Flamboyant Japanese professional wrestler-turned-politician Antonio Inoki died on Saturday at the age of 79, according to a company he founded.

His death, which public broadcaster NHK said was due to heart failure, ended a varied public life in which Inoki fought Muhammad Ali, maintained close personal ties with North Korea and helped free hostages in Iraq .

A Yokohama native – born Kanji Inoki – also starred in American wrestling promotions and also served two separate terms in the Japanese legislature.

US wrestling legend Triple H tweeted that Inoki was “one of the most important figures in the history of our company and a man who embodied the term ‘fighting spirit'”.

“The legacy of WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki will live on forever,” added the Chief Operating Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

“Antonio Inoki, the founder of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and former professional wrestler, died in Tokyo,” the group said in a statement.

At 1.9 meters (six feet three inches) tall, Inoki pioneered mixed martial arts in Japan and rose to fame in 1976 when he took on world heavyweight champion Ali in a crazy wrestler vs. boxer match in Tokyo .

This was followed by appearances in the WWF, as WWE was then called. The company said Saturday, “Antonio Inoki, one of the key figures in the history of Japanese wrestling, was one of the most respected men in sports-entertainment and a true legend in his home country.”

In 1989, Inoki was elected Member of the House of Lords for the now defunct Sports and Peace Party.

Before the 1990 Gulf War, he traveled to Iraq to secure the release of Japanese hostages.

Having developed a strong personal connection with North Korea over the years, Inoki traveled there dozens of times to help solve the problem of Pyongyang’s kidnapping of Japanese citizens during the Cold War.

The wrestler said he wanted to “contribute to world peace through sport” and has organized martial arts and wrestling festivals in North Korea and often met high-ranking officials during his visits.

Japanese officials dismissed the trips as a sideshow.

When asked about it at the time, then-Chairman Yoshihide Suga reminded journalists that Tokyo had a travel ban on North Korea and urged the politician to “act appropriately.”

However, Japanese television news reported extensively on Inoki’s trip, and the visits continued to generate interest given the lack of details leaking out about life in North Korea.

Inoki, recognizable by his oversized chin and signature tie and red scarf, also forced the government to take an official position on extraterrestrials when he tabled a question in a budget committee in 2017, saying he had seen a mysterious flying object on the horizon disappeared.

Inoki lost his seat in 1995 and retired from wrestling in 1998, but was re-elected to the House of Lords in 2013 as a member of another opposition party.

He retired from politics in 2019 and said a year later he had been diagnosed with heart disease.