17 Facts About Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a Japanese Professional Wrestler and trainer.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara is famous for his long career in wrestling, having worked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, and the two incarnations of shoot style promotion Universal Wrestling Federation.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara was trained by Karl Gotch and has trained many MMA fighters and professional wrestlers.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara has a strong background in Judo and Muay Thai.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara was the first graduate of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo.

In 1975, Yoshiaki Fujiwara won the Karl Gotch Cup.

All the while, Yoshiaki Fujiwara remained a strong member of the undercard, but rarely would he get opportunities for big singles matches or tag teams with better-known stars.

On February 2,1984 all that would change when Yoshiaki Fujiwara appeared before a match to attack Riki Choshu, then the promotion's main villain.

In 1989 Yoshiaki Fujiwara felt the need to continue shoot-style wrestling, due to the rise of Choshu in backstage politics, so he moved to the UWF with Funaki and Suzuki.

In Newborn UWF, Yoshiaki Fujiwara was clearly seen as the senior peer to Maeda, but eventually jobbed to him.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara Gumi had a big supercard at the Tokyo Dome in 1992, involving all the great talents in the promotion: Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Funaki, Suzuki, Fuke, Yoshiki Takahashi, Yuki Ishikawa, and others.

Problems involving the collapsing Japanese economy and the essence of Yoshiaki Fujiwara Gumi's wrestling forced its roster to assess their individual futures.

Funaki, Suzuki, Fuke and Takahashi, apparently unsettled by the "performing" direction Yoshiaki Fujiwara was taking, abandoned him in late 1993 to form Pancrase.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara already had back-up talent - Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda, Minoru Tanaka, Mamoru Okamoto, Muhammad Yone, and Shoichi Funaki.

In need of funds Yoshiaki Fujiwara proposed to cooperate with their root promotion, New Japan.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara has wrestled for NJPW, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, WAR, and several independents as of 2022.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara is an actor who has had a few parts in Japanese movies and dramas.