Kamikaze (wrestler)

Kamikaze
Kamikaze in February 2013
Personal information
Born (1971-11-01) November 1, 1971[1]
Ashikaga, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)150% Machine
Aniki
"GK"
Kamikaze
KAMIKAZE
Kuro Kaiser
Matsuyama
Monster °C
Tengu Kaiser
Billed height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Billed weight115 kg (254 lb)
Debut1993

Shoichi Maruyama (丸山 昭一, Maruyama Shōichi), better known by his ring name Kamikaze (sometimes stylized in capital letters as KAMIKAZE) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his tenure with the Japanese promotions Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW).[3]

Professional wrestling career

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–2002)

He competed in various signature events for the promotion, making his debut in the inaugural Saikyo Tag League in 1999; teaming with Shunme Matsuzaki, he scored two points with matches against the teams of Tomoaki Honma and Ryuji Yamakawa, Shadow WX and The Winger, and Mike Samples and Jun Kasai.[4] At the 2000 edition, he teamed with Abdullah Kobayashi in Block A; the duo failed to score any points after losing to Abdullah the Butcher and Shadow WX, Men's Teioh and Daisuke Sekimoto, and Daikokubo Benkei and Shunme Matsuzaki.[5] At the 2001 edition, he teamed with Hideki Hosaka and scored five points against the teams of Fantastik and Ryuji Ito, Men's Teioh and Daisuke Sekimoto, Abdullah Kobayashi and Daikokubo Benkei, and Masato Tanaka and Shunme Matsuzaki.[4]

Maruyama also competed in a variety of different tournaments hosted by BJW. Between March 18 and 20, 2001, he took part in a tournament to determine the first ever BJW Heavyweight Champion which he won after defeating Mad Man Pondo in the quarterfinals, Wifebeater in the semifinals, and John Zandig in the finals.[6] A week later, he competed in a tournament for the vacant BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship, defeating Jun Kasai in the first round before losing to Justice Pain in the quarterfinals.[7] At the 2001 Six-Man Maximum Tag League, he teamed with Hideki Hosaka and Shunme Matsuzaki to win the tournament, topping the single block with five points after facing the Men's Club (Men's Teioh, Daisuke Sekimoto, and Ryuji Ito); Jun Kasai, Mad Man Pondo, and Ruckus; and the Skinheads (Daikokubo Benkei, Abdullah Kobayashi, and Naoki Numazawa).[8]

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2002–2018)

Maruyama made his debut in Pro Wrestling Zero1 on the second night of the ZERO-ONE Creation 2002 from June 29, where he teamed up with Yoshiaki Fujiwara to defeat Rapid Fire and Steve Corino in a tag team match.[9] During his sixteen-year tenure with the company, he became a one-time World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time United National Heavyweight Champion, and a three-time NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champion with two different partners. However, he has also competed for other titles, such as the vacant All Asia Tag Team Championship at ZERO-ONE Rebel Z 2003 on December 25, where he teamed up with Jun Kasai to unsuccessfully challenge Mr. Gannosuke and Tetsuhiro Kuroda for them.[10]

He frequently competed in the promotion's signature Fire Festival tournament, debuting in the 2008 edition. Placed in Block A, he scored two points with matches against Togi Makabe, Masaaki Mochizuki, Shinjiro Otani, and Kohei Sato.[11][12] At the 2012 edition, he placed himself in the block B where he scored a total of two points after going against Masato Tanaka, Daisuke Sekimoto, Kohei Sato and Muhammad Yone. At the 2015 edition, he was placed in Block A, scoring six points after wrestling Kohei Sato, Masato Tanaka, Yusaku Obata, Fujita Hayato, and Masakado.[13][14] At the 2016 edition of the events, he scored a total of fifteen points in the only active block after going against Shinjiro Otani, Yusaku Obata, Masato Tanaka, Ryota Hama, James Raideen, Kohei Sato, Shogun Okamoto, Hayato Fujita and Buffa.[15]

At the inaugural Furinkazan tournament in 2009, he teamed with longtime partner Kohei Sato. Competing in Block B, they scored five points against the teams of Masato Tanaka and Masaaki Mochizuki, Shiro Koshinaka and Hajime Ohara, Rikiya Fudo and Shito Ueda, and Tsutomu Oosugi and Hercules Senga.[16] He scored his best result at the 2010 edition in which he alongside Sato came out victorious by toppling the block A with eight points after outmatching the teams of Akebono and Shinjiro Otani, Phil Davis and Sean Davis, Hikaru Sato and Munenori Sawa, and Kintaro Kanemura and Takuya Sugawara.[17] At the 2011 edition, he teamed up with Sato again in the block B and scored five points against Fujita Hayato and Masato Tanaka, Akebono and Daichi Hashimoto, Schwarz and Weiss, and Mineo Fujita and Shito Ueda.[18] At the 2013 edition, he and Sato defeated Tank Nagai and Yoshikazu Yokoyama in the first round and advanced via a walkover in the second, before losing to Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi in the third round.[19] At the 2014 edition, Maruyama teamed up with Daemon Ueda to defeat Atsushi Onita and Masashi Aoyagi in the first rounds and then fell short to Masato Tanaka and Takashi Sugiura in the second ones.[20] At the 2016 edition, he teamed again with Kohei Sato and fell short to Kai and Yusaku Obata in the first rounds.[21]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1994, 2005–2008)

Maruyama made sporadic appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling, beginning with the NJPW Super Grade Tag League IV tournament in October 1994. Teaming with Masayoshi Motegi, he failed to score any points after losses to the teams of El Samurai and 2 Cold Scorpio, Black Tiger and The Great Sasuke, Super Delfin and Taka Michinoku, Shinjiro Otani and Wild Pegasus, Gran Hamada and Norio Honaga, and Dean Malenko and Tokimitsu Ishizawa.[22] At NJPW Toukon Souzou New Chapter on October 8, 2005, he teamed with Kohei Sato, Ryouji Sai, and Shinjiro Otani in an eight-man tag team match, losing to Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Naofumi Yamamoto, Takashi Iizuka, and Yutaka Yoshie.[23] At Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 on January 4, 2006, he teamed up with Daisuke Sekimoto, Kohei Sato, Riki Choshu, Takashi Uwano and Yoshihito Sasaki to defeat Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Nagao, Osamu Nishimura, Takashi Iizuka, Tatsumi Fujinami and Toru Yano in a Twelve-man tag team match.[24] At NJPW Lock Up on February 24, 2008, he teamed up with Yoshihito Sasaki in a losing effort against Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano).[25]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ↑ Saalbach, Axel. "KAMIKAZE • General Information". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  2. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "KAMIKAZE/Career Data". cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  3. ↑ Internet Wrestling Database (IWD). "Kaiser Profile & Match Listing". profightdb.com. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Maximum Tag League 1999". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  5. ↑ "Maximum Tag League 2000". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  6. ↑ "Big Japan Title Tournament 2001". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Big Japan Death Match Title Tournament 2001". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Big Japan Six Man Tag League 2001". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Quebrada. "ZERO-ONE Battle Station 7/11/02 Creation taped 6/29/02 & 6/30/02 Sapporo Teisen Hall". quebrada.net. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  10. ↑ Quebrada. "ZERO-ONE Battle Station Near Live 12/25/03 REBEL Z #2 taped 12/25/03 Tokyo Korakuen Hall". Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  11. ↑ Quebrada. "01-MAX Battle Station 7/30/08 HEAT-1 GP FIRE FESTIVAL 2008 taped 7/27/08 Tokyo Korakuen Hall". quebrada.net. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  12. ↑ WWF Old School. "Zero 1 (2008)". wwfoldschool.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  13. ↑ "ヒザのケガで『火祭り』残りの公式戦すべて不戦敗が決定したハヤト「またZERO1のリングに帰ってきたい」". Battle-news.com. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  14. ↑ Dark Angel (July 8, 2015). "Zero1: Calendar of meetings of the "Fire Festival 2015"". superluchas.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  15. ↑ Dark Angel (August 2, 2016). "Zero1: Results "Fire Festival 2016" - Grand Final - 31/07/2016 - Yusaku Obata conquers the sword of fire". superluchas.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Furinkazan 2009". Pro Wrestling ZERO1. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  17. 1 2 WWF Old School. "Zero 1 (2010)". wwfoldschool.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Pro-Wrestling Zero1 - "Furinkazan 2011"" (in German). Purolove. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  19. ↑ Dark Angel (December 13, 2013). "Zero1: Results "Furinkazan Tag League 2013" - 11/12/2013 - Lists the semifinals". superluchas.com. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  20. ↑ Dark Angel (December 10, 2014). "Zero1: Official presentation of the "Furinkazan Tag League 2014"". superluchas.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  21. ↑ 12/18新木場大会 試合結果. Pro Wrestling Zero1 (in Japanese). December 18, 2016. Archived from the original on December 18, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  22. ↑ Quebrada. "NJPW NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING 1994 Shin Nihon Puroresu". quebrada.net. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  23. ↑ Campbell, Mike (February 26, 2008). "Puroresu Love: NJPW: Toukon Souzou New Chapter – October 8, 2005". 411mania.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  24. ↑ Keller, Wade (December 13, 2016). "New Japan's WrestleKingdom 11 to air on AXS TV starting Jan. 13 in four weekly special episodes with Ross & Barnett on commentary". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  25. ↑ New Japan Pro Wrestling (February 24, 2008). LOCK UP 2008年2月24日(日) 18:00開場 18:30開始. sp.njpw.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  26. ↑ Wrestling Titles. "World Entertainment Wrestling Tag Team Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  27. ↑ Wrestling Titles. "BJW Heavyweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  28. ↑ Wrestling Titles. "BJW Tag Team Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  29. ↑ InternetWrestling Database (IWD). "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2010". profightdb.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  30. ↑ Wrestling Titles. "Pro-Wrestling ZERO1 World Heavyweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  31. ↑ Wrestling Titles. "Pro-Wrestling ZERO1 United National Heavyweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
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