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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Feb 14, 2015 17:25:04 GMT -6
www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/41209-former-judo-gold-medalist-who-was-major-star-in-japanese-pro-wrestling-passes-awayFormer judo gold medalist who was major star in Japanese pro wrestling passes away Saturday, 14 February 2015 11:44 Willem Ruska, whose February 6, 1976 match with Antonio Inoki at Budokan Hall in Tokyo is one of the most famous matches in Japanese wrestling history, passed away today. Ruska is the only man to have won two Olympic gold medals in judo in the same games, winning in both the super heavyweight and open category in 1972 in Munich. When Inoki was preparing for his match with Muhammad Ali, Ruska was brought in to lose to Inoki to build Inoki as a cross-fighting superstar. While not a "great" match or even a good match given that Ruska had never done pro wrestling, it was very successful in building Inoki's reputation. Ruska wrestled through 1980 in Japan, WWF, California and Florida. He had a great look, but never transitioned into being a top worker. He came back in 1994 to do a rematch with Inoki at the Yokohama Arena.
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