8. The Yakuza
It should come as no surprise that the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, have ties with professional wrestling (just like they do with countless other major sports and businesses in the country). The Yakuza had a lot of power in the professional wrestling industry and have been tied to many incidents in the past. One such incident is the death of the original Japanese puroresu star Rikidozan, who was stabbed by a member of the Yakuza while partying in a Tokyo nightclub. He died a week later. Yakuza members have also been involved in other altercations with professional wrestlers. The Dynamite Kid states in his autobiography that Antonio Inoki was once slapped around by a Yakuza member backstage. Inoki, realising who was doing the slapping, thanked him for the honour. Shoichi Arai, owned of the FMW organisation, owed a lot of money to the Yakuza and killed himself rather than have to deal with the violent consequences of his failure to repay. Sabu attacked a Yakuza member who was sitting in the front row one time during a NJPW card and couldn't leave his hotel room for hours afterwards. Chris Jericho recalled in his autobiography how he was threatened by the Yakuza after he smashed a plant pot. Jericho happily cleaned it up and made a hasty retreat. Yes, the Yakuza are a powerful organisation and they still have ties to professional wrestling. In 2012, Pro Wrestling NOAH was embroiled in a scandal when it was revealed that the Yakuza strong-armed people into attending NOAH shows when attendances were falling. The group are so fearful that former WWE star Tajiri refused to do a gimmick based off of them in 2003, lest they find it insulting and come after him.