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Masahiro Chono

 
Wikipedia: Masahiro Chono
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Masahiro Chono
Ring name(s) Masahiro Chono
Mister Black Jack
Billed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight 237 lb (108 kg; 16.9 st)
Born September 17, 1963 (1963-09-17) (age 46)
Seattle, Washington
Resides Mitaka, Tokyo
Trained by Stu Hart
Lou Thesz
Debut October 5, 1984

Masahiro Chono (蝶野 正洋 Chōno Masahiro?), (born September 17, 1963) is a Japanese professional wrestler. He primarily wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), but has also made appearances for the now defunct World Championship Wrestling, as a member of the New World Order. Chono, called Mister Black Jack when he first started as a villain, is one of the top villains in Japanese wrestling history. He is a former NWA World Champion and IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

Contents

Career

Chōno debuted in 1984 against Keiji Mutoh at a NJPW event in Saitama, Japan.[1] In 1988, he came to the United States and wrestled in the Kansas City and Alabama areas.[1]

The year 1990 was the beginning of Chono's breakout period. On February 10, 1990, he wrestled in the main-event of NJPW's second Tokyo Dome show, teaming with Shinya Hashimoto against Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi, on April 27 he won the IWGP Tag Team Championship with Mutoh, and on December 26 he defeated his mentor, wrestling legend Lou Thesz, when Thesz came out of retirement for one last match.[1] The next year, Chono solidified his main-event status with an amazing performance in the first G1 Climax tournament, winning the tournament in a thirty-minute final over Mutoh.[1]

He won the tournament again in 1992, winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in the process. Since then, he has won the tournament on three more occasions. On September 23, 1992, Chono would suffer a serious neck injury while defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Steve Austin.[1] On January 4, 1993, he lost the NWA World title to IWGP Heavyweight champion The Great Muta in a title vs. title match.

Originally a clean cut fan favorite during his NWA World title reign, he turned heel in 1994, shortly after winning the G-1 Climax. His team with Hiroyoshi Tenzan was called "Team Wolf" and it was the core for the formation of the stables nWo Japan in NJPW, due to Chono joining the nWo in December 1996, when the nWo was huge in WCW, and its successor stable, Team 2000, which eventually was restructured again. In a match against WCW's Bill Goldberg, Chono supposedly "shot the match" (actually hurting the opponent) and dislocated his shoulder.

Upon returning to Japan, Chono rejoined NJPW, where he achieved much success. He won the IWGP Tag Team Titles on six occasions and also won the very prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Title, in 1998. In 2002, he won his fourth G-1 Climax tournament. He also became a booker for NJPW around this time.[1] In 2003, Chono briefly joined Pro Wrestling NOAH for a handful of matches. In one bout, Chono was defeated by another fellow Japanese legend, Global Honored Champion Kenta Kobashi on May 2 of that year.

In early 2004, Chono became the leader of the Black New Japan stable, which was the most dominating heel stable in NJPW until it was disbanded by Riki Chōshū. As a reaction to this, Chono lead an "Anti-Chōshū Army" with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Black Strong Machine. Chono won the 2005 G-1 Climax tournament, thus having achieved a record-setting five G-1 victories. His success in the G-1 has given him the nickname Mr. August. On October 30, 2005, Masahiro Chono and Tenzan defeated the team of Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi to win their fifth IWGP Tag Team Championship. The team went on to rename themselves ChoTen, a portmanteau of the members' names. They were stripped of the titles in late 2006 after they split up, and refused to defend them together. Masahiro Chono formed a stable with Shinsuke Nakamura in 2006 called Chono and Nakamura-gun, which began feuding with Tenzan's new group, GBH.

Chono continued to wrestle full-time in 2007, but also began working as a promoter, with New Japan permitting him to set up cards in different areas of Japan. Following the 2007 G-1 Tournament, it appears that Chono may be breaking away from his BLACK faction and forming a legends stable, having asked in wrestlers such as Riki Chōshū, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Shiro Koshinaka, and AKIRA. Chono spends much of his time as a tag team wrestler nowadays. Outside of wrestling, he has appeared on Gaki no Tsukai No Lauging Batsu Games as one of the attackers, usually giving Hosei Yamazaki a trademark slap to the face.

Personal life

On July 4, 2006, Masahiro Chono became a father when his wife Martina, whom he met during a tour in Germany, gave birth to a baby boy.[citation needed] He converted to Catholicism when he married his wife. Together, they own four cats. In addition, he is the godfather to Jeff Farmer's children despite Farmer being a different denomination in Christianity.

Masahiro Chono is the owner of his own line of clothing stores called ArisTrisT[1]. Hulk Hogan can be seen wearing Chono's ArisTrisT apparel on his TV show Hogan Knows Best. His wife Martina designs many of the clothing line's jewelry and clothing.

Chono played soccer in his youth. He in fact made famous national team player Masashi Nakayama an honorary member of Team 2000 during a televised promo in 2001.

Avid fan of fencing movies and literature. A dedicated ailurophile and a comic book collector of DC. Able to speak English, some Spanish and German.

In wrestling

  • Entrance themes
    • "Fantastic City" (NJPW; 1988-1992)
    • "Fantastic City '92" (NJPW; 1992-1994)
    • "Main Eventer" (NJPW; never used)
    • "Crash" (NJPW; 1994-1996)
    • "nWo Crash" (NJPW; 1996-1999)
    • "Team 2000 Crash" (NJPW; 1999-present)
    • "Hard Crush" (NJPW; never used)
    • "Pacific Zone" (WCW; 1991-1992)
    • "1,000 Suns" (WCW; 1995-1996, 2000)
    • "Tear It Up" by J.Hart and J.Helm (WCW; 1996-1997)

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f John Molinaro, The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time, (Winding Stair Press: 2002), page 198.
  2. ^ "Sonny Onoo profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/s/sonny-onoo.html. Retrieved 2009-09-10. 
  3. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results - July 2003". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2003-07.html. Retrieved 2008-07-05. 
  4. ^ "New Japan Pro Wrestling tournaments". http://100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/newjap/njtagtrn.htm. 

External links

Professional wrestling
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NWA World Heavyweight Champions

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