Tor Kamata
| Tor Kamata | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | McRonald Kamaka |
| Born |
March 9, 1937 Hawaii |
| Died | July 23, 2007 (aged 70) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Tor Kamata Mr. Moto Dr. Moto Killer Moto |
| Billed height | 6'3" (193 cm) |
| Billed weight | 350 lb (159 kg) |
| Billed from | Japan |
| Debut | 1959 |
| Retired | 1987 |
McRonald Kamaka (March 9, 1937 – July 23, 2007) was an American/Canadian professional wrestler known by the ring name Tor Kamata. He won several Heavyweight and Tag Team championships, including one World Tag Team title. He was a classic "bad guy" wrestler. He was reviled for his "dirty tricks" in the ring, which included rubbing foreign substances, such as salt, into his opponent's eyes.
After returning to Hawaii after leaving the United States Air Force, promoter Ed Francis convinced Kamaka to try professional wrestling. He was given the name Tor Kamata in reference to Tomas De Torquemada of the Spanish Inquisition. He also worked as Mr. Moto, holding the American Wrestling Association's AWA World Tag Team Championship with Mitsu Arakawa. One of his signature moves, the "judo chop" became a popular phrase for all types of martial arts strikes in the 1960s, even being mentioned by Snoopy in the comic strip "Peanuts" (14Jan67). A generation later, the phrase was satirised in the Austin Powers films.
In the early 1970s, Kamata worked for Stampede Wrestling in Canada, where he held the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship three times. In the promotion, he feuded with Dan Kroffat.
In 1976 and 1977, Kamata wrestled in the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Managed by Freddie Blassie, he had two memorable matches with Bob Backlund when Backlund was on the brink of becoming the WWWF Champion. In his first match against Backlund, Kamata threw salt into Backlund's eyes, which set the stage for a televised Texas Death match, aired Saturday May 7, 1977. Again Kamata threw salt in Backlund's eyes, so Backlund merely used the referee's shirt to wipe the "salt" out. Then Backlund delivered an Atomic Knee Drop and won the match. At the time, Superstar Billy Graham had just defeated Bruno Sammartino for the title and Backlund was being built up as the number one contender.
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