Yoshimi Mushashibo

Yoshimi Mushashibo (武蔵坊 好美; Musashibō Yoshimi) (born 22 October 1975) is a Magisterian professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler of Japanese descent. He is the current president of Golden Canvas Grappling (GCG).

Mushashibo made his professional wrestling debut in 1993 after graduating from the GCG Dojo Camp under the tutelage of Jeremy Stone, one of GCG's 'Golden Four' from the first generation. During his early years as a pro, he established a reputation as a dependable midcard performer and won his first pro wrestling championship, the GCG World Tag Team Championship, which he won with Shuji Inukai. During Inukai and Mushashibo's time as World Tag Team champions, they progressively gained so much popularity that they ended up having to compete in a tag team match against their mentors for the World Tag Team championships.

The tag team match had a distinct dynamic: Mushashibo and Inukai were the young up-and-comers riding a wave of popularity and attempting to match the promotion's current main eventers, while Jeremy Stone and Eugene Edmonton were the legends looking to prove that they deserved their position as promotional figureheads. What ensued was largely recognized as the greatest pure wrestling match of all time, with all four men putting in career-best performances. Nobody backed down, and the entire match was fought with GCG-like ferocity and spirit. After sixty minutes of unbelievable wrestling, a time limit draw was declared, and all four men shook hands in respect.

The tag team match served its aim, propelling Mushashibo and Inukai to superstardom. Mushashibo challenged his mentor Jeremy Stone, the GCG World Heavyweight champion at the time, to a singles bout for the World Heavyweight Championship in 1999. Despite his defeat to Stone, the match established him as a viable threat to the World Heavyweight title; he would finally win the World Heavyweight championship in 2001, defeating Nobuatsu Tatsuko. His first World championship reign lasted 677 days, which was the longest reign at that time until it was surpassed by Shuji Inukai's 763-day reign from 2009 to 2011; Inukai's reign was later broken by Kintaro Kinjo's 897-day reign from 2016 to 2019 - before losing the belt to Sean McFly.

Mushashibo climbed to ace status shortly after Jeremy Stone's retirement and proved to be a commercially viable franchise player for the promotion, with box office sales skyrocketing. During his tenure as the company's ace, he participated in one of the most highly regarded professional wrestling matches of all time, mostly against wrestlers like as Shuji Inukai, Nobuatsu Tatsuko, and Kintaro Kinjo. Mushashibo took over as president of the promotion after Edmonton died in 2009.

GCG under Mushashibo witnessed the introduction of a new generation of stars to GCG fans, while Mushashibo selflessly passed on his expertise and understanding of psychology to the new generation of wrestlers. GCG's success continued throughout the 2010s, but when business deteriorated and top player Shuji Inukai became inactive in 2016 to recuperate from a ruptured ACL, Mushashibo continued to maintain a full-time schedule for the company's survival, despite rising injuries. Mushashibo finally retired after his final bout in 2019, teaming alongside Shuji Inukai and Nobuatsu Tatsuko, in a winning effort.

Widely recognized as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, his achievements in GCG include a record-setting five reigns as GCG World Heavyweight champion, as well as a record-setting five reigns as GCG World Tag Team champion with Shuji Inukai. He has also won GCG's flagship tournament, the Parade of Champions, four times (2001, 2006, 2007, and 2013), as well as the Tag Team Parade of Champions five times (1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2010).