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Riki Chōshū
Riki Chōshū
Ring name(s)	Riki Chōshū; Yoshida (Real name Kwak Gwang-ung)
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight	246 lb (112 kg; 17.6 st)
Born	December 3, 1951 (age 57); Seoul, South Korea
Resides	Yamaguchi, Japan
Trained by	Masa Saito; New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo
Debut	August 8, 1974

Mitsuo Yoshida (吉田光雄 Kwak Gwang-ung, born December 3, 1951), better known by his stage name Riki Chōshū (長州力 Chōshū Riki), is a Korean Japanese professional wrestler who is most known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a wrestler and a booker. He is considered one of the most influential wrestlers in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s and known as the first wrestler to popularize the Sasori-Gatame, better known in English as Scorpion Deathlock or Sharpshooter.

After Chōshū left New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2002, he formed Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling (WJ), which is now known as Riki Pro as he is the promoter of the promotion. In October 2005, he returned to New Japan as a site foreman, a booker, and a part-time wrestler.

[edit] Amateur wrestling career

[edit] 1972 Summer Olympics

Riki Chōshū participated in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich as a South Korean wrestling representative. His Korean name is Kwak Gwang-ung. He didn't place in the tournament.

[edit] Professional wrestling career

He debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling in August 1974. In the mid-1970s, Chōshū was sent to North America to gain experience. Wrestling under his real name, he appeared in George Cannon's "Superstars of Wrestling" promotion as a heel, managed by Superstar (or Supermouth) Dave Drasen. Chōshū had a brief feud with the fan favorite of Cannon's promotion, Luis Martinez.

Chōshū was the first "traitor heel" in a Japanese promotion. In 1983, upset at not being selected for the inaugural tournament for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, he turned on Tatsumi Fujinami during a match and formed his own stable, Ishin-gun (Revolutionary Army), which was the core for the later Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion that "invaded" All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Upon returning to NJPW in 1987, Chōshū was apart of the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan. After NJPW split ties with Takeshi Kitano over the December 27 Sumo Hall riot, Chōshū slowly climbed back up into the main event picture. In July 1989, he won his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Salman Hashimikov of the Soviet Union. Two more title reigns would follow between August 1990 and January 1992.

In 1996, he won the G1 Climax, winning every single match in the tournament. In January 1998, he retired from the ring; for his retirement match, he wrestled five matches in one night, winning four out of five matches. He would focus on booking matches for NJPW.

However, retirement wouldn't last long, as Atsushi Onita challenged Chōshū to a barbed wire deathmatch in 2000. Chōshū accepted and wrestled Onita. Since then he has balanced wrestling and booking for NJPW, until his departure in 2002.

After leaving NJPW, he formed Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling in 2003, which would later changed to Riki Pro, after the failure of some of their big shows. He ran Riki Pro, until 2005 when he returned to NJPW as a site foreman, booker, and wrestler.

In 2007, Chōshū joined the Legend stable with Masahiro Chono, Jushin Liger, among others.