The mystery of how Kendo Nagasaki lost his finger has finally been revealed.
For nearly sixty years, the legendary wrestling champion and judo master has hidden the secret behind his missing phalange. The wrestler, who is really a man named Pete Thornley from Crewe, has been missing the index finger from his right hand ever since he made his debut in Wolverhampton in 1964.
Rumours swirled throughout the years about how the supposed Japanese superstar lost his pointing finger. Some attributed it to the supernatural spirit behind the Kendo Nagasaki, while others accused him of being involved in an accident with the samurai sword he took to the ring with him every knight.
There was even an accusation that he was involved with organised crime back in his supposed home country (even though the real Peter Thornley only travelled to Japan once, years after he created the character in the 1960s). Fans thought that Kendo Nagasaki may have had his finger cut off by the Yakuza, as a sign of apology.
Members of the organised crime syndicate in Japan often had to take part in Yubitsume, a ritualistic shortening of their finger. This was to atone for a mistake made, although the partial amputation was usually only done on the little finger. However, this did not stop fans from speculating that he was part of a Yazuka crime family.
The truth behind Kendo Nagasaki’s finger is much less sinister, but no less exciting.
During a Q&A session in a pub posted to his YouTube channel in 2023, Kendo Nagasaki finally told the truth about his missing index finger. He explained how the other rumours came to be, and explained how a fight with a local family caused him to lose his pointer.
“The Ninja idea, I put that about,” Kendo Nagasaki admitted. “Max Crabtree says I lost it in an accident in Genesis in Crewe. I lost it this way, and I’ve never really told anybody because…I’ll tell you the story. When I used to work at Count Bartelli’s site in the 1960s, a car showroom, he had a big guy who was a scrap man called Paley.”
“Big family in Crewe. Rough. They used to take the lead off the church roof. This lad used to come round the front and torment Bartelli. ‘Bartelli is a show wrestler! Come on coward, I’ll wrestle you!'”.
“Bartelli used to say to him, ‘I can’t wrestle with you, because if I hurt you, I’ll lose my license’. This was old bollocks, mind you. Eventually, he found out that I could handle myself, and one day he set this man up with me.”
Nagasaki explained that they had the wrestling match on Bartelli’s lawn in the garden, where he beat him and proved to him that he and Bartelli were “real wrestlers”. However, things quickly went badly for the faux-Japanese star.
“A few weeks later I’m coming out of the railway gym in Crewe, and him and his family were waiting for me, and I got beat up. About four of these heavy lads, these rough lads. I did the best I could. I suppose I didn’t do too badly, but I got my finger bit in this skirmish. Just the end, nothing to worry about.”
“I got home, bandage round it and went to work the next day. Four days later, I felt really, really ill. They sent me from work and said ‘go to the hospital’. I woke up in the hospital with my finger missing with septicemia.”
Kendo Nagasaki explained that Count Bartelli felt so badly about the injury that he did his best to help get Kendo Nagasaki to break into the business. Bartelli got in touch with Billy Riley, who trained Nagasaki in the famous Snake Pit wrestling gym in Wigan, where he trained with the legendary Billy Robinson.
It makes sense why Bartelli felt so bad. Before the injury, Nagasaki was training to represent Great Britain in the Olympic Games in Judo, and was a champion in weightlifting in his home country too.
This question and answer session was the first time Kendo Nagasaki had told the story about his missing finger. He didn’t even tell the full story in his autobiography, Kendo Nagasaki and the Man Behind The Mask.
