As was reported here last night, Shin’ya Hashimoto passed away at around 9:30 am local time (12:30 am Coordinated Universal Time; 8:30 pm Sunday Eastern Time) Monday morning in Yokohama, Japan, reportedly due to a brain aneurism. He was 40.
According to a report by Sankei Sports, Hashimoto collapsed at 8:55 am and an ambulance was called. He arrived at Yokohama Itiminami Ku hospital approximately an hour and a half later and was pronounced dead.
Further information on the causation behind his death was immediately unavailable, but rumors surfaced that Hashimoto had a high blood pressure condition.
Hashimoto had also been recovering from surgery on his shoulder. His last match was on August 31 of last year, where Hashimoto and Yoshiaki Fujiwara dropped the intercontinental tag team championships (a title he held twice) to Shinjiro Ohtani and Takao Omori in Morioka. In the immediate aftermath, the company suffered from losing its two top draws in Hashimoto and Naoya Ogawa, who trained full-time for fighting in PRIDE.
The surgery didn’t happen until December 10 and while it had been hoped that he could have it done by the well-respected sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews in America, who operates on most WWE wrestlers, it ended up happening in Tokyo. After the nine-hour operation, there was no indication as to whether Hashimoto would ever be able to return to the ring.
A consummate worker and successful draw, Hashimoto is a member of the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. As a headliner on eight shows that have drawn over 50,000 fans, his legacy as a draw is in some ways unmatched, but has been overshadowed by other figures in Japanese wrestling, many times unjustly partially because of his recent losses. He is a former three-time IWGP Champion, All Japan Triple Crown winner, NWA Champion, IWGP Tag Team Champion, and winner of the 1998 G-1 Climax.
Born July 3, 1965 in Toki, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, Hashimoto was poor and both of his parents died when he was young. He had some judo background in his early years and joined the New Japan dojo at 19—along with other legends Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono. Slightly more than four months later, on September 1, 1984 in Tokyo, Hashimoto made his in-ring debut. A few years later, he was sent to the United States to get experience between October 1987 and July 1989; he worked in Calgary, Puerto Rico, and Tennessee. In Japan, the massive Tokyo Dome was built, and Hashimoto was brought back to work on the first wrestling show there and get a massive push.
He pinned Riki Choshu and then Victor Zangiev before losing to Vader in a tournament to crown the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He would win his first major title—the IWGP Tag Title—in September 1989 with Masa Saito.
Although he was a relatively minor player, his tag team match with Chono against Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi featuring Lou Thesz as referee, was his first main event sellout—and New Japan’s first Tokyo Dome sellout. He lost the match, which took place on February 10, 1990.
By this time, Hashimoto had developed into both a good worker and one of the biggest stars in New Japan. He and his fellow Dojo trainees, Chono and Muto, were the focus of New Japan in the early 90s, and some of the biggest legends in recent Japanese wrestling. They are commonly known as the Three Musketeers. His gimmick was that of a shooter, or legitimate fighter, mastering the New Japan Strong Style wrestling. The reputation has cemented the reputations of many of Japan’s most successful draws, from Antonio Inoki in the 1970s to Naoya Ogawa in 2004. A new generation of shoot fighters, from Kazushi Sakuraba to Bob Sapp, have benefited from a reputation of being the most successful legitimate fighters, and at all times it is part-gimmick, part-reality.
In 1990, Hashimoto feuded with Tony Halme, using the boxer vs. wrestler formula. Hashimoto put Halme over and he became a star. Eventually, Hashimoto would have a hand in the drawing success of the aforementioned Ogawa.
Hashimoto split from Muto and Chono in 1993, winning the title from Muto, and pinning Genichiro Tenryu in 1994. He beat Tatsumi Fujinami for his second IWGP title on May 1, 1994. He held the belt for a year, losing to Muto on May 3, 1995, but not before headlining the January 4 Dome show with Kensuke Sasaki. He was the Tokyo Sports Wrestler of the Year in 1994.
The April 29, 1996 New Japan Tokyo Dome show was built off of a title match between champion Nobuhiko Takada and Hashimoto. At least in the confines of worked reputation, Takada was a shooter of good repute, and despite a catalogue of fights that would indicate the opposite, he is still thought to be a great fighter by the Japanese public. Hashimoto pinned Takada in front of 65,000 fans. He kept the title until August 31, 1997, when he lost it to Sasaki. He had also headlined the New Years (January 4) Dome show with Riki Choshu.
Ogawa, a former Olympic medalist in judo, was a national hero. His lucrative crossover into professional wrestling was a significant gain for the business. A credit to Hashimoto’s value, Ogawa’s first feud was with him. In his debut match, on April 12, 1997 at the Tokyo Dome, he pinned Hashimoto. The Tokyo Dome sold out for their rematch on May 3, where Hashimoto retained his title. Two years later a worked-shoot style match between the two and several more main event matches at the Tokyo Dome further established Ogawa as a star and helped him become one of the few professional wrestling draws in Japan recently. Almost 35 million people watched their April 7, 2000 match in which Hashimoto said he would retire if he lost.
But the feud with Ogawa also took hurt Hashimoto’s reputation and he suffered. Out of four Dome matches with Ogawa, he lost three and the other was a draw.
Chono has traditionally been thought to symbolize New Japan, much like Inoki, but Hashimoto also stakes a claim to such a legacy. From a drawing standpoint, Hashimoto’s career is similar to Bruno Sammartino in his era headlining more shows for the original Vince McMahon or Hulk Hogan headlining hugely successful live shows. Nonetheless, he remains one of the most popular figures for fans of Japanese pro wrestling in the 90s.
On November 13, 2000, Hashimoto registered the Zero-One name in Japan and left New Japan (with Ohtani) to run the new promotion. He was the figure head, owner, promoter, and top star. Similarly, in the same year, Mitsuharu Misawa left All Japan Wrestling with most of its stars to create Pro Wrestling NOAH. The promotion was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance, and also had agreements with NOAH and All Japan (Hashimoto, as mentioned earlier, held the Triple Crown title).
Zero-One has used talent from New Japan, but it hasn’t taken nearly as big a bite out of their business as NOAH has done All Japan. The promotion has used wrestlers for Japanese and American independents.
The promotion was built around Hashimoto until various injuries took Hashimoto from the company, and he was replaced by a variety of people, including Ohtani, Masato Tanaka, Kohei Sato, and Ogawa.
In 2004, the promotion formed another company with Dream Stage Entertainment (which promotes PRIDE) called Hustle. The silly organization, which pokes fun at pro wrestling (including WWE), involved both Hashimoto (as “King Hustle”) and Ogawa as top stars. The promotion is not intended to be taken seriously, and at the box office it has not, as the promotion has had difficulty finding a profitable niche. In the promotion, Hashimoto has faced and beaten Vader, with Toshiaki Kawada lost to Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman (doing pro wrestling), and lost to the Outsiders (Nash & Hall) with Ogawa.
With the financial problems of the traditional pro wrestling industry in Japan surmounting, Zero One collapsed in 2004. The remains were given to Ohtani and the promotion was reincarnated as Zero-One Max.
Hashimoto’s death will only further debate about the safety and health of athletes and athletic performers in Japan, especially in professional wrestling and mixed-martial arts.
Yoshihiro Takayama was giving a speech in a Tokyo university about the safety of athletes, when shortly beforehand he heard a rumor of Hashimoto’s death, according to Yahoo Sports Navigator in Japan and in translation provided by Puroresu Power. In 2004, Takayama himself suffered a horrible stroke after a violent match with Kensuke Sasaki.
Two Japanese politicians and former wrestlers, Atsushi Onita (the FMW promoter) and Hiroshi Hase (the NJPW wrestler Hashimoto faced many a time), stopped short of suggesting any government reforms that would consider more closely the health of pro wrestlers and mixed-martial artists.
Assemblyman Onita said that Hashimoto supported the structural reform of the pro-wrestling industry and that Hashimoto was a very important symbol in this fight, according to an interview by Nikkan Sports. Assemblyman Hase called Hashimoto’s death unbelievable and expressed his sadness over the death of a man who he has known for 20 years.
Chono called the death tragic, but said that Hashimoto enjoyed life. Sakaguchi, still with New Japan, noted that Hashimoto has had problems with high-blood pressure for a long time. According to Sports Nippon, Sakaguchi tied the mental and emotional stress involved with Zero-One, to Hashimoto’s health. Ogawa, much like Hase, expressed disbelief and shock over the death. PRIDE and Hustle promoter Nobuyuki Sakakibara called Hashimoto one of the cornerstones of Hustle and had spoken with him recently about returning to the ring. Sakakibara said he would fulfill Hashimoto’s “dying wishes” at the upcoming Hustle shows and would help with funeral arrangements if necessary.
A ten-bell salute was to be held for Hashimoto at Monday night’s NOAH show at Kochi Resident Gymnasium.
TBL expresses our condolences to the family and friends of Shin’ya Hashimoto.
