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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1956-07-19)July 19, 1956 (age 69) Oura, Gunma, Japan | ||||||||||||||
| Martial arts career | |||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Japanese | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 120 kg (265 lb; 18 st 13 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Style | MMA Wrestling | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Professional wrestling career | |||||||||||||||
| Ring name(s) | Yoshiaki Yatsu N'Tollah Yatsu Akiyoshi Tsuya The Great Yatsu | ||||||||||||||
| Billed height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Billed weight | 120 kg (265 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Trained by | Hiro Matsuda | ||||||||||||||
| Debut | December 29, 1980 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Yoshiaki Yatsu (谷津嘉章Yatsu Yoshiaki, born July 19, 1956) is a Japanese semi-retiredprofessional wrestler andamateur wrestler and formermixed martial artist. He is known for being one-half of the first-everAll Japan Pro WrestlingWorld Tag Team Champions withJumbo Tsuruta, having won theNWA International Tag Team Championship and thePWF Tag Team Championship, and unifying the two titles.
At the age of 20, Yatsu competed infreestyle wrestling at the1976 Summer Olympics inMontreal. He did not place in the tournament.[1]
He would have participated in the1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow, but Japan chose to follow theAmerican-led boycott.[2]
In 1986 Yatsu took a hiatus from professional wrestling in order to one last time chase his Olympic dream. However, after winning a Japanese National Championship in the super heavyweight division in 1986 and while training for the 1987Asian Wrestling Championships, theInternational Olympic Committee declared that Yatsu was a professional athlete and banned him from not only that competition, but also from the1988 Summer Olympics.[2] The decision stunned many people, but Yatsu didn't file an appeal.[2]
In July 2023, Yatsu, at nearly 67 years old, competed in the first-ever Adult Championships for the newly-formed Japan Para-Wrestling Federation. He lost to Yosuke Kamochi in the first round of the tournament.[3]
In 1980, after Japan decided not to send their athletes to take part in the Summer Olympics in Moscow, Yatsu garnered a great deal of national attention, when he announced his intention of becoming aprofessional wrestler.[2] He made his debut for the United States-basedWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in December 1980. After wrestling under his own name for several weeks, in February 1981 he began also occasionally wrestling under the ring name "The Great Yatsu". He left the WWF in October 1981.
In November 1981, Yatsu joinedNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), immediately forming atag team withRiki Choshu and entering the1981 MSG Tag League; they placed joint sixth with two points. In March 1982, he competed in the1982 MSG Series, pacing eleventh with 13 points.
In October 1982, Yatsu returned to the United States, appearing withMid-South Wrestling,Georgia Championship Wrestling, andChampionship Wrestling from Florida. In January 1983, he joined the Texas-basedWorld Class Championship Wrestling promotion, where the following month he defeatedThe Great Kabuki for theWCCW Television Championship. He lost the title toIceman Parsons in March 1983. In April 1983, he defeatedKing Kong Bundy in aloser leaves town match. In June 1983 atStar Wars,Kamala defeated Yatsu,Armand Hussein, andMike Bond in ahandicap loser leaves town match, marking the end of Tatsu's run in Texas. In July 1983, he returned to Championship Wrestling from Florida, where he competed until returning to NJPW in October 1983.
Upon returning to NJPW, Yatsu joined Riki Choshu's villainous "Ishin Gundan"stable, feuding withfaces such asAntonio Inoki,Kengo Kimura, andTatsumi Fujinami. In April 1984, Ishin Gundan (Choshu, Yatsu,Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi, andKuniaki Kobayashi) lost to Inoki, Kimura, FujinamiNobuhiko Takada, andYoshiaki Fujiwara in theKuramae Kokugikan inTokyo. Yatsu left NJPW in September 1984.
In December 1984, Yatsu debuted inAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) alongside Riki Choshu.[2] Yatsu and Choshu reformed Ishin Gundan as a tag team, which would go on to win theNWA International Tag Team Championship.[2] While Yatsu was training for his Olympic dream, Choshu left All Japan and returned to New Japan.[2]
Upon his return to professional wrestling, Yatsu decided not to join his tag team partner in New Japan, but to stay in All Japan.[2] Afterwards, All Japan broke up the tag team ofGenichiro Tenryu andJumbo Tsuruta and made Tsuruta Yatsu's new tag team partner.[2] The tag team, known as "The Olympics", would go on to win theWorld Tag Team Championship five times, thePWF World Tag Team Championship once and in 1987 the team also won theWorld's Strongest Tag Determination League.[2]
Yatsu left AJPW in July 1990.
In September 1990, Yatsu joined the recently foundedSuper World of Sports (SWS) promotion.[2] Upon his debut, he formed a tag team, "Dojo Geki", withIsao Takagi. In March 1991, at the "Wrestlefest in Tokyo Dome" event, Yatsu andIshinriki defeated WWF wrestlersThe Barbarian andJimmy Snuka. The following month, at the "Wrestle Dream in Kobe" event, Yatsu unsuccessfully challenged WWF ChampionHulk Hogan.[2]
In May 1991, Yatsu formed a new tag tram withKing Haku. In February 1992, they won a tournament to become the inauguralSWS Tag Team Champions. They held the titles until April 1992, when they lost toGeorge Takano andShunji Takano. Later that month, they defeatedJohn Tenta andTyphoon to win the titles for a second time. SWS closed in June 1992, leaving Yatsu and Haku as the final tag team champions.
Following the closure of Super World of Sports, in 1993 Yatsu founded his own promotion, the Social Pro Wrestling Federation (SPWF). In additional to running the promotion, Yatsu also wrestled for it.[2]
In 1994, Yatsu returned to New Japan to take part in theG1 Climax tournament.[2]
Yatsu retired from wrestling in 2003, with the SPWF being taken over by Chojin Yusha G Valion. He later became the president of a transportation company.[2]
On November 30, 2010, Yatsu returned to the professional wrestling ring to wrestle his retirement match.[2] The match took place in front of 500 fans at Shinjuku Face inTokyo, and saw Yatsu andKoji Ishinriki losing toTatsumi Fujinami andTiger Mask, when Yatsu submitted to Fujinami.[2]
In September 2015, Yatsu came out of retirement once more to team with his son Teriyaki Yatsu and began competing for smaller promotions. In April 2019, he debuted forDramatic Dream Team (DDT).
In 2021, nearly two years since he had his right leg amputated he returned to the ring as part of the15-person gauntlet battle royal match atCyberFight'sCyberFight Festival 2021. A month later, he won his first championship in nearly three decades, theKO-D 8-Man Tag Team Championship withAkito,Hiroshi Yamato andKeigo Nakamura.
After spending multiple years out of the spotlight, Yatsu, aged 44, received a big money offer to fight formixed martial arts promotionPride Fighting Championships.[2] On October 31, 2000, Yatsu facedGary Goodridge inOsaka.[2] Yatsu, who hadn't had any stand-up training at all and hadn't competed outside of professional wrestling in 13 years, was defeated at 8:58 in the first round.[2] Despite being dominated, Yatsu received a standing ovation from the crowd due to the amount of damage he absorbed without quitting, even trying aleglock at a point.[2] The two were booked in a rematch on September 24, 2001.[2] Goodridge again dominated the fight, got Yatsu in aguillotine choke and asked for his corner to throw in the towel, which they did.[2]
In December 2015, he became a supervisor forDEEP.
In 1991, at the age of 35, Yatsu was diagnosed with diabetes. On June 25, 2019, Yatsu underwent an operation to amputate his right leg below the knee, as bacteria had entered his bloodstream and his right toe was progressively neurotic.[4]
| 2 matches | 0 wins | 2 losses |
| By knockout | 0 | 2 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0-2 | Gary Goodridge | TKO (corner stoppage) | Pride 16 | September 24, 2001 | 1 | 3:03 | Osaka, Japan | |
| Loss | 0-1 | Gary Goodridge | TKO (punches) | Pride 11 - Battle of the Rising Sun | October 31, 2000 | 1 | 8:58 | Osaka, Japan |
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Notes |
| Loss |  Ricco Rodriguez | Points | ADCC 2001 +99 kg | 2001 |
,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling DatabaseLinks to related articles | |||||||
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1970–1982:+100 kg • 1986–1998:130 kg • 2002–2010:120 kg • 2014–present:125 kg | |
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