Video game developers love wrestling. Suda 51 has fit grappling into nearly every game he’s directed. Volition fit Hulk Hogan, Rob Van Dan, and Rowdy Roddy Piper in the Saints Row series. Then every fighting game has had a wrestling character, from Street Fighter’s Zangief to Skullgirls’ Beowulf.

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Then there’s Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. The people behind the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series have had its protagonists pull off piledrivers, DDTs, and Rey Mysterio-esque headscissors. But that wasn’t enough. The company has featured some of Japan’s most famous wrestlers in the Yakuza games.

13 Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yakuza Wrestlers- Florist of Sai Yoshiaki Fujiwara

At first, it seems the only pro-wrestling going on in the first 5 games was all in Kiryu & co’s move sets. But one of the game’s key characters was voiced by a wrestling legend. The Florist of Sai, owner of Purgatory and Kamurochō’s chief information broker, is voiced by Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

He was one of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s top stars across the 1970s and 1980s and trained MMA and pro-wrestling stars like Pancrase founders Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. That, and he came up with the Fujiwara Armbar, better known today as MJF's Salt of the Earth finisher in AEW.

12 Saki Akai

Yakuza Wrestlers- Saki Akai

It was Yakuza 6 that went all-in on the wrestling love after Sega worked out a deal with New Japan. But they also snuck in an additional star from another promotion. After years of using models and AV stars for their hostess minigames, Sega threw a curveball by bringing in DDT Pro-Wrestling's Saki 'Sukeban' Akai.

She essentially plays herself as a hostess who wrestles on the side. Sadly, Kiryu doesn't get to see her moves in action. However, she does get to give her a pep talk, assuring her that women have a place in grappling.

11 Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Yakuza Wrestlers- Satoshi Kojima Hiroyoshi Tenzan

New Japan’s offerings came in Yakuza 6’s Clan Creator game, where Kiryu has to assemble a group to take down an organized gang of street toughs called JUSTIS. Everyone but their leader is modeled after and voiced by the promotion's top stars. The mode's first bosses are the tag team of Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.

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Kojima is one of only three wrestlers to have held New Japan’s IWGP title, rival All Japan’s Triple Crown title, and the NWA Heavyweight title. He’s also a 6-time IWGP tag champ with Tenzan, who’s a 4-time IWGP title winner in his own right, and trained many of his in-game partners.

10 Toru Yano

Yakuza Wrestlers- Toru Yano

Japanese wrestling, or ‘puroresu’, isn’t exactly real, but it’s generally presented as a sport. Aside from wacky organizations like DDT or Hustle, it’s regarded as being more serious than the WWE’s style of antics. That’s not always the case, as New Japan has its gimmicky characters as well.

Toru Yano is all about personality, scheming upset wins over more sporting competitors by bending any rule he can't break. The fans might not like it, but they'd have to learn to love it and his smarmy expressions afterward. At least until his luck finally runs out.

9 Tetsuya Naito

Yakuza Wrestlers- Tetsuya Naito

Outside the game, Naito started off with a rather humble career, bouncing around New Japan and TNA (now Impact Wrestling) before ending up in Mexico’s CMLL. It’s there that he gained the gimmick that made him a star. He’d turn on the Japanese fans and start up the Los Ingobernales de Japon faction.

They'd torment the good guys of New Japan, with Naito peppering his promos with Spanish phrases like “Tranquilo, lo siento”. In wrestling, he’d become the first person to hold the IWGP and Intercontinental belts at the same time. In Yakuza 6, he tries to get Kiryu to be his ‘pareja’. No luck there, but the player can recruit Naito if they beat him.

8 Hiroshi Tanahashi

Yakuza Wrestlers- Hiroshi Tanahashi

If New Japan had an equivalent to John Cena, it would be Hiroshi Tanahashi. He’s been New Japan’s top face since the early 2000s, when he was listed as one of the ‘New 3 Musketeers’ alongside Katsuyori Shibata and Shinsuke Nakamura. On top of being an 8-time IWGP champion and 3-time G1 Climax winner, the Wrestling Observer cited him as the Best Wrestler of the 2010s.

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So, why is he with the bad guys in Yakuza 6? Turns out he’s a reluctant bad guy, second-guessing his allegiances. Beating him will help him see the light and join Kiryu, complete with his “Aishimasu!” (“I love you!”) cheer, which the others find odd. It's worth it as he's one of the best Clan Members too.

7 Kazuchika Okada

13 Wrestlers That Have Appeared in the Yakuza Games

If Tanahashi is New Japan’s John Cena, Okada is their Randy Orton. He’s the rival in the wings who may overshadow the top guys. His start was rather inauspicious, appearing in TNA as a Bruce Lee Knock-Off called ‘Okato’. Then, in 2012, he was repackaged in New Japan as the ‘Rainmaker’, making money pour each time he poses.

The change was a success, turning him into a 5-time IWGP title winner, with the most successful number of defenses, and the longest individual reign at 720 days. Aside from Yakuza 6, he’s also been referenced in Tekken 7. If players dressed King up in Okada’s outfit, his Rage Art would change to Okada’s Rainmaker clothesline.

6 Keiji Mutoh

Yakuza Wrestlers- Keiji Mutoh

The Clan Creator game would come back in Yakuza Kiwami 2. Instead of cleaning up the streets of Kamurochō and Onomichi, Kiryu had to help Goro Majima protect his Kamurochō Hills project by using his company to stop Mutoh Realty from stealing it from under his nose. The name comes from the company being owned by Keiji Mutoh.

In real life, he’s one of the world’s most influential wrestlers. He won the top belts in New Japan, All Japan, and Pro-Wrestling NOAH, and has appeared in promotions all over the world like WCW, TNA, and AEW. He’s worked under multiple gimmicks both as himself and as ‘The Great Muta’, since 1984. However, as of this writing, he’ll be capping off his career with a final bout in February 2023.

5 Masahiro Chono

Yakuza Wrestlers- Masahiro Chono

When Keiji Mutoh made his debut in 1984, his first match was against fellow debutant Masahiro Chono. Alongside late legend Shinya Hashimoto, they formed the original ‘3 Musketeers’, a trio who’d run roughshod across New Japan in the early 1990s. They were the ones Tanahashi, Nakamura, and Shibata had to live up to.

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Known as ‘The Black Charisma’, Chono would catch on with his shades-wearing, yakuza tough guy character. On top of winning the G1 Climax a record 5 times, and leading multiple stables like nWo Japan and Black New Japan, he fits in well with the Tojo Clan’s heavies.

4 Tatsumi Fujinami

Yakuza Wrestlers- Tatsumi Fujinami

Ironically, two of the real-life ‘3 Musketeers’ get help from their own set of ‘Musketeers’ to take down Kiryu and Majima. The first one is Tatsumi Fujinami, who’s interested in taking on the ‘Dragon of Dojima’ because he’s also known as the Dragon. This isn't just in the game either. It's his nickname in the ring too. While Fujinami had his biggest successes in Japan, he’s had some notable bouts in the West.

He won the Junior Heavyweight Belt twice in the WWWF (now WWE) in the late 1970s and a contested win against Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight title in 1991. His worldwide influence earned him a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2017.

3 Genichiro Tenryu

Yakuza Wrestlers- Genichiro Tenryu

The 2nd Musketeer breaks from the pack as he got his start in sumo wrestling, reaching Maegashira 1 Rank. But, in 1976, he made the move to All Japan and became one of their biggest stars alongside Jumbo Tsuruta and the Road Warriors. His departure from the company caused such a stir that it was called an ‘exodus’, and All Japan president Giant Baba vowed never to rehire him in his lifetime.

In the meantime, he set up his own promotions like SWS and WAR and appeared in the WWE at Wrestlemania 6, and the 1993 and 1994 Royal Rumbles. Tenryu would retire in 2015, closing off his career as a 3-time Triple Crown winner, 1-time IWGP champion, and with spots in the Wrestling Observer and International Pro-Wrestling Halls of Fame.

2 Riki Choshu

Yakuza Wrestlers- Riki Choshu

The 3rd Musketeer is another New Japan legend both in front of and behind the scenes. In the ring, he’s a 3-time IWGP champion, a G1 Climax winner, a WWF International Heavyweight champion, and the inventor of the sasori-gatame submission hold, aka the Scorpion Deathlock and Sharpshooter.

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Out of the ring, he was New Japan’s booker across the 1990s and late 2000s. He was basically the real version of a General Manager, deciding angles, storylines, and who wins and loses. Some of Choshu's angles, like the UWFi invasion of New Japan, would inspire other companies like the nWo in WCW, and earn him the Best Booker title from the Wrestling Observer.

1 Kenny Omega

Yakuza Wrestlers- Kenny Omega

Technically there are more wrestler cameos, but the likes of BUSHI, EVIL, and Yuji Nagata were old promo screenshots attached to generic grunt models in Yakuza 6. Like a Dragon: Ishin! does the same with the new Trooper Card system, where characters from newer games like Kasuga Ichiban appear as cards to give the player a buff for fights.

There are also a few celebrity cameos, and one of the biggest is Kenny Omega. Before he led the way in AEW, he became one of New Japan’s biggest foreign stars. His run as the ‘Golden Lovers’ with Kota Ibushi, and his time in the Bullet Club stable made him a key part of New Japan’s 2010s renaissance. He also loves video games, which likely explains his willingness to appear in Ishin.

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