| Kintaro Kanemura | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Kintaro Kanemura Yukihiro Kanemura W*ING Kanemura Kintaman |
| Billed height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Billed weight | 112 kg (250 lb; 17.6 st) |
| Born | August 9, 1970 |
| Debut | December 20, 1990 |
Yukihiro Kanemura (金村 珩皓 Kanemura Yukihiro) (Korean: 김행호) (born August 9, 1970) is a Zainichi-Korean professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Kintaro Kanemura (金村 キンタロー Kanemura Kintaro). He is also known as W*ING Kanemura.
He is best known for his death matches in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and Big Japan Pro Wrestling. He has also wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling. He currently wrestles as a freelancer.
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Yukihiro Kanemura made his debut in December 1990 for Pioneer Senshi, against Akitoshi Saito, who also debuted. Within months, Pioneer Senshi folded.
In September 1991, Kanemura made his debut for Wrestling International New Generations. Although he started on the undercard, he work his way up the ladder in W*ING. In December 1992, he won his very first championship, the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship, defeating Miguel Perez, Jr.
In March 1993, during a Smoky Mountain Wrestling TV taping, Kanemura was attacked by Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan bladed Kanemura's arm with a spike; the incident was censored on national television in America. In April 1993, he teamed up with Mitsuhiro Matsunaga to win the W*ING World Tag Team Championship, defeating Freddy Krueger and Leatherface.
In October 1993, he took part in a Scramble Fire Death Match, teaming up with Shoji Nakamaki against Jado and Gedo. During the match, Jado powerbombed Kanemura into the fire, burning 75 percent of his skin tissue off his back and shoulder. In March 1994, W*ING folded.
After W*ING folded, Kanemura joined the International Wrestling Association of Japan. While there, he feuded with Shoji Nakamaki in a series of chain matches, until a dispute with bookers caused Kanemura to quit in August 1994.
Kanemura made his debut for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in September 1994, attacking Atsushi Onita, joining Mr. Pogo's group. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga would join Kanemura after a falling out with Onita, which was the genesis of the W*ING stable. In March 1995, he and Mr. Pogo won the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, defeating Mr. Gannosuke and Onita. They would hold the belts for two months, before losing the titles to Hisakatsu Oya and Ricky Fuji at Kawasaki Stadium.
In May 1995, he changed his name to W*ING Kanemura. Kanemura would take part in the FMW Young Lions Tournament, where he made it to the finals, before losing to Masato Tanaka. In July 1995, Kanemura took part in another tournament, this time for the vacant FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. He lost every single match but one: a win over Masato Tanaka. By November 1995, Kanemura and his W*ING stable has established themselves to be a threat to FMW, led by Hayabusa.
In May 1996, he replaced Mitsuhiro Matsunaga to wrestle Cactus Jack at Kawasaki Stadium in a Caribbean Spider Net Glass Double Hell Death Match. Despite a valiant effort, he lost the match. In August 1996, Kanemura became the first FMW Indepdendent Heavyweight Champion, defeating Masato Tanaka in a tournament final. In December 1996, he lost the title to Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion The Gladiator in a title unification match.
In 1997, he aligned with Masato Tanaka and Atsushi Onita to feud with Terry Funk's Funk Masters of Wrestling. After the feud died down, Kanemura challenged Onita to a death match, Onita's career vs. the W*ING stable. In September 1997, Kanemura and Onita fought in a Exploding Barbed Wire Bomb Cage Death Match, in which Kanemura lost, which in turn disbanded W*ING and he reverted back to his old name, Yukihiro Kanemura.
In October 1997, Kanemura and Onita stunned the world by joining forces in a stable called ZEN. Around this time, Kanemura teamed with Onita at first, then with Mr. Gannosuke, with whom he had a better chemistry with. In December 1997, Kanemura, Gannosuke, and Bad Boy Hido left ZEN by attacking Onita, until Koji Nakagawa made the save.
In January 1998, Kanemura's group and Fuyuki-Gun, led by Kodo Fuyuki, merged to form Team No Respect, with Gannosuke as their leader. In March 1998, Kanemura took part of a tournament to determine the number one contender to the FMW Double Titles, held by Mr. Gannosuke; he defeated Koji Nakagawa in the quarterfinals, before losing to The Gladiator in the semifinals. In May 1998, Kanemura and Fuyuki would form a tag team called The New Footloose (Fuyuki and Toshiaki Kawada were the original Footloose tag team in All Japan Pro Wrestling).
In November 1998, Kanemura took part in another tournament to determine the number one contender for the FMW Double Titles, now held by Kodo Fuyuki; he defeated Hideki Hosaka in the first round, before losing to Mr. Gannosuke in the quarterfinals. In May 1999, he made his debut in the Tokyo Dome in a six-man tag team match, in which he lost. Later that month, he was awarded the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight title by Fuyuki, who was splitting the Double Titles. In August 1999, he lost the title to Hayabusa.
In September 1999, he changed his name to Kintaro Kanemura and was awarded the WEW Hardcore Championship; he would trade the title several times with Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Ryuji Yamakawa, until finally retiring the title in May 2001. In March 2000, he wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling. In June 2000, Kanemura disbanded Team No Respect to join Kodo Fuyuki's Shin-Fuyuki-Gun. He would be involved in a comedy feud with Hisakatsu Oya and a violent feud with Masato Tanaka, until Tanaka was released from his contract in February 2001.
In August 2001, he defeated Hayabusa to win the WEW World Heavyweight Championship. Kanemura would reign as champion for five months, before losing the title to Kodo Fuyuki in January 2002. In February 2002, FMW folded, due to bankruptcy.
After FMW's demise, Kanemura joined Fuyuki's World Enertainment Wrestling, which lasted until May 2004. In May 2003, he replaced Kodo Fuyuki, who died from cancer that March, to wrestle Shinya Hashimoto in Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match; Kanemura gave it his all, before falling to the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
After WEW's demise, he started the Apache Pro Wrestling promotion, out of his stable, the Apache Army. Things were going well for Kanemura until 2008, when an incident cost him several bookings from other promotions.
Nowadays, Kanemura mainly wrestles for Shin-W*ING, XWF, and Shin-FMW.
In January 2008, Kanemura arrived at a Big Japan Pro Wrestling show, drunk on sake. Backstage, Kanemura would go up to a young woman, who works for BJW, sending newsletter e-mails to fans. In front of all the wrestlers, Kanemura would grab a hold of her and began rubbing her vagina through her pants, while talking dirty to her in her ear. He would eventually let her go and would wrestle later that night.
In February 2008, the woman sent an e-mail, indicating the sexual harassment by Kanemura a month before. Mainstream news in Japan caught wind of the story. Two days later at a press conference, Kanemura apologized for his actions; but the damage was done: Kanemura's bookings were cancelled and he was expelled from Apache Pro Wrestling.
In March 2008, Kanemura settled out of court to prevent a sexual harassment trial. The settlement led Kanemura to apologize to the woman nine days later, and a reconciliation.