Sports: Legend Passes Away at 40

Credit: Thanks to Brian Westcott of Westcott’s Wrestling Archives for this article.

Shinya Hashimoto was born on July 3, 1965 in Toki City, Gifu, Japan. Hashimoto entered New Japan Pro Wrestling’s training dojo on April 21, 1984, alongside fellow “Three Musketeers” Masahiro Chono and Keiji Muto (The Great Muta). He made his pro wrestling debut on September 1, 1984 against Tatsutoshi Goto.

Hashimoto passed away on Monday, July 11, 2005 in Yokohama, Japan. The cause of death was believed to have been a brain hemorrhage. He was 40 years old.

Hashimoto labored in the mid-cards before being sent to North America for further training and experience. He started in the Calgary Stampede promotion as Hashiv Khan. Later, he went to Carlos Colon’s WWC promotion in Puerto Rico. Finally, he landed in Jeff Jarrett’s Memphis territory. Brad Rhenigans also provided training for Hashimoto.

Hashimoto returned to New Japan on April 24, 1989 as part of a Tournament to crown a new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He had very successful matches against opponents such as Riki Choshu and Russian wrestler Victor Zangiev in the tournament. However, Hashimoto lost to Big Van Vader (Leon White) in the tournament final.

Hashimoto won his first title on September 20, 1989 teaming up with Masa Saito to defeat Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka to win the IWGP Tag Team Title. Hashimoto & Iizuka lost the title to Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono on April 27, 1990. Eventually, Hashimoto would move up to main event status in New Japan. Hashimoto won his first IWGP Heavyweight Title on September 20, 1993 defeating Keiji Muto. The first title reign would only be a short one as Tatsumi Fujinami upset Hashimoto to regain the title on April 4, 1994. Hashimoto regained the IWGP Heavyweight Title for a second time on May 1, 1994 at the Fukuoka Dome to begin a year-long reign facing opponents as varied as Lord Steven Regal (WWE’s William Regal) and Jake “The Snake” Roberts.

On May 3, 1995 at the Fukuoka Dome, Hashimoto lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title to his fellow Musketeer Keiji Muto in a classic match. After this loss, Hashimoto moved into the tag team ranks. This time, Hashimoto found success as he teamed up with Junji Hirata to defeat Mike Enos & Scott Norton on July 13, 1995 to win the vacant IWGP Tag Team Title. They would hold the belts until June 12, 1996, losing them to Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka.

Hashimoto’s third and final IWGP Heavyweight Title reign began on April 29, 1996 at the Tokyo Egg Dome during the hot rivalry between New Japan and UWFI, defeating Nobuhiko Takada by submission. On January 4, 1997 at the Tokyo Dome, Hashimoto defeated rival Riki Choshu in a title defense. On April 12, 1997 at the Tokyo Dome, Hashimoto lost a non-title, mixed martial arts match to Naoya Ogawa, a former Olympic silver medallist in judo. This would be the beginning of a hot feud between Hashimoto and Ogawa. Before 53,000 fans at the Osaka Dome on May 3, 1997, Hashimoto defeated Ogawa by submission.

Hashimoto eventually lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title on August 31, 1997 to Kensuke Sasaki. After the title loss, Hashimoto would be booked in various mixed martial arts bouts against different opponents.

Hashimoto did accomplish one major goal in 1998. He defeated Kazuo Yamazaki on August 2, 1998 to win the G-1 Climax Tournament. The Ogawa vs. Hashimoto feud was revived again on January 4, 1999 at the Tokyo Dome. However, the match ended in a no-contest. The feud ended on April 7, 2000 at the Tokyo Dome with Ogawa defeating Hashimoto by knockout. Hashimoto “retired” as a result of this match.

Hashimoto returned to New Japan on October 9, 2000 at the Tokyo Dome defeating Tatsumi Fujinami on the opening bout. But in November 2000, New Japan released Hashimoto.

Hashimoto wasn’t through with pro wrestling. On November 13, 2000, the Zero-One trademark was registered in Hashimoto’s name and in March 2001, Hashimoto’s Zero-One promotion made its debut. Zero-One would introduce a hybrid of wrestling styles as well as different foreign stars such as Samoa Joe and Steve Corino.

Zero-One joined the National Wrestling Alliance and on October 13, 2001 in St. Petersburg, Florida, a match between Hashimoto and Steve Corino over the NWA World Heavyweight Title ended in controversy. The controversy was soon settled on December 15, 2001 in McKeesport, PA as Hashimoto defeated Corino and Gary Steele in a Three Way match to win the vacant title.

Hashimoto’s NWA title reign ended at the hands of “The Beast” Dan Severn on March 9, 2002. After this episode, Hashimoto focused on tag team wrestling, this time teaming up with former rival Naoya Ogawa. The two defeated John Heidenreich & Nathan Jones on October 26, 2002 to win their first NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Title. They would lose the belts to Matt Ghaffari & Tom Howard on December 15, 2002. Ogawa and Hashimoto would win the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Title a second time on April 29, 2003 defeating Ghaffari & Howard. The belts would be later vacated on May 2, 2003.

It was during this time period that Zero-One entered into partner-ship with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Hashimoto upset his Three

Musketeers comrade Keiji Muto to win the All Japan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title on February 23, 2003 in Tokyo. However, Hashimoto was forced to vacate the title due to injury.

This was the beginning of the end for Hashimoto. He would suffer physical injuries, plus a falling out with Zero-One, leading Zero-One to become Zero-One Max under new ownership. Hashimoto was also in huge financial debt.

Hashimoto was the true personification of Japanese pro wrestling’s fighting spirit. He was highly respected by his peers and the fans. He was truly one of a kind and there will never be another one like him.