Influential Man in Puroresu

[Souder]

Who do you think the most influential man in puroresu besides Rikidozan? I would have to say Inoki. Never seen him wrestle, but just reading about the stuff he did he does sound that he kept puroresu going after Rikidozan died. When if comes to death matches it goes to Onita. He was a crazy man. When it comes to Junior Heavyweights I would have to say Liger or the original Tiger Mask.


-I'm on a posting rampage tonight! -

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Inoki. No question about that.

[The Great Gouki]

I gotta go with Inoki as well....in a close second Onita.

[Luds]

Inoki

[Colin Douglas]

Inoki....Baba is a close second if we are talking historically.

[eijiezaki24]

i definitely agree. i dont really think u can doubt that

[Souder]

I'm going to keep this going, but now I'm going to ask you who doyou think the the most influential Junior Heavyweight of Japan was. I would have to go with the original Tiger Mask since he paved the way for Liger, Dragon, Sasuke, and so on.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Either Fujinami or Tiger Mask.

There was always a junior heavyweight division in Japan even during the JWA/IWE days, but it didn't become popular until New Japan had Fujinami as the junior heavyweight star. Without Fujinami's success, one could even question if there would be a place for small wrestlers such as Sayama or Yamada.

Tiger Mask also had an unquestionable influence for his style, which was a mixture of lucha libre and martial arts.

Gran Hamada was one of the first trainees of New Japan, but he was so small that New Japan had to send him to Mexico, which would later build a strong bridge between Mexico's UWA and New Japan, and more luchadors started appearing on New Japan's cards.

Let's not forget Mil Mascaras. He wrestled as a heavyweight, but he was a good introduction of lucha libre to Japanese fans. Read his interview with Satoru Sayama.

Without these four guys, there would be no Ligers, Ultimo Dragons, or Sasukes.

[eijiezaki24]

To tell you the truth, I didn't entirely care much for Fujinami in the ring, but I love Tiger Mask I. He and The Dynamite Kid had one of the best fueds ever, and probably one of the most important in wrestling history. So anyway, I say Tiger Mask I was the best Junior Heavyweight of all time, and if not, he's still my personal favorite.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Yeah, I know what you mean, but we are talking about the most influential, but not the best, greatest or most favorite. Have you seen Fujinami in his junior heavyweight days, though? Although the style is very different from today's stuff, his still had great matches.

....then again, we are not talking about who had more good matches.