Mogura House Rikidozan NWA International Belt & Chop figure review

Even Mogura House's series of legends figures featured their own Champ

-ionship belts; giving collectors yet another reason to track down these
Japanese rarities.

Blog #108 covers two more iconic figures based on the "father of Puroresu".
Mogura House's Rikidozan NWA International Heavyweight Belt and Chop
variant figures.



                           

The first variant features Rikidozan in classic ring attire with signature chop
pose.

Unlike the deluxe robed variants, the Rikidozan ring attire figures came pack
-aged in a striking, red backdrop with bright yellow and green colours along
with a retro graphic of Rikidozan himself.

                             

The ring attire Rikidozan figures also feature Rikidozan with a stern facial
sculpt - ready to chop down his next opponent!

In an era where Pro-Wrestling figures weren't readily available yet to Japanese
audiences, Rikidozan never had a figure released during his lifetime.

The back of the packaging contains a graphic of Rikidozan with iconic towel
slung over his shoulder along with his stats and a short bio.

                             


Another truly important figure variant features Rikidozan in his signature
hands on hips pose and the included NWA International Heavyweight
Championship.

Realizing he could make significantly more money by Wrestling in Japan, Pro
-Wrestling legend Lou Thesz created the NWA International Heavyweight
Championship belt (NWA promoters refused to allow Thesz to defend the
original NWA World Heavyweight belt in follow up matches overseas) in
order to tour Europe and Japan while billing himself as the "NWA International
Heavyweight Champion"

Rikidozan would defeat Lou Thesz for the NWA International Heavyweight
Championship in Los Angeles' Olympic Auditorium on August 27th, 1958.

Rikidozan would sadly die the NWA International Heavyweight Champion
(after being murdered in a Japanese nightclub), never losing the belt once
for a total of 2,424 days (about six years).

The NWA International Heavyweight would go on to become one of the
three Triple Crown Championships used extensively in All Japan Pro-
Wrestling from 1989 to 2013 (when all three of the original belts were
replaced withone single belt).

Collectors can also look for the Rikidozan NWA International Heavyweight
Championship variant as a minifigure that was released by Character Product
in their Mini Big Heads ( Vol. 5. - Legend Fighters) line.