Questions (fairly obscure)

[ElGringo]

Can you give me career details on some of these people?

Thanks.

Shinji Sasazaki
Kanji Kitazawa
Kazuharu Sonoda
Shoji Kai

[Peru-Yakuza]

Originally posted by ElGringo
Can you give me career details on some of these people?

Thanks.

Shinji Sasazaki
Kanji Kitazawa
Kazuharu Sonoda
Shoji Kai

Sonoda was named Haru Sonoda in late 1970's in Amarillo and also wrestled under masked alter-ego Magic Dragon. He died in 1987 in a plane crash in South Africa.
Shoji Kai was the New Japan alias of former JWA wrestler Sarukichi Takasakiyama (probably another sumo given the long name). Kai was later a referee for RINGS (not sure if he had an stint in the old UWF beforehand, quite possible). Aside from being the first opponent of Satoru Sayama he also went up against the debuting Rusher Kimura and Masa Saito in the old JWA.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Shinji Sasazaki was a former New Japan young lion who came to the US just like other rookies but never returned to Japan. He and Hashimoto teamed in Memphis as "Shogun & Samurai". He also was a jobber in WCW and WWF as "Samurai". I believe he's a sushi chef in Nashville now.

I believe Kanji Kitazawa is a real name of Shouji Kai/Sarukichi Takasakiyama.

Originally posted by Peru-Yakuza
Aside from being the first opponent of Satoru Sayama he also went up against the debuting Rusher Kimura and Masa Saito in the old JWA.

He was also the opponent for Tatsumi Fujinami's debut match in JWA.

[Peru-Yakuza]

Originally posted by Hisaharu Tanabe
I believe Kanji Kitazawa is a real name of Shouji Kai/Sarukichi Takasakiyama.

He was also the opponent for Tatsumi Fujinami's debut match in JWA.

You're right, but Kai is the real name.

According to Dr. Mick , he also used the name Hirokatsu Shinkai. Here's the list of stars who debuted against him:
1965 (as Takasakiyama): Rusher Kimura, Masa Saito
1969 (as Kitazawa): Osamu Kido
1970 (as Shinkai): Mitsuo Momota
1971 (as Kitazawa): Tatsumi Fujinami
1976 (as Kai): Satoru "Tiger Mask" Sayama

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Originally posted by Peru-Yakuza
You're right, but Kai is the real name.

I checked with some of the Japanese books I have, and they say his real name is Kitazawa.

[Peru-Yakuza]

Originally posted by Hisaharu Tanabe


I checked with some of the Japanese books I have, and they say his real name is Kitazawa.

You were right, I misunderstood. Mick sez Kitazawa is his real name.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Dr. Mick's Showa Puroresu Lab is one of the best sites for the Showa stuff.

[El Negro Magnifico]

Is it possible to translate that site somehow?

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

You can try with http://world.altavista.com/ or other auto translation sites, but the outcomes probably won't make much sense since the site contains a lot of wrestling terms which are probably not on the translation dictionary. Also, the wrestler lists are in Japanese alphabetical order, which simply can't be translated.

You don't want something like "flying dragon type atomic bomb setting" for a dragon suplex hold or "stones and rocks dropping" for a belly-to-back suplex.