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"If you don't have love in your heart, then you're not a super hero!"

I won't even need the push from my farts!
Kinnikuman

I have no idea what he just said, but what confidence!
— The usual response from anyone to the quote above.

A classic Shonen Jump manga, Kinnikuman began as a spoof of Super Heroes in the vein of Ultraman, but changed gears after its initial story arc to become a semi-serious story where Professional Wrestling is Serious Business and used to determine the fate of the world.

It begins with the title character, Kinnikuman, attempting to make a name for himself as a superhero by fighting giant monsters. Kin has the unexplained ability to grow to a giant size by eating garlic and give the monsters someone their own size to pick on... However, Kinnikuman is an idiot, a klutz, a pervert, and a total coward, causing him to do more harm than good. However, the one thing Kin has on his side is that he's a Determinator in spite of his cowardice, and he eventually comes through in order to save the day.

One day, Kin meets Alexandria Meat, The Short Guy with Glasses, who reveals to him that he is actually Suguru Kinniku, an alien from a Planet of Hats where the "hat" just happens to be Professional Wrestling. It turns out that Kinnikuman is actually the planet's crown prince, who as a baby, was mixed up with a pig during a family vacation to Earth and left there. After reclaiming his birthright by sheer luck (Kin challenged the pig to a series of challenges and lost every single one, but the butcher who owned the pig came to claim him), Kin is sent back to Earth to become a true hero and prove himself worthy of the throne. Meat goes along with him acting as his trainer and sidekick.

Back on Earth, Kin makes friends with American superhero Terryman, and together they enter the Choujin Olympics, a Pro-Wrestling tournament that gives the winner the title of the world's strongest hero. With this, the Genre Shift is complete, and the rest of the series focuses on Kin's wrestling career, where he befriends other heroes (and villains), takes down multiple Big Bads, and saves the world multiple times before going on to finally ascend his planet's throne after having achieved galactic-level peace...

...Well, until Ultimate Muscle that is...

...Or so we thought.

In 2011, the original manga got an on-going direct continuation, picking up where the Scramble for the Throne arc left off, introducing all-new characters, all-new stakes, and a lot of call-backs to the original run. Due to it conflicting with Ultimate Muscle and especially its sequel Kinnikuman Nisei: Ultimate Chojin Tag Match note  , both have been effectively rendered non-canon note .

On March 16th, 2023 a new anime adaptation was announced. This new anime also serves to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first Kinnikuman anime. It was then announced on September 28th that the anime is titled Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Arc, adapting the story arc of the same name; itself the first arc of the manga's 2011 continuation. It's being animated by Production I.G and is set to air sometime in 2024.


This series won't even need the push from its farts to list examples of:

  • Abusive Parents - Played for laughs with Kinnikuman's dad, Mayumi. Wanting to strangle Kin's neck as a child because of his stupid mask and mistaking him for a pig and subsequently abandoning him on Earth are just a few of the examples of just how hard Mayumi fails at being a father.
    • Ashuraman's parents aren't going to win any "Parent Of The Year" awards either, considering that they taught their son that things such as mercy and friendship were a heinous crime.
  • Adaptation Distillation - The anime somewhat cut down on Character Development, several plots from the Monster Extermination Chapters were either dropped, or were put in a later part of the series timeline, the American Tag Team arc was dropped altogether save for Kin's match against Jesse Mavia and the episodes revolving around it and overall, some side characters' appearances in the story were either lengthened or shortened. However, the anime is still enjoyable in its own right.
  • Aesop Amnesia - Several times, Kinnikuman would learn how to not be such a coward...only to revert back to his cowardly self whenever a new villain appeared. It's finally subverted in the Throne arc. He only ran away at first out of depression, not cowardice.
  • Affably Evil -
    • Say what you want about Brockenman's fighting tactics, but for his son Brocken Jr. to ask him for forgiveness when he removes the emblem from his hat against Prisman in the Throne Arc, he must've at least have been a good father.
    • Omegaman in the Scramble for the Throne Arc, a Choujin bounty hunter employed by the Choujin Enmanote  He only joined the Throne Conflict because he was ordered by his boss to kill the illegally revived Neptuneman. His reason for joining Super Phoenix's team was that he was also ordered by his boss to kill Kinnikuman and co. because Warsman escaped the afterlife.
  • All-American Face - Terryman
  • All Your Powers Combined -
    • During the American Tour Arc, Kinkotsuman created the Black Shadow, an artificial Choujin with the technique of Robin Mask, the strength of Beauty Rhodes, the brutality of Ramenman - and his own brains.
      Iwao: (Thinking) That last part kind of worries me...
    • This was the basis of Akuma Shogun's body—the power of Sunshine, the technique of The Ninja, the speed of Planetman, the cruelty of Junkman, and the unique body of Sneagator (possibly the shape-shifting properties).
    • Kinnikuman Super Phoenix uses this at the end of the series, absorbing the powers of all five Evil Choujin Gods while fighting Kinnikuman. It doesn't save him from being Muscle Sparked after Kinnikuman regains his Burning Inner Strength, though.
  • Americans Are Cowboys: Terryman. He even specializes in Texas-flavored moves, like the Calf Branding. Subverted with Specialman (a football player), Pentagon (an almost luchador), and Geronimo (though he is a Native American). In fact, most American characters in the series do not fit the trope—it's just that the most popular one (Terryman) does.
  • Anime Theme Song - Kinnikuman Go Fight, which was redone in 2005. It was also covered by both Masaaki Endoh and Animetal.
    • Also subverted in that all four themes are clearly about the show and directly reference Kinnikuman himself.
  • Art Evolution: Compare the early chapters to slightly later in the story to further into the story to the last chapter. Now, fast-forward to 2011, and compare all that to this
  • Artistic License – Physics - The explanation for the Napalm Stretch makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Ironic in the fact that the one time they try to explain physics in this series, it completely fails.
  • Ascended Extra - Several characters in the anime, the biggest examples being the ring commentators, Kinkotsuman and Iwao.
  • Ascended Fanboy - Geronimo was just a regular human who badly wanted to be a Choujin (due to the fact that one saved his life) until he actually got turned into one.
  • Author Appeal
    • Back in the superhero days, it was quite common to see baseball players in the manga.
    • Remember that originally the manga was a spoof of Ultraman, so all the references to wrestling count until the series became all about wrestling.
  • Author Avatar/Creator Cameo - The creators were represented by a square headed man wearing a baseball cap, who appeared back when the manga was strictly gags. Their real selves have also appeared in the movies as background characters.
  • Avenging the Villain - Brocken Jr's main reason for revenge against Ramenman, who killed his father Brockenman in his days as a heel. On one hand it's justified by the fact that Ramenman turned Brockenman in noodles and ate him note  after killing him for no apparent reason other than For the Evulz. On the other hand, Brockenman fought dirty and pretty much got what was coming to him (a fact which even Jr. admits).
  • Awesomeness by Analysis - Meat, using high level Chojin techniques against Mixer Tatei.
  • Back from the Dead: Constantly. Nearly every hero was at some point killed then brought back. Only one has actually stuck: Prince Kamehame, due to dying of old age.
  • Big Bad - Robin Mask in the 20th Choujin Olympics arc, Skull Bozu and Devil Magician in the American Tour arc, Warsman and Mr Barracudanote  in the 21st Choujin Olympics, Buffaloman in the Seven Devil Choujin Arc, Akuma Shogun in the Golden Mask Arc, Neptuneman and Big the Budonote  in the Dream Choujin Tag arc and Kinnikuman Super Phoenix in the Throne arc, Strong the Budo in the Perfect Origin arc, Omegaman Aristera in the Six Spears arc, God of Harmony in the Choushin arc, and God of Time in newest arc.
  • Big Bad Wannabe - Kinkotsuman tried very hard to be the Big Bad in the Monster Extermination Chapters. Unfortunately, he was about as good at being a supervillain as Kinnikuman was at being a superhero.
    • Mixer Taitei manages to be one of the only villains to ever straight up defeat Kinnikuman himself, but immediately afterward suffers the ignominy of being basically killed by Kinnikuman's milquetoast kid sidekick, Meat. To be fair, Mixer Taitei is a giant blender Choujin and his fight before literally knocked a few of his screws loose without him realizing it, making him extremely vulnerable to drops and suplexes... but the fact of the latter battle still remains. The only reason he won the battle before was because the 5 Evil Gods gave him a temporary power-up, meaning the match was 1 against 6. And even then Mr. VTR has to alter reality enough to help him win.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Ataru Kinniku/Kinnikuman Soldier is this, especially at the last minute before his death when he taught Suguru more about the Muscle Spark, one of the Three Sacred Moves, when he used the second half against Super Phoenix in comparison to the first half used by Suguru that defeated Zebra just so his little brother can complete the sacred move in getting the throne.
  • Big Damn Heroes: No classic shonen manga would be complete without them, the most notable moment being when Prince Kamehame posesses the Omegaman when he transforms into the Prince and then proceeds to teach Kinnikuman all of the 100 sacred techniques.
  • Birthmark of Destiny: Kinnikuman has the Kinniku family birthmark on his buttock. He presents it in the Scramble For The Throne arc to prove that he's the rightful heir, only for the impostor princes to reveal their own birthmarks on their backs.
  • Body Horror - A surprising amount, considering the cartoony art-style. Bones at was left of Brockenman after his fight with Ramenman in the manga.
  • Boisterous Bruiser - Arguably, Kinnikuman himself.
  • Bring My Brown Pants - Every so often, most notable being the time soiling himself in fright saved Kinnikuman's life against Ramenman's Camel Clutch.
  • Bumbling Dad - Kinnikuman's dad, Mayumi. Justified, as he was extremely strict with his eldest son Ataru, which caused him to rebel and run away. He becomes this to prevent the same thing from happening to Suguru.
  • Butt-Monkey -
    • Kinnikuman at first. Before the end of the 21st Choujin Olympics, nobody gave him any respect. Even his parents would berate him.
    • Once Kinnikuman takes a level in badass, Canadianman and Specialman fill the butt monkey void left by him.
    • Wolfman.
  • By the Lights of Their Eyes: Happens to Kinnikuman when he gets his head stuck in a subway entrance.
  • Calling Your Attacks - Every attack is called, without question.
  • Captain Ethnic: Hoo boy. Okay, the most visible Americans are Terryman (a Texan cowboy whose moves include Cattle Branding and the Texas Toe Hold), Geronimo (a full blooded Apache who loves his tomahawk), and Specialman (who is a football player). China is represented by the noodle-loving martial artist Ramenman, Canada by the flag-wearing Canadianman, Germany by Brockenman (a Nazi who breathes poison gas) and Brocken, Jr. (who does not seem to adhere to the whole "master race" thing but still seems fascinated by Nazi imagery), you get the idea. The more minor choujin are even more prone to this; see New Zealand's Woolman, for instance.
  • Casanova Wannabe - Kinnikuman. Much like the former Trope Namer, he was also a disco champ and has a leisure suit to match. Defied with Bibinba as she still loves Kinnikuman despite the fact that he displays all of his worst traits in front of her.
  • Cerebus Syndrome - The series started as a parody of Ultraman that revolved around Kinnikuman trying to gain respect from the populace and fighting various monsters of the week. Later, the series became a full fledged wrestling series and while humor remained, the general plot line became more serious.
    • Just compare the first opening to the fourth. The first shows a bumbling Idiot Hero, while the fourth shows a certified badass.
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • When he was first introduced, Terryman was a cold-hearted asshole that only fought monsters for pay, going so far as to kick a child when they didn't have enough money to pay him to rescue their father from a monster. Compared to his established character as an almost pure-hearted All-American Face, it's quite a change.
    • While he was still very silly, Kinkotsuman was treated as a serious threat in the Monster Extermination era of the series. He was the first villain to give Kinnikuman a lot of trouble, and while it was mostly with the use of his monsters he would sometimes fight himself — and put up a surprisingly good fight despite his physique. He was even the only villain to have the foresight to carry around Kinnikuman's weakness (milk) so he could cancel out the power of garlic whenever Kinnikuman tried to power up to defeat his monsters. Now contrast that with his character once the series switched to wrestling, a feeble coward who became strictly comic relief.
    • Ramenman is known for being the wise and revered martial artist of the Justice Choujin, but in his original appearance he was a Brutal Choujin who was nothing more than a psychopath and a cannibal.
  • Charlie Brown from Outta Town - Four times.
    • Kinnikuman Great, who appears twice as a disguise for characters who then team up with Kinnikuman in situations where he could not find a tag partner, or where the characters themselves wouldn't normally be allowed to compete. The first time it's Prince Kamehame, the second time it's Terryman.
    • During the America arc, Kinnikuman masquerades as African-American southerner Channelman as he pummels his way across the lower 48
    • During the Devil Chojin and Dream Tag arcs, Ramenman was disguised as Mongolman.
    • During the Scramble for the Throne arc, The Samurai is Neptuneman.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower - Geronimo gained chojin abilities apparently just by training.
  • Chickification - Parodied with Bibinba in one chapter.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Kinnikuman's sister was inexplicably written out later in the series.
  • The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes - Doctor Bombei's death came about by ignoring his own health in favor of his patients'.
  • Combat Commentator - A pair of ringside announcers fulfill this role early in the manga but were eventually phased out, leaving Terryman largely with it. The announcers stuck around to the very end in the anime.
  • Combat Pragmatist - It could apply for most villains/antagonists along the series who always went to a match with a handicap in their favor or resorted to underhanded tactics to get an advantage, but the crown goes to Super Phoenix. The one fight where he didn't resort to underhanded tactics to get an advantage at any moment was his debut fight with Big Body.
  • Compressed Adaptation - Has some shades of this in the Survivor for the Throne arc, particularly when they managed to reduce an entire match (Ashuraman vs Satan Cross) to a 17 second summation in an episode recap.
  • Continuity Snarl/Epic Fail - For the writers, artists, and editors. When Akuma Shogun first appears Geronimo immediately attacks him. During the fight, we see a panel showing the other Idol Choujin reacting to the fight, with Geronimo in the group! In other words, they drew Geronimo in a group watching his own fight.
  • Crazy-Prepared - Surprisingly enough, Kinnikuman fits this one; in the Throne arc, he anticipates that Robin and Terryman will put their friendship with him above their duty due to the unbreakable bond between Seigi Choujin and thus writes their names on his submission form in invisible ink; when King the 100 Ton is reading the form under the hot lights of the arena, the names show up.
  • Crippling Overspecialization - Jessie Mavia, master of counters and reversals and little else.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass - Kinnikuman
  • Curb-Stomp Battle - Ramenman VS. Motorman. Also played both ways in Ramenman VS. Brocken, Jr. and done in a concrete ring meaning there was literal curb.
    • On The Other Wiki, the Mammothman vs. Leopardon match is described thus: "The instant he enters the ring he is killed by Mammothman's '''Nose Fencing'''."
    • Kinnikuman VS. Prince Kamehame. Lasts all of 7 seconds, with Kinnikuman's loss.
  • Dark Is Not Evil - Kind of an extreme Example: Brocken Jr., Despite dressing like a Nazi (complete with Swaztikas), never exhibits any Nazi like Behavior and is actually a pretty nice guy. This also applies to the Soviet Warsman after his Heel–Face Turn.
    • Even the Swastikas end up phased out by the Throne arc, and his history as a Nazi is all but unspoken of by Ultimate Muscle.
    • Somewhat less extreme is Ashuraman, perhaps a literal "Devil Choujin" (he is the prince of the Demon World, and was raised to be devoid of compassion; thanks to his trainer saving him from drowning, it didn't quite take)
  • Deal with the Devil:
    • All of the Akuma Choujin did this in the past, but it is especially tied to Buffaloman, as he was considered to be a mediocre fighter before he did this to get his 10 million Choujin Power.
    • Also the origin of Akuma Shogun.
  • Deader than Dead: The Choujin Book of Prophecy contains the entire fate of every Choujin in existence. If a choujin's particular page happens to be ruined or outright destroyed, they're erased from existence. Not that this stops their ghosts from doing anything or prevents them from being revived somehow, mind.
  • Death is Cheap - And HOW. The only main character who died and was never resurrected was Prince Kamehame/Kinnikuman Great I. There are multiple ways to escape the afterlife, including literally. This gets defied at the end of the Perfect Origin arc of the revival though, as Akuma Shogun destroyed the Choujin Graveyard system so deaths will stick, as seen when none of the many casualties from the arc came back afterwards.
  • Defeat Means Friendship - Nearly all of the story's major cast members start out as enemies or at least as rivals. The only ones who don't get "befriended" in this series are either one-shot villains or incarnations of The Devil himself. The only Idol Choujin who was never adversarial towards Kinnikuman or any of the other Idol Choujin is Geronimo. That's literally it.
    • Oddly enough, some of the villains switch to being good for no explained reason; The Ninja didn't even fight Kinnikuman in the series, yet after being Put on a Bus in the Dream Choujin Tag Team Arc, he suddenly returns to join the good guys despite his insistence that he's still a Devil Choujin. And there's Black Hole, whose alignment is anybody's guess; he was killed by Kinnikuman in his introductory arc without any indication that he had reformed, yet in the Dream Choujin Tag Team Arc, he's teamed up with Pentagon, who was a rather prominent Justice Choujin before he gets pummeled by Warsman. Though judging from the new series, Pentagon has possibly become a Devil Choujin too, so it may not be a coincidence that Black Hole teamed up with him.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable - Prince Kamehame is the one of the few persons to defeat Kinnikuman in the series and what's particularly memorable is the speed in which he did it: 7 seconds.
  • Demoted to Extra - Within a series of many characters, this was unavoidable, but probably the worst to suffer from this were the 4D Killer Combo of Pentagon and Black Hole, one being built up as a major power of the Justice Choujin before losing to Warsman and the other being built up as a Big Bad of an arc before being reduced to a lackey due to Buffaloman being more popular.
  • Determinator -
    • Kinnikuman. This is largely what gets him through every single fight he's involved in, and a big part of the reason that even supervillains come to respect him. One of his character themes have "NEVER GIVE UP" as the first sung lyrics, afterall.
    • Honorable mention goes to Harabote Muscle and Those Two Guys Canadianman and Specialman at the end of the Golden Mask arc. The Big Bad's arranged the match so all the minor wrestlers were forced to hold up the ring. In the anime, after nearly being crushed several times they manage to keep it up with the help from Geronimo's spirit. In the manga however, they were the only ones that never gave up and were the ones that kept the arena from killing anyone else.
  • Distaff Counterpart - The spinoff manga Kinnikuman Lady.
  • Domestic Abuse - Played for Laughs. Combat Commentator Nakano would often sell his wife to get a ticket to the Choujin Olympics.
  • Dumb Is Good - Kinnikuman is pretty dumb... whereas many of his opponents are much much smarter, at least in terms of book smarts. His final opponent, incidentally, was the avatar of the God of Intelligence.
  • Eagleland
    • Terryman, Geronimo, Specialman, and Pentagon, among others. Highlighted with a story arc where Kinnikuman tours America.
    • Black Ship from the Wolfman one-shot is an arrogant sumo wrestler from America. While Wolfman was busy dealing with the Devil Chojin and the Perfect Chojin, Black Ship wins the Sumo Champion title 10 times in a row. He gets put in his place by Wolfman with a Clasped Hands Twist.
  • Early-Bird Cameo - At one point in the anime, Kinnikuman was reading the manga, more specifically his encounter with Stecasse King that happens several chapters later.
  • 11th-Hour Superpower - The Burning Inner Strength used by Kinnikuman is pretty much this in every single arc.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: When Kinnikuman isn't beating opponents into joining his side, this is what usually happens to signal his enemies changing sides.
    • During the American Tag Tournament, Ramenman strips Devil Magician of his weapons, and it's stated that while Ramenman was a brutal choujin at the time, he never used sharp objects.
    • Warsman was established as an absolutely ruthless competitor in the 21st Choujin Olympics arc... with an even more ruthless trainer in Mr. Barracuda. He is the one person who scares the crap out of Warsman. for good reason too, considering his real identity.
    • An extreme version of this happens when Neptuneman announces his plans to remove all of the masks of any defeated masked Choujin. Even the Devil Choujin are appalled by this.
      Ashuraman: "Even if we Devil Choujin hate our opponent, we'd still never touch their mask!"
    • Although the Perfect Choujin were elitist jerks, they still had two rules: to never show a back to an opponent, and to never use a weapon that wasn't part of their body. While they follow the first one, it's subverted in that the only person that actually follows the latter rule is Neptuneman, which becomes especially important because it leads to Neptuneman having a crisis of faith once Big the Budo (now unmasked as the Neptune King) breaks that rule in their fight against Kinnikuman and Terryman..
    • The Five Evil Gods may have it against Kinnikuman before for having potential to take on a Choujin God, but even they are against the idea of killing off every Choujin using the same Capillera Seven Rays like in the past and that is why they are protecting the remaining pieces that can create those rays from the anti-Choujin faction of fellow Gods led by God of Harmony.
  • Evil Counterpart -
    • Kinkotsuman to Kinnikuman. In name, Kinkotsuman means "Bone-and-Sinew Man", and Kinnikuman means "Muscle Man". In appearance, Kinnikuman is a muscular man, and Kinkotsuman is some sort of thin skeleton guy. As far as incompetence goes he matches Kinnikuman fairly well. Unlike his enemy Kinkotsuman couldn't find a more fitting profession and therefore became less prominent when Cerebus Syndrome kicked in.
    • The other contenders for the throne in the final arc are these for Kinnikuman. except for Kinnikuman Soldier.
  • Evil Laugh - Most of the enemies have this, and each enemy's laugh is different. In particular, Ashuraman's has practically made Memetic Mutation status. "Ka~! Ka! Ka! Ka!"
  • Expressive Mask - Just about everybody from planet Kinniku wears one that is essentially a replacement for their faces. Other characters' masks (Most notably those of Robin Mask and Warsman), are also expressive, but to a far lesser degree.
    • Ashuraman's masks express his three "modes": Laughing, Cold-Blooded, and Enraged.
  • Expy - Terryman is an obvious one of Terry Funk, Robin Mask is one of Billy Robinson, Buffaloman is one of Bruiser Brody, and Neptuneman is an evil version of Hulk Hogan.
    • Neptuneman even uses the Quarrel Bomber, which is his own personal version of Hulk Hogan's Axe Bomber, his finisher when he wrestled in Japan.
  • Eyes Always Shut - Ramenman is rarely ever seen with his eyes open. In fact, the only time we actually see his eyes is when the anime gives us a close-up of his face during a dramatic moment. The only other time we saw so much as one eye open was when Kinnikuman forced it open while posing as a nurse.
  • Facial Markings - Many characters had a kanji character on their forehead.
  • Fartillery - Among other things, this is how Kinnikuman defeats Black Hole.
  • A Father to His Men - Kinnikuman Soldier/Ataru Muscle
  • Finishing Move - What with being pro-wrestling and all, everybody has at least two. The most iconic of which is Kinnikuman's Kinniku Buster.
  • Five Moves of Doom - Among others, Kinnikuman's four-part Fuurinkazan... Which is part of a set of One Hundred Moves Of Doom taught to him by Prince Kamehame.
    • Akuma Shogun ups the ante with a nine-part finisher designed to sequentially seal every point of Choujin power—the next to last part rendering the victim unable to move and the final part killing him.
  • Flexible Tourney Rules - in general, rules against foreign objects tend to be ignored if said object is a part of a fighter's body or costume (Neptuneman's spikes, Buffaloman's horns); also, the Scramble for the Throne tournament sees not only the rules, but the teams as well, change.
  • Foreshadowing: To the series' eventual shift in genres after Kinnikuman beats Warsman in the final of 21st Choujin Olympics.
    Ramenman: Congratulations, Kinnikuman. But remember one thing... A champion seldom has much time to enjoy his victory...
  • Forgotten Phlebotinum - The fact that Kinnikuman and the other Justice Chojin can grow into giants is forgotten after the shift to wrestling storylines. Also, their ability to fly is gradually forgotten... until 2012, where Robin Mask, Ramenman, Warsman and Brocken Jr. fly towards the pyramid to face Nemesis' team, taking an injured Kinnikuman and Terryman with them.
  • Funetik Aksent - In early chapters of the manga, Kinnikuman's speech was mostly written as katagoto (using mainly katakana) to highlight his lack of sophistication and intelligence. In the fan translation of the 2012 continuation manga, many characters' dialogue {particularly Brocken, Jr. and Warsman) is depicted this way, along with Poirot Speak.
  • Garbage Wrestler - Quite a few Choujin, including many heroic ones, will use weapons in the ring. The rules Hand Wave it by saying it's allowed as long as the weapon is part of a Choujin's body. It's taken to a literal degree with Junkman, who's made of garbage and has trash compactor spikes for hands.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: During his match against Robin Mask, Kinnikuman becomes too disenheartened to continue to fight. He gets one of these from Kinkotsuman of all people, and Ramenman tells him to man up and fight.
  • The Grappler: Prince Kamehame has two series of grappling attacks: the 48 Killer Techniques, a series of powerful throws and slams, and the 52 Submission Holds, which are submission holds. He teaches all of them to Kinnikuman over the course of the series.
  • Have a Gay Old Time: Translating the title and recurring lyric of the 2nd anime opening theme runs into this. The Japanese title is "Hono'o no Kinnikuman". The literal translation would be "Flame's Kinnikuman" or "Kinnikuman of Flames", but the more functional translation would be "Flaming Kinnikuman". Of course, "flaming" in American slang carries a...different connotation. Most translators settle on "Burning Kinnikuman," even if it is a slightly inaccurate translation. note 
  • Heel–Face Turn - A lot. Courtesy of Defeat Means Friendship.
  • Heroic Sacrifice - Happens at least once per arc.
  • Heroes "R" Us - The Idol Choujin, especially in the anime.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity - Kinnikuman in the early manga. The first chapter had attacking aliens cancel rather than fight Kinnikuman, the only superhero available at the time.
  • Hidden Buxom: When wearing a dress, Medium Rare Alexandria looks average-sized. When she dons a swimsuit, she shows herself as more stacked than her dress suggested.
  • Hoax Hogan: Neptuneman. Originally appearing as a villain, like many such characters he turned over a new leaf after losing to Kinnikuman. He was modelled after Hulk Hogan and even used an Axe Bomber-type clothesline (which Hogan was more known for using in Japan) as his trademark move. Different from him, he comes from UK instead the US.
  • Idiot Hero - Guess.
  • If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten! - In the American Tournament arc, the World Choujin Federation suspect African-American southerner "Channelman" (Kinnikuman in disguise in order to infiltrate their organization) of being Kinnikuman, they put out a picture of Mayumi for him to stomp, as part of a test to prove that he was not. "Channelman"...gladly stomps on the photo, to which Meat silently remarks that this sort of test is easy for Kinnikuman, who has the least respect for his father. The same organization had something similar as their normal entrance test - to join them, you must bring in the severed head of a heroic Choujin. Two of the applicants try to fake it and are kicked out, while one passes by bringing the head of a rival company's former champion.
  • I Know Madden Kombat - Mostly comes with the wrestlers who are just giant mundane objects with arms and legs. The anthropomorphic urinal will flush you, the giant traffic light will make you stop, the anthropomorphic 100-story tall hotel can...grow 100 stories tall, and so forth. Even extends to weaknesses, which is usually how the really powerful ones are defeated.
  • Image Song - Notable both for not being performed by the characters' seiyuu, and for having them even for one shot villains. It's basically pro-wrestling, so it'd actually be more unusual for anyone to not have a song, really.
    • To the point where every character's theme song seems to be done in a style appropriate for that character—Robin Mask's theme actually sounds like a Japanese Beatles cover band, and Pentagon's theme sounds like a disco song.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain - Kinkotsuman and Iwao are complete losers, plain and simple. Before the Cerebus Syndrome however, they somewhat subverted the trope because Kinnikuman was just as big a loser.
    • Heck, the first time they actually did something harmful to the heroes (Kinkotsuman shot Terryman in the leg) was completely by accident, because he was aiming for Kinnikuman. The fact that Kinkotsuman was shooting to kill doesn't really make it any better.
  • Jerkass Gods - The Five Evil Choujin Gods of Intelligence, Strength, Brutality, Flight, and Technique who tried to prevent Suguru from getting the throne due to his growing Burning Inner Strength. A faction of Choujin Gods led by the God of Harmony who descended into becoming Choushin are even worse than the Five Evil Gods!
  • Kick the Dog - Mixer Taitei actually puts a puppy into his blender, separating the skeleton from the rest of the body, before fighting Kinnikuman. It's so pointlessly heinousnote  that even his captain, Kinnikuman Mariposa is confused by it.
    • Mr Barracuda does a two-for-one in the 21st Choujin Olympics. He promises 100 criminals on death row that if they could run past a blindfolded Warsman and live, their sentence would be lifted. When the obvious result happens, Mr Barracuda punishes Warsman because as it turns out, one of them was still alive.
    • After Screw Kid and Kendaman fail to beat Mongolman and Buffaloman, Neptuneman and Big the Budo reward their effort...by destroying them.
    • When Ataru Kinniku/Fake Kinnikuman Soldier finally fades away from existence after a heartwarming reunion with his brother, Super Phoenix says it was probably better for all of them to get rid of an imposter that was so disrespectful and unruly to his parents. It's completely insulting, but it makes sense why someone like him would say that; growing up completely alone would probably make you less inclined to think highly of running away from family.
    • In the Perfect Large Numbers arc, Kinnikuman beats Peek-a-Boo (a Perfect Choujin with the ability of learning techniques as the match progresses) by means of using basic moves he couldn't counter as a result of learning complex ones too fast. Kinnikuman tries to befriend him, but Nemesis shows up and uses the Muscle Spark on him. Suguru saves him just in time, but hima and Peek-A-Boo end up severely wounded.
  • Large Ham - Quite a few characters in the series, including Kinnikuman himself. Daisuke Gōri probably had way too much fun voicing Ashuraman. The same goes for Masaharu Sato with Sunshine.
    • Incoming Ham - "I'm Detective Gobugari of the West Sumida River Station."
  • Let's Get Dangerous! - Everyone.
  • Long Lost Sibling - Ataru/Kinnikuman Soldier is this to the point where Kinnikuman didn't even know he existed. However, he ran away before Suguru was even born, so it's justified.
    • Nemesis from the Perfect Large Numbers and Perfect Origin arcs is apparently another relative of Kinnikuman, even able to use the Muscle Spark.
  • Loud of War - Steccase King's "Akuma no Symphony" (Symphony of the Devil), which is loud enough to damage eardrums of the victim and the audience near the ring.
  • The Magnificent Seven Samurai - The Planet Rakka mini-arc. The child-like Choujin Beansman comes to Earth to recruit Choujin to help save his people from the Space Samurai, and teams up with Terryman, Ramenman, Brocken Jr., Puyo Puyo, and Crystalman, with Kin forcing himself into the group. Together, they are the Magnificent Choujin 6!
    Kinnikuman: Hey, there are seven of us!
  • The Man Behind the Man - Big the Budo, who for the past two rounds had been working as Neptuneman's lackey, is revealed not only to be Neptune King, the one in charge, but the one who turned Kenkaman INTO Neptuneman, making him the true villain of the Choujin Tag Arc
    • Similarly, Mr Barracuda, Warsman's trainer unmasks himself as Robin Mask, who says that he trained Warsman specifically to kill Kinnikuman, making him the true villain of the 21st Choujin Olympics.
    • In the 2012 series, who sent the Perfect Large Numbers to attack Kinnikuman and why are the Devil Chojin involved in this especially Goldman/Akuma Shogun? The person is not other than Chojin Enma.
    • At the end of the True Devils Arc, it's revealed that the one who made the decision for the Perfect Origin to attack the Omega Centauri's ancestors wasn't The Man but the Choujin Gods themselves due to wanting to become powerful like gods via Magnet Power. Not only that, The Man leads a faction of one half of Choujin Gods that wants to keep the very Choujin alive. As for the other half, the faction that wants every Choujin dead is led by an even more Greater-Scope Villain than The Man himself, the God of Harmony.
  • Manipulative Bastard - Kinnikuman Super Phoenix who is also the avatar of God of Intelligence.
  • Manly Tears - used constantly.
  • Mask Power - What with being Pro-Wrestling and all. The biggest examples are the Kinniku Clan, who must commit suicide if their masks are removed, Mongolman, whose mask prevents him from succumbing to a debilitating injury, and Kinnikuman Great, whose mask functions as a Charlie Brown from Outta Town for two characters.
    • And in the final arc, Kinnikuman unveiling (briefly) his mask becomes a Swiss-Army Superpower of its own.
  • Masquerading As the Unseen: Terryman tried this twice. In the Seven Devil Choujin arc he tried to pose as Kinnikuman to give the real Kinnikuman time to heal, but was quickly found out. In the Dream Tag Team arc, he became Kinnikuman Great following the death of Prince Kamehame. In that case he wasn't found out until he was unmasked, even after he started fighting with his own style rather than trying to copy Great's.
  • Master-Apprentice Chain: The chain can be seen in the Devil Choujin faction throughout the reboot's Perfect Origin arc. The lower ranked members, the Seven Devil Choujin, were trained by the Devil Knight Sneagator. The Devil Knights, in turn, are the direct disciples and followers of Akuma Shogun. Akuma Shogun, back when he went by the name Goldman, was the disciple of a powerful Choujin known simply as "The Man". When Akuma Shogun does battle with the Man, now going by the name Choujin Enma, he brings this trope out in full. He declares that the Man taught him that it was a student's duty to surpass the master, and proclaims that he can not expect his followers to do that if he can't surpass his own master.
  • Merchandise-Driven: Those fondly-remembered little pink figurines, brought to the US (without much in the way of supporting fiction) by Mattel as M.U.S.C.L.E. note 
  • Moral Guardians: Considering how strict the American Media Watchdogs of the 80's were, with heroes having to be good role models and cartoons having to be squeaky clean, they would never have allowed a hero like Suguru (despite the fact that Kinnikuman did have a strong sense of justice, most of the time he acted like a shameless coward, slacker and lech) on our airwaves, let alone a show with all the Toilet Humor and startling amount of violence, gore and people dying so much that it makes DBZ deaths look tame. Mattel probably took one look at the show and said there was no way they could import it without censoring it out of existence. And then there's Brocken and Brocken Jr....
    • An in-universe example happens when Kin's match with Curry Cook, along with Ramenman's match with Brockenman are only available on radio broadcast instead of television. Kinnikuman immediately believes that this happens because Harabote doesn't think that he's good enough to fight on TV, (which he agrees) but the real reason why is because the other Choujin often killed their opponents.
  • Moon Rabbit - The final prelim of the 20th Choujin Olympics involves a race to the moon; Choujin must bring back a stuffed rabbit as proof that they made it.
  • Multinational Team - Pretty much every group of heroes/villains is this, but the Idol Choujin are the most notable with Kinnikuman (Alien, raised in Japan), Terryman, Geronimo (both American), Robin Mask (British), Buffaloman (Spanish), Ramenman/Mongolman (Chinese), Wolfman/Rikishiman (Japanese), Brocken Jr. (German) and Warsman (Russian).
  • Mystical 108:
    • It is implied that there are 108 Choujin Gods that includes the Five Evil Gods and Choujin Enma aka the Merciful God or The Man. They all possess each puzzle piece that creates the very Capillaria Seven Rays that wiped out every other Choujin in the past and the faction of gods lead by God of Harmony are after them to wipe out every Choujin once and for all.
    • Following The Reveal, it is Played With that while there are 108 seats for Choujin Gods, there were never 108 Gods as there were only 107 at most. While one of the alternate plans was to make Satan a God, they created Choujin as part of The Man's plan to make a candidate to be the new 108th God.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: To the umpteenth degree, and crosses over with Ass Pull. It seems that during nearly every other match, someone summons up some new powers out of their arse to turn the tide with no real build-up whatsover, and chances are you aren't going to see that power again too often after it's run its' course.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot - Everything from a man with a cup of tea for a head (with the teabag's string sticking out) to an ancient Incan anthropomorphic urinal shows up as a combatant here. Warsman is a robot who is a scary Russian AND has tons of angst from being made fun of for his half-robot heritage in school.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed - Terryman and Terry Funk, Neptuneman and Hulk Hogan. And that's just for starters. Lookalikes of Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Big Van Vader, Stan Hansen, and Harley Race all appear, either as minor characters or as cameos.
  • No Fourth Wall - All over the place in both the manga and anime, but the anime is pretty egregious with it (along with Product Placement).
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - Terryman's act of puppy-saving heroism in the 21st Choujin Olympics disqualified him from the competition. This is also the essential reason behind Samson Teacher's Start of Darkness.
  • Non-Serial Movie - Six of them.
  • No Swastikas - Notably Averted. Nazi wrestler Brockenman, who was a straight up heel; as well as his face son, Brocken Jr. both have swastikas prominently displayed on their attire. They had started editing out the swastikas as early as the Throne arc anime, where it was replaced with a bird crest, and by the time Ultimate Muscle comes around it's been changed to a skull and crossbones, a change that stuck with subsequent merchandise and the 2012 revival arcs.
  • Off with His Head!: In the Golden Mask arc, the Devil Chojin are decapitated by the higher ranked Devil Knights (the new villians) for failing to kill Kinnikuman.
    • Mammothman's Ghost Canvas technique.
    • Black Hole's Red Mantle Of Death after defeating Dalmationman in the Perfect Large Numbers arc.
  • One to Million to One: When Kinnikuman uses his Megaton Punch to shatter Akuma Shogun's body, it breaks into hundreds of razor-sharp pieces that fly though Kinnikuman's body before reforming.
  • Phenotype Stereotype - Terryman, several one-shot wrestlers from the Eagleland arc, Neptuneman, and Alyssa Macintosh, Robin Mask's wife.
  • Physical God - Akuma Shogun is Goldman, the Choujin god of war who made a Deal with the Devil for which he received the Devil Knights as his literal and figurative body.
  • Planet of Hats - Planet Kinniku, home to the universe's greatest wrestlers.
  • Power Levels - Introduced simply to illustrate how much of a challenge Buffaloman presented when he was first introduced and stuck around after that. Largely subverted as the levels rarely seem to have any effect on the outcome of a match. Though it did came to discussion involving Kinnikuman's Burning Inner Strength increasing his Chojin power to 70 Million when he defeated the Hell Missionaries along with Terryman.
  • The Power of Friendship: One of the central themes. Even the bad guys rely on friendship in this series, such as Fan favorite villain Sunshine and fellow heel Ashuraman, stating "Even demons possess friendship!" and then it's taken up to eleven in the Throne Arc with Mixer Taitei's Finishing Move, "Evil Choujin Friendship Power".
    • Played with in the match between Team Super Phoenix and Team Soldier. Kinnikuman Soldier says that the Justice Choujin's friendship isn't a very good one: sure, they're all pals, but they're very dependent on one another, proven true when Buffaloman wants to tag in Soldier when he sees the terrifying power of Mammothman's tusks because he's injured. Soldier states that this kind of friendship will never make them any stronger-in fact, it will probably make them weaker. Soldier then says he plans to teach them True Friendship Power.
    • The Friendship Power is so great that the Perfect Large Numbers consider it along with the Burning Inner Strength threats to the order of the Chojin world.
    • The Big Bad of the Six Spears arc weaponizes this during his fight against Super Phoenix.
  • Pro Wrestling Is Real
  • Racing the Train: In one of the Choujin Olympics, Terryman had to race ahead of a train he himself had pushed as part of a qualifier round because a puppy had wandered onto the track. Saving the puppy meant stopping the train which, despite his heroism, got Terryman disqualified.
  • Refuge in Audacity - Let's see, to start it off, we got wrestling superheroes, then we have a Nazi that breathes poison gas, a Chinese superhuman that kills his opponents and turns him into noodles, then in the next arc we have a Soviet cyborg and in the next arc we have superhumans that sold their soul to the devil and an instance in which our hero farting to eliminate a black hole. And that's not even half of the series described.
  • Ret-Gone - In the Throne Arc, Team Super Phoenix decide to burn pages of the Muscle Prophecy. Turns out if a page that is burned happened to be about you, you would disappear along with it, acting as if you've never existed.
  • Retool - Started off as a parody of Ultraman, but then grew into a series about wrestling.
  • Rule of Cool - Several plot twists feel like Yudetamago was playing a game of "Hey, Wouldn't It Be Cool If..."
  • Rule of Funny - the series requires this a few times, such as... forget it. There's an Ancient Incan Japanese Toilet Chojin that defeats it's enemies by flushing other Chojins. That's not even the weirdest bit. This practically IS the series.
  • Scare 'Em Straight - Seeing Bibinba as redundant (As Meat pretty much does everything Bibinba wants to do for Suguru), Kinnikuman pays a monster to kidnap her in order to make her go back home. Bibinba however interprets this as a Secret Test of Character by Kinnikuman in order to determine if she was worthy and responds to it...by beating the crap out of the poor monster.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here - Done many times by Kinnikuman, but the worst one was in the Golden Mask arc. After the Devil Knights tell him that he must defeat them to get back the Gold Mask (which was draining all of the energy of the Seigi Choujin), Kinnikuman throws away the Silver Mask, which must be reunited with the Gold Mask.
    Brocken Jr.: What are you doing?!
    Kinnikuman: Sorry there's no way I'm fighting those guys.
  • Selective Magnetism
  • Shout-Out: Several.
    • Kinnikuman's given name, Suguru, is a reference to baseball player Suguru Egawa.
    • Geronimo's full name is Geronimo Young Mc Daniel, the last part referencing Native-American wrestler Wahoo Mc Daniel.
    • During the Nemesis arc, The Devil Choujin refer to their master as "The Great One"
    • Chapter 24 of the manga is one giant shout-out to Rocky, complete with an Expy of Apollo Creed.
    • Bikeman's moves and even his nationality (Australian) are a reference to the movie The Road Warrior.
    • The Distaff Counterpart manga Kinnikuman Lady seems to be a shoutout to Devilman Lady, at least in name.
    • Warsman's real name happens to be Nikolai Volkoff, the name of a heel wrestler most famous for tagging with the Iron Sheik in the 1980s.
  • Signature Laugh - Ashuraman's "Ka ka ka ka ka" laugh is so deeply associated with him that it's featured in his Villain Song.
    • Most villain characters have their own, distinctive laugh. Even in the most recent arc.
  • Slasher Smile - Warsman. Oh dear Lord, Warsman. The other characters in the series even call it the "Warsman Smile" and talk about how it's creepy as hell. Thankfully, he stops doing it when he has his Heel–Face Turn, or at least until he's revived in the Throne arc and he fights The Vice.
  • Smug Super - At first, Perfect Choujin seemed to fit this trope, looking down on the Justice Choujin and Devil Choujin for being weak-minded enough to be caught up in trivial things such as good and evil. However in Chapter 358, it turns the true Perfect Choujin are ones that possess compassion like the Justice Choujin and are disgusted by the former, who are perfect in name only.
  • Stylish Sunhats: Both Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana wear sunhats, to signify they're royalty. Queen Elizabeth's is plain white and large, while Diana's is striped black-and-white.
  • Something Person / Only One Name - If you're a Choujin, you almost automatically fall into these tropes.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil - first you have the Zangyaku Choujin, who are more brutal, then you have the Akuma Choujin, who worship Satan and are punished with death when they lost, then you have the Perfect Choujin, who are planning to invade the Earth after stealing the masks of Earth's mightiest heroes, and finally you have the Evil Gods of Choujin.
    • Then it goes up in the 2012 manga series with the Perfect Large Numbers who are consisted of Perfect Chojin who are sent by the Perfect Origin, the original Perfect Chojin who Goldman and Silverman were originally part of.
    • In the True Devils Arc, they come the Omega Centauri's Six Spears who are guided by Satan as the new Devil Choujin and led by Omegaman Aristera who is Omegaman Dexia's brother who are all very powerful to the point the Five Evil Gods intervene by getting the Five Fated Princes in action again including Kinnikuman Soldier II, Ataru Kinniku!
    • Then comes the newest arc, Kinnikuman will be fighting for the survival of all Choujin... by taking on an anti-Choujin faction of Choujin Gods led by the God of Harmony who have descended from Heaven as Super Gods or Choushin!
  • Swiss-Army Superpower - Kinnikuman's Face Flash technique, which does everything from cleansing a river (unintentionally), bend metal, shield himself and Robin Mask, attack Super Phoenix, and revive his fallen comrades.
  • Sympathy for the Devil - Nearly costs Robin Mask dearly when he faces Kinnikuman Mariposa.
  • Taking You with Me - The Devil Choujin's motto. Several of their members have shown that they're willing to enact upon it.
    • The Mountain does this in every appearance he's been in: In his match against Terryman in the Devil Choujin arc, he attempts to drag down Terryman with him before falling into the abyss below the ring but fails. Seven years later, he does this to Strong The Budo.
    • Sneagator does this to Kinnikuman as a built-in response to being killed but Kinnikuman gets better thanks to Wolfman's Heroic Sacrifice.
    • Atlantis does this as well, finishing Marlinman with the Tower Bridge before dying himself from being speared through the chest with Marlinman's nose.
      Devil Choujin don't die alone.
  • Theme Music Power-Up - If you hear the instrumental version of any Idol Choujin's Image Song, or the current opening theme, it's time for a trademark miracle comeback.
  • Theme Naming - Generally, a given choujin's moves are going to follow a distinct motif when it comes to naming. With Kinnikuman himself, it's "muscle/kinniku", for instance.
  • Think of the Children!: When Kinnikuman is too scared to fight Akuma Shogun and starts considering complying with Akuma Shogun's demands , he only takes it back when he is told that young choujin are also in danger. There also instances when a child in danger will make Kinnikuman man up against the latest threat.
  • This Is a Drill:
    • For Screw Kid, drilling into his enemy is his entire "thing" - his Hell Driver maneuver with Kendaman is insanely deadly. Motorman has a drill for a head but specializes in Shock and Awe primarily.
    • Jack Tea, a water faucet-themed Perfect choujin, has one as well. Makes sense when you consider that a drill is used to make a water well.
  • This Loser Is You: Kinnikuman was an extreme example of this at the beginning of the manga; a hopeless coward, slacker and pervert. As early as the first chapter of the manga an army of monsters even gave up on their plans to invade the Earth solely because Kinnikuman was the only superhero available to fight them and they didn't want to ruin their reputations by being seen fighting a loser like him. As Cerebus Syndrome kicked in, this aspect faded away.
  • Those Two Guys - Specialman and Canadianman were introduced as one-shot characters, but eventually became this.
  • Those Wacky Nazis - Brockenman and his son Brocken Jr.
  • Toilet Humour: To the point where one character is literally a toilet.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl - Mari and Natsuko.
  • Took a Level in Kindness - It'd be easier to list the recurring characters who don't experience this, but perhaps most significantly seen is the change in the Devil Choujin faction in the revival, where they have transitioned from merciless and vicious killers to still-ruthless Anti Heroes who nevertheless value friendship, respect noble ideals, and employ vicious tactics because sometimes somebody has to do it.
  • Tournament Arc - Two following the Genre Shift to pro-wrestling. Two more at the end of the series.
  • Trademark Favorite Food - Kinnikuman loves gyudon (beef-rice bowl). In the anime, he even has a song about it.
  • Training from Hell - Happens every arc. What's interesting is the fact that unlike most anime, they didn't really go in detail of what the training consists of until the finals of the Throne Arc.
  • Trainstopping - Terryman does this to save a puppy from a bullet train that he pushed as part of an event at the 21th Chojin Olympics; unfortunately this got him disqualified from the competition.
  • Truth in Television: The series is prevalent to scenarios wherein an antagonist who's been dominating a match can find themselves rendered just as low as their opponent, if not outright defeated, with a single broken or reversed move. While Zig-Zagged in just how much the hero of the day usually has to survive in order to reach that point, this isn't unfounded — in a professional wrestling match, a single botched maneuver can be all it takes to ruin you.
  • Turns Red - Heinous Buffaloman. Also, after Kinnikuman Super Phoenix absorbs the powers of all five Evil Choujin Gods, he turns purple.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Kin and his love interest, regardless of version. True that's a mask, but if anyone sees him without it he'll have to kill himself so it still kinda counts.
  • Un-Cancelled: Nearly 30 years after the original manga's run, no less.
  • Unknown Rival - The Hormon Clan (Bibinba's Clan) in the past were bitter rivals to the Kinniku Clan. However, the only member of the Kinniku Clan who's aware of this is Mayumi.
  • Ur-Example: Displays many tropes prevelant in modern fighting shonens that were later refined by the Trope Codifier Dragon Ball.
  • Villainous Friendship - The Power of Friendship is so strong in this series even villains have it. This is especially notable with Sunshine and Ashuraman during the Dream Tag arc.
  • Villain Song - Many of the Image Songs qualify as these.
  • Woolseyism: The Hercules Factory fan translation of the 2012 manga adds a lot of color to the dialogue, e.g. Robin Mask using British English, Junkman swearing.
  • The Worf Barrage: This is Wolfman/Rikishiman's entire shtick, and it's particularly egregious in the anime.
  • The Worf Effect:
    • Often a powerful Chojin will be brutally beaten by the designated Big Bad of the arc. Ramenman gets pummeled by Warsman, Warsman gets a beatdown resulting in his death from Buffaloman, Buffaloman and the other Devil Choujin get punished and decapitated by Ashuraman and the Devil Knights, and Buffaloman, Warsman, Ashuraman, Sunshine and even Robin Mask get this trope at the hands (or forearms) of the Hell's Missionaries.
    • Canadianman and Specialman get hit by this hard. Canadianman was beaten by Robin Mask in the 20th Choujin Olympics to establish how powerful Robin was while Specialman was eliminated thanks to Kinkotsuman's cheating. Then, they decide to enter the Dream Tag Team Tournament. They don't even get to wrestle a single match as Ashuraman and Sunshine beat the crap out of them and take away their entry spot. It's no wonder why they become less active as fighters.
    • Wolfman/Rikishiman gets hit by this even harder. Initially established as a serious threat to Kinnikuman representing Japan at the Choujin Olympics, he's quickly relegated to facing rather plain opponents in one-sided fights... with him being on the losing end. As The Other Wiki puts it, "He becomes the cannon fodder Seigi Choujin (quickly and easily defeated in order to show off how powerful the bad guys are)".
    • Come the Throne Arc, there's Kinnikuman Big Body who's canonically established as the physically strongest of the Five Fated Princes. He gets curbstomped by Kinnikuman Super Phoenix just to establish the latter as Suguru's final opponent in the Throne Arc and to show that he knows how to do the real Muscle Revenger. His wrestling team doesn't fare much better: Mammothman defeated all but one of Big Body's teammates and faked a tie with the other just so Super Phoenix would get a match with Big Body himself.
  • Worthy Opponent - Terryman and Robin Mask both see Kinnikuman as this. Neptuneman's search for this causes his Start of Darkness.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
    • In the Seven Devils arc, Springman pretends that all of Rikishiman's body slams are hurting him, when in reality all they're doing is flattening out the sand dunes so Springman can jump around freely.
    • In the Throne Arc, The Manriki pretended to be dazed and prone after Warsman tore off his Scramble Vise, only to grab Kinnikuman at the first opportunity when his vise simply grew back.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain - Happened a lot to Suguru back in his Monster fighting days. One time he gets hospitalized while saving Mari, Meat and a couple of schoolkids from a monster. While he does get some recognition in the newspaper, the kids visit the hospital to beat him up because he destroyed their school bus by accident while saving them, meaning that they now have to walk to school.
  • You Have Failed Me:
    • Devil Choujin seem to have this policy.
    • Perfect Choujin seem to have the policy that if you lose, you had better die in battle, or else you will be executed.
    • It's also used when the five evil Choujin gods wish to kill Super Phoenix for losing to Kinnikuman.
  • You Killed My Father - Brocken Jr. initially had it in for Ramenman, who killed his father Brockenman during his heel days. They later made nice.

 
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Video Example(s):

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Warsman's Siberian Snowstorm

Taken to a ridiculous level in Kinnikuman, where Warsman uses cossack dancing to take down Bulldoggy and Big Magnum

How well does it match the trope?

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Main / TakingYouWithMe

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