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 Toguchi, circa 1988 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1948-02-07)February 7, 1948 (age 77)[1][2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Kim Duk[1][2][3] Tiger Chung Lee[1][2][3] Tiger Toguchi[1][2][3] Ultra Seven[1][2][3] YAMATO[1][2][3] Masanori Toguchi[1][2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[4] |
| Billed weight | 289 lb (131 kg)[4] |
| Billed from | Seoul, South Korea |
| Trained by | Karl Gotch Kintarō Ōki Dory Funk, Jr. |
| Debut | August 30, 1968[1][2] |
| Retired | August 24, 2024 |
Masanori Toguchi (戸口 正徳,Toguchi Masanori; born February 7, 1948), also known by his Korean name and ring nameKim Duk (Korean: 김덕;Hanja: 金徳; キム・ドク), is a retired Zainichi Koreanprofessional wrestler. He was also known by the nameTiger Chung Lee in theWorld Wrestling Federation.
Masanori Toguchi was a basketball player and jūdōka during his high school days. After graduation, he joined theJapan Pro Wrestling Alliance dojo with the recommendation fromKintarō Ōki. SinceSeiji Sakaguchi, another jūdōka, joined the JWA during the same time, it caused a conflict between the jūdō and puroresu industries. Toguchi was sent to South Korea for half a year with "special training" as an excuse until the issue died out.
Masanori Toguchi debuted for Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance on August 30, 1968, against future NJPW referee Katsuhisa Shibata. During his rookie year, he was also trained byKarl Gotch. In his days in JWA, he was Ōki's student. When JWA folded in 1972, Toguchi went to theUnited States, where he developed himself as a heel under his Korean real name,Kim Duk. He spent the next four years roaming aroundNWA territories and in theAmerican Wrestling Association. In 1976, he returned to Japan forAll Japan Pro Wrestling, while wrestling for the NWA'sMid-Atlantic territory in the States. He was managed byBoris Malenko in the Mid-Atlantic area, often teaming with another Malenko protege,The Masked Superstar. During his Mid-Atlantic run, Duk had a short-lived feud with then-reigningMid-Atlantic Heavyweight ChampionWahoo McDaniel. In AJPW, he had a heated rivalry withJumbo Tsuruta. In 1979, he would defect toInternational Wrestling Enterprise, before defecting toNew Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1981.
In 1982, Kim Duk began wrestling for the NWA'sKansas City territory, before moving to theWorld Wrestling Federation in 1983 under the nameTiger Chung Lee. He formed a tag team withMr. Fuji but fell out with him and turnedbabyface after they lost toThe Wild Samoans at the Philadelphia Spectrum in 1984. Lee later dropped lower down the card and reverted to heel. After leaving the WWF in 1988, he went back to the Kim Duk name and wrestled forWorld Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. Upon his return to Japan in 1991, he balanced wrestling for various promotions includingNew Japan Pro-Wrestling between 1991 and 1992,W*ING between 1992 and 1993, andWAR in 1994. Between 1993 and 1994, he would wrestle in Mexico forUniversal Wrestling Association under the nameYAMATO. By 1995, he retired from wrestling.
In 2001, Kim Duk made his return to AJPW, helping out the promotion during their crisis after thePro Wrestling Noah exodus.
Kim Duk had since remained semi-retired and works for a non-profit organization. He still wrestles on special legends matches from time to time. Since 2007, he has been running Wrestle-Aid. His last match as a full-time wrestler was on May 6, 2011, in a tag team match, teaming with Raideen against Masaru Toi and Red Tiger.
He returned to wrestling in February 2018. On June 10, 2018, at the age of 70, he won theWEW Heavyweight Championship defeating Daisaku Shimoda at a show for Pro Wrestling A-Team in Tokyo, Japan. He lost the title back to Shimoda on January 19, 2019.
In September 2019, Kim Duk pulled out of Tokyo Championship Wrestling's (TCW) tour due to chest pains, which ended up beingarrhythmia. In December 2019, he flew to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States to undergo surgery at theCleveland Clinic to put a catheter in his heart. In February 2020, TCW held a benefit show to help pay for his surgery.
On May 31, 2022, Duk would wrestle his last match on at theJumbo Tsuruta tribute show at Korakuen Hall, officially retiring after nearly fifty four years.
He returned on August 24, 2024 at the FMW-E Terry Funk Memorial & Atsushi Onita 50th Anniversary in Kawasaki, Japan, where he teamed with Yuichi Taniguchi defeating Chikara and Masahiko Takasugi.
In 1986, while wrestling in the U.S. for the WWF, Kim Duk made his acting debut as a henchman ofCharles Dance's character, Sardo Numspa, inThe Golden Child, which starredEddie Murphy.[5][6] Two years later, he portrayed a Georgian mobster named Andrei 'The Mongol Hippie' in theArnold Schwarzenegger film,Red Heat.[5][6] A year later, he acted in two more films,Blind Fury starringRutger Hauer, andCage, starringLou Ferrigno.[5][6] In 2012, after a long hiatus from acting, Kim Duk portrayed Lee in the film,Mountain Mafia.[5]
| Wager | Winner | Loser | Location | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mask | Dos Caras | YAMATO | Naucalpan,Mexico | August 1, 1993 | Mask vs. Mask vs. Mask Triangle Match that also includedEl Canek |
| Hair | El Canek | YAMATO | Naucalpan, Mexico | August 15, 1993 | Mask vs. Hair Match |
