Lee Wang-pyo

Biography He was born in 1954 in a small village in South Chungcheong province in South Korea, the second of four children. The promotion was and still is the top professional wrestling promotion in Korea.

During his career he has wrestled mainly in Korea and Japan: particularly, in 1978 Lee wrestled at the Japan-Korea Triple Competitions, a series of professional wrestling shows jointly organised by the Japanese International Wrestling Enterprise and by the KWA. He had also wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling.

In 1982, he wrestled in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, cross-training in "strong style" professional wrestling. Antonio Inoki, gave him the nickname, Jaguar Lee.

In 1985 he became the promoter of KWA, also known as Korean Pro-Wrestling Association (KPWA).

In 1990, he returned to Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling.

In 1993 he won in the KPWA the GWF World Heavyweight Championship and on December 13, 1999 he lost with No Ji Sim to Jason The Terrible and One Man Gang in a match for the GWF World Tag Championship.

In 1995, he wrestled for Tokyo Pro Wrestling under the name Lee Hi.

In 2000 he changes KPWA name to World Wrestling Association: he claimed ties to the original World Wrestling Association.

Therefore he proceeded to win the revamped version of the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in 2000 defeating Kurrgan.

The KWA/KWPA was affiliated with National Wrestling Alliance till 1983; with Wang Pyo as the promoter, the "new" WWA rejoined NWA using NWA Korea as an alternative name for the promotion, but still retaining the WWA name.

On March 21, 2003 in Seoul he defeated Honky Tonk Man in a match for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship, before 1,500 fans: the match was part of a feud they were having that year.

On November 12, 2008 he defeated Bob Sapp in a match for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was booked as a MMA style one, with an armbar submission. The match took place at a Forever Hero event at the Olympic Park stadium in Seoul.

On October 26, 2009, at his second reign, he lost his title in a rematch to Bob Sapp at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. However, this martial art became known when it was first introduced to the public in 1999, when Lee started teaching courses in Sun Moon University. Korea Kyukgido Association was founded in 2001. Sources conflict with the founding year of this martial art, however, as at least one source states it is founded in 2000.

Lee's fighting style has no connection with another martial art named Kyuki-Do (a distinct hybrid martial art originating in United States, founded by a Korean-American martial artist named Ok Hyung Kim), and one should not be mistaken for the other despite both of their names being identical in spelling when written in Korean.

He was a member and a Grand Master Of Korean Military Arts of Korean Martial Arts Instructors Association.

Death On September 4, 2018, Lee died after a five-year battle with gallbladder cancer. He was 64 years old.

Filmography He was well known in South Korea and he has appeared in various media.

Strike Love - Korean television drama (2009)

Championships and accomplishments Korean Pro-Wrestling Association/World Wrestling Association (South Korea)/NWA Korea WWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) GWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time, final champion) Far East Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA Oriental Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA Oriental Tag Team Championship (2 time) – with Kim Kwang Sik and Kim Do Yu

In MMA

Championships and accomplishments Korean Martial Arts Instructors Association Grand Master Of Korean Military Arts 1-time Korean Mixed Martial Arts Champion