(born May 21, 1982) is a Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

from Neyagawa, Japan; he's a current member of the

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (originally known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rathe ...

roster as . He mainly uses a high-flying style.

Career

Toryumon (2002-2004)

A former highschool

amateur wrestler Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic, collegiate, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the worl ...

, Okimoto trained in the Último Dragón Gym and graduated in the 9th Toryumon school class term, debuting in

Toryumon Mexico Toryumon or Tōryūmon may refer to: *Toryumon (Último Dragón), a professional wrestling school and the associated professional wrestling promotions * Dragon Gate, formerly Toryumon Japan, a Japanese professional wrestling promotion * KOTC: Toryum ...

in 2002. He performed under the name of Small Dandy Fujii, a mini version of Toryumon Japan wrestler Sumo Dandy Fujii, and was a part of the Mini Crazy MAX stable along with SUWAcito and Mini CIMA. After a short individual participation in the ''Young Dragons Cup 2002'', where he was eliminated by Condotti Shuji at the first round, Small Dandy and SUWAcito competed at the ''Yamaha Cup'' tag tournament, taking out Henry III Sugawara and

Naoki Tanizaki (born December 1, 1978) is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is known for his work in Dragon Gate. He previously went under the ring name . Professional wrestling career Toryumon system and Dragon Gate (2002–2006) Originally from t ...

at the first round before falling to Sailor Boys ( Kei Sato and Shu Sato) at the second. Mini Crazy MAX developed a

feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

with Sailor Boys, led by

Taiji Ishimori is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and its List of Bullet Club members#War Dogs, War Dogs sub-group. Ishimori is a three-time IWGP Junio ...

, and they kept it when the class term was moved to the Toryumon X promotion in Japan. Fujii was a comedic figure, and in October 2004, he got his head partially shaven by stipulation after being pinned by Manabu Murakami. That would be the last Toryumon X show, and its wrestlers were transferred to

. He also wrestled in as HUSTLE Kamen Blue, a member of HUSTLE Kamen along HUSTLE Kamen Red and HUSTLE Kamen Yellow.

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (2004-present)

Okimoto's first apparition in M-Pro was at the ''Futaritabi Tag Team League'', wrestling under the mask of Michinoku Ranger Silver with Michinoku Ranger Gold as his partner, doing a

super sentai The is a Japanese superhero team media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi. The shows are of the '' tokusatsu'' genre, featuring live action characters and colorfu ...

gimmick not unlike they did in HUSTLE. The duo got important victories over Los Salseros Japoneses ( Pineapple Hanai and Mango Fukuda) and

Jinsei Shinzaki Kensuke Shinzaki (新崎健介 ''Shinzaki Kensuke'', born December 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive, better known by his ring name, Jinsei Shinzaki (新崎人生 ''Shinzaki Jinsei''). He is sign ...

and Shinjitsu Nohashi, but they did not win the league, which was taken by

The Great Sasuke , best known under his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter and politician. He is the founder of Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW). Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural ...

and GARUDA. In December, the team was dissolved and Okimoto adopted the gimmick of Rasse, a masked character representing the

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri The is a Japanese festivals, Japanese summer festival that takes place in Aomori (city), Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan in early August. The festival attracts the most tourists of any of the country's nebuta festivals, and is counted among the t ...

. He first teamed up with the former Ranger Gold, now known as Shanao, and the two gained a title shot for the Tohoku Tag Titles against Great Sasuke and

Dick Togo , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Togo is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of House of Torture and a former member of Bullet Club. Togo has spent the major ...

, but were beaten. Starting 2005, Rasse formed an alliance with GARUDA, first at the ''Michinoku Trios League'' (completing the trio with Maguro Ooma) and then in the ''Futaritabi Tag Team Tournament'', but they were unsuccessful, getting eliminated at the latter by the eventual winning team of Shanao and Kagetora. Rasse spent the year as a low-ranked member of the Michinoku Seikigun against the

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

stable Los Salseros Japoneses, though he had some victories, upsetting Kagetora and

Gamma Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...

during the ''Iron Man Tournament''. However, he ascended the scale in 2006, reaching the finals of a tournament for the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title before LSJ leader

Takeshi Minamino , (born December 24, 1985) better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He wrestles in Michinoku Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Toryumon (2002-2004) Yamamoto made his pro wrestlin ...

and actually winning the next ''Iron Man'' after pinning

Hayato Fujita Hayato Fujita (藤田勇人 ''Fujita Hayato'', born September 20, 1986) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Fujita "Jr." Hayato (フジタ"Jr"ハヤト). Despite his small stature and physique for a professional wr ...

with the Mabataki. Doing this, he won a title short against the next junior heavyweight champion,

Osaka Pro Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Osaka. The promotion was founded by Super Delfin on March 4, 1999 following his departure from Michinoku Pro Wrestling, and has been operated by Zeus (Japanese wrestler), Zeus since July 20 ...

Super Delfín is a Japanese professional wrestler and politician who currently runs and wrestles for Kaisen Puroresu. He is better known by his stage name . He has been a member of the Izumi City Council since 2012. Professional wrestling career New Japa ...

, but was defeated. Rasse then returned to the midcard, teaming up with Yoshitsune until end of 2006. The next year, Rasse teamed up with the recently turned face Kagetora to win the

Tohoku Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Michinoku Pro Wrestling. There have been a total of 35 reigns shared between 27 different teams consisting of 34 indivi ...

against Kei and Shu Sato, eventually unifying it with the

Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship The is the top tag team title in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. The title was established in 2001 when Daio Quällt and Gamma won a seven-team round-robin tournament to win the inaugural titles. Being a prof ...

from Hideyoshi and

Masamune was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the Japanese sword#Classification by School, ''Sōshū'' school. However, many ...

at the Pro Wrestling Summit 2007 independent event. They retained it successfully for the rest of 2007, even winning the next tag league while having the titles, but they finally lost the two titles against Osaka Pro representatives Gaina and Zero and MPW homologues Great Sasuke and Yoshitsune. The same year, Rasse competed individually at the prestigious ''Fukumen World League'', but was eliminated at the first round by another Osaka Pro wrestler,

Tigers Mask is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). He previously worked for Osaka Pro Wrestling under the ring name . His ring name and original wrestling attire were inspired by the Hanshin Tigers ba ...

. Now titleless, Rasse struggled through 2008, but despite a good performance at the ''Iron Man'' and another tag team with Kagetora, he was frustrated. After a failed title shot against Hayato Fujita, now leader of the Kowloon heel stable, Rasse shockingly turned heel and joined them, later pledging his alliance to who revealed as the true leader of the group, their master

Último Dragón , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to Dragon Gate (wrestling), Dragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, ...

El Dorado Wrestling (2006–2008)

In 2008, Okimoto joined the newborn El Dorado, wrestling as Jumping Kid Okimoto, a masked character dressed in black and white who came to the ring in jumping stilts. He initially was an integrant of the

's face army inherited from Dragondoor, but after Ishimori broke from El Dorado and left, Okimoto went solo and feuded with

brother YASSHI , better known by his ringname "brother" Yasshi (stylised as "brother"YASSHI), is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler, known for his appearances in El Dorado Wrestling, Dragon Gate (wrestling), Dragon Gate, and All Japan Pro ...

. Okimoto got the revenge for a loss to him by showing an embarrassing photo of Yasshi in his high school days, as Okimoto and he had been both in the same school, but the brother got it back defeating him again. They then reconciled and resolved to form an amateur wrestling-themed stable, which also featured

Yuji Hino , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted p ...

and was called Nanking Fucking Wrestling Club. During that time, Okimoto competed both under his real name in said stable, using a realistic, mat wrestling based style, and also as Jumping Kid Okimoto, featuring his common high-flying. After Nanking Fucking Wrestling Club folded up, Okimoto competed solo and unaligned again, and for a second time in Masaki's career he lost a hair vs hair match, this time against Ken45º. In 2008, Jumping Kid Okimoto and KAGETORA fought Speed of Sounds (

Tsutomu Oosugi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He currently wrestles as a freelancer in the Japanese independent circuit and as a regular in both Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). His ring name is written in katak ...

and Hercules Senga) for the vacated UWA Tag Team Championship, but were defeated. Shortly after, El Dorado ended its run.

Championships and accomplishments

( 3 times, current) - with Kagetora (1), Kenbai (1) and Ringo Yamaya (1) ** Iron Man Tournament (2006) ** Fukumen World League Qualifying Tournament (2007) ** Kowloon Strongest Tournament (2011) ** Bar Mimosa Ki-Kohei Cup (2014) ** Futaritabi Tag Team League (2007) - with Kagetora *

( 1 time) - with Kagetora

References

External links

El Dorado Roster Page at DGUSA (English)El Dorado official website (Japanese)Michinoku Pro Wrestling official website (Japanese)HUSTLE official website (Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okimoto, Masaaki 1982 births Living people Japanese male professional wrestlers People from Neyagawa, Osaka Masked wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers Tohoku Tag Team Champions Chiba Six Man Tag Team Champions Osaka Tag Team Champions Professional wrestlers from Osaka Prefecture