The man who nearly killed New Japan Pro Wrestling

>>2138536
He paid with all the accumulated brain damage from his time in Pride.

>>2138536
>The man who nearly killed New Japan Pro Wrestling

Why?

More like Antonio Inoki
>Durr let's try to work them all into a shoot and have our wins based on who would win in a MMA fight
>Entertainment? Match quality? What's that? Just make it look real

He set NJPW back decades and they had to rebuild all by themselves after he fucked off.

>>2138536
This nigger had pound for pound the BEST entrance theme in all of MMA. Fucking Epic.
I know it's a remix of Inoki's theme.
>don't know if it's the same as his wrestling theme tho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmw_mUGwD3w

ah you leady block?

>>2139843
>Inoki literally took his company from filling out the tokyo dome to barely filling half

based tanahashi and kidani saving njpw

>>2138536
thats not antonio onoki

File: 1469958991716.jpg (91KB, 1086x724px) Image search: [Google]

91KB, 1086x724px

>>2138536
So this is the Japanese Bret Hart?

>>2138536
Inoki set New Japan back DECADES and is a North Korea sympathizer. Why is that gargantuan chinned piece of shit even idolized by anyone?

>>2142449
No, this would be as if WWF had decided to make Ken Shamrock their champ and a focal point of the program entirely based on the fact that he was a credible shootfighter even though he was kind of a flop as a pro wrestler.

>>2142924
>Shamrock was a flop as a pro wrestler

18+

>>2142928
>implying he wasn't a flop
If he'd really gone anywhere as a wrestler he'd be remembered for it rather than for fighting in a jap proto-MMA company and a relatively short and not quite as succesful run in early UFC events. But granted, if the company had gotten behind him he might've managed to be a real big deal.

>>2138536
It was the Inokism. Something that made Njpw big but gave it debts and odd bookking when Inoki took control of it again.

He went from beating legiatmate guys in a work or shoot into changing it into mma guys and mma stuff fight Njpw guys. Which made Nagata look weak.

Pride was very big at the time and Njpw still had ok ratings prior to the morning move. The attedances however was papered or not even filling buildings anymore.

Also increased debts.