Kagetora

Kagetora in June 2021

###

Koutou, Tokyo, Japan

**Fumiyuki Hashimoto** (橋本 史之, *Hashimoto Fumiyuki*), known by his stage name **Kagetora**, is a Japanese professional wrestler who works for Dragon Gate. He wrestles in independent wrestling leagues all around Japan and has wrestled in the United States for Chikara and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He has wrestled many famous wrestlers including Jinsei Shinzaki. He was also known as **Jimmy Kagetora** (ジミー・カゲトーラ, *Jimī Kagetōra*) until the disbanding of Jimmyz, after that he reverted to his old ring name, though he will use it until the end of the Farewell Jimmyz Gate tour.

## Career

### Mini Crazy MAX

Hashimoto was part of Mini Crazy MAX as SUWAcito early in his career with Takuya Sugi (Mini CIMA) and Masaki Okimoto (Small Dandy Fuji). They were little version of sthe Japanese wrestlers CIMA, SUWA and, Don Fujii.

### Michinoku Pro Wrestling

Hashimoto started competing in Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 2005 under the new name of **Kagetora**, based in Uesugi Kagetora. He initially wore a menpō mask during his matches, but he dropped it. After a tag team tenure with Shanao, Kagetora turned on him and started a heel faction called STONED. The STONED faction also competed in El Dorado Wrestling, but the STONED members eventually turned on Kagetora. Takuya Sugawara became the new leader of STONED but changed the name of the faction to the Hell Demons. Kagetora won the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship on March 19, 2006 but vacated the championship after the match so it could be decided in a tournament. In 2007, Kagetora and Rasse beat Shu and Kei Sato for the Tohoku Tag Team Championship and during their title reign they won the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship, becoming dual champions.

### El Dorado Wrestling

In El Dorado, Kagetora (here as **KAGETORA**) became a member of the Animal Planets faction. He challenged Kota Ibushi for the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but lost the match. He started teaming with Ibushi and they won the UWA World Tag Team Championship, but they later vacated the titles.

### Dragon Gate

On December 19, 2008, KAGETORA debuted in Dragon Gate after it was announced that El Dorado would be closing, intruding after the opening match. He openly declared war on Dragon Gate, attacking m.c. KZ and criticizing fellow former El Dorado wrestler Naoki Tanizaki for abandoning the company months prior. He stated that he himself had abandoned Dragon Gate in 2004, but was now back to wreak havoc.

However, Toryumon veteran K-ness reminded him that it was Dragon Gate who had abandoned KAGETORA and the rest of Toryumon X, not the other way around. K-ness did state that he was happy for Toryumon X wrestlers such as El Blazer and Shinjitsu Nohashi for returning, but not KAGETORA, and he dismissed him and referred to him by his dojo boy name, "Hashimoto-Kun". This led to the announcement of KAGETORA first two Dragon Gate matches, against m.c.KZ and then K-ness. He then joined up with the Real Hazard stable.

He fought in the one-night Battle of Tokyo Tournament on January 25, 2009, where he beat K-ness in the opening round, and then would go on to win the tournament, beating Akira Tozawa in the finals. The victory earned him an Open the Brave Gate title shot against Masato Yoshino a few weeks later, but he failed to win it. Kenichiro Arai started verbally abusing him for the loss, which continued right up until March 1. On that day, he had had enough: When YAMATO & Cyber Kong were defending their Open The Twin Gate Championship against Susumu Yokosuka & Gamma, he interfered and cost his stablemates the titles. He then left Real Hazard and joined Yokosuka, Gamma, and the returning CIMA in their WARRIORS-5 stable.

On April 15, he captured his first title in Dragon Gate, winning the Open the Triangle Gate titles with CIMA & Gamma. In August, he made another attempt on the Brave Gate by participating in a tournament for the vacant title, and though he made it to the finals, he lost to Naoki Tanizaki.

When Susumu Yokosuka left WARRIORS-5 for Real Hazard on December 3, he began to distance himself from the remainder of the unit over the next few weeks, and then went missing. When he went missing, a new Dr. Muscle appeared in Real Hazard. When Dragon Kid left KAMIKAZE for WARRIORS-5 on January 11, 2010, he broke his silence the next day, posting a blog where he questioned why Kid was allowed into the stable, and he hinted at crashing the January 15th show, since he had no match scheduled for that day. He didn't show up, but the day after, he revealed himself to be the one under the Dr. Muscle mask, and re-joined Real Hazard.

However, he openly stated his distrust of everyone in the stable, except for Takuya Sugawara, and he very quickly began to regret joining them. Then, on February 7, he oddly went to Akira Tozawa for advice, asking him if he made the right decision in rejoining Real Hazard, or if he should have stayed in the WARRIORS-5 stable. Tozawa simply replied that it was his path, so he had to find his own answer. Things got worse for KAGETORA three days later, when he accidentally cost Sugawara a shot at becoming the next challenger for the Open the Dream Gate Title. This set up a match for the following day between himself and stablemate Kzy (the former m.c.KZ), where the loser would be kicked out of Real Hazard. He also sought advice from Tozawa again, wondering if his upcoming trip to Germany would go wrong just like how leaving WARRIORS-5 and joining Real Hazard went wrong, but they both couldn't come up with an answer. The next day, Kzy defeated him, expelling him from Real Hazard. Yasushi Kanda and Keni'chiro Arai started to attack him afterwards, but Tozawa came to his rescue. He tried to console KAGETORA, but KAGETORA told him he wanted to be alone and ran off. After the main event match concluded, CIMA called him out. He came to the ring and apologized for deserting WARRIORS-5, and then tried to get some advice from him, prompting Tozawa to come back out and attempt to assert his newfound role as KAGETORA's mentor. As a result, a match was made for February 27, with CIMA, Gamma & Dragon Kid of Warriors-5 facing Tozawa, YAMATO & Shingo Takagi of KAMIKAZE, and the winning team would get KAGETORA. During the match, KAGETORA was hit by an errant cane attack from Gamma, and took the cane away from Gamma when he attempted to cheat again. The finish of the match occurred when KAGETORA accidentally hit Gamma with his cane, leading to Tozawa pinning Gamma for KAMIKAZE's win. KAGETORA thus joined KAMIKAZE, promising his new stablemates that he would do his best.

On April 15, 2011, KAGETORA represented Team Dragon Gate in the 2011 King of Trios tournament along with Akira Tozawa and Super Shisa. In the first round of the tournament, Team Dragon Gate defeated the Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked and Frightmare) The following day, Team Dragon Gate was eliminated from the tournament in the quarter-final stage by The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Hieracon and Ophidian). On April 17, the final day of the tournament, KAGETORA and Shisa took part in a gauntlet tag match and were the final team to enter, but they were defeated by Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada.

On May 13, 2011, Takagi disbanded KAMIKAZE, after which KAGETORA followed him and YAMATO to Masaaki Mochizuki's new stable, Junction Three. On December 1, KAGETORA and Susumu Yokosuka failed to capture the Open the Twin Gate Championship in a match against the Blood Warriors team of Akira Tozawa and BxB Hulk and as a result were forced to change their ring names to Jimmy Kagetora and Jimmy Susumu, respectively. On February 9, 2012, Junction Three was forced to disband, after losing a fourteen-man elimination tag team match to Blood Warriors. On March 3, KAGETORA formed the Jimmyz stable with Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee, Jimmy Kanda, Ryo "Jimmy" Saito and Jimmy Susumu. The following day, KAGETORA and Jimmy Susumu defeated Akira Tozawa and BxB Hulk to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship. They lost the title to BxB Hulk and "Naoki Tanisaki" on June 10 but regained them on June 17 in a 3-way Elimination tag team match which also included MadoGiwa Windows members K-ness & Kenichiro Arai. They would lose the Twin Gate belts to -akatsuki- members Shingo Takagi and YAMATO at the Kobe Pro-Wrestling PPV on July 22, 2012.

On June 19, 2016, Kagetora and Susumu defeated T-Hawk and Big R Shimizu to capture their third Twin Gate Championship. On November 3 Kagetora and Susumu lost the Twin Gate Titles to Over Generation (Dragon Kid and CIMA). On March 4, Eita faced El Lindaman for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. The match ended in a no-contest due to Punch Tominaga and Mondai Ryu and Takehiro Yamamura (who was trying to save from the attack of VerserK) interference. Due to this the Open The Brave Gate Champion was vacated. Then Kagetora came out and he was announced in a tournament to crown the new champion. On March 19, Jimmy Kagetora defeated Draztik Boy in the first round of the tournament. On the next day, at the Memorial Gate in Wakayama he defeated Kzy in the semifinals and El Lindaman in the finals, winning the tournament and becoming the Open The Brave Gate Champion. On September 18, Jimmyz was forced to disband after losing to VerserK in a Ten-Man Elimination No Disqualification Loser Disbands match, though they still had the last tour together called the Farewell Jimmyz Gate which ended losing to VerserK after Kanda turned on Jimmyz. After that, Kagetora returned to his old ring name, this time as **Kagetora**. On December 23 at Final Gate, Kagetora lost the title to his former Jimmyz stablemate Yasushi Kanda.

On April 6, Kagetora failed to win the Open the Brave Gate Champion from a tournament where Dragon Kid won. During this time, Kagetora started to wear t-shirts of MaxiMuM, Over Generation, Tribe Vanguard and ANTIAS, but members of Over Generation, Tribe Vanguard and MaxiMuM were confused to Kagetora using their stables shirts, without being an official member and ANTIAS didn't even care. On May 5, Kagetora announced that he would reveal the stable that he would join at Dead or Alive. The following day, at Dead or Alive, after Kagetora losing to Takashi Yoshida, Kagetora and Yoshida walked out to the back with Kagetora wearing an ANTIAS shirt. In the main event, he would help ANTIAS members to escape, only to later that night, rip off his ANTIAS shirt to reveal a Tribe Vanguard shirt, assisting YAMATO to escape the Seven-way steel cage match, joining Tribe Vanguard. Following the Dead or Alive, Kagetora took part in the King of Gate, finishing the tournament with a record of one win, one loss, one draw, and one double count-out, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On December 23, Kagetora and YAMATO failed to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship. In May 2019, Kagetora took part in the 2019 King of Gate, finishing the tournament with a record of one wins ad four losses, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. In July, Kagetora and Maria took part in the AJPW's 2019 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory, finishing the tournament with a record of a tee wins, one loss and one draw, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On July 28, Kagetora and Maria were defeated by Hikaru Sato and Yusuke Okada in the finals of the tournament.

In October 2019, Kagetora began helping his mentor Último Drágon in his feud with R.E.D, leading him to join his mentor in December to form the Toryumon stable, after Tribe Vanguard was suspended by YAMATO, as part of a "Generation War" against Dragon Gate and R.E.D. On December 20, at Final Gate, Toryumon was forced to disband, after losing to R.E.D in No Disqualification Losing Unit Disbands match. Following the disbanding of Toryumon, since March, Kagetora began teaming with other units such as Natural Vibes, R.E.D, Masquerade and High-End. On June 3, after months of allying himself with other units, Kagetora was revealed to be High-End's newest member. On July 11, Kagetora teamed with his High-End stablemate Keisuke Okuda to face Genki Horiguchi and his Natural Vibes stablemate Susumu Yokosuka in a winning effort, with Kagetora pinning Horiguchi. Afterwards, Kagetora also announced his intentions to challenge for the Open The Brave Gate Championship, leading Dragon Gate to announce that the winner of the first night would face Kagetora in the second night of Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival. On August 1 at Speed Star Final, Kagetora defeated Genki Horiguchi to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship for his second time. After the match, during a post-match interview, Kagetora was challenged by SB KENTo to a title match, leading on August 8, Kagetora losing the title to KENTo in his first title defense. In May 2022, Kagetora took part in the 2022 King of Gate, being eliminated in the first round to U-T. On January 11, 2023, High-End was forced to disband after losing to Z-Brats in a Unit Disbands match.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ **As KAGETORA/Kagetora**
		- *Bitenhassō* (Corkscrew moonsault) - 2021
		- *Gurumakakari* (Spinning double underhook gutwrench driver)
		- *Gurumakakari Kai* (Cobra twist driver)
		- *Ikkitousen* (Fireman's carry dropped into a sitout side powerslam)
		- *Kenkonitteki* (Fireman's carry reverse piledriver)
		- *Modified Michinoku Driver* (Half nelson cradle fisherman driver)
	+ **As SUWAcito**
		- *FFF – Face First Facebuster* (Lifting double underhook facebuster) – adopted from SUWA
* **Signature moves**
	+ Brainbuster
	+ Cartwheel on the ropes transitioned into either a DDT or an elbow drop
	+ Cutter, as a counter to a pop-up
	+ Diving elbow drop
	+ Frankensteiner
	+ Jumping corkscrew flying forearm
	+ *Kagenui* (Cradle pin to an oncoming opponent)
	+ *Kusabi* (Elevated inverted Indian deathlock/modified crossface combo)
	+ Multiple kick variations
		- Drop
		- Enzuigiri
		- *Hangetsu* (Arm wrench punt)
		- *John Woo* (Running high-impact front drop, knocking the opponent into the turnbuckles – adopted from SUWA
		- Spinning heel
	+ Slap
	+ Slingshot DDT
* **Nicknames**
	+ "Echigo No Tora" (Japanese for "Tiger of Echigo")
	+ **"Kokō no Samurai"** (Japanese for "Lonely Samurai")
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Hou Ou (Phoenix)" by Musashi
	+ **"STRIKE STILL ROUNDER"** by YO-HEI

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Dragon Gate**
	+ Open The Brave Gate Championship (2 times)
	+ Open The Triangle Gate Championship (2 times) – with CIMA and Gamma (1) and Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! and Jimmy Susumu (1)
	+ Open The Twin Gate Championship (3 times) – with Jimmy Susumu
	+ Battle of Tokyo Tournament (2009)
	+ Summer Adventure Tag League (2014) – with Jimmy Susumu
	+ Kijima Kogen Park Tag Tournament (2021) – with Dragon Kid
* **El Dorado Wrestling**
	+ UWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kota Ibushi
* **Michinoku Pro Wrestling**
	+ Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ Tohoku Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rasse
	+ Iron Man Tournament (2005)
	+ Futaritabi Tag Team League (2005) – with Shanao
	+ Futaritabi Tag Team League (2007) – with Rasse
* **Osaka Pro Wrestling**
	+ Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rasse
* **Toryumon X**
	+ Yamaha Cup Tag Tournament (2004) – with Mini CIMA
* **Pro Wrestling Zero1**
	+ NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jimmy Susumu