Rusher Kimura

Masao Kimura (木村 政雄) was a Japanese professional wrestler, best known by his ring name Rusher Kimura (ラッシャー木村).

He was a five-time IWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him a five-time world champion.

He was a sumo wrestler under the shikona Kinomura, a direct modification of his surname.

He had taken up sumo to build his body for Western-style professional wrestling, thus by 1964 he decided to quit, considering that it would be harder to do so the higher up the divisions he went.

He debuted in 1965 in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance against Sarukichi Takasakiyama (long-time jobber Motoyuki Kitazawa, later known as Shoji Kai in New Japan Pro-Wrestling).

As a protégé of Toyonobori, Kimura followed him when he left due to backstage struggles.

Toyonobori, Isao Yoshiwara, Kimura, Antonio Inoki, Hiro Matsuda, Masa Saito and others formed Tokyo Pro Wrestling.

Their last match until then happened on January 31, 1967, a win by Kimura.

When Tokyo Pro Wrestling closed down, Kimura joined Toyonobori and Yoshiwara in creating yet another larger promotion.

On April 20, 1968, "Rusher" Kimura won his first major title by teaming with Thunder Sugiyama to win the TWWA (Trans World Wrestling Alliance) World Tag Team Championship from Stan Stasiak and Tank Morgan.

They vacated the titles in the fall of that year to give way to the new IWA (International Wrestling Alliance) title governing body.

Kimura showed up in the NWA's Central States and Georgia territories in 1969–70 as Masao Kimura and in the American Wrestling Association as Great Kimura.

This was the only time he actually competed in the AWA; his future challenges for AWA titles all happened in IWE in Japan.

On October 8, 1970, Kimura defeated Dr. Death (Moose Morowski under a mask) to win the first cage match in Japan.

The match, broadcast on IWE's at the time outlet Tokyo Broadcasting System, earned Kimura a reputation and the nickname Kana-ami no Oni (金網の鬼, "Demon of the Steel Cage").

His opponents in cage matches included Ox Baker, Angelo Poffo, Gilles Poisson, King Curtis Iaukea, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Killer Buddy Austin, Lars Anderson, Ole Anderson, Skandor Akbar, The Brute, Rene Goulet, Baron von Raschke, Ray Stevens, Killer Tor Kamata, Butcher Brannigan, Ripper Collins and a rookie Ric Flair.

Though TBS later banned cage matches from airing, Kimura was on the way to becoming a superstar.

On September 23, 1971, Kimura and Sugiyama won the new IWA World Tag Team Championship by defeating Red Bastien and Bill Howard; they vacated the titles in May 1972, when Kimura left for tours abroad.

In 1972, he showed up in Europe, specifically Germany's Verband Der Berufsringer, under his real name.

His last tag team title in IWE was earned on May 14, 1973, when he teamed with Great Kusatsu to defeat Mad Dog Vachon and Ivan Koloff for the IWA World Tag Team Championship.

It was the beginning of Kimura's golden years.

On October 10, 1974, he defeated Blackjack Mulligan to win the IWA World Series for the first time.

Kimura won his first of five IWA World Heavyweight Championships on April 19, 1975, defeating Vachon.

He would go on to defeat The Undertaker (Hans Schroeder, not Mark Calaway), Super Assassin (Roger Smith), Umanosuke Ueda, Alexis Smirnoff and Verne Gagne for his other titles.

Prominent challengers during his six years at the top of IWE included Baker, Kamata, Big John Quinn, Gypsy Joe, Pierre Martin, Crazy Sailor White, Wild Angus Campbell, Gil Hayes, Rip Tyler, Mighty Inoue, Cowboy Bob Ellis, Killer Tim Brooks, Superstar Billy Graham, John Tolos, André the Giant, Jos LeDuc, The Mongolian Stomper, Killer Karl Krupp, Johnny Powers, Mike George, Randy Tyler, Ron Bass, Ray Candy and Steve Olsonoski.

Kimura also won the Japan International League by defeating Professor Tanaka in the final on November 30, 1978.

On October 25, 1979, Kimura challenged Nick Bockwinkel to a double title match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship with Lou Thesz as the special referee.

Being held in a Boston crab by Kimura, Bockwinkel pushed Thesz out of the ring while trying to reach the ropes and was disqualified.

Kimura did not compete much in the upper cards, but in the lower cards he served as debut opponent for future rival, Haruka Eigen, with whom he would have the longest-running fixture in puroresu from 1981 to 2003.

Kimura's last known IWA title defense was against Enforcer Luciano (Buster Gordon) on August 6, 1981 in Muroran, Hokkaido.

The IWE promotion closed on September 30.

Kimura, Animal Hamaguchi and Isamu Teranishi joined New Japan as an IWE "invading" stable and immediately targeted Inoki, who had given up his NWF Heavyweight Championship earlier in the year.

In the subsequent match between former heavyweight champions on October 8, 1981, Inoki beat Kimura by disqualification.

Kimura teamed with Haruka Eigen since 1973, a New Japan loyalist, for a tag team match against foreigners Roland Bock and Rene Goulet on December 7, 1981, and lost.

This was the match that rekindled the rivalry between them that started back in Tokyo Pro Wrestling.

Kimura participated in the inaugural International Wrestling Grand Prix tournament as one of four Japanese entries (aside from Inoki, Akira Maeda and Killer Khan, the latter being a Japanese billed as a Mongolian per his North American persona).

He finished sixth in the 10-man table.

In the same year, Hamaguchi and Teranishi left him to join New Japan renegade Riki Choshu in the Ishin Gundan stable.

Kimura spent the rest of his time feuding with Eigen and teaming with heels such as Bad News Allen.

In between stints in New Japan he and former IWE wrestler Ryuma Go showed up in the dying days of the Los Angeles circuit to win his last major title, the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship.