(born August 16, 1974) is a masked

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

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 ...

. He currently works for Dotonbori Pro Wrestling and has also worked for

Kaientai Dojo Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion and training facility originally owned and promoted by Taka Michinoku. The promotion places emphasis on a style of puroresu that combines high-flying, technical wr ...

(K-Dojo) and

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 Supe ...

(OPW) in Japan. For several years he formed a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

with Japanese wrestler Hideyoshi and was also part of a group known as Bad Force. Greatly influenced by ''

lucha libre Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

'', Masamune has followed Mexican tradition for masked wrestlers, so his real name is not a matter of public record.

Professional wrestling career

The masked wrestler known as Masamune made his

professional wrestling 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 o ...

debut in Mexico in April 1999, after being trained by Mexican ''

Luchador Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

Lizmark Juan Baños (December 18, 1950 – December 16, 2015) was a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler better known by the ring name Lizmark. The name was taken from the German battleship Bismarck. He was a multiple-time ...

. Initially he wrestled under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

s Dragon Furia or Furia del Dragon ("Dragon Fury" or "Fury of the Dragon") but later adopted the ring name Masamune. The Masamune character was inspired by

ese Daimyo feudal lord Date Masamune, which in part is reflected in his mask, which has what looks like an eye patch over one eye just like Date Masamune only had one eye. Due to his mask design Masamune earned the nickname ''dokuganryū'' (the "one-eyed dragon"), just like the original Masamune. 政宗2016

After initially working as a

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

, by 2005, Masamune had made

(Osaka Pro) his home promotion, teaming with Hideyoshi, another masked wrestler with a "

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

" ring character, collectively known as Sengoku, after the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

in Japan. The team's first notable achievement came in July 2005, where they competed in the first ever

Osaka Tag Festival is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...

. In the first round Sengoku defeated

Kuishinbo Kamen is a Japanese professional wrestler better known as , a masked clown character. Kuishinbo Kamen is Japanese for "Gluttonous Mask". For a while he was forced to give up the Kuishinbo Kamen character, instead he worked as "Super Robo K", a futuri ...

and Ebessan II, in the semi-finals they defeated Tsubasa and Billyken Kid and finally the team of

Super Delfin 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 ...

and

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 ...

to win the entire tournament. The tournament victory also meant that Sengoku won the vacant

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 ...

at the same time. The championship reign was ended 56 days later, when they lost to a team known as Universal Global Members (Billyken Kid and Tsubasa). On February 12, 2007, Sengoku defeated the team of Gaina and Zeus to win the Osata Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship once more. At some point in 2007, Masamune and Hideyoshi joined up with

Atsushi Kotoge (born October 18, 1985) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former one-time GHC Tag Team Champion, three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and record eleven-time GHC Junior Heavyweigh ...

Black Buffalo The black buffalo (''Ictiobus niger'') is a North American species of freshwater fish in the Catostomidae or sucker family.* . At 56 years old for one specimen's age, it is one of the longest-lived catostomids. Found in the Mississippi Basin a ...

, Condor, Gaina, Kazushi, Zero and Zeus to form a group known as "Bad Force". On August 26, 2007, they lost the championship to Kagetora and Rasse. Sengoku competed in, and won the 2009 Osaka Tag Festival, defeating Asian Cougar and Miracle Man in the first round, Tigers Mask and Black Buffalo in the second round and

Orochi , or simply , is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed Japanese dragon/serpent. Mythology Yamata no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history. The 712 AD transcribes this dragon name ...

and

Tadasuke , known mononymously as is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. He is best known for his work in Osaka Pro Wrestling, where he is a former one-time Osaka Pro Wrestling Champion, three-time Osaka Pro Wrestl ...

in the finals. Sengoku's third Osaka Tag Team Championship run began on July 18, 2009, when they defeated former "Bad Force" partners Black Buffalo and Tigers Match to win the championship. The third reign was their longest, at 208 days, until they lost the championship to Atsushi Kotoge and

Daisuke Harada (born November 13, 1986) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. He’s a four-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and a six-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. Harada is also known for his ti ...

. On July 19, 2009, Masamune won a

battle royal Battle royal (; also royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains standing, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules. In recent times, the term has been used in a ...

to win the

Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Championship The Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Championship is a title contested in the Japanese pro wrestling promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. The title is won and lost in Battle Royals. The title was established in 2001 when Miracle Man won an 11-Man Ba ...

The title had the special stipulation that it could only be defended in battle royals, which is how Masamune lost the championship to

Kanjyuro Matsuyama is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known for his ring name . He has worked in Toryumon and Michinoku Pro Wrestling, but is more famous for his long career in Osaka Pro Wrestling. Along with Kikutaro and Stalker Ichikawa, he is consider ...

on March 21, 2010. Masamune began working for El Dorado Wrestling in 2010 as well, teaming with

Minoru Fujita (born September 5, 1977) is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. He is known for working at Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling. He is the current Super Asia Champion in his first reign. Career Fujita started in Big Japan Pro Wres ...

to defeat Speed of Sounds (

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 ...

and

Tsutomu Oosugi is a Japanese professional wrestler. 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). Professional wrestling career To ...

) to win the

UWA World Tag Team Championship The UWA World Tag Team Championship is a tag team professional wrestling championship created by the Mexican Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) and defended there until the UWA closed in 1995. After the UWA's closing, the title was inactive unt ...

, holding the title for 344 days until Speed of Sounds regained the title. In 2013, Osaka Pro Wrestling announced that they were closing, which led to a number of wrestlers jumping to Dotonbori Pro Wrestling (DPW). By the time Osaka Pro Wrestling revealed that they had secured financial backing and was not closing, a number of wrestlers, including Masamune, had already committed to DPW. The Joker group reformed in DPW, consisting of Kuuga, Gamelas, Kazuaki Mihara and Masamune, effectively ending Sengoku after being a regular team for seven years. Masamune teamed up with former rival Billyken Kid to win the Second Dotonbori Tag King tournament when they defeated Super Sonic (Daisuke Masaoka and Rapid) to win the tournament as well as the WDW Tag Team Championhship. In April 2015, it was announced that Masamune had been selected to represent

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

(AJPW) in the

Lucha Libre AAA World Wide Antonio Peña Promotions, S.A. de C.V. d/b/a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide is a Mexican Lucha Libre (professional wrestling) promotion based in Mexico City, Mexico. Commonly referred to as simply AAA (pronounced "triple A"; an abbreviation of its or ...

(AAA) promoted

Lucha Libre World Cup The ''Lucha Libre'' World Cup was an annual professional wrestling tournament and event organized by Mexican professional wrestling promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) from 2015 until 2017. The first two tournaments, which featured three-man ...

, despite having only wrestled a few matches for AJPW. Masamune and his partners

Kenzo Suzuki is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and in the United States with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion in the lat ...

and

Tiger Mask III (born Kim Il-Sung (김일성); October 31, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler of Zainichi Korean descent. He has previously worked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling. He is currently a freelancer. Professional wrest ...

were eliminated from the tournament in the first round by Team MexLeyendas (

Blue Demon Jr. Blue Demon Jr. (born July 19, 1966) is a Mexican professional wrestler. He is the adopted son of the original Blue Demon and is the first Mexican and the second masked wrestler to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship thus making him a one- ...

Dr. Wagner Jr. Juan Manuel González Barrón (born August 12, 1965) is a Mexican ''luchador'' (Spanish for "professional wrestler") who is best known under the ring name Dr. Wagner Jr., having used that name since 1987. He is the son of Manuel González Rivera ...

and

El Solar El Solar (born May 26, 1956 in Zacoalco de Torres, Jalisco, Mexico) is the ring name of a Mexican '' Luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler who has been working in Mexico since 1975. El Solar's real name is not a matter of publi ...

Championships and accomplishments

*Dotonbori Pro Wrestling **WDW World Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Billyken Kid **Second Dotonbori Tag King – with Billyken Kid *El Dorado Wrestling / Kohaku Puroresu Gassen **

( 1 time) – with

UWA World Middleweight Championship The UWA World Middleweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial de Peso Medio UWA'' in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship originally created and sanctioned by the Mexican lucha libre promotion Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) fro ...

(1 time) *

( 1 time) **

( 3 times) – with Hideyoshi **Osaka Tag Festival (2005, 2009) – with Hideyoshi *

Pro-Wrestling Basara is a Japan, Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The promotion was founded in 2015 as a sub-brand of DDT Pro-Wrestling and was essentially a relaunch of :ja:ユニオンプロレス, Union Pro Wrestling, acqu ...

UWA World Trios Championship The UWA World Trios Championship is a tag team professional wrestling championship created by the Mexican Universal Wrestling Association and defended there until the UWA closed in 1995. Since then, the championship has been defended in various p ...

( 1 time, current) – with Billyken Kid and Tsubasa * ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

'' ** Ranked No. 422 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishi ...

'' in 2019 *

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001. I ...

NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship The International Lightweight Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Zero1, contested exclusively among junior heavyweight (<)

( 1 time) – with

Sugi ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae, formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' ...

References

External links

Masamune at the Genickbrunch
(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Masamune 1974 births Living people Japanese male professional wrestlers Masked wrestlers Sportspeople from Sendai Unidentified wrestlers 20th-century professional wrestlers UWA World Trios Champions UWA World Tag Team Champions UWA World Middleweight Champions