Keiji Mutoh and Shingo Takagi meet by chance on “the anniversary of Jumbo Tsuruta’s death”.

What happened? Is it happening? A phenomenon like the real 『Pro Wrestling Superstar Row』 was seen in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture.

Shingo Takagi runs into fellow senior Keiji Mutoh (image from 『Shingo Takagi’s』 Instagram)

Anniversary of Jumbo Tsuruta’s death

Jumbo Tsuruta led the popularity of All Japan Pro Wrestling as Giant Baba’s favorite disciple. He also had a feud with Genichiro Tenryu and with Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Akira Taue, who were known as the Four Heavenly Kings of the Super-Generation Army of Professional Wrestling.
He had a wish to fight Hulk Hogan, the world’s strongest man, with all his might, and if it had come true, Tsuruta, the 30th AWA World Heavyweight Champion, would have given him a great match. However, after retiring from active wrestling, he died on May 13, 2000, at the age of 49, after a long battle with illness.

Keiji Mutoh and Shingo Takagi mourn on the anniversary of their deaths

Keiji Mutoh, who was born in Yamanashi Prefecture like Jumbo Tsuruta, worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, All Japan Pro-Wrestling, Pro-Wrestling Noah, and WRESTLE-1, and retired from active competition in January 2023.

Muto has visited Kanazawa frequently, and on July 31, 2022, at the Pro Wrestling Noah Kanazawa event, he was handed a letter of appointment as 「Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism Ambassador」 by Governor Hiroshi Hase, a former professional wrestler and friend of Muto.

Keiji Mutoh tweeted that he and Shingo Takagi, an active wrestler who is his junior in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, were meeting in Kanazawa, and Shingo Takagi posted, 「I met Keiji Mutoh in Kanazawa」, where I went for healing purposes. According to him, 「Coincidentally, it was also the anniversary of the death of Jumbo Tsuruta, a senior wrestler from Yamanashi, so we had a lot of fun talking about his hometown」.

Other sightings involving wrestling….

『Kanazawa Curry Park 2023』 was held on May 13 (Sat.) and 14 (Sun.) at the Shininoki Guest House in Kanazawa City.
On the 13th, there were even tweets about the comedian Antoki Inoki, who is well known for his impersonation of “Antonio Inoki”.

How much of a scent of pro wrestling is in the air in Kanazawa City?

Incidentally, Shingo Takagi’s post includes a three-shot photo of former New Japan Pro-Wrestling ring announcer Hitohiko Ozaki, saying, 「The timing was right and we had lunch with a rare group of people」. (Also supplemented by Hotel Nikko Kanazawa.)

Hitohiko Ozaki, Shingo Takagi, Keiji Mutoh (image from 『Shingo Takagi』 Instagram)

Hotel Nikko Kanazawa Information