Osamu Abe

[KinchStalker]

Osamu Abe (阿部脩)

Profession: Wrestler, Referee
Real name: Osamu Abe
Professional names: not applicable
Life: 5/6/1925-early 1980s
Born: Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Career: 1954-1958, 1966-1977 (as referee)
Height/Weight: 172cm/100kg (5’8”/220lbs.)
Signature moves: unknown
Promotions: Japan Wrestling Association, Tokyo Pro Wrestling, International Wrestling Enterprise
Titles: none

Long after an unremarkable stint with the JWA, Osamu Abe returned to the business to become the IWE's head referee for most of its existence.

Hokkaido native Osamu Abe played baseball in junior high, then entered sumo for an unspecified stable from 1940 to 1946. Under the shikona Onaruyama, he peaked in 1944 when he reached the makushita division but had been knocked back down to sandanme by the last tournament of the Pacific War in June 1945. Eight years after his retirement, Abe joined the Japan Wrestling Association, debuting on their August 1954 tour. In late 1955, Abe reached the finals of a qualifying tournament for the Japanese Junior Heavyweight title, where he lost to Surugaumi. Abe left in 1958, during the lowest point of the Rikidozan era, to become a contracted actor with Daiei. His resume ranged from childrens’ television to Gamera films. At some point, Abe made headlines for his marriage to a Takarazuka Revue actress.

In 1961, Abe came out of retirement to join Surugaumi and Takao Kaneko for a pair of shows in Seoul. Five years later, Abe was recruited for Tokyo Pro Wrestling as a referee and remained with the company through its merger with the International Wrestling Enterprise. Abe became Kokusai’s head referee and maintained the position for most of its lifetime. In keeping with the company's product, this saw him take plenty of bumps for the foreign heels of the month. He also promoted the company’s shows in Hokkaido, and in a final flourish in the summer of 1977, promoted twelve shows across the island with a mobile tent he had purchased himself. After an unsuccessful run for a seat on the House of Councilors that year, Abe did not return to the IWE. According to Mighty Inoue in a 2016 interview with the fanzine Showa Puroresu, Abe opened a restaurant named after Rikidozan in Fukuoka in the early 1980s. Inoue further disclosed that Abe died of a stroke around that time, which Osamu himself had predicted due to a family history.