Tatsumi Fujinami

Tatsumi Fujinami (Japanese藤 波 辰 尔, Tatsumi Fujinami, born December 28, 1953 in Musashi (now Kunisaki ), Oita Prefecture ) is a 1.83 m high and 104 -pound wrestler from Japan, who famous for his gimmick The Dragon has become. He is regarded as one of the inventors of the "Dragon Sleeper " and the " Dragon Suplex ". Fujinami was trained by Karl Gotch and Antonio Inoki. His wrestling debut came on May 9, 1971 against Kanji Kitazawa.

Career

Fujinami began his career in the Japanese Wrestling Association ( JWA short ) under the wing of Antonio Inoki. As Inoki in 1971 dismissed from the JWA, also left many other wrestlers this association, including Tatsumi Fujinami. They established a new league under the name of New Japan Pro Wrestling ( NJPW ). As the founding fathers of this association today Fujinami, Inoki, Osamu Kido and Kotetsu Yamamoto apply.

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 in the Universal Wrestling Association ( UWA ) and the United States to Jim Crockett Promotions and the World Wide Wrestling Federation ( WWWF short ). In the latter, he was the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship win, which he then took to Japan and established there. In the eighties, Fujinami led feuds against Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu and Akira Maeda.

On 24 June 1999 Fujinami was appointed President of NJPW.

Achievements

Title profits

Tournament Win

  • Karl Gotch Cup 1974
  • MSG Tag League 1984 ( with Antonio Inoki )
  • IWGP Tag Team League 1985 ( with Kengo Kimura )
  • Japan Day 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 )
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