Naomichi Marufuji

Naomichi Marufuji
Ring name(s)	Naomichi Marufuji
Billed height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Billed weight	84 kg (190 lb)[1]
Born	September 26, 1979 (1979-09-26) (age 32)[2] Kitaadachi District, Saitama, Japan[2]
Trained by	All Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo[3][unreliable source?] Mitsuharu Misawa[3][unreliable source?]
Debut	August 28, 1998[2]

Naomichi Marufuji (丸藤正道, Marufuji Naomichi^?) (born September 26, 1979)^[2] is a Japanese professional wrestler who competes for Pro Wrestling Noah, with occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions like Ring of Honor, All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, among others. Marufuji is the first of only two Grand Slam Champion in Pro Wrestling Noah history. He is also the only man to win Junior Heavyweight Championships in all three major Japanese promotions. In 2009, he was appointed to the position of Vice President of the promotion.^{[3][unreliable source?]}

Professional wrestling career

Debut and Pro Wrestling Noah

Marufuji pursued amateur wrestling and basketball during his high school days before joining All Japan Pro Wrestling.^[2] For the first two years of his career, under Giant Baba and Mitsuharu Misawa's isolationist policy, he was a jobber; one of the few rare interpromotional matches he worked was in Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1999, a lucha libre six-man tag match, gave him a chance to shine. After the Noah secession, he joined the upstart promotion and became an integral part of its Junior Heavyweight division, impressing many with his high-flying style and charisma. He would go on to form a successful tag team with KENTA, as well as win the 2004 Super J Cup.^[1] On March 5, 2006, Marufuji pinned former AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and former GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue.

On September 9, 2006, Naomichi defeated Jun Akiyama for the GHC Heavyweight Championship at the Budokan Hall, utilizing the Perfect Inside Cradle. In doing so, he became the first wrestler to win all five GHC titles in Noah and became the lightest GHC Heavyweight Champion of all time. A little over a month later, Marufuji's successfully defended the title against his tag team partner Kenta on October 29, 2006. The match received critical acclaim and Tokyo Sports Grand Prix named the match "Best Bout of 2006". On December 10, 2006, Marufuji lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Mitsuharu Misawa in his third defense.

On July 5, 2009, Marufuji was appointed to the position of Noah's Vice President alongside Kenta Kobashi by Noah's current President Akira Taue in the wake of Misawa's death.^{[3][unreliable source?]}

New Japan Pro Wrestling

On June 10, 2003, Marufuji made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling, teaming with Kotaro Suzuki to unsuccessfully challenge Jushin Liger and Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.^[4] Marufuji would return to the company on December 9, failing in his attempt to win the IWGP U-30 Championship from Hiroshi Tanahashi.^[5] On May 3, 2004, Marufuji would make his final appearance for NJPW in over five years in a six man tag team match, where he, Heat and Tiger Mask IV were defeated by American Dragon, Koji Kanemoto and Último Dragón.^[6]

On December 22, 2009, Marufuji made his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling, defeating Jushin "Thunder" Liger in the first round of the 2009 Super J Cup.^[7] The following day he defeated Tigers Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi and finally Prince Devitt in the finals, to win the Super J Cup and earn himself a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.^[8] On January 4, 2010, Marufuji represented Noah in the New Japan vs. Noah match series at Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome, where he defeated Tiger Mask IV to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.^[9] With his victory Marufuji became the first person to hold the three major Junior Heavyweight Titles in Japan (All Japan, Noah and New Japan). On June 19 Marufuji lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Prince Devitt.^[10]

Foreign excursion

In early and mid-2005, Marufuji toured through Germany and Austria, competing for world Xtreme wrestling and Rings of Europe. Alongside with Minoru Suzuki, they were the first talent-delegation which was sent over that began the Noah/European Talent Trade Partnership.

Ring of Honor

As part of his foreign excursion to the U.S. along with Kenta Kobashi and Kenta, Marufuji challenged Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship on December 17, 2005, in Edison, New Jersey. Danielson retained his title, but the crowd gave Marufuji a loud ovation after the match.

Marufuji returned to the United States to wrestle for Ring of Honor on the main event of the "Best in the World" show on March 25, 2006 show in New York City, teaming with Kenta for the first time in the United States against the team of Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson; the team of Marufuji and Kenta won after Kenta pinned Danielson, but after Marufuji tried and failed to lift Joe.

Marufuji returned to Ring of Honor for a third tour, along with Kenta. Both started off the tour with a win, teaming up to defeat the Briscoe Brothers at Glory By Honor V: Night 1. The following night at Glory By Honor V: Night 2, he successfully defended the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Nigel McGuinness. Marufuji also appeared at Ring of Honor's first pay-per-view, Respect Is Earned, where he defeated Rocky Romero.

Return to AJPW

On September 28, 2008, ten years after his original debut in All Japan Pro Wrestling, Marufuji returned to AJPW and won the World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Ryuji Hijikata. He would go on to successfully defend the title against Shuji Kondo in a match that won the Tokyo Sports Grand Prix Best Bout of 2008 award and Takashi Okita before losing it to Kaz Hayashi.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Perfect Inside Cradle (Wrist-clutch inside cradle)^[3]
  • Pole Shift (Fisherman suplex piledriver)
  • Shiranui^[2] – Innovated
  • Shiranui Kai (Moonsault slam)^[1]
  • Tiger Flowsion (Double underhook sitout side powerslam)^[11] – Innovated
  • Triangle choke / Cobra clutch combination^[12] – 2008

• Signature moves
  • Corner-to-corner dropkick^[1]
  • Front missile dropkick^[1]
  • Frog splash^[2]
  • Front flip snapmare driver^[13]
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Australian Suplex (Non-lifting tiger)^[14]
    • Capture^[12]
    • Cut-throat bridging leg hook belly to back^[12]
  • Shooting star press^[2] – 2000–2004
  • Suicide dive^[2]
  • Superkick^[12]

Championships and accomplishments

• All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[15]

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[16]
  • Super J Cup (2004, 2009)^[8]
  • Tag Team Best Bout (2003) with Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jushin Liger and Koji Kanemoto on June 10^[17]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #52 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010^[18]

• Pro Wrestling Noah
  • GHC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[19]
  • GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[20]
  • GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kenta (1) and Atsushi Aoki (1)^[21]
  • GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship (1 time)^[22]
  • GHC Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Minoru Suzuki (1) and Takashi Sugiura (1)^[23]
  • Differ Cup (2005)^[24]
  • One Night Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2007) – with Go Shiozaki and Ippei Ota^[25]
  • Two Day Tag Team Tournament (2004) – with Takeshi Rikio^[25]

• Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
  • Outstanding Performance Award (2006)
  • Best Bout Award (2006) vs. Kenta (October 29, 2006)
  • Best Bout Award (2008) vs. Shuji Kondo (November 3, 2008)

• World Entertainment Wrestling
  • WEW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tamon Honda^[26]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Tag Team of the Year (2003, 2004) with Kenta

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} PWI Staff (October, 2004). "Pro Wrestling llustrated 500 - 2004 :55 Naomichi Marufuji". Pro Wrestling Illustrated (Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, USA: Sports and Entertainment publications LLC): p. 25. December 2004. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} "OWOW profile". http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/n/naomichi-marufuji.html. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Cagematch profile". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=1214. 
4. ^ "Best of the Super Jr. X (5/23/03 to 6/11/03)". Strong Style Spirit. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/results/bosj03.html. Retrieved 2010-05-08. 
5. ^ "Battle Final 2003 (11/24/03 to 12/14/03)". Strong Style Spirit. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/results/battle03.html. Retrieved 2010-05-08. 
6. ^ "New Japan Pro Wrestling results for 2004". Strong Style Spirit. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/results04.html. Retrieved 2010-05-08. 
7. ^ "Results New Japan “SUPER J-CUP 5TH STAGE”, 12/22/09". Strong Style Spirit. 2009-12-22. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/?p=1264. Retrieved 2010-01-09. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Results New Japan “SUPER J-CUP 5TH STAGE”, 12/23/09". Strong Style Spirit. 2009-12-23. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/?p=1279. Retrieved 2010-01-09. 
9. ^ "January 4 New Japan Tokyo Dome report - legends, promotional wars". Wrestling Observer. 2010-01-04. http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/11848/. Retrieved 2010-01-04. 
10. ^ "(Results) New Japan “DOMINION 6.19″, 6/19". Strong Style Spirit. 2010-06-19. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/?p=1659. Retrieved 2010-06-19. 
11. ^ "Results New Japan, 1/4/10". Strong Style Spirit. 2010-01-04. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/?p=1308. Retrieved 2010-01-05. 
12. ^ ^{a b c d} "Puroresu Central profile". Puroresu Central. http://www.puroresucentral.com/marufuji.html. Retrieved 2010-01-12. 
13. ^ Berenstein, Ari (2009-12-31). "Column of Honor: 12.31.09: Final Column 2009 Part Five - Top 100 ROH Matches of 2009 # 100-31". 411Mania. http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/125502/Column-of-Honor:-12.31.09:-Final-Column-2009-Part-Five---Top-100-ROH-Matches-of-2009--. Retrieved 2010-01-12. 
14. ^ "New Japan Pro-Wrestlings (SUPER J-CUP 5th STAGE) Results". Pro Wrestling Noah USA. http://www.noah-usa.cc/newsandtopics.html. Retrieved 2010-01-12. 
15. ^ "AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship history". http://wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/aj-j.html. 
16. ^ "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship history". Puroresu Dojo. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/newjapan/iwgp-j.html. Retrieved 2010-01-09. 
17. ^ "2003 New Japan Awards". Strong Style Spirit. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/2003-awards.html. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 
18. ^ ""PWI 500": 1–100". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 2010-07-30. http://prowrestlingillustrated.blogspot.com/2010/07/pwi-500-1-100.html. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
19. ^ "GHC Heavyweight Championship history". http://www.noah-usa.cc/GHC%20Heavyweight%20Champion%20sub%20title%20page.html. 
20. ^ "GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship history". http://www.noah-usa.cc/GHC%20Jr%20Heavyweight%20Champion%20sub%20title%20page.html. 
21. ^ "GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history". http://www.noah-usa.cc/GHC%20Jr%20Heavyweight%20Tag%20Team%20Champ%20sub%20title%20page.html. 
22. ^ "GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship history". http://www.noah-usa.cc/G%20HARDCORE%20CROWN%20Champ%20sub%20title%20page.html. 
23. ^ "GHC Tag Team Championship history". http://www.noah-usa.cc/GHC%20Heavyweight%20Tag%20Team%20Champ%20sub%20title%20page.html. 
24. ^ "Differ Cuo 2005 results". http://zerooneusa.com/results-2005-differ05.php. 
25. ^ ^{a b} "NOAH profile". http://www.purolove.com/noah/profiles/naomichimarufuji.php. 
26. ^ "WEW Tag Team Championship history". http://fmwwrestling.us/FMWTag.html. 

External links

• Profile at Green Destiny
• Profile at Jujigatame Puroresu
• Profile at bodyslamming.com
• Profile at NOAH USA (official site)

Persondata
Name	Marufuji, Naomichi
Alternative names
Short description	professional wrestler
Date of birth	September 26, 1979
Place of birth	Kitaadachi District, Saitama, Japan
Date of death
Place of death