Wrestling History Message Forum

[Magister369]

Is there a resourse for finding the rosters
for 70's and 80's in AJPW. I have noticed alot
of geijin wrestlers but except for Baba, jumbo
choychu and a cpl of others it seemed to be mostly imported workers from the U.S. Any help would be appriciated.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Just out from my memory, so these lists must be inaccurate and incomplete.

[from mid-70s to early-80s]
Giant Baba
Jumbo Tsuruta
Tiger Toguchi (Kim Duk/Tiger Chang Lee) - used to be the third man of the promotion but left for New Japan in 81.
Gen'ichiro Tenryu
Akihisa Takachiho (The Great Kabuki)
Kazuo Sakurada (Kendo Nagasaki)
Takashi Ishikawa
Akio Sato ("Sato" of WWF's Orient Express; later managed Hakushi as "Shinja")
Masao Ito (has held CWA Int'l title in Memphis)
Rocky Hata
Great Kojika
Motoshi Ohkuma
Yoshihiro Momota - ring announcer/company exec, briefly wrestled in early 80s
Mitsuo Momota
Atsushi Ohnita - once retired in mid-80s
Kazuharu Sonoda (Magic Dragon in World Class)
Shiro Koshinaka - jumped to NJ in mid-80s
Mitsuharu Misawa - became Tiger Mask in mid-80s
Masanobu Goto (Tarzan Goto)
Toshiaki Kawada


[joined AJ immediately after IWE closed in 81]
Ashura Hara
Mighty Inoue
Goro Tsurumi
Hiromichi Fuyuki
Nobuyoshi(Apollo) Sugawara
Masahiko Takasugi (as Ultra Seven)


[joined AJ after the original UWF went for shoot-style in 84]
Rusher Kimura
Gran Hamada
Ryuma Go


Japan Pro-Wrestling: a separate company of former NJ guys which had a working agreement with All Japan between 85 and 87
[stayed with All Japan after Japan Pro closed in 87]
Yoshiaki Yatsu
Shunji (Kenji) Takano
Haruka Eigen
Masanobu Kurisu (not sure about this)
Isamu Teranishi


[returned to New Japan when Japan Pro closed in 87]
Riki Choshu
Masa Saito
Kuniaki Kobayashi
Super Strong Machine
Hiro Saito
Tatsutoshi Goto
Norio Honaga


Animal Hamaguchi - had a retirement ceremony in NJ right after the guys returned to NJ in 87
Killer Khan - left for WWF when Japan Pro split in 87; retired after his last WWF stint


Giant Baba was a vice president of NWA and also had a working relationship with AWA. All Japan's style was more like a typical NWA territory with bigname Americans with screwjob finishes such as DCOR, DQ, ref bump, etc. WWWF/WWF had a strong tie with New Japan, but their champion Bruno Sammartino was a good friend of Baba's and wrestled for AJ several times (but never for NJ). In the other hand, Hulk Hogan, who was probably the biggest draw in AWA then, never wrestled for AJ and was one of the top gaijin in NJ.

[Magister369]

Thank you, your listing was very helpful. I am running a
70'S/80'S AJPW fed on TMN7 the wrestling sim.

[Peru-Yakuza]

Before Japan Pro:
Mashio Koma (former NWA middleweight champ in EMLL during his JWA days, plus held NWA Western States tag in Amarillo, but died in 1976?)
Masayuki Fujii
Shinji Sasazaki (may be Japan Pro)

Japan Pro guys who also returned to New Japan in 1987:
Kensuke Sasaki
Hiroshi Hase

Debuted between 1987 and 1989:
Isao Takagi (Arashi)
Tatsumi (Koki) Kitahara
Akira Taue
Kenta Kobashi
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

Kendo Nagasaki I think left early in the 80's. He had a title shot with Mr. Pogo against IWGP tag team champions Fujinami & Kimura in July '86.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

How could I forget about Masanobu Fuchi, who has been with All Japan for his entire career!

Also, Hiroshi Wajima, about whom I'd rather forget.

Hiroshi Hase's Japanese debut was in New Japan although he joined Japan Pro when they were still working with AJ.

Sasazaki was with Japan Pro. I believe he joined NJ when Choshu & co. returned. He also wrestled as "Samurai" in Memphis teaming with "Shogun" Hashimoto and later wrestled as a jobber in WWF and WCW as the same name.

[Peru-Yakuza]

Yoshinari Ogawa, who debuted in '85.

[thegreatdamron]

Thanks for the info. This site is incredibly informative and perhaps the best source for such info on the web. I remember seeing some Kim Duk footage on an old Mid-Atlantic tape. I was never aware he was the third man of AJ back in the day.

[Luds]

Originally posted by Peru-Yakuza
Yoshinari Ogawa, who debuted in '85.

Peru! How could you! How could you forget such a HUGE Superstar!!! I mean... The guy has "Misawa" in his nickname!!!

[thegreatdamron]

We will all look back to that day when the great Rat Boy first graced the squared circle of puroresu, to embark on his historic journey to the GHC Title. Many years from now we will look back and say on that day "puro" was complete.