1. Masanori Morimura was born on September 27,1965 and better known under his ring name Ricky Fuji is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Action Advance Pro Wrestling, where he runs the day-to-day operations.
44 Facts About Ricky Fuji
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Ricky Fuji is perhaps best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, where he wrestled between the promotion's early days in 1990 until the promotion's closure in 2002, making him the longest-tenured wrestler in the company's history.
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Ricky Fuji was a part of many groups including Team Canada and Lethal Weapon during the mid-1990s while achieving success in the company's junior heavyweight division, winning the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship once each.
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Ricky Fuji then left Japan in January 1987 for a training expedition in Canada, where he was trained in the Dungeon by Stu Hart and his right-hand man, Mr Hito.
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In January 1990, Ricky Fuji returned to Japan and trained with former NJPW star Masanobu Kurisu and was offered a spot in the upstart promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling by Atsushi Onita, which he accepted.
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Ricky Fuji debuted for FMW by defeating The Shooter on May 12,1990.
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Tarzan Goto would soon enter a feud with Onita and Ricky Fuji formed an alliance with Onita's rivals Tarzan Goto and Mr Pogo in the summer of 1990.
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Ricky Fuji went on to win the battle royal by last eliminating Kim Hyun Hwan.
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At Summer Spectacular, Ricky Fuji was paired with Mr Pogo and Katsuji Ueda as the trio defeated Kim Hyun Han, Lee Gak Soo and Sambo Asako in a six-man tag team match.
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In January 1991, Ricky Fuji teamed with Tarzan Goto to participate in a tag team tournament, in which the team qualified for the knockout stage by scoring three points in the round-robin stage.
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Ricky Fuji continued to team with Goto and Onita to wrestle Mr Pogo and his allies in several matches.
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At 3rd Anniversary Show, Ricky Fuji teamed with Sambo Asako and The Great Punk against Big Titan, The Gladiator and Horace Boulder in a stretcher street fight in a losing effort.
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On January 12,1993, Ricky Fuji turned on his teammates The Great Punk, Mr Gannosuke and Tarzan Goto in an elimination tag team match against the team of Big Titan, Dr Luther, The Gladiator and The Sheik, which led to Fuji turning into a villain.
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Ricky Fuji formed a faction with Titan, Luther and Gladiator called Team Canada, based on Fuji's own time in Canada in the past.
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At 4th Anniversary Show, Ricky Fuji teamed with his Team Canada stablemates Big Titan and The Gladiator, defeating Katsuji Ueda, The Great Punk and Tarzan Goto in a Captain's Fall Losing Captain Leaves Town No Rope Barbed Wire Tornado Street Fight Deathmatch.
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Ricky Fuji then defeated Mercurio in his next major match at Summer Spectacular.
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In early 1994, Ricky Fuji participated in a tournament for the new Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, in which he was paired with Terry Simms, losing to Jinsei Shinzaki and Masaru Toi in a barbed wire street fight in the first round, leading to Ricky Fuji and Simms being demoted to Loser's Block B, where they ended up losing to Hideki Hosaka and Hisakatsu Oya in a barbed wire deathmatch.
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Ricky Fuji then returned to FMW, defeating Mach Hayato at Summer Spectacular.
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On December 20,1994, Ricky Fuji defeated The Great Sasuke to win the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
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Ricky Fuji successfully defended the title against Battle Ranger Z in his first title defense on January 6,1995.
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Ricky Fuji participated in the first WarGames match in FMW history on February 23,1996, by teaming with Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda to defeat W*ING Alliance members Hido, W*ING Kanemura and Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, thus ending the feud of FMW and Lethal Weapon against W*ING.
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At 7th Anniversary Show, Fuji teamed with The Rock 'n' Roll Express to defeat the team of Crypt Keeper, Boogie Man and Freddy Krueger.
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The entire Lethal Weapon group turned on Ricky Fuji to join Puerto Rican Army, thus forcing Lethal Weapon to disband.
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At Shiodome Legend, Ricky Fuji successfully defended the CRMW North American Middleweight Championship against Hayato Nanjyo.
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At Fall Spectacular, Ricky Fuji participated in a twelve-man Royal Rumble match, where he lasted until the final two when he was eliminated by Tetsuhiro Kuroda.
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Ricky Fuji's success dwindled in FMW and was relegated to mid-card matches.
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Ricky Fuji balanced competing in singles, tag team, and six-man tag team matches.
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On January 7,1998, Ricky Fuji wrestled a special match under the ring name Morimura on a ZEN-produced show, defeating Sunao Gosaku and El Pandita in a three-way dance.
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On May 5,1999, Ricky Fuji took on Minoru Tanaka in a match for the vacant Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, which Tanaka won.
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Later that year, Ricky Fuji gained a victory over former tag team partner Chocoball Mukai in the opening match of the Deep Throat pay-per-view.
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At 12th Anniversary Show, Ricky Fuji teamed with Makita to defeat Morita and Yoshihito Sasaki in a tag team match.
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On May 22,2001, Ricky Fuji reunited with former Lethal Weapon member Hisakatsu Oya and Flying Kid Ichihara to defeat Azusa Kudo, Shinjuku Shark and Naohiko Yamazaki for the vacant WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship, winning the title for a second time.
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On February 3,2002, Ricky Fuji wrestled his last FMW match, in which he teamed with Shinjuku Shark against GOEMON and Hisakatsu Oya in a losing effort.
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Since FMW's closing, Ricky Fuji has been wrestling as a freelancer for various Japanese independent promotions, including Wrestling Marvelous Future, Apache Pro-Wrestling, and FREEDOMS.
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On September 17,2011, Ricky Fuji teamed with Bambi and Yuji Hino to win the Chiba Six Man Tag Team Championship after defeating Little Galaxy.
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On February 5,2012, Ricky Fuji had a chance to win the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship at a Freedoms show against Hiroki, but failed.
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On January 26,2013, after nearly a year after his announced his intentions, Ricky Fuji finally won the Independent World Junior Heavyweight title from Hiroki, ending his nearly 15-month reign.
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Ricky Fuji would hold onto the title for nearly four months, before losing the title to Nanjyo Hayato.
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In January 2020, Ricky Fuji announced that 2AW is the Japanese affiliate for Allied Independent Wrestling Federations.
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On March 4,2015, it was confirmed by Flying Kid Ichihara and Choden Senshi Battle Ranger that Ricky Fuji is confirmed as one of the seven FMW originals to rejoin FMW.
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On September 7,2022, Ricky Fuji collapsed at his home in Chiba.
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Ricky Fuji was taken to a nearby hospital, where it was revealed that he had suffered a stroke.
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Ricky Fuji underwent a successful cerebral angiography, placing a cerebrovascular catheter in his brain.
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Ricky Fuji's condition is stable, but the left side of his body is currently paralyzed.