History Wrestling / AntonioInoki

Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born Kanji Inoki, February 20, 1943 - October 1, 2022) was a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, considered the most iconic figure in puroresu and the first MMA pioneer. Inoki debuted for Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}}'s Japan Wrestling Association and became a big star along Wrestling/GiantBaba, until he was fired when planning a takeover. He then founded Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, which went to be the biggest wrestling promotion thanks to his charisma and star power. Trained by Wrestling/KarlGotch in the ways of the catch wrestling, Inoki created the Strong-Style, the martial arts-oriented realistic wrestling style which distinguished his company for years, and staged a series of "Different Style Fights" against martial artists to prove its superiority. While most of them were worked, Inoki fought a real one against UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli which ended with Ali's legs destroyed.[[labelnote:note]]There have been conflicting reports as to whether this bout was meant to be a worked fight or a shoot. Ali was under the impression that it was the former, with Inoki assuming it was the latter. Last minute clarifications turned it into an actual contest, but since one was a boxer and the other a wrestler, the rules were unclear. The most common story was that Inoki would be prohibited from any shooting style takedowns or tackles and could not kick from a standing position, though he could with one knee or arm on the mat (though some sources say that there were no such restrictions, while none other than Wrestling/BretHart, who worked for Inoki's New Japan promotion at the time, stated that Ali's camp had threatened Inoki if he tried to legit hurt Ali in the ring). Whatever the reason, when the fight started Inoki settled on the BoringButPractical strategy of turtling, crab-walking across the ring and sending kicks at Ali's shins and knees while giving Ali nothing to punch at. This went on for 15 rounds of non-action, but Inoki's kicks left Ali's legs with several swelling and blood clots and would affect his mobility for the rest of his life[[/labelnote]]

After the MMA boom in TheNineties, Inoki became even more interested in real fighting and turned NJPW into his personal test field, which made the company suffer and ultimately got Inoki booted out of it. He went on to form Inoki Genome Federation, where he kept his philosophy of mixing MMA and professional wrestling. Inoki remained as the top MMA promoter in Japan and one of its greatest legends. He passed away on the 1st of October 2022.

* ThreeAmigos: Inoki was considered to be part of the NJPW "big three" executives along with Kotetsu Yamamoto and Hisashi Shinma. During the MMA era, he was part of another business trio with Tatsuo Kawamura and Seiya Kawamata.

** A month before UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar, Inoki organized a sports "peace festival" in Iraq to convince UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein to free 41 Japanese hostages. ''He succeeded''.

"INOKI BOMBAYE!"\\\]]'''

"INOKI BOMBAYE!"\\\
"Fight!"]]'''

* TheDreaded[=/=]LivingLegend: One of the biggest badasses in the world. Period.

* BadassFamily: His older brother Hiroyasu Inoki was a 9th dan black belt[[note]]This is arguably the greatest award one can receive in Karate save for 10th dan, which is typically reserved exclusively for the founder[=/=}"Grandmaster" of the style[[/note]] in Shotokan UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} who lived and taught in Brazil until his death in 2017.

* BadassFamily: His older brother Hiroyasu Inoki was a 9th dan black belt in Shotokan UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} who lived and taught in Brazil until his death in 2017.

* TheApprentice: To Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}} and Wrestling/KarlGotch.

* {{Homage}}: His artistic name, Antonio, is a nod to Wrestling/AntoninoRocca.

'''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPJUTcycDf0 "INOKI BOMBAYE!"\\
"INOKI BOMBAYE!"\\
"INOKI BOMBAYE!"\\

* TakeAThirdOption: He took up UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} and changed his name to Muhammad Hussain Inoki while remaining a Buddhist. (Yeah, they both can be compatibilized, a sort of - see UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} for more info.)

* WorthyOpponent: Despite not doing either man any favors in the long term, Inoki and Ali were on such good terms after their infamous match that not only did Ali allow Inoki to use his theme song from his biopic, Ali was also Inoki's guest at the ''Clash in Korea'' PPV where NJWP and WCW stars... went to ''UsefulNotes/NorthKorea''. And like the outrageous excursion to Iraq, it was reportedly a roaring success.

Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born Kanji Inoki, February 20, 1943) is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, considered the most iconic figure in puroresu and the first MMA pioneer. Inoki debuted for Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}}'s Japan Wrestling Association and became a big star along Wrestling/GiantBaba, until he was fired when planning a takeover. He then founded Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, which went to be the biggest wrestling promotion thanks to his charisma and star power. Trained by Wrestling/KarlGotch in the ways of the catch wrestling, Inoki created the Strong-Style, the martial arts-oriented realistic wrestling style which distinguished his company for years, and staged a series of "Different Style Fights" against martial artists to prove its superiority. While most of them were worked, Inoki fought a real one against UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli which ended with Ali's legs destroyed.[[labelnote:note]]There have been conflicting reports as to whether this bout was meant to be a worked fight or a shoot. Ali was under the impression that it was the former, with Inoki assuming it was the latter. Last minute clarifications turned it into an actual contest, but since one was a boxer and the other a wrestler, the rules were unclear. The most common story was that Inoki would be prohibited from any shooting style takedowns or tackles and could not kick from a standing position, though he could with one knee or arm on the mat (though some sources say that there were no such restrictions, while none other than Wrestling/BretHart, who worked for Inoki's New Japan promotion at the time, stated that Ali's camp had threatened Inoki if he tried to legit hurt Ali in the ring). Whatever the reason, when the fight started Inoki settled on the BoringButPractical strategy of turtling, crab-walking across the ring and sending kicks at Ali's shins and knees while giving Ali nothing to punch at. This went on for 15 rounds of non-action, but Inoki's kicks left Ali's legs with several swelling and blood clots and would affect his mobility for the rest of his life[[/labelnote]]

After the MMA boom in TheNineties, Inoki became even more interested in real fighting and turned NJPW into his personal test field, which made the company suffer and ultimately got Inoki out of it. He went on to form Inoki Genome Federation, where he kept his philosophy of mixing MMA and professional wrestling. Currently, Inoki remains as the top MMA promoter in Japan and one of its greatest legends.

* AGodAmI: The Makai Club members worshipped Inoki like a god in storyline, and according to rumors, several members of his entourage do it in real life. Unsurprisingly, Inoki's experiment to join puroresu and MMA in his own way was called "Inoki-ism", just like a religion, and he still calls that way the wrestling style of Inoki Genome Federation.

* AuthorAppeal: Inoki openly favors wrestlers with legit backgrounds, or more clearly, mere workers who agree in doing MMA for him, which has led to questionable (or downright wrong) booking decisions, and has often damaged their pro wrestling careers.

** Conversely, according to Wrestling/BrunoSammartino, a young Inoki once tried to shoot on him, and he had to power out of his hold and throw him off the ring. The story has no other sources and many people have disputed it as being fantastic, sometimes citing Sammartino's loyalty to Giant Baba, Inoki's main rival, as a proof of it being propaganda.

** Is known for being a cunning, even ruthless promotor who often relies in underhand business tactics. It's believed he concocted the disastrous 1.4 Incident, ordering Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa to shoot on Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto to increase his MMA popularity.
** In recent times, he apparently enjoys giving an almost Bond villain image - he even owns a private island in Cuba handed by UsefulNotes/FidelCastro himself (the story behind it is pretty incredible).

* ScarfOfAsskicking: One of his trademarks is a red scarf worn over his attire.

** He has done it again with ISM.
* TheStarScream: After {{Wrestling/Rikidozan}}'s death, Inoki was eventually fired by Japan Wrestling Association for his attempts to take it over.

* WarriorPoet: Writes poems during his free time.
* WorkedShoot: Loves them, when not regular shoots. His "Ishu Kakutōgi Sen" or "Different Style Fights" were a proof of it - he started to bring martial artists and combat sports champions to work matches against them. Olympic gold medalists in USefulNotes/{{Judo}} like Shota Chochoshivili and Willem Ruska and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} champions like Willie Williams and Gerard Gordeau were his habitual opponents, and UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli was meant to be another.

* WorthyOpponent: Despite not doing either man any favors in the long term, Inoki and Ali were on such good terms after their infamous match that not only did Ali allow Inoki to use his theme song from his biopic, Ali was also Inoki's guest at the ''Clash in Korea'' PPV where NJWP and WCW stars... went to ''UsefulNotes/NorthKorea''.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1f177626c7c6c2d40cdb9d1e75b98a51_6.jpg]]

Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born Kanji Inoki, February 20, 1943) is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, considered the most iconic figure in puroresu and the first MMA pioneer. Inoki debuted for Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}}'s Japan Wrestling Association and became a big star along Wrestling/GiantBaba, until he was fired when planning a takeover. He then founded Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, which went to be the biggest wrestling promotion thanks to his charisma and star. Trained by Wrestling/KarlGotch in the ways of the catch wrestling, Inoki created the Strong-Style, the martial arts-oriented realistic wrestling style which distinguished his company for years, and staged a series of "Different Style Fights" against martial artists to prove its superiority. While most of them were worked, Inoki fought a real one against UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli which ended with Ali's legs destroyed[[labelnote:note]]There have been conflicting reports as to whether this bout was meant to be a worked fight or a shoot. Ali was under the impression that it was the former, with Inoki assuming it was the latter. Last minute clarifications turned it into an actual contest, but since one was a boxer and the other a wrestler, the rules were unclear. The most common story was that Inoki would be prohibited from any shooting style takedowns or tackles and could not kick from a standing position, though he could with one knee or arm on the mat (though some sources say that there were no such restrictions, while none other than Wrestling/BretHart, who worked for Inoki's New Japan promotion at the time, stated that Ali's camp had threatened Inoki if he tried to legit hurt Ali in the ring). Whatever the reason, when the fight started Inoki settled on the BoringButPractical strategy of turtling, crab-walking across the ring and sending kicks at Ali's shins and knees while giving Ali nothing to punch at. This went on for 15 rounds of non-action, but Inoki's kicks left Ali's legs with several swelling and blood clots and would affect his mobility for the rest of his life[[/labelnote]].

* IKnowKarate: And SumoWrestling, and UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling too. Aside, he is the founder of the Kansui-Ryu UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} school along with Yukio Mizutani.

* LonerTurnedFriend: He was apparently less social in his early career and even Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara once thought he was autistic. It is said that he had a change in attitude after going to a self-development seminar.

'''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax82QeoSqmg "INOKI BOMBAYE!"\\

[[quoteright:202:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/antonioinoki_3291.jpg]]

* WorkedShoot: Loves them, when not regular shoots. His "Ishu Kakutōgi Sen" or "Different Style Fights" were a proof of it - he started to bring martial artists and combat sports champions to work matches against them. Olympic gold medalists in USefulNotes/{{Judo}} like Shota Chochoshivili and Willem Ruska and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} champions like Willie Williams and Gerard Gordeau were his habitual opponents, and UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli was meant to be another.

Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born Kanji Inoki, February 20, 1943) is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promoter, considered the most iconic figure in puroresu and the first MMA pioneer. Inoki debuted for Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}}'s Japan Wrestling Association and became a big star along Wrestling/GiantBaba, until he was fired when planning a takeover. He then founded Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, which went to be the biggest wrestling promotion thanks to his charisma and star. Trained by Wrestling/KarlGotch in the ways of the catch wrestling, Inoki created the Strong-Style, the martial arts-oriented realistic wrestling style which distinguished his company for years, and staged a series of "Different Style Fights" against martial artists to prove its superiority. While most of them were worked, Inoki fought a real one against UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli which ended with Ali's legs destroyed[[labelnote:note]]There have been conflicting reports as to whether this bout was meant to be a worked fight or a shoot. Ali was under the impression that it was the former, with Inoki assuming it was the latter. Last minute clarifications turned it into an actual contest, but since one was a boxer and the other a wrestler, the rules were unclear. The most common story was that Inoki would be prohibited from any shooting style takedowns or tackles and could not kick from a standing position, though he could with one knee or arm on the mat (though some sources say that there were no such restrictions, while none other than Wrestling/BretHart, who worked for Inoki's New Japan promotion at the time, stated that Ali's camp had threatened Inoki if he tried to legit hurt Ali in the ring). Whatever the reason, when the fight started Inoki settled on the BoringButPractical strategy of turtling, crab-walking across the ring and sending kicks at Ali's shins and knees while giving Ali nothing to punch at. This went on for 15 rounds of non-action, but Inoki's kicks left Ali's legs with several swelling and blood clots and would affect his mobility for the rest of his life[[/labelnote]]. After the MMA boom in TheNineties, Inoki became even more interested in real fighting and turned NJPW into his personal test field, which made the company suffer and ultimately got Inoki out of it. He went on to form Inoki Genome Federation, where he kept his philosophy of mixing MMA and professional wrestling. Currently, Inoki remains as the top MMA promoter in Japan and one of its greatest legends.

As usual, you can find the basics at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Inoki The Other Wiki]].