Shuji Kondo

Shuji Kondo (近藤修司, Kondo Syuji) is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Career
Kondo was a rugby player for seven years before entering pro wrestling. He debuted in 2001 in Toryumon 2000, a spinoff league of Ultimo Dragon's Toryumon Japan promotion. A short time later, he joined Milano Collection A.T.'s Italian Connection, where he was given the Italianised name Condotti Shuji (a portmanteau of his surname Kondo and Via Condotti, a shopping street in Rome).

In Summer 2003 the Italian Connection was showing a very pronounced divide. Milano and YOSSINO were the face side, demanding clean matches. Condotti Shuji, brother YASSINI, Bakery Yagi and Berlinetta Boxer were still heel, interfering and causing mayhem in matches. YASSINI hurt his arm, so he spent a lot of his rehab time on the internet. He made many posts on the ItaCon blog. While it endeared him to Toryumon internet fans, it angered Milano Collection. They began bickering on the blog, eventually YOSSINO joining in. It spilled over into in ring dissention.

On August 30, the first 4-way trios match took place. Venezia, former pet of YOSSINO, interfered on Condotti Shuji 2 times, angering him. Shuji and brother attacked the gorilla after the match, stripping his mask. Milano tried to stop them, and received a blue box attack to the back. The ItaCon had imploded. Yagi and Berlinetta also left, aligning with Shuji and brother. This didn't last long, as they would repeatedly abandon Boxer during matches. Finally on September 8, they attacked him and tore off his mask. Boxer would later say he was retiring from Toryumon. The same night, they both were belittling Yagi, and they sent him to go get some bread he baked. While he did so, Touru Owashi entered the ring and shook hands with them. Yagi returned with his sandwiches, and Owashi made the cryptic statement "Sumos don't eat bread". Yagi was attacked and embarrassed, his bread shoved down his throat. He would soon be forced into referee duty due to the newly dubbed Giants group.

Shuji renamed to Dotti Shuji, brother to "brother" YASSHI, and the tandem dominated the inaugural Rey de Parejas tournament. Berlinetta Boxer returned on October 21, to seemingly gain his revenge. He however aided them. He unmasked and joined the group under his real name, Shogo Takagi. The 4 of them were the first super heel unit Toryumon had seen since the demise of original M2K. They were now dubbed "Hagure Gundam", which means Stray Army. They went into 2004 looking very strong.

Hagure Gundam became the UWA 6 man tag champions. Mochi and former SM2K mates Dragon Kid and Arai came out to the old Toryumon Seikigun theme and challenged them to a match. Mochi turned on them during the match, hitting DK with the blue box, then setting up Araken to be pinned by Owashi. He returned to his heel roots and joined Hagure Gundam. The group got its official name that night, 悪冠一色. It romanizes to Aagan Iisou, loosely meaning, "Villains wear the same colours". Kondo returned to his real name. Earlier in the evening, Shuji extended overtures to Henry III Sugawara, who had just returned from Toryumon X to reform the Royal Brothers team. He declined 100%.

He soon joined AJPW, where he and long-time associate "brother" YASSHI would ally themselves with TARU's Voodoo Murders stable and even hold the All-Asia Tag Team Titles for a short time. The Voodoo Murderers were previously in an intense feud against RO&D, but defeated their long-time foes after D'Lo Brown and Buchanan turned on RO&D and joined the Voodoo Murderers. Kondo would then win the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion having won the title from junior ace TAKA Michinoku. On February 17, 2007, Kondo lost the Jr. Heavyweight Title to Katsuhiko Nakajima, thus ending his 1-year, 4-month title reign. Possessing surprising weight and power for a junior heavyweight, Kondo is expected to play a large part in AJPW's growing Junior division.

Finishing and signature moves

 * King Kong Lariat (Lariat)
 * Kondo Krash / Ultimate Slam (Gorilla press powerslam)
 * Gorilla Clutch (Inverted cloverleaf with body scissors)
 * Lanzarse Strike (Spear)
 * Hurricane Mixer (Spear with a 180° rotation at impact)
 * Suplex powerslam
 * Cat's Cradle (Cross-leg Argentine leglock)
 * Moonsault

Trivia

 * Shuji Kondo's theme song is Funky Shit by Prodigy.


 * Kondo has once said that his two favorite wrestlers were Goldberg and Ultimate Warrior, which explains his original gimmick of using both Goldberg's signature Jackhammer and also his love of tassels.

Championships and accomplishments

 * All Japan Pro Wrestling
 * 1-time AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion
 * 1-Time AJPW All-Asia Tag Team Champion (with "brother" YASSHI)


 * El Dorado Wrestling
 * 2006 TREASURE HUNTERS Tag Tournament Winner (with Dick Togo)


 * Universal Wrestling Association
 * 2-Time UWA Six Man Tag Team Champion (with Milano Collection A.T. and YOSSINO; w/Touru Owashi and "brother" YASSHI)


 * Stampede Wrestling
 * 1-Time British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Champion