Former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and MMA Fighter, Tadao Yasuda, Passes away

As reported by F4W and Tokyo Sports, former Professional Wrestler and MMA Fighter, Tadao Yasuda, has passed away at the age of 62.

Yasuda was found dead in his home in Tokyo.

Yasuda had originally been a competitor in Sumo Wrestling and eventually moved into the Professional Wrestling world in 1993 for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Yasuda was often a lower/mid-card talent in his early days, with his wrestling style focusing on crowd pleasing power spots and callbacks to his Sumo career. Yasuda was generally a well-liked talent in the middle of the card, with any holes in his game being largely overlooked due to his hard work, charisma and likability. He didn’t look out of place in one of New Japan’s most successful eras, but he was never really near the top of the card either.

Yasuda’s career took a major upswing at the start of the 2000’s owing to him being successful in two MMA fights. At the time, Antonio Inoki was obsessed with pushing legitimate athletes who could win real fights, because he wanted to prove that Pro Wrestlers were the toughest fighters in the world. By having some success in the MMA realm, Yasuda was able to find himself as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion after defeating Yuji Nagata in a tournament final on the 16th of February 2002.

Yasuda’s reign lasted for 48 days until he dropped it to Nagata on the 5th of April 2002 in Tokyo. After that point Yasuda never really reached that peak again, with him being more of a mid-card player again as a member of the Makai Club.

At one stage Yasuda’s real-life money problems were turned into a wrestling storyline, as he was presented as the “Debt King”, a wrestler always short of money and with bills he couldn’t quite pay. Yasuda walked the line between still being a serious wrestler and being more of a comedy act around this time, meaning that he never really saw the Main Event scene again, but he remained a recognisable figure on the New Japan roster until leaving for HUSTLE and Zero-1 MAX in 2004.

We here at the Blog of DOOM would like to send our condolences to Yasuda’s friends and family at this sad time.