Mr. Gannosuke
Masashi Honda is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling under the ring name Mr. Gannosuke.
Honda was quickly pushed as "Mr. Gannosuke" due to his resemblance to the actor Ashiya Gannosuke and he began competing as Atsushi Onita's tag team partner in main event matches during his rookie year. He left the company in 1995 with his trainer Tarzan Goto due to differences with Onita and worked in International Wrestling Association for nearly two years. He returned to FMW in 1997 and became the main rival of Hayabusa for the next four years. He was the company's most popular villain from 1997 to 1998 and the second top villain from then onwards. He would be a member of villainous groups Funk Masters of Wrestling, ZEN, Team No Respect and Shin Fuyuki-gun.
He held many titles in his FMW career including being a one-time Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and a two-time Independent Heavyweight Champion. He was also the winner of Over the Top tournament in 1999. He headlined many pay-per-view events for FMW including the company's flagship event Anniversary Show in 1998, 1999 and 2001.
Early life
Masashi Honda was born in Nagasaki-shi, Nagasaki, Japan on June 20, 1968. He was a fan of professional wrestling since childhood and grew up watching New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Honda idolized Riki Choshu as his favorite wrestler and decided to follow in his footsteps and become a professional wrestler. He joined Kumamoto University in 1987 and excelled in weight training, where he befriended Eiji Ezaki and the two trained for a professional wrestling career.Professional wrestling career
Early years (1987–1991)
Honda made his wrestling debut while in college on a student wrestling event on November 2, 1987, teaming with Eiji Ezaki against three upper classmen. They would cut their teeth on the small Japanese independent circuit for four years, before applying for the upstart promotion Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in 1991.Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991–1995)
In February 1991, Ezaki and Honda joined the FMW Dojo, where they were trained by Tarzan Goto. Ezaki would debut for FMW in May and Honda made his FMW debut a month later as a fan favorite against Akihito Ichihara on June 22, which Honda lost. He and Ezaki wrestled as a low-card tag team during the early matches of his career and against each other on the cards and would be utilized as preliminary talents, being used to lose against more established stars. Honda picked up his first win in FMW against Ezaki on June 26. The duo competed against each other in the opening match of the 2nd Anniversary Show, which Ezaki won. The following month, on October 14, Honda picked up his first major victory by winning a thirteen-man battle royal by last eliminating The Gladiator. His battle royal win elevated him to the upper mid-card while also competing in few main event matches as Atsushi Onita's partner. On October 22, Honda changed his ring name to Mr. Gannosuke, a nickname first given to him by his trainer Tarzan Goto during his training days due to Honda's resemblance to actor Ashiya Gannosuke. He would team with Onita in numerous street fights and deathmatches by the end of his rookie year.He suffered an injury in the fall of 1991 and returned to FMW on January 5, 1992, losing to Kevin Sullivan. Gannosuke suffered another injury on July 28 and was sidelined for the rest of the year. He returned on January 5, 1993, where he lost to Koji Nakagawa in the opening match of the show. A third injury ensued during a tag team match on April 23 when he and Atsushi Onita lost to Big Titan and The Gladiator after Gladiator punched hard in Gannosuke's jaw, thus breaking it. He returned to FMW on June 15 by defeating Eiji Ezaki. At Summer Spectacular, Gannosuke teamed with Sambo Asako to take on Big Titan and The Gladiator in a tag team match. Gannosuke pinned Gladiator by debuting his new finisher, the Gannosuke Clutch to gain a major upset win over Gladiator. In early 1994, Gannosuke was paired with his mentor Tarzan Goto in a tournament for the new Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship. They defeated Sabu and Damian in the quarter-final, a Barbed Wire Street Fight and the team of Mr. Pogo and Goro Tsurumi in the semi-final, a Barbed Wire Deathmatch and then lost to Big Titan and The Gladiator in a No Ropes Barbed Wire Deathmatch in the final of Block A. They would be moved to the losing teams' Block B, where they were defeated by Atsushi Onita and Katsutoshi Niiyama in the final of Block B, a No Ropes Barbed Wire Deathmatch. Gannosuke would then team with Sambo Asako to defeat Goro Tsurumi and Hideki Hosaka at 5th Anniversary Show.
Gannosuke began elevating his status in the summer of 1994 by picking up a major victory against Sambo Asako at Summer Spectacular. He then joined forces with Atsushi Onita and his allies to feud with the upstart faction W*ING Alliance. On November 23, the team of Gannosuke, Onita and Katsutoshi Niiyama took on W*ING members Mr. Pogo, Yukihiro Kanemura and The Gladiator in a Penalty Box Elimination No Ropes Barbed Wire Street Fight Deathmatch, during which Gannosuke was eliminated by Gladiator and suffered an injury, which put him out of action for nearly two months. He returned to FMW on January 5, 1995, where he teamed with FMW fellows Tarzan Goto, Katsutoshi Niiyama and Tetsuhiro Kuroda against W*ING's Mr. Pogo, The Gladiator, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hisakatsu Oya in a losing effort. A month later, on February 24, Gannosuke won his first championship, the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship with Onita by defeating Mr. Pogo and The Gladiator. They dropped the title to Pogo and Yukihiro Kanemura on March 7. Gannosuke and his mentor Tarzan Goto no-showed the April 22 event, and the following day, the two along with Flying Kid Ichihara announced that they were leaving FMW due to Goto's refusal of losing to Onita at 6th Anniversary Show. This also led Gannosuke and Katsutoshi Niiyama's scheduled match against Hisakatsu Oya and Ricky Fuji at the event to be cancelled.
Big Japan Pro Wrestling and International Wrestling Association of Japan (1995–1996)
Upon leaving FMW, Tarzan Goto, Mr. Gannosuke and Flying Kid Ichihara joined the upstart deathmatch wrestling promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling, where they debuted on May 30 with a win over Kendo Nagasaki, Giant Korean and Kim Soppo. They soon left BJW and joined International Wrestling Association of Japan in July, where the trio formed a stable Shin-FMW and were heavily pushed as the company's top villains. Gannosuke and Tarzan Goto also made an appearance for Wrestle Association R's 3rd Anniversary Show, where the duo defeated Jado and Gedo. At IWA Japan's Kawasaki Dream, Gannosuke participated in the well received King of the Deathmatch tournament, losing to Tiger Jeet Singh in a Barbed Wire Board and Chain Deathmatch in the quarter-final round. On October 1, Gannosuke and Tarzan Goto defeated Cactus Jack and Tracy Smothers to win the World Tag Team Championship. On December 9, Gannosuke and Goto defeated Jack and Tiger Jeet Singh in the final of a tag team tournament to win the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship and held both sets of tag team championships. Despite holding two sets of tag team titles, IWA Japan lost tons of money and suspended operations. Shin-FMW left the company in October 1996, forcing Gannosuke and Goto to vacate both titles.Tokyo Pro Wrestling (1996)
Shin-FMW also made a few appearances in Tokyo Pro Wrestling during their time in IWA Japan in mid-1996. The ill-fated promotion closed down after producing its last event on December 7.Return to FMW
Funk Masters of Wrestling and ZEN (1997)
On January 5, 1997, Mr. Gannosuke and Flying Kid Ichihara returned to FMW, confronting Hayabusa, upset that Hayabusa did not leave FMW with him in 1995. Gannosuke and Ichihara established themselves as villains and joined Terry Funk's Funk Masters of Wrestling. This marked the beginning of a historic and long-lasting rivalry between Gannosuke and Hayabusa. Gannosuke made his in-ring return to FMW on February 18 as he and Hisakatsu Oya defeated the team of Hayabusa and Ricky Fuji. Gannosuke went on a vicious streak, defeating other wrestlers and calling them victories over Hayabusa. At 8th Anniversary Show, Gannosuke wrestled Hayabusa in their first singles encounter, a mask vs. hair match, which Hayabusa won. However, Hayabusa suggested to Gannosuke that he would not cut his hair if Gannosuke left Funk Masters of Wrestling and Hayabusa initiated a handshake but Gannosuke attacked him and ripped off his mask and attempted to blow a fireball on Hayabusa before Jinsei Shinzaki made the save. This led to Gannosuke, wearing a purple Hayabusa mask, attacked Shinzaki with a stick during Shinzaki's entrance before a match at a Michinoku Pro Wrestling show on June 21. He then proceeded to burn Hayabusa's mask and also beginning to feud with Shinzaki.On August 5, Mr. Gannosuke won the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship with Funk Masters of Wrestling teammates Hisakatsu Oya and The Gladiator by defeating Hayabusa, Ricky Fuji and Koji Nakagawa in the quarter-final and Fuyuki-Gun in the final. Two weeks later, on August 21, Gannosuke and Oya defeated W*ING Kanemura and Hido to win the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship. On August 31, Funk Masters of Wrestling lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka and Koji Nakagawa. At Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Gannosuke and Oya successfully defended the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship against Jado and Gedo. On October 14, Gannosuke defeated Jinsei Shinzaki after attacking him from behind. During this time, he got over with the fans as the company's top villain due to getting heel heat after the departure of Terry Funk. On October 19, Gannosuke and Oya lost the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship to ZEN's Atsushi Onita and Yukihiro Kanemura. After losing the title, Gannosuke and Oya left Funk Masters of Wrestling and jumped to ZEN. Two days later, Gannosuke and Oya defeated The Gladiator and Super Leather after Gladiator attacked Leather and abandoned Funk Masters of Wrestling.
On November 28, Gannosuke teamed with his ZEN teammate Yukihiro Kanemura and they defeated Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka to win the vacant Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship and the two formed a very successful tag team, even surpassing their leader Atsushi Onita as the top villains of FMW due to them getting the biggest heel heat from the crowd. Friction arose within ZEN as Onita put himself in the main event of the December 19 show in the Super Extreme Wrestling War tour against Masato Tanaka, instead of Gannosuke and Kanemura's Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship defense against Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki, which the duo felt deserved to be the main event of the show and it led to a heated argument between Gannosuke and Onita. Gannosuke and Kanemura successfully defended the title against Hayabusa and Shinzaki. On the final day of the tour on December 22, the team of Onita, Gannosuke and Kanemura took on Hayabusa, Jinsei Shinzaki and Masato Tanaka in a WarGames match, during which Gannosuke and Kanemura showed tactics of dissension with Onita and turned on Onita after Onita was pinned by Hayabusa. They attacked Onita until Koji Nakagawa made the rescue and then Gannosuke, Kanemura and Hido left ZEN to form their own freelance group alongside Miss Mongol. This led Onita to turn fan favorite and Gannosuke cemented his place as the top villain of FMW.