The Wrestler Fired After Breaking A Major Rule

Kayfabe is a sacred word in professional wrestling. Used to describe the illusion of making a staged act or performance, as well as the performers themselves and the story they are trying to tell, seem real to the general public, breaking kayfabe — especially before the internet blew up to the point where anyone with a computer can learn about all the inner workings of wrestling — is something that simply should not be done.

From having their pushes halted, being taken off of television for prolonged amounts of time and other measures, some wrestlers have been severely punished for breaking kayfabe, both intentionally and by accident, but one man decided to take all of the illusions wrestling has set for itself and throw it in the garbage when things didn't go their way.

That person was none other than former Sumo wrestler Koji Kitao, who reached the rank of Yokozuna in 1986 under the name Futahaguro Kōji. However, Kitao was known for having something of a temper as he was forced to leave the world of Sumo at the start of 1988 after an altercation with members of stable, before turning his attention to professional wrestling in 1989. Kitao would debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1990, but would once again let his attitude get the better of him as was fired before the end of his debut year after having such a severe argument with then booker Riki Choshu that the two almost came to blows in the locker room — with Kitao reportedly making racist remarks towards Choshu for being of Zainichi Korean decent.

Kitao would continue to wrestle, this time joining Genichiro Tenryu's Super World of Sports, which had a working relationship with WWE at the time. Mere months after joining SWS, Kitao would wrestle a WWE talent that would cause him to break kayfabe in such a volatile way he would be fired from the promotion.

Less than a week after his appearance alongside Tenryu at WrestleMania VII, where the two Japanese stars defeated Demolition, Kitao faced off against John "Earthquake" Tenta at the joint SWS and WWE show "WrestleFest" at the Tokyo Dome. Tenta would emerge victorious, something that Kitao was not happy about, leading to a rematch between the two men on April 1, 1991, at the SWS "Wrestle Dream In Kobe" event.

In just under seven-and-a-half minutes, Kitao and Tenta went from having a fairly straight forward wrestling match to a legitimate argument and stand-off. Kitao tried to break Tenta's arm, strangle him, and poke him in the eyes in between standing in the ring doing nothing, even when Tenta tried to initiate some sort of action. Tenta would yell various explicit things at Kitao for being uncooperative, which ultimately led to Kitao kicking the referee to get himself disqualified. After the match, Kitao would hijack a microphone and insult Tenta, the fans in Kobe World Hall, and round off by letting everyone know that wrestling was fake.

Kitao would reportedly get into another confrontation backstage, this time with SWS booker the Great Kabuki, and reportedly threw a chair at the wife of a wealthy SWS financial backer, marking the second time he allegedly attempted to assault a woman as he was accused of doing so during his final days in Sumo. Kitao did apologize for his actions both in and out of the ring, but SWS had no choice but to let him go as they feared he would expose the business even more if they kept him around; by the end of 1998, Kitao had officially retired from professional wrestling. 

Kitao returned to the world fo Sumo in the early 2000s, this time in the role of coach. Koji Kitao died in 2019 of chronic renal failure at the age of 55; posthumous reports indicated he'd been diagnosed with kidney disease in 2013.