RIP Tarzan Goto

[El-P]

Totally went over my head. The guy deserves his own thread !

Passed away at 58, which is way too young. He was in the first batch of puro tapes I bought, of course, because IWA and Best of Onita. It's too bad he had stayed most of his career in sleazy Japanese indies, as he was a product of the AJPW dojo and trained the great Mr. Gannosuke, among others. A classic old-school disgusting bladecore forehead. He was part of some of Onita's most famous matches early on, and had a great feud with Tenryu in WAR. Can't forget the cult classic match against Dan Severn at the IWA King of Deathmatch. But of course, his crowing moment, one of the most WTF moment in pro-wrestling history, the infamous Bathhouse Deathmatch, teaming with Gannosuke vs the Head Hunters (yes, it is on Youtube). Better worker than he was given credit for (although this was already talked about 25 years ago, so at some point are you actually *not* overrated when the entire talking point about you is that you are better than what people think ?), a bunch of fun matches, a figure of old-school Japanese sleaze for sure.

[NintendoLogic]

Let's not forget about the crowning moment of his career: his appearance on Shinkon-san Irasshai (basically a Japanese version of The Newlywed Game except it's a talk show rather than a game show).

[The Thread Killer]

I am glad you started this thread, @El-P.  We had discussed it in another thread here but I think it got buried.  I would hate to see his death go by without people noticing it.  I hope people take a few minutes to watch that video about Goto made by @BAHU that I linked to, because it's really good and people might find it interesting if they are unfamiliar with his work.

[sek69]

If that photo is any indication, then he should be known more for his tremendous suit game than anything he did in wresting, god damn.

He's someone who I first became familiar with from playing a shit load of Virtual Pro Wrestling on the N64, and ended up being my gateway to tape trading.  I remember how it was the obvious spectacle of FMW deathmatches that would get my attention, only to find out "wow, this guy's pretty good in the midst of all this shit blowing up".

[KawadaSmile]

Honestly he always felt like FMW's 2nd most important guy. He was Onita's partner and rival, and while not as charismatic, held things together nicely.

 

May he rest in power.

[Infinit]

RIP Tarzan Goto

Here's the match that introduced me to him and FMW, originally from an article in PWI.