Kintaro Kanemura | |
---|---|
Birth name | Yukihiro Kanemura |
Born | Tsu, Mie, Japan | August 9, 1970
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Kintaman Kintaro Kanemura W*ING Kanemura Wing Kanemura Yukihiro Kanemura |
Billed height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
Billed weight | 112 kg (247 lb; 17.6 st) |
Debut | December 20, 1990 |
Retired | December 27, 2016 |
Yukihiro Kanemura (金村 珩皓, Kanemura Yukihiro, born August 9, 1970), better known by his ring name Kintaro Kanemura (金村 キンタロー, Kanemura Kintarō), is a Zainichi Korean retired professional wrestler. He also wrestled under the ring name Wing Kanemura (ウイング金村, Uingu Kanemura) (stylized as W*ING Kanemura). He is best known for his death matches in Apache Army, Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), International Wrestling Association (IWA) and Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING).
After beginning his career in the Japanese independent circuit in 1990, Kanemura joined W*ING in 1991 where he got his first mainstream exposure in professional wrestling and became skilled in deathmatch wrestling style as he participated in many notable deathmatches in the promotion, becoming one of the top stars of W*ING and became a one-time Caribbean Heavyweight Champion, one-time Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion and one-time World Tag Team Champion. He then worked briefly for IWA Japan after W*ING folded in 1994 before ultimately joining FMW. He made a name for himself in FMW by rising from a mid-carder to one of FMW's top main eventers as a member of W*ING Alliance and Team No Respect. He was the first title holder of the Independent Heavyweight Championship and the Hardcore Championship. He became a three-time world champion in FMW, winning the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship once, the Independent Heavyweight Championship once and the WEW World Heavyweight Championship once. After FMW folded down, Kanemura became a freelancer in the independent circuit and founded his own promotion, Apache Army, an offshoot of FMW, which ended with Kanemura's retirement in 2016. Other major titles won by Kanemura were the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship and the KO-D Openweight Championship.
Kanemura is of Korean descent. His Korean name is Kim Hyeong-ho (Korean: 김행호), but he has used a Japanese name in and outside of the ring. However, his best known pseudonym reflected his background, as the forename was a reference to South Korean professional wrestler Kintarō Ōki. He also had a short-lived marriage to Shiho Tsubaki of All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), having first met each other when she was touring with W*ING.[1]