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 Sekigawa,c. 1980 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1951-02-05)February 5, 1951 Isesaki, Gunma, Japan |
| Died | June 23, 2017(2017-06-23) (aged 66) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | The Great Pogo The Great Seki Judo Lee Mr. Pogo Mr. Sekigawa Mr. Togo Ninja The Ninja Warrior Pogo Daio Tetsuo Pogo |
| Billed height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Billed weight | 129 kg (284 lb) |
| Trained by | Joo Sekigawa |
| Debut | March 20, 1972 |
| Retired | 2016 |
Tetsuo Sekigawa (関川 哲夫,Sekigawa Tetsuo; February 5, 1951 – June 23, 2017) was a Japaneseprofessional wrestler best known for his work under thering nameMr. Pogo (ミスター・ポーゴ,Misutā Pōgo). He helped popularizehardcore wrestling in the 1990s with "death matches" in promotions such asFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling,W*ING andBig Japan Pro Wrestling.
He was originally a decentamateur, having a pre-professional dispute with the futureJumbo Tsuruta over team representation in the Japanese collegiate championships. He joinedJapan Pro Wrestling Alliance but did not debut there, instead joining the newNew Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion'sNJPW Dojo and debuting in 1972.
Quickly frustrated with NJPW's rigid norms, he quit in 1973 and wandered the wrestling circuits of North America. He started in Canada, first in Calgary forStampede Wrestling, where he wrestled for a year under the name Judo Lee. He then moved west to Vancouver forNWA All-Star Wrestling, wrestling there for a year under his real name.
Also in 1973, he moved down to the United States. His first American stop was inGeorgia Championship Wrestling. In 1975, he made his debut in theNWA'sCentral States territory under the name The Great Seki, where he spent nearly three years in Kansas City, wrestling the likes ofBob Geigel,Jake Roberts,Akio Sato,Harley Race, andBulldog Bob Brown.
From September 1976 to January 1977 he returned to Japan, toInternational Wrestling Enterprise as Mr. Seki. He didn't compete above the mid-card level.
In 1978, he moved east to the Tennessee area under the name The Ninja Warrior, where he was managed byTojo Yamamoto. Within months, he moved down to Texas to wrestle forSouthwest Championship Wrestling, before heading to NWA Western States, where he won two Tag Team Championships withMr. Sato. It was in Texas where he started going by the name Mr. Pogo, due to the constant misinterpretation of his ring name, Mr. Togo, by magazines and promoters.
In 1979, he returned to Stampede in Calgary, this time under the name Mr. Sekigawa, and he won theStampede North American Heavyweight Championship on December 8, 1979, defeating Don Gagne for the title. Nearly two weeks later, he won the vacantStampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship with theDynamite Kid, making him a double champion. A month later, he lost both titles: the North American Heavyweight Championship toLeo Burke, and the International Tag Team Championship toKeith andBret Hart.
In 1980, he returned to the United States and back under the name Mr. Pogo. His first stop on his second American excursion is for the NWA'sTri-State territory, where he spent a year wrestling the likes ofWahoo McDaniel,Butch Reed (He was over in Florida), andThe Spoiler. In 1981, he moved east to theMid-Atlantic territory, where he spent nearly three years there as Ninja, wrestling the likes ofJohnny Weaver,Jimmy Valiant,Blackjack Mulligan,Ivan Koloff,Jay Youngblood,Barry Windham,Don Kernodle,Buddy Landell,Leroy Brown,Mike Davis,Lord Alfred Hayes,Iceman "King" Parsons, andPorkchop Cash. In 1984, he moved back to the Central States territory in Kansas City, where he spent a year over there, winning its Heavyweight Championship and the Tag Team Championship withGypsy Joe. In his return to Kansas City, he wrestled the likes ofDick the Bruiser,Rufus R. Jones,D.J. Peterson,Mark Youngblood, andMarty Jannetty.
In 1985, Mr. Pogo returned to Japan and to NJPW with a new tag team partner inKendo Nagasaki. Together, they were known as The Ninja Express. They took part in a league to determine the inauguralIWGP Tag Team Champions; they placed seventh with seven points. In 1987, they took part in a Japan Cup Tag League, where they placed seventh with nine points. The Ninja Express left NJPW in June 1988.
During the tail end of the Ninja Express' NJPW run, Mr. Pogo began wrestling forWorld Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico in 1987, wrestling the likes ofRicky Santana andTNT. By the time the Ninja Express left NJPW in June 1988, he and Nagasaki were wrestling for WWC full-time. In July 1988, theBruiser Brody murder scandal greatly damaged the wrestling scene in Puerto Rico, causing Pogo to work at a local plastic molding plant, while wrestling, due to the massive decrease in attendance and sales. At the same time, he held fiveWWC World Tag Team Championships, once with TNT and four times with Nagasaki. After Nagasaki left to return to NJPW, before heading to WCW, Pogo carried on the Ninja Express legacy, teaming withKensuke Sasaki, winning twoWWC Caribbean Tag Team Championships in 1989. He also held theWWC World Junior Heavyweight Championship once, despite being over the weight limit, before leaving WWC in 1991. He never returned to the Americas to wrestle afterwards.
In June 1990, he was back in Japan, this time forFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, which was an upstart promotion that specialized in death matches. He debuted in FMW on June 2, 1990, secondingTarzan Goto in his match withRicky Fuji. Immediately, Pogo feuded withAtsushi Onita, partaking in various deathmatches, which eventually became Pogo's specialty.
In the summer of 1991, Pogo left FMW, because he wanted more interesting matches to compete in, and moved toWrestling International New Generations (W*ING), where he partook in innovated deathmatches with everyone, ranging from veterans likeKim Duk andKevin Sullivan to up and coming stars likeMitsuhiro Matsunaga andYukihiro Kanemura, among others. He won one World Tag Team Championship withCrash The Terminator. A bitter contract dispute forced him to leave W*ING in June 1993.
Pogo returned to FMW in July 1993 and resumed his feud with Atsushi Onita. During this period, he wrestled periodically forMichinoku Pro Wrestling, New Tokyo Pro Wrestling, andBig Japan Pro Wrestling. He won twoFMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championships and threeFMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championships, one each withHisakatsu Oya,The Gladiator, andYukihiro Kanemura. An injury nearly ended Pogo's career atSummer Spectacular, on August 1, 1996 during a Double Hell Death Match againstTerry Funk when the match was cut short, after Funk blew fire at Pogo, who dropped into the exploding barbed wire outside of the ring. When falling into it, the barbed wire pushed his chin and head back, breaking his neck. Funk, not knowing why Pogo was still down, began blowing fire at him, stuck in the barbed wire, causing the referee to end the match and award it to Funk via knockout. Pogo returned to the ring, but the injury made him even more immobile. His last match as an active FMW wrestler took place atYear End Spectacular on December 11, 1996, teaming withMasato Tanaka,Tetsuhiro Kuroda, and the returning Atsushi Onita to defeat Terry Funk, Hisakatsu Oya, andThe Headhunters in what was considered Pogo's retirement match.
His retirement did not last, as he returned to wrestling in July 1997 for Big Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1998, he became the inauguralBJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion. After losing the title, he left BJW and briefly returned to FMW to feud with Atsushi Onita one more time, before leaving in November 1998.
From 1999–2016, Pogo was freelancer, wrestling for promotions including IWA Japan, SPWF, Onita FMW, Shin-W*ING, Shin-FMW, Onita Pro, and his own promotion, WWS.
In 2003, he ran for a Senate seat in his hometown, but was defeated in the polls.
Sekigawa was rushed to a hospital in February 2007 with a bleeding gastric ulcer and spent three weeks there.
In 2014, Sekigawa underwent a spinal canal surgery. On May 25, 2017, Sekigawa underwent a second spinal canal surgery due to the lingering pain. Massive blood loss during the second surgery resulted in doctors deeming it too dangerous to continue and it was halted mid-way through. Sekigawa remained in aGunma hospital, until surgery was attempted again on June 22, nearly a month after the previous surgery attempt. During the surgery, Sekigawa's blood pressure dropped to the point where he began experiencing an irregular heartbeat, resulting in acerebral infarction. Sekigawa was transferred to a hospital inSaitama, where he died on June 23 at the age of 66 years old.[1][2]
