30 Facts About Shinya Hashimoto

Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor.

Shinya Hashimoto is one of three wrestlers that have held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and is an overall five-time world champion.

Shinya Hashimoto grew up in Toki City in Gifu and began training in judo and karate in his late teens.

Shinya Hashimoto's training helped him in his transition to professional wrestling, as he joined the NJPW Dojo in April 1984.

Shinya Hashimoto made his debut for NJPW in September 1984 at the age of 19, wrestling against Tatsutoshi Goto.

Shinya Hashimoto worked on becoming a skilled wrestler over the next few years, traveling whenever necessary to gain more seasoning, such as over in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

In September 1989, Shinya Hashimoto teamed with Masa Saito to win his first gold, the IWGP Tag Team Championship, beating Choshu and Takayuki Iizuka.

Shinya Hashimoto finally hit the big time in 1993, as he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from the Great Muta in September.

Shinya Hashimoto held the biggest belt in NJPW for the next seven months before being taken down by the legendary Tatsumi Fujinami.

Shinya Hashimoto regained the gold only a month later, in May 1994.

Shinya Hashimoto reigned as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion for over a year, losing the belt to Mutoh only two days after celebrating the milestone.

Soon, Shinya Hashimoto enjoyed another lengthy championship run, as he and Hirata remained the champions for almost another year.

Shinya Hashimoto became a double champion, as he defeated Nobuhiko Takada to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Title on April 29,1996.

Shinya Hashimoto soldiered on to focus solely on the singles gold, as he worked on another lengthy run.

Shinya Hashimoto continued to work for NJPW for the next few years, earning another great honor by winning the G1 Climax in 1998.

Shinya Hashimoto launched into a brutal rivalry against Judo champion Naoya Ogawa in 1997, leading to Shinya Hashimoto vowing to retire from NJPW if he lost again, which happened in April 2000.

Between 1990 and 1998, Shinya Hashimoto took part in various worked mixed martial arts-like worked bouts in NJPW, called "Different Style Fights", where he defeated the likes of Tony Halme, Ramzan Shibiev, and Dennis Lane.

Shinya Hashimoto was invited to a 1994 all-star shoot wrestling tournament in Union of Wrestling Forces International, NJPW's rival promotion, in which the winner would receive a hundred million yen prize, but he refused again.

Shinya Hashimoto registered the Pro Wrestling Zero-One name on November 13,2000, after being fired from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and the promotion had its first show on March 2,2001.

Shinya Hashimoto challenged Steve Corino for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in October 2001.

In December 2001, Shinya Hashimoto faced off against Corino and Gary Steele in a Triple Threat Match, winning the vacated NWA World Heavyweight Title.

Shinya Hashimoto then went back to concentrating on Zero-One, where he was an active competitor.

In October 2002, Shinya Hashimoto teamed with his old rival, Naoya Ogawa, to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag-Team Title from John Heidenreich and Nathan Jones.

On February 23,2003, Shinya Hashimoto defeated the Great Muta to win All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship; as a result, Shinya Hashimoto became only the second man to have held the NJPW, AJPW, and NWA World Titles.

Shinya Hashimoto has a son, Daichi Shinya Hashimoto, who made his pro wrestling debut for the Zero1 promotion at their 10th Anniversary Show on March 6,2011, facing Masahiro Chono in a losing effort.

Shinya Hashimoto had a heart problem in 2004 and was put on medicine, but he had to stop taking it after having shoulder surgery.

Shinya Hashimoto's doctor claimed that high blood pressure was the most likely cause for his brain hemorrhage and proposed that other stress over the years led to these problems.

Immediately following his death, New Japan retired the second IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt as Shinya Hashimoto was the first to wear it.

In late 2005, Shinya Hashimoto was posthumously awarded an achievement award by Tokyo Sports.

In 2010, Shinya Hashimoto was inducted into both New Japan's Greatest Wrestlers Hall of Fame and the NWA Hall of Fame.