Masamune

###

Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

**Masamune** (政宗, *Masamune*) is a masked Japanese professional wrestler. He currently works for Dotonbori Pro Wrestling and has also worked for Kaientai Dojo and Osaka Pro Wrestling in Japan. For several years he formed a tag team with Japanese wrestler Hideyoshi and was also part of a group known as Bad Force.

## Professional wrestling career

The masked wrestler known as Masamune made his professional wrestling debut in Mexico in April 1999, after being trained by Mexican *Luchador* Lizmark. Initially he wrestled under the ring names Dragon Furia or Furia del Dragon ("Dragon Fury" or "Fury of the Dragon") but later adopted the ring name Masamune. The Masamune character was inspired by Japanese Daimyo feudal lord Date Masamune, which in part is reflected in his mask, which has what looks like an eye patch over one eye just like Date Masamune only had one eye. Due to his mask design Masamune earned the nickname *dokuganryū* (the "one-eyed dragon"), just like the original Masamune.

After initially working as a freelancer, by 2005, Masamune had made Osaka Pro Wrestling his home promotion, teaming with Hideyoshi, another masked wrestler with a "samurai" ring character, collectively known as Sengoku, after the Sengoku period in Japan. The team's first notable achievement came in July 2005, where they competed in the first ever Osaka Tag Festival. In the first round Sengoku defeated Kuishinbo Kamen and Ebessan II, in the semi-finals they defeated Tsubasa and Billyken Kid and finally the team of Super Delfin and Tigers Mask to win the entire tournament. The tournament victory also meant that Sengoku won the vacant Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship at the same time. The championship reign was ended 56 days later, when they lost to a team known as Universal Global Members (Billyken Kid and Tsubasa). On February 12, 2007, Sengoku defeated the team of Gaina and Zeus to win the Osata Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship once more. At some point in 2007, Masamune and Hideyoshi joined up with Atsushi Kotoge, Black Buffalo, Condor, Gaina, Kazushi, Zero and Zeus to form a group known as "Bad Force". On August 26, 2007, they lost the championship to Kagetora and Rasse. Sengoku competed in, and won the 2009 Osaka Tag Festival, defeating Asian Cougar and Miracle Man in the first round, Tigers Mask and Black Buffalo in the second round and Orochi and Tadasuke in the finals. Sengoku's third Osaka Tag Team Championship run began on July 18, 2009, when they defeated former "Bad Force" partners Black Buffalo and Tigers Match to win the championship. The third reign was their longest, at 208 days, until they lost the championship to Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada. On July 19, 2009, Masamune won a battle royal to win the Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Championship The title had the special stipulation that it could only be defended in battle royals, which is how Masamune lost the championship to Kanjyuro Matsuyama on March 21, 2010. Masamune began working for El Dorado Wrestling in 2010 as well, teaming with Minoru Fujita to defeat a team known as *Speed of Sounds* (Hercules Senga and Tsutomu) to win the UWA World Tag Team Championship, holding the title for 344 days until *Speed of Sounds* regained the title.

In 2013, Osaka Pro Wrestling announced that they were closing, which led to a number of wrestlers jumping to Dotonbori Pro Wrestling (DPW). By the time Osaka Pro Wrestling revealed that they had secured financial backing and was not closing, a number of wrestlers, including Masamune, had already committed to DPW. The Joker group reformed in DPW, consisting of Kuuga, Gamelas, Kazuaki Mihara and Masamune, effectively ending Sengoku after being a regular team for seven years. Masamune teamed up with former rival Billyken Kid to win the Second Dotonbori Tag King tournament when they defeated Super Sonic (Daisuke Masaoka and Rapid) to win the tournament as well as the WDW Tag Team Championhship. In April 2015, it was announced that Masamune had been selected to represent All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración promoted Lucha Libre World Cup, despite having only wrestled a few matches for AJPW. Masamune and his partners Kenzo Suzuki and Tiger Mask III were eliminated from the tournament in the first round by Team MexLeyendas (Blue Demon Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr. and El Solar).

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Raikiri* / *Kaminari Setsu* (Arm trap standing shiranui)
* **Signature moves**
	+ *Dojikiri* (Inverted facelock transitioned into a cradle)
	+ *Hebiyagura* (Sideways single leg Boston crab facelock)
	+ *Heshikiri* (Corner springboard cutter)
	+ *Honebami* (Ankle lock)
	+ Leg trap inside cradle
	+ Kimura lock
	+ *Jaro* (Side single leg Boston crab facelock)
	+ Tilt-a-whirl headscissors transitioned into a single arm DDT, sometimes floated over into a Fujiwara armbar
	+ *Zanshu* (Leg drop bulldog)
* **Nicknames**
	+ *Dokuganryū* (独眼竜; "one-eyed dragon")
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Kagen no Tsuki" by The Wild Mexicans

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Osaka Pro Wrestling**
	+ Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Championship (1 time)
	+ Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Hideyoshi
	+ Osaka Tag Festival (2005, 2009) - with Hideyoshi
* **El Dorado Wrestling / Kohaku Puroresu Gassen**
	+ UWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Minoru Fujita
* **Doutonbori Pro Wrestling**
	+ WDW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Billyken Kid
	+ Second Dotonbori Tag King Decision League (2014) – with Billyken Kid
* **Kaientai Dojo**
	+ UWA World Middlewieght Championship (1 time)
* **Pro Wrestling Zero1**
	+ NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Sugi
* **Pro Wrestling Basara**
	+ UWA World Trios Championship (1 time)  – with Billyken Kid and Tsubasa

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `JapaneseTeams`
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 政宗  (in Japanese). *Osaka Pro Wrestling*. Archived from the original on 2012-08-22. Retrieved on 2015-05-12.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Osaka Pro-Wrestling Tag Team Title . wrestling-titles.com (2014-04-20). Retrieved on 2015-04-24.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Osaka Pro-Wrestling Battle Royal Title . wrestling-titles.com (2014-04-20). Retrieved on 2015-04-24.
5. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2015-05-24. AAA Lucha Libre World Cup Results - 5/24/15 (Live results) . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2015-05-24.
6. ↑ Universal Wrestling Association World Tag Team Title . wrestling-titles.com (2015-01-24). Retrieved on 2015-04-24.
7. ↑ *ja:Zero1「謹賀新年」* (in Japanese). *Pro Wrestling Zero1*. Retrieved on 2018-01-01.

## External links

* Masamune at the Genickbrunch (in German)