NJPW: 10 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time
By Tim Sherry
5. Kensuke Sasaki
Fukuoka’s now retired Kensuke Sasaki, had a pro wrestling career that spanned about 27 years. However, only about half of that was spent in NJPW. But in that 13-year span, Sasaki made a dent on the company like few others. Initially seen as a tag team specialist, he would go on to win 6 of his first 7 IWGP Tag Team titles with 5 different partners from 1990, the year he entered the company, until 1997. Also in that span, he captured the WCW United States title from Sting, in so becoming the first man to ever win that title outside of the states.
But it was in 1997 that Sasaki’s career exploded. All within the course of one month, that month being August of 97′, he captured the G1 Climax over 3 time winner Hiroyoshi Tenzan, won his 6th tag title, this time with Kazuo Yamazaki, and then finished the run with a IWGP Heavyweight title win over Shinya Hashimoto which ended the champions record long 489 day title reign. Talk about a run. Sasaki went on from there to win another 2 IWGP Heavyweight titles and another G1 Climax before a fallout with the company saw him leave voluntarily in 2002.
After his departure, Sasaki then attempted to open his own promotion with another NJPW stand-out, Riki Choshu, however that venture failed in less than 2 years. He then returned to NJPW in 2004 and vowed to win the back the fans that saw him as a traitor. During the time he spent doing that, he managed to pick up 2 more IWGP Heavyweight titles making him only the second superstar at that time to capture that belt 5 times. And although Sasaki would once again leave a year later, his legacy was firmly cemented. Had it not been for the fall-out with the company that saw him leave the first time during one of the hottest runs of any career in NJPW history, Sasaki’s accomplishments might be even better. But either way, he’s still clearly one of the greatest stars of this great promotion.