Real Name - Mitsuhiro Momota (formerly "Kim Sin-Nak")
Birthdate - 11/14/24 - 12/15/63
5'10" 230 lbs. - Omura, Nagasaki, Japan

Aliases - none

Athletic background - Sumo (Professional - Sekiwake)

Teachers - Shikina Oki

Professional background - Japan(`51-`53), Hawaii(`51-`52), San Francisco(`53), JWA(`53-`63)

Peak Years - `53-`63

Career Highlights -
- Returns to Japan after overseas training and forms the JWA
- Wrestles NWA Champion Lou Thesz in Honolulu, helping to establish his star level
- Teams with Masahiko Kimura to battle the Sharpe Brothers in the match that made JWA a television success
- Wrestles Thesz again to a 60-minute draw on TV which drew an unheard of 87.0 rating
- Defeats Thesz to capture the NWA International title in Los Angeles and he returned as a national hero

Finisher(s) -
- Overhead Chop

Favorites -
- Bodyslam
- Hip Throw
- Hip Toss
- Leg Kicks
- Chop

Ringwork Rating -
move set - 5
science - 2
aerial - 0
power - 7
strikes - 8

Intangible Rating -
entertainment - 6
selling - 5
bumping - 5
carrying - 4
heat - 10
legacy - 10

Place in History - Throughout professional wrestling's history many types of figures have come along. Larger than life heroes, cultural icons, great athletes who go into the sport, men who are legendary figures in and out of the ring and men who transformed the sport. Perhaps no single figure has had more influence on professional wrestling than Rikidozan. He was the sole figure who took American professional wrestling and made it "puroresu," the Japanese brand that would develop and thoroughly change professional wrestling and ultimate fighting sports as a whole. Without him pro-wrestling in Japan may have never gained the mainstream popularity to become the force it has. Despite being Korean (a fact not widely known until his death) and a held-back sumo, Rikidozan had the personality to capture the "hearts and minds" of the Japanese people in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a working class hero to a culture who needed one during the American Occupation, he used his big sumo chops and natural charisma to become a national treasure almost overnight. Returning home after success abroad Riki became the top star in the top company, which was his, and used the simple story of a hard-working Japanese who vanquished nasty Americans (and other foreigners) to take over the sport. The world of Mitsuhiro Momota the businessman was wholy different. A debaucherous character who was typically drunk, drugged up and violent, Rikidozan's ties to the Yakuza made him a financial success in and out of the wrestling world. Among the Japanese who saw him on television and in the media, he was an untouchable god, but to those who saw him elsewhere, he was on a road to self-destruction. One altercation saw him stabbed and after contracted peritonitis and never survived surgery. The mystery behind that nightclub scuffle, the infection and his actual passing placed a black eye on the sport. There was no star or combination of stars who could replace him and the associations with the Yakuza could not be undone. It took years until another star, a Rikidozan disciple, could return puroresu to mainstream acceptance. Although his time was short and his life was defined by violence and deception, Rikidozan is a romantic character who has become a classic Japanese tragic hero and despite his ill-gotten wealth, he is a celebrated figure in his homeland of North Korea as well.