Último Dragón

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Último Dragón
Último Dragón in January 2023
Birth nameYoshihiro Asai
Born (1966-12-12) December 12, 1966 (age 57)[1]
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Asai[2]
Saigon Dragon
The Tiger II[1]
Tiger Dragon[2]
Ultimate Dragon[1]
Último Dragón[1]
Yoshihiro Asai[1]
Billed height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)[3]
Billed weight185 lb (84 kg)[3]
Billed fromMexico City, Mexico[1]
Nagoya, Japan[4]
Trained byGran Hamada[2]
Kotetsu Yamamoto[2]
NJPW Dojo[2]
DebutMay 13, 1987[1]

Yoshihiro Asai (浅井嘉浩, Asai Yoshihiro, born December 12, 1966), better known by his

Dragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, Asai learned to wrestle in the lucha libre style while working in Mexico. He is credited with popularizing the "Asai Moonsault
".

On October 11, 1996, Asai won the

WCW Cruiserweight Champion, making him the most decorated wrestler in history.[Note 1] From December 29, 1996, through January 4, 1997, he concurrently held ten titles, a record which still stands.[5] From 2013 until 2019, he competed primarily for All Japan Pro Wrestling
(AJPW) as a freelancer. In 2019, he joined Dragon Gate as a senior advisor and wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

Early years (1987–1996)

Asai performing as Último Dragón

Asai trained in the

dojo in 1987, but was not drafted up by the promotion due to his small size. He moved to Mexico where he joined the Universal Wrestling Association and subsequently won the UWA World Welterweight Championship in 1988. In March 1990, he joined the Universal Wrestling Federation in Japan. He also competed in the Universal Lucha Libre promotion founded by his mentor Gran Hamada.[5]

In 1991, he signed with the Mexican

World Championship Wrestling (1996–1998)

Último Dragón and former manager Sonny Onoo in 2017

Asai made his American debut for the

WCW Cruiserweight Championship but lost. He got back the win at WCW World War 3 when he returned to WCW as the J-Crown champion. He then feuded with Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight title which he won at Starrcade 1996.[6]

Dragon later dropped the WCW Cruiserweight title back to Malenko but his stock was rising as he won the

nerve damage. It was thought that this would force an end of his career and he announced his retirement in November.[5]

Toryumon (1997–2003)

In 1997, Asai then became a trainer and founded the

Dragon Gate
as Asai parted ways with the promotion. He continued to train students at his gym.

In 2002, Asai underwent another surgery to repair the damage done to his arm in hopes of returning to wrestling. In late 2002 Ultimo Dragon was in talks with World Wrestling Entertainment for another shot at a United States run. To get back into ring shape he returned to action for his T2P and Toryumon Mexico promotions. On November 26, he teamed with former WCW wrestlers Norman Smiley and Perry Saturn in a win against Masaaki Mochizuki, Kenichiro Arai and Toru Owashi for T2P. On December 7 he teamed with Mochizuki and Dragon Kid in a win over the team of Bestia Salvaje, Scorpio Jr. and El Duende for Toryumon Mexico.[8]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2003–2004)

In the spring of 2003, he signed with World Wrestling Entertainment as the Último Dragón, seeking to realize his two lifelong goals of competing in Madison Square Garden and performing at WrestleMania. He was brought in on the heels of the signing of Rey Mysterio on the belief that he would make as big of an impact as Mysterio did upon his WWE debut. Asai made his WWE debut in dark match victories against Rico, Crash Holly and Shannon Moore as they debuted a series of video packages hyping the debut of Dragon on SmackDown!. He made his WWE television debut at Madison Square Garden on June 26, 2003 episode of SmackDown! in a match with Shannon Moore, where he debuted his finisher, the Asai DDT (a standing shiranui), to the American wrestling audience.[6]

Throughout the summer he competed in a tournament for the

WWE Velocity for the next few weeks, leading to a match with Rey Mysterio on SmackDown. Dragon won the match only after Tajiri interfered and showed respect to Dragon due to their Japanese heritage. The next week Dragon teamed with Mysterio to take on Tajiri and Nunzio. After this match, he was not seen on SmackDown! for several months until the build for the Cruiserweight Open at WrestleMania XX. At the event, Dragon participated in the Open. Dragon's WrestleMania resulted in one of WrestleMania's most famous blunders, tripping as he entered the arena from the backstage area and tripping as he was going up the turnbuckle for a pose.[10] The first trip was edited out of the WrestleMania XX DVD, but the second wasn't.[11] After the open, he faced Chavo Guerrero and Nunzio in his last WWE matches. On April 22, 2004, WWE announced that Asai asked for his release from WWE when he knew WWE wanted to unmask him and went back to Japan immediately.[12]

Return to Japan (2004–present)

One month after being released from WWE, Asai quickly picked up a New Japan tour on May 1, 2004. He returned to Mexico by occasionally wrestling for

Michinoku Pro
. He has also been to Mexico as well as in Spain, working for Nu Wrestling Evolution.

On December 15, 2013, Dragón defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win All Japan Pro Wrestling's World Junior Heavyweight Championship.[14] He lost the title to Atsushi Aoki on May 29, 2014.[15] On August 27, 2017, he regained the title by defeating Tajiri. On March 22, 2015, Dragón won another title in All Japan, when he and Kanemaru defeated Mitsuya Nagai and Takeshi Minamino for the All Asia Tag Team Championship.[16] They vacated the title on October 14.[17]

On August 30 and 31, 2014, Dragón participated in a show in Pyongyang, North Korea promoted by the Inoki Genome Federation. He defeated Hajime Ohara on the first day and Heddi French on the second in singles matches.[18]

Acting career

Ultimo Dragon starred in two films in 2008. The first was Bloodstained Memoirs, also starring Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley and Keiji Muto. Ultimo Dragon's scenes were filmed in the UK and Italy.[19] The other was Ultimo Dragon, a heroic martial arts story.

Championships and accomplishments

Luchas de Apuestas record

Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
Yoshihiro Asai (career) Cuchillo (mask and championship)
Tokyo, Japan
UWF live event June 4, 1990 [42]
Último Dragón (mask) Dark Dragon (mask) Barcelona, Spain NWE live event June 25, 2008 [43]
Último Dragón (mask) Hajime Ohara (hair) Mexico City, Mexico DragonMania IV August 22, 2009 [44]
Último Dragón (mask) Black Tiger V (mask) Mexico City, Mexico DragonMania VI May 14, 2011 [45]
Último Dragón (mask) Sushi (mask)
Tokyo, Japan
AJPW live event December 14, 2014 [Note 2][46]
Último Dragón (mask) Tiger Ali (hair) Mexico City, Mexico DragonMania X May 23, 2015 [47]

Notes

  1. WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
    in October 1996, but it was retired that same day and was thus never defended by him
  2. ^ Tag team match, where Dragón and Masked Burning #2 defeated Sushi and Mr. Christmas. Sushi, as the loser of the fall, was as per stipulation supposed to unmask, but instead Mr. Christmas unmasked, revealing himself as Jun Akiyama.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ultimo Dragon". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Ultimo Dragon". cagematch.net. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  3. ^
    World Wrestling Entertainment
    . Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  4. ^ Ultimo Dragon's WWE Debut. March 17, 2009. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021 – via YouTube.
  5. ^
    Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  6. ^ a b c d Chatra, Mo (August 2003). "Enter the Dragon". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. pp. 24–25. 109.
  7. ^ "Japanese Superstars - Ultimo Dragon". Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
  8. ^ a b c Chatra, Mo (March 2005). "Toryumon Uncovered". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. pp. 34–35. 116.
  9. ^ "SLAM! Wrestling – John Molinaro Chat". Slam.canoe.ca. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ^ "Ultimo Dragon slips at Wrestlemania falls trips classic". YouTube. May 12, 2008. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  11. ^ Brett Mix (August 11, 2010). "Review: WWE Wrestlemania XX (20) DVD". WrestlingDVDNews.com. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  12. ^ "Último Dragón asegura que en WWE querían desenmascararlo". November 16, 2022.
  13. ^ "Ultimo Guerrero Profile". Wrestling Accelerator.
  14. ^ a b "激動だった全日本の1年を斧爆弾で締めくくった大森が、新年一発目の三冠挑戦を表明!究極龍が悲願の世界Jr王座奪取!". Battle News (in Japanese). December 16, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  15. ^ "2014 スーパーパワーシリーズ 東京・後楽園ホール【最終戦】". All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  16. ^ a b 【3.22】 2015 ドリームパワーシリーズ 福岡大会. All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). March 22, 2015. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  17. ^ 金丸義信選手&ウルティモ・ドラゴン選手アジアタッグ返上のお知らせ. All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ "インターナショナル・プロレスリング・フェスティバルin平壌". Inoki Genome Federation (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  19. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved February 9, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. . 4th Edition 2006.
  21. ^ "Súper Luchas staff (January 5, 2004). "Número Especial – Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2003". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). 40.
  22. . 4th Edition 2006.
  23. ^ "Arena Listing – Arena Nacaualpan 1008". The Cubsfan. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  24. ^ . 4th Edition 2006.
  25. ^ "Tohoku Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. March 15, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  26. . 4th Edition 2006.
  27. ^ "Differ Cup 2003". cagematch.net. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  28. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1997". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. cagematch.net. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  29. ^ 東京スポーツ プロレス大賞. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  30. ^ "National Wrestling Alliance". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  31. ^ "Yutaka Yoshie profile". Purolove (in German). Retrieved September 20, 2010.
  32. ^ "Ultimo Dragón y Angélico Ganadores de la Copa Toyota". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  33. ^ "Purolove". Purolove.Com. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  34. ^ "The World's Largest Wrestling Database". Wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  35. ^ "The World's Largest Wrestling Database". Wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  36. .
  37. .
  38. .
  39. .
  40. .
  41. .
  42. ^ Enciclopedia staff (October 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Cuchillo (in Spanish). Mexico. p. 25. Tomo III.
  43. ^ Enciclopedia staff (September 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Dark Dragon (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. p. 6. Tomo II.
  44. ^ "DragonMania IV". Pro Wrestling History. August 22, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  45. ^ Lizárraga, Alfonso (May 15, 2011). "Ultimo Dragon gana la mascara Black Tiger V". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  46. ^ 全日本12.14後楽園大会 和田京平レフェリー40周年&還暦記念大会、全試合を京平レフェリーがプロデュース. Battle News (in Japanese). December 15, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  47. ^ "Último Dragón festeja el décimo aniversario de Toryumon con la cabellera de Tiger Alí" (in Spanish). The Gladiatores Magazine. May 24, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.

External links