 Último Dragón in 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Yoshihiro Asai (1966-12-12)December 12, 1966 (age 58)[2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Asai[1] Saigon Dragon The Tiger II[2] Tiger Dragon[1] Ultimate Dragon[2] Último Dragón[2] Yoshihiro Asai[2] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 185 lb (84 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Mexico City, Mexico[2] Nagoya, Japan[4] |
| Trained by | Gran Hamada[1] Kotetsu Yamamoto[1] NJPW Dojo[1] |
| Debut | May 13, 1987[2] |
Yoshihiro Asai (浅井嘉浩,Asai Yoshihiro; born December 12, 1966), better known by hisring nameÚltimo Dragón (ウルティモ・ドラゴン,Urutimo Doragon),[2] is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler signed toDragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, Asai learned to wrestle in thelucha libre style while working inMexico. He is credited with popularizing the "Asai Moonsault".
On October 11, 1996, Asai won theJ-Crown, a unification of eight lower weight division titles from various international promotions. At the time, he already held theNWA World Middleweight Championship and during this reign he also became theWCW Cruiserweight Champion. From December 29, 1996, through January 4, 1997, he concurrently held ten titles,[5] making him the most simultaneously-decorated wrestler in history untilMercedes Moné broke his record in 2025.[6] From 2013 until 2019, he competed primarily forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) as a freelancer. In 2019, he joined Dragon Gate as a senior advisor and wrestler.
Asai trained in theNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)dojo in 1987, but was not drafted up by the promotion due to his small size. He moved to Mexico where he joined theUniversal Wrestling Association and subsequently won theUWA World Welterweight Championship in 1988. In March 1990, he joined theUniversal Wrestling Federation in Japan. He also competed in theUniversal Lucha Libre promotion founded by his mentorGran Hamada.[5]
In 1991, he signed with the MexicanConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion. In CMLL, he adopted the Último Dragón mask and persona. "Último Dragón", which means "Last Dragon" in Spanish, was initially agimmick that saw Asai claiming to be the last student taught by legendary martial artistBruce Lee, whose nickname was "The Dragon".[5] The gimmick was later dropped, but the name remained. When he returned to Japan in 1992, he chose to joinSuper World of Sports. Late in 1992,Misteriosito was turned into "Último Dragoncito", aMini-Estrella version of Asai. After SWS closed, Asai signed with the JapaneseWAR promotion, and due to co-promoting, he was able to wrestle for NJPW. In Japan, he became IWGP Junior heavyweight champion twice, and in Mexico, he held various titles. In later years, he wrestled forAAA.[7]
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Asai made his American debut for theWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotion in August 1996 initially under the mistranslated name "Ultimate Dragon". He was referred to by this name for over a year in WCW until they reverted to using his Spanish ring name.[8] He quickly was pushed into the lime-light of the WCW Cruiserweight division withSonny Onoo as his manager. He was instantly a heel based upon the fact he was Japanese and Onoo was his manager. He made his WCW pay-per view debut in 1996'sHog Wild againstRey Misterio Jr. for theWCW Cruiserweight Championship but lost. He got back the win atWCW World War 3 when he returned to WCW as theJ-Crown champion. He then feuded withDean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight title which he won at Starrcade 1996.[7]
Dragon later dropped the WCW Cruiserweight title back to Malenko but his stock was rising as he won theWCW World Television Championship fromPrince Iaukea but lost it toSteven Regal. He then turned on Onoo and began a face run and (kayfabe) moved back to Mexico and regained the World Television title from Regal before losing toAlex Wright atClash of the Champions XXXV. He would then win the WCW Cruiserweight title one last time fromEddie Guerrero, before losing the title on the firstWCW Thunder toJuventud Guerrera.[7] He then suffered an arm injury in 1998 that required surgery. The operation was botched, causingnerve damage. It was thought that this would force an end of his career and he announced his retirement in November.[5]
In 1997, Asai then became a trainer and founded theÚltimo Dragón Gym, where he trained three classes of students, "Toryumon Japan", "Toryumon 2000 Project" (T2P), and "Toryumon X". His first class of students, which includedDon Fuji,Dragon Kid,Magnum Tokyo,Cima andSuwa, worked for WCW early in their career.[9] In 1998, Asai began co-promotingGrupo Internacional Revolución (IWRG) based out of Mexico, where he trained several of the top young wrestlers.[10] In 1999, a promotion namedToryumon opened, with the vast majority of the roster having been trained by Asai.[9] Toryumon was later renamedDragon Gate as 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 in hopes of returning to wrestling. In late 2002 Ultimo Dragon was in talks withWorld Wrestling Entertainment for another shot at a United States run. To get back into ring shape he returned to action for his T2P and Toryumon Mexico promotions. On November 26, he teamed with former WCW wrestlersNorman Smiley andPerry Saturn in a win againstMasaaki Mochizuki,Kenichiro Arai andToru Owashi for T2P. On December 7 he teamed with Mochizuki andDragon Kid in a win over the team ofBestia Salvaje,Scorpio Jr. and El Duende for Toryumon Mexico.[9]
In the spring of 2003, he signed withWorld Wrestling Entertainment as theÚltimo Dragón, seeking to realize his two lifelong goals of competing inMadison Square Garden and performing atWrestleMania. He was brought in on the heels of the signing ofRey 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 in dark match victories againstRico,Crash Holly andShannon Moore as they debuted a series of video packages hyping the debut of Dragon onSmackDown!. He made his WWE television debut at Madison Square Garden on June 26, 2003 episode ofSmackDown! in a match with Shannon Moore, where he debuted his finisher, the Asai DDT (a standing shiranui), to the American wrestling audience.[7]
Throughout the summer he competed in a tournament for theWWE United States Championship beatingJamie Noble but losing to eventual winner,Eddie Guerrero. He quickly rebounded by beating Kanyon in aWWE Heat match taped beforeVengeance. He then wrestled onWWE Velocity for the next few weeks, leading to a match with Rey Mysterio onSmackDown. Dragon won the match only afterTajiri interfered and showed respect to Dragon due to their Japanese heritage. The next week Dragon teamed with Mysterio to take on Tajiri andNunzio. After this match, he was not seen onSmackDown! for several months until the build for the Cruiserweight Open atWrestleMania XX. At the event, Dragon participated in the Open. Dragon's WrestleMania resulted in one of WrestleMania's most famous blunders, tripping as he entered the arena from the backstage area and tripping as he was going up the turnbuckle for a pose.[11] The first trip was edited out of the WrestleMania XX DVD, but the second wasn't.[12] After the open, he facedChavo Guerrero and Nunzio in his last WWE matches. On April 22, 2004, WWE announced that Asai asked for his release from WWE when he knew WWE wanted to unmask him and went back to Japan immediately.[13]
One month after being released from WWE, Asai quickly picked up a New Japan tour on May 1, 2004. He returned to Mexico by occasionally wrestling forConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). He also took part in the short lived Japanese independent promotion Dragondoor, ran by one of his students Noriaki Kawabata using mostly T2P and Toryumon X graduates. He would wrestle in matches againstÚltimo Guerrero and various other stars who wrestled in Mexico or Japanese based lucha libre promotions. Since the fall of Dragondoor he went back to Mexico to run another class of the Toryumon school, which has led to some standouts inHajime Ohara,Kazuchika Okada and Pequeño Ninja. The rest of the Toryumon students along with Asai joined theTatsumi Fujinami promoted Dradition promotion in Japan. In 2006, Asai began promoting the annual "Toryumon Mexico: Dragon Mania" wrestling show.[14] He also wrestled at UWA Hardcore Wrestling based outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has wrestled againstSonjay Dutt,M-Dogg 20,Chris Sabin,Alex Shelley,Jyushin Thunder Liger andBlack Tiger all in the UWA. Since then he has been working in Japan for various independent promotions such as Pro Wrestling Kageki andMichinoku Pro. He has also been to Mexico as well as in Spain, working for Nu Wrestling Evolution.
On December 15, 2013, Dragón defeatedYoshinobu Kanemaru to winAll Japan Pro Wrestling'sWorld Junior Heavyweight Championship.[15] He lost the title toAtsushi Aoki on May 29, 2014.[16] On August 27, 2017, he regained the title by defeatingTajiri. On March 22, 2015, Dragón won another title in All Japan, when he and Kanemaru defeatedMitsuya Nagai andTakeshi Minamino for theAll Asia Tag Team Championship.[17] They vacated the title on October 14.[18]
On August 30 and 31, 2014, Dragón participated in a show inPyongyang,North Korea promoted by theInoki Genome Federation. He defeatedHajime Ohara on the first day and Heddi French on the second in singles matches.[19]
Ultimo Dragon starred in two films in 2008. The first wasBloodstained Memoirs, also starringChris Jericho,Rob Van Dam,Mick Foley andKeiji Muto. Ultimo Dragon's scenes were filmed in the UK and Italy.[20] The other wasUltimo Dragon, a heroic martial arts story.
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yoshihiro Asai (career) | Cuchillo (mask andchampionship) | Tokyo, Japan | UWF live event | June 4, 1990 | [43] |
| Último Dragón (mask) | Dark Dragon (mask) | Barcelona, Spain | NWE live event | June 25, 2008 | [44] |
| Último Dragón (mask) | Hajime Ohara (hair) | Mexico City,Mexico | DragonMania IV | August 22, 2009 | [45] |
| Último Dragón (mask) | Black Tiger V (mask) | Mexico City,Mexico | DragonMania VI | May 14, 2011 | [46] |
| Último Dragón (mask) | Sushi (mask) | Tokyo, Japan | AJPW live event | December 14, 2014 | [Note 1][47] |
| Último Dragón (mask) | Tiger Ali (hair) | Mexico City,Mexico | DragonMania X | May 23, 2015 | [48] |
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