Kohei Sato
In the years following Hashimoto's death, numerous wrestlers and promotions have paid tribute to him. Immediately following his death, New Japan retired the second IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt as Hashimoto was the first to wear it. A third IWGP Title belt was created and debuted in October 2005 but New Japan lost it in July 2006 when Brock Lesnar left New Japan and took the belt with him which forced New Japan to bring the second belt back. After regaining the third belt in February 2008 and the creation of the fourth IWGP Title belt, the second was retired once again. On March 2, 2008, then IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Shinsuke Nakamura visited ZERO1 for their anniversary show where he defeated Kohei Sato. After the match, he gave the second IWGP Title belt to Hashimoto's son, Daichi.