Kosuke Takeuchi

[KinchStalker]

Kosuke Takeuchi (竹内宏介)

Profession: Journalist, Editor, Commentator (Color)
Real name: Kosuke Takeuchi
Professional name: not applicable
Life: 1/6/1947-5/3/2012
Born: Atami, Shizuoka, Japan
Career: 1965-2006
Promotions: International Wrestling Enterprise, All Japan Pro Wrestling (as commentator)

Kosuke Takeuchi might have never worked between the ropes, but no chronicle of the history of puroresu is complete without him. The face of Gong magazine and a guru for generations of hardcore fans, Takeuchi was a pillar of puro culture throughout his forty-year career.

[For a more detailed overview of the story of Takeuchi and Gong, see my blog post “Kosuke Takeuchi, Gong Magazine, and Various Maniax”, published on the tenth anniversary of his death.]

While born in Atami, Shizuoka, Kosuke Takeuchi grew up in Tokyo's Taito ward. At the age of 8, he was hooked for life by JWA broadcasts on street televisions, and found his way to a job at Professional Wrestling & Boxing magazine in his senior year of high school. Takeuchi was frustrated by the magazine’s dry presentation—which was essentially an extension of the Daily Sports evening paper—and attempted to quit in 1966. He was promoted to the editorial department instead, and when the man who had gotten him that job and promotion, Yukio Koyonagi, left their parent company, Takeuchi was scouted for a new magazine. 

Left: Takeuchi goes on the mat with the man he made a star in Japan.

Gong and Monthly Gong published content analogous to the Stanley Weston magazines of the West (that is, the “Apter mags”). It first hit shelves in 1968, and over the next decade, it would help make Takeuchi one of the most influential men in puroresu. Gong’s extensive coverage of Mil Mascaras, which began three years before he ever worked in Japan (and likely led to that even happening), was the most famous example of this. Takeuchi was also an important ally of NJPW, as Gong's coverage of the promotion balanced out the more pro-Baba Monthly Pro.

In the mid-to-late 1970s, a generation of superfans began to rally around Takeuchi, competing amongst themselves through their myriad fan clubs to win his favor. Simply put, his impact was massive. Through his fan club connections, Takeuchi could be relied on to help make the magic happen for an important match. AJPW’s famous “Idol Showdown” of 1977, in which Jumbo Tsuruta defended his NWA United National title against Mil Mascaras, was supported by cheer squads which Takeuchi himself arranged on opposite ends of the arena (you can see them in cutaways during the match). Tatsumi Fujinami's first match against Ryuma Go was essentially carried in the same way, as members of unrelated fan club manufactured crowd support for the latter. While this was long unacknowledged in the West, Takeuchi is probably the primary source of unofficial footage of 1970s puroresu, whether that was through 8mm clips he had acquired (and had encouraged his biggest fans to shoot themselves) or the many home video recordings he had made of television broadcasts. These are just a couple of his many contributions to puroresu, though. Later on, he would be credited with giving Giant Baba the idea to license Tiger Mask for AJPW, as well as conceiving the name of FMW.

Takeuchi began work as a commentator for AJPW and the IWE in the late 1970s, originally serving as a special guest for Mascaras’ matches in 1978. Over time, as Takeuchi scaled his Gong role back to an editorial advisor, he became more prominent in this role. However, Takeuchi’s regular commentary duties ended in 1992. He would continue to be a prominent figure in the wrestling journalism sphere for over a decade afterwards, and even returned to the magazine he had built during its darkest hour in the 2000s. Takeuchi suffered a massive stroke during a morning commute in 2006 and was left incapacitated until his death in 2012.

Takeuchi (second from right) with Hisashi Shinma, George Napolitano, and Joji Inoue in 2004.