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Masaaki Mochizuki
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling Noah. Mochizuki is a former FIP World Champion and three-time Open the Dream Gate Champion. Professional wrestling career Early years A former karateka and graduate of Koji Kitao's Bukō Dōjō, Masaaki spent the early part of his career wrestling for various promotions across Japan, namely WAR and BattlARTS. Most notable was his appearance in the 1995 Super J-Cup, where he took on Shinjiro Otani of New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the first round. Despite losing, Masaaki looked very competitive, using his sharp kicks and quick submission holds to pose a serious threat to the more experienced Otani. Toryumon In late 1999, Masaaki joined Toryumon, Último Dragón's upstart promotion, and quickly became recognized as one of the three "aces" of the company, alongside Cima, and Magnum Tokyo. In April 2000, he formed the heel group M2K with Susumu Mochizuki (no relation), and Yasushi Kanda, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nobuhiko Oshima
(born November 15, 1977), better known by his ring name Cima ( ) (most often stylized as CIMA), is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for Gleat. He had previously worked for Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (OWE), where he had also served as the company's president. He also made appearances for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2019 and 2020. Cima is best known for his work with Dragon Gate (DG), whom he worked for from the promotion's formation in 2004 up until 2018. In Dragon Gate, he held every available championship in the promotion, including the Open the Triangle Gate Championship a record 12 times. Professional wrestling career Toryumon and Dragon Gate (1997–2018) Nobuhiko Oshima, otherwise known as Cima, graduated from the first class of Último Dragón's Toryumon dojo. He quickly became the Toryumon wrestling promotion's biggest star. He first wrestled as Shiima Nobunaga (making a few appearances in WCW under that name), then as Shiima (stylized in al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Fujii
(born July 6, 1970), better known by his ring name Don Fujii, is a Japanese wrestler who currently works for Dragon Gate. He was one-half of the inaugural Open the Owarai Twin Gate Champions and is also a former two-time Open the Twin Gate Champions with Masaaki Mochizuki. He was previously in the Crazy MAX and Blood Generation stables. Biography He was one of the original graduates from the Toryumon dojo. He was also one of the founding members of the Crazy MAX and Blood Generation stables. He made a few appearances in World Championship Wrestling as Sumo Fuji. He has wrestled as Karaoke Machine #1 at times as well. From 1999 until 2002, he changed his name annually. He first went from Sumo Fuji to Sumo "Dandy" Fuji, then to Sumo "Dandy" Fuji 2000, then to Big Fuji, and finally to Don Fujii. Fujii has spent most of his Toryumon/Dragon Gate career in heel stables. He was a founding member of Crazy MAX, as well as a founding member of Blood Generation. When Blood Generation end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gedo (wrestler)
is a Japanese professional wrestler and manager, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name . Gedo has been the main booker of NJPW since the early 2010s. As a wrestler, Gedo is best known for his tag team work with partner Jado, forming a very successful tag team from 1990 through the mid-2010s. Alongside his backstage work, Gedo is also an on-screen character in NJPW, working as a manager for Jay White and the villainous Bullet Club faction. Prior to this, he was also a manager for Kazuchika Okada and his Chaos stable. Jado and Gedo have won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship four times, the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship one-time, BJW Tag Team Championship and several other tag team championships. Gedo is an eight-time recipient of the Best Booker award from the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter''. Professional wrestling career Early career and WAR (1989-2001) Gedo debuted on March 19, 1989, for New Japan Pro-Wrestli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnitude Kishiwada
(born May 19, 1971), better known under his ring name Magnitude Kishiwada (マグニチュード岸和田), is a Japanese wrestler. Career During his highschool life, Fujita trained in artistic gymnastics, mixed martial arts and powerlifting, and years later, he showed interest in professional wrestling. For many years Fujita trained in worked in preliminary matches in Japan's hardcore wrestling promotions, including FMW, W*ING, and Big Japan Pro Wrestling, competing under his real name, and as Toryu ("Dragon Slayer"). Osaka Pro Wrestling (1999–2005) In 1999, he landed in Osaka Pro, where he became a kaiju character named Monster Zeta Mandora. However, he gained fame in late 2001 by turning heel, donning a more traditional wrestling mask and renaming himself Big Boss MA-G-MA. He left the promotion in 2005. Dragon Gate (2005–2010, 2012) His debut in Dragon Gate was heavily hyped. He first arrived wearing a motorcycle helmet, referring to himself as MA-G-MA. In what was to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon Gate Open The Dream Gate Championship
The Open the Dream Gate Championship is a professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. The wrestler who holds it is considered the top singles wrestler in Dragon Gate. It was created on July 4, 2004 when Cima was awarded the title as a result of being the last Último Dragón Gym Champion. Description The title belt's face has a "gate" on it represented by a hinged metallic door which contains a plate with the titleholders' name. Any official challenger for the belt carries a key used to open the gate with, and should they win the title, then they can open the gate and put their name inside it. However, if the title is successfully defended, then the key is added to the main plate of the belt as a symbol of the respective successful defense. The original title belt was lost following Dragon Gate's July 20, 2015 event, which forced the promotion to create a new belt, which debuted on August 16, 2015. History The inaugural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenichiro Arai
is a Japanese wrestler for Dragon Gate. Biography Kenichiro Arai, also known as AraKen, is a second term graduate of Último Dragón's Toryumon Japan group, and has been a mainstay on the roster ever since. He participated in FMW before joining Toryumon. He debuted as a heel, but turned face within the year and remained so for over a decade. He is known for his love of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team, and for his very hard head. Arai frequently no-sells attacks to the head when wrestling. Earlier in his career, he played an alcoholic, and would spit beer in his opponent's faces, but this aspect of his character was quietly dropped. Arai started as a midcarder, but gradually lost card position over the years, until he was fighting mainly in opening matches and rarely winning. However, his career changed for the better when he joined the cram school based stable Tozawa-juku in early 2007. It saw the first ever alteration of his character, and he formed a tag team with Taku Iwas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryo Saito (wrestler)
(born August 15, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler, who currently works for Dragon Gate. He is a former member of the Jimmyz stable, where he was known by the ring name Ryo "Jimmy" Saito. His name is sometimes abbreviated as SaiRyo, so as not to confuse him with SAITO. Professional wrestling career Toryumon Ryo Saito debuted in 1999 as a fourth term student. He fought in that year's Young Dragons Cup, but lost in the finals to the newly-heel Yasushi Kanda. In 2000, he divided his time between Japan and Mexico, and in Japan he adopted the gimmick of a bicycling enthusiast, wearing a professional bicycler's outfit, helmet, and glasses and coming to the ring on a bicycle. He became something of a jobber, losing nearly 20 opening matches in a row to Kenichiro Arai. He also participated in that year's Young Dragons Cup, and made it to the finals again, but lost to the man who became his greatest foil, Milano Collection A.T. When he returned to Japan, his bicycle was stol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nobuyoshi Nakamura
is a Japanese people, Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Dragon Gate (wrestling), Dragon Gate as . Nakamura initially broke into the wrestling business with Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW), but was not allowed to be a wrestler by owner Atsushi Onita and instead worked as a referee for the promotion during the mid 1990s. Longing to become a wrestler, he left FMW in 1997 and joined Ultimo Dragon's Toryumón Gym, where he was given the gimmick of “Dragon Kid”, a character he has used for his entire career. Professional wrestling career Training and early career (1994–1997) Nobuyoshi Nakamura wanted to be a wrestler for a long time, but he was told that he was too small to become one. He started training in the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling dojo in 1994, but ended up as a referee (FMW head Atsushi Onita, wary of injury to smaller wrestlers from his days as a junior heavyweight in All Japan Pro Wrestling, prevented him from trying to achieve his potent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Professional Wrestling Match Types
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. Throughout professional wrestling's decades long history, some gimmick matches have spawned many variations of the core concept. Singles match The singles match is the most common of all professional wrestling matches, which involves only two competitors competing for one fall. A victory is obtained by pinfall, submission, knockout, countout, or disqualification. Some of the most common variations on the singles match is to restrict the possible means for victory. Duchess of Queensbury Rules match A Duchess of Queensbury Rules match is a singles match contested under specific, often disclosed rules is replaced by a title usually meant to sound traditional for one combatant. A wrestler challenging another wrestler to a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Face (professional Wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a face (babyface) is a heroic, "good guy" or "fan favorite" wrestler, booked (scripted) by the promotion with the aim of being cheered by fans, and acts as a protagonist to the heels, who are the villainous antagonist or "bad guy" characters. Traditionally, they wrestle within the rules and avoid cheating (in contrast to the villains who use illegal moves and call in additional wrestlers to do their work for them) while behaving positively towards the referee and the audience. Such characters are also referred to as blue-eyes in British wrestling and ''técnicos'' in ''lucha libre''. The face character is portrayed as a hero relative to the heel wrestlers, who are analogous to villains. Not everything a face wrestler does must be heroic: faces need only to be clapped or cheered by the audience to be effective characters. When the magazine ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' went into circulation in the late 1970s, the magazine referred to face wrestlers as " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Royal (professional Wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a battle royal (sometimes battle royale; plural battles royal or battle royals) is a multi-competitor Professional wrestling match types, match type in which wrestlers are eliminated until one is left and declared the winner. Typical battles royal begin with a number of participants in the Wrestling ring, ring, who are then eliminated by going over the top rope and having both feet touch the venue floor. Variations Battlebowl In a two-ring variation on a battle royal, the wrestlers start in one ring and try to throw wrestlers into the second ring, after which they can be eliminated by being thrown out of that ring. The last remaining wrestler in the first ring can rest until only one wrestler is left in the second ring, after which they fight in both rings until one is eliminated and a winner is declared, in similar fashion to a double elimination tournament. The two-version was held in World Championship Wrestling's 1991 Starrcade (1991), Starrcade eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
