Posted March 29, 20196 yr comment_5883041 Saw that he passed away today, IMO one of the biggest "could have been a huge star" guys of his time. A former Yokozuna, he was a big star in sumo only to get kicked out for attacking the stable boss's wife which ended up being a recurring theme of his (losing jobs due to unprofessional violence). Had a brief run in New Japan where he sold out the Dome, but feuded with the booker and got fired. Tenryu brought him in, but that led to the famous semi-shoot with John Tenta because Kitao didn't want to lose to a guy who was a sumo equivalent to a midcarder. After that he went to UWFI where again there were issues, he didn't want to lose to Takada who ended up legit KO'ing him with a shoot kick. Afer a brief MMA stint he ended up in WAR before retiring. He's probably known best to US fans for the seemingly random tag match with Tenryu against the Smash/Crush version of Demolition at the 1991 Wrestlemania, which was set up due to the SWS/WWF partnership at the time.
March 29, 20196 yr comment_5883055 Worst Yokozuna ever (never won a basho, no idea how he was even promoted) then acted like a dick (and got fired). One of the worst pro-wrestler ever then, and acted like a dick (and got fired). One of the worst shoot-style wrestler ever, and acted like a dick (and got served by Takada for doing so). Great track record, that guy. A "legend" for all the wrong reasons.
March 30, 20196 yr comment_5883139 Now that Magee vs Bret has been found, my new Holy Grail footage is Koji Kitao kicking the crap out of Preston Steele when he came over for a couple random appearances in 1995.
March 31, 20196 yr comment_5883184 On 3/29/2019 at 2:31 PM, El-P said: Worst Yokozuna ever (never won a basho, no idea how he was even promoted) then acted like a dick (and got fired). One of the worst pro-wrestler ever then, and acted like a dick (and got fired). One of the worst shoot-style wrestler ever, and acted like a dick (and got served by Takada for doing so). Great track record, that guy. A "legend" for all the wrong reasons. don't forget the racism - IIRC he was the first person to publicly out Choshu as Korean or getting bodied in early UFC EDIT: re: the Yokozuna title, apparently that was a dark period for sumo talent and they picked a young guy who they felt had a lot of athletic potential
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