Yoshimi Mushashibo

Yoshimi Mushashibo (武蔵坊 好美; Musashibō Yoshimi) is a Japanese-born Magisterian professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler. He is currently the company president of Pro Wrestling Integrity (PWI).

Debuting in 1993, Mushashibo graduated from Edmonton's Golden Warrior Dojo under the guidance of Eugene Edmonton. Mushashibo was one of the first signings of Edmonton's newly-opened Pro Wrestling Integrity (PWI).

In 1997, PWI had been in business for just one year, but had been building a good reputation for themselves, and were beginning to get in a position where they could challenge GCTG. PWI founder and then-president Eugene Edmonton pulled off a risky move - he scheduled a PWI show one day after a major GCTG event, and publically stated that they would put on a better quality show than their much bigger rivals. The show was headlined by a tag team match with the team of Mushashibo and Tatsuko facing the team of Edmonton and Deacon.

The tag team match had a clear dynamic to it - Mushashibo and Tatsuko were the young up-and-comers who were riding a wave of popularity and were attempting to match the current main eventers of the promotion, while Edmonton and Deacon were the legends, who were out to prove that they deserved their position as promotional figureheads. What followed was a match that is widely regarded as the finest pure wrestling match of all time, with career-best performances from all four men. Nobody backed down, and the entire match was wrestled with an intensity and spirit that epitmoised PWI. After sixty minutes of awesome wrestling, a time limit draw was called, and all four men shook hands as a mark of respect.

After the critically-acclaimed tag team match, Edmonton's promise was fulfilled, as PWI blew away the GCTG show, which was no small feat given that the larger promotion put on an excellent night of entertainment themselves. The show - mainly the tag team match - sky-rocketed PWI in popularity, and made them a serious threat to GCTG, a position them kept from that point onwards. Afterwards, Mushashibo and Tatsuko would regularly tag team before breaking up in 1998 as both were groomed to become main eventers.

In 2000, Mushashibo challenged then-ace Pat Deacon in a singles match with the World Championship title on the line. Albeit a losing effort, the match between him and Deacon launched Mushashibo's career into superstardom that eventually led him to his first Royal Crown title win against Nobuatsu Tatsuko in 2001. His first World title reign would last for 677 days - the then-longest reign before it was broken 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.

Shortly after Pat Deacon's retirement, he ascended into ace status and proved to be a commercially-successful franchise player for the promotion with box office business skyrocket. During his time as the company's ace, he was involved in one of the most critically-acclaimed professional wrestling matches of all time, mainly wrestlers such as Shuji Inukai, Nobuatsu Tatsuko, and Kintaro Kinjo. In 2009, Eugene Edmonton passed away and Mushashibo succeeded him as the company president.

PWI under Mushashibo saw new generation of stars introduced to the PWI fans while Mushashibo himself selflessly passed his experience and knowledge of psychology to the new generation of wrestlers. PWI continued its success throughout the 2010s, but as business declined and top star Shuji Inukai went inactive in 2016 to recover from a torn ACL, Mushashibo continued to work a full-time schedule, despite mounting injuries and pain killer abuses, for the company's survival. Mushashibo would eventually wrestle his final match in 2019 teaming with Shuji Inukai and Nobuatsu Tatsuko in a winning effort.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, his accolades in PWI include a record setting seven reigns as PWI World Champion, and a record seven reigns as PWI World Tag Team Champion with Shuji Inukai and Nobuatsu Tatsuko. All totaled, Mushashibo has won 14 championships in PWI. He has also won PWI's premier tournament, the Royal Summit, on four occasions (2001, 2005, 2006, 2013) and won the Royal Tag Team Summit five times with Shuji Inukai, in 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2010.

Early life
Before entering professional wrestling, Mushashibo was a ice hockey player in high school. He studied law at University of Bella Vista in Bella Vista, Philadelphia, where he began practising freestyle wrestling. During this time, Eugene Edmonton - who was in the university for a special visit - noticed Mushashibo and invited him to try out for the Golden Warrior Dojo. His November 1991 tryout was successful and he was accepted as a trainee. He enrolled in the Golden Warrior Dojo after graduating from University of Bella Vista the following year. Mushashibo has cited Shawn Michaels as his favorite wrestler. He also admired Mitsuharu Misawa, and considered using the ring name "Emerald Mushashibo" in honor of him. He has a younger sister, Fujiko (born 1986), who is also an active professional wrestler.

Early years (1993-1996)
After graduating from the Golden Warrior Dojo, Mushashibo made his debut on 17 October 1993, in a match against Flemmy Lemming in a Golden Warrior supercard. For the next three years, he would work in supercards for Edmonton's dojo and would score big victories against free agents.

Rise to stardom (1996-1999)
He joined Edmonton's upstart promotion in 1996 and became an integral part of its Junior Heavyweight division, impressing many with his high-flying style and charisma. Alongside fellow rookies Shuji Inukai and Nobuatsu Tatsuko, Mushashibo became known as one of the "Three Princes of Integrity". As he graduated to the Heavyweight division, he became even more popular; his popularity skyrocketed when he took part in a critically-acclaimed tag team match against the team of Eugene Edmonton and Pat Deacon, where he wrestled them teaming with Tatsuko in a time-limit draw.

His career began to rapidly climb from this point. In the later half of 1997, he and Tatsuko captured the PWI World Tag Team championships and would hold it until the next calendar year; the team would eventually break up in 1998, so the two men can have separate singles runs. In the 1999 Royal Summit tournament, he made it to the finals and headlined the 1999 Anniversary Celebration event in front of 35,000 people, where he wrestled Eugene Edmonton in a winning effort.

The Ace of PWI (2000-2009)
In 2000, Mushashibo challenged then-ace Pat Deacon in a singles match with the World Championship title on the line. Deacon and Mushashibo would eventually face each other at the 2000 Summer Smash event in front of 16,000 people. Albeit a losing effort, his performance in the match established him as a viable main event draw for the company.

After the highly-regarded match, Mushashibo continued to work in matches regarded by fans as match-of-the-year candidates and kept building his reputation as a huge threat to the PWI World Championship. On 27 January 2001, at the Clash Classic event, Mushashibo won his first PWI World Championship when he defeated Nobuatsu Tatsuko for the belt. After holding the title belt for 22 months and 3 weeks (677 days) and defending the title against the likes of Shuji Inukai, Kintaro Kinjo, Reginald Evans and others, Mushashibo lost the title to Sean McFly.

After losing the belt, he would continue on working in tag team matches with Shuji Inukai; the team would eventually become full-time, and they would win the World Tag Team titles a record six times. Outside of tag team wrestling, Mushashibo would capture the World title six more times, totalling a record seven reigns with the belt.

Later years and retirement (2010-present)
After Eugene Edmonton's death in 2009, Mushashibo ascended to company president status. His notable contribution for PWI was introducing a new generation of viable main event wrestlers to succeed the Golden Four, which are Eli Morton, Marco De Francesco, Jesse Van Holt, and Tyler Mercury. He would also win his fourth and final Royal Summit tournament in 2013, becoming the first, and so far, the only man to reach four Royal Summit wins.

Mushashibo also began pushing Kintaro Kinjo heavily, as him, Tatsuko, and Inukai were in the process of retiring, to become PWI's newest ace. In 2019, Mushashibo, Tatsuko, and Inukai wrestled their retirement match; a six-man tag team match against Eli Morton, Marco De Francesco, and Jesse Van Holt in a winning effort.

After retiring, he would continue serving as PWI's company president, with Tatsuko and Inukai serving as the executive vice presidents. Mushashibo made his acting debut in the film The Golden Guard, which was released in December 2019.

Personal life
Mushashibo married actress Maëlys Martel in 1997. They have two children, a daughter named Sonya (born 2002) and a son named Mathys (born 2004). He is an avid gamer, with him revealing that the Yakuza video game series is his favourite.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Pro Wrestling Integrity
 * PWI World Championship (7 times)
 * PWI World Tag Team Championship (7 times) - w/ Nobuatsu Tatsuko (1), Shuji Inukai (6)
 * Royal Summit (2001, 2005, 2006, 2013)
 * Royal Tag Team Summit (1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2010)
 * PWI Hall of Fame (Class of 2020)
 * Master Sports
 * Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006)
 * Tag Team of the Year (2000, 2002) - Team Dynasty 2000 (w/ Shuji Inukai)
 * Match of the Year (2001) vs. Nobuatsu Tatsuko on 27 January
 * Match of the Year (2003) vs. Kintaro Kinjo on 4 June
 * Match of the Year (2004) vs. Shuji Inukai on 7 August
 * Match of the Year (2005) vs. Shuji Inukai on 31 May
 * Match of the Year (2006) vs. Nobuatsu Tatsuko on 22 September
 * Match of the Year (2009) vs. Shuji Inukai on 6 March
 * Match of the Year (2010) vs. Kintaro Kinjo on 9 July
 * Magisterian Sports Observer
 * Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
 * Tag Team of the Year (2001) - Team Dynasty 2000 (w/ Shuji Inukai)
 * Match of the Year (2000) vs. Pat Deacon on 4 August
 * Match of the Year (2002) vs. Kintaro Kinjo on 30 May
 * Match of the Year (2004) vs. Shuji Inukai on 7 August
 * Match of the Year (2005) vs. Shuji Inukai on 31 May
 * Match of the Year (2009) vs. Shuji Inukai on 6 March
 * Magisterian Sports Observer Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)