8 Things You Didn't Know About WWE's Kyoki (FKA Hiromu Takahashi)

6. He Was Inspired By Masahiro Chono

He's not a bad choice to be inspired by, Masahiro Chono, but his pedigree will never mean anything to a Western audience: To them, he was just that Japanese fella who rocked up in the nWo one day on WCW Nitro.

That's a facetious summarisation of his career, of course, as Chono is revered by those who followed his body of work. As one-third of 'The Three Musketeers' alongside Keiji Muto and Shinya Hashimoto, Masa is one of the most illustrious figures within New Japan lore, holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship once and the Tag Team Titles 7 times, as well as having regular success as a tournament wrestler. He won 11 bracket-based events in 'The King Of Sports', 5 of which were G1 Climaxes (the second most in history, behind only Antonio Inoki with 6 wins), thus earning Chono the moniker 'Mr August'.

Such eternal glory is what caught the attention of a 12-year-old Hiromu Takahashi. Watching the G1 final in 2002, a prepubescent Takahashi watched in awe as Chono battered Yoshihiro Takayama to attain his fourth G1 trophy; from that moment on, he wanted to do the same.