(born May 21, 1982) is a Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

from Neyagawa, Japan; he's a current member of the

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (originally known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather ...

roster as Rasse. He mainly uses a high-flying style.

Career

Toryumon (2002-2004)

A former highschool amateur wrestler, Okimoto trained in the Último Dragón Gym and graduated in the 9th Toryumon school class term, debuting in

Toryumon Mexico Toryumon or Tōryūmon may refer to: *Toryumon (Último Dragón) is a professional wrestling promotion that operated in Japan until 2004 and in Mexico, where it's called Toryumon Mexico. The promotion is owned and operated by Yoshihiro Asai, who ...

in 2002. He performed under the name of Small Dandy Fujii, a mini version of Toryumon Japan wrestler Sumo Dandy Fujii, and was a part of the Mini Crazy MAX stable along with SUWAcito and Mini CIMA. After a short individual participation in the ''Young Dragons Cup 2002'', where he was eliminated by Condotti Shuji at the first round, Small Dandy and SUWAcito competed at the ''Yamaha Cup'' tag tournament, taking out Henry III Sugawara and

Naoki Tanizaki is a Japanese wrestler. He is known for his work in Dragon Gate. He previously went under the ring name . Professional wrestling career Toryumon Mexico / Toryumon X / Toryumon / Dragon Gate (2002–2006) Originally from the Toryumon X pr ...

at the first round before falling to Sailor Boys ( Kei Sato and Shu Sato) at the second. Mini Crazy MAX developed a feud with Sailor Boys, led by

Taiji Ishimori is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he wrestles as part of the Bullet Club. He is the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in his third reign, and is also a one-time NEVER Openweight ...

, and they kept it when the class term was moved to the Toryumon X promotion in Japan. Fujii was a comedic figure, and in October 2004, he got his head partially shaven by stipulation after being pinned by Manabu Murakami. That would be the last Toryumon X show, and its wrestlers were transferred to

. He also wrestled in as HUSTLE Kamen Blue, a member of HUSTLE Kamen along HUSTLE Kamen Red and HUSTLE Kamen Yellow.

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (2004-present)

Okimoto's first apparition in M-Pro was at the ''Futaritabi Tag Team League'', wrestling under the mask of Michinoku Ranger Silver with Michinoku Ranger Gold as his partner, doing a

super sentai is a Japanese superhero team metaseries and media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company, and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or "fighting squadron"). The sho ...

gimmick not unlike they did in HUSTLE. The duo got important victories over Los Salseros Japoneses ( Pineapple Hanai and

Mango Fukuda (born June 27, 1982) is a Japanese professional wrestler. He currently wrestles as a freelancer in the Japanese independent circuit and as a regular in Secret Base. Professional wrestling career Toryumon (2003–2004) A Último Dragón Gym g ...

) and

Jinsei Shinzaki Kensuke Shinzaki (新崎健介 ''Shinzaki Kensuke'', born December 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive, better known by his ring name, Jinsei Shinzaki (新崎人生 ''Shinzaki Jinsei''). He is curre ...

and Shinjitsu Nohashi, but they did not win the league, which was taken by

The Great Sasuke , born July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and politician, currently wrestling for Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW) under the ring name . Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly ...

and GARUDA. In December, the team was dissolved and Okimoto adopted the gimmick of Rasse, a masked character representing the

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri The is a Japanese summer festival that takes place in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan in early August. The festival attracts the most tourists of any of the country's nebuta festivals, and is counted among the three largest festivals in the T� ...

. He first teamed up with the former Ranger Gold, now known as Shanao, and the two gained a title shot for the Tohoku Tag Titles against Great Sasuke and

Dick Togo , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Togo is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Bullet Club stable, and its sub-group House of Torture. Togo has spent the majority of ...

, but were beaten. Starting 2005, Rasse formed an alliance with GARUDA, first at the ''Michinoku Trios League'' (completing the trio with Maguro Ooma) and then in the ''Futaritabi Tag Team Tournament'', but they were unsuccessful, getting eliminated at the latter by the eventual winning team of Shanao and Kagetora. Rasse spent the year as a low-ranked member of the Michinoku Seikigun against the

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...

stable Los Salseros Japoneses, though he had some victories, upsetting Kagetora and

Gamma Gamma (uppercase , lowercase ; ''gámma'') is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter re ...

during the ''Iron Man Tournament''. However, he ascended the scale in 2006, reaching the finals of a tournament for the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title before LSJ leader

Takeshi Minamino , (born December 24, 1985) better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He wrestles in Michinoku Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Toryumon (2002-2004) Yamamoto made his pro wrestling ...

and actually winning the next ''Iron Man'' after pinning Hayato Fujita with the Mabataki. Doing this, he won a title short against the next junior heavyweight champion,

Osaka Pro Wrestling Osaka Pro Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 1998 by Super Delfin. The promotion held a major flagship event called the Osaka Hurricane each year from 2003 to 2012 and also hosted the fourth edition of the Sup ...

Super Delfín is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently runs Kaisen Puroresu and is also working as a wrestler there. He is better known by his stage name . Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1989, 1994) Hiroto Wakita joined N ...

, but was defeated. Rasse then returned to the midcard, teaming up with Yoshitsune until end of 2006. The next year, Rasse teamed up with the recently turned face Kagetora to win the

Tohoku Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Michinoku Pro Wrestling. There have been a total of 33 reigns shared between 25 different teams consisting of 33 indivi ...

against Kei and Shu Sato, eventually unifying it with the

Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship The is the top tag team title in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. The title was established in 2001 when Daio Quallt and Gamma won a seven-team round-robin tournament to win the inaugural titles. Being a prof ...

from Hideyoshi and

Masamune , was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the ''Sōshū'' school. However, many of his forged ''tachi'' were made into ...

at the Pro Wrestling Summit 2007 independent event. They retained it successfully for the rest of 2007, even winning the next tag league while having the titles, but they finally lost the two titles against Osaka Pro representatives Gaina and Zero and MPW homologues Great Sasuke and Yoshitsune. The same year, Rasse competed individually at the prestigious ''Fukumen World League'', but was eliminated at the first round by another Osaka Pro wrestler,

Tigers Mask is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). He previously worked for Osaka Pro Wrestling under the ring name . His ring name and original wrestling attire were inspired by the Hanshin Tigers baseba ...

. Now titleless, Rasse struggled through 2008, but despite a good performance at the ''Iron Man'' and another tag team with Kagetora, he was frustrated. After a failed title shot against Hayato Fujita, now leader of the Kowloon heel stable, Rasse shockingly turned heel and joined them, later pledging his alliance to who revealed as the true leader of the group, their master

Último Dragón (born December 12, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and actor, better known as . In addition to having trained in Japan, Asai learned to wrestle in the lucha libre style while working in Mexico. He is credited with popularizing the " A ...

El Dorado Wrestling (2006–2008)

In 2008, Okimoto joined the newborn El Dorado, wrestling as Jumping Kid Okimoto, a masked character dressed in black and white who came to the ring in jumping stilts. He initially was an integrant of the

's face army inherited from Dragondoor, but after Ishimori broke from El Dorado and left, Okimoto went solo and feuded with

brother YASSHI , better known by his ringname "brother" Yasshi (stylised as "brother" YASSHI), is a Japanese professional wrestler, known for his appearances in El Dorado Wrestling, Dragon Gate, and All Japan Pro Wrestling. He is currently working for Pro Wres ...

. Okimoto got the revenge for a loss to him by showing an embarrassing photo of Yasshi in his high school days, as Okimoto and he had been both in the same school, but the brother got it back defeating him again. They then reconciled and resolved to form an amateur wrestling-themed stable, which also featured

Yuji Hino , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed by Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). One of the most well-travelled heavyweights in Japan, Hino was trained by Taka Michinoku and made his debut for his Kaientai ...

and was called Nanking Fucking Wrestling Club. During that time, Okimoto competed both under his real name in said stable, using a realistic, mat wrestling based style, and also as Jumping Kid Okimoto, featuring his common high-flying. After Nanking Fucking Wrestling Club folded up, Okimoto competed solo and unaligned again, and for a second time in Masaki's career he lost a hair vs hair match, this time against Ken45º. In 2008, Jumping Kid Okimoto and KAGETORA fought Speed of Sounds ( Tsutomu Oosugi and

Hercules Senga is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by his ring name . He currently wrestles as a freelancer in the Japanese independent circuit and as a regular in both Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). P ...

) for the vacated UWA Tag Team Championship, but were defeated. Shortly after, El Dorado ended its run.

Championships and accomplishments

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) - with Kagetora (1) and Kenbai (1) ** Iron Man Tournament (2006) ** Fukumen World League Qualifying Tournament (2007) ** Kowloon Strongest Tournament (2011) ** Bar Mimosa Ki-Kohei Cup (2014) ** Futaritabi Tag Team League (2007) - with Kagetora *

( 1 time) - with Kagetora

References

External links

El Dorado Roster Page at DGUSA (English)El Dorado official website (Japanese)Michinoku Pro Wrestling official website (Japanese)HUSTLE official website (Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okimoto, Masaaki 1982 births Living people Japanese male professional wrestlers People from Neyagawa, Osaka Masked wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers Tohoku Tag Team Champions Chiba Six Man Tag Team Champions