      NJPW 1/4/02 Tokyo Dome COMPLETE Edition
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Title History:
NWA Heavyweight Title (2):
Tournament History: None won.
Signature Moves:
- Sleeper hold
Notes: A judo star since school, he won many championships, even becoming the youngest winner ever in the World Judo Championships ... Joined the JPA (Japan Racing Association) in April, 1990 ... Performed in judo at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, winning silver medal in the +95KG weight class. ... Expressed great interested towards competing in professional wrestling after leaving the JPA in March, 1997 ... Took instructions from Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mask) before making his debut in New Japan ... Made his debut at the Tokyo Dome on 4/12/97, TKO'ing IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Shinya Hashimoto, in a non-title match ... Challenged Hashimoto for the IWGP Heavyweight Title on 5/3/97 at the Osaka Dome, but was defeated ... Defeated former UFC fighter, Brian Johnston, on 9/23/97 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan ... Lost a bizarre match to The Great Muta at the Nagoya Dome on 8/10/97 ... Fought another former UFC fighter at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4/98, losing to Don Frye ... Scored a return win over Frye on 2/15/98, but lost to him on 4/4/98, in the final of a tournament to determine Antonio Inoki's final opponent before retirement ... Became affiliated with Inoki's UFO (Universal Fighting Arts Organization) group, TKO'ing Frye on it's debut show on 10/24/98 ... In the much anticipated rematch, he and Shinya Hashimoto went to a disappointing no contest at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4/99 ... Won the NWA Heavyweight Title from Dan Severn on UFO's 3/14/99 ... Lost the title without being pinned or made to submit in a three way match, but quickly won it back from Gary Steele ... Held the NWA Heavyweight Title for almost a year the second time, eventually vacating it ... Ventured into shoot fighting league PRIDE, making Gary Goodridge submit in R2 0:36 on PRIDE 6, his debut with the group ... Fought Hashimoto for the fourth time at the Tokyo Dome on 10/11/99, dominating Hashimoto and defeating him by TKO ... Teamed with fellow UFO. fighter and understudy, Kazunari Murakami, on the 1/4/00 Tokyo Dome show, the two losing to Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka, when Iizuka made Murakami submit ... The fifth match between he and Hashimoto was set for the 4/7/00 Tokyo Dome show, with Hashimoto vowing to retire if he lost ... Drove Hashimoto into retirement and made their series 3-1 on the show, KO'ing his rival after a 15 minute war ... He and Murakami failed in an attempt to capture the IWGP Tag Team Titles at the Fukuoka Dome on 5/5/00, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi defeating the UFO. duo when Nagata pinned Murakami ... Returned to PRIDE on 10/31/00 for PRIDE 11, making Masaaki Satake submit ... Destroyed Tadao Yasuda on Inoki's 12/31/00 Osaka Dome show, the referee stopping their match at just 1:38 ... When Shinya Hashimoto came out of retirement and formed his ZERO-ONE promotion, Ogawa showed up there, invading their debut show after the main event on 3/2/01 ... He and Murakami lost to NOAH's Mitsuharu Misawa & Takeshi Rikio on ZERO-ONE's 4/18/01 show, but it was again Murakami who took the loss ... Returned to New Japan on 5/5/01, teaming with Murakami again, but losing to Riki Choshu & Manabu Nakanishi, Nakanishi making Murakami submit ... Defeated legend, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, on ZERO-ONE's 6/14/01 show, destroying him with a flurry of STO's at the end of the match ... A very exclusive performer who only appears on big shows ... On ZERO-ONE's 10/25/01 PPV, he defeated the great-grandson of legendary U.S. boxer Joe Dempsey, Josh Dempsey ... Teamed with Hashimoto for the first time ever on ZERO-ONE's 12/9/01 PPV, the two defeating Mark Kerr & Tom Howard ... Fought to a controversial no contest with Kensuke Sasaki on New Japan's 1/4/02 Tokyo Dome show ... He is Japan's biggest combat fighter and has not been pinned or made to submit in Japan since 4/4/98 ... Where he goes, large crowds and TV ratings follow.
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