An Olympian in 1984, Hiroshi Hase would go on the New Japan where he first gained traction as their Junior Heavyweight Champion.  Hase would win that championship twice, but he would move up the ranks to heavyweight where he would be one of the promotion's top tag team wrestler winning the belts on three occasions, two with Kensuke Sasaki and one with Keiji Mutoh.  He would also have stellar singles matches as a heavyweight, most notably against Mutoh where Muta (he wrestled as the Great Muta in that match) bled so much in a match that the famed “Muta Scale” was created by fans to gauge how much crimson occurred in a match.  Hase would later wrestle for All-Japan and was unselfish by putting over a lot of talent.  He would then become a very successful politician in Japan.

As one of the top draws of New Japan, Shinya Hashimoto won numerous titles and successfully wrestled a hybrid of stiff pre-MMA style wrestling and the technical Japanese wrestling style that dominated the country.  Hashimoto may have looked like a fat version of Japanese Elvis, but his in ring work had few equals and he was a top draw of the Japanese wrestling circuit for years.  The former New Japan and All Japan World Heavyweight Champion died prematurely at the age of 40, but his in ring accomplishments had few equals.

Another Japanese wrestler who is not well known to North American audiences (although he did have many matches here in the 70’s), Riki Choshu also was one of the top stars in Japan and was a constant fixture in the Heavyweight ranks there for decades.