| Riki Choshu | |
|---|---|
 Choshu in January 2006 | |
| Birth name | Kwak Gwang-ung[1] |
| Born | (1951-12-03)December 3, 1951 (age 73)[1] Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, Japan[1] |
| Alma mater | Senshu University School of Commerce |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Riki Choshu Yoshida |
| Billed height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 120 kg (265 lb)[1] |
| Trained by | Masa Saito NJPW Dojo |
| Debut | August 8, 1974[1] |
| Retired | June 26, 2019[2] |
Mitsuo Yoshida (吉田 光雄,Yoshida Mitsuo, bornKwak Gwang-ung (Korean: 곽광웅;Hanja: 郭光雄), December 3, 1951), better known by hisring nameRiki Choshu (長州 力,Chōshū Riki), is aSouth Korean-Japaneseretiredprofessional wrestler who is best known for his longtime work inNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a wrestler and abooker. He is considered one of Japan’s most influential wrestlers for his work in the 1980s and 1990s and is known as the first wrestler to popularize theSasori-Gatame, better known in English as theScorpion Deathlock orSharpshooter. After leaving NJPW in 2002, he formedFighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling (WJ), but eventually returned to New Japan in October 2005 as a site foreman, booker and part-time wrestler. Choshu once again left NJPW in 2010 and primarily worked inTatsumi Fujinami’sDradition, as well as his own self-produced Power Hall events as afreelancer.Choshu was a second generationZainichi Korean. He wasnaturalized in 2016.[3]
Mitsuo Yoshida was born Kwak Gwang-ung (Korean: 곽광웅), the youngest of four children inTokuyama,Yamaguchi Prefecture to a Japanese mother and Korean father. His father left Korea'sChūseihoku-dō for Japan in 1939 and worked as agarbage man for much of his life. Yoshida has said that he faced discrimination from teachers in elementary school due to his Korean heritage. He took part in baseball and judo as a teenager and after training in the judo department at Giyang Junior High School, he moved to the wrestling department of Yamaguchi prefecture's Sakurakaoka High School as a special student. He eventually came in second place in the 73 kg class of the Nagasaki National Freestyle wrestling tournament, which attracted attention from university wrestling officials and he later enrolled atSenshu University School of Commerce on a wrestling scholarship.
Yoshida joined the amateur wrestling team atSenshu University shortly after enrolling and was teammates with Mitsushi Hirasawa, the father of future NJPW wrestlerMitsuhide Hirasawa. In 1971, he won the All Japan Student Wrestling Championship in the 90 kg class. Thanks to his victory in the tournament, Yoshida was selected to represent Japan in the1972 Summer Olympics inMunich, Germany. Officials however refused to let him compete for Japan on account of him being partKorean. Nevertheless,South Korea instead invited him to join their freestyle team and he represented South Korea as awrestler and went under his Korean name Kwak Gwang-ung. He ended the tournament with a record of one win and two losses, and was disqualified due to the penalty points system.[4]
When Yoshida returned to Japan, he became captain of the Senshu wrestling team in his fourth year at university and won the Freestyle and Greco-Roman 100 kg class tournaments at the All Japan Championship in 1973.
Yoshida debuted inNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in August 1974 against El Greco. In the mid-1970s, he was sent to North America to gain experience. Wrestling under his real name (Mitsuo Yoshida, sometimes referred as "Mitsu"), he appeared inGeorge Cannon's "Superstars of Wrestling" promotion in Windsor, Ontario as aheel, managed by Superstar (or Supermouth) Dave Drasen. Choshu had a brief feud with the topfan favorite of Cannon's promotion, Luis Martinez.
The ring name at the time of debut was Mitsuo Yoshida (吉田 光雄), but from April 1977 after returning from overseas training, he adopted his famously known ring nameRiki Choshu after Choshu (長州) in honor of theChoshu Forces, another name for his hometownNagato.[5][6] In the 4th World League match, which he participated in when he returned to Japan, he finished third with Nikolai Volkoff, behind winnerSeiji Sakaguchi and runner-upThe Masked Superstar.[7]
In the early eighties, NJPW had run a very successful Japanese vs Japanese program pitting Inoki and NJPW wrestlers against Rusher Kimura and IWE wrestlers, who were actually employed by NJPW following the dissolution of IWE. In late 1982, NJPW Chairman and bookerHisashi Shinma decided to have Choshu turn heel and create a new faction. On October 28, 1982, Choshu became the first "traitor heel" in a Japanese promotion when he turned on Inoki and Fujinami in a six man tag match. Choshu spent the rest of the year feuding with Fujinami while attracting additional supporters to his faction, then known as New Wolves. Choshu was joined byMasa Saito, to provide a more senior rival for Antonio Inoki, along with Kuniaki Kobayashi and Gran Hamada, who would feud withTiger Mask in the junior division. Strong Kobayashi was also added to the faction, but retired before wrestling for them. On January 2, 1983, Killer Khan also turned heel on Fujinami in a tag team match to join the New Wolves. The group continued to feud with NJPW for several months, with Choshu finally defeating Fujinami by count out on April 3, 1983 to win the International title. Three weeks later, Saito lost a loser leaves town match to cover for a long trip to the United States, leaving the New Wolves without a senior leader. Though the New Wolves had only lasted a few months, NJPW's business had doubled, setting the tone for the future of puroresu where Japanese vs Japanese rivalries within a promotion would become a booking staple.
In June 1983, Choshu and former IWE faction member Animal Hamaguchi quit NJPW to form a breakaway promotion, but on July 1, 1983 they returned to NJPW TV asIshin Gundan (Revolutionary Army) with Choshu and Hamaguchi immediately gelling as a tag team. They were joined by Tiger Toguchi (Kim Duk), Killer Khan, and Kuniaki Kobayashi, who continued his feud with Tiger Mask (Sayama). In October, former olympianYoshiaki Yatsu joined the group. NJPW did record business as Ishin Gundan vs Seiki Gundan (NJPW) continued to dominate booking through September 1984, when Choshu suddenly left, taking most of Ishin Gundan with him to form theJapan Pro-Wrestling (JPW) promotion that "invaded"All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW).[8]
Choshu attended an AJPW event on November 1, 1984 where he was challenged byGenichiro Tenryu. Tenryu was second among AJPW's top Japanese stars, behind Jumbo Tsuruta, with Baba moving to more of an emeritus role. Choshu defeated Tenryu by count out in 9:21 on February 21, 1985 in the main event of a JWP show that was not televised, but is available via bootleg tapes. Tenryu continued as Choshu's main rival through the summer of 1985. On June 21, 1985, AJPW held their first show at Budokan in almost ten years with Choshu challenging Tenryu for the United National titlein the semi-main event under Baba versus Rusher Kimura. The Budokan show aired the next day on atwo-hour prime time TV special as the popularity of AJPW soared due to the popularity of Japanese vs Japanese storylines. Choshu's jump to AJPW had immediately shifted the balance of power from New Japan to All Japan, forever changing the booking style of All Japan, which had historically relied on Japanese vs foreigner rivalries but would go on to feature Japanese vs Japanese rivalries even after Choshu jumped back to New Japan in 1987. In January 1986, Jumbo Tsuruta turned heel, running in on several of Choshu's matches to attack him with a chair and injure his ribs, setting up Choshu as a babyface within the promotion he had invaded a year earlier. In April 1986, the Calgary Hurricanes, who were also members of Choshu's stable, invaded AJPW as a new faction setting up a three-way battle between Japanese factions that lasted throughout the Summer of 1986. In early 1987, Choshu left AJPW to return to NJPW, with some members joining him, others staying behind in AJPW, and others retiring.
Upon returning to NJPW in 1987, Choshu was a part of the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan. After NJPW split ties withTakeshi Kitano over the December 27 Sumo Hall riot, Choshu slowly climbed back up into the main event picture. In June 1988, he won his firstIWGP Tag Team Championship withMasa Saito, with whom he had also partnered during a brief stint in theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA).[9] At the same time, he feuded withTatsumi Fujinami over theIWGP Heavyweight Championship. On May 27, the match ended in a no contest, in which the title was held up. Fujinami won the rematch on June 24.[10]
In July 1989, he won his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship againstSalman Hashimikov of the Soviet Union.[10] The same month, he would also win his second IWGP Tag Team title with young up-and-comerTakayuki Iizuka.[9] Two more IWGP Heavyweight title reigns would follow between August 19, 1990 and January 4, 1992.[10]
In August 1996, he won theG1 Climax, winning every single match in the tournament.[11] In 1997, he won his third IWGP Tag Team title withKensuke Sasaki.[9] In January 1998, he retired from the ring; for his retirement match, he wrestled five matches in one night, winning four out of five matches, defeatingTatsuhito Takaiwa,Yutaka Yoshie,Jushin Thunder Liger andKazuyuki Fujita, only to fall to his former tag team partnerTakashi Iizuka.[12] He would focus on booking matches for NJPW after that.
Retirement did not last long, asAtsushi Onita challenged Choshu to a barbed wire deathmatch in 2000. Choshu accepted and wrestled Onita in a deadly squash, where Choshu ended up winning. He then balanced wrestling and booking for NJPW, until his departure in 2002, stemming from the departures ofKeiji Mutoh andSatoshi Kojima, among others, to AJPW, which caused his position of head booker taken away.
After leaving NJPW, he formedFighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling in 2003, which would later be changed to Riki Pro, after the failure of some of their big shows.[13] He ran Riki Pro until 2005 when he returned to NJPW as a site foreman, booker and wrestler. In 2007, Choshu joined the Legend stable withMasahiro Chono,Jushin Thunder Liger andAKIRA.
Choshu also promotes an occasional series of events called "LOCK UP", which feature talent from New Japan and other promotions. New Japan supported this financially until 2008 before withdrawing.
In 2012, Choshu was booked in a series of matches for LEGEND The Pro Wrestling andDradition.
On June 26, 2019, Choshu teamed with Tomohiro Ishii and Shiro Koshinaka in a six-man tag team match against Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiji Mutoh, and Togi Makabe. Fujinami's team won when Makabe pinned Choshu. In the post-match, Choshu officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling.[14]
Choshu appears as a gang member in the 2017 video gameYakuza Kiwami 2, alongsideGenichiro Tenryu, Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono and Tatsumi Fujinami.[15]
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
