Tag: antonio inoki

In what likely will be the final ceremonial event for founder/longtime owner and legend Antonio Inoki, who died in late 2022, New Japan has announced a special farewell party that will be open to the public. It will be a 2-part event with both parts held on 3/7 (the day after New Japan’s annual Anniversary Event) at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo: Part 1 will be a ticketed memorial ceremony where those attending will be given flowers to leave for Inoki and special gifts for attending (a special Inoki towel and message card) while Part 2 will be a flower offering ceremony open to the general public with no ticket required. Tickets for Part 1 will be 10,000 yen (around $77 US) with the lower box seats for 2 people available at that same price. For those who cannot attend but want to participate, they can purchase a flower bouquet online for 6000 yen (around $45 US) and they will receive the special gifts by mail at a later date. That package will be available from 2/16-3/31 via New Japan’s Japanese online shop.

If the event is postponed or cancelled, ticket holders for Part 1 will receive refunds.

In news first reported in the Japanese media the other day and now confirmed by the promotion, New Japan has announced that Antonio Inoki (real name Kanji Inoki) will be honored posthumously by Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun and Junior Fourth Rank in the Japanese Court. The Japanese Cabinet voted to bestow these honors on Inoki last year in recognition of both his achievements in wrestling and MMA as well as his work as a politician, diplomat and social activist.

A ceremony is scheduled for January 23 with Inoki’s younger brother, Yoshinari Inoki, scheduled to receive the awards on behalf of Antonio Inoki.

Very sad breaking news to report…Antonio Inoki (real name Kanji Inoki), wrestling Hall of Famer and the founder of New Japan Pro Wrestling, has died according to Yahoo! Sports Japan. He was 79. Inoki reportedly died at his home. The cause of death is not yet known.

Besides being a Hall Of Fame wrestler and the founder/longtime owner of New Japan, he also became the first pro wrestler to serve in the Japanese Diet (the nation’s parliament/legislative body).

There has been no statement or confirmation from New Japan yet, I would expect something in the next couple hours.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: New Japan has posted an obituary on their Japanese website. It lists the cause of death as transthyretin amyloidosis, which may also be known as ATTR-CM. It’s a fairly uncommon condition among Japanese that starts with the liver producing faulty TTR proteins that build up in the heart, and can eventually lead to heart failure. His last appearances in the promotion were video messages at Tokyo Dome on January 4 and at the 50th Anniversary Event on March 6.

Below is a link to New Japan’s post:
https://www.njpw.co.jp/381541

UPDATE 2: New Japan has now posted the obituary in English on their English website (njpw1972.com).
All-Japan Pro Wrestling has posted about Inoki’s death on their website and announced they will hold a memorial ceremony before their event tomorrow (10/2).
Many wrestlers and executives around the world are posting tributes to Inoki on Twitter, including WWE CEO Paul “Triple H” Levesque, AEW owner/CEO Tony Khan, Impact Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) among others.

UPDATE 3: Unfortunately Inoki’s death spoiled big plans for New Japan’s 10/10 event. On 10/4 the promotion revealed that, on 9/1, Inoki was offered and accepted the title of Honorary Lifetime Chairman of New Japan Pro Wrestling. The announcement was going to be made on 10/10, at which time the information would have been made public (10/10 is also a national holiday in Japan, National Sports Day). Unfortunately that will not happen now. However, according to the statement on New Japan’s English website, “in accordance with Mr. Inoki’s wishes, all of us at New Japan Pro Wrestling will continue to move forward and lead the professional wrestling world to the utmost of our abilities”. This statement has also been posted on New Japan’s official Japanese website.
On a separate note, if you are a SiriusXM subscriber and your subscription includes Channel 156, “Fight Nation”, go back and listen to the replay of the 10/3/22 episode of “Busted Open” as hosts Dave LaGreca, Bully Ray & Mark Henry spent the entire show remembering Inoki including guest appearances by former WCW manager Sonny Ono, former wrestler-turned-historian B. Brian Blair and Eric Bischoff, all shared great memories of Inoki. The replay will be available for the next 2 weeks on the SiriusXM app and website.

UPDATE 4: On 10/5/22, New Japan announced the 10/10 event will open with a Ceremonial 10 Bell Salute for Inoki. I would expect this to be included on the live and on demand broadcasts on New Japan World.