Shinjiro Otani

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Shinjiro Otani
Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Achichi
Mr. Otani
Shinjiro Otani
Billed height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Billed weight97 kg (214 lb)[1]
Trained byAnimal Hamaguchi
Hiroshi Hase
Kensuke Sasaki
DebutJune 25, 1992

Shinjiro Otani (大谷晋二郎, Ōtani Shinjirō, born July 21, 1972)[2] is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury sustained in April 2022. A product of the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) dojo, Otani is best known for his longtime association with Zero1, a promotion he founded in 2001 along with Shinya Hashimoto.

Starting his career in NJPW as a junior heavyweight, Otani gained a reputation as a gutsy underdog and would go on to hold several championships during his nine-year run with the promotion, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the J-Crown, as well as forming a successful tag team with dojo classmate Tatsuhito Takaiwa, twice holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After jumping to the heavyweight division in 2001, Otani would leave New Japan the same year, joining Shinya Hashimoto as one of the founders of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). Following the departure of Hashimoto in 2004, Otani was pushed as one of the promotions top stars, becoming a six time Intercontinental Tag Team Champion, a one time World Heavyweight Champion and a four-time winner of the Fire Festival. In addition to his role as a wrestler, Otani has also served as acting company president since 2007.

Professional wrestling career

Early life (1972–1992)

Otani was born in Yamaguchi and was a big pro wrestling fan during his youth, specifically Antonio Inoki's New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). He attended the only two events NJPW ran in Yamaguchi yearly and idolised Kengo Kimura. At one point during his childhood, he snuck into a hotel in a bid to try and meet Antonio Inoki; initially stopped by security, they allowed him in upon Inoki's instruction, who signed Otani's "闘魂" (fighting spirit) hachimaki, after which the young Otani vowed to Inoki that he would one day make it to NJPW.[3]

Otani was successful in amateur wrestling during high school, and upon graduation, he planned to move almost 600 miles from Yamaguchi to Tokyo to join a professional wrestling dojo. Otani's dream was strongly opposed by his parents, which resulted in him running away from home in January 1992 at the age of 19, leaving for Tokyo with only between ¥50,000-¥60,000 of otoshidama money to his name. After being homeless for a brief period of time, Otani finally found a place to stay, a small tatami-like dwelling for ¥24,000, located next to a public toilet and without a futon to sleep on. At the time, the only wrestling school Otani knew of was Animal Hamaguchi's dojo, where he would travel and introduce himself to Hamaguchi. Hamaguchi accepted Otani into his dojo where he began his training, in addition to feeding him and getting Otani a part-time job in a local liquor store, which allowed him to pay for better living quarters. Hamaguchi bought Otani to the NJPW dojo in February 1992 and he enrolled soon after, training in the same class as Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Yuji Nagata.[3] As part of his rookie duties, Otani would also spend two years working closely with Shinya Hashimoto as his assistant, which led to the two developing a long-lasting friendship.[3]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1992–2001)

Early career (1992–1996)

Otani made his in-ring debut on June 25, 1992, losing to

Ryogoku Kokugikan.[13] He received a big opportunity at the annual "Dream Win" card on October 30, where he was defeated by Keiji Muto, one of the top stars of New Japan in a singles match.[14]

Otani won the first championship of his career on December 13, 1994, beating Norio Honaga to win the UWA World Welterweight Championship.[15] After two successful defences, he dropped the title to IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Koji Kanemoto in a double title match on April 16 in Hiroshima.[16] Otani would turn his attention to the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June where he would have his best outing to date, making it all the way to the final where he was narrowly defeated by former partner Wild Pegasus.[17]

Championship success (1996–2000)

By 1996, Otani had firmly established himself as a serious contender for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, and unsuccessfully challenged Jushin Thunder Liger for the title in the main event of a card in

Wrestling World 1999.[25] Later in the year they would regain the championships, defeating Jushin Thunder Liger and The Great Sasuke in July.[26] In 2000, both Otani and Takaiwa took part in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, with both men winning their blocks and reaching the final, where, on June 9, Takaiwa defeated Otani to win the 2000 Best of the Super Juniors.[27] Later in the month after just under a year as champions, Otani and Takaiwa lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships to the Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka).[28]
After dropping the titles, both men would go their separate ways, with Takaiwa focusing on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and Otani beginning to be groomed for a run as a heavyweight.

Division change and departure (2000–2001)

After a largely lacklustre summer of 2000, Otani was sent on excursion by New Japan officials in August, with the intention of him gaining weight and returning as a heavyweight. Otani toured with

Ryogoku Kokugikan. This would go on to be Otani's last match signed to the company, as he would depart New Japan after nine years soon after to help Shinya Hashimoto found his new promotion, Pro Wrestling Zero-One
.

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2001–present)

Formation (2000–2004)

In November 2000, during Otani's time spent overseas, it was announced by longtime associate and former ace of NJPW Shinya Hashimoto, who had recently been fired by the company, that Otani was one of the names that would be joining him in his new promotion, Zero-One.[3] At the time, Otani had not yet agreed to join the promotion, and in 2019, he said that this premature announcement was what led to him leaving New Japan, the promotion he had loved since his childhood, so suddenly.[3] Hashimoto would meet with Otani and apologise for using his name without permission upon his return to Japan, but said that he had only done so because Otani was the main person he wished to see compete in Zero1, and that Otani was free to stay with New Japan if he wished.[3] Otani, convinced by Hashimoto's words and concerned about Hashimoto feeling alone after his firing from New Japan, agreed to join Zero1 as one of the founders. Otani would relay his decision to New Japan officials soon after, who accepted his decision; he was also told by then head-booker Riki Choshu that the door was always open for a potential return in the future.[3]

Otani competed on the inaugural Zero1 card on March 2, 2001, remaining a heavyweight and beginning his feud with

Taiyo Kea in the main event at Nippon Budokan on December 6.[35] The two would also briefly tour with Mitsuharu Misawa's Pro Wrestling Noah in January 2003, the highlight of their run being a memorable if unsuccessful GHC Tag Team Championship match against Jun Akiyama and Akitoshi Saito in Budokan.[36]

Back in Zero1, Otani looked to win his third successive Fire Festival tournament and again made it to the final, though, this time, he was defeated by AJPW representative Satoshi Kojima.[37] Otani would get his revenge over in AJPW on September 6, when he defeated Kojima in the semi-final of the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship tournament, though he was later defeated by Toshiaki Kawada in the final.[38]

Main event push (2004–2007)

As 2004 progressed, Otani began to be pushed as one of Zero1's top stars, starting in April when he was narrowly defeated by former partner and then-current

Sapporo, as Otani's team of himself, Omori, Ikuto Hidaka, Minoru Fujita and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tanaka, Sakata, Jun Kasai, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Yoshihito Sasaki after Hidaka last eliminated Kuroda for the win.[40] Upon Hashimoto's departure from Zero1 in late 2004, after which he retained the rights to the Zero1 name, Otani would take over Hashimoto's role as owner of the promotion in 2005 and re-introduced it in Korakuen Hall as Pro-Wrestling Zero-One Max. In August 2005, Otani would enter the fifth annual Fire Festival, again reaching the final where he defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win his third tournament.[41]

Otani (background) cheers on Monster C during a Hustle event.

After taking over Zero1, he would establish a working partnership with Dream Stage Entertainment, which led to Otani making regular appearances in DSE's comedy wrestling promotion,

New Japan Pro Wrestling, which led to Otani appearing in a New Japan ring for the first time since February 2001 on October 8, 2005, in the Tokyo Dome. Otani and his Zero-One Max team of Kamikaze, Ryoji Sai and Kohei Sato were defeated by Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Takashi Iizuka, Naofumi Yamamoto and Yutaka Yoshie.[42] He would again return to New Japan on January 4, 2006, in the same venue, re-igniting his feud with old rival and ally Koji Kanemoto where Otani was victorious in singles action.[43] Back in Zero-One Max, Otani defeated Steve Corino on January 22 to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, the first major heavyweight singles title of Otani's career.[44] Otani held the title until April 1, when he dropped it to Takao Omori.[45]

Championship pursuits (2007–2015)

On December 24, 2007, it was announced by Zero-One Max's parent company, First On Stage, that Otani would solely take over from Yoshiyuki Nakamura as president of Zero-One Max, taking office on January 23, 2008, as Nakamura became the new director of First On Stage. After taking over as president, Otani further expanded the promotion's working deal with NJPW, which led to an inter-promotional feud between the two beginning in 2008. As a result of this, Otani would enter his first G1 Climax in August 2008, where he earned 7 points, though a defeat against

Ryogoku Kokugikan, Otani received his first opportunity at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in over nine years, challenging Shinsuke Nakamura. Despite entering to a mixed reaction as an outsider, Otani's performance would prompt a loud reaction from the audience, who, by the end, were cheering for Otani, even though he was narrowly defeated by Nakamura.[49]

In late 2009, Otani formed a new partnership with former sumo wrestler

Ryogoku Kokugikan, where he would lose to Yoshihiro Takayama.[54] This event also saw the debut of Daichi Hashimoto, the son of Otani's since deceased longtime associate Shinya Hashimoto. Both Otani and Masahiro Chono handled his training, and Otani would go on to become a frequent tag team partner for the young Hashimoto during his early career in Zero1.[54]

Otani would unite with former rivals

Zero1 International and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championships.[57] After three successful defenses, he lost the titles to Kotaro Suzuki on February 3, 2017.[58]

Later career and injury (2016–2022)

After Otani won

NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship would be awarded to the winner.[62] Otani and Imanari defeated the Kubota Brothers (Yasu and Hide) in the final to win the tournament and the titles.[62] In August 2021 he entered what would be his last Fire Festival, reaching the final where he fell to Takuya Sugawara.[63]

On April 10, 2022, Otani was booked to challenge

Ryogoku Kokugikan. At one point in the match, Otani became unresponsive after taking a German suplex into the turnbuckles. Otani was transported to hospital, where he awoke, however, he was unable to move his limbs; he was diagnosed with a cervical spinal injury. It was later announced he would undergo surgery on April 13, which was successful, after which Otani was moved to another hospital to begin further treatment and rehabilitation for his injuries.[64][65][66]

Personal life

Otani married his wife Eriko on February 16, 2014.[67]

Championships and accomplishments

Otani performing his signature corner facewash on Tajiri.

1The championship was won in Tokyo, Japan as part of an interpromotional card between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling.

References

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External links

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