Hayato Fujita (藤田 勇人 Fujita Hayato, born September 20, 1986)[1] is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Fujita "Jr." Hayato (フジタ"Jr"ハヤト). Despite his small stature and physique for a professional wrestler, he is known for his toughness and hard shoot-style strikes.[2]
Fujita made his pro debut on December 3, 2004, in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall, losing to fellow young wrestler Katsuhiko Nakajima. He spent 2005 training until September, when he was sent to Mexico to train at the Último Dragón Gym. The night of his farewell, at September 3, he was confronted in the ring by the heelstable Los Salseros Japoneses (Takeshi Minamino, Pineapple Hanai, Mango Fukuda) and Kesen Numajiro. The quartet proceeded to verbally attack Hayato, but Shanao, Kagetora and Gaina came to his aid and a tag team match had place, with Hayato's team winning when Shanao pinned Minamino. Leaving in a high note, Hayato reached Mexico and competed in Toryumon's Young Dragons Cup, beating Guillermo Akiba, but being eliminated by Kazuchika Okada.
In midst 2006, Hayato returned to Japan and started ascending the scale, standing out for his hard shoot-style wrestling style, which differed from the acrobatic, complex lucharesu predominantly practised in Michinoku Pro. He gave a good performance at the Tetsujin Tournament, defeating the likes of Banana Senga, Ken45º and Osaka Pro Wrestling representative Tigers Mask before being pinned by Rasse at the finals. Fujita also was sent to Osaka Pro to compete in the Tennozan Tournament, getting eliminated by Tigers Mask. Fujita initially competed as a face, opposing the heel faction STONED led by Kagetora, but after the disbandment of STONED, he eventually turned heel and joined the Kowloon stable, which had been created from its remnants. He eventually became the stable's leader over Kei and Shu Sato and Maguro Ooma.
Through 2008, Hayato wrestled against the top faces, namely Yoshitsune, Rasse and Kagetora, and went to defeat the first of them in December 2008 to win the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship. He retained the title before Rasse and MPW founder The Great Sasuke, until that he lost it in September 2009 against the debuting Kenoh. Fujita and Kenoh got into a heated feud, helped by Kenoh's stiff wrestling style being highly similar to Hayato's own. Kenoh frustrated Fujita's attempts to win the Michinoku Tag League 2009 and regain the championship, while Hayato focused in commanding Kowloon until he got injured starting 2010.
After Hayato returned, however, Último Dragón joined Kowloon and took over as a leader, while the rest of members revealed they had actually been serving Dragón behind the scenes and not Fujita, who was demoted. Fujita appeared to turn face, but he stayed with Kowloon and made the better of his situation, bringing Kagetora from Dragon Gate as a new member and allying closely with Taro Nohashi. Eventually, Último Dragón sparsed his apparitions in MPW and allowed Hayato to take his functions as leader, but the venture was short, as he was betrayed again, this time by Nohashi himself. Claiming Hayato to be too weak for his place as leader, Nohashi shockingly brought Kenoh as his real ally and ordered the rest of Kowloon integrants to beat Hayato down, which they did. However, Maguro Ooma and Takeshi Minamino kept loyal to Hayato and tried to save him, only to be floored as well. While Nohashi and Kenoh declared formed the heel faction Asura, Hayato and his followers created the tweener trio Bad Boy, also known as Hayato Army, which also was joined by Ken45º.
Fujita started his revenge with a great victory, beating Kenoh to recapture the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title, successfully defending it before Great Sasuke, Hayato's old rival Katsuhiko Nakajima, and his new enemy Ikuto Hidaka, coming from Pro Wrestling Zero1. After another great defense before Koji Kanemoto, Hayato lost the championship against to Kenoh, who vacated it in order to leave Michinoku Pro for Pro Wrestling Noah. Hayato took part in a tournament to decide the new championship, but it was won by one of Asura's former enforcers, Brahman Shu, now working for Great Sasuke as part of his cult stable Mu no Taiyo.
Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2009–2017)
Fujita in June 2014
Hayato debuted in Pro Wrestling Zero1 as a MPW representative in October 2009, taking part in the annual Tenka-Ichi Tournament. He eliminated Munenori Sawa and Hajime Ohara, but was defeated at the semi-finals by Ikuto Hidaka. He continued appearing sporadically for the promotion, generally opposing Hidaka and his ally Takuya Sugawara.
In November 2010, Fujita returned to challenge Hidaka unsuccessfully for the ZERO1 International Junior Heavyweight Championship. Despite his loss, the matched granted the previous enemies a newfound mutual respect, and Hidaka and Fujita decided to team up for the Furinkazan Tag League 2010, in which they stood out for an acclaimed draw against Daisuke Sekimoto and Masato Tanaka.
In 2011, Hayato and Munenori Sawa competed in a tournament for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship, being eliminated by Ikuto Hidaka and Takafumi Ito. Fujita then competed at the Fire Festival 2011, standing out for a win over Masato Tanaka, and the Tenka-Ichi Junior Tournament, where he climbed to the final over Robby Heart and Mineo Fujita before being taken out by Munenori Sawa. The year would not end without a fourth participation, this time at the Furinkazan Tag League 2011, with Fujita and Masato Tanaka reaching the finals against Shinjiro Otani and Yoshikazu Yokoyama.
After a few appearances in 2012 for a short feud against Yuichiro ☆Jienotsu☆ Nagashima, Fujita returned fully to Zero1 to reunite with Hidaka, who was in search of a tag team partner. They formed the team Shin Aibou Tag, a reminiscence of Hidaka's old Aibou team with Munenori Sawa. They competed sparsely due to Fujita's scheduling in MPW, but managed to show a good performance at the Furinkazan Tag League by eliminating the teams of Takuya Sugawara and Toru Owashi and Tigers Mask and Billy Ken Kid.
At March 2014, Shin Aibou Tag took part in a triple threat tag team match for the vacant NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship, but it was won by Tigers and Kid. Hidaka and Fujita also challenged NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champions Dangan Yankees (Masato Tanaka and Takashi Sugiura), but they were defeated again. However, their performance was good enough for Tanaka to invite them to be part of Dangan Yankees. Finally, Hidaka and Fujita got their hands on the NWA Lightweight titles by beating Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa. It came almost at the same time as Fujita's own solo run at the Tenka-Ichi Junior Tournament 2015, where he beat Kotaro Nasu and Yasshi before being stopped by Hidaka himself.
In 2016, Hidaka and Fujita lost their championships to Isami Kodaka and Takumi Tsukamoto in Dramatic Dream Team's Basara brand. The same year, Dangan Yankees was dismantled.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2010–2011)
Following his debut in Zero1, Fujita debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of the 2010 Super J Tag Tournament. Teaming up with Taro Nohashi as representatives of his then stable Kowloon, they obtained a high level victory over Jushin Thunder Liger and Nobuo Yoshihashi, but were taken out by El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto. Hayato's participation in NJPW didn't stop there, though, as he then qualified for the Best Of The Super Junior XVII. His run was somewhat successful, beating the likes of Kenny Omega and Tama Tonga, though he was ultimately unable to win the tournament. He and Nohashi returned the same year for the next Super J Tag League, where they defeated the Dragon Gate team of Masaaki Mochizuki and Super Shisa as their only win.
Fujita returned in June 2011 for the next Best Of The Super Junior XVIII. He got a notable victory over Koji Kanemoto and gave tough matches against Kenny Omega, Prince Devitt and Davey Richards, yet failed at getting any more victories.
Hiatus (2017–2021)
On April 23, during a Tenka-Ichi Junior League match against Shinjiro Otani,[4] Fujita suffered a massive injury which forced him go on a hiatus to heal.[5] He was diagnosed with a complete rupture of the lateral collateral ligament and a partial rupture of the medial collateral ligament.[6]
On November 24, 2018, Fujita appeared in Michinoku Pro Wrestling for the first time in over a year, where he announced he had been diagnosed with a spinal tumour, intramedullary tumor and ependymoma but vowed to return to the ring.[7] In May 2019, he underwent surgery to partially remove the tumor in his spine.[8] On December 13, 2019, with the blessing of his doctors, Fujita returned to the ring for one night only; losing to Kengo via knockout.[9]
In an interview with Weekly Pro-Wrestling in January 2021, Fujita revealed his plan to retire should he not be able to return by the end of the year.[10]
Return to professional wrestling (2022–present)
On May 10, 2022, Fujita announced his return to professional wrestling would take place at Korakuen Hall on July 1.[11] Later it was announced he would be facing Musashi for the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship.[12][13] On July 1, Fujita defeated Musashi with a flurry of his signature shoot-style kicks.[14] Whilst thanking the crowd for their support, he challenged former rival Kenoh and NJPW's Hiromu Takahashi.[14]
Masanori Murakawa, best known under his ring name The Great Sasuke, is a Japanese professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter and politician. He is the founder of Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW). Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly legislator. He has wrestled in Japan and in the United States in various professional wrestling promotions. He is said to have an incredible tolerance for pain, mainly in reference to the injuries he has had including a cracked skull on two occasions.
Shigeki Sato, better known by his ring name Dick Togo, is a Japanese professional wrestler. Togo is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Bullet Club stable, and its sub-group House of Torture.
Kazuhiro Hayashi, best known by the ring name Kaz Hayashi, is a Japanese business executive and retired professional wrestler who last competed in Gleat and serves as the company's chief technical officer (CTO). He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where in addition to being a wrestler for the promotion, he also served as the head booker for the company's junior heavyweight division. After leaving AJPW in 2013, Hayashi competed for Wrestle-1, where he also worked as a trainer. In April 2017, Hayashi took over as the new president of Wrestle-1, remaining in the position until the promotion's closure in 2020; he was also the promotion's final champion of the Wrestle-1 Championship.
Minoru Tanaka, also known by the ring names Heat and the mononymous Minoru, is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to Gleat, predominantly performing in its G Prowrestling and Lidet UWF divisions; he also serves as Gleat's UWF Rules Technical Officer.
Takuya Sugi is a Japanese professional wrestler from Shizuoka. He currently works in Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) as Sugi, but he has used many aliases, most commonly Yoshitsune and Sugi, through his career in many Japanese promotions. He is mainly known for his high-flying abilities.
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Minoru Fujita is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. He is known for working at Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling. He is the current Super Asia Champion in his first reign.
Michinoku Pro Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather in Morioka, Iwate. Since the promotion is primarily focused on the Lucha libre style of wrestling, many of their wrestlers don masks and special motifs as they compete in the ring. However, Michinoku Pro has accepted wrestlers from various styles and backgrounds over the years. In 2003, Sasuke left the running of the promotion to Jinsei Shinzaki.
The Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, where it is the primary singles title, and is strictly for junior heavyweights. It was created on August 25, 2002, when Dick Togo defeated Tiger Mask in a round-robin tournament final.
Munenori Sawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Sawa was trained by and spent his entire career in the Battlarts promotion, adopting the promotion's "Bati Bati" wrestling style, known for its stiff strikes and submission-based shoot wrestling, but would often also incorporate comedy into his matches, especially when performing as Lingerie Mutoh, his comedic take on Keiji Mutoh. Besides Battlarts, Sawa also worked for various other promotions in Japan, Germany and the United States, most notably Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1), where he became an NWA Intercontinental Tag Team and NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2011 Tenkaichi Jr. tournament, and where he wrestled his retirement match on November 9, 2011, four days after the folding of Battlarts. Since his retirement from professional wrestling, Sawa has wrestled grappling matches for ZST.
Taro Nohashi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He currently wrestles in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, where he is a former one-time Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion. He is also a former two-time Tohoku Tag Team Champion and one-time UWA World Tag Team Champion.
Daisuke Nakae is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist, better known by the ring name Kenoh. He currently wrestles in Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a 3-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. He is also a former GHC National Champion.
Isami Kodaka is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro-Wrestling Basara (Basara). He originally started his career in the Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo) promotion in July 2002, but later left the promotion to become a freelancer, before signing with Union Pro Wrestling in 2005. Through Union Pro's working relationship, Kodaka also began working for Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), where he adopted his current, hardcore wrestling-based style. Kodaka remained affiliated with Union Pro until the promotion folded in October 2015, after which he became a founding member of Pro-Wrestling Basara (Basara).
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Hartley Jackson is an Australian professional wrestler. He is currently working as a freelancer. The main body of his career has taken place in Australia, USA and Japan. Between 2018 and 2019, he served as an official coach and producer for WWE NXT at the WWE Performance Center, before returning to Japan to wrestle for Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) in 2020.
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Hayato Tamura is a Japanese professional wrestler working for Gleat, where he is the current G-Rex Champion. He is best known for his time in Pro Wrestling Zero1, where he is a former United National Heavyweight Champion.
The G-Rex Championship is a professional wrestling championship in the Japanese promotion Gleat. The title is the first to be created by the promotion.
The G-Infinity Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship in the Japanese promotion Gleat. The title is the first tag team title to be created by the promotion and the second overall. The title is currently vacant.
All Star Junior Festival 2023 was an interpromotional professional wrestling pay-per-view event organized by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was held on March 1, 2023 at Korakuen Hall in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The event, which was produced by NJPW wrestler Hiromu Takahashi, featured the participation of junior heavyweight wrestlers from over 20 different promotions from around the world.
↑ GLEAT Ver.6 -旗揚げ2周年記念大会-. ent.lidet.co.jp (in Japanese). Lidet Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 15, 2024. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
↑ "GLEAT Ver.7". ent.lidet.co.jp (in Japanese). Lidet Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 15, 2024. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
↑ ガンの再発で欠場中の山本”KID”徳郁の愛弟子・フジタ”Jr”ハヤトが王座返上「また強いハヤトが帰ってくる日が絶対来る」[Fujita "Jr." Hayato, apprentice of Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto, who has been sidelined due to a recurrence of cancer, relinquished his titles: "The day will definitely come when a strong Hayato will return."]. battle-news.com (in Japanese). June 22, 2024. Archived from the original on June 22, 2024.
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