Remembering Kinji Shibuya: 'Bad Guy' In The Wrestling Ring, Gentle Soul Outside It

In today's sports world, the name Kinji Shibuya may not ring a bell, perhaps not even in the corner of a contemporary pro wrestling ring.

But for those who remember the bygone era of the immensely popular Big-Time Wrestling Cow Palace shows or those wild, live Friday night in-studio telecasts on KTVU-Channel 2 in the 1960s and '70s, there may have been no more recognizable sports personality on the Bay Area sports scene than the evil Kinji, the massive villain everybody loved to hate.

Shibuya wrestled against and with most of the greats of his era — Pat Patterson, Pepper Gomez, Mr. Saito, Ray Stevens, Haystacks Calhoun and many more — and took a back seat in popularity to none of them, nationally as well as regionally...More?

source: mercurynews.com