The professional wrestling world in Japan suffered a huge loss when veteran referee, Katsumi Sasazaki lost his life in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture. The 60-year-old worked with promotions like All Japan Women’s Wrestling and Marigold and was now retired. He was known as the “Katsumi Tiger” during his long career. He was working at a local hot spring inn. <\/p>
Katsumi Sasazaki’s former colleagues remember his gentle nature and dedication. Promoters highlighted his importance as a pillar of many events over the decades.<\/p>
Katsumi Sasazaki went missing on Thursday while he was performing his duties at the facility. He was believed to be cleaning an outdoor bath. The inn’s manager informed the Police and they responded to a missing person report. The police found a grim scene near the bath area showing signs of a struggle, including bloodstains, scattered personal belongings, and animal fur.<\/p>
The police searched the area with hunters and found a severely mutilated body of Katsumi Sasazaki on Friday. The body was found approximately fifty meters from the inn in a wooded area across the Getogawa river. <\/p>
Katsumi Sasazaki was suspected to have been attacked by a bear. His body was severely mutilated and sign found near the inn pointed toward an animal attack. This incident marked the second bear attack in this region that resulted in a fatality in less than a month. This fuels the debate about concerns over increasing human-wildlife encounters in rural Japan. <\/p>
Authorities later shot and killed the adult male Asiatic black bear who was believed to be responsible for the fatal attack on Katsumi Sasazaki. A sudden death of the former referee shook those who knew him. Social media was flooded with tributes from the wrestling world. <\/p>\n
The professional wrestling world in Japan suffered a huge loss when veteran referee, Katsumi Sasazaki lost his life in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture. The 60-year-old worked with promotions like All Japan Women’s Wrestling and Marigold and was now retired. He was known as the “Katsumi Tiger” during his long career. He was working at a local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mux_skip_reasons":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[438],"tags":[10286,10287,10284,10285,2773,2407],"class_list":["post-637948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wwe","tag-animal-attack","tag-bear-attack","tag-katsumi-sasazaki","tag-katsumi-sasazaki-death","tag-pro-wrestling","tag-professional-wrestling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n