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 Title History:
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title (5):
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title (3):
AWF Tag Team Title (1):
UWA Welterweight Title (1):
UWA Jr. Light Heavyweight Title (1):
Tournament History:
- Best of the Super Jr. 1998: Koji Kanemoto beat Dr. Wagner Jr. (26:17) with a Tiger suplex.
Signature Moves:
- Ankle hold
Profile: After initially training under Masanobu Kurisu, Koji Kanemoto entered New Japan's dojo, joining the company in June, 1990. Kanemoto showed such natural talent that under two years into his career, he was selected to be the third generation of Tiger Mask. In February, 1993, he left for a learning excursion to Mexico, where he would learn new lucha libre techniques. Despite his mass of skill, Kanemoto never really molded into the Tiger Mask persona, and officially dropped the mask in July, 1994. After an overseas learning excursion to North America in the second half of 1994, Kanemoto returned to New Japan, and suddenly had a chip on his shoulder, becoming a young punk and aligning with fellow upstart, Shinjiro Otani. The two delighted fans, feuding with Liger and friends for years, resulting in some classic matches. His first stint as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion began in February, 1995, and would be one of multiple reigns. In 2000 and into 2001, he seemed to mellow as a wrestler and showed a less arrogant attitude, forming a popular tag team with Minoru Tanaka. In March, 2001, he suffered a serious shoulder injury that would keep him out of action for much of the year. Upon returning, he was a bad boy again as Team 2000's junior leader, and began a grudge feud with Tanaka, that would result in him capturing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title from his new nemesis. In recent times, Kanemoto's credibility and popularity has increased to the extent that he is now widely considered the strongest Japanese junior heavyweight. Kanemoto is an arrogant and cocky punk, notorious for his bad attitude in the ring, but in recent times has become a popular "babyface" in the junior division. He is a brilliant and graceful wrestler, who combines fierce strikes, beautiful submissions, and high risk moves to form one of the most complete wrestlers in the world.
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