| Masahiro Chono |
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| Masahiro Chono
Height: 6'1" Weight: 237 lbs. Hometown: Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan (born in Seattle, Washington) Pro debut: October 5, 1984 Finishing move: STF - Step-over Toe-hold Facelock, Shining Kenka Kick (Single leg running front dropkick to the head of a kneeling opponent), FTS (Rotated step-over toe-hold sleeper) Career highlights: NWA Central States TV Champion, WWA Heavyweight Champion, CWF Tag Team Champion (w/Mike Davis), AGPW North American Tag Team Champion (w/Bob Brown), IWGP World Tag Team Champion (7), NWA World Heavyweight Champion, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, HCW Kamehameha Heritage Champion Trained by: Stu Hart, Lou Thesz Ch?no debuted in 1984 against Keiji Mutoh at an event in Saitama, Japan. He soon came to the United States and wrestled in the Kansas City and Alabama areas. He primarily wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), but he had also made appearances for the now defunct World Championship Wrestling as a member of the nWo. Chono, called "Mister Black Jack" when he first started as a heel, is one of the top heels in Japanese wrestling history. Originally a clean cut face during his NWA title reign, he turned heel beginning in 1995. His team with Hiroyoshi Tenzan was called "Team Wolf" and it was the core for the formation of the stables nWo Japan in NJPW when the nWo was huge in WCW, and its successor stable, Team 2000 which eventually was restructured again. In a match against WCW's Bill Goldberg, Chono supposedly "shot the match" (actually hurting the opponent) and dislocated his shoulder. Given Goldberg's temperament and abuse of other wrestlers, it would stand to reason his actions and personality would conflict with NJPW employees seeing as how Japanese pro-wrestling puts more emphasis on the match instead of the gimmick. Upon returning to Japan, Chono rejoined NJPW, where he achieved much success. He won the IWGP Tag Team Titles on six occasions and also won the very prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Title. In 2002, he won his fourth G-1 Climax tournament. In early 2004, Chono became the leader of the Black New Japan stable, which was the most dominating heel stable in NJPW until it was disbanded by Riki Choshu. As a reaction to this, Chono now leads an "Anti-Choshu Army" with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Black Strong Machine. Chono recently won the 2005 G-1 Climax tournament, thus having achieved a record-setting five G-1 victories — a fact that overshadows his only IWGP Heavyweight Title reign. On October 30, 2005, Masahiro Chono and Tenzan defeated the team of Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi to win their fifth IWGP Tag Team Championship. The team went on to rename themselves ChoTen, a portmanteau of the members' names. |