Shinjiro Otani

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Shinjirō Ōhtani
Statistics
Ring name(s) Mr. Otani (Europe)
Shinjirō Ōtani
Billed height 5 ft 11 in (181 cm)
Billed weight 236 lbs (107 kg)
Born July 21, 1972 (1972-07-21) (age 35)
Yamaguchi
Resides Houston, Texas
Trained by Animal Hamaguchi
Debut June 25, 1992

Shinjirō Ōtani (大谷晋二郎, born July 21, 1972) is a Japanese professional wrestler.

Contents

[edit] Career

Ōtani was the first WCW World Cruiserweight Champion, defeating The Pegasus Kid in a tournament final to be crowned champion on March 20, 1996. This was the start of his push as a legitimate junior heavyweight contender. Over the years, Ōtani earned the J-Crown and was also part of the first IWGP junior tag team champions with Tatsuhito Takaiwa.

In 2000, New Japan booker Riki Chōshū, eager to push his protege Kensuke Sasaki above everyone else, downgraded the junior heavyweight members to mere jobbers for the heavyweights. Ōtani protested and was sent abroad to bulk up. Returning in 2001 as a full-fledged heavyweight, Ōtani challenged Sasaki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but failed. He then joined Shinya Hashimoto in creating their own promotion, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, where he became one of the top stars after Hashimoto's departure in 2004 and subsequent death. In ZERO-ONE he formed a tag team with Masato Tanaka called Emblem; Team Emblem (as they were later known) would appear in the US promotion Ultimate Pro Wrestling, and include Keiji Sakoda but they later split.

On January 22, 2006, Ōtani defeated Steve Corino for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.[1]

[edit] In wrestling

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • Premier Wrestling Federation
  • PWF Universal Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Masato Tanaka
  • PWI also ranked him # 42 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Tatsuhito Takaiwa in 2003.
  • Tag Team of the Year (1998) - with Tatsuhito Takaiwa
  • Best Technical Wrestler (1999)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brady, Hicks. "2006: The year in wrestling", PWI Presents: 2007 Wrestling Almanak and book of facts, Kappa Publications, p. 17. 2007 Edition. Retrieved on 2007-07-11. (English) 
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