Kensuke Sasaki

At 57 years old, Kensuke Sasaki has this physical status:

Kensuke Sasaki (born August 4, 1966) is a retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and the king of the now-defunct wrestling organization Diamond Ring. Sasaki is the first male to win all three of puroresu's major heavyweight titles (the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, and the GHC Heavyweight Championship), with the other being Yoshihiro Takayama.

Personal life

After announcing Kensuke Sasaki on their first date, he married Akira Hokuto on October 1, 1995. Kennosuke and Seinnosuke (born November 1998) are the two sons of the couple, as well as Seinnosuke (born March 2003).

In addition, Kensuke has a strong relationship with his protégé Katsuhiko Nakajima, whom he considers a member of the family.

Sasaki (as Power Warrior) is the only surviving Road Warrior after Hawk's death in October 2003 and Animal's death in September 2020 (excluding boss Paul Ellering).

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Professional wrestling career

In February 1986, Sasaki made his debut in Riki Choshu's Japan Pro-Wrestling, a satellite of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). He made his debut against Shinji Sasazaki in a losing fight on February 16, 1986. Sasaki became a regular in AJPW for over a year.

Following Choshu, who returned to NJPW in 1987, he defected to rival promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Sasaki worked with Osamu Matsuda and Kenichi Oya during his time with NJPW.

Sasaki embarked on a journey to North America in January 1989. He first started competing in Puerto Rico in the World Wrestling Council (WWC), where he won his first title, the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship, with Mr. Pogo twice between January 14, 1989 and 1989.

He also competed for Stu Hart's Stampe Wrestling in Canada, where he competed under the name Benkei Sasaki and was trained by Hart in 'The Dungeon'. He won the Stampede International Tag Team Championship in August 1989, defeating All Japan loyalist Sumo Hara.

Under the name Kendo Sasaki, he competed for Otto Wanz's Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) in tours of Austria and Germany.

Stampede Wrestling Alliance (CNWA), closed in December 1989, and Sasaki wrestled for the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA), until Ed Whalen was suspended for kicking Mike Lozanski too hard in March 1990.

Sasaki returned to NJPW in March 1990 and formed a famous tag team with Hiroshi Hase, with whom he would have a long-on-off tag team cooperation. They won the IWGP Tag Team Championships on November 11, 1990, defeating Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono's team. Only a month ago, fighting teams like Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto, The Dragon Bombers (Shiro Koshinaka & Takayuki Iizuka), before eventually falling to Hiro Saito & Super Strong Machine on December 26 the same year. He would win one more title with Hiroshi Hase a few months later, but the only one lasted just 15 days. The pair will serve as IWGP Tag Team Champions for two years, as well as memorable matches against the Steiner Brothers.

Two more tag championship reigns followed when Sasaki took the name "Power Warrior" and partnered with Road Warrior Hawk in late 1992. They were the heaviest of the tag team competition in New Japan as the Hell Raisers. He started wrestling regularly for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in October 1992 and continued to wrestle there on and off until December 1996.

Sasaki stopped the Power Warrior brand in 1995 (since he only revives the image on rare occasions, such as teaming with Hawk and Animal in six-man tag team matches), and began to rise in singles competition. He captured his first major title, the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, on November 13, 1995, defeating Sting at a NJPW tournament. This was the title's first title change outside of the United States. He quickly lost the championship due to questionable circumstances, but eventually lost to One Man Gang, which was later declared to be a legitimate title match.

Sasaki's meteoric ascension to superstardom in August 1997 sparked. He won the G1 Climax tournament on August 3 by defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the final. Kazuo Yamazaki won the IWGP Tag Team Championship a week later. He then gained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by defeating long-serving champion Shinya Hashimoto, winning three major awards in a one-month span. Sasaki solidified his position in the heavyweight division by defeating Both Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh in his first two title defenses, eventually defeating the Three Musketeers in three straight championship matches. He lost the title to Tatsumi Fujinami in April 1998. Shiro Koshinaka won the second IW Tag Team Championship in March 1999.

While competing with a 39 °C (102.2 °F) fever, Sasaki claimed his second IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Genichiro Tenryu. In August 2000, he defeated Manabu Nakanishi for the second time in the final, taking both of New Japan's two heavyweight singles crowns. Sasaki lost to Toshiaki Kawada in a non-title match at an All Japan vs. New Japan event called Do Judge on October 9, 2000. Sasaki regained the title by defeating Kawada in the Tokyo Dome tournament final on January 4, 2001. Sasaki lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Scott Norton in March 2001, and resigned from the role in late 2002 after a falling out with company leadership.

Sasaki joined Riki Choshu in his latest Combat World of Japan Pro Wrestling (World Japan) promotion at the start of 2003. He became the first WMG Heavyweight Champion; however, Sasaki had to pull out and the company suffered a slow death as a result of financial difficulties.

Sasaki returned to NJPW in 2004 as a heel freelancer, with the New Japan roster, with Yuji Nagata's approval of his return to kayfabe. Sasaki lost by referee's decision in a tense match in his return match to Nagata at Wrestling World 2004 by a referee's decision. He later joined Manabu Nakanishi, who had recently started his "lone wolf" role. The two formed Pirates Gundan (Pirates Army), and they regularly collaborated with Scott Norton and Genichiro Tenryu. He won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo again on March 12, defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan. A little over two weeks later, Sasaki lost the title to Bob Sapp. Sasaki began a redemption storyline in NJPW after introducing his student Katsuhiko Nakajima and establishing the Kensuke Family group. He qualified for his first G1 Climax since 2002 in August, but he was prevented from progressing to the finals after losing to Tenryu on the final day. Sasaki was a firm fan favorite again in October, resurrecting the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a controversial fashion, defeating Kazuyuki Fujita in just 2:29 after reversing a sleeper into a pinfall. Sasaki and his partner, Akira Hokuto, sacked the trophy left to Sasaki backstage and chastised Fujita for deliberately canceling the tournament so he could concentrate on MMA. However, Kensuke successfully defended the belt twice against Hiroshi Tanahashi and Minoru Suzuki before he dropped it to Tenzan in December. Riki Choshu, the long-serving rival who resulted in Sasaki's appearances becoming more sporadic, returned to NJPW in a backstage role, and he stopped wrestling for NJPW in early 2005.

Sasaki returned to NJPW as a freelancer, allowing him to participate in the 2004 Champion Carnival and losing to Keiji Mutoh. Sasaki made occasional appearances throughout 2004, before heading to AJPW full time in early 2005. He unsuccessfully challenged Toshiaki Kawada for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship on January 16, but continued to prosper throughout the year, winning the Champion Carnival and defeating Jamal in the final. The All Asia Tag Team Championship was won by Sasaki and his student Katsuhiko Nakajima on July 26, defeating Voodo Murders ("brother" Yasshi and Shuji Kondo). Kensuke (as his old "Power Warrior" role) and Road Warrior Animal teamed up on September 1 in Differ Ariake to defeat Yasshi and Kondo. Sasaki had another shot at the Triple Crown on November 19, this time losing to Satoshi Kojima. Sasaki sustained an accident and required time off in July 2006, requiring him and Nakajima to leave the All Asia Tag Championships.

Sasaki returned to All Japan in January 2007, after five months away from the ring. Sasaki and Nakajima won the Samurai in May after a rookie Seiya Sanada emerged to win the Samurai. TV Three Arrows Man Tag Team Cup, beating Voodo Murders (Kondo, Yasshi, and Taru) in the final. Sasaki defeated Minoru Suzuki in August 26, 2007 to become the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion. Sasaki played his first defense against Toshiaki Kawada on October 18, 2007, and after Katsuhiko Nakajima sustained an injury on October 18 in the 2007 World's Best Tag Determination Championship, he will move with Kawada. Sasaki and Kawada will lose in the final of the League against Satoshi Kojima and Suwama on December 9; both teams were tied, and opponents were missing for Keiji Muto and Joe Doering.

Sasaki defended the Triple Crown Championship against Satoshi Kojima on March 1, 2008. Sasaki participated in the 2008 Champions Cup over five straight shows in the Korakuen Hall from April 5 to April 9, scoring 4 points (to Minoru Suzuki), 1 loss (to Minoru Suzuki), and 2 draws (with Suwama and Osamu Nishimura). On April 29, 2008, Sasaki lost the Triple Crown Championship to Carnival Winner Suwama and then suspended the promotion in June.

Sasaki made his Pro Wrestling Noah debut in 2005, losing to Kenta Kobashi at Destiny 2005. After losing the Triple Crown titles in 2008, he jumped to Pro Wrestling Noah and declared it would be his full-time job at Kensuke Office, which is also managing the Kensuke Office. He defeated Takeshi Morishima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on September 6, 2008, becoming the first individual to hold the Heavyweight title in all three major Japanese sports. He lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Jun Akiyama on March 1, 2009. He joined Morishima in winning the GHC Tag Team titles from Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith on September 21, 2009. They lost the titles to Takeshi Rikio and Muhammad Yone on December 6, 2009.

Sasaki formed the Global Tag League of 2010, which ran from January 9 to January 24. Takeshi Morishima was Sasaki's regular tag partner. Sasaki and Morishima finished the season with a total of four points, losing out to A-Block champions Yoshihiro Takayama and Takuma Sano. Sasaki also participated in the 2010 Pro-Wrestling World Championships, from March 28 to May 2. He defeated Jun Akiyama in a highly awaited match during the league. Sasaki finished with seven points, losing to eventual winner Yoshihiro Takayama.

Sasaki formed Kensuke Office in 2005, the first of his own company. Akira Hokuto, Akira Hokuto, and Sasaki's wife run the agency (former joshi wrestler). Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima, a student of Kensuke's office, received other promotions, including All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah.

Kensuke Office was first announced as a member of the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance in September 2006. (GPWA) Kensuke Office has produced its own shows since 2007, and here are a few of the performers included on the show include Minoru Suzuki, Jun Akiyama, Genichiro Takayama, Kikutaro, Kikutaro, Takeshi Morishima, KENTA, and Catfish Man. The Kensuke Office's name was renamed Diamond Ring in January 2012. Diamond Ring is the Pro Wrestling NOAH's developmental territory, home to several of the company's superstars.

Sasaki lost his first match to Katsuhiko Nakajima in the main event of a Diamond Ring event on February 11, 2014. Sasaki resigned from professional wrestling two days later. Diamond Ring was left with just one remaining wrestler, Katsuhiko Nakajima, after Sasaki's departure, with Satoshi Kajiwara resigning and Mitsuhiro Kitamiya joining Pro Wrestling Noah.

Mixed martial arts career

Sasaki took a few hiatuses from pro-wrestling and concentrated on mixed martial arts from 2001 to 2003. He has two fights under his belt, winning both by submission in the first round over Dan Chase in 2001 and 2004's Future UFC fighter Christian Wellich. He had intended to fight Minoru Suzuki but Jushin Thunder Liger had to pull out due to injury and was replaced by Jushin Thunder Liger.

He will change his appearance, dying his signature mullet (he will occasionally dye his hair different shades), wearing ring gear bearing the word "Volcano") and adjusting moves he learned in MMA training to expand his pro wrestling moveset.

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