11 Fascinating WCW/NJPW Collision In Korea Facts

8. Muhammad Ali Was The Life And Soul Of The Party

Sonny Onoo Muhammad Ali Antonio Inoki
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With Hogan unavailable and Ric Flair on board, Inoki decided that some extra star power was needed.

He may have been long finished in the boxing ring, but Muhammad Ali's star never stopped shining. Inoki and Ali had a relationship that went all the way back to their much-maligned match in Tokyo in June 1976, a 15-round bore that involved not a whole lot of action.

Bischoff also had a professional relationship with Ali. It wasn't difficult to get The Greatest on board. As the assorted wrestlers and press flew over to Pyongyang from Nagoya (Japan) many have described the mood at the time as 'sombre' to say the least. Nobody knew just what they were flying into.

Ali took it upon himself to keep the mood light on the flight, cracking jokes and telling stories that the wrestlers had heard hundreds of times but were overjoyed to hear once more. Ali continually told Road Warrior Hawk to cut promos on him, the soundbites inevitably ending in cackling laughter and Ali insisting Hawk start again.

The mood dropped almost as soon as the plane came into land. Sonny Onoo has since said that they seemed to be landing in the middle of the Klingon Empire, whereas Bischoff referred to it as like 'landing on Mars'.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.