When Wrestling Turns Real: The Rikidozan vs Kimura Incident
70 years ago, the father of Japanese pro wrestling double-crossed a legendary judo fighter.
In a blockbuster super fight that was supposed to end in a tie, Rikidozan left Masahiko Kimura bleeding, broken and unconscious on the mat in an incident that resulted in death threats from the yakuza and catapulted him even further into stardom.
This is the story of Rikidozan vs Masahiko Kimura.
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Navigation:
0:00 Intro
0:56 Who was Rikidozan?
3:05 Who was Masahiko Kimura?
5:13 Rikidozan vs Kimura
9:03 Explanations for the double cross
12:01 Yakuza death threats and murder of Rikidozan
Primary information sources:
Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling by Jonathan Snowden https://www.amazon.ca/Shooters-Toughe...
Japan: The Rikidozan Years by Haruo Yamaguchi, Scott Teal, Koji Miyamoto https://www.amazon.ca/Japan-Rikidozan...
Translated excerpt from "My Judo" by Masahiko Kimura, via bjjee.com https://www.bjjee.com/articles/my-jud...
The Rise and Fall of Rikidozan by George Twigg https://www.amazon.ca/Rise-Fall-Rikid...
Fumi Saito on the Write That Down podcast https://writethatdownwrestling.podbea...
"When Wrestling Was Real" by Paul Vachon (original unavailable, referenced and quoted in other works) https://www.amazon.com/When-Wrestling...
Interview with journalist Kosuke Takeuchi translated by Cameron Lee of Pro Wrestling Only forums https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/t...
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