Osamu Matsuda

Osamu Matsuda
Data
Ring name	Edo Samurai Osamu Matsuda El Purpose El Samurai
height	180 cm
Fighting weight	92 kg
birth	April 19, 1966 Hanamaki , Iwate ( Japan )
debut	4th July 1986

Osamu Matsuda (born April 19, 1966 ), better known under the name El Samurai , is a Japanese wrestler who has been active in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NWPW) since April 1985.

Wrestling career

In July 1986, Matsuda made his debut at New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW for short) in a match against Yuji Funaki . In March 1991 he went to Mexico and got the masked El Samurai gimmick . In early 1992 he came back to NJPW and won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title there in June after beating Jushin Thunder Liger . He then held other titles and became one of the most successful New Japan Juniors of the 1990s.

After Matsuda got a new ring suit in 1997, he won the Best of the Super Jr. tournament and Liger's J-Crown Championship in June . In April 2004 El Samurai unmasked again for several years for a match against Osamu Nishimura and appeared under his real name. The bigger successes haven't been seen in the last few years, but he still shows good matches and is a tough worker . He led the younger members of the Junior Sekigun from 2007 in a sub-faction, the Samurai Gym.

title

• UWA World Middleweight Title
• WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles (with Jushin Thunder Liger)
• British Commonwealth Jr. Heavyweight Title
• J-CROWN Octuple Unified Title
• NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title
• NWA World Welterweight Title
• 2 * UWA World Jr. Light Heavyweight Title
• 3 * WWA World Jr. Light Heavyweight Title
• 2 * WWF World Light Heavyweight Title
• 2 * IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles (with Jushin Thunder Liger)
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles (with Ryusuke Taguchi)

Web links

Profile on wrestling page from America (English)