Masahiro Chono

Masahiro Chōno (蝶野正洋 Chōno Masahiro) is a Japanese professional wrestler.

Career
Chōno 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 World 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 Chōshū. As a reaction to this, Chono now leads an "Anti-Chōshū Army" with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Black Strong Machine.

Chono won the 2005 G-1 Climax tournament, thus having achieved a record-setting five G-1 victories &mdash; a fact that overshadows his only IWGP Heavyweight Title reign. His success in the G-1 has given him the nickname Mr. August.

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. They were stripped of the titles in late 2006 after they split up, and refused to defend them together. Masahiro Chono formed a stable with Shinsuke Nakamura in 2006 called Chono & Nakamura-gun, which began feuding with Tenzan's new group.

Wrestling facts

 * Finishing and signature moves
 * STF
 * Cross leg STF
 * STS
 * FTS (Rotated step-over toe-hold sleeper)
 * Shining Kenka Kick / Shining Yakuza Kick (Single leg running front dropkick to the head of a kneeling opponent)
 * Kenka Kick / Yakuza Kick (Running arching big boot)
 * Manhattan Drop (Inverted atomic drop)
 * Butterfly lock
 * Samoan drop
 * Cradle piledriver
 * Octopus hold
 * Diving shoulder block


 * With Hiroyoshi Tenzan
 * ChoTen Torpedo (Two man diving shoulder block)
 * CTC - ChoTen Crash (Running high knee/Knuckle punch combination)
 * Shining Assault (Shining Kenka Kick/Lariat clothesline combination)


 * Managers
 * Sonny Onoo
 * Bill Dundee


 * Styles
 * Catch-as-catch-can
 * British style grappling
 * Judo locks

Championships and accomplishments

 * Continental Wrestling Federation
 * CWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mike Davis


 * Hawai'i Championship Wrestling
 * HCW Kamehameha Heritage Championship (1 time)


 * National Wrestling Alliance
 * World
 * NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Regional
 * NWA Central States Television Championship (1 time)


 * New Japan Pro Wrestling
 * IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * IWGP World Tag Team Championship (7 times) - with Keiji Mutoh (2) and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (5)
 * G1 Climax (1991)
 * G1 Climax (1992)
 * G1 Climax (1994)
 * G1 Climax (2002)
 * G1 Climax (2005)
 * Super Grade Tag League (1995) - with Hiroyoshi Tenzan
 * G1 Climax Tag League (2006) - with Shinsuke Nakamura
 * Young Lions Cup (1987)


 * Other Titles
 * AGPW North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Bob Brown
 * WWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him # 70 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003


 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 2004)
 * 1995 Best Heel

Personal life
On July 4, 2006, Masahiro Chono became a father, his wife Martina giving birth to a baby boy.

Trivia

 * Masahiro Chono is the owner of his own line of clothing stores, ArisTrisT. Hulk Hogan can be seen wearing Chono's Aristrist apparel on his TV show Hogan Knows Best.


 * His wife Martina, whom he met during a tour in Germany, designs many of the jewelry and clothing sold on ArisTrisT.com


 * In 1990, Chono became the last ever person to fight Lou Thesz (his former trainer) in a wrestling match. During the match, Thesz dislocated his artificial hip, which ended his career for good.


 * Fan of Spanish fencing and fencing movies.


 * Rumored to be cast in the lead role of a show which is described as the "Yakuza version" of the Sopranos. Similar stories and characters but with changes being obviously made with regards to the cultural differences. The show is reportedly still in the works.


 * Very knowledgeable on European military history


 * Fond of steak with wasabi.


 * Is an ailurophile (cat lover)