Riki Choshu

The first to popularize the Scorpion Deathlock, a revolutionary force in 1980s and 1990s Japanese wrestling.

Riki Choshu is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and amateur wrestler, best known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a performer and a booker. He is considered one of Japan's most influential wrestlers for his work in the 1980s and 1990s and is known as the first wrestler to popularize the Sasori-Gatame, better known in English as the Scorpion Deathlock or Sharpshooter. A second-generation Zainichi Korean from Yamaguchi Prefecture, Choshu won titles in Freestyle wrestling at the National Sports Festival of Japan, before representing South Korea at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He made his professional wrestling debut for NJPW in 1974, becoming a major star as a heel during the following decade.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Kwak Kwang-Woong
Born: 3 December 1951
Birthplace: Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, Japan
Citizenship: South Korea (until 2016); Japan (since 2016)
Education: Senshu University School of Commerce

Lore & Background

Born Kwak Kwang-Woong, the youngest of four children in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Prefecture to a Japanese mother and Korean father, Choshu faced discrimination from teachers in elementary school due to his Korean heritage. He took part in baseball and judo as a teenager before moving to the wrestling department of Sakurakaoka High School as a special student. He came in second place in the 73 kg class of the Nagasaki National Freestyle wrestling tournament, which attracted attention from university wrestling officials. He enrolled at Senshu University School of Commerce on a wrestling scholarship. In 1969, he won gold in freestyle wrestling at the National Sports Festival of Japan in the above-75 kg class. In 1971, he won the All Japan Student Wrestling Championship in the 90 kg class. Selected to represent Japan in the 1972 Summer Olympics, officials refused to let him compete for Japan on account of him being part Korean, but South Korea invited him to join their freestyle team. He ended the tournament with a record of one win and two losses, disqualified in the third round by Cuban wrestler Bárbaro Morgan due to the penalty points system. Returning to Japan, he became captain of the Senshu wrestling team and won the Freestyle and Greco-Roman 100 kg class tournaments at the All Japan Championship in 1973.

Reader's Guide

Upon returning to NJPW in 1987, Choshu was part of the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan. After NJPW split ties with Takeshi Kitano over the December 27 Sumo Hall riot, Choshu climbed back into the main event picture. In June 1988, he won his first IWGP Tag Team Championship with Masa Saito. He feuded with Tatsumi Fujinami over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship; on May 27, the match ended in a no contest, with the title held up, and Fujinami won the rematch on June 24. In July 1989, he won his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Salman Hashimikov. The same month, he won his second IWGP Tag Team title with Takayuki Iizuka. Two more IWGP Heavyweight title reigns followed between August 19, 1990 and January 4, 1992. In August 1996, he won the G1 Climax, winning every single match in the tournament. In 1997, he won his third IWGP Tag Team title with Kensuke Sasaki. In January 1998, he retired from the ring, wrestling five matches in one night, winning four out of five matches, defeating Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Yutaka Yoshie, Jushin Thunder Liger and Kazuyuki Fujita, only to fall to his former tag team partner Takashi Iizuka. He focused on booking matches for NJPW after that. After leaving NJPW in 2002, he formed Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling (WJ), but returned to New Japan in October 2005 as a site foreman, booker and part-time wrestler. Choshu once again left NJPW in 2010 and primarily worked in Tatsumi Fujinami's Dradition, as well as his own self-produced Power Hall events as a freelancer.