Antonio Inoki, the Japanese professional wrestler-turned-politician who built close ties to North Korea, died of heart disease over the weekend, according to the company he founded. 

Inoki helped organize the first pay-per-view wrestling event in Pyongyang, Collision in Korea, which he headlined along with Ric Flair. The two-day event reportedly attracted 340,000 spectators to May Day Stadium — a record that still stands to this day.

“In a closed situation without any interactions, sports and peace are the only themes that nobody can oppose,” Inoki said at a press conference in Tokyo in Aug. 2014 before another