman, Kiyoshi Sagawa, wasn't a wrestling fan, but Inoki sold him his New Japan shares to resolve his Anton Hi-Cel debts. so there was an association between the two companies for a while.

POV: Osamu Kido sings you a sensitive ballad about how he's going to break your arm with the wakigatame once his finger heals up

Big Accidental Renaissance Painting energy from this shot in Monthly Puroresu, August 1977.

Relevant pages from an old Japanese magazine I just scanned.

Jumbo brutalized by Fritz von Erich, 7/19/1975 (Monthly Puroresu, September 1975)

I love the story of how AJPW reporter Hidetoshi Ichinose was shocked that Tarzan Yamamoto chose the picture of Megumi with her eyes closed, and not this (to be fair, absolutely adorable) shot. Issue #429 was the one where they had 16 extra color pages for the SWS Tokyo Dome show but split them on profiles of Kudo and Kobashi after SWS banned them.

I haven't gotten to it yet but the 4/21(?)/78 Inoki/Sakaguchi match is apparently a real good one. I'm partial to the 12/9/71 JWA match against Dory.

Fujinami was bleeding too rapidly for them to have gone to the thirty-minute draw they clearly intended. I've always liked the finish because I felt like it deepened the theme more than that draw would have. After the match, and after all the shit Maeda had talked about Fujinami, he said this: "I believed myself to be alone. I believed to live in a deserted island. But this night, that has changed. This night, I have found out that there are brothers here." That fits the finish we got better than what was obviously the plan, but your point has long been at the back of my mind.