Shotaro Ashino

###

Nishi-Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

**Shotaro Ashino** (芦野 祥太郎, *Ashino Shotaro*, born January 4, 1990) is a Japanese professional wrestler who works currently for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), as a freelancer.

His best known for his work in Wrestle-1 promotion, where he was trained by their dojo, Keiji Mutoh and Kaz Hayashi. At the promotion, Ashino was a former two-time Wrestle-1 and Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champion and a former one-time UWA World Trios Champion. At the end of 2017, Wrestle-1 named Ashino the best wrestler of the year. Ashino's reign as Wrestle-1 Champion at 359 days was the longest in the championship’s history and it also held the record for most successful title defenses at 7. The following year, Ashino won the Wrestle-1 Grand Prix in July. Ashino left the promotion in April 2020, after the promotion closed.

## Early Life

Ashino graduated at the Nippon Sports Science University school and the director Hiroshi Hase recommended Ashino to become a trainee in Wrestle-1 the recommendation was on August 1, 2014, on the Nippon Sports Science University wrestling part of his supervision. Ashino trained in Wrestle-1 for six months as a Trainee.

## Professional wrestling career

### Wrestle-1 (2015–2020)

After a period of 6 months, Ashino made is debut at February 13, 2014, at Korakuen Hall at the period he was a Trainee and he picked up his first win by defeating Kumagoro. Ashino participated at the Wrestle-1 Grand Prix where he defeated Nosawa Rongai at the first round but lost to Manabu Soya at the quarterfinals.

On September 22 Ashino and Hiroki Murase entered in a storyline with Team 246 (Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo) and they lost to Team 246 in their first match, their second match ended in a double count-out, the third match he and Hiroki Murase defeated Team 246. On October 9 Ashino and Murase faced again Team 246. During the match, Kondo turned on Kaz Hayashi and Kondo stated that Team 246 ended his alliance with Hayashi and agreed to an alliance with the Ashino and Hiroki Murase and Masayuki Kono came out as he joined the new group as well and it was stated that it is their mission to rebuild Wrestle-1. On October 13 Ashino, Murase, Kono and Shuji Kondo were interviewed and made some questions and asked them what would be the team's name but they do not say and Masayuki Kono, Shuji Kondo & Shotaro Ashino announced they wanted to gain a monopoly of titles and Shotaro Ashino and Hiroki Murase were given an opportunity by the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship..

On October 31 Ashino, Masayuki Kono, Shuji Kondo and Hiroki Murase announced that their group name is TriggeR. On November 3 Ashino and Hiroki Murase failed to capture the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship. On February 10, 2016, TriggeR started a feud with Real Desperado when Kondo challenge Yuji Hino for the Wrestle-1 Champion, Kazma Sakamoto and Yuji Hino challenge Kondo and Kono for the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champions. On March 27 Ashino, Murase and Masayuki Kono were granted an opportunity for the UWA World Trios Championship but lost for the defending champions Kaz Hayashi, Minoru Tanaka, Tajiri. On June 8 Ashino unsuccessfully challenged KAI for the Wrestle-1 Championship. On July 1 Ashino faced Manabu Soya at the semifinals of the 2016 Wrestle-1 Grand Prix. The match would end in 27 seconds due to suffering a ligament injury to his right leg. On November 11 Ashino made his return match teaming with his TriggeR stablemates (Masayuki Kono and Shuji Kondo) to defeat NEWERA (Jiro Kuroshio, Koji Doi and Kumagoro). He would then enter in a short feud with Jiro Kuroshio, where Ashino won after he defeated Kuroshio in a singles match.

On January 8, 2017, after Kono defended the Wrestle-1 Championship against Manabu Soya, after the match, Ashino challenged Kono into a title match. On March 20 Ashino defeated Kono to win the Wrestle-1 Championship, winning his first title in professional wrestling in the process. After the match, his TriggeR stablemate Shuji Kondo challenged him to a title match. On April 19 Ashino defeated Kondo to make his first successful title defense. After the match, Ashino left TriggeR. On May 4 Ashino defeated Manabu Soya to make his second successful title defense. After the match, Ashino was challenged by the Wrestle-1 Result Champion Koji Doi into a title match which he successfully defended on June 6, 2017. Then Ashino started to compete in multiple tag team matches with Seigo Tachibana. However after Tachibana lost in the finals of a tournament to compete in the Wrestle-1 Grand Prix, he stated that he wouldn't align himself with weak wrestlers. Then Tachibana proved Ashino that he was wrong defeating Daiki Inaba in a tag team match with the *Silver Lock.* The would later be joined by Yusuke Kodama who left NEW ERA. On August 11 the three would form a stable named Enfants Terribles. On October 21 Ashino, Kodama and Tachibana defeated NEWERA (Jiro Kuroshio, Koji Doi and Kumagoro) for the UWA World Trios Championship. They lost the titles to Doi, Kumagoro and Takanori Ito. IAtthe end of the year, Ashino was named the best wrestler of the year. On March 14, 2018, he lost the title to Manabu Soya. Following the loss, Ashino and the newest member of Enfants Terribles Kuma Arashi defeated Soya and AKIRA to win the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship, before losing the titles to Jiro Kuroshio and Masato Tanaka on June 22. In preparation for the 2018 Wrestle-1 Grand Prix, Ashino started to use a new finishing maneuver, T-Bone Suplex, in order to win the tournament. On July 18, Ashino defeated Koji Doi in the finals to win the 2018 Wrestle-1 Grand Prix and become the number one contender to Soya's Wrestle-1 Championship. On September 2, Ashino won the title back from Soya. On January 5, 2019, Ashino lost the title to T-Hawk. On August 1, Ashino and Yusuke Kodama defeated Manabu Soya and Shuji Kondo to win the vacant Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship, before losing them to Daiki Inaba and Koji Doi on March 15, 2020. On March 31, Ashino was released by Wrestle-1, after the promotion suspended its activities on the following day.

### All Japan Pro Wrestling (2020–present)

On April 6, 2020, Ashino made an appearance in All Japan Pro Wrestling, announcing that he was going to become a regular in the promotion. Shortly after, Ashino reformed Enfant Terribles with Kuma Arashi, Yusuke Kodama and were later joined by Koji Doi and Hokuto Omori. On July 30, Ashino unssucessfully challenged Suwama for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. In September, Ashino took part of the 2020 Champion Carnival, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and two losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament. From November 22 until December 7, Ashino and Arashi took part in the 2020 World's Strongest Tag Determination League, finishing the tournament, with a record of three wins and four losses, failling to win the tournament.

On February 23, 2021, following a disagreement between Ashino and Hokuto Omori, Ashino was kicked out of Enfants Terribles and replaced by Jake Lee and renamed the stable to Total Eclipse. Afterwards, Ashino and Koji Iwamoto, who had been part of Jin were accepted by Suwama to join Evolution, in order to face Total Eclipse where he later form a team with him. From April 9 to May 3, Ashino took part in the 2021 Champion Carnival finishing the tournament with a record of five wins and five losses, failling to win the tournament. In August, Ashino made it to the finals of the 2021 Ōdō tournament, but was defeated there by his fellow Evolution stablemate Suwama. On September 7, Ashino and Suwama defeated Kento Miyahara and Yuma Aoyagi to win the World Tag Team Championship. In April 2022, Ashino took part in the 2022 Champion Carnival, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins and two losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament. Over the previous months, Ashino began falling out with Suwama. On May 14, Ashino and Suwama lost the World Tag Team Championships to Shuji Ishikawa and Kohei Sato. The following day, after an argument between Ashino and Suwama, Suwama turned on him and he was kicked out of Evolution. On May 25, after Suwama left Evolution to deffect to Voodoo Murders, Ashino stated that he wanted to take over the leadership of Evolution, alongside Tamura and Sato. However on May 29, Ashino announced that he no longer wanted to continue as part of Evolution, as he seeked to find a new path. On June 19, Ashino and Honda defeated Shuji Ishikawa and Kohei Sato to win the World Tag Team Championship. On July 18, Ashino formed a stable with Seigo Tachibana, Ryuki Honda, TAJIRI and Yusuke Kodama, following the latter's departure from Total Eclipse. On August 20, Ashino's new stable was named Gungnir of Anarchy. On October 23, Ashino and Honda lost the World Tag Team Championships to Suwama and Kono.

From April 8 and May 7, 2023, Ashino took part in the 2023 Champion Carnival, finishing the tournament with a record of five wins and two losses, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On May 7, Ashino defeated T-Hawk in the finals to win the 2023 Champion Carnival and earn a shot at the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. Three days later, however, it was announced that Ashino has suffered a ulnar fracture on his left arm and therefore his Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship match against Yuji Nagata on May 29 was cancelled has been pulled from the show. He made his return from injury on December 31.

On January 2, 2024, Ashino declared that he wanted to win the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. That he belongs to All Japan and he wanted to show what it means to be part of Oudou (Royal Road) and not that of an outsider who is proclaiming Toukon (Fighting Spirit). The following day, Ashino challenged reigning champion Katsuhiko Nakajima to a title match, stating that he wanted to banish toukon style from the oudou style of All Japan Pro-Wrestling.

## Personal life

Besides wrestling, Ashino is a fan of the English soccer team Arsenal. Ashino is the best friend of fellow wrestler Seigo Tachibana, who also worked for Wrestle-1 and also works for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW).

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ Ankle lock
	+ Reverse cross armbreaker
	+ *T-Bone Suplex* (Delayed exploder suplex powerslam)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Boston crab
	+ Cross-legged stepover toehold facelock
	+ Diving clothesline
	+ Dragon screw leg whip
	+ Missile dropkick
	+ Multiple uppercut variations
		- Discus European
		- European
		- Pop-up flapjack transitioned into a European
		- Running European to a kneeling or seated opponent
	+ Multiple suplex variations
		- Belly to belly
		- Bridging or release German
		- Exploder
		- Gutwrench
		- Triple Rolling German
	+ Single-leg Boston crab
	+ *Stretch Muffler* (Over the shoulder single-leg Boston crab)
	+ Uppercut
* **Nicknames**
	+ **"Master of Suplex"**
* **Entrance themes**
	+ **"Fuel"** by Metallica

## Championships and Acomplishments

* **All Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Suwama (1) and Ryuki Honda (1)
	+ Champion Carnival (2023)
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ PWI ranked him #**299** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
	+ PWI ranked him #**216** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2021
* **Wrestle-1**
	+ Wrestle-1 Championship (2 times)
	+ Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kuma Arashi (1) and Yusuke Kodama (1)
	+ UWA World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Yusuke Kodama and Seigo Tachibana
	+ Wrestle-1 Grand Prix (2018)
	+ Best Wrestler Award (2017)
	+ Best Bout Award (2017) vs. Jiro Kuroshio on September 2

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 W-1 Official Website .
2. ↑ W-1 10.9後楽園大会　ファン感謝デー／W武藤vs.征矢＆スギちゃんのF-1初代王者決定戦、new Wild order vs.JacketsのUWA6人タッグ王座決定戦  (in Japanese). *Battle News* (2015-10-09). Retrieved on 2015-10-09.
3. ↑ W-1 10.9後楽園大会　ファン感謝デー／W武藤vs.征矢＆スギちゃんのF-1初代王者決定戦、new Wild order vs.JacketsのUWA6人タッグ王座決定戦  (in Japanese). *Battle News* (2015-10-09). Retrieved on 2015-10-09.
4. ↑ TriggeR Source 3  (in Japanese). *Sports Navi*. Wrestle-1 (2015-10-24). Retrieved on 2015-10-24.
5. ↑ TriggeR Source 5  (in Japanese). *Sports Navi*. Puroresu Spirit (2015-10-31). Retrieved on 2015-10-31.
6. ↑ TriggeR Source 6  (in Japanese). *Sports Navi*. Puroresu Spirit (2015-11-03). Retrieved on 2015-11-03.
7. ↑ *ja:6･8　Wrestle-1後楽園ホール大会　【W-1王座】Kaivs芦野　【W-1タッグ】火野＆Kazumavs中之上＆岡林　【UWA6人タッグ】Tajiri＆カズ＆稔vs河野＆Yasshi＆村瀬　【クルーザーディビジョン】鼓太郎vsAkira* (in Japanese). *Battle News* (2016-06-09). Retrieved on 2016-06-09.
8. ↑ *ja:Wrestle-1王者KaiがV1* (in Japanese). *Daily Sports Online*. Kobe Shimbun (2016-06-09). Retrieved on 2016-06-09.
9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `WorldTag`
10. ↑ Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017 . *The Internet Wrestling Database*. Retrieved on 2017-09-08.
11. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `AshinoW1`