Antonio Inoki

Japanese professional wrestler, businessman, and politician (1943-2022)

Audience217K
Fame74.5
Momentum0.0

Source-basedFalling

217K youtube followers

Audience217K
Fame74.5
Momentum0.0
Japan rank#105
Politicians rank#226
Wikipedia59.7K

Lived 1943–2022, aged 79Japan

Japan PoliticiansPolitician

Biggest on YouTube
217K
@@アントニオ猪木最後の闘魂
Wikipedia
33 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Japan
#105
Politicians
Era
1943–2022
Aged 79
Known for
The Bad News Bears Go …
1978

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He fought Muhammad Ali in 1976 in a bizarre spectacle that prefigured MMA, founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and once flew to Baghdad mid-crisis to talk Saddam Hussein into freeing Japanese hostages. Wrestler, promoter, politician, convert to Shia Islam — Inoki turned every arena into theater.

Biography

About

Born Kanji Inoki in 1943, he spent his adolescence in Brazil before returning to Japan to train under Rikidōzan in the 1960s. He adopted the ring name Antonio Inoki in 1963 as a nod to Italian wrestler Antonino Rocca, then built his reputation developing strong style and shoot style wrestling through the '70s and '80s. In 1972 he founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling and owned it for 33 years. He held twelve world titles, including the inaugural IWGP Heavyweight Championship and a WWF reign WWE never officially recognized. In 1989, still wrestling, he won a seat in Japan's House of Councillors; duri…

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