 Hirasawa as Captain New Japan in March 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mitsuhide Hirasawa (1982-03-27)27 March 1982 (age 43)[3] Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan[3] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bone Soldier Captain New Japan[1] Captain Taiwan[2] Hideo Saito[3] Mitsuhide Hirasawa[3] |
| Billed height | 1.87 m (6 ft1+1⁄2 in)[3] |
| Billed weight | 104 kg (229 lb)[3] |
| Trained by | Takashi Iizuka[4] |
| Debut | 28 January 2006[3] |
| Retired | 5 January 2017 |
Mitsuhide Hirasawa (平澤 光秀,Hirasawa Mitsuhide; born 27 March 1982)[3] is a Japanese formerprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his two stints withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and a brief stint withWorld Wrestling Council (WWC).
Hirasawa wrestled as ajobber, under the mask superhero,Captain New Japan (キャプテン・ニュージャパン,Kyaputen Nyū Japan).[3] He has also worked under another mask asBone Soldier, and unmasked under his real name, as well as thering nameHideo Saito (ヒデオ・サイトー,Hideo Saitō).[5] He is also known for his brief tenure with New Japan's stablesChaos andBullet Club, but was kicked out for his poor performance.
Prior to becoming aprofessional wrestler, Hirasawa was afreestyleamateur wrestler, taking part in the 1996 and 1998 World Championships as a cadet and the 2001 World Championship as a junior, and also sawHiroshi Hase as an idol when he was younger. His father, Mitsushi Hirasawa, was friends withRiki Choshu from very old times. He joined the New Japan dojo in March 2005 under the guidance of Choshu,Takashi Iizuka andHiroyoshi Tenzan.[6]
Hirasawa originally debuted forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on 28 January 2006, losing to his mentor Takashi Iizuka.[3] Hirasawa would wrestle on the NJPW undercards, mostly losing which is custom for new wrestlers in NJPW. His first win would come on 26 April, defeating the two-year proYujiro Takahashi. Hirasawa teamed up withRyusuke Taguchi to participate in his first tournament, the National Area Tag League 2006 where they were placed in block C and lost both of their matches. Hirasawa would make several appearances forPro Wrestling Zero1, the most notable of which was when he andManabu Nakanishi participated in the Passion Cup Tag Tournament 2008. In late 2008, Hirasawa would form a tag team withYuji Nagata, which would be a precursor toSeigigun ("Blue Justice Army"). The pair participated in the2008 G1 Tag League block B, they would only gain a single point when they drew withManabu Nakanishi andYutaka Yoshie. In the fall of 2009, Hirasawa joinedYuji Nagata's new Seigigun stable, along withWataru Inoue andSuper Strong Machine. AtWrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome, Hirasawa, along with Inoue and Super Strong Machine defeatedJyushin Thunder Liger,Koji Kanemoto, andKazuchika Okada in the opening match. Even with joining this stable, Hirasawa largely continued in the midcard largely serving as the fall guy in tag match. On 28 June, Seigigun entered a six-man tag tournament with Nagata, Inoue, and Hirasawa forming one team, while Machine teamed withTonga Strong Machine and Pink Strong Machine (Yoshie). However, both teams lost. On 12 September, there was a special Mitsuhide Hirasawa farewell match, which he would lose.
After embarking on an extended tour of Puerto RicanWorld Wrestling Council (WWC) in September 2010, Hirasawa adopted the new ring name Hideo Saito, as a tribute toMasa Saito andHideo Nomo. His new gimmick saw Saito have (kayfabe) personality problems, in which he would find himself portraying a lot of characters besides himself.[7] On 25 September, Saito would win his first championship when he won a battle royal for the vacantWWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship and would lose it on 27 November. On 19 February, he also won theWWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship and lost it on 26 March.[3] In May 2011, Saito took part in NJPW's first tour of the United States, theInvasion Tour 2011. On 13 May inRahway, New Jersey, he entered the tournament to determine the first everIWGP Intercontinental Champion, losing toYujiro Takahashi in his first round match.[8]
Hirasawa returned to New Japan on 18 June, now going permanently by the Saito name, and turned on Seigigun and its leader Yuji Nagata, joiningChaos.[9][10] In August, Saito took part in the2011 G1 Climax, losing his first eight matches only to pick up his opening win on the final day of the tournament in a match against former mentor, Yuji Nagata.[11] On 19 September, Nagata defeated his former protégé in a grudge match.[12] Saito's erratic behaviour and poor match results eventually led to the rest of Chaos kicking him out of the stable on 4 December 2011.[13] After his exile from Chaos, Saito developed an alter-ego called "Captain New Japan", dressed in a variation of theCaptain America costume, complete with a shield.[1][14] In November, Captain New Japan took part in the2012 World Tag League, teaming withIWGP Heavyweight ChampionHiroshi Tanahashi under the team name "Captain Ace".[15] The team lost all six of their matches with Captain New Japan being pinned in each match.[16] On 3 March 2013, Captain New Japan returned to Seigigun in an eight-man tag team match, where he, Nagata, Super Strong Machine and Wataru Inoue were defeated byHirooki Goto,Karl Anderson,Ryusuke Taguchi andTama Tonga.[17] On 7 April, Captain New Japan was attacked byBad Luck Fale andPrince Devitt and would also be unmasked by Devitt, however, his face was never shown. In response to this, Captain New Japan teamed up with Taguchi, Devitt's formerApollo 55 partner, and challenged the two atWrestling Dontaku 2013, where they lost. Following these events, Captain New Japan fought against the newly formedBullet Club headed by Devitt and reformed his alliance with Tanahashi. On 4 August, Captain New Japan carried Tanahashi to the ring akin to Fale and Devitt and became involved in the match-up trying to limit the effects of Fale's interference; however, Devitt would ultimately defeat Tanahashi. In November, Captain Ace reunited for the2013 World Tag League. Much like the previous year, the team lost their first five matches, but on the final day, they finally picked up a win over Fale and Devitt, with Captain pinning Devitt, costing the Bullet Club team a spot in the semifinals.[18][19]
On 13 April 2014, during NJPW's trip toTaiwan, Hirasawa, working as Captain Taiwan, received his first title shot in the promotion, when he and Hirooki Goto unsuccessfully challenged Bullet Club representativesDoc Gallows and Karl Anderson for theIWGP Tag Team Championship.[20]
In early 2016, Captain New Japan became part ofYoshitatsu's new anti-Bullet Club stable, Hunter Club.[21][22] On 12 September, Yoshitatsu, upset with Captain New Japan's poor performances, announced aTwitter poll that would decide whether he would get to stay in Hunter Club.[23]
On 25 September atDestruction in Kobe, upon being denied a spot in Hunter Club, Captain New Japan turned on Yoshitatsu and defected to Bullet Club.[24] The following day, Hirasawa was given the new ring name "Bone Soldier".[25] He made his debut under the name on 8 October.[26] The following month, Bone Soldier entered the2016 World Tag League, teaming with Bullet Club stablemate Bad Luck Fale.[27] The two lost all seven of their matches in the tournament, with Bone Soldier being pinned by his rival Yoshitatsu in their final match on 8 December.[28] On 1 March 2017, Hirasawa's profile was removed from NJPW's website, confirming his departure from the company.
