Kanji Inoki

Muhammad Hussain Inoki Arabic ???? ???? ?????? romanized Mu?ammad ?usayn ?Iinuki born Kanji Inoki Japanese ???? Hepburn Inoki Kanji was a Japanese retired professional wrestler martial artist politician and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts He was best known by the ring name Antonio Inoki ??????? Antonio Inoki a homage to fellow professional wrestler Antonino Rocca Inoki is a twelvetime professional wrestling world champion notably being the first IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the first Asian WWE Champion a reign not officially recognized by WWE Inoki began his professional wrestling career in the 1960s for The Japanese Wrestling Association under the tutelage of Rikid?zan Inoki quickly became one of the most popular stars in the history of Japanese professional wrestling He parlayed his wrestling career into becoming one of Japans most recognizable athletes a reputation bolstered by his 1976 fight against world champion boxer Muhammad Ali a fight that served as a predecessor to modern day mixed martial arts In 1995 with Ric Flair Inoki headlined two shows in North Korea that drew 150000 and 190000 spectators the highest attendances in professional wrestling history Inoki wrestled his final match on April 4 1998 against Don Frye and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010 Inoki began his promoting career in 1972 when he founded New Japan ProWrestling NJPW He remained the owner of NJPW until 2005 when he sold his controlling share in the promotion to the Yukes video game company In 2007 he founded the Inoki Genome Federation IGF In 2017 Inoki founded ISM and the following year left IGF He is also the cofounder of the karate style Kansuiry? ??? along with Matsubayashiry? master Yukio Mizutani In 1989 while still an active wrestler Inoki entered politics as he was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors During his first term with the House of Councillors Inoki successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages before the outbreak of the Gulf War His first tenure in the House of Councillors ended in 1995 but he was reelected in 2013 In 2019 Inoki retired from politics