Biography

One of the most memorable events from the 'Theatre of Wrestling': During a tag match in 1988, current British wrestler Robbie Brookside ripped Nagasaki's mask off. Nagasaki then put Brookside into a deep hypnotic state, and after a single command from Nagasaki, Brookside attacked his own tag partner, Steve Regal (WWE's Darren 'William Regal' Matthews). Nagasaki was then able to easily score a fall against a stunned Brookside for the win.

In December 1979, Kendo Nagasaki bowed-out of British professional wrestling for several years, and his farewell involved a spectacular unmasking ceremony in the wrestling ring. Flanked by two acolytes, Nagasaki's manager, Gorgeous George Gillett removed Nagasaki's characteristic wrestling mask and burned it in a crucible. Nagasaki, unmasked, was still visually spectacular, as he stood up and brandished his trademark Japanese 'Katana' sword - he had a spiritual hexagram tattooed on the top of his shaven head, and his eyes were blood-red. The televised unmasking event achieved the largest ever TV audience for a wrestling event in British broadcasting history, of over fourteen million viewers.

Kendo Nagasaki has been voted as the most hated and the most loved British wrestler - at the same time! Nagasaki was always a villain, a 'heel', and much of the excitement of his matches centred around the 'baby-faces' who plucked-up the courage to try to defeat him, and therefore win the right to unmask Nagasaki publicly. However, Nagasaki was never defeated so no-one won that right, and it was his sheer skill and power that earned him the respect of wrestling fans to the extent that he was voted as being amongst the most loved wrestlers.

Kendo Nagasaki's signature wrestling move was the 'Kamikaze Crash'. It involved lifting an opponent onto his shoulders, then taking a running dive, somersaulting forwards in the air, and landing on his opponent, completely knocking the breath out of him. No opponents recovered before being counted out for a fall - it was a spectacular and devastating move. A few courageous wrestlers copied the Kamikaze Crash, but it was never widely adopted because it was difficult and genuinely dangerous - only Nagasaki had the skill to repeatedly use it as a winning technique.