Yoshihiro Asai

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Yoshihiro Asai
Statistics
Ring name(s) Último Dragón
Ultimate Dragon
Asai
Second Tiger
Saigon Dragon
Tiger Dragon
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Weight 85 kg (190 lb/13.4 st)
Billed height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Billed weight 83.9 kg (185 lb/13.21 st) ,84 kg (190 lb/13.2 st)
Born December 12, 1966 (1966-12-12) (age 41)
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Trained by Gran Hamada
Debut May 13, 1987 with Naoki Sano and Hirokazu Hata vs. Los Millonarios de la Muerte

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

Asai is the only professional wrestler in the world to hold 10 titles at the same time. On October 11, 1996, he won the J-Crown, a unification of eight junior (lightweight) division titles from various international promotions. At the time, he also held the NWA Middleweight and WCW Cruiserweight titles, making him the most decorated wrestler in the world.[1]

He speaks Spanish fluently, and resided in Mexico for several years.

Contents

[edit] Career

The name Ultimo Dragon, which means "Last Dragon" in Spanish was initially used as a gimmick of Asai claiming to be the final student taught by legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, whose nickname was "The Dragon".[1] The gimmick was later forgotten, but the name remained.

Asai debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1987, but left the promotion along with his mentor, Gran Hamada, to help form Hamada's Universal Lucha Libre promotion. When the ULL went into decline, he moved to WAR.

Asai made his American debut for the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotion in 1996 as The Ultimate Dragon. He was referred to by this name for several months in WCW until they realized it was a translation error and reverted to using his real ring name.[2] He suffered an arm injury in 1999 that required surgery. The operation was botched, causing nerve damage. It was thought that this would force an end of his career and he announced his retirement.[1]

In 1997, Asai then became a trainer where he trained three classes of students, "Toryumon Japan", "Toryumon 2000 Project" (T2P), and "Toryumon X". His first class of students worked for WCW early in their career. In 1998, Asai formed the promotion company Grupo Revolucion based out of Mexico, where he trained several of the top young wrestlers.[3] In 1999, a promotion named Toryumon opened, with the vast majority of the roster having been trained by Asai. Toryumon was later renamed Dragon Gate, and Asai parted ways with the promotion. He continued to train students at his gym.

In 2002, Asai underwent another surgery to repair the damage done to his arm and returned to wrestling. In the spring of 2003, he signed with World Wrestling Entertainment as the Último Dragón, seeking to realize his two lifelong goals of competing in Madison Square Garden and performing at WrestleMania. He was brought in on the heels of the signing of Rey Mysterio on the belief that he would make as big of an impact as Mysterio did upon his WWE debut. Asai made his WWE debut at Madison Square Garden on the June 26, 2003 episode of SmackDown! in a match with Shannon Moore, and wrestled there again at WrestleMania XX. His contract expired in 2004 .

Since leaving WWE, Asai has occasionally wrestled for the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. He also took part in the short lived promotion Dragondoor.

He has recently wrestled at UWA Hardcore Wrestling based outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has wrestled against Sonjay Dutt, M-Dogg 20, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and Black Tiger all in the UWA.

[edit] Movie career

Ultimo Dragon is set to star in two films in 2008.

The first is Bloodstained Memoirs, also starring Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley and Keiji Mutoh. Ultimo Dragon's scenes were filmed in the UK and Italy.[4]

The other is Ultimo Dragon. Little is known about this film, other than Ultimo Dragon stars, and it is a heroic martial arts story.[5]

[edit] In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • PWI ranked him # 61 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.

1Despite Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre keeping the NWA initials as part of these two championships after leaving the National Wrestling Alliance, they are not sanctioned nor recognized as world titles by the National Wrestling Alliance.
²Although he won the championship, the win and reign aren't recognized by World Wrestling Entertainment.

[edit] External links

Professional wrestling
Portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Molinaro, John (October 28, 1999). A Quiet End for Ultimo Dragon. SLAM! Wrestling. SLAM! Sports. Retrieved on 2008-03-15.
  2. ^ Japanese Superstars - Ultimo Dragon
  3. ^ SLAM! Wrestling - John Molinaro Chat
  4. ^ Bloodstained Memoirs Official Site
  5. ^ Ultimo Dragon Official Site