588 shares







It was an incident that almost proved deadly for famed eccentric strongman, The Great Antonio. When a worked wrestling match turns into a shoot (or real fight), anything can happen and usually does. We look back to 1977, and the time Antonio Inoki retired The Great Antonio from wrestling.

In 1972, Antonio Inoki and his newly formed promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling, did not possess a needed television deal and was aiming to make a big splash rather quickly. Fortunately, Inoki was able to bolster his thin roster with imported talent because of his relationship with Karl Gotch. So on October 4th, 1972, he faced Gotch in front of a crowd of 10,000 with special guest referee Lou Thesz. The match took place at a sold-out Kuramae Sumo Hall and was set to determine the “real” heavyweight champion. Inoki won by countout and which left it open for future matches with Gotch.

Bringing in foreign talent to bolster a weak gate and infuse revenue into a promotion is a tried and true formula that has been used in Japan repeatedly throughout the years. His mentor Rikidozan started this trend in 1954 when he brought in the Sharpe Brothers (Ben and Mike) to face him and Masahiko Kimura to the delight of the Japanese people who wanted to see their heroes thwart the invading foreigners after being thwarted themselves during WWII.

Recommended article: Rikidozan – The Life and Murder of The Father of Puroresu

In 1973, Antonio Inoki began an embittered feud with Tiger Jeet Singh. It started off when Inoki and his wife were shopping in Tokyo, and Singh slapped Inoki’s wife in the face. A wild brawl commenced in front of the general public, and the publicity stunt soon catapulted Singh to main event status. He’d face Inoki many years thereafter, and it’s a feud still talked about today amongst many Japanese fans.

On June 26th, 1976, Inoki faced Muhammad Ali in what was supposed to be a “worked” exhibition between the two, but Ali’s injured legs after the match say otherwise. Then on December 8th, 1977, there was hope that The Great Antonio could capture the fans’ imagination like the Singh vs. Inoki matches had just some years before.

Great Antonio – Who Was He?

Antonio Barichievich made Montreal, Quebec, his home but was born in Europe (some sources point to Yugoslavia, what is now Croatia) on October 10th, 1925, and moved to Canada when he was 20. As early as age six, he claimed to have worked with a pick and shovel, and then at twelve, he was pulling tree stumps out of the ground with a cable around his neck.

As a teenager, he entered strongman competitions in Canada, and his fame rapidly grew. Some of the feats of strengths the famed strongman was purported to have done included pulling a 433-ton train almost 20 meters along its tracks which is recognized in the 1952 Guinness Book of Records, pulling four buses full of passengers along Montreal’s St. Catherine Street, and in 1956 dragging a Chevrolet attached only by his hair.

Not to mention, he had the ability of supposedly being able to eat 25 chickens in one sitting, he owned the world’s biggest rocking chair at the time, and during training, he claimed that he ran into trees head-on after sprinting distances of 60 meters.

“Butcher” Paul Vachon, in his self-published book entitled When Wrestling Was Real, recalls that Great Antonio “was truly a character, in a business that by nature is full of unusual characters. Antonio started his career as a scrapyard worker, a scavenger, and a resident. Here was a guy, 6-foot-4, 450 pounds, that worked not only in a scrap yard but lived there in a shack that he made for himself out of old planks, cardboard, cement blocks, and the hood of a junked car. The owners of the scrapyard let him stay there in exchange for the work he did moving scrap iron around,” Vachon wrote. “Nobody ever really knew his origins, but he spoke in a mixture of French, Italian, English, and Russian, and I think a little Hungarian was thrown in the mix.”

The Great Antonio Drew Crowds in His Early Wrestling Years

Before Antonio Inoki brought him into NJPW in 1977, The Great Antonio had already been through a bittersweet experience with Inoki’s mentor Rikidozan in 1961, as related in the book Japan: The Rikidozan Years written by Haruo Yamaguchi with Koji Miyamoto and Scott Teal.

“Great Togo did a good job as a booker for Rikidozan. A huge crowd of people gathered to see the 6-foot-4, 400-pound Great Antonio’s arrival at the Haneda Airport. At midnight on April 27th, he showed up with Togo and Mr. X. Soon after he shook hands with Rikidozan, Antonio began to play the role of a monstrous creature. He scattered fans and reporters by growling and lifting up heavy chairs. His violent behavior resulted in sensational articles written in newspapers. The next day, Antonio gave a demonstration of pulling four loaded, two-ton city buses at Jingugaien in Tokyo. Though he could not move the buses over as long a distance as the crowd had expected, the exhibition of his strength caused quite a sensation.”

Yamaguchi continued, “Antonio appeared at the little people’s show in Tokyo. Togo led Antonio to the ring with a length of chain around his neck, as if he was leading an uncontrollable, wild animal. Antonio acted as if he had gone mad when he lifted the ring announcer off his feet and tried to attack Rikidozan, who was sitting at the ringside as a TV commentator. Those exhibitions contributed greatly to an increase in the number of people who bought tickets the following week. In many cases, Antonio faced several mid-level wrestlers in a handicap match to show off his superhuman strength.”

The Great Antonio Gets an Attitude Adjustment

Unfortunately, with all the press that The Great Antonio was receiving, he reportedly began having a conceited attitude, and it rubbed the other wrestlers on tour the wrong way. On May 18th, 1961, Ike Eakins decided to teach him a lesson and humbled Antonio in the ring with his fists.

The night before in Osaka saw Hercules Romero stretch Antonio during their match, and in Okayama, Bill Miller and Karl Gotch also gave Antonio a beating nobody would desire on their worst enemy. It is said that Rikidozan and his booker The Gret Togo overlooked this behavior because they were well aware of Antonio’s boasting and selfishness. Supposedly, Antonio would complain about the food, drank way too much, and would constantly demand bonuses. Rikidozan was fine with what they were doing to Antonio as long as it didn’t go too far because they would soon face each other.

Did you know?: Karl Gotch and Bill Miller did something similar but 15-months later to Buddy Rogers in Columbus, Ohio. Before Rogers was set to wrestle Johnny Barend, Gotch and Miller “roughed him up in the dressing room and slammed a door on his arm.” This incident made national headlines after Rogers filed for assault and battery, and promoter Al Haft had to refund a good portion of the gate with Rogers unable to compete.

Eventually, The Great Antonio was fired from the tour, and in stark contrast to the multitude of people who saw him arrive in Tokyo 40 days before, nobody saw him off at Yokohama port. He also competed briefly in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling in Canada, often wrestling in handicap matches (Antonio vs. more than one opponent), battle royals, and even wrestled the famous wrestling bear, Terrible Ted.

Antonio Inoki Turns out to Be Greater Than The Great Antonio

On December 8th, 1977, the man who boasted about having the strength of 10 horses and could wrestle 18 men at the same time was brought in by Antonio Inoki as a monster heel to face him. The Great Antonio was never great at wrestling but was indeed still great at attracting crowds. 9,000 fans in attendance at Tokyo’s Sumo Hall were in for a night they wouldn’t soon forget, but for all the wrong reasons.

In the U.S., showmanship could go a long way to disguise limited athletic ability, but not in Japan, where wrestling skill was held at a premium. The Great Antonio was 6’4”, and hovered around 450-465 lbs but was already in his mid-’50s by this point. Although his feats of strengths were, for the most part, documented, this did not necessarily translate well to the squared circle against Inoki, who was a proponent of “Strong Style” and had learned from “legit” fighters like Karl Gotch.

Most people are unaware that this match was not a one-time deal. Three weeks prior, in order to build heat for the December 8th confrontation, The Great Antonio during this tour had been booked to win many three-on-one and five-on-one handicap matches. Inoki even lost to Antonio by getting disqualified on November 29th, 1977, in Hiroshima, Japan. The blow-off match, also called a rubber match, was on December 8th, 1977.

Antonio Inoki vs. The Great Antonio started off normal enough but didn’t stay that way for long.

The match between The Great Antonio and Antonio Inoki is an infamous and embarrassing affair. In typical wrestling fashion, after an awkward staredown between Inoki and the very out of shape Antonio, fans began to see, unfortunately, some of the weakest-looking headlocks you will ever have the displeasure of witnessing. Meanwhile, in typical wrestling fashion, the announcers did their best to sell the disastrous trainwreck as translated from the original Japanese to English by Kenji Nakayama.

“Inoki said Great Antonio is weak under the pressure! Nothing will work no matter where Inoki hits except Great Antonio’s face.” The announcers continue, “Great Antonio’s gut looks loose and fat, but punching his body is just like punching a big piece of raw rubber wall. Great Antonio seems to be headlocking Inoki without effort, but it is much stronger than you would think…”

At the three-minute mark, Inoki launched himself and performed a dropkick, but The Great Antonio decided to no-sell. Not even that, he acted like Inoki had not even made the move, let alone act like it didn’t hurt. He proceeded to bait Inoki into striking his ample and until now “indestructible” belly. While coming off the ropes, Inoki then tried to shoulder tackle Great Antonio only to bounce off his girth and fall to the mat seemingly surprised, and now a bit peeved.

At 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the match, Great Antonio began clubbing Inoki’s back, but maybe because of his sloppiness, he started landing repeated stiff blows to Inoki’s neck instead. This was when Inoki seemed to have had enough and went on the offensive against the hapless Great Antonio.

It was the beginning of the end of the match, as well as The Great Antonio’s wrestling career. Allow David Shoemaker, author of The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling, to take you through the details.

“[Inoki] starts striking [Great Antonio] in the face. Great Antonio immediately turns around to shield himself. Inoki executes a single-leg takedown — perfect Gotch form — and starts unmercifully unloading with kicks. The announcers play along as if everything is normal: ‘Inoki is kicking Great Antonio’s face — it seems like big damage to The Great Antonio. He just hit Great Antonio’s chin, and the left kick just hit bones around the stomach. Great Antonio’s mouth is ripped and bleeding! Inoki’s stomping broke Antonio’s ear! Great Antonio cannot wake up! He has no energy left. Inoki’s upper kick to Antonio’s chin seemed like the critical hit — his face is now covered with his blood.’”

The referee determined that The Great Antonio could no longer continue and stopped the match after seeing that he was planking and barely moving or responding. Not even using the chain that was wrapped around Great Antonio’s neck at the beginning of the match could have saved him from this full-on attack by Inoki.

Do you remember the 1995 film “Friday” and what Debo played by Thomas “Tiny” Lister Jr. (Zeus in WWF) does to Red? Well, unfortunately for Great Antonio, he really did get “knocked the fugg out!” It is a scary thing to see and a somewhat sad ending to what some would say a charismatic performer’s wrestling career. Great Antonio would return to Quebec, where he remained a quirky local celebrity, but also somewhat of an object of ridicule in some circles.

Remembering Unique Strongman, The Great Antonio

Most people outside of Montreal, if at all familiar with The Great Antonio, perhaps only remember the Inoki beatdown of him, but that was just a small glimpse into his peculiar and unique life. During the ’70s with his “gentle giant” persona, Great Antonio appeared on various popular TV shows like The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Ed Sullivan as well as in a handful of films. The most notable production he was involved with was the international hit Quest for Fire (1981), a France-Canada co-production directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. He had a cameo in the independent film 20th Century Chocolate Cake, where he could be seen pulling a station wagon with a chain. He can also be found in the low-budget horror film The Abominable Snowman (1996).

He became destitute during his last years in Quebec and was named “Best Montreal Weirdo” by The Montreal Mirror in 2002. A Dunkin’ Donuts in the borough of Rosemont was known as the best place to leave messages for him, and he could sometimes be seen in a subway station or the park selling for a couple of dollars self-produced photo collages and artistic postcards of himself expounding his previous feats of strength. The once Great Antonio had a yellow garbage bag full of newspaper clippings and, if given time, would go into a kind of stream of consciousness relating stories of his life and pulling out pictures of all the celebrities he had met.

Watch: An impoverished Great Antonio a year before his passing

It was never proven or disproven if he indeed descended from extraterrestrials as he claimed, but he was quoted as saying, “I went to donate blood, and they refused because my blood was too strong. I have extraterrestrial blood!” People also mention that he sang with a soft, beautiful voice and after allowing his hair to grow for decades, Antonio was able to braid it into a hard-matted rope sealing it together with electrical tape and rings so that he could swing it to play “hair golf” and perform feats of strengths like tug-of-war against many people. Author and illustrator Élise Gravel published a children’s book on the larger-than-life Montreal strongman called “The Great Antonio,” and in it (spoiler alert!), she theorizes that his long-matted locks hid alien antennas in his hair which he used to communicate with his people.

It took nine men to move Antonio after suffering a heart attack at age 77 shortly after buying lottery tickets. It is thought that he had underlying and untreated heart problems that led to his death. 3,000 people went and paid their respects at his funeral, which was covered through an anonymous donation to the Sun Youth Organization because Great Antonio had no known family.

According to “Butcher” Paul Vachon, Antonio was simply “unmanageable” for wrestling promoters who were used to getting their way. “He was a Prima Donna (sic), and when he saw the big crowds, he figured it was all because of him.”

Bret Hart, in his book Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, recalls having very fond memories of The Great Antonio. “I collected glossy photos of all the top wrestlers of the time. I was fascinated by the toothless behemoth The Great Antonio, with his long mangy hair and scraggly beard.”

Once when Bret was playing in the barn with his older brother Dean (who the family nicknamed “Bizz,”), Bret wound up falling from the rooftop and hitting his head on the brick floor. In a panic, a tearful Dean promised to give him a picture of The Great Antonio if Bret promised not to tell what had happened. Even though his parents bothered him for days about how he had gotten the “purple-blue goose egg” on his forehead, Bret’s reward for silence was the prized photo of The Great Antonio pulling a big bus on a chain.

Antonio Inoki did not stop importing foreigners to challenge him even after The Great Antonio debacle. In 1980, he brought in a fellow by the name of Hulk Hogan for several tours over the next couple of years, and the rest, as they say, is wrestling history.

If you haven’t seen it already: Comedian, Bill Burr commentates over “a wrestling match gone wrong” – Antonio Inoki vs. Great Antonio

If you enjoyed this piece, be sure not to miss these recommended stories on our site:

This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they will help us to continue to bring you quality content!

Follow us: Twitter / Facebook / Instagram

The Pro Wrestling Stories Podcast - your favorite stories, in the form of audio!