Daichi Hashimoto


Daichi Hashimoto is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling in the Strong BJ division, where he is the current World Strong Heavyweight Champion in his second reign. He is the son of Shinya Hashimoto and started his career in his father's Pro Wrestling Zero1 promotion.

Early life

The oldest of three children, Daichi Hashimoto grew up around full-contact sports, as his father Shinya was a famous pro wrestler, alongside his "uncles" Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh. Since the sixth grade, Daichi took up karate, and was part of his middle school's MMA team, Blue Sky.
When his father died in July 2005, Daichi decided he wanted to become a professional wrestler in order to honour his father's memory.
In September 2009, he took part in his father's 25th Anniversary show, hosted by Pro Wrestling Zero1. He competed in an exhibition kickboxing match against Satoshi Kobayashi. The match was declared a draw after two two-minute rounds. After the show, Daichi expressed his desire to become a pro wrestler and Masahiro Chono and Shinjiro Otani picked up on his desire and trained him for nearly a year and a half.

Professional wrestling career

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2011–2014)

After nearly a year and a half of training, Daichi Hashimoto made his debut on March 6, 2011, at Pro Wrestling Zero1's 10th Anniversary show, where he wrestled Masahiro Chono in a losing effort. After the match, he was given advice from his "uncles" Chono and Keiji Mutoh, and he was also embraced by his mother and his two younger sisters. Fellow Zero1 rookie Yuichiro ☆Jienotsu☆ Nagashima came to congratulate him. Fifteen days later, Hashimoto went to All Japan Pro Wrestling, wrestled Mutoh, and lost. Over the next few months, Hashimoto would team up with Shinjiro Otani in various types of tag team match up and would even wrestle together at Inoki Genome Federation. On August 27, Hashimoto received his first title shot ever, as he and Otani unsuccessfully challenged Kamikaze and Sato for the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship. In December 2011, Hashimoto took part in the Furinkazan Tag Team League, teaming up with Akebono. He and Akebono started the tournament strong on December 8, defeating Kohei Sato and Kamikaze. Three days later on December 11, Hashimoto and Akebono continued their success by defeating NWA Team, which was revealed to be Schwarz and Weiss. However, the team would go on to lose their next two matches which led to them being placed 3rd in Block B. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter awarded Hashimoto with the Rookie of the Year award for 2011
Hashimoto began the new year with a bang on January 1, 2012, when he won his first singles match, defeating Yoshikazu Yokoyama. On March 2 at Zero1's 11TH Anniversary Show, Hashimoto teamed with Otani and lost to Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima. In April 2012, Hashimoto participated in Pro Wrestling Noah's Global Tag League with Shinjiro Otani as his partner. On April 11, he and Otani started off strong by defeating Eddie Edwards and Colt Cabana. They defeated the team of Go Shiozaki and Tamon Honda and Yoshihiro Takayama & Maybach Taniguchi. The team lost the rest of their matches meaning that Hashimoto and Otani ended the Global Tag League in 5th place with six points. Hashimoto and Otani teamed up together until July when they separated to take part in Fire Festival 2012. Hashimoto lost all four of his tournament matches, including losing to Otani. In September, Hashimoto participated in two tournaments Tenkaichi Junior Tournament 2012 at Zero1 where Hashimoto was defeated by Tatsuhito Takaiwa in the first round. The second tournament he took part in was the Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League 2012 in block B at Noah. Hashimoto teamed up with Ikuto Hidaka and won their block with six points but would lose the final to Atsushi Kotoge and Taiji Ishimori. On December 2, he travelled to Hong Kong for his first overseas contest against Zero1 Hong Kong's Bitman. Wrestling as a big heel from Japan, he defeated Bitman after a mist attack follow by a vertical drop DDT. On January 4, 2013, Hashimoto was scheduled to make his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling, teaming with Keiji Mutoh at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome; however, on December 27, it was announced that he had fractured his left forearm and would be forced to pull out of the match. Despite the injury, Hashimoto made an appearance at the event, having a confrontation with Hiroyoshi Tenzan, after he and Satoshi Kojima had defeated Mutoh and his replacement, Shinjiro Otani. During the hiatus, Hashimoto bulked up to 95 kg., but eventually slimmed down to 90 kg. Hashimoto returned to the ring on April 15, 2013, when he was defeated by Dramatic Dream Team representative Kota Ibushi in a singles match. On May 2, Zero1 announced that Hashimoto had re-aggravated his forearm injury and would once again be sidelined from in-ring action. On October 13, 2013, Hashimoto made his return to the ring, facing Katsuhiko Nakajima in a losing effort. On February 11, 2014, Hashimoto received the first singles title shot of his career, when he unsuccessfully challenged Tama Williams for the NWA United National Heavyweight Championship. On April 8, while Hashimoto was recovering from a broken jaw, Zero1 announced that his contract with the promotion had expired on March 31 and he had decided not to re-sign. At a press conference the following day, Hashimoto announced that going forward he would be working as a freelancer.

Inoki Genome Federation (2014–2015)

On June 5, 2014, Hashimoto and the Inoki Genome Federation held a press conference to announce that he had signed with the promotion. He made his debut for the promotion on July 13, losing to Kazuyuki Fujita. On July 13, 2015, Hashimoto took part in an event, which commemorated the tenth anniversary of his father's death, losing to Yuji Nagata in the main event.

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (2015–present)

In June 2015, Daichi began wrestling in Big Japan Pro Wrestling, primarily teaming with Kazuki Hashimoto as "Team Yamato". On January 1, 2016, BJW announced that Hashimoto had signed with the promotion, making him a full-time member of their roster, representing their Strong division. In October 2017, he won his first tournament, the Saikyo Tag League, teaming with Hideyoshi Kamitani, winning their Strong block, before defeating the winners of the Deathmatch block, Abdullah Kobayashi and Ryuji Ito, in the finals. On December 17, Hashimoto won his first title, when he defeated Hideki Suzuki for the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship. On February 2, 2018, Hashimoto adopted his father's alter-ego from Stampede Wrestling, Hashif Khan, for the third show of the day.

Championships and accomplishments