Legendary professional wrestler, wrestling promoter and mixed martial artist Antonio Inoki (real name Kanji Inoki) has passed away. He was 79 years old.As reported by Yahoo! JAPAN, Inoki passed away at his home in Japan on Oct. 1 (local time) following a battle with systemic amyloidosis. The outlet explains that Inoki had been sick with hypoglycemia over the past few days, though initially recovered and was recuperating at home before his condition took a turn for the worse. WWE paid tribute to Inoki during tonight's episode of SmackDown.

Inoki was born in Yokohama, Japan on Feb. 20, 1943. Inoki and his family moved to Brazil when he was 14, with the future wrestling superstar becoming a championship athlete. He properly entered the world of wrestling in 1960 at the age of 17, when he met and became a disciple of highly influential Korean-Japanese sumo and professional wrestler Rikidōzan, founder of Japan's very first pro wrestling promotion, Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA). Inoki moved back to Japan and began training at the JWA dojo under the Belgian-born Karl Gotch, a legend in his own right who is credited with helping to shape the Japanese style of pro wrestling.

Inoki departed Japan in 1964 and began a lengthy excursion of wrestling in the United States. He returned to his homeland in 1966, at which point he began performing for Tokyo Pro Wrestling (TPW). However, the promotion folded in 1967, with Inoki subsequently returning to JWA, becoming one of its top stars, alongside Giant Baba. Inoki planned to take over JWA for himself, which resulted in him being fired 1971. In 1972, Inoki founded New-Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), which would go on to become the premier wrestling promotion in the Land of the Rising Sun and is still going strong to this very day. It was also in 1972 that the aforementioned Giant Baba left JWA to form All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). With its two biggest stars gone, JWA closed its doors in 1973.

Inoki's founding of and subsequent run in NJPW -- which included his reign as the inaugural IWGP Heavyweight Champion -- would likely be more than enough to secure his status as a Japanese wrestling legend. However, Inoki's legacy goes even beyond that. For instance, he was the first Japanese wrestler to hold the WWF Heavyweight Championship, though his reign is not officially recognized by WWE.

Inoki was also a trailblazer in the world of mixed martial arts, famously taking on legendary boxer Muhammad Ali at The War of the Worlds in 1976 -- a bout than ended in a 15-round draw. Outside the world of combat sports, Inoki served as a member of the Japanese House of Councillors from 1989 to 1995 and again from 2013 to 2019. During his first term, he successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages just before the Gulf War broke out.

Inoki officially retired from in-ring competition in 1998 at the age of 55, though remained the owner of NJPW until 2005, at which point he sold his controlling share in the company to Japanese video game company Yuke's. Inoki was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010. He remained involved with pro wrestling until 2019, the same year he retired from politics.

Source: Yahoo! JAPAN; Twitter