Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima's Pro Wrestling Opponent Set

Monday, 11 April 2011 01:32

Written by Dave Walsh

Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima is, as we all know, a very colorful fighter. Outside of his power and skill he comes to the ring in cosplaying costumes, much to the derision to some in the West and some at home, but it is hard to argue with his successes in the ring, especially over the past year. He announced earlier in the year his intention to step into the pro wrestling ring, namely of Zero-One MAX. Zero-One MAX for the uninitiated was the brain child of former New Japan Pro Wrestling owner, and one of the true god father's of MMA, Antonio Inoki's grand scheme to meld Mixed Martial Arts and Professioal Wrestling together, blurring the lines even further.

It started when it's chosen leader, Shin'ya Hashimoto was "shamed" into retirement by defeats from a MMA invasion of sorts by way of Olympic Judoka and MMA fighter Naoya Ogawa. At the time, due to Inoki and NJPW blurring the lines between wrestling and MMA, Hashimoto was "defending" his "sport" against MMA and was booked to lose, quickly. This pushed for the formation of a new promotion specifically for the two men and has since continued on after the death of Hashimoto.

Nagashima's opponent on 5/5/2011 will be none other than one of Hashimoto's former students and former Shooto fighter Kohei Sato. Sato started off in Shooto's amateur program, becoming a champion in their amateur ranks before moving up and having a few professional fights before entering professional wrestling.

All of this is a primer so you'll understand that Sato has a legitimate martial arts background and that his professional wrestling matches tend to look more like worked MMA bouts than anything else. His matches look more like submission grappling exhibitions than what you'll see on a standard WWE program. Video after the break, with Sato being the one in the kickpads.

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