Atsushi Onita
| Atsushi Onita | |
|---|---|
Onita in February 2013.
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| Born |
October 25, 1957 Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Atsushi Onita Mr. Onita The Great Nita |
| Billed height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Billed weight | 99 kg (218 lb) |
| Trained by | Masio Koma Giant Baba Dick Beyer Terry Funk |
| Debut | April 14, 1974 |
Atsushi Onita (大仁田 厚 Ōnita Atsushi) (born October 25, 1957) is a Japanese former politician, an active professional wrestler and an actor best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. He is credited with importing to Japan, as well as innovating, the deathmatch style of professional wrestling.
He was the first true graduate of the All Japan Pro Wrestling dojo (Jumbo Tsuruta had debuted first, but he had trained in Amarillo, Texas, with Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk). In his early days he teamed with dojo classmate Masanobu Fuchi, who debuted only a few weeks after him. He was known as a loyal ring attendant to Giant Baba, who had accepted him into the dojo despite not having graduated from high school. In the late '70s and the early '80s, he and Fuchi toured Memphis, Tennessee, winning the AWA Southern tag team title three times.
When the junior heavyweight boom started in Japan under Tatsumi Fujinami and the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, Onita was picked as the ace of AJPW's makeshift junior heavyweight division. Baba was able to get Chavo Guerrero, Sr., who had been an early rival of Fujinami, over to AJPW's side, and Guerrero brought the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship with him, effectively establishing it as AJPW's junior heavyweight cornerstone. Onita and Guerrero's subsequent feud over the title spanned three promotions (AJPW, Jim Crockett Promotions and Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre), and, while not as spectacular as New Japan Pro Wrestling's junior division, provided solid alternate wrestling to AJPW fans. On January 3, 1985, he had to retire due to accumulated injuries, after a failed comeback attempt, which ended after his last match on December 2, 1984, against Mighty Inoue. He would be replaced by Masanobu Fuchi as the new junior heavyweight ace of AJPW.
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