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Rainbow Roxy's avatar

It's fascinating to see the connection you draw between a precise athletic discipine like judo and the theatrics of professional wrestling. How do you think the core principles of one discipline are adapted for the entirely different 'algorithms' of another?

Tony Richards's avatar

In the early years of the new Japanese promotions in the 70s, especially New Japan, Inoki really tried to mix in martial arts styles with the Japanese style of working. Baba really put Anton Geesink over in All Japan due to his huge judo rep. I talked to several guys who worked with him in 74 and 75 and they said he was super stiff to work with.