- Masaaki Mochizuki
-
Masaaki Mochizuki Ring name(s) Masaaki Mochizuki[1] Billed height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] Billed weight 85 kg (190 lb)[2] Born January 17, 1970 [1]
Kōtō, Tokyo[2]Trained by Koji Kitao Debut January 21, 1994[3] Masaaki Mochizuki (望月 成晃 Mochizuki Masaaki) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently performing for Dragon Gate, where he is the current Open the Dream Gate Champion in his second reign and the leader of the Junction Three stable. He is a former FIP World Champion.
Contents
Professional wrestling career
Early years
A 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, the stable's name coming from their surnames. Darkness Dragon and Chocoball KOBE would join later in the year as well. The group wreaked havoc on Toryumon's initial El Numero Uno Tournament in 2001, forcing every group member's matches, except for Susumu's, to end in double-countouts. However, Masaaki won a second-chance battle royal to get back into the tournament. After defeating CIMA via knockout in the semi-finals, he pinned Magnum TOKYO in the finals; his only pinfall victory of the whole tournament. His issue with both, namely CIMA and his Crazy MAX stable, would continue through the end of the year; such was M2K's chicanery that Crazy MAX, the original renegade group of Toryumon, was turned face by default. After losing a hair vs. hair lumberjack match to CIMA in December 2001, Masaaki was humiliated into cleaning up M2K's act.
He returned in 2002, claiming to be a "good person", and made a conscious effort to rid M2K of its evil ways, something his stablemates would have none of; kicking him out of the group not long after. He got one back on them on February 24, though, when he beat Susumu for the rights to the Mochizuki surname, forcing Susumu to take on "Yokosuka" as his new surname.
He would then go on to lead the Toryumon Army with Dragon Kid and Ryo Saito throughout 2002. On January 23, 2003, he formed the much-maligned Shin M2K, and they lasted until December 16 when he lost to fellow member Keni'chiro Arai in a match and was forced to disband the unit. At the beginning of 2004, he turned heel again to become leader of the Aagan Iisou stable. His time with them lasted a mere three months, when personality clashes between him and the other members resulted in him being kicked out. He turned face again and repented for his heel turn, and then on July 4, he and former M2K members from both generations banded with him to form Final M2K as Toryumon became Dragon Gate.
Dragon Gate
In December, he celebrated 10 years in wrestling by defeating CIMA for Dragon Gate's top prize, the Open the Dream Gate Championship. He held the title for 11 months before losing it to Magnitude Kishiwada on November 4, 2005. When 2006 rolled around, he began to distance himself from Final M2K a bit, giving the reins of leadership to Susumu and joining up with Magnum TOKYO in his short-lived Renaissance project.
He also returned to the old WAR promotion, reviving their International Junior Heavyweight Title, which he lost to Pentagon Black on July 27. He won it back on November 23, but vacated it immediately after winning it. He beat Gedo in a decision match on January 26, 2007 to determine the final champion and then retired the title. He also teamed with fellow Renaissance member Don Fujii to win the revived WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles on August 6, 2006, beating Gamma & Dr. Muscle in a tournament final. They would hold the title until January 7, 2007, when they lost them to Jado & Gedo.
In December 2006, he won the 2nd King of Gate Tournament, beating last year's champion Ryo Saito in the finals. On January 14, 2007, the Final M2K stable came to an end, after he, Susumu & K-ness lost to CIMA, Don Fujii & Matt Sydal of the also-ending Blood Generation. He then decided that he would not become part of another unit, instead continuing his team with Don Fujii, who also refused to join another unit.
In 2007, he hosted his first self-produced show, Buyuden. The show became a success, and it has since become a monthly show, with talent from different promotions in Japan participating. He - along with Don Fujii - was made the company ambassador to promotions within Japan while CIMA spearheaded the company's international expansion. He also challenged for the Dream Gate Title twice, but when he failed to win it either time, he decided to continue to focus on outside efforts with Fujii.
Towards the end of the year, they united with K-ness to form Mushozoku, a team of wrestlers 35 years and older. On September 9, they won the Open the Triangle Gate Titles, defeating Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & Magnitude Kishiwada, and defended them right up until February 24, 2008, when they lost them to Shingo Takagi, BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong. K-ness stepped into a background role, and soon, the newly-face Magnitude Kishiwada took his place, forming Zetsurins. On September 28, the trio won the Open the Triangle Gate Titles from Yasushi Kanda, YAMATO & Gamma. They made a defense against Keni'chiro Arai, Akira Tozawa & Taku Iwasa of Tozawa-juku on November 16, and Tozawa added the stipulation that if his team lost, then Tozawa-juku would disband. Mochizuki scored the winning pinfall, bringing Tozawa-juku to an end.
Iwasa began a rivalry with him after swearing revenge on him for causing the end of Tozawa-juku. They faced off in a second round match in the King of Gate Tournament in December, where Mochizuki had promised that he would show Iwasa's one "fundamental flaw." Mochizuki won, and afterwards, he told Iwasa that his "fundamental flaw" was that he had been a tag team wrestler for so long that he had forgotten how to wrestle on his own, and would have to re-learn how. Mochizuki would get to the finals of the tournament, but lost to Naruki Doi. On February 15, 2009, he, Fujii & Kishiwada lost the Triangle Gate titles to Shingo Takagi, Taku Iwasa & Dragon Kid, where he took the fall, being pinned by Iwasa.
In August, he teamed with Katsuhiko Nakajima to participate in the annual Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament, and they made it to the finals, but they lost to Shingo Takagi & YAMATO. Two months later, he would hold the Triangle Gate titles for a third time, teaming with Don Fujii & Akebono to beat Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC.
After teaming with Anthony W. Mori against Takuya Sugawara & Minoru Fujita, Mori turned to Mochizuki and named him as the heir to the throne of Phillip J. Fukumasa. Mochi took the crown, and agreed the three would do the Royal Brothers (Anthony W. Mori, Henry III Sugawara, Phillip J. Mochizuki) on the first Buyuden after the generation war was over. On May 13, 2010, Mochizuki, Fujii and Akebono lost the Open the Triangle Gate Championship to CIMA, Gamma and Genki Horiguchi. On January 10, 2011, Mochizuki and Fujii defeated Naruki Doi and Gamma to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship. They would lose the title to Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito on February 6, 2011. On April 14, 2011, Mochizuki defeated Masato Yoshino to win the Open the Dream Gate Championship for the second time.[4] On April 24 Mochizuki agreed to form a new alliance with former World-1 members Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk, PAC and Susumu Yokosuka to battle the promotion's new top heel stable, Blood Warriors.[5] On June 8, the new group was named Junction Three (JIII) in reference to it being a union between the former members of World-1, KAMIKAZE and the Veteran Army.[6]
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Reverse Twister (Twisting inverted brainbuster)[7][3]
- Saikyou High Kick (Left high roundhouse kick)[8][3]
- Sankakugeri to the Face (Corner middle rope springboard gamengiri)[3]
- Shin Saikyou High Kick (Right high roundhouse kick)[8][3]
- Twister (Twisting brainbuster)[8][3]
- Twister II (Twisting falcon arrow)[8][3]
- Signature moves
- Axe kick[9]
- Back heel kick[9]
- Bridging dragon suplex[1][7]
- Corner big boot[9]
- Ikkakugeri (Running knee strike to an opponent trapped horizontally between the turnbuckles)[3][9]
- Illusion (Corkscrew roundhouse kick)[3][9]
- Roundhouse kick to the head of a kneeling or seated opponent[9]
- Running single leg dropkick[7]
- Sankakugeri (Corner middle rope springboard enzuigiri)[3][9]
- Topé Masaaki (Over the top rope suicide dive)[8][1]
- Twisting Ikkakugeri (Running back heel kick to an opponent trapped horizontally between the turnbuckles)[9]
- Wagamamana Hizakozou (Repeated shoot kicks to the opponent's chest)[3][9]
- Theme music
- "Kizudarake no Eikou" performed by Masaaki Mochizuki[2] (Available on Dragon Gate's OPEN THE MUSIC GATE album)
- "Idrake no Eikou" by Takeshi Obou (Used only for high-profile matches)
- "FINAL STAGE" by Dragon Gate productions (Used while a part of Final M2K)
- "The Worst One" by Dragon Gate (Used while part of Aagan Iisou)
Championships and accomplishments
- Dragon Gate
- Open the Dream Gate Championship (2 times (1), and Don Fujii & Akebono (1)
- Open the Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – with Don Fujii
- WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- Open the Owarai Gate Championship (1 time)
- Open the Triangle Gate Championship (3 times) – with K-ness and Don Fujii (1), Don Fujii and Magnitude Kishiwada
- WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Don Fujii
- King of Gate (2006)
-
- Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Don Fujii
- Osaka Tag Festival (2010) – with Don Fujii
- Toryumon Japan
- UWA World Trios Championship (2 times) – with Darkness Dragon and Susumu Mochizuki (1) and with Keni'chiro Arai and Dragon Kid (1)
- El Numero Uno (2001)
- Wrestle Association "R"
- WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Battle Ranger (1) and Don Fujii (1)
- WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Nobukazu Hirai and Mitsuharu Kitao
Lucha de Apuesta record
See also: Luchas de ApuestasWager Winner(s) Loser(s) Location Date Notes Hair Masaaki Mochizuki Magnum TOKYO Osaka, Japan September 30, 2001 Five-way steel cage match, which also included CIMA, Darkness Dragon and Dragon Kid. Hair CIMA Masaaki Mochizuki Tokyo, Japan December 10, 2001 Lumberjack match. References
- ^ a b c d "Puroresu Central Profile". Puroresu Central. http://www.puroresucentral.com/mochizuki.html. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Dragon Gate Official Profile". Dragon Gate. http://www.gaora.co.jp/dragongate/data/prfl/mochizuki.html. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "CageMatch Profile". CageMatch. http://cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=2899&gimmick=Masaaki+Mochizuki. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ "4/14 Champion Gate - 14 Apr 2011". iHeartDG. 2011-04-14. http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1302775264&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
- ^ "4/24 Gate of Passion - 24 Apr 2011". iHeartDG. 2011-04-24. http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1303633947&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
- ^ "6/8 Gate of Maximum Kickoff - 08 Jun 2011". iHeartDG. 2011-06-08. http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1307525978&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
- ^ a b c "Infinity 171". 2010-04-24. http://bgsays.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/infinity-171-or-king-of-gate-2010-begins/. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- ^ a b c d e "Masaaki Mochizuki DGUSA Profile". http://dgusa.tv/roster/mochizuki.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Infinity 177". 2010-05-28. http://bgsays.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/infinity-177-or-yamato-vs-mochizuki. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- ^ ""PWI 500": 201–300". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 2010-07-28. http://prowrestlingillustrated.blogspot.com/2010/07/pwi-500-201-300.html. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
External links
Junction Three wrestlers Dragon Kid • Gamma • KAGETORA • Masaaki Mochizuki • Masato Yoshino • PAC • Rich Swann • Shingo Takagi • Super Shisa • Susumu Yokosuka • YAMATOBlood Warriors wrestlers Akira Tozawa • Brodie Lee • BxB Hulk • CIMA • Genki Horiguchi • Kzy • Naoki Tanisaki • Naruki Doi • Ricochet • Ryo Saito • Tomahawk T.T • Yasushi KandaUnaffliated wrestlers Cyber Kong • Don Fujii • Eita Kobayashi • Keni'chiro Arai • K-ness • Kotoka • Shachihoko Machine • Shisa BOY • Stalker Ichikawa • Super Shenlong II • Takafumi Watanabe • Taku IwasaOther talent Categories:- 1970 births
- Japanese professional wrestlers
- Living people
- People from Tokyo
- Finishing moves
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