Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was best known by the ring name Antonio Inoki, a homage to fellow professional wrestler Antonino Rocca.
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53 Facts About Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye
2.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was a twelve-time professional wrestling world champion, notably being the first IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the first Asian WWF Heavyweight Champion – a reign not officially recognized by WWE.
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3.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye began his professional wrestling career in the 1960s for the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance under the tutelage of Rikidozan.
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4.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye quickly became one of the most popular stars in the history of Japanese professional wrestling.
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5.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye parlayed his wrestling career into becoming one of Japan's most recognizable athletes, a reputation bolstered by his 1976 fight against world champion boxer Muhammad Ali – a fight that served as a predecessor to modern day mixed martial arts.
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6.
In 1995, with Ric Flair, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye headlined two shows in North Korea that drew 165,000 and 190,000 spectators, the highest attendances in professional wrestling history.
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8.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye began his promoting career in 1972, when he founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
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9.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye remained the owner of NJPW until 2005 when he sold his controlling share in the promotion to the Yuke's video game company.
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10.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was a co-founder of the karate style Kansui-ryu along with Matsubayashi-ryu master Yukio Mizutani.
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11.
In 1989, while still an active wrestler, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye entered politics as he was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors.
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13.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was the sixth son and the second-youngest of the seven boys and four girls.
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14.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was taught karate by an older brother while in 6th grade.
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15.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye later quit and joined a track and field club as a shot putter.
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16.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye eventually won the championship at the Yokohama Junior High School track and field competition.
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17.
Family fell on hard times in the post-war years, and in 1957, the 14-year-old Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye emigrated to Brazil with his grandfather, mother, and brothers.
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18.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye won regional championships in Brazil in shot put, discus throw, and javelin throw, and finally the All Brazilian championships in the shot put and discus.
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20.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye trained in the JWA dojo under the renowned Karl Gotch, complementing further his training under amateur wrestler Isao Yoshiwara and kosen judoka Kiyotaka Otsubo.
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21.
In 1975 he faced Lou Thesz, with Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye taking a vicious Greco-Roman backdrop within the first seconds of the match.
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22.
In 1976, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye fought with Pakistani Akram Pahalwan in a special rules match.
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23.
On December 8,1977, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was involved in a match against former strongman turned professional wrestler Antonio Barichievich better known as The Great Antonio.
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24.
In June 1979, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye wrestled Akram's countryman Zubair Jhara Pahalwan, this time in a regular match, and lost the fight in the fifth round.
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25.
On November 30,1979, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye defeated WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan, to win the championship.
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26.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye refused the title on the same day, and it was declared vacant.
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27.
On March 11,2000, at a Rikidozan memorial event, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was defeated by Japanese actor and singer Hideaki Takizawa; later that year during a New Year's Eve event, he wrestled Brazilian mixed martial artist Renzo Gracie to a time limit draw.
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28.
On February 1,2010, World Wrestling Entertainment announced on its Japanese website that Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2010.
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29.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was presented with a Hall of Fame certificate by WWE's Ed Wells and stated that he would be attending the WrestleMania XXVI weekend festivities, during which he was inducted into the hall by Stan Hansen.
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30.
In October 2019, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye appeared at a Pro Wrestling Zero1 event at the Yasukuni Shrine, which is controversial for its relation to World War II.
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31.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye subsequently retained his seat in the 1992 Japanese House of Councillors election.
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32.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye failed to win re-election in the 1995 Japanese House of Councillors election following a number of scandals reported in 1994, and left politics for the next eighteen years.
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33.
On June 5,2013, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye announced that he would again run for a seat in the National Diet under the Japan Restoration Party ticket.
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34.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye won the election to return to Japan's Upper House as an MP.
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35.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye had visited on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the armistice in the Korean War, and had met with senior North Korean figure Kim Yong-nam during his visit.
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36.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was reportedly considering running for governor of Tokyo in 2014 following another visit to North Korea.
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37.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye joined the splinter of the Japanese Restoration Party, Party for Japanese Kokoro, in 2014.
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38.
In September 2017, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye re-established his position that Japan should make more of an effort to have co-operative dialogue with North Korea, in the wake of North Korea launching ballistic missiles over Hokkaido.
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39.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was amongst the group of professional wrestlers who were tutored in the art of hooking and shooting by the professional wrestler Karl Gotch.
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40.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye faced many opponents from all dominant disciplines of combat from various parts of the world, such as boxers, judoka, karateka, kung fu practitioners, sumo wrestlers, and professional wrestlers.
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41.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was the ambassador for the International Fight League's Tokyo entry before that promotion's demise.
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42.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was married to actress Mitsuko Baisho from 1971 to 1987, and together they had a daughter, Hiroko.
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43.
In 2014, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye took Haroon Abid, nephew of his Pakistani rival Zubair Jhara Pahalwan, under his guardianship.
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45.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye converted to Shia Islam in 1990 during a pilgrimage to Karbala, the Shiite holy city in Iraq.
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46.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye was in Iraq negotiating for the release of several Japanese hostages.
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47.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye appears in the Japanese manga series Baki the Grappler by Keisuke Itagaki.
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48.
Under the names "Kanta Inokuma" and "Armand Inokuma", Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye appears in the manga Rasputin the Patriot by Takashi Nagasaki and Junji Ito, a manga heavily based on the book Trap of the State written by ex-diplomat and political writer Masaru Sato.
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50.
Gene LeBell, who appears in these scenes as a manager of Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye's scheduled opponent, Mean Bones Beaudine, was the referee of Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye's match with Ali.
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51.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye had the starring role in the film Acacia directed by Jinsei Tsuji.
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52.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye made an appearance as the guest in 2005 Doraemon episode "The Pitch-Black Pop Stars", where he wrestled Gian after he splashed ink on his face.
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53.
In May 2021, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye appeared on the Vice on TV series Dark Side of the Ring in an episode covering the 1995 Collision in Korea event.
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