11 Facts About Koji Kanemoto

1.

Koji Kanemoto was born on Kim Il-Sung ; October 31,1966 and is a Japanese professional wrestler of Zainichi Korean descent.

2.

Koji Kanemoto has previously worked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling.

3.

Koji Kanemoto debuted in November 1990, wrestling against Michiyoshi Ohara.

4.

Koji Kanemoto's style used to be the classic junior heavyweight wrestling, but repeated high-flying moves, the fans' change in taste, and inherent damage on his body put an incentive on him to use shoot-style taught by Kazuo Yamazaki, largely as a modification of his wrestling persona.

5.

Koji Kanemoto was the first man to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in the United States, a match against Alex Wright at Starrcade '95: World Cup of Wrestling.

6.

Koji Kanemoto holds a victory over revered MMA fighter Kazushi Sakuraba in shoot-style wrestling.

7.

Koji Kanemoto made a very controversial return, turning on Tanaka and siding with Masahiro Chono's "Team 2000" Stable.

8.

On May 3,2006, Koji Kanemoto defeated Tiger Mask IV to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title for the fifth time.

9.

On January 2,2009 at a Zero-1 show Koji Kanemoto announced his engagement to Zero-1 joshi wrestler Hikaru.

10.

On June 14,2009 Koji Kanemoto forced Prince Devitt to submit to his trademark Ankle Lock, winning the Best of the Super Juniors tournament for the third time, becoming only the second man to do so.

11.

In late 2011 he began to work more frequently in All Japan Pro Wrestling and teaming with Minoru Tanaka and on January 31,2013, Koji Kanemoto officially quit New Japan Pro-Wrestling to join All Japan Pro Wrestling.