Characters / Battlarts

Battlarts Never Die!

Battlarts natives

Kazumasa Fujimoto

• Combat Commentator: A regular commentator for Battlarts.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Make Masa" due to him losing amateur matches on Christmas for two consecutive years.

Ryuji Hijikata

• Early-Installment Weirdness: In his early career, he wore long pants with a martial art belt as his wrestling attire. He abandoned it for wrestling trunks with knee and shin guard boots.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Was a senior to Naomichi Marufuji at Saitama Rong High School.
• Due to the Dead: His uncle was the one that encouraged him to pursue pro wrestling, but he died a few days before Ryuji made his debut. So Ryuji promised to win a title belt and visit his uncle's grave to thank him, and did so after winning AJPW's World Junior Heavyweight Championship on April 29 2008.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Ryuji Hijikata and Toshizo. His real name is stated to be Takayuki Yagi.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Left Battlarts in 2001 as he never reached top status there and joined All Japan Pro Wrestling full time.
• Shrinking Violet: Is said to be quite shy in real life.
• The Worf Effect: Was badly worfed by Tiger Mask IV in a Vale Tudo rules fight.

Setsu Iguchi

• Bash Brothers: He joined up with Routan Sasaki to form a MMA team called Badass 13.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Was not a pro wrestler, he trained at the Battlarts Dojo for MMA.

Hideya Iso

Satoshi Kobayashi

• The Apprentice: He has trained under many different coaches, the longest one was Toshio Fujiwara.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Was a guest trainer at the Battlarts dojo B-Club.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Has wrestled for Pro Wrestling ZERO1 and even collaborated with them to form his Norainu Dojo to train their wrestlers.

Tomoya Miyashita

• Name Order Confusion: He puts his birth name first instead of the usual way Japanese names are written by having their surname first.

Kentaro Nakamura/Urban Ken

• Beware of Vicious Dog: Wore a dog collar with a chain during his entrance and acted mean to almost everyone.
• Bratty Half-Pint: One of the smallest Battlarts wrestlers and developed a gimmick of acting like a mean-spirited punk with a more brawler style of wrestling.
• Chain Pain: Sometimes used his dog collar and chain as a weapon.
• Delinquent Hair: A short mohawk, though he left enough hair to keep the rest of his head covered.
• Ramming Always Works: He used the spear a lot in pro wrestling due to his rugby background.
• Red Is Heroic: Subverted, he often wore red wrestling tights, but was a mean-spirited punk.
• Token Evil Teammate: Was probably the only native from the Battlarts Dojo that acted as a heel in Battlarts itself.
• Use Your Head: Used headbutts frequently in matches.

Daisuke Noguchi

• Combat Commentator: Has commentated for a few Battlarts shows.
• Combat Referee: Has refereed for Battlarts, Fighting Opera Hustle, PRIDE, DREAM, and many other events.

Takahiro Oba

"Stop me if you've heard this one: Takahiro Oba was a shoot-style professional wrestler who was pushed into MMA by his management in BATTLARTS. He wasn't very good at it, made three Pride appearances—all losses—and went on to retire with a losing record of 5-7-1, with only one victory coming against an opponent with a winning record. He was a brawler with a slight background in judo, and drew upon this and his shoot-style training for a modicum of defensive grappling, but his primary skill as a fighter was 'is tough'. Oh, and because it was Pride, his successful record against nobody meant he of course wound up in over his head: His most visible appearance came at Pride: Bushido 6, wherein the 3-3-1 Oba, fresh off his first-round TKO of the 0-0 Kenichiro Shinohara, was matched against the 21-7-1-1 Denis Kang, the heavyweight champion of Spirit MC and future Pride Welterweight GP finalist. It went exactly as well as you are thinking. It wasn't his first run-in with trauma above his skill level, either: He'd go on to fight and lose regularly on the regional circuit, getting choked out by Cyrille Diabate and TK Oed by James Te Huna, which finally ended his career. He returned to shoot-style wrestling, and did so for another four years before retiring from that, too."

— A profile of Oba from a Fire Pro Wrestling user CarlCX from https://steamcommunity.com

• The Apprentice: To Alexander Otsuka and was his sparring partner and usual second for his MMA fights.
• Determinator: Was thrown into MMA fights by Battlarts for some reason. Despite his limited training, he managed a short career of 5 wins, 7 losses, and a draw.

Mamoru/Tamashii Okamoto/Mr Sakai

• Canon Immigrant: Was originally from FMW before coming to Battlarts.

Tsubakichi Sansyu

• Early-Bird Cameo: He never wrestled in Battlarts but did train at its dojo. He did later wrestle for the Battle Arts promotion though.

Manabu Sato/Hara/Suruga

• Heroic Build: One of the best bodies in Battlarts due to his hobby of Bodybuilding.
• Start My Own: Founded Soul Mode Pro Wrestling.

Ryōta Sasaki

• Bash Brothers: He joined up with Setsu Iguchi to form a MMA team called Badass 13.

Munenori Sawa

• Affectionate Parody: His Lingerie Mutoh gimmick is one to Keiji Mutoh. As Lingerie Mutoh, Sawa dressed in a bald cap, fake facial hair and women's lingerie and adopted all of Keiji Mutoh's signature moves and mannerisms, often performing them in an exaggerated manner for comedic effect. He also played Lee Ranjei, a Chinese version of the persona for Dramatic Dream Team’s New Beijing Pro Wrestling events.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Was in an amateur match at a Battlarts show in 1998. He also fought at a Kingdom Ehgeiz show in 2002.
• Insistent Terminology: His style is not shoot-style, but Bati Bati (バチバチ, which effectively is not pure shoot-style, but mixed with lucha libre and regular puroresu). Though he is obvously not the only wrestler who uses it, he is the only on them who insists in using the name.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Won a Combat Wrestling tournament in 2005 and after retiring from pro wrestling, he has competed in grappling matches for the ZST promotion.
• The Rival: Had a year long rivalry with Alexander Otsuka.
• Undying Loyalty: To Battlarts and retired a few days after Battlarts had its final show in 2011.
  • The Bus Came Back: He has made several one night returns starting in 2016 though.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • Has wrestled Kana in a rather one-sides beatdown.
  • He also worked several intergender matches alongside and against Awesome Kong and also wrestled World Wonder Ring Stardom representative Yoshiko in Pro Wrestling ZERO1 as Lingerie Mutoh.
  • Sawa also made several appearances for women's wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon against female wrestlers like Makoto, Miyako Matsumoto, Hikari Minami, and the promotion's founder Emi Sakura.

Toshio Soranaka

• Cool Teacher: A fitness instructor since 1995 and has his own gym, Kuga Trainer's Room.

Junji Tanaka/junji.com/Mach Junji

• Cool Teacher: Works as a trainer for Kyushu Pro Wrestling. He is also a former high school mathematics teacher.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He actually passed the entrance test in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but for some reason never debuted there and instead went to Battlarts.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Animal Junji, Hakata Yamagasa Junji, junji.com, Junji Inazuma, Junji Tanaka (his real name), Lightning Junji, Mach Junji, Texas Arahohshi Hakata Yamagasa Junji.

Masaharu Tanikawa

Ryūji Walter

• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch, Masami Soranaka, Yuki Ishikawa, Boris, Joe, and Dean Malenko. He also trained at School of Hard Knocks, a wrestling school led by Steve Kahn.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Wrestled in the United States since 1997 before coming to Battlarts in 2003.
• Start My Own: Promoted his own yearly shoot style shows under the name, The Tempest Dragon.
• Stout Strength: Was slightly bigger than the average Battlarts wrestler.

Hironobu Yamashita

• Cool Old Guy: Competed in a MMA match at the age of 40.

Keita Yano

• A Day in the Limelight: Won the 2009 B-Rule Tournament.
• The Apprentice: To Yuki Ishikawa. He also received training under Joe E. Legend, Negro Navarro and Tom Prichard.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Brody Boy, KEITA in THE °C, KEITA in THE House*, Keita Kenta, and Keita Yano.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Yano is a fan of soccer, having played the game with some success in high school.
• Insistent Terminology: Yano unified the WALLABEE TV Championship with the Capture International and Ricky Fuji Aggressive World Heavyweight Championships, creating what he referred to as the "Indie Triple Crown".
• Promoted Fan Boy: Yano cites Kendo Kashin as his main influence in wanting to become a wrestler himself. He later also became a fan of Bruiser Brody, adopting many of his in-ring mannerisms, including his signature "huss" chant, while also billing himself from Detroit, Michigan, Brody's hometown. Yano has wrestled as both "Kendo Ke Ita" and "Brody Boy" in honor of his idols.
• Shout-Out: Named two of his signature moves after Swedish soccer players Freddie Ljungberg and Henrik Larsson.
  • In 2010, he debuted a new look with face paint inspired by the The Joker from The Dark Knight.

Yūta Yoshikawa

• Overshadowed by Awesome: While not a bad wrestler, he didn’t really achieve much in his short career.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Retired in 2010 and hasn’t been seen since.

Battlarts gaijins

Joe Basko

Pequeño Guerrero

• Guest Fighter: He also wrestled at Kitao Dojo against Taru in the latter’s debut.
• Wrestling Family: He is not related to the family Los Guerreros family, but he does have a son who wrestles as Pequeño Guerrero Jr.

Viktor Krüger

"Once you enter the ring you enter a totally different world with its own rules and laws. Actually it is most fun you can have without going to jail."

• Bouncer: Is now a professional bodyguard.
• Canon Immigrant: Was a wrestler for WCW and the Catch Wrestling Association before joining Battlarts.
• The Giant: 6ft 7 and about 300 pounds.
• Homage: Sometimes wore a Cool Mask during his entrances and was introduced as Big Van Krüger.
• Important Haircut: In his fight with Han Nijman, after his hair band got lost after a knee to the face, he got out of the ring and made his cornermen cut his hair before resuming the fight.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Not a great technician, but he was the biggest and strongest regular wrestler in Battlarts.

Rastaman

• Acrofatic: Not really fat per say, in his prime he could get up to nearly 300 pounds and still perform things like rolling senton bombs and diving blockbusters.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Black Navy Seal, Leroy Anthony Howard (his real name), Rastaman, and Terrence Black.
• Stout Strength: Used a more powerhouse style of wrestling and was quite hefty.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Wrestled in pants with the Jamaican flag on it.

George Silva/Terzis

• Start My Own: Co-founded the Canadian promotion Battle Arts with Yuki Ishikawa and Anthony Carelli.

Mick Tierney

• Always Someone Better: Kurt Angle, when they were both in Memphis Power Pro Wrestling.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: His gimmick was an European shootfighting champion and "Ultimate Fighter". He did have the training for it to be believable, though he has only one recorded MMA fight against Oleg Taktarov which he lost, which was also a bit sketchy since Taktarov was also a student of Lebell and Gokor.
• Fighting Irish: From Dublin, though for some reason he was introduced as being from Belfast, Northern Ireland when he debuted for Memphis Power Pro Wrestling.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Wore the flag of Ireland on his wrestling tights.

Battlarts joshi/Queen Bee

A Missed Opportunity

Chie Ishikawa

Miho Miyauchi

• Non-Action Guy: Was a ring girl for Battlarts.

Chihiro Oikawa

• Cute Bruiser: A young woman in mostly pink gear, who does the stiffest style of pro wrestling.
• Pink Heroine: Most of her gear was pink.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: 5ft 2 and 65kg and kicks hard.
• Quitting to Get Married: Retired from wrestling after getting married in 2010.
• The Smurfette Principle: Was the only official female Battlarts wrestler (Kana may have trained at their dojo and wrestled at their events, but was never officially considered a Battlarts wrestler).

Akino Ryoko

• Non-Action Guy: Was a ring girl for Battlarts.

Mayumi Tamura

Other wrestlers and figures

Carlos/Rieko Amano

• Game-Breaking Injury: Retired from professional wrestling on April 15, 2015 due to damage to her brainstem.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as A-BOY, Carlos Amano, Kamen Tenshi Freya, and Reiko Amano.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Has a MMA victory against Yoko Takahashi at the Central Martial Arts Association (CMA): Octagon Challenge December 8, 1997 event, though it was because Takahashi was disqualified for illegally soccer kicking her in the head.

Andy Anderson

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Andy Anderson, Andy Lewis, Ayatollah Anderson, "Buff" Anderson, Deja Vu, JT Atlas, Lobo Blanco, El Lobo Solitario, Masked Superstar, Mr. E, and Siberian Tiger.

Hideo Arai

• The Man Behind the Man: Is the chairman of Alpha Japan Promotion, the management team behind the political careers of Atsushi Onita and The Great Sasuke, and as the management of behind their promotions.
• The Nicknamer: Was the one that came up with name Battlarts for the promotion.
• Non-Action Guy: Was a wrestling promoter, not a wrestler himself.

Marty Asami

• Combat Referee: A New Japan Pro-Wrestling referee since 2002. He previously worked for Battlarts, FMW, and IWA Japan with his first job in 1995.
• He Also Did: Was the driver of New Japan’s mobile bus. He also appeared in a McDonald's commercial.

Mohamed Azzaoui

• Guest Fighter: Appeared at the Battlarts vs The World event in a Different Styles Fight against Yuki Ishikawa, which he won.
• Shout-Out: Fought in Battlarts under the name Muhammad Ali.

Asian Cougar

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled Asian Cougar, Kappa Boy, Kappa Komachi, Kappa Kozu, Kuuga, and Vancouver Cougar. His real name is Koji Nishimoto.

Ricky Banderas

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Asesor Cibernético, Gilbert el Boricua, TNA's Judas Mesias, El Mega Campeon de AAA, El Mesías, Mil Muertes, Muerte Cibernética, and Ricky Banderas. His real name is Gilberto Cosme Ramírez.

Black Sakai

• Unknown Character: No seems to know who he is.

Bloody Blues A

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is.

Bloody Blues B

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is.

Mike Bourke

"One of the first prominent superheavyweights of MMA was Mike "The Rhino" Bourke, a 6'0" meat-mountain who fluctated between 270 and 300 pounds. He'd played football for most of his life, sniffed the NFL but never quite made it in, and found his MMA calling when a friend invited him to a judo class and dumbfounded him by repeatedly submitting him despite being outweighed by nearly 100 pounds. Bourke decided the whole fighting thing was something he needed to know about. And in the world of regional, turn-of-the-century superheavyweight mixed martial arts, being big, strong and fearless was enough to get you somewhere... but somewhere is not really very far, especially when you never actually take those judo classes. Bourke fought almost the entirety of his career in the King of the Cage promotion—he fought at the very first-ever KOTC show, in fact—and most of that career is hallmarked by his propensity for charging recklessly forward and losing in comical ways. Steve Treadwell knocked him out in eleven seconds at KOTC 1, Shungo Oyama knocked him out in seventeen seconds at KOTC 7 (in an outdoor event in the middle of a downpour while they were constantly falling down—seriously, look it up, it's like watching a cartoon in real life), Tank Abbott knocked him out in twenty-nine seconds at Wargods, and most famously, Alexander Otsuka beat him at Pride 11 by double armbar, a submission so incredibly unlikely a lot of people still think it was fixed. Bourke achieved the one true feather in his cap in his very last fight in 2010, TK Oing a 46 year-old Ken Shamrock entering his third decade in combat sports. He retired at 10-16-1-1. While he may not have picked up many accolades in the sport, he was one of KOTC's better draws, and regional MMA owes him a debt for his years of suffering. Thank you, Rhino. Your rain-slickened knockout will live on in youtube fame forever."

— A profile of Bourke from a Fire Pro Wrestling user CarlCX from https://steamcommunity.com

• Guest Fighter: Was a MMA fighter from the King of The Cage promotion.
• Stout Strength: 6ft and nearly 300 pounds.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Had very little MMA training, he just charged into his opponents thanks to his football background.

Rey Bucanero

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as El Hatena Dos, El Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Hulk, Rey Bucanero, Rey Bucanero Jr., and Rey Ortiz. His real name is Arturo García Ortiz.
• Pirate: His ring name means ""Buccaneer King".
• Red Baron: "El Pirata", "Pirata Ortiz", "Pirata de Pandemonium", "Corsario del Amor", "El Rey de los Siete Mares".
• Wrestling Family: Is part of the Pirata Luchador Family. He is the cousin of El Corsario, Drone, El Hijo del Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr., India Sioux #2, Morgana, and Perla Negra, the nephew of El Hombre Bala, India Sioux, La Marquesa, Pirata Morgan, and El Verdugo, and is also the husband of La Diabólica.

Caribbean Invader

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled against Junji Tanaka and Ikuto Hidaka in Battlarts.

Caribbean Invader #2

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled with Ikuto Hidaka (as "Palomino") against F.A.B. and Yuki Ishikawa (as "Kamikaze") in Battlarts.

Negro Casas

• Alternate Company Equivalent: Is referred to by American fans as the "Ric Flair of Mexico" and by Japanese fans as "Mexican Riki Choshu".
• Expy: He is one to Riki Choshu as he was impressed by him when he first came to Japan. He grew his longer hair to match his, started wearing black wrestling short tights, and used the Scorpion Deathlock and lariat as Finishing Moves.
• Kayfabe: As a child, he and his brothers often sat at ringside during their father's matches, pretending to be upset or cry whenever their father looked like he was getting beat up in the ring, a ploy that their father had taught them to help gain crowd sympathy.
• Legacy Character: Started his career as Pepe Casas Jr.
• Ring Oldies: In his 60s and still wrestling.
• Traumatic Haircut: Has lost his hair in matches about 8 times.
• Wrestling Family: Is part of La Dinastia Casas ("The Casas Dynasty"), He is the son of Pepe Casas, the father-in-law of As Charro and Psycho Clown, the cousin of Black Star, the son-in-law of Chacho Medina, the husband of Dalys la Caribeña, the brother of Felino and Heavy Metal, the father of Noris, the uncle of Puma King, Canelo Casas, Danny Casas, Rocky Casas, Nanyzh Rock, Destroyer, and Tiger and the brother-in-law of El Veneno and Princesa Blanca.

Cola Kid

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is, though he is rumoured to be either George Takano or Basara from Wrestle Yume Factory.

Chad Collyer/Malenko

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Chad Collyer, Chad Malenko, Metal Master, and The Stealth.
• I Know Karate: An accomplished wrestler, was a 2 time NCAA National Finalist in 1995 at 150 lbs and 1997 at 158 lbs, a 1995 NCAA West Regional Champion at 150 lbs, and a 3 time ICAC Conference Champion.
• Unrelated Brothers: Wrestled as Chad Malenko as a tribute to his trainer.

Dos Caras

• Cool Mask: A colorful mask with a figure of a two headed eagle on it.
• Jack of All Stats: Mixed the lucha libre style of wrestling with a more mat-based, American wrestling style.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: His brother Mil Mascaras is way more popular than Dos Caras ever was, though he is considered "the greatest heavyweight ever to come out of Mexico" by author James Molinaro.
• Ring Oldies: In his 60s and still wrestles on occasion.
• Wrestling Family: Is the father of Alberto Del Rio and El Hijo de Dos Caras, the brother-in-law of Black Gordman, the uncle of El Hijo del Sicodélico and El Sicodélico Jr, and the brother of Mil Máscaras and El Sicodélico.

F.A.B.

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled with Yuki Ishikawa (as "Kamikaze") against Ikuto Hidaka (as "Palomino") and Caribbean Invader #2 in Battlarts.

Fantastik

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Bogeman, Esfinge, Fantastik, La Máscara, Shiryu #2, and Tutankhamen the 8th.
• Wrestling Family: His brother is luchador El Cerebro.

Fugaz

• Cool Mask: Started with one, until he lost it. He started wearing one again when he switch to his Ramstein identity, then lost it again in 2015.
• Dramatic Unmask: Lost a Luchas de Apuesta to Enemigo Publico and was forced to remove his mask. He experienced it again in 2015 when he and Cholo lost to El Soberano Jr and Star Jr.
• Shout-Out: His Ramstein name came from the band, Rammstein.

Gulliver X

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Giant Dos Caras, Giant Zebra, The Great Zebra, Gulliver X, Kenji Takano, Shunji Takano (his real name), Super Ninja.
• Start My Own: Co-founded Network of Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Crusaders.
• Wrestling Family: Is the brother of George Takano, better known as The Cobra.

Gulliver XX

• Unknown Character: Not one seems to know who he was.

Kayoko Haruyama

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Haruyama Jijo, Kayoko Haruyama, Kayoko Haruyama wearing Gym Clothes, Kuangtung Yuki Miyazaki, Kyoko Inoue-chu, Nise Kuragaki, Nise Kyoko Inoue, and Santa Haruyama.

Maya Hashimoto

• Game-Breaking Injury: Originally ended her career in 1999 due to head injuries.
• Identical Stranger: Sort of, she got her ringname Maya Hashimoto because her face resembles that of Shinya Hashimoto.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Erika Watanabe, Kyoko Inoue #4, Maya Hashimoto, Round Girl, and Santa Watanabe. Her real name is Erika Akita.
• Put on the Bus: Originally retired in 1999.
  • The Bus Came Back: Came break to wrestling in 2001 and wrestled till 2006 where she retired for good.

Hayabusa

• The Alcoholic: Turned to drinking himself to sleep when his injuries began mounting up.
• Alliterative Name: His real name is Eiji Ezaki.
• Animal Motifs: His ring name means "Peregrine Falcon".
• The Apprentice: To Rey Misterio Sr, Takashi Ishikawa, Último Dragón, and Tarzan Goto. He was also Atsushi Onita's main assistant.
• Ascended Fan Boy: Was a fan of Mil Mascaras and Satoru Sayama growing up. He even met Mil during his learning excursion in Mexico. Ironically, he was not impressed with Atsushi Onita as a junior heavyweight, who would later become his boss.
• Badass Long Robe: Wore a happi, which is a Japanese robe for his entrance. The first one he wore was gifted from his parents, it was estimated to cost a couple $10,000 yen ($100 USD) bills.
• Broken Ace: One of the most tragic examples ever in pro wrestling, he put his body through hell for FMW, ended up paralyzed for the rest of his life and even considered suicide at one point.
• Combat Commentator: Worked for Dragon Gate as a color commentator as a favor to his friend Dragon Kid.
• Cool Mask: A half mask that covered the bottom half of his face. He even came up with the design.
• Dented Iron: Even before his accident, he had to change his lucha libre style to a more mat-based style due to the many injuries he suffered.
• Determinator: Wrestled with multiple injuries during almost the whole year of 1995 and refused to take a break so that FMW would thrive as he believed it was his responsibility as "The Ace of FMW".
• Establishing Character Moment: His match with Jushin Thunder Liger in the first round of the 1994 Super J Cup.
• Evil Makeover: As H, with a complete makeover of colored hair, a tattooed chest and jeans. Exaggerated as The Darkside of Hayabusa.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Suffered a career-ending injury in October 22 2001 when he attempted a springboard moonsault off the middle rope and lost footing, landing on his head, cracking two of his vertebrae and leaving him paralyzed.
• Hidden Depths: Pursued a career as a singer after retiring from wrestling and has released three solo albums (one posthumously), an album with Dragon Kid, and an album with Koji Nakagawa and Masahiko. In May 2005, he performed a play called The Shinichi Amano Story at the Tokyo Shinjuku Theater. He portrayed the main character's best friend Fuyuki Hayato, an injured air pilot soldier in World War II, who is wheelchair-bound. His performance was given positive reviews.
• Hope Spot: By 2015, Ezaki had regained the use of his legs and could stand on his own and walk with a cane. He died less than a year later.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as The Dark Side of Hayabusa, Eiji Ezaki, H, and Hayabusa.
• Important Haircut: Dyed his hair as part of his "H" gimmick and later had to cut a large portion of it as the dye was killing his hair.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Grew and kept his hair long and was considered very attractive to the female fans. FMW President Shoichi Arai wrote in his book that the real reason that Onita sent Ezaki to Mexico was because they would go out after shows and since Ezaki was Onita's assistant he would always come with him and all the girls would over to Ezaki instead of Onita.
• Manly Tears: Was prone to crying backstage after important matches.
• Never Be Hurt Again: Was bullied in school for sucking in baseball, until a friend of his suggested he quit baseball and take up Judo.
• Ninja: Said the design of his mask is a mixture of a ninja and a bird since he wanted to be flying like a bird could.
• Odd Friendship: With Mike Awesome in real life. He also was for some reason The Sheik's favourite of the FMW trainees and allowed Eiji to call him "Papa Sheik".
• Refusal of the Call / Undying Loyalty: Due to his impressive talent, he received offers with better salaries from New Japan Pro-Wrestling and WWE, which could have driven him to success but he rejected all those offers out of loyalty to FMW.
• Shout-Out: Part of his mask was based on Manga illustrator Shotaro Ishinomori's Henshin Ninja Arashi.
• Start My Own: Founded a FMW Spin-Off called Wrestling's Marvelous Future.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Jushin Thunder Liger, they were close friends since 1994. The two had a falling out in 1996 after Ezaki turned down a deal with NJPW, but they mended their friendship in 2005.

Tomoaki Honma

• Domestic Abuse: In November 2015, Honma's former girlfriend of 18 years, fellow professional wrestler Kiyoko Ichiki, accused him of domestic violence over the past four years. Honma denied the accusation, instead claiming that he was abused by her and stating that he was seeking legal action against her for trying to damage his career.
• Friend to All Children: Paid a visit to Tokyo’s National Center for Child Health and Development on January 12 2018 on behalf of NJPW to present the facility with a donation, while under going rehab from his own spinal injury.
• Garbage Wrestling: Started out his career in BJW's deathmatch division. He had tried to enter New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Michinoku Pro Wrestling before that though.
• Hidden Depths: He was originally a garbage wrestler that eventually developed into a solid and highly charismatic wrestler, sometime also unheard of. He also once owned a bar called "Cele Brity".
• Jobber: In NJPW, the only time he seems to wins is against Young Lions or as part of a tag team.
• Nice Guy: Is reportedly one of the nicest, down to earth guys that you can find in real life.
• Red Baron: "The Innovator of Lighttube Deathmatches", "The Kokeshi", "Husky Honma", "The Magician of The Apron", "Min'na no Kokeshi" ("Everyone's Kokeshi"), "Rodjiura no Zassō" ("Back Alley Weed"), "Shatei Kongu" ("Little Brother Kong"), "Gekikara Tonpachi" ("Spicy Tonpachi").
• Took a Level in Badass: Beat Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows with Togi Makabe to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship in Wrestle Kingdom 2016.
• Use Your Head: His sick looking Flying Headbutt which he has even done on an opponent lying on the floor.

Flying Kid Ichihara

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Akihito Ichihara (his real name), Akihito Itahara, Atsushi Onita Jr., Convict #2, Ebessan #2, Flying Kid Ichihara, Onita Jr., and Rei Pandita.
• Start My Own: Co-founded the revived FMW, Super Battle Pro-Wrestling FMW in 2015.

Nagaharu Imai

• Hammy Herald: Was the main ring announcer for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and also worked for a few other promotions like Battlarts and Big Japan.

Kazuhiro Ishioka

• Combat Commentator: A commentator that also worked for IWA Japan and Michinoku Pro Wrestling.

Ryuji Ito

• The Ace: His first reign as BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion is the longest reign until now with 850 days, holding the titles for almost three years.
• Blind Without 'Em: Wears contact lenses when he wrestles and wears glasses in real life.
• Conspicuous Gloves: Wore fully covered gloves as part of his wrestling gear.
• Garbage Wrestling: Another Big Japan wrestler that is well known for his death matches.
• He Also Did: Appears as himself in the video game Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood and also appears as himself alongside Daisuke Sekimoto, Abdullah Kobayashi, Takashi Sasaki and Jaki Numazawa in the 2006 movie Dirty Sanchez: The Movie. Ito and the other wrestlers perform wrestling moves on the three main cast members.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Antony Ito, Cordelia Ito, Death Match Dragon Panda, Dragon Hiryu, Jumbo Ito, Jumping Dragon Ito, Liu Bei Ito, Macbeth Ito, Macduff Ito, Oriental Dragon, Roku-chan, and Ryuji Ito.
• Shout-Out: He based his gimmick on Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat, which basically makes Ito a Bruce Lee Clone.
• Wrestling Family: Is the husband of joshi wrestler and referee Nikkan Lee.

Quinton Jackson

"My name's been Rampage since I was a little kid. Growing up, I had the worst temper on the planet. It's still pretty bad, now, if I lose it. But, I've learned better to control it. I feel like God made me to be a fighter: my big neck, my thick chin, my lower legs and the power I generate. My career is fighting; I love what I do."

• 10-Minute Retirement: On September 22, 2009, Jackson wrote in a blog on his website that he was "done fighting", due to maltreatment by the UFC. On December 4, 2009, Jackson informed the community via his web blog that he would return to the UFC to finish his contract and wanted to fight Rashad Evans.
• Arch-Enemy: Wanderlei Silva. Silva previously beat Jackson twice in PRIDE, though Jackson got his revenge at UFC 92 in 2008 and evened the score with him at Bellator 206 in 2018.
• Blood Knight: Makes no secret that he loves fighting.
• Chain Pain: Wore a steel chain around his neck during his entrances. He calls it The Rumble Chain and said that he started wearing it in high school when his little brother said to wear it for good luck in his amateur wrestling matches and also told him it might intimidate some of his opponents.
• Cool Teacher: Has his own MMA school, Rampage Fitness Academy. He also was a coach on The Ultimate Fighter Seasons 7 and 10.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Sold drugs from a young age and was involved in many street fights.
• Disappeared Dad: His drug-addicted father disappeared when Jackson was only 10 years old, before returning to his life in 2003.
• Establishing Character Moment: His Pride 15 against Kazushi Sakuraba. He lost due to a rear naked choke from Sakuraba, but captivated the Japanese fans with his exciting performance and also gained their respect and admiration for his valiant effort against a much more experienced opponent.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Taken to a logical extreme by Jackson and Rashad Evans in a conference call for their UFC 114 main-event clash, both whom eventually lampshaded how homoerotic their trash talk had become:

  Rampage: I bet you'd get an [expletive] from that.

  Rashad: I probably will. But it'll be okay, 'cause it'll be in your mouth.

• Guest Fighter: Was brought in for a PRIDE rules fight against Alexander Otsuka representing PRIDE.
• He Also Did: Played Bosco Albert Baracus in the The A-Team and has appeared in other films and tv shows.
• Hero Killer: Has beaten guys like Alexander Otsuka, Yuki Ishikawa, Masaaki Satake, Igor Vovchanchyn, Kevin Randleman, Mikhail Ilyukhin, Murilo Bustamante, Chuck Liddell, Ikuhisa Minowa, Ricardo Arona, Murilo Rua, Hirotaka Yokoi, Matt Lindland, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Lyoto Machida, Matt Hamill, Muhammed Lawal, Satoshi Ishii, etc.
• Hidden Depths: His original dream was to be a pro wrestler, that or a stuntsman or firefighter.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: Is well known for slamming his opponents and his body slam has knocked out guys like Ricardo Arona.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Won a kickboxing bout against Cyril Abidi in K-1 in July 2002, later that year Abidi wanted to prove that his loss to Jackson was a fluke, and faced him on the New Year's Eve Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye card, again under K-1 rules, and lost again.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
• Scary Black Man: Was probably the first MMA fighter to overtly cultivate the trope with a "street thug" persona, which included wearing an industrial chain as a necklace and swearing profusely during interviews. He softened his image somewhat after his religious reawakening, but revived it when feuding with Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal and "Sugar" Rashad Evans, both rival African-American wrestlers.

Tony Jones

• The Apprentice: To his amateur wrestling coach Lars Jensen. He trained under Michael Modest, Dwayne Bruce, Terry Taylor, and Tom Prichard for pro wrestling.
• Cool Teacher: Served as an assistant coach for the San Francisco State University wrestling team before his graduation in 1995.
• Fun with Acronyms: Has wrestled as HTK, which originally meant Hard To Kill, though he later stated that it stood for Honor, Truth, & Knowledge.
• Genius Bruiser: Has a bachelor arts degree in broadcasting and electronic communication arts and a minor in speech communication arts.
• Suplex Finisher: Used a lot of suplexes due to his background.

Takeshi Kagino

• Combat Commentator: A frequent commentator for NJPW and also worked for other promotions.
• Non-Action Guy: Was not a wrestler.

Jun Kasai

• Body Horror: The things he has gone through throughout his career would have killed a lesser man, like when he took a bump onto a light tube board which ripped open his left elbow, exposing bone.
• Bouncer: Once worked as a security guard before wrestling.
• Garbage Wrestling: A very notable garbage wrestler, though he also has a good grasp of technical wrestling.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestledas Ape the Man, Brocken Jr, Edgar Kasai, Jun Kasai, Macduff Kasai, Nazo Fukumen KJ, and Romeo Kasai.
• Japanese Ranguage: He states he is from "Hiladelhia, America".
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Aside from his in-ring personality, he is a noted to be a decent person in real life.

Kato Kung Lee Jr

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Kato Kung Lee Jr, Kato Jr, and Kato Extreme. His real name is Johnny Lezcano Jr.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Subverted, he had a MMA match against Kazuki Okubo at a DEEP event and lost by armbar at about 3 minutes.
• Wrestling Family: Is the son of the original Kato Kung Lee, his wife is luchadora Zuleyma and his sister-in-law is luchadora Miss Janeth.

Kaw*Kaw

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who she is.

Daiyu Kawauchi

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Daiyu Kawauchi, Genkai, Hideyoshi, and Shingen.

Michael Kovac

"Formerly, the opinions were clear: Some saw only show, the other sick brutality. For me it's 80 percent sport and 20 percent show. You have to be able to do the sport first, then you can start entertaining the audience. We certainly do not fight for life and death, we are not gladiators or cage fighters. The most important thing is to entertain the audience."

• Cool Teacher: Owner of the Powerplexx wrestling school in Vienna. He has trained wrestlers like Blaze, Captain Steve Swallow, Chris Colen, Chris Raaber, Coone, Damon Brix, Daniel Haas, Dragan Okic, Franz Dynamite, Ingo Vollenberg, J-Hawk, Julian Nero, Maximilian Bismarck, Mexx, Miguel Ramírez, Muslim Sultanov, Oliver Gratzer, Rachel Fire, Ragnar Alvarr, Robert Dreissker, Robert Ray, Sig Masta Rappo, Tom Hüttinger, Tommy Golden and Walter.
• Start My Own: Co-founded European Wrestling Association and was a former booker.
• Wrestling Family: His brother is pro wrestler Lexxus.

Tsubasa Kuragaki

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Haruyama, Haruyama Chojo, Santa Kuragaki, Santa Tsubasa, Tsubasa Haruyama, Tsubasa Kuragaki, and Yasuko Kuragaki (her real name).

Tetsuhiro Kuroda

• From Nobody to Nightmare: Initially worked in low-card matches as an enhancement talent during his early years with FMW until he joined Atsushi Onita's ZEN faction in 1997, earning his first title shot at the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship that December. He would remain a part of many factions throughout the late 1990s and began rising to the main event status, winning his first WEW Heavyweight Championship in 2000. By the end of the year, the underdog Kuroda established himself as the company's top villain and formed his own group Team Kuroda to feud with the company's top fan favorite Hayabusa. He headlined the company's flagship event FMW Anniversary Show in 2001.
• Garbage Wrestling: Trained at the FMW Dojo, though he first started his pro wrestling training at the Pro Wrestling Crusaders Dojo.
• Goofy Print Underwear: In his "Naked Man Death Match" against The Great Sasuke, he was revealed to have been wearing Hello Kitty boxers when Sasuke pulled his pants down.
• Start My Own: He promoted his first show called "Tetsuhiro Kuroda Festival" with himself putting up the finances and booking the show. He also promoted other shows under names like "Black Steel" and "Tetsuhiro Kuroda Productions".

Tomoko Kuzumi/Azumi Hyuga

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Azumi Haruyama, Azumi Hyuga, Haruyama #6, Nise Leon, Santa Azumi, Santa Hyuga, Tiger Honey, and Tomoko Kuzumi.

Lyguila

• Alliterative Name: His real name is Katsumi Kanai.

Touradj Mansouri

• Guest Fighter: Was a MMA fighter from the King of The Cage promotion.

Pablo Márquez

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Babu, Gaijin, PABLO, Pablo Márquez, La Pantera Ecuatoriana, El Puerto Riqueño, and Ubas.

Kengo Mashimo

• Identical Stranger: Stylically speaking, he used a shoot wrestling style for most of his career which let him be perfectly at home in shoot style promotions like Battlarts and U-STYLE.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Had 2 MMA fights, which he both lost.

Masked Tiger #2

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled against Masao Orihara (as "Gekko") in Battlarts.

Rick Lee Mathis

• Guest Fighter: Was a MMA fighter from the King of The Cage promotion.

MEN's Teioh

• Camp Straight: Though he denies being gay, he has won the GAY World Anal-Class Championship.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Takeo Otsuka (his real name), Terry Fuck, Terry Boy, Men's Teioh, French Emperor, Paris Teioh, Mini Patriot, Terry Otsuka and Teioh.
• Power Stable: He is known as an original member of the group, Kai En Tai. He was also briefly a member of the BWO Japan.
• Shout-Out: His ring name in English translates to Terry Boy, a homage to American professional wrestler and his trainer, Terry Funk.

Mil Mascaras

"If it weren't for Mil Máscaras, there would be no Jushin Thunder Liger, no Último Dragón or The Great Sasuke today."

— Satoru Sayama

"He was the best competitor that I ever wrestled. He never gave you anything – it's true – but I didn't give him anything either. You talk about a shoot or a half-shoot, and that's the kind of match that it was."

— "The Destroyer" Dick Beyer

• Acrofatic / Stout Strength: Far from fat, though his prime he was one of the few Mexican heavyweights, a division which in his time was dominated by foreigners.
• Cool Mask: His ring name means "Thousand Masks". He was notable for being one of the first luchadors to use a different mask for each match.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: He almost never lost. It took guys like Lou Thesz to beat him cleanly.
• Defictionalization: Mil Máscaras was originally created for movies but then became a real luchador.
• Dramatic Unmask: Subverted, he often pull off a mask only to reveal another mask underneath and has never been unmasked in the ring.
• Expy: Mil Máscaras was created for a movie when El Santo and Blue Demon wasn't available and then turned into a luchador by EMLL.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel: Subverted, he was famous for being a foreigner in Japan and the USA that wasn't a heel.
• Guest Fighter: Was semi-retired when he appeared in Battlarts.
• Hidden Depths: Is an avid golfer and plays in many charity golf tournaments around the world, including annually at the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament. He is also an accomplished artist and cultural ambassador from his native country and has appeared on three of its postage stamps.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Made a cameo at WWF's 1997 Royal Rumble match. He eliminated himself, diving off the top rope out of the ring onto Pierroth Jr, whom he himself had just eliminated. Such a move is common in lucha libre but it is technically a mistake in the Royal Rumble as it leads to elimination.
• Jack of All Stats: He is legendary in Japan and the USA for showing off the high-flying style of lucha libre, while in Mexico he was more known as a mat-power wrestler who could also pull off the high-flying stuff.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Learned martial arts as a counter to shoot attempts, and recalls several wrestlers who tried to shoot on him and whom he had to legitimately submit.
• No-Sell: Multiple wrestlers have publicly complained of Mascaras' unwillingness to sell moves and put opponents over.
• Power Trio: Is considered one of the original "Big Three" of the lucha libre tradition in Mexico, the other two being El Santo and Blue Demon.
• Red Baron: "The Man of 1000 Masks", "Mr. Personalidad", "Sky High", "Sen no Kao o Motsu Otoko" ("Man of 1000 Faces"), "Kamen Kizoku" ("Masked Nobleman"), "Akuma Kamen" ("Devil Mask"),
• Ring Oldies: In his 70s and still wrestles on occasion.
• Secret Identity: Like most masked luchadores, he goes to great lengths to conceal his true appearance and personal life. His real name is Aaron Rodríguez Arellano.
• Wrestling Family: Is the uncle of Alberto Del Rio, El Hijo de Dos Caras, El Hijo del Sicodélico, and El Sicodélico Jr, the brother-in-law of Black Gordman, and the brother of Dos Caras and El Sicodélico.

Tomoko Miyaguchi/Ran Yu Yu

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Tomoko Miyaguchi, Ran Yu Yu, and Made in Philippines.

Tomoya Miyashita

• Guest Fighter: Made one appearance in Battlarts in an amateur grappling match against Takumi Murata.

Yuki Miyazaki

• I Have Many Names: Etsuko Miyazaki, Fake Haruka Matsuo, Fake Yuka Nakamura, Generalissimo Miyazaki, La Hechicera, Kyoko Inoue #6, Nise Azumi Hyuga, Pesadija Rocca, Police Wo~man, Yuki Miyazaki, and Yuki of Joytoy.

Takumi Murata

• Canon Immigrant: Later became a regular Pancrase fighter.
• Guest Fighter: Made only one appearance in Battlarts in an amateur grappling match against Tomoya Miyashita.

Koji Nakagawa

• Badass Family: His daughter is J-Pop Idol Singer Haruka Nakagawa, a former member of the Japanese idol group, former captain of JKT 48's Team T and also former member of its sister idol group, AKB48 and its sub-unit, Watarirouka Hashiritai.
• Blood Is the New Black: Started bleeding profusely in his matches after being forced to wear an item called the Belt of Curse by Onryō and eventually "died"
• Cool Mask: He started to wear a half mask to hide the fact that half of his face was turning white during his feud with Onryō.
• Cool Teacher: He became the head trainer at the FMW Dojo and trained guys like Chocoball Mukai, Garuda, Naohiko Yamazaki, Seiji Ikeda, Soldier, Sun Paul, Yasu Urano and Yoshihito Sasaki.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After he "died" he returned as Onryō's mystery tag team partner on in a match against Shinjuku Shark and Naohiko Yamazaki, explaining he had also become a ghost and that they both had shared a bond in dying.
• Just Like Robin Hood: His GOEMON persona was originally a thief character based of on the historic Japanese thief Goemon Ishikawa, who was basically the Japanese equivalent of Robin Hood.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He basically ripped off Bret Hart for his "Hitman" gimmick, wearing similar ring attire to Hart and receiving a theme song similar to Hart’s theme.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Onryō, they would feud at one time and team together in the next.
• Wrestling Family: His wife is fellow FMW wrestler Yoko Ikeda.

Kaori Nakayama

• Battle Couple: Was apparently once in a relationship with Masato Tanaka.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Fought in 2 MMA matches, both of which she lost.
• Wrestling Family: Her mother is All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling's Miyoko Hoshino and her father was a local wrestling promoter in Osaka.

Hayato Nanjo

• Cool Mask: Many of his gimmicks used a mask.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Akagi, Dark Ranger, Hayato Nanjo, "Kabuto" Beetle, Kabuto Daio Beetle, Mach Hayato, Masakazu Ueguri, Miracle Man, Miracle Red, Movie Version Kabuto Beetle, and Ushiwakamaru.
• Start My Own: Founded the short-lived F-Spirit Fantasy Fighters and Kyoto Pro Wrestling promotions.

Naoki Numazawa

• Guest Fighter: From Big Japan Pro Wrestling.
• He Also Did: Appears as himself alongside Ryuji Ito, Abdullah Kobayashi, Takashi Sasaki and Daisuke Sekimoto in the 2006 movie Dirty Sanchez: The Movie. Numazawa and the other wrestlers perform wrestling moves on the three main cast members.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Banquo Numazawa, Brahman Jaki, Director Numazawa, Juliet Numazawa, Kaijin HAGE, Kirari*Hikaru, Jaki Numazawa, Masked Holstein, Naoki Numazawa, NUMAZAWA, Numazawa Shocho, El Parientes de Numa, Shining Tiger, Siward Numazawa

Makoto/Sambo Oishi

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Fake Ken Oka, Makoto Oishi, Mako Venus, Pokotan, Sambo Oishi, and Sambo X. His real name is Tomiyuki Oishi.
• Wrestling Family: Is married to former joshi wrestler Misaki Ohata.

Oyama American

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled against Super Tigerito #2 in Battlarts.

Perseus

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is.

Amir Rahnavardi

"The most underserved field in MMA is that of the journeyman—everyone has to be The Best or A Bum or A Gatekeeper, very few can just be a journeyman fighter. Amir Rahnavardi is the platonic ideal of the MMA journeyman. He trained, but not with anyone notable. He fought across the world, but rarely at the big shows. He had a generic look, but a non-generic name. He lost every time he fought someone who mattered. His career lasted just barely over ten years, and ended at a nearly perfectly split 11-10. He was rarely a pushover, but never a threat. He never even had a nickname. The first and most famous fight of his professional career was at Pride 3 against Gary Goodridge, and it saw Goodridge laughing in Amir's face and openly mocking his punching power before knocking him out. But that does not stop a journeyman."

— A profile of Rahnavardi from a Fire Pro Wrestling user CarlCX from https://steamcommunity.com

• Guest Fighter: Was brought in to team with Bas Rutten against Carl Malenko and Alexander Otsuka.
• The Unpronounceable: Which is why he was only introduced in Battlarts as Amir.

Relay Shonen

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is.

Shannon Ritch

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: A very aggressive fighter.
• Cool Old Guy: Nearly 50 and still fighting.
• Cool Teacher: Has his own MMA school, Team Cannon Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He also trains military personnel in mixed martial arts and is a mainstay at the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
• Guest Fighter: A journeyman MMA fighter.
• Odd Friendship: With Pancrase as he fought in some of their events, he occasionally appears at Pancrase gyms in Japan to host training seminars and even appearing in the Pancrase energy drink line commercial.
• Private Military Contractors: Was once part of Blackwater and was a bodyguard for United States Congressman John Negroponte while serving.

Acute Sae

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Acute Sae, Kobina Ichikawa, Tomiko Sai (her real name).

SAITO

• 10-Minute Retirement: Claimed to have retired in 28th October 2001 and stated that his first student, Super Shisa, would take his place. It was really just him in a mask.
• Afro Asskicker: Pretty much SAITO's only characteristic was his poofy haircut.
• Ascended Extra: In Dragon Gate, after years of hanging out in the opening matches and rarely doing anything, in 2010 Shisa suddenly started winning matches. He took Magnitude Kishiwada's place in the Veteran Army and also participated alongside CIMA and Gamma in the interfed rivalry with Osaka Pro.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: 'Lazy' isn't quite the right word for it, but part of Shisa's character is that he's just not that interested in being a front line competitor and prefers to focus on his job as a trainer for the Dragon Gate dojo - but if he's pushed hard enough he can be one of the best on the roster.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He's been entirely absent from the Dragon Gate cards since the start of 2016, minus three matches in May 2016. He appeared in September 2017 to explain that he'd opened a restaurant. He declared he was not retired, but not close to in wrestling shape, and he promised he'd work on that and try to wrestle more often - but before that he had to make tacos. He finally wrestled again in October 2018.
• Expy: A borderline parody/imitation of Tiger Mask as Super Shisa. He even uses moves like the Tiger Wall Flip.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as SAITO, Super Shisa, and Yoshiyuki Saito (his real name).
• One-Hit Kill: His Yoshi Tonic finisher. Of course, the reason it didn't suffer from the So Last Season syndrome that most Dragon Gate finishers did is because Shisa didn't really get pushed a lot and rarely won matches.
• Shout-Out: His gimmick as Super Shisa is inspired by the Ryukyuan Shisa, the guardian deity of his native prefecture Okinawa.
• The Unreveal: For years it was believed that Shisa was actually SAITO (Yoshiyuki Saito, not to be confused with Ryo Saito and many other Saito-named wrestlers). Shisa denied it for years. He finally had to unmask during a match where he got cut on the forehead and needed to unmask to keep the blood out of his eyes. Turned out that yeah he was SAITO all along.

Mr. Sakai 01

• Guest Fighter: Appeared in the Battlarts vs The World show.
• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is.

Mammoth/Yoshinori Sasaki

"And thus, second from the bottom of Pride: The Best Vol. 1 you had Yoshinori Sasaki, who was vaguely more popularly known as Mammoth Sasaki, a regular fixture of Atsushi Onita's Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling—an organization that, despite the name, was actually a hardcore wrestling act, most famous for having the first exploding barbed wire deathmatch in pro-wrestling history. Sasaki won the tag and hardcore titles on several occasions, and still wrestles on and off—but somewhat awkwardly and entirely tragically, his primary note of wrestling fame comes not from his own career, but from being the other man in the ring in the match that saw top star Hayabusa paralyze himself off a botched moonsault. His success in FMW was notable enough to get him invited to Pride: The Best: In his youth he'd done some sumo, and that was just enough of a martial background for matchmakers to justify putting him up against South Korean heavyweight Jong Wang Kim. It's an incredible freakshow fight even by Pride standards: A 4-16 Pancrase jobber vs an 0-0 professional wrestler—in his wrestling gear—with no training of any kind. It shows, too: The two men awkwardly approach each other while windmilling their arms, Sasaki briefly shoves Kim into the ropes and wings wild, desperate punches in his general direction, and a stunned Kim wraps him up in a guillotine choke and submits him in twenty-five seconds. Sasaki would never fight again. It was probably the right call."

— A profile of Sasaki from a Fire Pro Wrestling user CarlCX from https://steamcommunity.com

• The Apprentice: To Katsutoshi Niiyama. He was also Akebono's assistant in sumo.
• Ascended Fan Boy: Was a FMW fan before he started training there.
• Game-Breaking Injury: He injured his right ligament and retired from sumo in November 1996 to train for a professional wrestling career.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Big Kamui, Mammoth Sasaki, and Yoshinori Sasaki.
• One-Steve Limit: Changed his ring name to Mammoth Sasaki to avoid confusion with other FMW wrestler Yoshihito Sasaki.
• Stout Strength: As a former pro sumo wrestler this was a given. He wasn't nicknamed Mammoth in the FMW Dojo for no reason.

Daisuke Sekimoto

• Garbage Wrestling: Averted, despite coming from a promotion that is known for deathmatches, he prefers traditional wrestling matches.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Buffaloman, Chojin “Superman” Sekimoto, Daisuke Kanu, Daisuke Sekimoto, Kaizo Sekimoto, La*Panda #2, Macbeth Sekimoto, Mars Sekimoto, SEKIMOTO, Tybalt Sekimoto, and Volador Jr.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: About 5ft 9 and is a powerhouse wrestler known to deadlift his opponents.
• Suplex Finisher: Uses a German Suplex as his Finishing Move.

Masaru Seno

• Game-Breaking Injury: Had to retire from wrestling due to neck and back injuries.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Masaru Seno, Daio QUALLT, and SM Revolution.

Kazuhiko Shoda

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Kaz MAZADA, Kazuhiko Masada, Kazuhiko Shoda, Majari, Masacaras, MAZADA, and Pentagón Viper.

Rambaa Somdet

• Badass Family: His cousin is pro boxer, Muay Thai and MMA fighter, Yokthai Sithoar.
• Guest Fighter: Was brought in for a Vale Tudo Rules Match against Tanomusaku Toba.
• Ur-Example: Was the first Shooto Flyweight Champion.

Yoshito Sugamoto

• Does Not Like Spam: He is apparently allergic to shrimp.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Gamma, Kishiwada King, Viewtiful Joe, and Yoshito Sugamoto.

Super Tigerito #2

• Shout-Out: His ring name was taken from a Gran Hamada trainee from his Universal Lucha Libre promotion.
• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled against Gran Naniwa and Oyama American in Battlarts.

Katsushi Takemura

• Early-Bird Cameo: His wrestling debut match was in Battlarts against Alexander Otsuka.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Suffered a very serious shoulder injury in 2009 and had to retire.
• Hidden Depths: Had a background in basketball, volleyball, and Bodybuilding. He also worked in a hotel and later did a training as a caregiver and now lives in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, running a nursing service and a karaoke cafe.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Great Kabuki-cito, The Great Take, Katsushi Takemura, and TAKEMURA.

Tetsuo Tanabe

• Combat Referee: Got his start in Japan Women's Pro Wrestling and has refereed for many promotions like Battlarts, Universal Lucha Libre, Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Osaka Pro Wrestling, FMW, and even ECW's Barely Legal PPV in 1995.
• He Also Did: Aside from being a referee he was also road agent, booker, promoter, and ring announcer.
• Jobber: Wrestled on occasion only to get squashed.

Sadaharu Tanikawa

• The Chessmaster: Is a Japanese combat sports promoter and was the president of Fighting and Entertainment Group, the sponsor company behind K-1, Hero's, Big Mouth Loud, Yarennoka!, and DREAM. He was also involved with the creation of the MMA promotion, Ganryujima.
• Combat Commentator: Was a frequent commentator for MMA, kickboxing, and wrestling events.
• Non-Action Guy: Though he is a martial arts critic and a long-time editor-in-chief of a martial arts magazine, he has no actual martial arts experience. Because of that, there are a lot of misleading comments and analysis in the fight commentary and the tournament summary.

Tanny Mouse

• Hidden Depths: Played softball and swimming before her wrestling career. He is also now an acupuncturist.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Atrocious X #28, Benki Wo~man, Black Bullfight Sora, Etsuko Tanny, Generalissimo Tanny Mouse, Kyuketsu Nezumi Majo Devil Rat, Mina Taniyama (her real name), and Tanny Mouse.

TNT

• Bad Boss: As general manager of IWA Puerto Rico, he often threatened to fire wrestlers, and occasionally did so. He would "discipline" wrestlers by mugging them in a mob, while singing a traditional Puerto Rican bomba, Santa María. He also used his authority to award himself the IWA World Heavyweight Championship.
• Cool Mask / Wearing a Flag on Your Head: When he first wrestled as the Caribbean Kid, he wore a mask that featured the Flag of Puerto Rico.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Is credited with giving "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson their first singles losses in the WWF, shattering both of their undefeated records.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as The Caribbean Kid, El Corsario, El Corsario #1, Hombre Dinamita, Kwang, Savio Vega, and TNT. His real name is Juan Rivera.
• Power Stable: The Nation of Domination, Los Boricuas, La Corporación, and Los Auténticos.
• Red Baron: "El Boricua Mayor", "Tio Savio", "Gerente General", "The Man They Call TNT", "The Mighty".
• Ring Oldies: 54 years old and still wrestling.
• Worthy Opponent: Said that his favorites to wrestle against were "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Goldust.
• Wrestling Family: Is the brother of Dennis Rivera, who also wrestled as Dennis Rodríguez.
• Wrestling Psychology: Once stated the kind of psychology that comes from taking in the crowd reaction and improvising in the match as it went on was lacking in TNA, where most wrestlers were under the impression the crowd should be ignored as much as possible. He cited his and Dutch Mantel's attention to this detail as the reason the Knockouts had the best rated segments on flagship show Impact, though he was more in charge of B Show Xplosion till Mantel's departure.

Dick Togo

• Cool Teacher: Has trained wrestlers like Daisuke Sakurai, Daisuke Sasaki, Hiroshi Kozakai, Kazuyuki Hirahara, Koichi Nagari, Masayoshi Kusama, Naohiro Katsumi, Takashi Hirose, Takehito Kusaka, Tetsuya Nakazato, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Tomoya Sato, Yuki Sato, Yusuke Shimizu, and Yusuke Shiranami. He also opened a wrestling school in Vietnam, named Vietnam Pro-Wrestling Academy, which is affiliated with the first Vietnamese wrestling promotion ever, New Vietnam Prowrestling (NVP).
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Cancun, Dickomoto, Dick Togo, Duke Togo, Flash Dick, Francesco Togo, Francis Togo, Gantetsu, Gantetsu Sakigake, Kitano Inferno, Ninja Warrior, Prince Togo, P Togo, Revolucion, Rey Cubano, Roshi Togo, SATO, The Suiter, El Tigre de Tokyo. His real name is Shigeki Sato.
• Power Stable: A founding member of Kai En Tai. He was also a member of BWO Japan.

Turtle Kamen

• Guest Fighter: Technically from FMW since he first used the Turtle Kamen gimmick there.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Black Ninja, Chris Champion, Cowabunga, Dennis Smith, Kowabunga, Ninja Turtle, Synn, Turtle Kamen, and Yoshi Kwan.
• Shout-Out: His gimmick as Turtle Kamen (also Cowabunga or Ninja Turtle) in one to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Wrestling Family: Is the brother of PWFG alumni, Mark Ashford-Smith.
• Yellowface: His gimmick as Yoshi Kwan had him wear make up to look more Asian.

Uchujin Gray

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled against Yuki Ishikawa, who wrestled as The Great Sasuke Tiga in Battlarts.

Masashi Yamaguchi

• Combat Commentator: Was a regular commentator for New Japan.

Noboru Yamaguchi

• The Chessmaster: Was part of the Fighting Opera Hustle brain trust and later became president of the promotion.
• Combat Commentator: Has commentated for Battlarts and U-STYLE.

Wally Yamaguchi

• The Chessmaster: He helped founded FMW with Atsushi Onita in 1989, Universal Lucha Libre with Gran Hamada in 1990, and Michinoku Pro Wrestling with The Great Sasuke in 1993.
• Combat Commentator: Has served as a color commentator at times.
• Combat Referee: Was a referee has served as one for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Michinoku Pro Wrestling.
• Game-Breaking Injury: He had a stroke in December 2017 that left him bedridden.
• He Also Did: Besides a color commentator, referee, and manager, he was also a booker, promoter, and interviewer.
• I Have Many Names: Has been introduced as Mr. Toyota, Wally Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi-san (of Kaientai), and Yusuke Yamaguchi (his real name).
• Non-Action Guy: Was not a wrestler and only appeared in Battlarts as the manager of Kaientai.

Ryuji Yamakawa

• Combat Referee: Was a special guest referee in Wrestling New Classic.
• Cool Teacher: Became a PE teacher after he retired from wrestling. He also has his own wrestling school
• Cowboy: Had a cowboy gimmick, with blond hair, missing teeth and some scars.
• Game-Breaking Injury: On 18 March 2001, after an accidental bump that caused a skull fracture when he hit the ground due to a power bomb, then fell into a coma and was out of action for several months. He later suffered a herniated disc with paralysis of the right side of the body in 2002 and these injuries would affect him for the rest of his career as he became a part-timer and then finally retired in 2012.
• Garbage Wrestling: Was basically the top wrestler of a deathmatch promotion.

Kotetsu Yamamoto

• Above the Influence: He once said in a tv program that he has never read or watched porn and never had an interest in it.
• The Apprentice: To Rikidozan and was considered his last disciple. He later became one to Karl Gotch and Antonio Inoki.
• Author Appeal: His teachings are called Kotetsu-ism by his students, which is just a mix of Gotch-ism, Inoki-ism, and his own ideas.
• Badass Teacher: Was the main trainer of the New Japan Dojo since 1980 till his death.
• Combat Commentator: Was notable for being the color commentator with Akira Fukuzawa in NJPW and was the first pro-wrestler to become a commentator in Japan.
• Combat Referee: Has refereed a few New Japan matches.
• He Also Did: Was also the General Manager of Planning and Advertising at NJPW, and was President and Representative Director of New Japan Pro-Wrestling Service.
• Hidden Depths: He bought the first dojo ring for New Japan when it was in its infancy, he got the funds from sueing the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance and winning the lawsuit and 2 million yen. He is credited with creating New Japan’s lion logo.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Outside the ring and dojo, he is said to be quite sociable and usually had lunch with the trainees and young lions to get to know them better.
• Respected by the Respected: Is respected by almost everyone that has trained under him.
• Ring Oldies: Was a founding father of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Was doing the same exercises and drills he instructs his trainees in while his 60s.
• Sadist Teacher: Not unusual especially in Japanese pro wrestling, but he was described as being quite shinai-friendly.
• Shout-Out: He was named "Kotetsu" by Toyonobori after Aizu-no-Kotetsu, a knight-errant from the 19th century.
• Special Guest: Appeared in Battlarts as a commentator.
• The Stoic: Was very serious when it came to wrestling and never smiled in the dojo.

Yellow Man

• Unknown Character: No one seems to know who he is except that he wrestled against Turtle Kamen in Battlarts.

Kazuya Yuasa

• Celebrity Resemblance: He looks like Shuji Kondo, which was noted later in his career. Amusingly enough, he debuted before Kondo himself.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Bearded Lady GAINA, Darkside GAINA, GAINA, Kazuya Yuasa, and Shisao.
• Mighty Glacier: Is slow, but comparatively heavy and very strong.
• Our Monsters Are Different: His current gimmick, Shisao, is based in a Shisa. He is unrelated to Super Shisa, however.
• Stout Strength: Only 5'9 but 308 lbs. And most of it isn't fat!