How Did They Get Here: YOSHI-HASHI
As the years of Pro Wrestling go on, new faces emerge and become stars. Some go on to become the face of a company like Kazuchika Okada. Some are always in the main event scene, like Tetsuya Naito. Others are always in the midcard flirting with the main eventers, like Tomohiro Ishii. There are even others that will always be in the Junior Heavyweight ranks for their entire career, like Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask. If you couldn’t tell by that intro, we are talking about a New Japan Pro Wrestling wrestler. With the G1 Climax coming up in a few weeks here, I had two options. One was to do one of these for every single wrestler in the tournament, or to do How Did They Get Here about the two wrestlers who were the biggest, for lack of a better term, snubs of the tournament. I decided to do the latter, so let’s start with YOSHI-HASHI.
I am one of the people that think that YOSHI-HASHI is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the wrestling world. He has the ability in the ring, and has faced off with some of the biggest names in the wrestling world, so he has the experience too. It always seemed like there was just something keeping him lower on the card. Whether it was the Okada vs Tanahashi feud, the rise of Kenny Omega, the rebirth of Tetsuya Naito, the emergence of Switchblade Jay White and everything in between. YOSHI-HASHI just kept getting pushed further and further to the back of the line. But recently, it seems that there has been a big wave of momentum for YOSHI-HASHI this year since returning from injury. Just how did YOSHI-HASHI get to this point in his career? Let’s take a look, shall we?
I am one of the people that think that YOSHI-HASHI is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the wrestling world. He has the ability in the ring, and has faced off with some of the biggest names in the wrestling world, so he has the experience too. It always seemed like there was just something keeping him lower on the card. Whether it was the Okada vs Tanahashi feud, the rise of Kenny Omega, the rebirth of Tetsuya Naito, the emergence of Switchblade Jay White and everything in between. YOSHI-HASHI just kept getting pushed further and further to the back of the line. But recently, it seems that there has been a big wave of momentum for YOSHI-HASHI this year since returning from injury. Just how did YOSHI-HASHI get to this point in his career? Let’s take a look, shall we?
YOSHI-HASHI attempted to enter the New Japan Dojo in 2005, but was unable to pass the entrance exam. It took him three attempts, but he was able to get in the third time he attempted the exam. He made his in ring debut on July 6th, 2008 going by his real name of Nobuo Yoshihashi in a dark match against Tetsuya Naito in Kourakuen Hall, unable to pick up the win. Yoshihashi would not make his main card debut until July 13th, when he lost to Kazuchika Okada. The first win of Yoshihashi’s career came on July 21st, when he teamed with Taichi Ishikari (better known nowadays as Taichi) and Tiger Mask to defeat Kazuchika Okada and No Limit (Tetsuya Naito & Yujiro Takahashi) on the New Japan Soul tour. One of the more interesting matches in Yoshihashi’s first year happened on September 8th, when he teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask at New Japan Truth tour, in a losing effort against Great Bash Heel (Gedo & Jado) and Low Ki. Yoshihashi also picked up a win when he and Okada went to Riki Pro Wrestling for their Lock Up event, where they beat Kuniyoshi Wada and Yusaku Obata.
2009 and 2010 brought more of the same for Yoshihashi, as he was still a young lion and learning how to be a pro wrestler. Yoshihashi picked up a win on February 12th, 2009, when he teamed up with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yuji Nagata, two of the best wrestlers in New Japan’s history, to defeat Okada and RISE (Hirooki Goto and Shinsuke Nakamura) during the New Japan ISM tour. In just his first two years as a pro wrestler, Yoshihashi had teamed with Liger, Tiger Mask, Tanahashi and Nagata. Those four are legends in the modern day, and Yoshihashi was probably able to learn a lot from them about how to become a pro wrestler. Yoshihashi was also a part of an eight man tag team match during the New Japan Cup tour, that featured stars of the future for NJPW, as well as some well established names in the wrestling world. Yoshihashi teamed with Taichi Ishikari, Koji Janemoto and Jushin Liger in a losing effort against Okada, Prince Devitt (now known as Finn Balor), Ryusuke Taguch and Tiger Mask. In December of 2009, Kanemoto and Yoshihashi defeated the team called World Class Tag Team (Gedo & Jado) during the New Japan Alive tour to earn an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match on December 4th. They would come up short in their challenge for the titles as they lost to Apollo 55 (Devitt & Taguchi). As 2010 started and rolled on, Yoshihashi started winning more matches. During the New Japan Anniversary Show tour on March 7th, Yoshihashi teamed up with Hirooki Goto and Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of the show defeating the CHAOS team comprised of Gedo, Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano. Yoshihashi also got a win over Kyosuke Mikami (now known as El Desperado) on March 14th. With the wins piling up and the seen improvement in Yoshihashi, he started to get some breaks. He teamed up with Liger in the Super J Cup Tag Team Tournament, but fell in the first round to Kowloon (Fujita Hayato & Taro Nohashi). Despite the loss, Yoshihashi was able to earn a spot in the Best of the Super Juniors 17 tournament. Yoshihashi won his first match against AKIRA, but fell to Hayato, Tama Tonga, Taiji Ishimori, old tag partner Kanemoto, Kenny Omega and Taguchi to finish the tournament with 2 points. Yoshihashi had a match on June 13th where he teamed with Liger in a losing effort against Davy Richards and La Sombra (now known as Andrade). This was his last match for New Japan for a while, as it was time for him to go on excursion.
Yoshihashi, now going by just Yoshihashi instead of Nobuo Yoshihashi, debuted in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) on June 18th, 2010 as a part of a six man 2 out of 3 falls match where he teamed with Okumura and Taichi in a losing effort against El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno), La Máscara and Maximo at CMLL Super Viernes. Most of Yoshihashi’s matches for CMLL were six man 2 out of 3 fall matches. He would wrestle some very big names in CMLL, Blue Panther, Toscano, Rush, Dragon Lee, Nergro Cassas and Volador Jr. Still not out of the young lion category, Yoshihashi would always flip flop between wins and losses on his excursion. Yoshihashi’s first real feud was against Rush, which culminated in a match at CMLL Lunes Arena Puebla show in a Lucha de Apuestas match, or a best match. Traditionally in Mexico, these matches are even more important than championship matches and are usually a mask vs mask stipulation, but since Yoshihashi and Rush don’t compete under masks, so they put their hair on the line, where Rush was victorious.
Yoshihashi, now going by just Yoshihashi instead of Nobuo Yoshihashi, debuted in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) on June 18th, 2010 as a part of a six man 2 out of 3 falls match where he teamed with Okumura and Taichi in a losing effort against El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno), La Máscara and Maximo at CMLL Super Viernes. Most of Yoshihashi’s matches for CMLL were six man 2 out of 3 fall matches. He would wrestle some very big names in CMLL, Blue Panther, Toscano, Rush, Dragon Lee, Nergro Cassas and Volador Jr. Still not out of the young lion category, Yoshihashi would always flip flop between wins and losses on his excursion. Yoshihashi’s first real feud was against Rush, which culminated in a match at CMLL Lunes Arena Puebla show in a Lucha de Apuestas match, or a best match. Traditionally in Mexico, these matches are even more important than championship matches and are usually a mask vs mask stipulation, but since Yoshihashi and Rush don’t compete under masks, so they put their hair on the line, where Rush was victorious.
In late 2011, it was revealed that Yoshihashi would be returning under the name YOSHI-HASHI, and was joining the CHAOS stable as a heel wrestler. His return match was at Wrestle Kingdom VI against someone that was a long time nemesis of his in the early part of his career, Kazuchika Okada. He fell to the future Rainmaker, and also fell to La Sombra in the first round of the New Japan Cup. YOSHI-HASHI rebounded and was on the winning team with CHAOS teammates Jado, Ishii and Rocky Romero at Wrestling Dontaku and Dominion. YOSHI-HASHI was then entered into the NEVER Openweight Championship Tournament to crown the first champion. He beat Ryuichi Sekine in the first round, but fell to CHAOS stablemate Tomohiro Ishii in the quarterfinals. He then joined Kazuchika Okada in the World Tag League under the team name Chaos Ride the Lightning. They scored victories over Captain New Japan & Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue, and Minoru Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo to finish at 6 points and tied for second in the block.
In 2013, YOSHI-HASHI took a bit of a step back. He was on the dark matches of the big shows, but he was able to wrestle some bigger matches in that year. He wrestled Rush at one of the Fantastica Mania shows but came up short. It was also at this time that CHAOS became more of a wishy washy stable with matches against Suzuki-Gun, Bullet Club, and KUSHIDA and friends. On October 5th, CHAOS made the trip over to Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he and Shinsuke Nakamura were defeated by the BRAVE stable with Mohammed Yone & Naomichi Marifuiji. Chaos Ride the Lightning was back for World Tag League but weren’t able to replicate the success that they found last year as they were only able to score 4 points by getting wins over Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano and La Sombra & Tetsuya Naito.
If you would’ve thought that YOSHI-HASHI had a down 2013, his 2014 started off just as bad. He missed Wrestle Kingdom, which is the biggest show of New Japan’s calendar year. However he was able to get on a lot of the other shows. He teamed with Okada in a match against Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata at New Beginnings in Hiroshima, where they lost. YOSHI-HASHI did also get a one on one match against Shibata at New Beginnings in Osaka, but also came up short. After those matches, he was in a lot of the multiman matches in the CHAOS vs Bullet Club War in tag matches where he teamed with Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero. The biggest win of YOSHI-HASHI’s career at that point came on September 5th, where he led the CHAOS team to victory in a ten-man elimination tag team match over Bullet Club. The win earned YOSHI-HASHI not just one, but two championship matches. At Destruction in Kobe, YOSHI-HASHI and Kazuchika Okada challenged Doc (Luke) Gallows and Karl Anderson for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, but were unsuccessful. Two days later at Destruction in Okayama, YOSHI-HASHI was again unsuccessful in taking the NEVER Openweight Championship from Yujiro Takahashi. After unsuccessfully challenging for those championships, Chaos Ride The Lightning returned to World Tag League and had their most successful run in the tournament. They finished tied for second at 8 points.
YOSHI-HASHI had a better 2015 start as he was on the Wrestle Kingdom card, but was unable to win the New Japan Rumble as Yuji Nagata won. YOSHI-HASHI entered the New Japan Cup again, but once again failed to get out of the first round as Yujiro Takahashi knocked him out. One of the things that became apparent as YOSHI-HASHI’s career continued was that he was a very streaky wrestler. He was always would look good in the ring but he could never seem to put it together in the singles competition. Chaos Ride the Lightning entered the World Tag League for the fourth time, and again tied for second in the block. It seemed like that no matter what, YOSHI-HASHI couldn’t get that break that a wrestler needed to show the world just what he could do. He did get that break in 2016.
If you would’ve thought that YOSHI-HASHI had a down 2013, his 2014 started off just as bad. He missed Wrestle Kingdom, which is the biggest show of New Japan’s calendar year. However he was able to get on a lot of the other shows. He teamed with Okada in a match against Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata at New Beginnings in Hiroshima, where they lost. YOSHI-HASHI did also get a one on one match against Shibata at New Beginnings in Osaka, but also came up short. After those matches, he was in a lot of the multiman matches in the CHAOS vs Bullet Club War in tag matches where he teamed with Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero. The biggest win of YOSHI-HASHI’s career at that point came on September 5th, where he led the CHAOS team to victory in a ten-man elimination tag team match over Bullet Club. The win earned YOSHI-HASHI not just one, but two championship matches. At Destruction in Kobe, YOSHI-HASHI and Kazuchika Okada challenged Doc (Luke) Gallows and Karl Anderson for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, but were unsuccessful. Two days later at Destruction in Okayama, YOSHI-HASHI was again unsuccessful in taking the NEVER Openweight Championship from Yujiro Takahashi. After unsuccessfully challenging for those championships, Chaos Ride The Lightning returned to World Tag League and had their most successful run in the tournament. They finished tied for second at 8 points.
YOSHI-HASHI had a better 2015 start as he was on the Wrestle Kingdom card, but was unable to win the New Japan Rumble as Yuji Nagata won. YOSHI-HASHI entered the New Japan Cup again, but once again failed to get out of the first round as Yujiro Takahashi knocked him out. One of the things that became apparent as YOSHI-HASHI’s career continued was that he was a very streaky wrestler. He was always would look good in the ring but he could never seem to put it together in the singles competition. Chaos Ride the Lightning entered the World Tag League for the fourth time, and again tied for second in the block. It seemed like that no matter what, YOSHI-HASHI couldn’t get that break that a wrestler needed to show the world just what he could do. He did get that break in 2016.
The year started with YOSHI-HASHI in the New Japan Rumble at Wrestle Kingdom, which was won by Jado. He lost once again in the New Japan Cup first round, this time to Tetsuya Naito. What was very interesting after the tournament, YOSHI-HASHI entered into a feud with NJPW newcomer SANADA. This was not the first time that these two had met, as they were both at the same tryout in 2005. The only difference was that YOSHI-HASHI kept trying to get into the New Japan Dojo while SANADA went to All Japan Pro Wrestling. At Dominion that year, YOSHI-HASHI pulled an upset when he made SANADA tap out in a tag team match where he teamed with Tomohiro Ishii as SANADA teamed with BUSHI. After the win, YOSHI-HASHI entered into the G1 Climax tournament. YOSHI-HASHI was able to get 6 points after picking up wins over EVIL, Katsuhiko Nakajima, and someone very important in that years tournament, the tournament winner Kenny Omega. In tournaments like this, if someone beats a champion then they get a championship match after the tournament. The same goes if you beat the eventual winner of the tournament, and YOSHI-HASHI got that opportunity at Destruction in Hiroshima, but was unable to take the championship contract from Omega. This wasn’t the only opportunity that YOSHI-HASHI was going to get this year. He and Kazuchika Okada went to Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Autumn Navigation to challenge for the GHC Tag Team Championships that were held by Naomichi Marufuji and Toru Yano. Marufuji and Yano were able to retain their championships. At Power Struggle, YOSHI-HASHI got yet another Tag Team Championship match, this time it was the IWGP Heavyweight Tag titles and challenged with Tomohiro Ishii, but they were unable to win the titles from the Guerrillas of Destiny, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. In the World Tag League, YOSHI-HASHI once again formed Chaos Ride the Lightning, but still finished second in the block.
After a great 2016, YOSHI-HASHI started 2017 as a part of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship gauntlet match with Jado and Will Ospreay, but couldn’t win the titles at Wrestle Kingdom 11. But, the very next night, YOSHI-HASHI pinned the Ring of Honor World Champion Adam Cole in a six man tag team match. This put him in line for a ROH World Championship shot and he got that match during the Honor Rising tour, but was unable to win the title from him. YOSHI-HASHI once again entered the New Japan Cup, but once again had a first round exit, this time at the hands of SANADA. Before entering his second G1, YOSHI-HASHI got two championship matches. He, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano were unable to win the 6-man tag titles fro BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA as a part of a gauntlet match at Dominion. He also got a NEVER Openweight Championship opporitunity during the Kizuna Road tour, but was once again unable to win the title from Minoru Suzuki. YOSHI-HASHI then entered the G1 Climax, but was only able to score 4 points picking up wins over Bad Luck Fale and Yuji Nagata. After the tournament. YOSHI-HASHI with Toru Yano and Will Ospreay challenged for and were unable to win the ROH 6-Man Tag Team Titles during the Global Wars from Cody, Marty Scurll and Kenny Omega. YOSHI-HASHI also got another chance at winning his first pro wrestling championship, when he challenged for Kenny Omega’s IWGP United States Championship on the same tour, but was yet again unable to win the title. In the 2017 World Tag League, YOSHI-HASHI entered the tournament, not with Kazuchika Okada, but with Hirooki Goto. Even with a new partner, they still finished tied for second in the block. They were able to enter the final day of the tournament tied for the block lead, and went into the main event as one of the final two teams with the chance to win the block. However, they were unable to beat EVIL and SANADA in the main event of the final day.
After a strong finish to 2017, YOSHI-HASHI fell back into the slump that YOSHI-HASHI has become known for in 2018. He fell in the first round of the New Japan Cup for the fifth straight time that he entered the tournament, to Kota Ibushi. He did rebound during the NJPW Road and Best of the Super Juniors where he only lost two matches on the tour. YOSHI-HASHI entered his third G1, but only got six points again. He beat Michael Elgin, Bad Luck Fale and Hangman Page. After the tournament, YOSHI-HASHI started to get more and more exposure and was on the winning side of multiman tag team matches with his CHAOS stablemates. But during the Destruction in Kobe event, YOSHI-HASHI suffered a head and shoulder injury when trying to make the save on his stablemate and friend Kazuchika Okada, during the Jay White heel turn to join Bullet Club. He was sidelined until January 5th, 2019.
Once he returned, it seemed to be the same old YOSHI-HASHI that we know. He was featured in many of the multiman matches for CHAOS as they once again faced off against Bullet Club. But when we got to the New Japan Cup, something seemed to click, as YOSHI-HASHI was able to beat Manabu Nakanishi in the first round to advance out of the first round of the tournament. He then beat Chase Owens in the second round before falling to Tomohiro Ishii in the quarterfinals. Since the tournament, YOSHI-HASHI then entered into a feud with Suzuki-Gun along with the rest of CHAOS. The focus of this feud for YOSHI-HASHI was Zack Sabre Jr. He pinned ZSJ in a tag team match at Dominion when he was teaming with Jushin Thunder Liger, while ZSJ was teaming with Minoru Suzuki. This has lead YOSHI-HASHI to challenge ZSJ for his RevPro British Heavyweight Championship, and that match will happen on Tuesday at the final night of the Kizuna Road tour. This match is not only for Sabre’s title, but also his G1 Climax tournament spot.
Once he returned, it seemed to be the same old YOSHI-HASHI that we know. He was featured in many of the multiman matches for CHAOS as they once again faced off against Bullet Club. But when we got to the New Japan Cup, something seemed to click, as YOSHI-HASHI was able to beat Manabu Nakanishi in the first round to advance out of the first round of the tournament. He then beat Chase Owens in the second round before falling to Tomohiro Ishii in the quarterfinals. Since the tournament, YOSHI-HASHI then entered into a feud with Suzuki-Gun along with the rest of CHAOS. The focus of this feud for YOSHI-HASHI was Zack Sabre Jr. He pinned ZSJ in a tag team match at Dominion when he was teaming with Jushin Thunder Liger, while ZSJ was teaming with Minoru Suzuki. This has lead YOSHI-HASHI to challenge ZSJ for his RevPro British Heavyweight Championship, and that match will happen on Tuesday at the final night of the Kizuna Road tour. This match is not only for Sabre’s title, but also his G1 Climax tournament spot.
As the biggest night of his career is approaching on Tuesday June 25th, not only could YOSHI-HASHI finally win his first championship, but he can also wrestle his way into the biggest tournament in New Japan, the G1 Climax. It seems that we are finally seeing just what YOSHI-HASHI can do in the ring, as he is getting the chance to show just what he can really do in the ring. Even if he is unsuccessful in winning the championship and G1 spot from Zack Sabre Jr., YOSHI-HASHI has shown fantastic improvements in the ring. If he enters World Tag League this year, possibly with Hirooki Goto, they could be an early favorite to win their block at least.
