Seiji Yamakawa (山川征二 Yamakawa Seiji), better known by his ring name Ryuji Yamakawa (山川竜司), is a Japanese professional wrestler who has wrestled in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) most of his career. He is best known for his blodiest deathmatches.
Professional wrestling career[]
On October 25, 1994 Yamakawa debuted for Network of Wrestling losing to Poison Sawada. The following year he would to Tokyo Pro Wrestling but eventually the promotion would close in 1995 and later in the same year he would move to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) and he would rename to Ryuji Yamakawa. He would travel to Brazil training at Marco Ruas Dojo. On December 1 he would have his first and only MMA match losing to Bunsimma Roong getting submitted in first round with Forearm Choke. On July 23, 1997 Yamakawa and Yoshihiro Tajiri defeated Takashi Ishikawa and Kishin Kawabata to become the new BJW Tag Team Champions. They lost the titles to Gedo and Jado on December 22, 1997. They would eventually regain the titles on January 2, 1998. This would led him to participate in the tournament to crown the first BJW Junior Heavyweight Championship, he would defeated Masayoshi Motegi in the first round, but he would lost to Gedo in the second round.
On March 4, 1998 Yamakawa and Tajiri lost the titles to Shadow WX and Shadow Winger. His perfomance would led him to participate in Battlarts Young Generation Battle League. He would finish the tournament with one draw, 3 losses and 1 win. On August 9, 1998 he would win the BJW Tag Team Championship with Shoji Nakamaki defeating WX and Winger. They would later vacate the titles due to Nakamaki leaving BJW on November 29, 1998. On May 30, 1999 he would defeated WX for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship. He would drop back to him on August 10, 1999. He would manage to regain it from him on December 4, 1999.
In Januray 2000 he would participate in the BJ Grand Prix but he would lost the title to Tomoaki Honma in the first round. On April 24 he would defeat Kintaro Kanemura to win the WEW Hardcore Championship. On Febuary 23, 2001 Yamakawa and Kanemura would defeat GOEMON and Onryo to win the WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship. On March 18 he would participate in the tournament to crown the BJW Heavyweight Championship he suffered the first of a series of serious injuries, fracturing his skull after receiving a botched Chokenstein from Wifebeater from the apron to the floor. Yamakawa returned to BJW after six months, but in 2004 he announced a "long-lasting rest period" to recover from his injuries. After that, he would suffer herniated discs on his back found by MRI and doctors told them to retire but instead he would wrestle under his real name and then under a new ring name Mr. Big Japan but he would return to his old ring name.
In October 2010, he was recommended by doctors to anticipate his retirement from professional wrestling. On July 8, 2012 he would have his last shot for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship unssucessfully challenging Abdullah Kobayashi. Afterwards he would announce his retirement match. His retirement match took place on July 15 and saw him team up with Abdullah Kobayashi and Ryuji Ito to take on Jaki Numazawa, Kankuro Hoshino and Shadow WX. Yamakawa's career ended with him pinning Hoshino for the win. After that would continue to work with BJW as part of the staff and he would appere in Wrestling New Classic as special guest reffere.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Reverse Tiger Driver (Lifting double underhook facebuster)
- Sitdown Powerbomb
- Signature moves
- Lariat
- Guillotine Drop
- Spinwheel Kick
- Tope con Hilo
- Entrance themes
- "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" by Journey
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Big Japan Pro Wrestling
- BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- BJW Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Yoshihiro Tajiri (2), Shoji Nakamaki (1), Mike Samples (1), Tomoaki Honma (1) and Shadow WX (1)
- Maximum Tag League (1999, 2000) – with Tomoaki Honma
- World Extreme Cup (2002)
- Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
- WEW Hardcore Championship (1 time)
- WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kintaro Kanemura