Riki Choshu

REAL NAME: Mitsuo Yoshida

DATE OF BIRTH: 12/03/1951

BIRTHPLACE: Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, JAPAN

PRO WRESTLING DEBUT: 08/08/1974 vs. El Greco, Tokyo, JAPAN

RETIRED: 01/04/1998 vs. Kazuyuki Fujita, Yutaka Yoshie, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Takashi Iizuka and Jushin Liger, Tokyo Egg Dome.

AWARDS: Wrestler of the Year: Wrestling Observer Newsletter (1987); Best Booker: Wrestling Observer Newsletter (1992); Promoter of the Year: Wrestling Observer Newsletter (1995-1997)

BIOGRAPHY: Riki Choshu worked in the front office for the top promotion in the world of professional wrestling: New Japan Pro Wrestling. His ring name, Riki Choshu, is translated in Japanese as King (Riki) of Choshu (a town in Southern Japan where he now lives.) At one time, Choshu was one of the top workers during the 1980s. He is famous for his feud with Tatsumi Fujinami as well as forming Kakumeigun and Ishin Gundan (Restruction Force) with the likes of Masa Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Animal Hamaguchi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Killer Khan, Isamu Teranishi, Tiger Toguchi (Kim Duk/Tiger Chung Lee) and Hiro Matsuda. Choshu represented South Korea in the 1972 Olympic Games as a freestyle wrestler.  Choshu was also an All-Japan freestyle champion (1971); Japanese collegiate freestyle champion (1971) and took 2nd place in the United States Greco-Roman championships (1971).

TITLES WON: A list of championships can be found here.