The Great Sasuke

Masanori Murakawa (July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler who is best known by his stage name The Great Sasuke. As well as a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly legislator. He has wrestled in Japan and in the United States in various 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.
==Professional wrestling career==
In his early career, Murakawa wrestled under the name Masa Michinoku. Masa, from his given name Masanori, and Michinoku, after the alternate name for his Japanese home region, Tōhoku. Taka Michinoku adopted a similar gimmick to parody him. Later, on a tour of Mexico, Murakawa adopted the mask, uniform, and name Ninja Sasuke. This was the predecessor to the Great Sasuke gimmick he would adopt upon returning to Japan.
Murakawa is also the owner, and founder, of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, the first Japanese independent promotion not to be based around the Tokyo area.
As part of an agreement between Michinoku Pro Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, the Great Sasuke was part of the tournament to crown the first WWF Light Heavyweight Champion in 1997. Although Sasuke was heavily pushed to be the winner of the tournament, he would later brag to the Japanese media how he would only defend the title in Japan had he won the title and would refuse to drop the title on WWF television. When the WWF heard of Sasuke's comments, he was fired as well as his working agreement with them terminated, although a former member of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Taka Michinoku, would end up winning the title.
In 1998 he and Tiger Mask IV began feuding with the heel (villainous) clones of their respective gimmicks: Masked Tiger (Takeshi Ono) and Sasuke the Great (Masao Orihara).
In 2002, Sasuke briefly turned into a heel and started using the name SASUKE, using blue stripes on his mask instead of the red stripes. However, he later turned into a face (fan favorite) when Jinsei Shinzaki "brought him back from the dark side" by "exorcising the evil out of him".
Sasuke still currently wrestles in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, although he left the running of the promotion to Shinzaki in 2003 to focus on his political career.
== In wrestling ==
* Finishing moves
** Double underhook brainbuster – Innovated
** Missile dropkick to the shoulder of a fallen opponent – 2004–present
** Senton Atomico (High-angle senton bomb, sometimes from a ladder) – Innovated
** Thunder fire powerbomb
* Signature moves
** Asai moonsault
** Enzuigiri
** Octopus hold
** Over the top rope suicide dive
** Ryder Kick (Diving thrust kick)
** Sasuke Special (Cartwheel over the top rope suicide moonsault)
** Sasuke Special II (Cartwheel over the top rope suicide corkscrew senton)
** Sasuke Special X (Diving DDT)
** Sit-out piledriver
** Tiger suplex
** XPW (Diving somersault neckbreaker)
== Championships and accomplishments ==
* Dramatic Dream Team
** Big China Nakahara Unified Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ricky Fuji
* Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
** FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* Japan Indie Awards
** Best Unit Award (2014) with Brahman Kei and Brahman Shu
** MVP Award (2008)
* Michinoku Pro Wrestling
** British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
** Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
** Tohoku Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Dick Togo (1), Yoshitsune (1) and Brahman Kei (1)
** Fukumen World League (2012)
** Futaritabi Tag Team League (1995) – with Kato Kung Lee
** Futaritabi Tag Team League (1997) – with Super Delfin
** Michinoku Trios League (2005) – with Jinsei Shinzaki and Kesen Numajiro
* New Japan Pro Wrestling
** IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
** IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jushin Thunder Liger
** J-Crown (1 time)
** NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
** NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
** NWA World Welterweight Championship (1 time)
** UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
** WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
** WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
** WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
** One Night Eight Man Tag Team Tournament (1994) – with Gran Hamada, Shinjiro Otani and El Samurai
** Junior Heavyweight Super Grade Tag League (1996) – with Black Tiger II
* Osaka Pro Wrestling
** Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Asian Cooger
* Pro Wrestling Illustrated
** PWI ranked him # 23 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1996 and 1997
** PWI ranked him # 92 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
* Tokyo Sports
** Topic Award (1993)
* Universal Wrestling Association / Universal Wrestling Federation
** UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Gran Hamada (1) and Sasuke the Great (1)
* World Wrestling Association
** WWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
* Wrestling Observer Newsletter
** 5 Star Match (1994) vs. Wild Pegasus at Super J-Cup
** 5 Star Match (1994) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger on July 8
** Best Flying Wrestler (1994)
** Best Wrestling Maneuver (1994) The Sasuke Special
==External links==
* Profile
* Profile
* Profile
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