Mr. Fuji Dead At 82

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Bandit
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Mr. Fuji Dead At 82

Post by Bandit »

Harry Fujiwara, better known as Mr. Fuji and the Great Fuji passed away this morning at the age of 82. Fujiwara had a long run with WWF as a manager, playing a stereotypical Japanese role after many runs in the promotion as part of heel Japanese tag teams with either Professor Toru Tanaka and later Masa Saito. He was a solid headliner who worked virtually everywhere at one time or another and held both the U.S. and Canadian heavyweight titles. He had been living in Tennessee since his retirement from WWE in the mid-90s. Fujiwara began his career with 50th State Wrestling in Hawaii in 1962, and first came to the mainland in 1964 in California. He was best known for his role as a manager of Don Muraco, Demolition, Powers of Pain, Yokozuna, and Killer Khan, as well as endless matches on WWWF major arena midcards and small town main events with the likes of Chief Jay Strongbow and Tony Garea.
He was Vince's Fixer (which is why he was employed for 23 years), including allegedly helping Snuka. So I'm sure Dave's obituary on him will be interesting. Plus the rib stories.


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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: Mr. Fuji Dead At 82

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

RIP Mr Fuji

I was actually thinking about him the other day for some reason and I wasn't sure if he was still alive or dead.

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Bandit
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Re: Mr. Fuji Dead At 82

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A while back hbk72777 said he was at a convention he went to and didn't look good. He was in a wheelchair and was living in a nursing home. I can't find that picture, but here's one from 2008 where he looked much better but was still in the wheelchair (I think due to bad knees because he looked like he was having problems getting around even when he was managing Yokozuna.)

Image

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Big Boss Man
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Re: Mr. Fuji Dead At 82

Post by Big Boss Man »

Sad news about Mr Fuji. One of my favourite angles is when Demo did the double turn with the Powers at SS88 and Fuji was a big part of it of course. He was one of the best heel managers too and his career spanned a number of generations in the WWF. Him, Bobby, Capt Lou, Corny, JJ to name but a few show the lost art of the manager who got heat for not just himself but his wrestlers. RIP Mr Fuji :(

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