Wrestling / Alexander Otsuka

The Diet Butcher.

"I give to the fans fights I hope they will never forget. That's the most important thing."

Alexander Otsuka (born Takashi Otsuka in 1971) is a Japanese Professional Wrestler and Mixed Martial Arts fighter. An amateur wrestling fan, he debuted in Yoshiaki Fujiwara's Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, but had his true start shortly after in the promotion Battlarts, created after the folding of Gumi. Though firstly a jobber, Otsuka eventually became one of the big stars of the company and was famous for his violent feuds with Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikeda. Along his work in lucharesu realm Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Otsuka moved to Pro Wrestling ZERO1 when Battlarts fell, but around the time he got better known for his MMA career in PRIDE Fighting Championship. He would turn into a cult hero for his guts and toughness, facing the best opponents of the time and coming unfinished from fights which a common wrestler would be lucky to make it out of alive. Upon returning to pro wrestling, Otsuka showed his funnier side by adopting the comedy gimmick of Otoko Sakari, a bisexual wrestler in a thong just as weird as it sounds. Under both that and his usual persona, he freelanced between all kinds of wrestling promotions over the years, especially Satoru Sayama's Real Japan Pro Wrestling and Tatsumi Fujinami's Dradition. He doesn't seem to have the retirement on his horizon yet.

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"Diet Butchering Tropes":

• 10-Minute Retirement: After making his PRIDE debut, Otsuka claimed he would never compete in mixed martial arts again. We all know how that turned out.
• The All-Solving Hammer: In one of his apparitions in ZERO-ONE, he came to the ring and challenged Shinjiro Otani to a match. As Otani completely ignored him, Otsuka's solution to draw his attention was taking a fire extinguisher and spraying him in the face. Now he did get his attention.
• Alternate Company Equivalent:
  • He was to Japanese media more or less what Tank Abbott was to Ultimate Fighting Championship fans: a laid back bruiser with an amateur wrestling background who was barely a cagefighter in the true sense of the word, but who gave some great performances by sheer chutzpah and relentless toughness.
  • Wrestling magazines used to considered him as a sort of indy version of Keiji Mutoh due to his bald head and comparative popularity.
  • He is also arguably one to fellow PWFG alumni and Pancrase fighter Kazuo Takahashi. Both were former amateur wrestlers with less talent in fighting than their peers, yet who mostly survived their MMA careers by being insanely tough. Both also have victories against notable Brazilian fighters, Wallid Ismail for Takahashi and Marco Ruas for Otsuka.
• Arch-Enemy: In pro wrestling, Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikeda. In real life, Sanae Kikuta.
• As Himself: In Nagurimono, a 2005 film produced by PRIDE Fighting Championships.
• Ass Kicks You: Sakari uses plenty of ass-based offense, including hip attacks, sitting on his opponent's face (Tsubo Genjin's old Bamiyan Stamp) and a corner headscissors move that shoves his opponent's face into Otoko's butt.
• Bash Brothers: Initially with Mohammed Yone (as Love Warriors), Yuki Ishikawa whenever they are no murdering each other, and occasionally Jinsei Shinzaki. When wrestling as Otoko Sakari, Máximo and other exótico or queer wrestlers.
• Big Damn Heroes: Had an apparition as a guest on Hiroyuki Ariyoshi's TV show to save an Adult Video actress he liked, Akiho Yoshizawa, from some weird practical joke. He ended up grappling Ariyoshi and making him tap out to some wrestling moves.
• Birds of a Feather: Sakari used to team up with Máximo, who apparently fell in love with him after Otoko gave him his ass treatment.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A merry, outgoing big guy.
• Cast from Hit Points: Otsuka's trademark giant swing takes out his own balance out after using it, so he typically fails to land the moonsault he tries to follow up with.
• Category Traitor: Upon Otsuka's return to ZERO-ONE, Shinjiro Otani called him a traitor for having left pro wrestling for MMA. Naturally, Alexander didn't like it.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He often deadlifts his suplexes, meaning that he lifts his opponent without the latter's help by jumping up. Otsuka has legit wrestling training after all.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Thoroughly. As noted in his interviews and public persona, not to talk about the Otoko Sakari character, Otsuka is mainly known for his eccentric charisma, personal craziness and will to endure horrifying damage.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Yellow and red/orange are the predominant colors in his tights.
• Combination Attack: His best tag team move when teaming up with Jinsei Shinzaki is the Meishan, an aided German suplex.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Even after his victory over Marco Ruas was exposed as a fluke, Otsuka still showed himself to be a heck of a ring survivor, who could give a tough night to almost everybody and didn't even bother to stop working pro wrestling matches between fight and fight. He also shocked the world by tapping out an opponent with a very low percentage submission hold in a fight taken in short notice.
• Defeat by Modesty: Not his modesty, but rather the crowd's one. Otoko Sakari is often defeated when his opponent compromises his attire and the ring crew throws the towel for him to cover his privates, a situation called morodashi.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Defied. After their MMA fight, Sanae Kikuta admitted to gaining some respect for Otsuka and professional wrestling, which he had previously criticized, but Otsuka happily continued to badmouth him at every turn.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Has two consecutive victories over the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, which almost nobody in the wrestling business can boast of.
• Depraved Bisexual: Subverted. Sakari molests both male and female wrestlers, but he is more a creepy rogue than a straight villain.
• Determinator: One of the toughest wrestlers to ever come out of Japan. As he lacked the skill of some fellow underdogs, he instead built his career over determination and hard headedness.
• Escape Artist: Though not at the level of Daijiro Matsui, Otsuka was good in submission escapes, including an awesome one from a completely locked armbar by Sanae Kikuta.
• Elite Four: Part of the Battlarts Big Four along with Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda and Katsumi Usuda.
• Face: Has never played a clean cut heel, and even in the few occasions he has opposed other babyface wrestlers he has been more of a Lovable Rogue or a Hero Antagonist.
• Fan Disservice: If wrestling around in a thong is not enough, Otoko Sakari once feuded with Kanjyuro Matsuyama in a cabellera contra cabellera series of matches; as Otsuka was already bald, he bet his pubic hair. Even worse, he lost, which means the crowd got to witness the ceremony.
• Finishing Move:
  • As Alexander Otsuka, the Alexander Screw Driver (a vertical suplex piledriver), Alek Lock (a cross-legged toehold sharpshooter), Alek Lock II (modified version of the former) and dragon suplex.
  • As Otoko Sakari, the Bamiyan Stamp (a seated pin on his opponent's face, originally created by M-Pro wrestlers Yone and Tsubo Genjin) and a triangle choke.
• Fundoshi: His attire as Otoko Sakari is a Japanese thong or fundoshi.
• Good Is Not Nice: Although usually a babyface when the medium calls for alignment, he is typically crass, uninhibited and rough, as well as having some nasty penchants.
• Groin Attack: Suffered an accidental yet scary one from Murilo Rúa in PRIDE, who landed a full force knee directly to his groin. It actually broke Otsuka's metal protective cup and caused him to be stretchered out, with the fight having to be stopped and restarted later that night.
• Hard Head: Freakishly hard. His ability to absorb punishment was sometimes scary to watch, and his MMA record shows it, as almost every time he has been finished by TKO it has been mostly on petty cuts instead of straight knockouts.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He was school pals with Jinsei Shinzaki (though, contrary to popular belief, they weren't in the same class, as Otsuka is younger) and is a great friend of his.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He lost his fight with Yoshihisa Yamamoto when he performed a jumping knee drop on Yoshi's back and accidentally slammed his other knee into the ground, injuring it. Otherwise, he was winning the fight and probably would've taken the win.
• Homage: His ring name, Alexander, is a nod to the legendary Alexander Karelin.
• Humble Hero: After defeating Marco Ruas in his mainstream MMA debut, Otsuka (who probably knew he had just defeated a very ill opponent) assessed he wasn't a fighter or a great victor, but just a pro wrestler who wanted to show that they could do mixed martial arts as well.
• I Know Karate: Trained amateur wrestling at high school.
• Incompletely Trained: He went on a MMA career with hardly any training, only relying on his wrestling background, toughness, and ingenuity. Somehow, he's still the most successful of the Battlarts alumni to have tried his hand at MMA.
• Leotard of Power: His orange and yellow wrestling singlet.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Although he was never a top grappler, he got the MMA world open-mouthed with his victory by double armbar against the heavier and better trained Mike Bourke. Not only because nobody in the U.S. would've believed that Otsuka knew how to grapple, but also because the technique was a worked pro wrestling hold (used as a finisher by Otsuka's colleague, Carl Greco, whom had taught it to him) and would've been incredibly difficult to pull off by any competent grappler.
• Lightning Bruiser: In his prime, he could pull off aerial moves like a suicide senton over the top rope.
• Made of Iron: As said in the foreword, considering the gallery of opponents he's faced in MMA and the amount of brutal strikes and suplexes he's endured in pro wrestling, any normal person would be lucky to make it out of Otsuka's career alive.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Famously in PRIDE, he ended up with a grotesque golfball-sized hematoma on his head caused by soccer kicks, but looked more amused by the ordeal than anything.
• Manly Tears: After losing to Chris Haseman in RINGS due to a minor cut.
• Meaningful Name: "Otoko Sakari" means "The Human sakari", the latter being a Japanese concept meaning the prime of one's life. Considering his gimmick is that of a guy who struts around in a thong, it's no wonder that he gives himself that name.
• The Mentor: To Battlarts wrestler and MMA fighter Takahiro Oba as part of his AODC team.
• Odd Friendship: With boxing champion Yasuei Yakushiji.
• Precision F-Strike: According to him, "fuck your mother" were the first Spanish words he learned in México.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He loves everything related to Disney, and he has the custom of tweeting his crazy hijinks in Disneyland with fellow fans Takeshi Minamino and Keita Yano.
• Red Baron: "Diet Butcher" (the name of a sponsor product), "The Real 1・2 no Sanshiro" (this being a popular wrestling manga character from The '80s) and "Alek".
• Renaissance Man: This guy has done just everything on the rings: amateur wrestling, MMA, shoot-style, lucha libre, comedy wrestling, joshi wrestling (to his female opponents' chagrin) and everything he could get into.
• Signature Move: The Otsukarina (a modified Argentine backbreaker rack).
• Spinning Piledriver: One of his finishers, the Alexander Screw Driver.
• Spectacular Spinning: One of his signature moves is the giant swing. He also uses the airplane spin from time to time.
• Stone Wall: His biggest assets in MMA were his durability and defensive skills. He could fend off a shrewd grappler or tank strikes from a hard hitter for entire rounds.
• Stout Strength: Has a wide waist, but it doesn't diminish his ability.
• Suplex Finisher: He uses a lot of suplexes, including a bridging dragon he often finishes matches with.
• Technician Versus Performer: The performer against Sanae Kikuta's technician. They'd a very public feud in which Otsuka, the kind of unskilled fighter who stepped into the ring to put a show, called out Sanae, the methodical grappler who didn't care about make the crowd dead bored for minutes in order to secure a submission.
• Ugly Guy Hot W Ife: He's not really ugly, but definitely not handsome either, while his wife, J-pop singer Yoko Tanaka, used to be an idol of all things.
• Use Your Head: In the vein of his master Fujiwara, Otsuka's wrestling style includes hard headbutts, and not the regular kind of worked headbutts, but solid ones.
• The Worf Effect: By Ken Shamrock, who's to date the only man who managed to fully knock out Otsuka.
• Worf Had the Flu: Fought both Egan Inoue and Igor Vovchanchyn after working a violent pro wrestling match the same day each. He even came to both matches with his head bandaged.
• Worthy Opponent: Fellow shoot-style fighter Kenichi Yamamoto, whom he defeated in PRIDE.