Mr. Moto (wrestler)

Mr. Moto
Pre-match ritual, Anchorage, Alaska, 1958
Personal information
BornMasaru Iwamoto
August 11, 1915
Hawaii, U.S.[1]
DiedJuly 6, 1991(1991-07-06) (aged 75)[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Mr. Moto
Great Moto
Charlie Chiranuhi
Debut1939
Retired1979

Masaru "Charlie" Iwamoto (August 11, 1915 – July 6, 1991)[1] was an American professional wrestler better known as Mr. Moto.

Biography

Moto made his professional wrestling debut in 1939.[3] He portrayed a Japanese heel character facing lots of racism during his career. In March 1950, Iwamoto adopted the character of Japanese heel The Great Moto, or Mr. Moto at times. Accompanied by his servant Suji Fuji, Moto would perform rituals prior to matches as a reference to his sumo days, and angered fans with his dirty tactics on his opponents. Clad with a fan, often painted nails, tiny glasses, kimonos and clogs, the barefoot brawler Moto was one of the first wrestlers to use sacred salt to attack his foes, which became a common practice among Japanese heels.

In March 1955, he was ripping a bandage off the head of his opponent Freddie Blassie when Mary Eleanor Clements, Blassie's then-girlfriend, slashed Moto in the leg with broken glass from her shattered pocket mirror. He was then escorted away by police as Clements was arrested.[4] One day in Florida, Moto was walking through a drug store when a World War 2 veteran welted Moto in the head with a stick; he simply chose to ignore it and decided to question the man's actions. During a match with Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer, Moto was struck in the toe by a hammer, courtesy of Beyer's son, Kurt, who twice jumped the guardrail to try to save his father, not knowing it was all staged.

During most of his career he worked in Los Angeles for Hollywood Wrestling. Also worked all over the States, Canada and Japan.

On July 19, 1954, Moto and Kinji Shibuya defeated The Coughdrop Brothers (Al Smith and John Smith) to win the Mid-Atlantic Southern Tag Team Championship; he held it three more times with Shibuya and Keomuka. In 1956, Moto formed a partnership with actual Japanese heel Mr. Hito in Canada, winning the Canadian Open Tag Team Titles.

On February 2, 1956, Moto won the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship from Miguel Guzmán and Ray Gunkel with Duke Keomuka, who teamed with him before his Japanese gimmick. They held the belts until August 15, when they dropped them to Guzmán and Rito Romero. Over the next few years, Moto continued to win belts, holding the Texas Heavyweight Championship, International Television Championship, and the Georgia Southern Heavyweight Championship.

He also teamed with Tor Yamato for the NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1960, shortly before Yamato's murder. Other titles Moto held included the Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship in Vancouver with Mitsu Arakawa in March 1961, the Hawaiian Tag Team Championship with Nikita Mulkovich in July 1964, the WWA Tag Team Championship in Los Angeles with Freddie Blassie in October 1964, the Western States Championship in Long Beach in 1966, and the WWA tag belts again in 1968 with Arakawa.

Wrestled his final match in July 1979, Iwamoto was also a booker responsible for developing talent and storylines at the famous Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, along with Freddie Blassie and Jules Strongbow.

Championships and achievements

References

  1. ^ a b c "Wrestler Profiles: Duke Keomuka". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved May 5, 2008.
  2. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database".
  3. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Mr. Moto « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database".
  4. ^ Johnson, Steven; Oliver, Greg (June 15, 2007). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: Heels. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1550227598.
  5. ^ Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Tag Team Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 275–276. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  6. ^ "NWA Texas Tag Team Title [E. Texas]". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  7. ^ Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Texas: NWA World Tag Team Title [Siegel, Boesch and McLemore]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  8. ^ "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [E. Texas]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  9. ^ WWA International Television Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com.
  10. ^ WWA World Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com.
  11. ^ WWA International Television Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com.
  12. ^ "Hawaii Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  13. ^ *Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Heavyweight Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  14. ^ "NWA Texas Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
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