Hubris (RLS CAS)

Hubris making a full-time debut for UNION Wrestling.

**Akio Mashimo** *(born 24th July 1989 on Rishiri Island, Japan)* is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to UNION Wrestling under the gimmick of **Hubris**, a mystical character originally a parody of Mick Foley's Mankind gimmick1 that has grown more serious over the years.

Considering a coup signing for UNION, Hubris has spent the entirety of his full-time career in wrestling with Japan MIGHTY! Wrestling before departing in 2022.

## Career

### Training with the MIGHTY! Dojo (Unknown)

Mashimo was trained, specifically with his Hubris gimmick in mind, for an unspecified amount of time by the MIGHTY! Dojo trio of Naito Yamada, Junichi Ito and Yano Kai. Already fairly competent at wrestling before this took place, his training was fairly short and he was soon thrown into "sparring" matches before big Japan MIGHTY! Wrestling2 events.

### JMW Success (2011-*present*)

Debuting fully on MIGHTY! shows as Hubris, in 2011, Mashimo at first was a slightly tongue-in-cheek parody of Mick Foley's Mankind gimmick. Hubris would copy the early mannerisms of Mankind to some extent, usually before being beaten in more bloody contests within the promotion.

He became popular relatively quickly, even with the slow build JMW prioritised for it's new talent. He quickly found himself winning the Junior Championship from Takanibu Endo, reigning for over a year before losing the title to Sekino Ryo.

He traded the title back and forth with a number of fellow Juniors between 2011 and 2015, also finishing fourth in the Fight for MIGHT! Tournament in 2015, before being injured in a Battle Royal in September 2015 and remaining on the sidelines until the 2016 Fight for MIGHT! Tournament, which he surprisingly won against the more fancied Renzo Tezuka.

This was followed by a record sixth Junior Championship reign, which was only ended in March 2017 by another injury. He returned in time for the Fight for MIGHT! Tournament in 2017, of which the results haven't yet been made public due to international streaming disagreements and legal wrangling.

In early-2022, Mashimo confirmed he'd be leaving JMW to pursue a full-time career in Europe.

### PRIZE Wrestling League (2018-2019)

Despite having several dark matches, and a match on UNION Wrestling LIVE!, under the name Shinryaku3, Mashimo was shockingly confirmed for the first PRIZE Special in June 2018, under his Hubris4 gimmick. This marked the first time said gimmick had been used outside of either JMW or Japan. At the event, in Birmingham, Hubris competed in a Six Man Ladder Match for the Nova Championship, which Dempsey won. During the post show, Hubris attacked the new champion during his berating of the crowd, to loud cheers, setting up a title match between the two at the second Special in Hamburg, Germany.

At the PRIZE July Special 2018, Hubris came close to beating Dempsey for the title several times in their Hardcore Match, but was eventually put through a table several times before being pinned. He was then attacked by the champion even more, writing him out of PRIZE for the foreseeable future.

### UNION Wrestling (2021-*present*)

Hubris would make a shock return to UNION Wrestling in late 2021, appearing at the end of their return show in Sheffield to stare-down Virgil Baker. Following Baker's COVID-19 scare**6**, however, he'd not appear again until January 2022, where he's scheduled to face Baker in the main event of their Touchdown '22 show in Birmingham.

Hubris would mark the beginning of UNION's Reboot Era by signing a full-time deal with the promotion in March 2022, headlining their "Mask Monday" event, which also saw El Jefe, Doscara, Carita and Brody Shires join the promotion. He'd go on to compete for the vacant UNION World Championship against Virgil Baker, at the March 2022 UNION Bring Down The House event, though he'd lose to Baker. On the first episode of UNION Charged, he'd get a measure of revenge against Baker in a Mixed Tag Team Match also involving Jackie Compton and Lara Grey, injuring Baker's neck at ringside while they were the inactive participants before using that injury to make him tap out to the Nemesis Choke.

## In-Wrestling

### Signatures:

Flapjack 6

Small Package Driver 2

## Accomplishments

**JMW Junior Championship** *(x6)*

**Fight for MIGHT! Tournament: 4** *(2016)*

## Trivia

* Unsurprisingly, Mashimo cites Mick Foley as his idol growing up. His dream match, according to an interview in Japan, would be a Cage Match against Mankind, as Hubris.5
* Mashimo had originally expressed a dislike for UNION Wrestling after his short spell there, calling the hype of his training followed by him losing by submission on LIVE! "confusing". Despite being frustrated by the loss, his only other serious appearances at this time for a Western promotion, the Nova Championship matches for PRIZE, also ended in defeat as he was unable to retrieve the title in the first or beat the champion in the second. His first spell in UK-based wrestling ended 0-3 in matches, suggesting his disdain was the *manner* of the loss, and not losing itself.

## Behind-the-Scenes/Notes

1. The gimmick sprung from my love of everything Foley, and was intended as a comedic homage to an actual icon of mine, as well as the wrestler in-universe. It becoming more serious was just me enjoying playing as him.
2. Japan MIGHTY! Wrestling is my current Fire Pro Wrestling World promotion, in which Hubris features heavily as a face. His appearances for both JMW and PRIZE will be worked around each other in as realistic a manner as I can achieve.
3. Shinryaku was intended to refer to him "invading" UNION Wrestling, but those plans were scuppered by his loss on LIVE!. I didn't believe that WWE would, if they had a partnership as they do in the narrative with UW, would allow the Hubris gimmick.
4. As my PRIZE promotion is entirely unaffiliated with WWE (outside of using their game, obviously), I had no narrative issue using his Hubris gimmick for them.
5. Though I likely could do this match in 2K18, or 2K19 should Foley and/or Mankind be in... I likely never will because although I've used Mankind in a very loose way in UNION Wrestling, I can't commit to believing he could go one-on-one with Hubris given his physical condition. I may change my mind of that.
6. Actually, the Baker CAS I'm currently using has been giving me some trouble in terms of entrance crashes.