Antonio Inoki

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; during that first term he flew to Iraq and negotiated the release of Japanese hostages before the Gulf War, converting to Shia Islam in the process. He wrestled his final match against Don Frye in 1998, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010, and served another political term from 2013 to 2019 before retiring. He died in October 2022.