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74-460: There have been at least 63 championship reigns, and 38 wrestlers have held the championship. El Santo and Octagón both held it four times, the most for any wrestler. The longest confirmed reign belongs to El Santo. His third reign lasted 1,758 days from May 31, 1956, to March 24, 1961. The shortest reign lasted 11 days; Perro Aguayo held it from February 28 to March 11, 1977. As with all professional wrestling championships, matches for

148-641: A black marketeer . His business came through purchasing the belongings of US soldiers departing for service in Korea, and selling these goods to the Japanese. He eventually left this job, and after a petition to return to sumo was rejected, he was given work as a construction supervisor by his former patron Shinsaku Nitta. Nitta had worked in a Tokyo prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, and had secretly provided American prisoners with food and cigarettes; to repay him for his kindness, former prisoners who went on to work at

222-571: A heavy drinker also aroused suspicion surrounding the legitimacy of pro wrestling, as he would "fight" opponents and then be seen drinking and socialising with them just hours later. At one point, Rikidōzan was in a bar with Roberto Barbon , a Cuban baseball player for the Hankyu Braves , who had been drinking and started heckling Rikidōzan, calling professional wrestling fake. Rikidōzan became hostile, threatening violence and demanding an apology, which Barbon agreed to. On December 8, 1963, Rikidōzan

296-728: A member of the National Defence Commission of North Korea since around early 2009, while Bak Myeong-cheol's younger sister is the vice secretary of the Light Industry Division of the Workers' Party of Korea . Sanshō key: F =Fighting spirit; O =Outstanding performance; T =Technique     Also shown: ★ = Kinboshi ; P = Playoff (s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Rikidōzan posthumously became one of

370-459: A policeman . Momota was interested in sumo and supported the Nishonoseki stable . He had recruited several Korean boys for the stable, and persuaded him to join as well. However, his family refused to let him go to Japan, due to his responsibility to care for his father. However, after Kim Sok-tee's death in 1939, Sin-rak left for Japan the following year over his mother's objections. Joining

444-503: A side-career as a businessman , acquiring properties such as nightclubs , hotels , condominiums and boxing promotions. Rikidōzan's luxurious apartment, known as Riki Mansion , is located in Akasaka , Minato , Tokyo and is recognizable for the large " R " printed on the side of the building. Rikidōzan also owned a 9-storey "Riki Sports Palace" in Shibuya , which included a bowling alley,

518-579: A brief cameo in the Batman '66 comic series, based on the Batman TV series that originally aired in the 1960s. They aid Batman in defeating the evil luchador Bane after Batman cuts Bane off from using Venom to boost his strength. Just over a year after his retirement (in late January 1984), El Santo was a guest on Contrapunto , a Mexican television program and, without warning, removed his mask just enough to expose his face, in effect bidding his fans goodbye. It

592-473: A court ruled in favor of Axxel, allowing him to again begin working as El Nieto del Santo. In July 2016, another one of El Santo's grandchildren and the son of El Hijo del Santo began working under the name "El Santo Jr." On 23 September 2016, to honor the 99th birthday of El Santo, Google Doodle ran a special El Santo Google doodle for that day. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018 as part of

666-708: A folk hero and a symbol of justice for the common man through his appearances in luchador films and comic books telling fictionalized stories of El Santo fighting for justice. He starred or co-starred in at least 53 movies between 1958 and 1982. During his career, he mainly wrestled for Mexican promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre , where he won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship , Mexican National Middleweight Championship , Mexican National Tag Team Championship with Rayo de Jalisco , Mexican National Welterweight Championship , NWA World Middleweight Championship and

740-485: A lot of property and real estate, he also had a lot of debt, and the inheritance tax on his estate was upwards of ¥ 20 million ($ 180,000 USD ), equivalent to ¥96.9 million (US$ 665,000) as of 2023, due to Rikidōzan owing millions of yen in unpaid taxes. Due to the notoriety he gained from his wrestling career, Rikidōzan was a huge celebrity in Japan and was frequently discussed in tabloids and magazines. Despite his image of

814-516: A major television star in the process. This was shortly after World War II , and the Japanese needed someone who could stand up to the Americans. Rikidōzan thus became immensely popular in Japan. His American opponents assisted him by portraying themselves as villains who cheated in their matches. Rikidōzan himself was booked as a villain when he wrestled in America early on but went on to become one of

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888-655: A mythos and background for Santo, as the last of a long line of superheroes. It was an enormous success at the box office. Only four of the 53 Santo films were ever dubbed into English, the other 48 being only available in Spanish. The English-dubbed Mexican films of that time period were imported to the United States through the efforts of K. Gordon Murray who changed the name of Santo to "Samson" for some of his releases. Most of Murray's imported Mexi-films went directly to late-night American TV. Santo's most financially successful film

962-470: A national hero, he had a reputation for being a troublemaker, especially in the later years of his career. Due to his deteriorating physical health, Rikidōzan began to abuse painkillers in the early 1960s and would take stimulants before and after his matches. When Rikidōzan was in a good mood, he would leave bar staff a tip of as much as ¥10,000, but when he was in a bad mood, bar fights and violence were an almost daily event. Rikidōzan's reputation for being

1036-406: A number of action/adventure films, their rivalry never really ended in later years since Santo always remembered his defeat at Blue Demon's hands. El Santo was known to never remove his mask, even in private company. When traveling on flights, he made sure to take a different flight than his crew to avoid having them see his face when he was required to remove his mask to get through customs. By

1110-457: A part of it. Lomelí suggested three names, "El Santo" ("The Saint"), "El Diablo" ("The Devil") or "El Angel" ("The Angel"), and Guzmán chose the first one. On 26 July, aged 24, he wrestled at the Arena México for the first time as El Santo, although he later was known simply as "Santo". Under this new name he quickly found his style. One of Santo's greatest matches was in 1952, when he fought

1184-470: A pool room, a bar known as "Club Riki", and a restaurant known as "Riki Restaurant". Shortly before his death, Rikidōzan had purchased land in Lake Sagami and had begun work on a large scale golf course to be known as "Lakeside Country Club", set to feature facilities such as a shooting range, indoor skate rink, hotel, and more along the shore of Sagami Lake. However, it remained incomplete due to his death and

1258-417: A professional wrestler. In September, wrestling promoter Al Karasick of Honolulu-based Mid-Pacific Promotions announced that he, alongside Joe Malcewicz of NWA San Francisco , had secured a deal with Lipton. Karasick and Malcewisz would send six wrestlers for a twelve-date tour, held from September 30 to December 11. These wrestlers included Harold Sakata and Mid-Pacific booker Bobby Bruns. While Bruns

1332-492: A promotion to ōzeki before his retirement. Several reasons have been given for his retirement. The amount of success he had earned despite his humble beginnings was a source of envy amongst his seniors in Nishonoseki. Racial discrimination may have also been a factor, but the impetus for his retirement came due to a financial dispute with stable-master Tamanoumi Daitarō . Rikidozan felt that his substantial contributions to

1406-608: A result, Aguayo relinquished the Mexican National title so that the EMLL could hold an eight-man tournament to determine the next champion. The first round was held on March 25, the semi-finals on April 8 and the tournament's finals on April 15. In the finals, Jose Luis Mendieta defeated Rubí Ruvalcaba to win the championship. The tournament ran from October 14, 2005 – January 9, 2006. Records are unclear as to who Histeria and Psicosis II defeated to qualify for

1480-492: A second surgery one week later, but had developed peritonitis and died at approximately 9:50pm on December 15, 1963. He was 39 years old. Rikidōzan's funeral was held on December 20, 1963, in Ikegami Honmonji Temple in Ōta, Tokyo . Among those in attendance were Rikidōzan's students, Antonio Inoki , Giant Baba , and Kintarō Ōki , as well as various other opponents from throughout his career. Katsushi Murata

1554-468: A tag-team known as Los Hermanos Shadow (which consisted of famed luchadors Blue Demon and the Black Shadow ). Santo beat and unmasked Black Shadow in the ring, which triggered Blue Demon's decision to become a técnico , as well as a legendary feud between Santo and Blue Demon that culminated in his defeat in a well-publicized series of matches in 1952 and again in 1953. Although they appeared together in

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1628-518: Is immortalized in the rockabilly band Southern Culture on the Skids ' 1996 album Santo Swings!/Viva el Santo . Santo is often resurrected in Southern Culture's live performances when an audience member jumps onstage donning Santo's mask. The Latin ska band King Changó released an album titled The Return of El Santo . Turkish actor Yavuz Selekman portrayed an unlicensed version of Santo in

1702-421: Is planning on letting one of his own sons use the "El Nieto del Santo" name. These days, the grandson of El Santo works as "Axxel" and only uses "El Nieto del Santo" as an unofficial nickname to avoid any legal issues. Axxel uses the same trademark mask, cape and trunk design as El Santo but has incorporated black trim and knee pads, presumably not to infringe on the legal rights of El Hijo del Santo. In August 2012,

1776-549: Is referred to by Mexican rock band Botellita de Jerez in their song El Guacarrock Del Santo, in which they speak of Santo's victories in the ring and in the movies as well as the great respect he was given as a Mexican movie hero. Jeffrey Bell , writer/director of the American television series Angel , has stated that El Santo and his luchador brothers were an inspiration for the show's The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco episode. El Santo and several other masked wrestlers make

1850-479: Is the only documented case of Santo removing his mask in public. Santo died at a hospital from a heart attack (during a stage show he was putting on) on 5 February 1984, at 9:40 p.m., a week after his Contrapunto television appearance. He had been complaining of pain in his arm prior to his death. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried wearing his famous silver mask. Around 10 thousand people, including Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras, attended his funeral, which

1924-416: The shikona of Rikidōzan Mitsuhiro ( Japanese : 力道山 光浩 , Hepburn : Rikidouzan Mitsuhiro ) . He reached the top makuuchi division in 1946 and was runner-up to yokozuna Haguroyama in the tournament of June 1947, losing a playoff for the championship . He fought in 23 tournaments in total, with a win–loss record of 135–82. His highest rank was sekiwake , though he was reportedly close to

1998-662: The GHQ gave his construction company preferential treatment when contracting reconstruction work. Nitta also had ties to the criminal underworld, and had been deeply involved with sumo in this manner. In July 1951, the Tokyo-based Torii Oasis Shriners Club announced their intent to sponsor a charity drive for disabled children, for which they would arrange a professional wrestling tour. These events would be promoted by Honolulu businessman Moe Lipton. Around this time, Rikidōzan reportedly expressed interest in becoming

2072-649: The NWA World Welterweight Championship . Early in his career, he worked under a variety of ring names and gimmicks both masked and unmasked, before becoming El Santo, El Enmascarado de Plata ("The Man in the Silver Mask"), in 1942. Santo's brothers were also luchadores , with Black Guzmán being the first to make his debut and later Pantera Negra and Jimmy Guzmán joining them in wrestling as well. Only one of his eleven children followed him into professional wrestling, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of

2146-537: The "La Novia del Santo" name, but El Santo took action and put an end to the unauthorized use of the name. In the 1990s, one of El Santo's 25 grandchildren made his professional debut. After gaining some seasoning under different identities, he began working as "El Nieto del Santo" (Spanish for "the Grandson of Santo") during the 2000s. El Hijo del Santo took legal actions to prevent this as he owns all "El Santo" rights when it comes to wrestling, presumably because he himself

2220-660: The 1920s, where they settled in the Tepito neighborhood. He practiced baseball and American football, and then became interested in various styles of wrestling and grappling . He first studied Ju-Jitsu and then later competed in amateur wrestling . Rodolfo has a brother who entered the wrestling business as well, Miguel, who is known as Black Guzmán (due to his dark skin). Accounts vary as to exactly when and where he first wrestled professionally, either in Arena Peralvillo Cozumel on 28 June 1934 or at Deportivo Islas in

2294-409: The 1940s. In Mexican cinemas, audience participation with the films was common. His best-known movie outside of Mexico is also considered one of his best, 1962's Santo contra las mujeres vampiro ("Santo vs. The Vampire Women"), which was also featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 . In this movie, the production values were better, and there was an attempt at creating more of

Mexican National Middleweight Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

2368-591: The Guerrero colony of Mexico City in 1935, but by the second half of the 1930s, he was established as a wrestler, using the names "Rudy Guzmán", "Hombre Rojo" ("the Red Man"), "El Demonio Negro" ("The Black Demon") and "Murciélago Enmascarado II" ("The Masked Bat II"). The last name was the same as that of El Murciélago Enmascarado ("The Masked Bat"), and after an appeal by Murciélago to the Mexican boxing and wrestling commission,

2442-586: The Japanese needed a local hero to emulate and was lauded as a national hero. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, becoming the first Korean inductee and the third puroresu star to be inducted after Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami . He was killed in a street fight with a member of the Sumiyoshi-ikka in 1963. Momota, who was born Kim Sin-rak , was born in Kankyōnan-dō , Chōsen (now South Hamgyong , North Korea ), on November 14, 1924. He

2516-749: The Legacy Inductees of that year. A skeletal version of El Santo, complete with silver mask and cape, appears briefly in the 2017 Pixar film Coco as a guest at a party in the Land of the Dead, with actress María Félix as his date. Coco (movie) 2017 Rikid%C5%8Dzan Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Mitsuhiro Momota ( Japanese : 百田 光浩 , Hepburn : Momota Mitsuhiro ) (born Kim Sin-rak ; Korean :  김신락 ; November 14, 1924 – December 15, 1963), better known as Rikidōzan ( 力道山 ),

2590-554: The Mexican National Tag Team Championship were not won or lost competitively but by a pre-planned ending to the match, the outcome of which was determined by the CMLL bookers and match makers . Occasionally, organizers of a promotion declared the championship vacant, which meant there was no champion for a period. This was either due to a storyline, or real-life problems such as an injured champion being unable to defend

2664-502: The Nishonoseki stable, Kim debuted in June 1940. At first, his Korean origins were indicated on sumo ranking sheets, and he received harassment and racial discrimination for this. However, he was adopted by Momota and took the name Mitsuhiro Momota , and a story was fabricated that he had been born in Omura , Nagasaki . Despite this, he did not attain Japanese citizenship until 1951. He was given

2738-502: The Saint") making his debut in 1982. El Hijo del Santo's son made his debut as "Santo Jr." in 2016. Another grandson (not a son of El Hijo del Santo) originally wrestled as "El Nieto del Santo" ("The Grandson of Santo"), but now works under the name Axxel. Santo is said to have popularized professional wrestling in Mexico just as Rikidōzan did in Japan. He was buried in his silver mask, in one of

2812-478: The Zombies"). Santo was given the starring role with this film, and was shown for the first time as a professional wrestler moonlighting as a superhero. When Santo's film career took off in 1961, the producers of the first two films slyly entered Santo's name into the titles and finally got them released. Santo eventually wound up appearing in 53 luchador films in all (two of which were just cameo appearances). Because

2886-473: The artist and editor José G. Cruz started a Santo comic book, turning Santo into the first and foremost character in Mexican popular literature, his popularity only rivalled in the 1960s by the legendary Kalimán character. The Santo comic book series (four different volumes) ran continuously for 35 years, ending in 1987. Santo also became an animated mini-series on Cartoon Network in Latin America , and

2960-494: The biggest funerals in Mexico. Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre honors him with the annual Leyenda de Plata ("The Silver Legend") tournament. In 2018, WWE inducted Santo into their Hall of Fame 's Legacy wing. The fifth of seven children, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta was born on 23 September 1917, in Tulancingo , Hidalgo , son of Jesús Guzmán Campuzano and Josefina Huerta (Márquez) de Guzmán. Rodolfo's family came to Mexico City in

3034-563: The bootleg Turkish film 3 Dev Adam . This movie is also known in the United States as Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man. An unauthorized Santo appeared in three films directed by Lee Demarbre – Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter , Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of the Aztec Mummy , and Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace – in the films, Santo is portrayed by Jeff Moffe. He also

Mexican National Middleweight Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

3108-490: The championship or they had left the company. All title matches took place under two out of three falls rules. Championships without a specific start or end date are not included as it is not possible to calculate the specific number of dates for a reign. Perro Aguayo won the NWA World Middleweight Championship on March 11, 1977, while being the reigning Mexican National Middleweight Champion. As

3182-517: The early 1980s, El Santo slowed down his in-ring activities leading up to his inevitable retirement. His farewell tour was announced for August and September 1982. The first of three events took place on 22 August 1982 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. On that night, Santo teamed up with El Solitario to take on Villano III and Rokambole , in a match that naturally saw the legends win. After

3256-435: The films were produced quickly and cheaply, they relied on recycled plot structures and stereotypical characterization. The style of the movies was essentially the same throughout the series, with Santo as a superhero fighting supernatural creatures, evil scientists, various criminals, secret agents and so on. The tones were reminiscent of U.S. B-movies and TV shows, perhaps most similar to the old Republic Pictures serials of

3330-768: The first Japanese wrestlers to be cheered as a babyface in post World War II America. Rikidōzan gained worldwide renown when he defeated Lou Thesz for the NWA International Heavyweight Championship on August 27, 1958, in Japan. In another match, Thesz willingly agreed to put over Rikidōzan at the expense of his own reputation. This built up mutual respect between the two wrestlers, and Rikidōzan never forgot what Thesz did. He would go on to capture several NWA titles in matches both in Japan and overseas. Rikidōzan also trained professional wrestling students, notably including Kanji "Antonio" Inoki , Kintarō Ōki , and Shohei "Giant" Baba . His signature move

3404-617: The first members of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996 and he was posthumously inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2006, as well as the "Legacy Wing" of the WWE Hall of Fame for the 2017 class. In 2024, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling established the PWA Champion's Grail, a championship merging the lineage of Rikidozan and Toyonobori's 1962 Toyonaka trophy with

3478-486: The ground until Murata stabbed Rikidōzan once in the abdomen . Both immediately fled the scene and Rikidōzan was taken to Sannoh Hospital, where a doctor decreed the wound to be non-serious but advised Rikidōzan to have surgery. The surgery was successful and he returned home, but went against doctor's orders and began eating and drinking the same day, sending his assistant to the store for sushi and sake . Due to drinking so much, Rikidōzan worsened his condition and required

3552-400: The hero. In 1958, Fernando Osés, a wrestler and actor, invited Santo to work in movies, and although Santo was unwilling to give up his wrestling career, he accepted, planning to do both at the same time. Osés was planning on playing the hero (a masked cop named "El Incognito") in these two films, with Santo appearing as his costumed sidekick, "El Enmascarado". Osés and Enrique Zambrano wrote

3626-416: The legend of Santo, he won his last match and retired as the hero he always portrayed in the ring and on the screen. His retirement tour was also used to introduce Santo's son Jorge as the next generation El Santo, as he was ringside at each show wearing the silver mask and being introduced as El Hijo del Santo . In 1952, a superhero motion picture serial was made entitled The Man in the Silver Mask , which

3700-464: The legend of the Silver Mask, wrestling as El Hijo del Santo wearing the silver mask, cape and outfit that is very close to what his father used to wear. While El Hijo del Santo is not as big an icon as his father, he is considered a more technically proficient wrestler. In the early 1960s, a female wrestler called "La Novia del Santo" (Spanish for "the Bride of El Santo") worked the Mexican circuit. Under

3774-702: The match, Villano and Rokambole lifted Santo up on their shoulders as he received the adulation of the sold-out arena. The following Sunday, Santo appeared at Arena México , where he teamed up with Gran Hamada to defeat Villano I and Scorpio. Santo's last match took place on 12 September 1982, a week before his 65th birthday. In his last ever match, Santo teamed up with Gory Guerrero who came out of retirement to reform "La Pareja Atómica" as they teamed up with Huracán Ramírez and El Solitario. Their opponents included one of Santo's biggest rivals in Perro Aguayo , as well as El Signo , Negro Navarro and El Texano . True to

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3848-458: The regulatory body ruled that Guzmán could not use the name. In the early 1940s, Guzmán married María de los Ángeles Rodríguez Montaño (Maruca), a union that would produce eleven children; including his youngest child Jorge, who also became a famous wrestler in his own right, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of Santo"). In 1942, Guzmán's manager, Don Jesús Lomelí, was putting together a new team of wrestlers, all dressed in silver, and wanted him to be

3922-548: The ring in 1970 and retired in 2021 at 73, but was never able to earn the recognition that once made his father famous, despite winning the World Junior Heavyweight Championship in 1989. Mitsuo's son, Chikara Momota, made his in-ring debut on December 16, 2013, the day after the fiftieth anniversary of the death of his grandfather. Rikidōzan's other son, Yoshihiro Momota , was also a pro wrestler. Rikidōzan's son-in-law, Bak Myeong-cheol ( 박명철 ), has been

3996-688: The scripts for the first two movies, Santo contra el cerebro del mal ("Santo vs. the Evil Brain") and Santo contra hombres infernales ("Santo vs. the Infernal Men"), both made in 1958, and directed by Joselito Rodríguez. Filming was done in Cuba , and ended just the day before Fidel Castro entered Havana and declared the victory of the revolution. The films apparently could not find a distributor for several years. Santo's film career really took off in 1961 with his third movie Santo Contra los Zombies ("Santo vs.

4070-584: The semi-finals. El Santo Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), best known by his ring name El Santo ( English : "The Saint"), was a Mexican luchador enmascarado (or masked professional wrestler ), actor and folk hero . He is one of the most famous and iconic Mexican luchadores , and has been referred to as one of "the greatest legends in Mexican sports". His wrestling career spanned nearly five decades, during which he became

4144-500: The silver mask was Irma González , a well-known wrestler who had promised her fiancé that she would stop wrestling, but went back in the ring under a mask when she could not resist the draw of competition. La Novia got El Santo's blessing to use the name and is the only non-family member ever given the right to use the Santo name. Gonzáles only wrestled as "La Novia del Santo" for 7 months until she got married. Later on, another wrestler adopted

4218-440: The stable made him worthy of major financial support, but Tamanoumi considered him selfish, and he was refused after a heated argument. While the public explanation for his retirement claimed that he suffered from paragonimiasis , the truth was that on September 10, 1950, soon after the argument with Tamanoumi, Momota "impulsively" cut his own chonmage top knot. After his retirement, Momota initially worked alongside Americans as

4292-669: The stamina required of wrestlers. Rikidōzan left Japan in February 1952 to work in America for further training and experience. This began with a five-month stint for Mid-Pacific Promotions, where he was trained by Oki Shikina. Rikidōzan's breakout performances were with partner and famous judoka Masahiko Kimura in matches against the Canadian Sharpe Brothers in 1954, coinciding with increased television viewership in Japan. He continued to establish himself as Japan's biggest wrestling star by defeating foreign wrestlers, becoming

4366-534: The top ten television programs of all time in Japan. His October 6, 1957 hour-long draw with Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship drew an 87.0 rating, and his May 24, 1963 hour-long two out of three falls draw with The Destroyer drew a 67.0 rating, but a larger viewing audience (the largest in Japanese history) than the previous match, since more people had television sets by 1963. With his success in pro wrestling, Momota began

4440-649: Was The Mummies of Guanajuato (1970), which co-starred Blue Demon and Mil Máscaras . The Santo film series inspired the production of similar series of movies starring other well-known luchadores such as Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, Superzan, and the Wrestling Women (a.k.a. Las Luchadoras ), among others. Santo even co-starred with Blue Demon and Máscaras in several of his movies. Blue Demon invited Santo to co-star with him and Máscaras in Los Campeones Justicieros ("The Champions of Justice"), however, Santo

4514-401: Was a Korean-born Japanese wrestler who competed in sumo and professional wrestling . He was known as The Father of Puroresu , and one of the most influential persons in professional wrestling history. Initially, he had moved from his native country Korea to Japan to become a rikishi (sumo wrestler). He was credited with bringing the sport of professional wrestling to Japan at a time when

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4588-409: Was against Masahiko Kimura, the famous judoka who had been invited by Momota to compete as a professional wrestler. Other famous feuds included those against Thesz in 1957–58, against "Classy" Freddie Blassie in 1962, and against Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer in 1963. In wrestling journalist John M. Molinaro's 2002 book Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time , it is noted that two of his matches are rated in

4662-530: Was among the largest in the history of Mexico. He was entombed at a crypt on the Mausoleos del Ángel cemetery in Mexico City . It reportedly took hours for Santo's coffin to make it from the funeral parlour into the hearse. After his death, a statue of El Santo was erected in his home town of Tulancingo and other statues have been created since then. Santo's youngest son with his first wife, Jorge carries on

4736-487: Was called Santo Contra Los Clones . On 27 October 2004, Cartoon Network released an only season of 5 short episodes. Each episode is about 2 minutes long, and they were shown weekly on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM. El Santo also inspired the Flash animated series ¡Mucha Lucha! and El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera . In ¡Mucha Lucha! he's called "El Rey", and is represented as an icon of all positive things. Santo

4810-594: Was eventually sold and became Sagami Lake Resort, a hotel. Rikidōzan was known to have many girlfriends throughout his lifetime and was often known to see numerous women at the same time. He married his wife, Keiko Tanaka shortly before his death. A 1984 article in weekly Playboy drew much attention after it revealed Rikidōzan was actually from Korea and had been married and had children before he met Tanaka, considered to be taboo in Japan. After his wrestling matches, he would often immediately go to Riki Sports Palace and start drinking without cleaning up any wounds. He

4884-479: Was in Japan before the tour began, he invited Rikidozan, as well as judoka Kokichi Endo  [ ja ] and Yasuyuki Sakabe, to participate in these events. After one month of training, Rikidozan made his professional wrestling debut at Ryogoku Memorial Hall on October 28, 1951, wrestling Bruns to a ten-minute time-limit draw. He would continue to work on the rest of the tour, although he would later comment that he had done so with great difficulty, as he lacked

4958-606: Was known to joke with bar staff and say "work was awful today" while either being covered in blood or having a large scar on his face. According to Why did Masahiko Kimura not kill Rikidozan?  [ ja ] , Rikidozan had a friendship with Hideo Nakamura , who was also from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. It is said that Rikidozan adored Nakamura and called him "Hyung Nim ( 형님 )", which means his older brother in Korean. Rikidōzan spent his spare time hunting and

5032-500: Was later found guilty of manslaughter in October 1964 and served eight years in prison before being released in 1972. Murata visited the grave of Rikidōzan every year on December 15 following his release. He also called the sons of Rikidōzan and apologised yearly. In the years following his release, Murata became a high-ranking yakuza. Murata died on April 9, 2013, from natural causes. One of his sons, Mitsuo , followed his father into

5106-461: Was said to own several legitimate hunting guns at the time of his death. His autobiography also claimed that Rikidozan made his wife carry a handgun wherever she went. He would also play shogi with professional player Kusama Matsuji. After Rikidōzan's death, actor Ikuro Otsuji also lived in Riki Mansion in his later years. After his death, his son, Mitsuo Momota said that while Rikidōzan owned

5180-416: Was stabbed once by Katsushi Murata, a member of the ninkyō dantai Sumiyoshi-ikka , a yakuza organization, after an altercation in a nightclub. Rikidōzan alleged that Murata stepped on his shoe, and demanded an apology. Murata refused and the two began to argue which eventually led to Rikidōzan punching Murata in the face, knocking him against a wall. Rikidōzan then mounted Murata and continued to punch him on

5254-413: Was supposed to star Santo, but he declined to appear in it, because he thought it would fail commercially. The film was made instead with well-known luchador El Médico Asesino in the lead role, wearing a white mask similar to Santo's silver one. A villain named "The Silver-Masked Man" was introduced into the plot at the last minute, thus the title of the film strangely became a reference to the villain, not

5328-525: Was the karate chop , which was actually based on sumo's harite , rather than actual karate . Rikidozan had likely conceived the move while being with a Korean-born karateka , Hideo Nakamura , who was one of Rikidozan's dearest friends. It was rumored that he had been coached by fellow Korean Masutatsu Oyama . He established the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA), Japan's first professional wrestling promotion, in 1953. His first major feud

5402-433: Was the youngest son of Kim Sok-tee, the owner of a Korean farm with a Confucian tradition, and his wife Chon Gi. He tended his father whilst he had suffered from ill health, whilst his mother and older brothers tended to the farm. Kim participated in ssireum in his youth, and, after placing third in a local competition, spoke to Minosuke Momota, the father-in-law of a Japanese man from Omura who had moved to Korea to become

5476-615: Was too busy making other films to participate. By 1977, the masked wrestler film craze had practically died off, but Santo continued to appear in more films over the next few years. His last film was Fury of the Karate Experts , shot in Florida in 1982, the same year he retired from the ring. Seventeen years after Santo's death, his real-life son played the lead role in a brand new Santo movie called Infraterrestre ("Inner Earth"), which co-starred Mexican wrestler Blue Panther . In 1952,

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