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Abdullah the Butcher
Birthdate: November 2nd, 1936 (not 100% confirmed) Championship History: PWF United States Heavyweight Championship: PWF World Heavyweight Championship: NWA International Tag Team Championship with Ray Candy: NWA United National Championship: Big Japan Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship: TWA World Tag Team Championship with Benkei: Biggest Matches: Pictures: Featured Signature Moves: - Bottom Rope Elbow Drop Other Signature Moves: Puroresu Career History: One of the craziest brawlers in the history of wrestling, Abdullah the Butcher made his first trip to Japan in the early 70s to wrestle in the JWA. In the JWA he would participate in the 13th and 14th Annual World League, and reached the semi-finals in 1971. Already known as one of the most blood thirsty wrestlers in the world, Abdullah would join All Japan Pro Wrestling when Giant Baba formed the new promotion in 1972. In a promotion known more for its technical prowess, Abdullah sent shockwaves through the promotion as he stabbed wrestlers with forks and bit them in the head. His willingness to do anything to defeat his opponent helped him win the Champions Carnival on two separate occasions, first in 1976 and again in 1979. Even though Abdullah the Butcher wrestled the majority of his matches stateside in the NWA and AWA, he still wrestled on most of All Japan's tours in the 70s. This lead to him winning all the major heavyweight titles in All Japan during that time period, including the PWF World Heavyweight Championship and NWA United National Championship. On a number of tours in the late 1970s he brought his friend Ray Candy along, and together they would win the NWA International Tag Team Championship by defeating Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta. Abdullah wasn't known for winning titles as he frequently was disqualified due to unnecessary violence, but even without bending the rules he was one of the most feared wrestlers in Japan. In the early 1980s, the relationship between New Japan and All Japan was a peaceful co-existence, as neither promotion did anything against the other. That changed in 1981, when Abdullah the Butcher jumped from All Japan to New Japan, making him the first wrestler to leave one promotion for the other. By 1981 Abdullah was in at least his mid-40s (his birthdate hasn't been 100% confirmed) and was past his prime, but he could still brawl with the best of him. Antonio Inoki didn't wait long to cash in on Abdullah's popularity, as they wrestled in January of 1982. For the next several years Abdullah focused mostly on his wrestling in America and Puerto Rico and was on less tours with New Japan then he had been with All Japan, and he did not win any titles while wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling. After being relatively quiet in New Japan, in 1985 Abdullah returned to All Japan and it would be his main battleground over the next decade. Now in his early 50s and with his size ever increasing, Abdullah was no longer a threat for any singles titles but still managed to wreck havoc. In 1987 and 1988 he frequently teamed with TNT (Savio Vega), whom he met in WWC, and together they challenged for the tag team championship. Abdullah did have a big singles match against Stan Hansen in 1988 to honor Bruiser Brody, but the match would unsurprisingly end in DQ. On September 2nd, 1989 he would have his last singles match against Giant Baba, with Giant Baba coming out the victor. As the 1990s began, Abdullah started wrestling less then he had in previous years. For many of his matches in All Japan he teamed with Giant Kimala II and he generally was no longer active in the main events as the new stars Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, and Taue took the stage. Abdullah was still an important part of the promotion however and a pinfall over the big man was no less special in 1995 then it was in 1985. As he toured less with All Japan, in the mid-90s Abdullah also began wrestling for other promotions, including a match in WAR and a run in Tokyo Pro. In Tokyo Pro he would win the TWA Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Benkei, and he frequently wrestled in the main event of Tokyo Pro cards. After Tokyo Pro went out of business Abdullah still occasionally wrestled in Japan but mostly wrestled in WWC in Puerto Rico. Abdullah wasn't done in Japan though, and in 1998 he wrestled in Big Japan Pro Wrestling for the first time. He soon got into a heated feud with Shadow WX, and even won the Big Japan Deathmatch Championship from him. Shadow WX would quickly win the title back, however, and soon Abdullah returned to his old stomping ground All Japan Pro Wrestling. At the All Japan 30th Anniversary event Abdullah teamed with Terry Funk to defeat Tarzan Goto and Tomoaki Honma. At the Giant Baba Farewell event on February 5th, 2005 the almost 70 year old Abdullah the Butcher teamed with Tarzan Goto to defeat Jinsei Shinzaki and Tomoaki Honma. Even though Abdullah wasn't as mobile as he once was he still knew how to wield a fork and drop the elbow, which were enough for him to still be a feared wrestler in the ring. Abdullah would have his last match (at the time) in Japan at a Wrestle-1 event in October of 2005, teaming with Giant Kimala to defeat Katsuhiko Nakajima and Dory Funk Jr. Now over 70 and with a restaurant to run, Japanese fans thought they had seen the last of Abdullah the Butcher in Japan. But that turned out not to be the case. To the surprise of everybody, in 2007 All Japan announced that Abdullah the Butcher would participate in the Real World Tag League. It was Abdullah's 13th time participating in the Real World Tag League, but he had never come in better then 2nd place. Teaming with fellow trouble-maker Minoru Suzuki, Abdullah and Suzuki managed to score 8 points, including victories over Osamu Nishimura & Masanobu Fuchi and Kensuke Sasaki & Toshiaki Kawada. Even though they didn't win, the 4th place victory was still better then four other teams and it was considered a success for the legend in his last (at his point) tour with the promotion that gave him his most success in Japan. One of the most feared and brutal wrestlers in puroresu history, Abdullah the Butcher was as much a part of wrestling in Japan as he was in America, and his reign of terror during the 70s and 80s will always be remembered. |
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