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Inoki founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling after being expelled from JWA; however,
he could not book any big foreign stars, and the group was already in crisis
during its early days. In the other hand, Giant Baba, who also left JWA soon
after Inoki did, started All Japan Pro-Wrestling with a big help of Nippon Television
and monopolized the booking routes of foreign starts. Inoki could rely only on
Karl Gotch, who was Inoki's master in wrestling.
In the opening card of New Japan on 03/06/72, Inoki wrestled Gotch. Several other foreign wrestlers were also brought by Gotch. On 10/04 of the same year, Inoki and Gotch wrestled at Kuramae Kokugikan for the belt Gotch claimed as the "world heavyweight title which was originally held by Frank Gotch." Inoki defeated Gotch for the first time by count out of the ring and won the belt. On 10/09, defended the title at Hiroshima Prefectural Gym against Red Pinpanell with an octopus hold. On the next day, Inoki's 6 day reign as champion ended when he lost the rematch against Karl Gotch at Osaka Prefectural Gym. This belt reappears when New Japan and All Japan had a promotional war on the 13th anniversary of Rikidozan's death. Gotch and Lou Thesz, the witnesses of the match between Inoki and Billy Robinson, announced that the winner would be presented the belt. Inoki also brought the belt to the signing ceremony for the match against Muhammad Ali and claimed to be the world pro-wrestling champion. Also, Inoki put the belt on the line against Tatsumi Fujinami on 09/19/85 at Tokyo Gym. After all, this belt was presented to Ichiro Furutachi, a TV Asahi announcer who had his last play-by-play on 03/26/87 at Osaka Castle Hall. Furutachi, by the way, is considered by many fans as the greatest wrestling announcer ever. |
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