04.10.2013, 08:07
Dave Musgrave hat eine Biographie ueber Kensuke Sasaki geschrieben:
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-s...ll-of-fame
By Dave Musgrave
Kensuke Sasaki was born on August 4, 1966 in Fukuoka, Japan. He was trained for professional wrestling by Riki Choshu. He debuted on February 26, 1986 against Shinji Sasazaki in Riki Choshu’s Japan Pro Wrestling. This group was an off-shoot of All Japan Pro Wrestling and Sasaki worked between JPW and AJPW from February of 1986 to September of 1987. Notable opponents during that time include Mitsuo Mimota, Yoshinari Ogawa, Norio Hanaga and Toshiaki Kawada. He also participated in a four-on-two handicap match against Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu.
When Choshu returned to New Japan Pro wrestling in June of 1987, Sasaki followed and debuted on June 9 teaming with Norio Hanaga against Masahiro Chono and Shunji Kosugi. Sasaki became part of the NJPW Young Lions training system. Throughout 1987 and 1988 Sasaki spent time wrestling with and against other young NJPW wrestlers such as Masakatsu Funaki, Shinya Hashimoto, Chris Benoit, Yoji Anjo, Akira Nogami, Takayuki Iizuka, Tatsutoshi Goto, Osamu Matsuda (El Samurai), Keichi Yamada (Jushin Liger) and Minoru Suzuki. He also had a number of matches against Mexican teams such as Villano IV and Villano V, Dr. Wagner Jr. and El Canek and Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata. Sasaki also worked with Black Cat during this time.
Sasaki started in Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council in 1989 as part of the traditional international learning excursion that is undergone by many Japanese wrestlers. On January 14 he teamed with Mr. Pogo as The Ninja Express to win the WWC tag team titles from Hurracan Castillo Jr. and Miguel Perez Jr. They lost the titles to Chris and Mark Youngblood on March 4. Sasaki and Pogo regained the titles from Castillo and Perez on April 1 before dropping them to Brad and Bart Batten on April 2.
Sasaki started in Stu Hart’s Calgary Stampede Wrestling in August of 1989 where he worked as Benkai Sasaki and teamed with Sumu Hara (Koki Kitahara) as The Samurai Warriors. Kitahara later wrestled in WAR, FMW and Capture International. On August 18, 1989 they won the Stampede International Tag Team Titles from Bulldog Bob Brown and Kerry Brown. During his time in Stampede Sasaki worked against Gama Singh, Johnny Smith, Jonathan Holliday, Goldie Rogers, Skull Mason, Drago Zhivago, Biff Wellington and Duke Myers in both singles and tag team matches. On September 29 Sasaki and Hara lost the titles to Blackheart Apocalypse (Tom Nash) and Blackheart Destruction (Red Tyler). When Stampede Wrestling stopped promoting shows toward the end of 1989, the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) started running shows in its place. Sasaki did work there in March of 1990 with matches against Skull Mason, Akam Singh and Mike Lozanski.
Establishing himself in New Japan Pro Wrestling
Sasaki returned to NJPW in April of 1990 teaming with Jushin Liger against Hiro Saito and Tatsutoshi Goto on April 27. Sasaki had a higher profile position and was involved with rising stars such as Masahiro Chono, Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto and Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit). He was also in the ring with veterans such as Masa Saito, Riki Choshu, Animal Hamaguchi and Super Strong Machine. He teamed with Masa Saito against Big Van Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow on October 14. Sasaki formed a team with Hase and won the IWGP Tag Team Titles from Chono and Mutoh on November 1. They defended the titles going into December of 1990 until losing them to Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine on December 26. Also of note is that on December 3, 1990 Hase and Sasaki wrestled Masa Saito and Riki Choshu in the main event of a New Japan Pro Wrestling show in Baghdad, Iraq. This was during a time when tensions were rising between the United States and Iraq leading to the 1991 Gulf War. Sasaki had also participated in a tour of China in September of 1990 with NJPW.
Sasaki and Hase lost to champions Saito and Super Strong Machine in a re-match for the titles on February 5, 1991. Sasaki and Hase did manage to regain the titles after beating Saito and Machine on March 6. The NJPW/WCW Starrcade 1991 show took place in the Tokyo Dome took place on March 31, 1991. Sasaki and Hase had a highly acclaimed match on the show in which they lost the titles to Rick and Scott Steiner of WCW. This match was named Match of the Year in 1991 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards and Hase and Sasaki ranked third in the Tag Team of the Year awards (behind the Steiners and Mitsuhara Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada). Dave Meltzer rated the match as ****1/2. Sasaki and Hase continued to work against teams such as Great Kokina (Yokozuna) and Wild Samoan (Samu) as well as Negro Casas and Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit). On May 31 Sasaki and Hase lost a rematch against the Steiners for the IWGP tag team titles. They continued to team in tag team matches and multi-man matches throughout the rest of 1991.
Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono (all members of the WON Hall Of Fame) became famous as The Three Musketeers of NJPW. 1991 was the year in which they solidified their status in the business with their performances in the first-ever G1 Climax tournament. The three were associated with each other after debuting in the same time period of 1984. While Sasaki started his career in a similar time period to Hase (also in the Hall Of Fame), he was not able to have any such association having started his career in All-Japan as well as not being part of a break-out pack within the early to mid-1990’s.
Starting in 1992 Sasaki started working apart from Hase and actually lost to him in singles matches on June 26 and July 8. Sasaki participated in the second ever G1 Climax in August of 1992 which in that year was a tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Title. Sasaki beat Jim Neidhart in the first round and Terry Taylor in the second round before losing to Rick Rude in the semi-finals. Rude went on to lose to Masahiro Chono in the finals on a show in which Sasaki teamed with The Great Muta and lost to the Steiners in the semi-final match of the night. Sasaki started teaming with Hase again and lost to the Steiners in an IWGP tag title match on September 23. The Steiners had won the titles for a second time from Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader in June 1992. Hase and Sasaki participated in the Super Grade Tag League II in October. They defeated Bigelow and Muta in the semi-finals before losing in the finals to Riki Choshu and Shinya Hashimoto on October 22.
Sasaki then made his first run in the U.S. for World Championship Wrestling starting on October 22, 1992. During this tour Sasaki had four matches against Rick Rude for the U.S. title. Sasaki teamed with Jushin Liger and wrestled five times against Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas for the WCW/NWA tag team titles. Sasaki teamed with Erik Watts to face Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson on the Clash of the Champions XXI on November 18. Sasaki returned to Japan but came back to WCW in December and participated in the Starrcade Battlebowl pay-per-view, teaming with the Barbarian to lose to Vader and Dustin Rhodes.
The Power Warrior Era
It was during the December 1992 return to Japan that Sasaki started in what was probably his highest profile role up to that time. The legendary Road Warriors of Hawk and Animal had been teaming in the World Wrestling Federation until the fall of 1992 when Hawk left the promotion. Hawk was brought into NJPW and teamed with Sasaki as the Hell Raiders, with Sasaki being named Power Warrior. They have also been referred to as The Hell Raisers at times, which would seem to be connected to translation difficulties. They started teaming on November 23 and on December 14 they defeated Scott Norton and Tony Halme (later Ludwig Borga) for the IWGP tag team titles.
On the January 4, 1993 Tokyo Dome Show Sasaki and Hawk went to a double count-out against Rick and Scott Steiner in an IWGP tag title defense. This match was aired on WCW pay-per-view in North America and although the fans booed the finish the match was rated **** by Dave Meltzer. Sasaki continued to team with Hawk through February and March of 1993 including a successful title defense against Rambo (Luc Poirier) and Tony Halme on February 16. Sasaki participated in an arm-wrestling tournament on NJPW cards in April, going to the finals where he lost to his trainer Riki Choshu.
Sasaki and Hawk continued to defend the IWGP tag titles through July of 1993. Their title matches included a win over Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto on May 3, Bobby Eaton and Tony Halme on June 14 and Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh on July 13. Sasaki again worked for WCW in May and June of 1993, primarily in singles matches against Rick Rude and Maxx Payne. Sasaki also teamed with Dustin Rhodes who was WCW U.S. Champion at the time. On the WCW Slamboree pay-per-view from Atlanta on May 23, 1993, Sasaki and Rhodes lost to Paul Orndorff and Rick Rude.
Sasaki and Hawk lost the IWGP tag titles to Scott Norton and Hercules (known as The Jurassic Powers) on August 5 as part of the G1 Climax tour. They won a rematch by disqualification on August 8 but did not regain the titles. Sasaki and Hawk lost to Hulk Hogan and The Great Muta on September 23. They participated in the 1993 Super Grade Tag League in October. On December 13, 1993 Sasaki had what appears to have been his first match for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. He lost to champion Shinya Hashimoto at NJPW Battle Final 1993 Day 20. The show drew a sell-out of 6,850 in Osaka and this was said to have been a very brutal match. On the January 4, 1994 Tokyo Dome Show, Sasaki and Hawk regained the IWGP tag titles from Scott Norton and Hercules in what was said to have been the second worst match on the show. Sasaki and Hawk continued to team through February after which Sasaki worked singles matches as well as teaming with partners such as Jushin Liger, The Barbarian, Satoshi Kojima, Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh through April.
Sasaki and Hawk defeated Rick and Scott Steiner on May 1 in an IWGP tag title match. They continued in tag matches into June when Hawk seems to have been absent from the promotion. In August Sasaki participated in the 1994 G1 Climax tournament in which he won matches against Hiroshi Hase, Shiro Koshinaka and Takayuki Iizuka. He had a loss to Tatsumi Fujinami and a thirty-minute time limit draw with Hashimoto. On August 7 Sasaki lost in the tournament finals to Masahiro Chono.
Hawk returned in September 1994 and he and Sasaki successfully defended the IWGP tag titles against Rick and Scott Steiner on September 27. Sasaki and Hawk then participated in the 1994 Super Grade Tag League. Their last match in the tournament was a loss to Masahiro Chono and Super Strong Machine who went on to lose to Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh in the finals. Hase and Mutoh then defeated Sasaki and Hawk for the IWGP tag titles on November 25. Sasaki and Hawk lost to Scott Norton and Chris Benoit on November 28 and Sasaki then spent the rest of 1994 working with other tag partners including Hase, Norton and Mutoh.
Sasaki lost to champion Shinya Hashimoto in a match for the IWGP Title at the January 4, 1995 Tokyo Dome Show that drew 62,500. Even though Sasaki had a broken bone in his wrist that he suffered in mid-December, he still executed two Asaii Moonsaults. Sasaki then started teaming with younger generation wrestlers such as Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Koji Kanemoto and Manabu Nakanishi and he also teamed regularly with Hiroshi Hase through the summer of 1995. He also continued to team with Hawk during March, June and July. Sasaki participated in the Collision In Korea two-day Peace Festival in April of 1995. For these shows, WCW and NJPW presented shows in North Korea to record crowds of 340,000 people over two days. This figure is controversial as many of those in attendance were seen as being forced to attend. Sasaki defeated Masa Saito on day one and teamed with Hase to lose to the Steiners on day two.
Sasaki participated in the first three days of the 1995 G1 Climax with losses to Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima and a win over Hashimoto. Sasaki participated in tag matches on Days 4 and 5 and was absent from the rest of the tournament. Hawk was back in Japan in September and he and Sasaki lost to champions Junji Hirata and Shinya Hashimoto in an IWGP Tag Title match on September 20 in Sendai. This was the main event and the show drew 4,500. Sasaki faced shoot-style wrestlers as part of the NJPW vs UWFI feud in October. He lost to Masahito Kakihara at the October 9 Tokyo Dome Show headlined by Keiji Mutoh vs Nobuhiko Takada with 67,000 fans in attendance. Sasaki defeated UWFI wrestler Tatsuo Nakano on October 11. Sasaki teamed with Riki Choshu on the first day of the 1995 Super Grade Tag League but teamed with Masa Saito for the remainder of the tournament. After the tournament Sasaki continued having NJPW vs UWFI matches with wins over Yoshihiro Takayama and Yoji Anjo.
On November 13 Sasaki defeated WCW wrestler Sting in Tokyo to win the WCW United States Title in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,500 at Sumo Hall. This was Sasaki’s first singles title win in Japan but it was foreseen as Sasaki had been wearing the U.S. title at WCW’s Disney tapings in recent weeks. Sasaki alternated between WCW and NJPW for the rest of the year. He had lost to Chris Benoit on WCW Monday Nitro on November 6 as part of an angle in which Sonny Onoo brought NJPW wrestlers in to feud with WCW wrestlers. Sasaki successfully defended the U.S. title against Benoit on the WCW World War III pay-per-view on November 26. Sasaki was also in the three-ring sixty-man battle royal on that show. On December 27 the WCW Starrcade pay-per-view had a World Cup Of Wrestling with WCW vs NJPW wrestlers. The tournament had seven matches, the last of which saw Sting defeat Sasaki to win the tournament for WCW. Sasaki then lost the U.S. title to One Man Gang on the same show in a match that did not air on the pay-per-view.
A High and A Low In 1995
It was during 1995 that Sasaki married Akira Hokuta, a legend of All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling who was elected to the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2000. Dave Meltzer has previously said that Hokuto has to be considered one of the five greatest workers in the history of women's wrestling. Hokuto had debuted in 1985 and came to be known as “The Mummy” due to frequently wearing bandages while wrestling due to injuries. She had famous matches with Shinobu Kandori, Aja Kong and Manami Toyota and also lived in Mexico and wrestled as Reina Kabuki for two years while married to Mascara Magica. She later was known for wrestling in WCW in the U.S. and feuding with Madusa. She won a tournament to crown the first WCW Women’s Champion at Starrcade 1996 on December 29, 1996. Sasaki and Hokuto gave birth to a son in 1998 and again in 2003.
Unfortunately, it was also during 1995 that Sasaki was involved in the most controversial moment of his career. Hiromitsu Gompei was an amateur wrestler who had been recruited into NJPW by Hiroshi Hase. Gompei was reportedly exhausted when he was ordered to continue when Riki Choshu walked in after the daily workouts and wanted to see how he was doing. Gompei was making mistakes during the exercises and Sasaki reportedly started suplexing him on his head repeatedly. Gompei passed away and it was determined that the cause was brain trauma. No charges were ever brought against Sasaki. Hase was reportedly devastated and after being the one to inform Gompei’s parents he left NJPW after the January 4, 1996 Tokyo Dome Show in January where he lost to Sasaki.
1996: A Year Of Transition
In February of 1996 Sasaki teamed with Keiji Mutoh in matches against UWFI teams Kengo Kimura and Akitoshi Saito and Kazuo Yamazaki and Osamu Kido. Sasaki and Mutoh participated in a one-night tag team tournament on March 26, losing to Tatsumi Fujinami and Shiro Koshinaka in the finals. Sasaki returned to WCW in May of 1996 for television matches. He and Masahiro Chono lost to The Nasty Boys of Jerry Saggs and Brian Knobbs. Sasaki also defeated Cobra (Jeff Farmer) who was later known as NWO Sting. In June Sasaki started a series of matches in which he returned to the Power Warrior gimmick to team with both Hawk and Animal of The Road Warriors in NJPW. The three would team together sixteen times in June and July against an assortment of opponents from NJPW. Sasaki lost to WCW Champion The Giant (today known as The Big Show) in a match for the title on July 16 in Sapporo.
Sasaki participated in the 1996 G1 Climax with wins over Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Junji Hirata, and Shinya Hashimoto. Sasaki lost to Riki Choshu by referee stoppage. Choshu eventully defeated Mashahiro Chono in the finals to win the tournament. Sasaki participated in a Japan/USA All Star Tournament in NJPW in September. He defeated Lex Luger, Ric Flair and Scott Norton in the first three rounds en route to defeating Shiro Koshinaka in the tournament finals on September 23. Sasaki teamed with Shinjiro Ohtani in a one-night tag team tournament on November 3, winning in the first two rounds before losing to Akira Nogami and Michiyoshi Ohara in the finals. Hawk and Animal returned in November and the three continued teaming into December. Sasaki lost to Hugh Morrus by disqualification on the December 30, 1996 episode of WCW Monday Nitro.
The Rise Of Sasaki
Sasaki’s breakthrough year was 1997. He worked as Power Warrior to defeat The Great Muta in the semi-final match of the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show attended by 62,500. Sasaki teamed with IWGP Champion Shinya Hashimoto a number of times through March of that year. On April 12 Sasaki teamed with his trainer Riki Choshu to win the IWGP tag team titles from Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura. This match was the semi-final to the famous Tokyo Dome match with former Judo World Champion Naoya Ogawa defeating Hashimoto in his professional wrestling debut. The show drew 60,500 fans. Sasaki and Choshu lost the titles to Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima on May 3 at the Osaka Dome. This was the semi-final match to another Hashimoto vs Ogawa match with an attendance of 53,000.
August of 1997 was one of the biggest months of Sasaki’s career. The 1997 G1 Climax Tournament was a fourteen-man single elimination tournament between August 1 and August 3. Sasaki and WCW wrestler Buff Bagwell were the two wrestlers to get a bye to the quarter-finals on August 2. Sasaki defeated Bagwell and then defeated Scott Norton in the semi-finals and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the finals to win his first G1 Climax in front of 11,500 at Sumo Hall. Sasaki then teamed with Kazuo Yamazaki to win the titles from Nakanishi and Kojima on August 10 in Nagoya. This was the third last match on a show drawing 43,500. Sasaki then became IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the first time when he defeated champion Shinya Hashimoto on August 31 in Yokohama. This show had 18,000 fans in attendance.
Sasaki and Yamazaki participated in a tag team tournament in September and defeated The Great Muta and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the finals. This was during the NWO Japan era and a lot of Sasaki’s matches during this time were against the faction that included Mutoh, Tenzan, Masahiro Chono and others. Sasaki and Yamazaki lost the IWGP tag titles to Mutoh and Chono on October 19 in a show drawing 8,000 to Kobe World Hall. Sasaki defeated Chono in his first IWGP Title defense on October 31 on a show that drew 5,300 fans in Hiroshima. Sasaki and Yamazaki participated in the 1997 Super Grade Tag League and lost to Shinya Hashimoto and Manabu Nakanishi in the semi-finals on December 8.
Sasaki headlined a Tokyo Dome show as champion for the first time on January 4, 1998. On that show he successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Keiji Mutoh in a show that drew 65,000 fans. With this win, Sasaki had defeated the Three Musketeers of NJPW in three straight title matches. Sasaki defeated Osamu Nishimura in a title match on February 7 in Sapporo in front of 6,500 fans. Sasaki continued to be a part of multi-man matches in the NWO Japan feud through March of that year. On April 4 Sasaki lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title to Tatsumi Fujinami at the Tokyo Dome. This show drew 70,000 fans but the Sasaki-Fujinami was the semi-final to Antonio Inoki’s retirement match against Don Frye.
In June Sasaki again teamed with Kazuo Yamazaki in a tournament for the IWGP Tag Team Titles. They defeated Michael Wall Street (Rotundo) and Big Titan (Rick Bogner) before losing to Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the semi-finals. The 1998 G1 Climax was a sixteen-man single elimination tournament. Sasaki defeated Michiyoshi Ohara in the first round but was eliminated with a loss to Yamazaki in the second round. Yamazaki eventually lost to Shinya Hashimoto in the tournament finals. In September Sasaki teamed with Yuji Nagata in a tournament that was supposed to be for the # 1 contendership for the WCW Tag Team Titles. Sasaki and Nagata won the tournament with a win over Hashimoto and Yamazaki on September 21, although the WCW tag team title scene was a mess that year and it’s not clear if they ever received their title shot. Sasaki teamed with Yamazaki in the 1998 Super Grade Tag League and they lost to Hashimoto and Tatsumi Fujinami in the semi-finals on December 6. Sasaki and Yamazaki worked in WAR on December 11 and lost to Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka.
On January 4, 1999 Sasaki defeated Atsushi Onita by disqualification on that year’s Tokyo Dome show headlined by Keiji Mutoh winning the IWGP Title from Scott Norton. Through January and February of that year Sasaki participated in a tournament for the # 1 contendership for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Sasaki defeated Yuji Nagata in the first round and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the semi-finals. Sasaki then defeated Satoshi Kojima on February 12 to win the tournament in front 4,300 in Gifu. Sasaki faced IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh in a title match on February 14 in a show drawing 14,000 to Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Sasaki lost by referee stoppage.
On March 22 Sasaki teamed with Shiro Koshinaka to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles from Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in the main event of a show in Amagasaki attended by 6,000 fans. Sasaki and Koshinaka lost the titles to Tatsutoshi Goto and Michiyoshi Ohara on June 27 in the main event of a show attended by 5,000 in Shizuoka. In 1999 the G1 Climax Tournament was once again a round-robin tournament. Sasaki had wins over Satoshi Kojima, Tatsumi Fujinami and Tadao Yasuda as well as losses to Keiji Mutoh and Yuji Nagata. Sasaki teamed with Kazayuki Fujita in the 1999 G1 Tag League starting in September. Sasaki then participated in tag team matches for the rest of the year.
Sasaki In The New Century
Sasaki started off the year 2000 with a main event at the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. 63,500 fans were in attendance to see Sasaki defeat champion Genichiro Tenryu for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Into February, Sasaki was a part of the trial series for Kenzo Suzuki as both an opponent and tag team partner. On February 5 Sasaki defended the IWGP Title against Don Frye at a show that drew 6,800 people in Sapporo. A card featuring New Japan wrestlers vs Team 2000 wrestlers (a faction led by Masahiro Chono) saw Sasaki initially defeat Chono to tie the ten-match series. Chono then defeated Sasaki by referee stoppage in the tie-breaking match and main event. This show drew a crowd of 11, 500 at Sumo Hall. On March 19 Sasaki defended the IWGP title against Satoshi Kojima in Nagoya on a show drawing 9,000. Sasaki defeated Jushin Liger in the semi-final match to a Tokyo Dome main event of Naoya Ogawa vs Shinya Hashimoto drawing 60,000 on April 7. Working as Power Warrior, Sasaki successfully defended the IWGP title against The Great Muta on May 5. This match took place in Fukuoka and drew 35,000 fans. On June 2 Sasaki defeated Manabu Nakanishi in an IWGP title match at Budokan Hall in Tokyo. This show was part of the Best Of The Super Juniors tour and drew 10,000. A July 20 match in Sapporo saw Sasaki defeat Takashi Iizuka in an IWGP Title match drawing 8,200.
Sasaki participated in the 2000 G1 Climax in a round-robin tournament with four blocks of five wrestlers. Sasaki had wins over Brian Johnston, Osamu Kido and Satoshi Kojima and went to a double-countout with Hiro Saito. Sasaki finished first in Block B before defeating Yuji Nagata in the semi-final and Manabu Nakanishi in the finals to win his second G1 Climax. The show featuring the semi-finals and finals drew 11,500 fans to Sumo Hall in Tokyo on August 13.
Sasaki then participated in multi-man matches in September 2000. The Tokyo Dome Show on October 9 saw Toshiaki Kawada defeat Sasaki in a New Japan vs All Japan dream match. This show drew 64,000 and came months after the All Japan/Pro Wrestling NOAH split. The match was non-title and after losing this match Sasaki surrendered the IWGP title which was declared vacant. Sasaki next teamed with Shiro Koshinaka in the 2000 G1 Tag League in November. They only had two wins in the tournament, against Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan and against T2000 Machine # 1 (Jeff Farmer) and T2000 Machine # 2 (Michiyoshi Ohara).
On January 4, 2001 the IWGP Title was decided in a tournament at the Tokyo Dome show that drew 62,000. Sasaki defeated Satoshi Kojima in the first round and Masahiro Chono in the semi-final. Sasaki then defeated Toshiaki Kawada to win his third IWGP Heavyweight Title in re-match of the October 2000 Tokyo Dome Show. Sasaki was part of the headline match of another Tokyo Dome Show main event on January 28, 2001, this time for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Sasaki teamed with Toshiaki Kawada to defeat Genichiro Tenryu and Hiroshi Hase. This show drew 30,000 which would be a good crowd anywhere but the Tokyo Dome. On February 18 Sasaki defeated Shinjiro Ohtani in an IWGP title match in front of 11,000 fans at Sumo Hall.
Sasaki lost matches in March against the team of Scott Hall and Scott Norton, first teaming with Yuji Nagata and then with Manabu Nakanishi. On March 17 Sasaki lost the IWGP Title to Scott Norton in Nagoya in a show drawing 9,000. On April 9 Sasaki lost to Shinya Hashimoto by referee stoppage in a no-rules match at the Osaka Dome. This show drew 27,000 and was Sasaki’s last match until October. Norton also lost the IWGP title to Kazayuki Fujita in the semi-final match of this show.
On August 19 Sasaki had his first mixed martial arts match as part of the Gladiator Challenge show Northglenn, Colorado. Sasaki defeated Dan Chase by submission with an armbar in 32 seconds. Sasaki returned to wrestling on the October 8, 2001 Tokyo Dome show, losing in the semi-final to Kazayuki Fujita. The main event of this show saw Yuji Nagata and Jun Akiyama defeat Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase and the show drew 61,500. In late-October Sasaki participated in the SKY PerfecTV! Cup in Fukuoka on a show drawing 7,500. Sasaki defeated Manabu Nakanishi in the semi-final and then defeated Yuji Nagata in the finals and the main event of the show. Sasaki spent a lot of October and November teaming with Danny Devine and also winning a number of singles matches against Osamu Nishimura, Yutaka Yoshie, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenzo Suzuki. In November and December Sasaki teamed with Devine in the G1 Tag League. They were in a three-way tie for second place and in a semi-finalist match they lost to Nagata and Nakanishi.
On the January 4, 2002 Tokyo Dome show Sasaki went to a no-contest with Naoya Ogawa. This show was headlined by Jun Akiyama defending the Pro Wrestling NOAH GHC title against Yuji Nagata and drew 51, 500 fans. Sasaki seems to have slid down the card from that point on in 2002. On February 1 Sasaki lost to Rick Steiner in the first round of a tournament for the vacant IWGP title. Sasaki also teamed with Yutaka Yoshie and Danny Devine in the Teisen Hall 6 Man Cup Tournament in February but they were eliminated by the team of Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanshi and Steiner. On March 1 Sasaki and Hiroshi Tanahashi lost to Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the first round of a tournament for the IWGP Tag Team Titles. On March 29 Sasaki and Wataru Inoue lost to Tenzan and Koji Kanemoto in the first round of the Naeba Cup Tournament.
On April 25 Sasaki teamed with Riki Choshu and Yutaka Yoshie to defeat Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Tatsutoshi Goto in what was billed as the “Riki Choshu Farewell Match”. This show took place in Shuhan and drew 2,800 fans. Sasaki defeated Tadao Yasuda on June 5 to become # 1 contender for the IWGP title held by Yuji Nagata. On June 7 Sasaki lost a title match to Nagata in front of 9,000 fans at Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Sasaki participated in the 2002 G1 Climax and had wins over Yoshihiro Takayama, Yutaka Yoshie and Shiro Koshinaka and losses to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Sasaki finished tied for second in his block but Tenzan advanced due to his win over Sasaki.
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-s...ll-of-fame
By Dave Musgrave
Kensuke Sasaki was born on August 4, 1966 in Fukuoka, Japan. He was trained for professional wrestling by Riki Choshu. He debuted on February 26, 1986 against Shinji Sasazaki in Riki Choshu’s Japan Pro Wrestling. This group was an off-shoot of All Japan Pro Wrestling and Sasaki worked between JPW and AJPW from February of 1986 to September of 1987. Notable opponents during that time include Mitsuo Mimota, Yoshinari Ogawa, Norio Hanaga and Toshiaki Kawada. He also participated in a four-on-two handicap match against Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu.
When Choshu returned to New Japan Pro wrestling in June of 1987, Sasaki followed and debuted on June 9 teaming with Norio Hanaga against Masahiro Chono and Shunji Kosugi. Sasaki became part of the NJPW Young Lions training system. Throughout 1987 and 1988 Sasaki spent time wrestling with and against other young NJPW wrestlers such as Masakatsu Funaki, Shinya Hashimoto, Chris Benoit, Yoji Anjo, Akira Nogami, Takayuki Iizuka, Tatsutoshi Goto, Osamu Matsuda (El Samurai), Keichi Yamada (Jushin Liger) and Minoru Suzuki. He also had a number of matches against Mexican teams such as Villano IV and Villano V, Dr. Wagner Jr. and El Canek and Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata. Sasaki also worked with Black Cat during this time.
Sasaki started in Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council in 1989 as part of the traditional international learning excursion that is undergone by many Japanese wrestlers. On January 14 he teamed with Mr. Pogo as The Ninja Express to win the WWC tag team titles from Hurracan Castillo Jr. and Miguel Perez Jr. They lost the titles to Chris and Mark Youngblood on March 4. Sasaki and Pogo regained the titles from Castillo and Perez on April 1 before dropping them to Brad and Bart Batten on April 2.
Sasaki started in Stu Hart’s Calgary Stampede Wrestling in August of 1989 where he worked as Benkai Sasaki and teamed with Sumu Hara (Koki Kitahara) as The Samurai Warriors. Kitahara later wrestled in WAR, FMW and Capture International. On August 18, 1989 they won the Stampede International Tag Team Titles from Bulldog Bob Brown and Kerry Brown. During his time in Stampede Sasaki worked against Gama Singh, Johnny Smith, Jonathan Holliday, Goldie Rogers, Skull Mason, Drago Zhivago, Biff Wellington and Duke Myers in both singles and tag team matches. On September 29 Sasaki and Hara lost the titles to Blackheart Apocalypse (Tom Nash) and Blackheart Destruction (Red Tyler). When Stampede Wrestling stopped promoting shows toward the end of 1989, the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) started running shows in its place. Sasaki did work there in March of 1990 with matches against Skull Mason, Akam Singh and Mike Lozanski.
Establishing himself in New Japan Pro Wrestling
Sasaki returned to NJPW in April of 1990 teaming with Jushin Liger against Hiro Saito and Tatsutoshi Goto on April 27. Sasaki had a higher profile position and was involved with rising stars such as Masahiro Chono, Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto and Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit). He was also in the ring with veterans such as Masa Saito, Riki Choshu, Animal Hamaguchi and Super Strong Machine. He teamed with Masa Saito against Big Van Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow on October 14. Sasaki formed a team with Hase and won the IWGP Tag Team Titles from Chono and Mutoh on November 1. They defended the titles going into December of 1990 until losing them to Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine on December 26. Also of note is that on December 3, 1990 Hase and Sasaki wrestled Masa Saito and Riki Choshu in the main event of a New Japan Pro Wrestling show in Baghdad, Iraq. This was during a time when tensions were rising between the United States and Iraq leading to the 1991 Gulf War. Sasaki had also participated in a tour of China in September of 1990 with NJPW.
Sasaki and Hase lost to champions Saito and Super Strong Machine in a re-match for the titles on February 5, 1991. Sasaki and Hase did manage to regain the titles after beating Saito and Machine on March 6. The NJPW/WCW Starrcade 1991 show took place in the Tokyo Dome took place on March 31, 1991. Sasaki and Hase had a highly acclaimed match on the show in which they lost the titles to Rick and Scott Steiner of WCW. This match was named Match of the Year in 1991 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards and Hase and Sasaki ranked third in the Tag Team of the Year awards (behind the Steiners and Mitsuhara Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada). Dave Meltzer rated the match as ****1/2. Sasaki and Hase continued to work against teams such as Great Kokina (Yokozuna) and Wild Samoan (Samu) as well as Negro Casas and Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit). On May 31 Sasaki and Hase lost a rematch against the Steiners for the IWGP tag team titles. They continued to team in tag team matches and multi-man matches throughout the rest of 1991.
Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono (all members of the WON Hall Of Fame) became famous as The Three Musketeers of NJPW. 1991 was the year in which they solidified their status in the business with their performances in the first-ever G1 Climax tournament. The three were associated with each other after debuting in the same time period of 1984. While Sasaki started his career in a similar time period to Hase (also in the Hall Of Fame), he was not able to have any such association having started his career in All-Japan as well as not being part of a break-out pack within the early to mid-1990’s.
Starting in 1992 Sasaki started working apart from Hase and actually lost to him in singles matches on June 26 and July 8. Sasaki participated in the second ever G1 Climax in August of 1992 which in that year was a tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Title. Sasaki beat Jim Neidhart in the first round and Terry Taylor in the second round before losing to Rick Rude in the semi-finals. Rude went on to lose to Masahiro Chono in the finals on a show in which Sasaki teamed with The Great Muta and lost to the Steiners in the semi-final match of the night. Sasaki started teaming with Hase again and lost to the Steiners in an IWGP tag title match on September 23. The Steiners had won the titles for a second time from Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader in June 1992. Hase and Sasaki participated in the Super Grade Tag League II in October. They defeated Bigelow and Muta in the semi-finals before losing in the finals to Riki Choshu and Shinya Hashimoto on October 22.
Sasaki then made his first run in the U.S. for World Championship Wrestling starting on October 22, 1992. During this tour Sasaki had four matches against Rick Rude for the U.S. title. Sasaki teamed with Jushin Liger and wrestled five times against Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas for the WCW/NWA tag team titles. Sasaki teamed with Erik Watts to face Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson on the Clash of the Champions XXI on November 18. Sasaki returned to Japan but came back to WCW in December and participated in the Starrcade Battlebowl pay-per-view, teaming with the Barbarian to lose to Vader and Dustin Rhodes.
The Power Warrior Era
It was during the December 1992 return to Japan that Sasaki started in what was probably his highest profile role up to that time. The legendary Road Warriors of Hawk and Animal had been teaming in the World Wrestling Federation until the fall of 1992 when Hawk left the promotion. Hawk was brought into NJPW and teamed with Sasaki as the Hell Raiders, with Sasaki being named Power Warrior. They have also been referred to as The Hell Raisers at times, which would seem to be connected to translation difficulties. They started teaming on November 23 and on December 14 they defeated Scott Norton and Tony Halme (later Ludwig Borga) for the IWGP tag team titles.
On the January 4, 1993 Tokyo Dome Show Sasaki and Hawk went to a double count-out against Rick and Scott Steiner in an IWGP tag title defense. This match was aired on WCW pay-per-view in North America and although the fans booed the finish the match was rated **** by Dave Meltzer. Sasaki continued to team with Hawk through February and March of 1993 including a successful title defense against Rambo (Luc Poirier) and Tony Halme on February 16. Sasaki participated in an arm-wrestling tournament on NJPW cards in April, going to the finals where he lost to his trainer Riki Choshu.
Sasaki and Hawk continued to defend the IWGP tag titles through July of 1993. Their title matches included a win over Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto on May 3, Bobby Eaton and Tony Halme on June 14 and Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh on July 13. Sasaki again worked for WCW in May and June of 1993, primarily in singles matches against Rick Rude and Maxx Payne. Sasaki also teamed with Dustin Rhodes who was WCW U.S. Champion at the time. On the WCW Slamboree pay-per-view from Atlanta on May 23, 1993, Sasaki and Rhodes lost to Paul Orndorff and Rick Rude.
Sasaki and Hawk lost the IWGP tag titles to Scott Norton and Hercules (known as The Jurassic Powers) on August 5 as part of the G1 Climax tour. They won a rematch by disqualification on August 8 but did not regain the titles. Sasaki and Hawk lost to Hulk Hogan and The Great Muta on September 23. They participated in the 1993 Super Grade Tag League in October. On December 13, 1993 Sasaki had what appears to have been his first match for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. He lost to champion Shinya Hashimoto at NJPW Battle Final 1993 Day 20. The show drew a sell-out of 6,850 in Osaka and this was said to have been a very brutal match. On the January 4, 1994 Tokyo Dome Show, Sasaki and Hawk regained the IWGP tag titles from Scott Norton and Hercules in what was said to have been the second worst match on the show. Sasaki and Hawk continued to team through February after which Sasaki worked singles matches as well as teaming with partners such as Jushin Liger, The Barbarian, Satoshi Kojima, Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh through April.
Sasaki and Hawk defeated Rick and Scott Steiner on May 1 in an IWGP tag title match. They continued in tag matches into June when Hawk seems to have been absent from the promotion. In August Sasaki participated in the 1994 G1 Climax tournament in which he won matches against Hiroshi Hase, Shiro Koshinaka and Takayuki Iizuka. He had a loss to Tatsumi Fujinami and a thirty-minute time limit draw with Hashimoto. On August 7 Sasaki lost in the tournament finals to Masahiro Chono.
Hawk returned in September 1994 and he and Sasaki successfully defended the IWGP tag titles against Rick and Scott Steiner on September 27. Sasaki and Hawk then participated in the 1994 Super Grade Tag League. Their last match in the tournament was a loss to Masahiro Chono and Super Strong Machine who went on to lose to Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh in the finals. Hase and Mutoh then defeated Sasaki and Hawk for the IWGP tag titles on November 25. Sasaki and Hawk lost to Scott Norton and Chris Benoit on November 28 and Sasaki then spent the rest of 1994 working with other tag partners including Hase, Norton and Mutoh.
Sasaki lost to champion Shinya Hashimoto in a match for the IWGP Title at the January 4, 1995 Tokyo Dome Show that drew 62,500. Even though Sasaki had a broken bone in his wrist that he suffered in mid-December, he still executed two Asaii Moonsaults. Sasaki then started teaming with younger generation wrestlers such as Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Koji Kanemoto and Manabu Nakanishi and he also teamed regularly with Hiroshi Hase through the summer of 1995. He also continued to team with Hawk during March, June and July. Sasaki participated in the Collision In Korea two-day Peace Festival in April of 1995. For these shows, WCW and NJPW presented shows in North Korea to record crowds of 340,000 people over two days. This figure is controversial as many of those in attendance were seen as being forced to attend. Sasaki defeated Masa Saito on day one and teamed with Hase to lose to the Steiners on day two.
Sasaki participated in the first three days of the 1995 G1 Climax with losses to Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima and a win over Hashimoto. Sasaki participated in tag matches on Days 4 and 5 and was absent from the rest of the tournament. Hawk was back in Japan in September and he and Sasaki lost to champions Junji Hirata and Shinya Hashimoto in an IWGP Tag Title match on September 20 in Sendai. This was the main event and the show drew 4,500. Sasaki faced shoot-style wrestlers as part of the NJPW vs UWFI feud in October. He lost to Masahito Kakihara at the October 9 Tokyo Dome Show headlined by Keiji Mutoh vs Nobuhiko Takada with 67,000 fans in attendance. Sasaki defeated UWFI wrestler Tatsuo Nakano on October 11. Sasaki teamed with Riki Choshu on the first day of the 1995 Super Grade Tag League but teamed with Masa Saito for the remainder of the tournament. After the tournament Sasaki continued having NJPW vs UWFI matches with wins over Yoshihiro Takayama and Yoji Anjo.
On November 13 Sasaki defeated WCW wrestler Sting in Tokyo to win the WCW United States Title in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,500 at Sumo Hall. This was Sasaki’s first singles title win in Japan but it was foreseen as Sasaki had been wearing the U.S. title at WCW’s Disney tapings in recent weeks. Sasaki alternated between WCW and NJPW for the rest of the year. He had lost to Chris Benoit on WCW Monday Nitro on November 6 as part of an angle in which Sonny Onoo brought NJPW wrestlers in to feud with WCW wrestlers. Sasaki successfully defended the U.S. title against Benoit on the WCW World War III pay-per-view on November 26. Sasaki was also in the three-ring sixty-man battle royal on that show. On December 27 the WCW Starrcade pay-per-view had a World Cup Of Wrestling with WCW vs NJPW wrestlers. The tournament had seven matches, the last of which saw Sting defeat Sasaki to win the tournament for WCW. Sasaki then lost the U.S. title to One Man Gang on the same show in a match that did not air on the pay-per-view.
A High and A Low In 1995
It was during 1995 that Sasaki married Akira Hokuta, a legend of All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling who was elected to the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2000. Dave Meltzer has previously said that Hokuto has to be considered one of the five greatest workers in the history of women's wrestling. Hokuto had debuted in 1985 and came to be known as “The Mummy” due to frequently wearing bandages while wrestling due to injuries. She had famous matches with Shinobu Kandori, Aja Kong and Manami Toyota and also lived in Mexico and wrestled as Reina Kabuki for two years while married to Mascara Magica. She later was known for wrestling in WCW in the U.S. and feuding with Madusa. She won a tournament to crown the first WCW Women’s Champion at Starrcade 1996 on December 29, 1996. Sasaki and Hokuto gave birth to a son in 1998 and again in 2003.
Unfortunately, it was also during 1995 that Sasaki was involved in the most controversial moment of his career. Hiromitsu Gompei was an amateur wrestler who had been recruited into NJPW by Hiroshi Hase. Gompei was reportedly exhausted when he was ordered to continue when Riki Choshu walked in after the daily workouts and wanted to see how he was doing. Gompei was making mistakes during the exercises and Sasaki reportedly started suplexing him on his head repeatedly. Gompei passed away and it was determined that the cause was brain trauma. No charges were ever brought against Sasaki. Hase was reportedly devastated and after being the one to inform Gompei’s parents he left NJPW after the January 4, 1996 Tokyo Dome Show in January where he lost to Sasaki.
1996: A Year Of Transition
In February of 1996 Sasaki teamed with Keiji Mutoh in matches against UWFI teams Kengo Kimura and Akitoshi Saito and Kazuo Yamazaki and Osamu Kido. Sasaki and Mutoh participated in a one-night tag team tournament on March 26, losing to Tatsumi Fujinami and Shiro Koshinaka in the finals. Sasaki returned to WCW in May of 1996 for television matches. He and Masahiro Chono lost to The Nasty Boys of Jerry Saggs and Brian Knobbs. Sasaki also defeated Cobra (Jeff Farmer) who was later known as NWO Sting. In June Sasaki started a series of matches in which he returned to the Power Warrior gimmick to team with both Hawk and Animal of The Road Warriors in NJPW. The three would team together sixteen times in June and July against an assortment of opponents from NJPW. Sasaki lost to WCW Champion The Giant (today known as The Big Show) in a match for the title on July 16 in Sapporo.
Sasaki participated in the 1996 G1 Climax with wins over Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Junji Hirata, and Shinya Hashimoto. Sasaki lost to Riki Choshu by referee stoppage. Choshu eventully defeated Mashahiro Chono in the finals to win the tournament. Sasaki participated in a Japan/USA All Star Tournament in NJPW in September. He defeated Lex Luger, Ric Flair and Scott Norton in the first three rounds en route to defeating Shiro Koshinaka in the tournament finals on September 23. Sasaki teamed with Shinjiro Ohtani in a one-night tag team tournament on November 3, winning in the first two rounds before losing to Akira Nogami and Michiyoshi Ohara in the finals. Hawk and Animal returned in November and the three continued teaming into December. Sasaki lost to Hugh Morrus by disqualification on the December 30, 1996 episode of WCW Monday Nitro.
The Rise Of Sasaki
Sasaki’s breakthrough year was 1997. He worked as Power Warrior to defeat The Great Muta in the semi-final match of the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show attended by 62,500. Sasaki teamed with IWGP Champion Shinya Hashimoto a number of times through March of that year. On April 12 Sasaki teamed with his trainer Riki Choshu to win the IWGP tag team titles from Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura. This match was the semi-final to the famous Tokyo Dome match with former Judo World Champion Naoya Ogawa defeating Hashimoto in his professional wrestling debut. The show drew 60,500 fans. Sasaki and Choshu lost the titles to Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima on May 3 at the Osaka Dome. This was the semi-final match to another Hashimoto vs Ogawa match with an attendance of 53,000.
August of 1997 was one of the biggest months of Sasaki’s career. The 1997 G1 Climax Tournament was a fourteen-man single elimination tournament between August 1 and August 3. Sasaki and WCW wrestler Buff Bagwell were the two wrestlers to get a bye to the quarter-finals on August 2. Sasaki defeated Bagwell and then defeated Scott Norton in the semi-finals and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the finals to win his first G1 Climax in front of 11,500 at Sumo Hall. Sasaki then teamed with Kazuo Yamazaki to win the titles from Nakanishi and Kojima on August 10 in Nagoya. This was the third last match on a show drawing 43,500. Sasaki then became IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the first time when he defeated champion Shinya Hashimoto on August 31 in Yokohama. This show had 18,000 fans in attendance.
Sasaki and Yamazaki participated in a tag team tournament in September and defeated The Great Muta and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the finals. This was during the NWO Japan era and a lot of Sasaki’s matches during this time were against the faction that included Mutoh, Tenzan, Masahiro Chono and others. Sasaki and Yamazaki lost the IWGP tag titles to Mutoh and Chono on October 19 in a show drawing 8,000 to Kobe World Hall. Sasaki defeated Chono in his first IWGP Title defense on October 31 on a show that drew 5,300 fans in Hiroshima. Sasaki and Yamazaki participated in the 1997 Super Grade Tag League and lost to Shinya Hashimoto and Manabu Nakanishi in the semi-finals on December 8.
Sasaki headlined a Tokyo Dome show as champion for the first time on January 4, 1998. On that show he successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Keiji Mutoh in a show that drew 65,000 fans. With this win, Sasaki had defeated the Three Musketeers of NJPW in three straight title matches. Sasaki defeated Osamu Nishimura in a title match on February 7 in Sapporo in front of 6,500 fans. Sasaki continued to be a part of multi-man matches in the NWO Japan feud through March of that year. On April 4 Sasaki lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title to Tatsumi Fujinami at the Tokyo Dome. This show drew 70,000 fans but the Sasaki-Fujinami was the semi-final to Antonio Inoki’s retirement match against Don Frye.
In June Sasaki again teamed with Kazuo Yamazaki in a tournament for the IWGP Tag Team Titles. They defeated Michael Wall Street (Rotundo) and Big Titan (Rick Bogner) before losing to Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the semi-finals. The 1998 G1 Climax was a sixteen-man single elimination tournament. Sasaki defeated Michiyoshi Ohara in the first round but was eliminated with a loss to Yamazaki in the second round. Yamazaki eventually lost to Shinya Hashimoto in the tournament finals. In September Sasaki teamed with Yuji Nagata in a tournament that was supposed to be for the # 1 contendership for the WCW Tag Team Titles. Sasaki and Nagata won the tournament with a win over Hashimoto and Yamazaki on September 21, although the WCW tag team title scene was a mess that year and it’s not clear if they ever received their title shot. Sasaki teamed with Yamazaki in the 1998 Super Grade Tag League and they lost to Hashimoto and Tatsumi Fujinami in the semi-finals on December 6. Sasaki and Yamazaki worked in WAR on December 11 and lost to Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka.
On January 4, 1999 Sasaki defeated Atsushi Onita by disqualification on that year’s Tokyo Dome show headlined by Keiji Mutoh winning the IWGP Title from Scott Norton. Through January and February of that year Sasaki participated in a tournament for the # 1 contendership for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Sasaki defeated Yuji Nagata in the first round and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the semi-finals. Sasaki then defeated Satoshi Kojima on February 12 to win the tournament in front 4,300 in Gifu. Sasaki faced IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh in a title match on February 14 in a show drawing 14,000 to Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Sasaki lost by referee stoppage.
On March 22 Sasaki teamed with Shiro Koshinaka to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles from Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in the main event of a show in Amagasaki attended by 6,000 fans. Sasaki and Koshinaka lost the titles to Tatsutoshi Goto and Michiyoshi Ohara on June 27 in the main event of a show attended by 5,000 in Shizuoka. In 1999 the G1 Climax Tournament was once again a round-robin tournament. Sasaki had wins over Satoshi Kojima, Tatsumi Fujinami and Tadao Yasuda as well as losses to Keiji Mutoh and Yuji Nagata. Sasaki teamed with Kazayuki Fujita in the 1999 G1 Tag League starting in September. Sasaki then participated in tag team matches for the rest of the year.
Sasaki In The New Century
Sasaki started off the year 2000 with a main event at the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. 63,500 fans were in attendance to see Sasaki defeat champion Genichiro Tenryu for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Into February, Sasaki was a part of the trial series for Kenzo Suzuki as both an opponent and tag team partner. On February 5 Sasaki defended the IWGP Title against Don Frye at a show that drew 6,800 people in Sapporo. A card featuring New Japan wrestlers vs Team 2000 wrestlers (a faction led by Masahiro Chono) saw Sasaki initially defeat Chono to tie the ten-match series. Chono then defeated Sasaki by referee stoppage in the tie-breaking match and main event. This show drew a crowd of 11, 500 at Sumo Hall. On March 19 Sasaki defended the IWGP title against Satoshi Kojima in Nagoya on a show drawing 9,000. Sasaki defeated Jushin Liger in the semi-final match to a Tokyo Dome main event of Naoya Ogawa vs Shinya Hashimoto drawing 60,000 on April 7. Working as Power Warrior, Sasaki successfully defended the IWGP title against The Great Muta on May 5. This match took place in Fukuoka and drew 35,000 fans. On June 2 Sasaki defeated Manabu Nakanishi in an IWGP title match at Budokan Hall in Tokyo. This show was part of the Best Of The Super Juniors tour and drew 10,000. A July 20 match in Sapporo saw Sasaki defeat Takashi Iizuka in an IWGP Title match drawing 8,200.
Sasaki participated in the 2000 G1 Climax in a round-robin tournament with four blocks of five wrestlers. Sasaki had wins over Brian Johnston, Osamu Kido and Satoshi Kojima and went to a double-countout with Hiro Saito. Sasaki finished first in Block B before defeating Yuji Nagata in the semi-final and Manabu Nakanishi in the finals to win his second G1 Climax. The show featuring the semi-finals and finals drew 11,500 fans to Sumo Hall in Tokyo on August 13.
Sasaki then participated in multi-man matches in September 2000. The Tokyo Dome Show on October 9 saw Toshiaki Kawada defeat Sasaki in a New Japan vs All Japan dream match. This show drew 64,000 and came months after the All Japan/Pro Wrestling NOAH split. The match was non-title and after losing this match Sasaki surrendered the IWGP title which was declared vacant. Sasaki next teamed with Shiro Koshinaka in the 2000 G1 Tag League in November. They only had two wins in the tournament, against Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan and against T2000 Machine # 1 (Jeff Farmer) and T2000 Machine # 2 (Michiyoshi Ohara).
On January 4, 2001 the IWGP Title was decided in a tournament at the Tokyo Dome show that drew 62,000. Sasaki defeated Satoshi Kojima in the first round and Masahiro Chono in the semi-final. Sasaki then defeated Toshiaki Kawada to win his third IWGP Heavyweight Title in re-match of the October 2000 Tokyo Dome Show. Sasaki was part of the headline match of another Tokyo Dome Show main event on January 28, 2001, this time for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Sasaki teamed with Toshiaki Kawada to defeat Genichiro Tenryu and Hiroshi Hase. This show drew 30,000 which would be a good crowd anywhere but the Tokyo Dome. On February 18 Sasaki defeated Shinjiro Ohtani in an IWGP title match in front of 11,000 fans at Sumo Hall.
Sasaki lost matches in March against the team of Scott Hall and Scott Norton, first teaming with Yuji Nagata and then with Manabu Nakanishi. On March 17 Sasaki lost the IWGP Title to Scott Norton in Nagoya in a show drawing 9,000. On April 9 Sasaki lost to Shinya Hashimoto by referee stoppage in a no-rules match at the Osaka Dome. This show drew 27,000 and was Sasaki’s last match until October. Norton also lost the IWGP title to Kazayuki Fujita in the semi-final match of this show.
On August 19 Sasaki had his first mixed martial arts match as part of the Gladiator Challenge show Northglenn, Colorado. Sasaki defeated Dan Chase by submission with an armbar in 32 seconds. Sasaki returned to wrestling on the October 8, 2001 Tokyo Dome show, losing in the semi-final to Kazayuki Fujita. The main event of this show saw Yuji Nagata and Jun Akiyama defeat Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase and the show drew 61,500. In late-October Sasaki participated in the SKY PerfecTV! Cup in Fukuoka on a show drawing 7,500. Sasaki defeated Manabu Nakanishi in the semi-final and then defeated Yuji Nagata in the finals and the main event of the show. Sasaki spent a lot of October and November teaming with Danny Devine and also winning a number of singles matches against Osamu Nishimura, Yutaka Yoshie, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenzo Suzuki. In November and December Sasaki teamed with Devine in the G1 Tag League. They were in a three-way tie for second place and in a semi-finalist match they lost to Nagata and Nakanishi.
On the January 4, 2002 Tokyo Dome show Sasaki went to a no-contest with Naoya Ogawa. This show was headlined by Jun Akiyama defending the Pro Wrestling NOAH GHC title against Yuji Nagata and drew 51, 500 fans. Sasaki seems to have slid down the card from that point on in 2002. On February 1 Sasaki lost to Rick Steiner in the first round of a tournament for the vacant IWGP title. Sasaki also teamed with Yutaka Yoshie and Danny Devine in the Teisen Hall 6 Man Cup Tournament in February but they were eliminated by the team of Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanshi and Steiner. On March 1 Sasaki and Hiroshi Tanahashi lost to Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the first round of a tournament for the IWGP Tag Team Titles. On March 29 Sasaki and Wataru Inoue lost to Tenzan and Koji Kanemoto in the first round of the Naeba Cup Tournament.
On April 25 Sasaki teamed with Riki Choshu and Yutaka Yoshie to defeat Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Tatsutoshi Goto in what was billed as the “Riki Choshu Farewell Match”. This show took place in Shuhan and drew 2,800 fans. Sasaki defeated Tadao Yasuda on June 5 to become # 1 contender for the IWGP title held by Yuji Nagata. On June 7 Sasaki lost a title match to Nagata in front of 9,000 fans at Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Sasaki participated in the 2002 G1 Climax and had wins over Yoshihiro Takayama, Yutaka Yoshie and Shiro Koshinaka and losses to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Sasaki finished tied for second in his block but Tenzan advanced due to his win over Sasaki.