 Kanemoto in September 2014 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1966-10-31)October 31, 1966 (age 59)[2][4] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Koji Kanemoto Tiger Mask (III)[1][2] Tiger Mask III Tigre en Mascarado[3] |
| Billed height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2] |
| Billed weight | 80 kg (176 lb)[2] |
| Trained by | Masanobu Kurisu Kensuke Sasaki Hiroshi Hase Kuniaki Kobayashi NJPW Dojo |
| Debut | November 7, 1990[2] |
Kōji Kanemoto (金本 浩二,Kanemoto Kōji;Korean: 김일성; October 31, 1966)[2] is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler ofZainichi Korean descent. He has previously worked withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling andAll Japan Pro Wrestling. He is currently afreelancer.
Kanemoto practicedJudo during his high school days and won a few championships as a professional before being recruited by theNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)Dojo. He debuted in November 1990, wrestling againstMichiyoshi Ohara. In March 1992, he portrayedTiger Mask in its third incarnation, succeedingMitsuharu Misawa.[1] In January 1994, he famously lost a "mask vs. mask" match against popular cruiserweightJushin Thunder Liger atBattlefield. Since 1994 he has wrestled under his own name for NJPW. His style used to be the classicjunior heavyweight wrestling, but repeated high-flying moves, the fans' change in taste, and inherent damage on his body put an incentive on him to useshoot-style taught byKazuo Yamazaki, largely as a modification of his wrestling persona. Hard shoot kicks combined with scientific wrestling are his current trademark along with thefacewash, which always gets the crowd going in afootball stadium-like chant.
Kanemoto was the first man to defend theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in theUnited States, a match againstAlex Wright atStarrcade '95: World Cup of Wrestling (althoughWorld Championship Wrestling did not announce it as such). He also holds a victory over revered MMA fighterKazushi Sakuraba in shoot-style wrestling. He worked for a few matches for WCW in late 1995.
In the early 2000s Kanemoto formed a popular tag team withMinoru Tanaka called "Jr. Stars" the 2 enjoyed a lengthy reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, but before they could receive a rematch for their titles, Kanemoto was injured. Kanemoto made a very controversial return, turning on Tanaka and siding withMasahiro Chono's "Team 2000" Stable. As a reward for his defection Chono gave him his own sub-group to lead named "Team 2000 Jr."; among their ranks wereGedo,Jado, &Akira. During this time, Kanemoto wore entrance gear very similar to Chono, as a way to show "he was a boss". After Team 2000 dissolved he became a calmer, much more calculating individual and it was apparent that his days of a rude, arrogantpunk were over. In 2003, in an attempt to regain the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles from rival promotionPro Wrestling Noah, he formed a tag team with Jushin Thunder Liger known as "The Unbeatables"; the two held on to the titles until November, when Kanemoto fractured his left cheekbone, and were forced to vacate them.
On May 3, 2006, Kanemoto defeatedTiger Mask IV to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title for thefifth time.
In the2006 G1 Climax, Kanemoto reached the semi-final, the first junior heavyweight to achieve this feat. Along withHiroshi Tanahashi, he made it to the finals of theG1 Tag League two consecutive seasons – the2006 and2007 editions. Also in 2007 he became the first junior heavyweight sinceBas Rutten to receive anIWGP Heavyweight Championship match. Although he lost this match against his tag team partner Hiroshi Tanahashi he was revered for his performance, especially after kicking out of Tanahashi'sdragon suplex finish after only a 1 count. After this match it was regarded that Kanemoto was not only the top junior heavyweight but one of the top talents that New Japan has in its entirety.
On January 2, 2009, at a Zero-1 show Kanemoto announced his engagement to Zero-1joshi wrestler Hikaru. The two have since divorced.
On June 14, 2009, Kanemoto forcedPrince Devitt to submit to his trademark Ankle Lock, winning theBest of the Super Juniors tournament for the third time, becoming only the second man to do so. On May 8, 2010, Kanemoto andEl Samurai defeatedApollo 55 (Prince Devitt andRyusuke Taguchi) in the finals of an eight team tournament to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[5] Just over two months later, on July 19, Kanemoto and El Samurai lost the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Devitt and Taguchi.[6] On August 22 Kanemoto and Tiger Mask IV took part in aPro Wrestling Noah event and defeatedRicky Marvin andTaiji Ishimori to win Noah'sGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[7] They would lose the title toAtsushi Aoki andNaomichi Marufuji on December 24, 2010.[8]
In late 2011 he began to work more frequently inAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and teaming withMinoru Tanaka and on January 31, 2013, Kanemoto officially quit New Japan Pro-Wrestling to join All Japan Pro Wrestling.[9] In June 2013, Kojimoto also announced his resignation from All Japan in the aftermath of Nobuo Shiraishi taking over as the promotion's new president.[10] Though Kanemoto did not officially joinKeiji Mutoh's splinter promotionWrestle-1, he did take part in the promotion'sinaugural event on September 8, reuniting the Junior Stars with Minoru Tanaka in a tag team match, where they defeatedFujita Hayato andMasaaki Mochizuki.[11]
On May 24, 2015, Kanemoto returned to his Tiger Mask persona, when he took part inLucha Libre AAA World Wide'sLucha Libre World Cup inMexico City, alongsideKenzo Suzuki andMasamune as Team AJPW. They were defeated in the first round of the tournament by Team MexLeyendas (Blue Demon Jr.,Dr. Wagner Jr. andEl Solar).[12]
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jushin Thunder Liger (mask) | Tiger Mask (mask) | Tokyo, Japan | Battlefield | January 4, 1994 |
,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling Database