Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Dec 28, 2009 14:37:26 GMT -5
There was a story that Onita planned to lure Invader 2 to a match in Japan and have him murdered by Yakuza for what he did to Bruiser Brody. The real story was that Onita was looking for a huge money making match for FMW's one year anniversary show at the Sumo Hall in 1990. Since the Brody murder was still fresh in wrestling fans minds and covered in Japan, Onita decided to exploit it. He flew, with a bunch of Japanese media, to Puerto Rico to do an angle with Brody's murderer Jose Gonzalez(Invader I). After a joint press conference between Onita's FMW and Gonzalez's WWC, Onita was attacked by Gonzalez and some WWC staffers in a manner that was suppose to remind everyone of the Brody murder that occurred two years earlier. Onita made sure to smear the blood from his head wound over his chest to give the appearence that Gonzalez had stabbed him in the chest and stomach with a knife like Brody. Onita then tried to find a doctor to give him stitches for better pictures, but was refused stitches in every hospital because the wound was so small. Onita finally paid one doctor to give him two stitches for the pics. The idea was that Invader I would show up Japan and face Onita in FMW to try to "finish" the job. Onita would then get revenge for both he and Brody by beating Gonzalez in some stupid FMW deathmatch. Meanwhile both Onita and Gonzalez would make a good deal of money capitalizing on Brody's murder. Once the bloody Onita pictures ran in Japanese wrestling magazines, with the titles reading, "Brody killer tries to take out Onita" Japanese fans were disgusted since Brody was a beloved figure. Onita quietly stopped the angle and didn't book Gonzalez for the show. To save face, Onita then concocted the story that he was only trying to lure Gonzalez to Japan so the Yakuza could kill him for Brody's murder. Typical BS from Onita. Going by this and some of the other horror stories, it pretty much reaffirms my thinking that FMW was like the XPW of Japan, just important instead. Certainly wasn't any classier. Hayabusa and Megumi Kudo were pretty much the only things about that place that didn't suck from my perspective. I liked Jericho's story. He said that the Yakuza guys wore Cosby sweaters which is kind of funny. lol I guess that's just a fairly inconspicuous way to hide their ink.
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Post by Chuckie Finster on Dec 28, 2009 15:06:33 GMT -5
Jericho said that the foreigners had to wear sleeves while in public in Japan so the Yazuka wouldn't go after them (Yazuka in Japan are identified by the ink on their arms) Vader's had a run-in or two with the Yazuka, including a rumored incident in NOAH in 2002. Inoki has been linked to them for a long time and might be partially responsible for New Japan's boom in the 90's. Dick Murdoch has been linked with the KKK. Never fully confirmed though. I've heard that supposedly Jacques Rougeau had a hit put on the Dynamite Kid. Rougeau said he "called a few friends" after the fistful of quarters incident and made it known to Dino Bravo (who was close with the Hart Family). Probably a scare tactic more than anything.
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Triple Kelly
Vegeta
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Posts: 9,470
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Post by Triple Kelly on Dec 28, 2009 15:16:33 GMT -5
There was a story that Onita planned to lure Invader 2 to a match in Japan and have him murdered by Yakuza for what he did to Bruiser Brody. The real story was that Onita was looking for a huge money making match for FMW's one year anniversary show at the Sumo Hall in 1990. Since the Brody murder was still fresh in wrestling fans minds and covered in Japan, Onita decided to exploit it. He flew, with a bunch of Japanese media, to Puerto Rico to do an angle with Brody's murderer Jose Gonzalez(Invader I). After a joint press conference between Onita's FMW and Gonzalez's WWC, Onita was attacked by Gonzalez and some WWC staffers in a manner that was suppose to remind everyone of the Brody murder that occurred two years earlier. Onita made sure to smear the blood from his head wound over his chest to give the appearence that Gonzalez had stabbed him in the chest and stomach with a knife like Brody. Onita then tried to find a doctor to give him stitches for better pictures, but was refused stitches in every hospital because the wound was so small. Onita finally paid one doctor to give him two stitches for the pics. The idea was that Invader I would show up Japan and face Onita in FMW to try to "finish" the job. Onita would then get revenge for both he and Brody by beating Gonzalez in some stupid FMW deathmatch. Meanwhile both Onita and Gonzalez would make a good deal of money capitalizing on Brody's murder. Once the bloody Onita pictures ran in Japanese wrestling magazines, with the titles reading, "Brody killer tries to take out Onita" Japanese fans were disgusted since Brody was a beloved figure. Onita quietly stopped the angle and didn't book Gonzalez for the show. To save face, Onita then concocted the story that he was only trying to lure Gonzalez to Japan so the Yakuza could kill him for Brody's murder. Typical BS from Onita. Onita just might've concocted the most disgusting promotional angle of ALL time. Bravo, Onita. And about the Hells Angels, it's a beat uppable offense (death if they feel like it) for a "civilian", so to speak, to portray a member of the Hells Angels. Which is why whenever movies or tv shows are made about the Hells Angels where members are portrayed, it requires their full cooperation and their own members get to play themselves.
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Post by Doctor Tull-eus S. Venture on Dec 28, 2009 15:25:31 GMT -5
Reading Bret's book, his description of how Dino Bravo died was pretty chilling.
After his livelihood in wrestling ended, he was running bootleg cigarettes for the mob, and ended up with 17 bullets in a perfect circle in the back of his skull.
Yikes.
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Turd Ferguson
Hank Scorpio
John Cena: Colossal Douche
Posts: 7,402
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Post by Turd Ferguson on Dec 28, 2009 15:36:40 GMT -5
Earlier today I was reading a review for an ROH show that mentioned a joke or reference made on commentary about Dino Bravo and the Montreal Mob. It got me thinking....how many other times have organized crime and pro wrestling crossed paths? I've heard the Yakuza used to have quite a stranglehold on business in Japan. What instances can you guys think of? I'd like to know if they really made a joke about Dino Bravo's death. That's really scummy and totally f***ed up.
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Post by mightydavidson on Dec 28, 2009 16:27:10 GMT -5
Earlier today I was reading a review for an ROH show that mentioned a joke or reference made on commentary about Dino Bravo and the Montreal Mob. It got me thinking....how many other times have organized crime and pro wrestling crossed paths? I've heard the Yakuza used to have quite a stranglehold on business in Japan. What instances can you guys think of? I'd like to know if they really made a joke about Dino Bravo's death. That's really scummy and totally f***ed up. I agree and rather out of character for the ROH commentary team that I'm familiar with. I could see them referencing it for some reason but not making jokes.
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Post by Alexander The So-so on Dec 28, 2009 17:37:29 GMT -5
On the topic of Hell's Angels, they did appear on WCW with Hollywood Hogan and the nWo.
And organized crime has a long history with wrestling just about anywhere. The Mob was involved in American wrestling for a long time before promotions became major national corporations; I think that's why Vince Sr. legitimately worried that Vince Jr. would be killed for trying to go national.
To this day, I believe though, the Yakuza is still heavily involved in Japanese wrestling. I've heard it said that it's unlikely than any Japanese promotion would go out of business, because if one fell on hard times, the Yakuza would come and invest in them and bail them out.
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Post by Throwback on Dec 28, 2009 18:54:19 GMT -5
I've heard that supposedly Jacques Rougeau had a hit put on the Dynamite Kid. Kinda. He told Dino Bravo that he calls his wife every night and told her if he ever missed a call that she should call Dino. After Jacque told Dino of the conversation he had with his wife. He handed a piece of paper with Dynamites info over to Dino. Not really sure what that meant but Jacque tells the story in a shoot interview that's floating around somewhere
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Post by Black Swagger on Dec 28, 2009 19:48:51 GMT -5
Organized crime & wrestling being linked is supposedly as old as catch wrestling itself. I mean we know all about Japan & The Yakuza, but even here in the US according to the book "Ring of Hell", Vince Sr. supposedly was always seen dropping off money the mob bosses. Also supposedly the NWA itself was founded on Mafia Code.
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Post by Evilution E5150 on Dec 28, 2009 20:46:25 GMT -5
isnt there some story about sabu and mike awesome not able to leave a hotel room due to it being surrounded by Yakuza or something, i think i heard it in a shoot interview
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2009 20:52:50 GMT -5
I'm sure there's a good book waiting to be written on this subject - providing that anyone would be willing to share information for it or write it.
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biafra
El Dandy
Biafra Who?
Posts: 7,617
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Post by biafra on Dec 28, 2009 21:22:34 GMT -5
As someone fascinated by both pro wrestling and organized crime this is something I'd like to read a good, well researched, accurate book about.
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Post by kennerado on Dec 28, 2009 21:46:10 GMT -5
isnt there some story about sabu and mike awesome not able to leave a hotel room due to it being surrounded by Yakuza or something, i think i heard it in a shoot interview I posted about that earlier. Sabu attacked a Yakuza member in front row, they went after him and Awesome made the save. All the foreign wrestlers were stuck in the locker room while Onita (I think?) managed to calm down the Yakuza members.
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Post by Davey is Awesome on Dec 28, 2009 22:58:33 GMT -5
I'd like to know if they really made a joke about Dino Bravo's death. That's really scummy and totally f***ed up. I agree and rather out of character for the ROH commentary team that I'm familiar with. I could see them referencing it for some reason but not making jokes. It wasn't really a joke. Prazak said something about Dino Bravo, and then Lenny said something along the lines of "WOW! I can't believe you said that". Of course it was all just to get Prazak (the heel) some heat. Yeah, OC and and wrestling have a long relationship. These days I'm sure it goes on, just not with the Italians and more with the Russians. Also, I've heard it several times that the source of startup money for NOAH was the Yakuza.
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Post by Evilution E5150 on Dec 29, 2009 0:16:00 GMT -5
isnt there some story about sabu and mike awesome not able to leave a hotel room due to it being surrounded by Yakuza or something, i think i heard it in a shoot interview I posted about that earlier. Sabu attacked a Yakuza member in front row, they went after him and Awesome made the save. All the foreign wrestlers were stuck in the locker room while Onita (I think?) managed to calm down the Yakuza members. oh i ok i didnt know it was the same one, i just remember awesome talking about how they were stuck in there for hours unable to leave as they would have been shot
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Post by dlg3000 on Dec 29, 2009 11:26:58 GMT -5
I am wondering if there is also a connection with organized and Mexican wrestling since no one mentioned Mexico in this thread so far. Does anyone here know?
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Post by Davey is Awesome on Dec 29, 2009 14:41:21 GMT -5
I am wondering if there is also a connection with organized and Mexican wrestling since no one mentioned Mexico in this thread so far. Does anyone here know? There could be, especially with the Peso being what it's worth right now. Also, there was a lucha guy who died a year ago or so and the immediate theory was that the Drug Cartel had gotten to him.
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Honeybear Lyder
ALF
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Posts: 1,154
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Post by Honeybear Lyder on Dec 29, 2009 14:51:05 GMT -5
Dynamite Kid mentioned an accident in Japan where a Yakuza slapped Antonio Inoki and Inoki in return bowed and thanked him.
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Post by Crazy Diamond on Dec 29, 2009 15:49:27 GMT -5
In Chokehold, Jim Wilson mentions a case in the late 80s where Leah Maivia and Lars Anderson were arrested for several charges. I think money laundering was one of them. Apparently she had ties to the Samoan Mafia because she threatened to send them against a local Hawaiian who was trying to start a competing promotion. She used to terrify Howard Finkel too when he worked for her.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Dec 29, 2009 17:48:34 GMT -5
As someone fascinated by both pro wrestling and organized crime this is something I'd like to read a good, well researched, accurate book about. It would be interesting, I just don't know who would be willing to do that. Getting the information wouldn't be the hard part, what would be hard is getting the book published if it named names. That's a hell of an accusation, to say someone associates with criminals, not to mention possible retaliation if you made the mob look bad.
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