Originally a wrestler, Yamamoto was mostly known for his tag team the Yamaha Brothers with Kantaro Hoshino but made his biggest mark as a trainer in the New Japan Dojo having helped train Keiji Mutoh, Jushin Thunder Liger, Minoru Suzuki, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Masahiro Chono among others.
After graduating from high school, Yamamoto trained as a bodybuilder at a local YMCA while working for the then blossoming steel industry in Japan.
[6] By 1979, Yamamoto reunited with Hoshino at International Wrestling Enterprise where they defeated Animal Hamaguchi and Great Kusatsu to win the IWA World Tag Team Championship on January 21, 1979.
[8] On March 6, 2007, 35 years to the day of New Japan's first show, Yamamoto would be one of the inaugural inductees into the NJPW Greatest Wrestlers Hall of Fame.
[9][better source needed] His passing came three months before long time tag team partner Kantaro Hoshino who died on November 25.