Rikidozan II
Profile
| Rikidozan II | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Biography
Mitsuo Momota was the second son of Rikidozan, the man who introduced professional wrestling to Japan in 1951. After his father's murder at the hands of yakuza gangsters in 1963, Momota laid low until he entered the Japan Wrestling Association dojo in 1969, intending to be a wrestler like his father. He debuted in 1970, at a time his father's students Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki were vying for supremacy within the promotion. In 1972, as Baba and Inoki went their separate ways, Momota chose to follow Baba into his new promotion, All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Momota was never a big man like his father and this may have limited his exposure. In 1974-75 he showed up in Mexico under the name Rikidozan II, and learned the Lucha Libre style, particularly the Tope Suicida. Long before Gran Hamada or Tiger Mask, Momota was the first Japanese to execute the move in front of a Japanese crowd. Nonetheless, despite his talent and parentage, Momota was long overlooked and only in 1989 was able to win a major title, the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title.
Momota remained a strong member of the All Japan undercard until 2000 when he moved yet again, to Mitsuharu Misawa's Pro Wrestling NOAH venture, where he remains. Despite 36 years of career, Momota has not announced plans for retirement yet.
