Masahiro Chono

Masahiro Chono
Born	September 17, 1963 Mitaka, Tokyo
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Masahiro Chono
Billed height	186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Billed weight	108 kg (237 lb)
Trained by	Stu Hart, Lou Thesz
Debut	October 5, 1984

Masahiro Chōno (蝶野正洋 Chōno Masahiro) is a Japanese professional wrestler.

Career

Chōno debuted in 1984 against Keiji Mutoh at an event in Saitama, Japan. He soon came to the United States and wrestled in the Kansas City and Alabama areas.

He primarily wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), but he had also made appearances for the now defunct World Championship Wrestling as a member of the nWo. Chono, called "Mister Black Jack" when he first started as a heel, is one of the top heels in Japanese wrestling history. Originally a clean cut face during his NWA title reign, he turned heel beginning in 1995. His team with Hiroyoshi Tenzan was called "Team Wolf" and it was the core for the formation of the stables nWo Japan in NJPW 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. Given Goldberg's temperament and abuse of other wrestlers, it would stand to reason his actions and personality would conflict with NJPW employees seeing as how Japanese pro-wrestling puts more emphasis on the match instead of the gimmick.

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 2002, he won his fourth G-1 Climax tournament.

In early 2004, Chono became the leader of the Black New Japan stable, which is currently the most dominating heel stable in NJPW.

Chono recently won the 2005 G-1 Climax tournament, thus having achieved a record-setting five G-1 victories — a fact that overshadows his only IWGP Heavyweight Title reign.

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.

In wrestling

Styles used

• Catch-as-catch-can
• British style grappling
• Judo locks

Managers

• Sonny Onoo
• Bill Dundee

Finishing and signature moves

• Shining Kenka Kick (Single leg running front dropkick to the head of a kneeling opponent)
• FTS (Rotated step-over toe-hold sleeper)
• STS - Step-over Toe-hold Sleeper
• STF - Step-over Toe-hold Facelock
• Cross leg STF
• Kenka Kick / Yakuza Kick (Running big boot)
• Butterfly Lock (Double underhook submission to a seated opponent)
• Samoan drop
• Cradle piledriver
• Octopus hold
• Diving shoulder block
• Manhattan Drop (Inverted atomic drop)

With Hiroyoshi Tenzan

• ChoTen Torpedo (Two man diving shoulder block)

Championships and accomplishments

• National Wrestling Alliance

• 1-Time NWA World Heavyweight Champion
• 1-Time NWA Central States Television Champion

• New Japan Pro Wrestling

• 1-Time IWGP World Heavyweight Champion
• 7-Time IWGP World Tag Team Champion, with Keiji Mutoh once, Mutoh as Great Muta once and Hiroyoshi Tenzan five times
• 1991 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament winner (beat Keiji Mutoh)
• 1992 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament winner (beat Rick Rude)
• 1994 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament winner (beat Kensuke Sasaki)
• 2002 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament winner (beat Yoshihiro Takayama)
• 2005 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament winner (beat Kazuyuki Fujita)
• 1987 NJPW Young Lions Cup winner (beat Shinya Hashimoto)
• 1990 NJPW Japan/China Friendship Tournament winner (beat Kensuke Sasaki)

• Other championships

• 1-Time WWA Heavyweight Champion
• 1-Time CWF Tag Team Champion, with Mike Davis
• 1-Time HCW Kamehameha Heritage Champion
• 1-Time AGPW North American Tag Team Champion, with Bob Brown

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 70 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 2004)
• 1995 Best Heel

Trivia

• Masahiro Chono is the owner of his own line of clothing stores, ArisTrisT. Hulk Hogan can be seen wearing Chono's Aristrist apparel on his TV show Hogan Knows Best.

• His wife Martika, whom he met during a tour in Germany, designs many of the jewelry and clothing sold on ArisTrisT.com

• Fan of Spanish fencing and fencing movies.

• Rumored to be cast in the lead role of a show which is described as the "Yakuza version" of the Sopranos. Similar stories and characters but with changes being obviously made with regards to the cultural differences. The show is reportedly still in the works.

• Very knowledgeable on European military history
• Fond of steak with wasabi.
• An ailurophile (cat lover)

External links

• Biography
• Biographical information
• Masahiro Chono fan club