Early years (1986–1989) Sasaki debuted in
Riki Choshu's
Japan Pro-Wrestling, a satellite of
All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), in February 1986. On February 16, 1986, he made his debut against Shinji Sasazaki in a losing effort. Shortly afterwards, Sasaki became a regular in AJPW for over a year. He defected to rival promotion
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), following Choshu, who returned to NJPW in 1987. During his time with NJPW, Sasaki teamed up with the likes of
Osamu Matsuda and
Kenichi Oya.
International excursion (1989–1990) In January 1989, Sasaki embarked on an excursion to North America. He first started wrestling there in
Puerto Rico in
World Wrestling Council (WWC), where he held his very first championship, the
WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship, with
Mr. Pogo twice between January 14, 1989, and April 1, 1989. He also wrestled for
Stu Hart's
Stampede Wrestling promotion in Canada, where he wrestled under the name Benkei Sasaki and was trained by Hart in the
Hart Dungeon. During his time in Canada, he won the
Stampede International Tag Team Championship in August 1989, with All Japan loyalist
Sumo Hara. He also wrestled for
Otto Wanz's
Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) in tours of
Austria and
Germany under the name Kendo Sasaki from October to December 1989. In December 1989, Stampede Wrestling closed its doors, and Sasaki wrestled for the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA), until March 1990 when he was fired by
Ed Whalen for kicking
Mike Lozanski too stiff.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling (1990–2002) Teaming with Hiroshi Hase (1990–1992) Sasaki returned to NJPW in March 1990, and formed a popular
tag team with
Hiroshi Hase, with whom he would have a long on-off tag team partnership. They quickly won the
IWGP Tag Team Championships on November 11, 1990, defeating the team of
Keiji Muto and
Masahiro Chono. Holding the titles for only a month facing teams like
Super Strong Machine and
Tatsutoshi Goto, The Dragon Bombers (
Shiro Koshinaka and
Takayuki Iizuka) before eventually falling to
Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine on December 26 that same year. He would only win one more title with Hiroshi Hase a few months later; however, that was very brief, lasting only 15 days. The pair would have two reigns as
IWGP Tag Team Champions, and had memorable matches with
The Steiner Brothers.
Hell Raisers (1992–1996) Two more tag title reigns followed when in late 1992, Sasaki assumed the name "Power Warrior" and teamed with
Road Warrior Hawk. As
The Hell Raisers, they dominated the tag team scene in New Japan. In October 1992, he also started wrestling periodically for
World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and would wrestle there on and off until December 1996. Sasaki dropped the Power Warrior persona in 1995 (as he only revived the persona on special occasions, such as teaming with Hawk and Animal in six-man tag team matches) and began climbing the ranks in singles competition. He won his first major title, the
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship on November 13, 1995, defeating
Sting at a NJPW Event. This was the title's first title change outside of the United States. He soon lost the title to dubious circumstances however, losing to One Man Gang which was later claimed to be an official title match.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion (1997–2002) August 1997 skyrocketed Sasaki's rise to superstardom. On August 3, he won the
G1 Climax tournament by defeating
Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the final. A week later, he captured the
IWGP Tag Team Championship with
Kazuo Yamazaki. Finally at the end of the month, he captured the
IWGP Heavyweight Championship by defeating long reigning champion
Shinya Hashimoto, winning three major honors in a one-month span. Sasaki solidified his dominance in the heavyweight division by defeating both
Masahiro Chono and
Keiji Mutoh in his first two title defenses, thus defeating The Three Musketeers in three straight title matches. In April 1998, he lost the title to
Tatsumi Fujinami. In March 1999, he won another IWGP Tag Team Championship with
Shiro Koshinaka. Sasaki won his second IWGP Heavyweight Championship from
Genichiro Tenryu while wrestling with a 39 °C (102.2 °F) fever. He won the
G1 Climax for the second time in August 2000 with a victory over last year's winner
Manabu Nakanishi in the final, now holding both of New Japan's two heavyweight singles crowns. On October 9, 2000, Sasaki surrendered the IWGP title after he lost to
Toshiaki Kawada in a non-title match at an All Japan vs. New Japan event called
Do Judge. In a tournament final, Sasaki regained the title, defeating Kawada, at the January 4, 2001,
Tokyo Dome show. In March 2001, Sasaki lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title to
Scott Norton and in late 2002 he resigned from the promotion after a falling out with company management.
Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling (2003–2004) In the beginning of 2003, Sasaki joined his mentor, Riki Choshu, in his new
Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling (World Japan) promotion. He became the only WMG Heavyweight Champion; however, tensions between him and Choshu over financial issues caused Sasaki to withdraw and the company to die a slow death.
Freelancing (2004–2014) New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2004–2005) After leaving World Japan, Sasaki initially returned to NJPW in 2004 as a heel freelancer, with the New Japan roster, specifically
Yuji Nagata unwelcoming of his return in kayfabe. He later aligned himself with
Manabu Nakanishi, who had recently begun his "lone wolf" character. The two formed a tag team known as Pirates Gundan (Pirates Army), and regularly teamed with the likes of
Scott Norton and
Genichiro Tenryu. On March 12, he won back the
IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating
Hiroyoshi Tenzan in Tokyo. Sasaki dropped the title to
Bob Sapp a little over two weeks later. After introducing his student
Katsuhiko Nakajima and forming the Kensuke Family group, Sasaki began a redemption storyline where he attempted to win back the support of both the wrestlers and fans in NJPW. In August, he entered his first G1 Climax since 2002, but was prevented from reaching the finals by losing to Tenryu on the final day. By October, Sasaki was once again a firm fan favourite, and regained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in controversial fashion, beating
Kazuyuki Fujita in just 2:29 after reversing a sleeper into a pinfall. This win was legitimately protested by Sasaki and his wife Akira Hokuto, who destroyed the trophy given to Sasaki backstage and criticised Fujita for purposely dropping the championship so he could focus on MMA. Nevertheless, Kensuke successfully defended the belt twice against
Hiroshi Tanahashi and
Minoru Suzuki, before dropping it to Tenzan in December. After dropping the IWGP Title again, ally turned enemy
Riki Choshu returned to NJPW in a backstage role which led to Sasaki's appearances became more sporadic, and he stopped wrestling for NJPW once again in early 2005.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (2005–2008) After returning to NJPW, Sasaki once again started wrestling for AJPW too as a freelancer, entering the 2004
Champion Carnival and making it to the final where he lost to
Keiji Mutoh. After making occasional appearances throughout 2004, Sasaki went over to AJPW full-time in early 2005. On January 16, he unsuccessfully challenged
Toshiaki Kawada for the
Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, but saw success throughout the year, first winning the
Champion Carnival by beating
Jamal in the final. On July 26, Sasaki and his student
Katsuhiko Nakajima then beat the
Voodoo Murders (
"brother" Yasshi and
Shuji Kondo) to win the
All Asia Tag Team Championship. Kensuke (as his old "Power Warrior" character) and
Road Warrior Animal teamed up on September 1 at the Differ Ariake to defeat Yasshi and Kondo. On November 19, Sasaki got another shot at the Triple Crown, this time losing to
Satoshi Kojima. In July 2006, Sasaki suffered an injury and required time off, meaning he and Nakajima had to vacate the All Asia Tag Titles. After five months away from the ring, Sasaki returned to All Japan in January 2007. In May, Sasaki and Nakajima teamed up with rookie
Seiya Sanada to win the Samurai! TV Triple Arrow Six Man Tag Team Cup, beating the Voodoo Murders (Kondo, Yasshi and
Taru) in the final. On August 26, 2007, Sasaki defeated Minoru Suzuki to become the
Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion. Sasaki made his first defense against Toshiaki Kawada on October 18, 2007, and would go on to team with Kawada after
Katsuhiko Nakajima suffered an injury on October 18 in the 2007
World's Strongest Tag Determination League. Sasaki and Kawada would lose a Finals Decision match against
Satoshi Kojima and
Suwama on December 9; both teams were tied, and opponents were needed for Keiji Muto and
Joe Doering in the final of the League. Sasaki successfully defended the Triple Crown Championship against Satoshi Kojima (on March 1, 2008). Sasaki participated in the 2008 Champion Carnival over five straight shows in the
Korakuen Hall from April 5 to April 9, scoring 4 points after 1 win (over
Joe Doering), 1 loss (to Minoru Suzuki) and 2 draws (with Suwama and
Osamu Nishimura). Sasaki lost the Triple Crown Championship to Carnival Winner Suwama on April 29, 2008, and left the promotion in June.
Pro Wrestling Noah (2008–2013) Sasaki debuted for
Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005, losing to
Kenta Kobashi at
Destiny 2005. After losing the Triple Crown titles in 2008, he jumped to Pro Wrestling Noah and announced he would make it his full-time home promotion, while still operating the
Kensuke Office. On September 6, 2008, he defeated
Takeshi Morishima for the GHC Heavyweight Title, becoming the first person to hold the Heavyweight title in all three major Japanese promotions. On March 1, 2009, he lost the GHC Heavyweight title to
Jun Akiyama. On September 21, 2009, he teamed with Morishima to win the GHC Tag Team titles from
Akitoshi Saito and
Bison Smith. They lost the titles on December 6, 2009, to
Takeshi Rikio and
Muhammad Yone. Sasaki teamed up with regular tag partner Takeshi Morishima to participate in the
Global Tag League of 2010, which ran from January 9 to January 24. Sasaki and Morishima finished the league with a total of four points, losing out to A-Block winners
Yoshihiro Takayama and
Takuma Sano. Sasaki also participated in Pro-Wrestling NOAH's
Global League of 2010 from March 28 to May 2. During the league, he defeated
Jun Akiyama in a highly acclaimed contest. Sasaki finished with a total of seven points, losing out to eventual winner
Yoshihiro Takayama.
Diamond Ring (20052014) In 2005, Sasaki established his own agency, Kensuke Office. The agency is run by Sasaki's wife (former
joshi wrestler),
Akira Hokuto. Under the Kensuke Office agency, Sasaki and pupil Katsuhiko Nakajima toured other promotions, particularly All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah (PWN). In September 2006, Kensuke Office was announced as a member of the
Global Professional Wrestling Alliance (GPWA). Beginning in 2007, Kensuke Office has organised its own shows, and some of the talent featured on the shows include
Minoru Suzuki,
Jun Akiyama, Genichiro Tenryu,
Yoshihiro Takayama,
Kikutaro, Takeshi Morishima,
KENTA and
Catfish Man. In January 2012, Kensuke Office was renamed Diamond Ring. Currently, Diamond Ring serves as developmental territory of Pro Wrestling NOAH, featuring several of its superstars. On February 11, 2014, Sasaki suffered his first loss to Katsuhiko Nakajima in the main event of a Diamond Ring event. Following Sasaki's retirement, Diamond Ring was left with only one remaining wrestler, Katsuhiko Nakajima, with Satoshi Kajiwara resigning and
Mitsuhiro Kitamiya joining Pro Wrestling Noah. == Mixed martial arts career ==