Master Wato

Wato in May 2023

###

Ikeda, Osaka, Japan

**Hirai Kawato** (川人拓来, *Kawato Hirai*, born March 13, 1997) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name **Master Wato** (マスター・ワト, *Masutā Wato*), where he is a former one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2023 Best of the Super Juniors. Kawato made his debut for the promotion on January 1, 2016, and worked as a "Young Lion" over the following two years.

In January 2018, Kawato was sent to the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion to further his wrestling training and gain international experience, a tradition with NJPW "Young Lions", which he was known under the ring name **Kawato-San**. In June 2019, he won his first professional wrestling championship, the CMLL World Lightweight Championship. After leaving CMLL, Kawato returned to NJPW on July 2020, once again working under the ring name "Master Wato".

## Professional wrestling career

### New Japan Pro Wrestling (2016–2018)

Kawato started wrestling for NJPW in 2016 and has been with the company since then. He started by training as a "young lion" in NJPW's dojo, becoming a part of their Junior heavyweight division. Kawato has competed in over sixty matches for NJPW and competes against fellow junior heavyweights such as David Finlay and Gedo.

On January 3, 2016, Kawato made his debut match against Yohei Komatsu in a losing effort. In October, Kawato took part in the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, teaming with KUSHIDA. On October 23, the two were eliminated from the tournament, after losing to Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) in the first round of the tournament. From October 12 to December 21, Kawato took part in the 2017 Young Lion Cup, where he finished the tournament with a record of four wins and one loss, failing to win the tournament. NJPW often sends their "Young Lions" on a learning excursion outside Japan, be it the United States of America, Europe, or Mexico, and in January 2019 it was Kawato's turn, after Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) announced on January 9, that Kawato would begin his excursion with them at the end of the month, after taking part in New Japan's Fantastica Mania events. During the Fantastica Mania tour, Kawato lost all of his matches after being pinned or submitted by his opponents. In his send-off match, he teamed with Mexican legend Atlantis in a losing effort against Barbaro Cavernario and Gedo.

### Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2018–2020)

After Fantastica Mania, Kawato made his in CMLL on February 2, 2018, teaming with Misterioso Jr. and Virus in a losing effort against Audaz, Pegasso, and Rey Cometa. During his stay in Mexico, he was given a new wrestling persona, a "heel" or *rudo* character called Kawato-San. Much like the other old rookies before him, Kawato was teamed up with CMLL's resident Japanese worker Okumura as part of *Eje del Mal* ("Axis of Evil"), primarily working on the lower half of the show and often in six-man tag team matches. On June 30, 2019, Kawato-San defeated Audaz to win his first professional wrestling title, the CMLL World Lightweight Championship. In the following month, Kawato suffered a knee injury, leading him to be sidelined for four months, leading him to be stripped of the CMLL World Lightweight Championship due to the injury. On November 6, 2019, it was announced that Kawato-San had returned to Mexico after recovering from his knee injury. Three days later, Kawato made his in-ring return teaming with El Felino and Rey Bucanero in a losing effort against Atlantis Jr., Ángel de Oro, and Niebla Roja.

Starting in late October, Kawato San and Dulce Gardenia became involved in a storyline feud in CMLL, with the two facing off in six-man tag team matches throughout November and December. Kawato and Gardenia both agreed to "bet" their hair. The *Lucha de Apuestas* match was the main event of the 2020 *Sin Piedad* ("No Mercy") CMLL show held on January 1, 2020. Gardenia won the match two-falls-to-one, leading Kawato San to be forced to shave all his hair off. Kawato San was one of 12 wrestlers competing in the 2020 *Reyes del Aire* ("Kings of the air") tournament but was the sixth wrestler eliminate, after being pinned by Rey Cometa.

### Return to NJPW (2020–present)

On June 15, 2020, NJPW began airing a pre-taped vignette promoting the debut of the "Way to the GrandMaster". On July 3, during the 2020 New Japan Cup semifinals, Kawato made his NJPW return under the ring name **Master Wato**, the mysterious "Way to the GrandMaster", who had been teased since June. He would make a formal appearance at the event introducing himself, before being attacked by DOUKI. On July 11, in his return match, Wato defeated DOUKI. Afterwards, Wato was attacked by DOUKI's Suzuki-gun stablemate Yoshinobu Kanemaru, until Hiroyoshi Tenzan made the save. Afterwards, Wato began feuding with Kanemaru throughout the Summer Struggle tour, where on August 29, at Summer Struggle in Jingu, Wato faced Kanemaru in a losing effort. From November 15 until December 6, Wato took part in the 2020 Best of the Super Juniors, finishing the tournament with a record of four wins and five losses, failling advance to the finals of the tournament.

On December 21 at *Road to Tokyo Dome* tour, Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi teamed with Hiroyoshi Tenzan against Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) in a winning effort, after Wato pinned Kanemaru. Afterwards, Wato and Taguchi challenged Desperado and Kanemaru to a title match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. As part of their challenged Wato and Taguchi formed a team dubbing themselves as "One or Eight". On January 5, 2021 at Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome, Wato and Taguchi unsucessfully challenged Desperado and Kanemaru for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. In August, Wato and Taguchi took part in the 2021 Super Jr. Tag League, failling to win the tournament, after a record of three wins and two losses. From November 13 until December 11, Wato took part in the 2021 Best of the Super Juniors, finishing the tournament with a record of four wins and seven losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament.

On February 19, 2022, Wato and Taguchi defeated Flying Tiger (Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. In March, Wato took part in the 2022 New Japan Cup, losing in the second round to Kazuchika Okada. In May, Wato took part in the 2022 Best of the Super Juniors, finishing the tournament with a record of four wins and five losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament. On June 20, Wato and Taguchi lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to United Empire's Francesco Akira and TJP.

On October 10, 2022, at Declaration of Power, Wato faced IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori, after KUSHIDA being pulled out of the match due to suffering a skin disease health issue. Wato defeated Ishimori to score an upset win. Following the match, Wato went to challenged Ishimori to a title match, before Hiromu Takahashi interrupted him. Takahashi himself was also interrupted by El Desperado, who also came out and poke him in eyes. While the three continued arguing, Ishimori then declared that he would take on all three challengers, and challenged them to a four-way title match at Wrestle Kingdom 17. On November 5 at Battle Autumn, Ishimori teamed with Takahashi to face Desperado and Wato. After Takahashi had attacked Ishimori during the match, Ishimori turned on him, before putting Wato on top of Takahashi to give the win for Desperado and Wato. On January 4, 2023, Wato unsuccessfully challenged for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion after being pinned by the eventual winner Hiromu Takahashi.

In May, Wato took part in the 2023 Best of the Super Juniors, finishing the tournament with a record of seven wins and two losses, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On May 26, Wato defeated Mike Bailey and then on May 28 Titán, in the semifinals and finals, respectively, to win the 2023 Best of the Super Juniors. At 26 years old, Wato becamne the youngest Japanese wrestler to win the tournament. Following the win, Wato was granted another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by Hiromu Takahashi on June 4 at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall. In August, Wato, Shota Umino and Yuji Nagata began feuding with Strong Style's El Desperado, Ren Narita and Minoru Suzuki, following a brawl between both sides, which steemed from a mutal animosity between them, with Desperado stating that he "hated everything about" Wato. This led to a Best of Seven Series, during the *Road to Destruction* tour, with the last match of the series culminating at Destruction in Ryogoku, with the first match taking place on September 10, which ended in a draw. Over the course of the *Road to Destruction* tour, Strong Style were leading the Best of Seven Series, but on October 9 at Destruction in Ryogoku, Wato, Umino and Nagata defeated Strong Style, leaving the Best of Seven Series, to end in a draw, with three victories between the two sides. From October 21 to November 2, Wato and Desperado took part in the 2023 Super Jr. Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record six wins and three losses, but were left behind them in the final standings due to losing to Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru on the final day.

In January 2024, Wato began feuding with House of Torture, with Wato being scheduled to face Sho in a match on January 23. However, hours before the match, Wato torn his left ACL, leading the match to be cancelled. He would addres the public himself, appearing on crutches to declare that the injury happened during The New Beginning in Nagoya on January 20 and would require surgery, before being attacked by Sho. Two days later, NJPW announced that Wato would be sidelined for two months, missing the date for the rest of the month and February, including the The New Beginning series of events and the *Fantastica Mania*.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ Diving double foot stomp
	+ *La Caratera* (Spinning headscissors takedown twisted into a Japanese leg roll clutch)
	+ *RPP* (Corkscrew senton bomb) – 2020–present
	+ *Recientemente* (Side gutwrench driver into a crucifix pin)
	+ *Recientemente II* (Half-nelson side gutwrench driver into a crucifix pin)
	+ *TTD – Tenzan Tombstone Driver* (Kneeling cradle reverse piledriver) – 2020–present, adopted from Hiroyoshi Tenzan
	+ *Tsutenkaku German* (Bridging high-angle German suplex)
	+ *Vendaval* (Headscissors crucifix choke) - 2022-present
* **Signature moves**
	+ *Anaconda Vice* – 2020–present, adopted from Hiroyoshi Tenzan
	+ Boston crab
	+ Brainbuster
	+ German suplex
	+ *La Cavernaria* (Seated surfboard)
	+ Lariat
	+ Lifting inverted DDT
	+ Multiple chop variations
		- Brain
		- Knife-edge
	+ Multiple kick variations
		- Drop
		- *Kaiten Enzuigiri* (Jumping corkscrew roundhouse) – adopted from Prince Devitt
		- Missile
		- Rolling savate
		- Roundhouse, sometimes to the back of a kneeling opponent's head
		- Shoot
	+ Running jackknife pin
	+ Reverse powerbomb
	+ Rolling elbow
	+ *Romero Special* (Surfboard)
	+ Single leg Boston crab
	+ Slingshot corkscrew plancha
	+ Spinebuster
	+ Spinning backfist
	+ Springboard hurricanrana
	+ Sunset flip powerbomb
	+ Suicide somersault senton
	+ Surfboard
	+ Tilt-a-whirl headscissors
* **Managers**
	+ Hiroyoshi Tenzan
* **Nicknames**
	+ "Mirai no Kaitaku-sha" (Japanese for the "Future Pioneer")
	+ **"Way to the GrandMaster"**
* **Entrance themes**
	+ **"Way to the GrandMaster"** by Yonosuke Kitamura

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre**
	+ CMLL World Lightweight Championship (1 time)
* **New Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ryusuke Taguchi
	+ Best of the Super Juniors (2023)
* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ PWI ranked him #**478** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017

## References

1. ↑ Yohei Komatsu vs. Hirai Kawato (NJPW – 01/03/16)  (in en-US).
2. ↑ Lion's Gate Project10  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2017-12-21.
3. ↑ KAWATO ARRIBARÁ A MÉXICO Es de los jóvenes talentos @njpw1972 que tendrá participación en esta Fantasticamanía 2018 y que arribará a México a finales de este mes de enero para participar activamente en el CMLL  (in Spanish). Retrieved on 2018-01-09.
4. ↑ Lion's Gate Project8  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling*.
5. ↑ Lion's Gate Project9  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling*.
6. ↑ Charlton, Chris 2017-10-23. Milano references Kawato's kick is a homage to Devitt (the Dreamcast) #njpst  (in en).
7. ↑ Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017 . *The Internet Wrestling Database*. Retrieved on 2017-09-08.