Wakakirin Shinichi (若麒麟 真一 Wakakirin Shin'ichi), born September 21, 1983 as Shinichi Suzukawa (鈴川真一 Suzukawa Shin'ichi), is a former sumo wrestler from Hyōgo prefecture in Japan. His highest rank was maegashira 9. He was thrown out of the sport in February 2009 after being arrested for cannabis possession. In 2010 he became a professional wrestler.
Professional wrestling career[]
In 2010, Wakakirin, still using his sumo name returned to the ring as a professional wrestler, training in Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) stable. His first match was on the IGF-13 card in December, when he defeated Mark Coleman by referee stop. The match was controversial, and Coleman's colleague, Phil Baroni accused Wakakirin of shooting on Coleman in what was supposed to be a worked match. He made his comments on this on the Nightmare of Battle website.
Wakakirin's next fight was scheduled for December 31 against Bob Sapp, but the match never took place as Sapp refused to leave his dressing room. He was also scheduled to face Kimbo Slice on February 5 in Fukuoka, but that fight never took place as Kimbo went down with an injury. In 2011 he was named the sport's rookie of the year by Tokyo Sports.
Championship and accomplishments[]
- Tokyo Sports
- Newcomer Award (2011)