Koji Kitao

Sumo record year end Sumo record year start|1988 Basho|INTAI|rank=y|tozai=e| Basho| Basho| Basho| Basho| Basho| Sumo record year end

Professional wrestling career

Upon being dismissed by the Sumo Association, Kitao was linked with a move to America's NFL, but instead turned to professional wrestling. To mollify the association, he dropped the "shikona" and reverted to his real name.

Trained at New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo, he debuted as a wrestler in 1990, and soon left the promotion to go to SWS. He teamed with fellow former sumo Genichiro Tenryu in an appearance at the World Wrestling Federation "WrestleMania VII" event. According to sources, during his match with Earthquake on April 1, 1991, Kitao broke kayfabe by no-selling Earthquake's attacks and shooting at him. After the match was ruled a no contest, he immediately grabbed a microphone and began telling the audience that wrestling is fake, as other Japanese wrestlers attempted to restrain him. [http://www.angelfire.com/wrestling/cawthon777/91.htm]

Kitao then wandered in martial arts, but in 1992 he returned to wrestling by challenging UWF International top star Nobuhiko Takada to a (worked) mixed martial arts match. Pre-match discussions over the outcome of the match led to an agreement being reached for a draw. Takada, however, saw an opportunity and double-crossed Kitao during the match, legitimately KO'ing him with a kick to the head. Takada had won, but the importance of the match was that Kitao was truly back into puroresu. Kitao would later make two more MMA appearances - these times not worked - a loss to Pedro Otavio at the first Universal Vale Tudo Fighting event, and at UFC 9, losing to Mark Hall on a referee's stoppage. At PRIDE 1, he defeated future WWE superstar Nathan Jones with an armlock.

In 1996, he had an appearance in the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie The Quest as the fighting representative of Japan.

In the following years he formed his own promotion called Kitao Pro Wrestling, later a stable of the WAR promotion under the name Bukō Dōjō. Among the wrestlers that came out of the dojo were Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Okamura, who later became business partners of Último Dragón in his junior heavyweight ventures.

Kitao won his only title, the WAR 6-Man Tag Team Championship, with Mochizuki and WAR rookie Nobukazu Hirai in 1998, but retired from pro wrestling altogether later in the year.

umo coaching role

In the summer of 2003 he made a surprise return to the world of sumo when he was invited to oversee some practice sessions at his former Tatsunami stable, now under new management after the retirement of Kitao's old stablemaster in 1999.

References

ee also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of past sumo wrestlers
*List of yokozuna

External links

* [http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/eng/kiroku_daicho/mei_yokozuna/futahaguro.html Japan Sumo Association profile]
* [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1069339/1/index.htm Will Sumo Wrestling's Loss Be Pro Wrestling's Gain? - Sports Illustrated]