Yoshiaki Fujiwara
| Yoshiaki Fujiwara | |
|---|---|
Fujiwara in August 2012.
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| Born | April 27, 1949 |
| Residence | Waga District, Iwate, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Yoshiaki Fujiwara |
| Billed height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Billed weight | 102 kg (225 lb) |
| Debut | November 12, 1972 |
Yoshiaki Fujiwara (藤原 喜明 Fujiwara Yoshiaki?, April 27, 1949) is a Japanese actor, and professional wrestler. He is famous for his long career in wrestling, having worked in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, and the two incarnations of Universal Wrestling Federations. Fujiwara is known for his catch wrestling expertise, having been praised by fighters like Josh Barnett and Ken Shamrock.
Fujiwara was the first graduate of the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) dojo (Mr. Pogo was the first debutante in the promotion, but he and Gran Hamada had trained with Tatsumi Fujinami before he and Antonio Inoki left the Japanese Wrestling Association). A former Muay Thai kickboxer, Fujiwara was easily able to absorb and apply the "Strong Style" of professional wrestling taught by Inoki and Karl Gotch. In 1975, this led Fujiwara to win the Karl Gotch Cup (a tournament for rookies named after Karl Gotch and forerunner to the later Young Lion Cup). In the late 1970s, Fujiwara became embroiled in a feud with Allen Coage (a former Olympic judo bronze medal winner who had debuted as a pro wrestler in NJPW, and one of the first gaijins to be trained at the NJPW dojo) over the petty issue of who had the strongest head. Fujiwara would bang his head repeatedly against the ring's corner post's metal face to provoke Coage, and behind the scenes, Coage would advise him not to do so repeatedly, in fear of suffering permanent real-life damage.
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