Rusher Kimura was a five-time IWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him a five-time world champion.
21 Facts About Rusher Kimura
1.
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Rusher Kimura was a sumo wrestler under the shikona Kinomura, a direct modification of his surname.
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Rusher Kimura began his career at the May 1958 Grand Sumo tournament and he had a career high rank of Makushita 20 east.
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Rusher Kimura had taken up sumo to build his body for Western-style professional wrestling, thus by 1964 he decided to quit, considering that it would be harder to do so the higher up the divisions he went.
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Rusher Kimura debuted in 1965 in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance against Sarukichi Takasakiyama.
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Rusher Kimura did not compete much in the upper cards, but in the lower cards he served as debut opponent for future rival, Haruka Eigen, with whom he would have the longest-running fixture in puroresu from 1981 to 2003.
7.
When Tokyo Pro Wrestling closed down, Rusher Kimura joined Toyonobori and Yoshiwara in creating yet another larger promotion.
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On October 8,1970, Rusher Kimura defeated Dr Death to win the first cage match in Japan.
9.
Rusher Kimura won his first of five IWA World Heavyweight Championships on April 19,1975, defeating Vachon.
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Rusher Kimura would go on to defeat the Undertaker, Super Assassin, Umanosuke Ueda, Alexis Smirnoff and Verne Gagne for his other titles.
11.
Rusher Kimura won the Japan International League by defeating Professor Tanaka in the final on November 30,1978.
12.
On October 25,1979, Rusher Kimura challenged Nick Bockwinkel to a double title match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship with Lou Thesz as the special referee.
13.
Rusher Kimura's last known IWA title defense was against Enforcer Luciano on August 6,1981 in Muroran, Hokkaido.
14.
Rusher Kimura teamed with Haruka Eigen since 1973, a New Japan loyalist, for a tag team match against foreigners Roland Bock and Rene Goulet on December 7,1981, and lost.
15.
Rusher Kimura participated in the inaugural International Wrestling Grand Prix tournament as one of four Japanese entries.
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Rusher Kimura spent the rest of his time feuding with Eigen and teaming with heels such as Bad News Allen.
17.
Rusher Kimura and Go followed Hisashi Shinma out of New Japan to form a new promotion, the Japanese UWF.
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Rusher Kimura teamed with Inoue for the 1990 and 1991 editions of the tag team tournament, but finished bottom of the table both times.
19.
When Baba died in 1999, Rusher Kimura took over the leadership of the team with Momota.
20.
When Mitsuharu Misawa broke away from All Japan to form Pro Wrestling Noah, Rusher Kimura jumped to a new Japanese promotion for the seventh and final time.
21.
Rusher Kimura's last match was a tag team win with Momota over Eigen and Kishin Kawabata on March 1,2003.