Tatsumi Fujinami

Tatsumi Fujinami
Data
Ring name	Tatsumi Fujinami Honoo no Hiryū Dr. Fujinami Ox Fujinami
height	183 cm
Fighting weight	104 kg
birth	December 28, 1953 Oita , Japan
debut	May 9, 1971

Tatsumi Fujinami 2015

Tatsumi Fujinami ( Japanese 藤 波 辰 爾 , Fujinami Tatsumi ; born December 28, 1953 in Musashi , (today: Kunisaki ), Ōita Prefecture ) is a 1.83 m tall and 104 kg wrestler from Japan , who is famous for his gimmick The Dragon has become. He is considered one of the inventors of the "Dragon Sleeper" and the "Dragon Suplex". Fujinami was trained by Karl Gotch and Antonio Inoki . He made his wrestling debut on May 9, 1971 against Kanji Kitazawa .

Career

Fujinami began his career in the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA for short) under the wing of Antonio Inoki. When Inoki was fired from the JWA in 1971, many other wrestlers left this association, including Tatsumi Fujinami. They formed a new league called New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). Fujinami, Inoki, Osamu Kido and Kotetsu Yamamoto are considered to be the founding fathers of this association .

In the early years, Fujinami trained many new talents such as Mr. Pogo , Yoshiaki Fujiwara , Ultimo Dragon and Gran Hamada .

In the late seventies Fujinami went to Mexico for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) and to the United States for Jim Crocket Promotions and the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF for short). In the latter he was allowed to win the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship , which he then took to Japan and established there. In the 1980s, Fujinami led feuds against Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu, and Akira Maeda .

On June 24, 1999, Fujinami was named president of the NJPW.

On March 28, 2015, Fujinami was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame .

successes

WWE Hall of Fame 2015

Title wins

• 1 × WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion
• 2 × NWA World International Junior Heavyweight Champion
• 1 × WWF International Heavyweight Champion
• 1 × UWA World Heavyweight Champion
• 1 × WWF International Heavyweight Champion
• 1 × WWF International Tag Team Champion - with Kengo Kimura
• 3 × IWGP Tag Team Champion - with Kengo Kimura
• 2 × IWGP Heavyweight Champion
• 1 × NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
• 2 × IWGP Heavyweight Champion
• 1 × NWA World Heavyweight Champion
• 2 × IWGP Heavyweight Champion
• 2 × IWGP Tag Team Champion

Tournament victories

• Karl Gotch Cup 1974
• MSG Tag League 1984 (with Antonio Inoki)
• IWGP Tag Team League 1985 (with Kengo Kimura)
• Japan Tag League 1987 (with Kengo Kimura)
• Super Grade Tag League 1991 (with Vader)
• NJPW G-1 Climax 1993
• One Night Tag Team Tournament 1996 (with Shiro Koshinaka)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kunisaki City, Mayor's Activities in November 2009: Tomikuji-Marathon-Taikai  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ WWE Hall of Fame 2015. In: WWE.com. March 18, 2015, accessed June 1, 2019 .