Some people argue that Antonio Inoki is the greatest wrestler to never win the WWE Champion. He is a legend of the sport and helped to evolve Japanese wrestlers from the formation of New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972 all the way to his death in 2022.
Inoki wrestled all-time greats such as Hulk Hogan, Giant Baba and Muhammad Ali, created countless stars over his career and sold out the Tokyo Dome more times than anybody can count.
He is without a doubt one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but he isn’t the best wrestler to never win the WWE Championship.
That’s because Antonio Inoki did win the WWE Championship. That’s not something the WWE will tell you though as they refuse to acknowledge his short but significant reign that began in November 1979 in Tokushima, Japan.
Antonio Inoki Won The WWE Championship From Bob Backlund In 1979
In the winter of 1979, Bob Backlund was deep into his legendary reign as he WWE (then WWF) Champion. He had won the belt from “Superstar” Billy Graham a year and a half earlier at Madison Square Garden, although the title was named the WWWF title when he won it and dropped one “W” in March 1979.
In between wrestling for Vince McMahon Sr in the WWF, Bob Backlund travelled to Japan to work for Antonio Inoki in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Inoki had formed the company in 1972 after being fired for organising a coup in the JWA and quickly established the promotion as the top dog in Japan.
Being in charge, Antonio Inoki quickly established himself as the top star in New Japan. Losses were incredibly rare, and clean losses were even rarer. If he ever did lose, it was usually a count-out loss, which gave Inoki reasonable doubt that he was really bested in the wrestling ring.
By 1979, the WWE and NJPW were engaged in a partnership. Vince McMahon Sr struck a deal with Inoki to broadcast his controversial fight with Muhammad Ali on pay-per-view in 1976.
The fight saw a confusing mess of rules introduced to protect Ali and the match mainly consisted of Inoki lying on the floor and kicking at the former boxing champion’s ankles.
This was just one of many wrestler vs fighter matches he would embark on over the years, all the way until Antonio Inoki’s last match in 2001.
After the success of the partnership and the match that a reported one billion people saw across the world, the WWWF and NJPW embarked on a partnership of sorts. This saw wrestlers move between promotions, which included Antonio Inoki wrestling in the WWE.
He was awarded the coveted WWWF Martial Arts Championship in December 1978 after his success in his various “shoot” fights over the past few years. Inoki’s obsession with these matches was not beloved by fans and “Inokiism” nearly led to the collapse of New Japan in the mid-2000s.
WWF Champion Bob Backlund came to Japan in November 1979 for a match against Antonio Inoki. He was the eighth man to hold the belt and was in the second year of a 2,135-day reign (as recognised by the WWE, as we will get too soon).
Backlund was put into a match with NJPW boss Antonio Inoki with the WWF Championship on the line. He had been coming to wrestle for Inoki since May the year prior, wrestling Inoki three times for various titles including the WWF title. That series ended in a win each and a draw for both men, leading to an exciting rematch a year later.
In Tokushima, Japan in the 4,000-seater City Gymnasium on November 30th 1979, the pair clashed in the main event of the show. In an impressive 28-minute match that was well-balanced and didn’t show either man as being dominant over the other, Antonio Inoki pinned Bob Backlund to win the WWF Championship.
This was a shocking result as Inoki wasn’t even a WWF wrestler, so seeing him hold the top belt in the company was an alien concept to the fans in the arena and at home.
However, the win wasn’t as clean as Inoki would have hoped. He won the match thanks to help on the outside from Tiger Jeet Singh. The long-time rival of Inoki actually helped the Japanese legend by distracting Bob Backlund, allowing Inoki to steal the WWF Champion right from under his nose.
Obviously Backlund was incensed with the loss, but Inoki wasn’t overly thrilled with the manner in which he became champion. His character was one of honour and integrity, wanting to win because he was the best fighter in the world and not one who picked up belts through cheap tactics.
The finish itself was rather contrived and was a cheap way to get the belt of Bob Backlund. But it didn’t matter. Inoki was the new WWF Champion, and he won it slap bang in the middle of Backlund’s famous five-year run with the Championship.
Bob Backlund Won The Belt Back From Inoki A Week Later…Or Did He?
A rematch for the WWF Championship was booked for a week later at the Kuramae Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. Backlund was attempting to regain the belt from Inoki, who was still a little sheepish about calling himself the champion after the way he won the belt.
After a 27-minute bout, it appeared that Bob Backlund beat Antonio Inoki and was once again the champion. This was a rare loss for Inoki and was a huge shock for everybody involved. Luckily for his huge ego, the match result was quickly reversed.
Then-WWF President Hishashi Shinma declared the result of the match null and void, taking the victory and the title back from Backlund as quickly as he’d won it. The fight was ruled a no-contest after Tiger Jeet Singh once again ran in to make the interference.
Why this suddenly matters this time and not the last match is unknown, although it definitely had something to do with Inoki winning the last time.
Luckily, the ever-humble Inoki did not want to hold the title. That night he passed the title back to Shinma, vacating the belt and declaring that he did not want to hold the title belt that way. The title would find its way back to Bob Backlund when he beat Bobby Duncum at Madison Square Garden in a Texas Death Match on December 17, 1979, in a match for the unattached title.
That result did contradict a match that took place just eight days prior in Toronto.
The WWE held a show in Pat Patterson’s home country of Canada, where the Intercontinental Champion faced off against Bob Backlund. Due to WWE not acknowledging the title change, Backlund was still billed as the WWF Champion for the match.
But why did he win the belt eight days later if he held it the entire time?
Who knows?!
WWE Refuse To Recognise Antonio Inoki’s WWE Championship Reign
As of 2024, WWE still refuses to acknowledge that Antonio Inoki ever held the WWE Championship.
That is despite the fact that we have clear video evidence of him defeating Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan on the 30th of December in 1979.
The company haven’t made a statement about why the reign doesn’t count. They haven’t addressed the gap in Backlund’s title reign and they didn’t even call Inoki a former WWE Champion when inducting him into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010.
We have no explanation as to why it doesn’t count but it seems like the company just wants to sweep it under the rug and forget it ever happened.
The break in champions does make Bob Backlund’s five-year run as WWE Champion much less impressive, even if a name like Antonio Inoki makes the championship’s history that much more notable.
They’ve done the same with a number of Ric Flair’s reigns as the world champion.
He is actually a 21-time world champion with five reigns similar to the one Inoki had with the WWE Championship. WWE only acknowledge 16 of them despite Flair claiming all 21 of them as his own record.
In the end, it’s just another case of classic WWE revisionist history. We all know that Inoki beat Backlund for the WWF Championship. It is an undisputed fact it happened. Just because you can claim “it doesn’t count” doesn’t mean it doesn’t.
Just like how WWE doesn’t count Jimmy Snuka as the first ECW Champion, it doesn’t make Shane Douglas suddenly the first ECW Champion. Antonio Inoki as WWF Champion is a fact as far as I am concerned.
