Kazuo Onoo

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Kazuo Onoo, better known as Sonny Onoo, is a Japanese professional wrestling manager. While working for World Championship Wrestling he managed many of the promotion's Japanese performers.

Contents

[edit] Career

Onoo was a qualified martial artist, competing in international kickboxing and martial arts tournaments between 1975 and 1987. The Professional Karate Association named him the best bantamweight in the world, and he won numerous accolades. While touring as a martial artist, Onoo befriended Eric Bischoff in the 1970s.

In 1994, Bischoff, by now the president of WCW, hired Onoo as an off-camera international consultant. Onoo was the liaison between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, and negotiated the talent exchange programs that saw numerous Japanese performers appear with WCW.

Onoo's on-screen debut was in early 1995 as "Kensuke Ishikawa", a member of the WCW International committee who voted for Ric Flair to be reinstated as a wrestler (Flair had lost a retirement match to Hulk Hogan at the 1994 Halloween Havoc). In 1995 he made his first appearance in a WCW ring, as a special referee in a "Martial Arts Match" pitting Hacksaw Jim Duggan against Meng which Meng ended up winning.

Later in 1995 Onoo became an onscreen manager, translating for a number of Japanese wrestlers who could not speak English. He later became the manager of Ernest Miller, and feuded with Perry Saturn. Onoo's character spoke broken English and was described by Onoo himself as "money-hungry, deceitful, conniving and violent". During this time he had a few matches, which he won after The Cat did the bidding. He was undefeated for a few matches, before getting beat. His character was originally depicted as an eccentric tourist who would take photographs of everyone he encountered.

After being released by WCW in November 1999 (Bischoff was by then no longer with the company), Onoo and a number of African American wrestlers launched racial discrimination lawsuits against WCW in February 2000. Onoo claimed that he had been given a disrespectful gimmick and that his final salary—$160,000—was only half of the average pay for a wrestler at that time.

Onoo began working on the independent circuit, and was associated with the short-lived WrestleXpress, and Xtreme Wrestling Federation.

[edit] Profile

  • Hometown: Japan
  • Billed from: "His many homes around the world"
  • Resides: Mason City, Iowa
  • Professional Debut: 1995
  • Previous Identities: Sonny Onoo, Kensuke Ishikawa

[edit] Wrestling facts

[edit] Finishing and signature moves

[edit] Wrestlers managed

[edit] Japanese

[edit] Others

[edit] Movies

Fearless Tiger (1994) as "Peng"

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