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| Wrestler's Name | Halcon Shadow | ||
| Real Name | Kensuke Kawada | ||
| Alignment | Neutral - leans towards heel. | ||
| Height | 6'0"" |
Weight |
220 lbs. |
| Birthday | Showa 47 (Tuesday, February 29, 1972) | ||
| Hometown | Snake Tokyo, Japan | ||
| Entrance Music | "" | ||
| Wrestling Style | High Flyer, Martial Artist, Puro Resu . | ||
| Physical Description | Shadow has long straight black hair which reaches the upper-middle part of his back. His eyes are deep, dark brown and menacing even without the make-up worn with his mask. His skin is relatively dark. His arms and upper torso are highlighted by remarkably graphic scars from his violent Puro Resu encounters involving a myriad of weapons like barbed wire. He has a solid consistent athletic build the length of his frame. | ||
| Ring Attire | Shadow wears knee-high martial arts toe boots with black soles and kick pads covering the fronts of his boots. His baggy martial arts pants are topped by sash. His forearms are covered by ornate material from his wrists to his elbows, usually highlighted by either gold or silver, matching his sash. His attire is topped off by his trademark mask which matches his ornate forearm attire. The top of his mask is open, revealing his black hair slicked back into a ponytail. Finally, his eyes are highlighted by make-up which matches both his attire and the ornate trim. Shadow has countless versions of this attire, including versions dominated by either red, blue, green, gold, silver, black, white. The boots match the forearm attire; the mask matches the sash; and shiny pants will generally feature the dominant color of the given outfit. . | ||
| Finishers | 1) Halcon Arrow (Piledriver, Suplex Body Slam through legs or Super Suplex Body Slam though Legs Piledriver) 2) Phoenix Splash (Off the Top Rope Somersault Splash with Twist) | ||
| Finisher Description | 1) (Halcon Arrow) The attacker applies a front face lock on the victim and throws the victim's near arm across their shoulders. The attacker grabs the victim's tights and lifts them straight up in the air so they are upside down. The attacker turns the victim slightly as if they are going to body slam the victim. The attacker positions the victim's head down and sits/jumps/drops down, dropping the victim on their head. 2) (Phoenix Splash) The attacker stands on the top corner ropes/turnbuckle; performs a forward flip; turning around before landing stomach first on the victim. | ||
| Standard Moves | Top Rope Leg Lariat | Springboard Mat Slam | Springboard Punch |
| Top Rope Somersault Senton w/ Twist | Moonsault Splash | Shooting Star Press | |
| Springboard DDT | Springboard Straight Leg Side Kick | Catapult Leg Drop (Slingshot Leg Drop) | |
| Catapult Somersault Leg Drop | Rana Suicida | Super Rana | |
| Takedown, Double Leg Tackle | Handspring Forearm Smash | Sunset Flip Suicida (Victim on Apron) | |
| Super Victory Roll | Cradle, Back to Back Roll Over | ||
| Biography | Kensuke Kawada was orphaned as baby born to a 15-year-old girl who had been raped by U.S. Marines stationed in Japan. At 7-years old, he was taken from the orphanage and into a Dojo of the legendary Puro Resu icon Akira Yoshi to perform menial tasks like sweeping floors and fetching water for Yoshi's wrestlers. After a year of working at the Dojo, Kawada revealed to one of the wrestlers that he wanted to practice Puro Resu. The wrestlers laughed at him, believing Yoshi would never agree to teach a half-Caucasian the finer points of Puro Resu. But the Marine who had raped Kensuke's mother was, himself, half Japanese. Therefore, as the years passed, Kensuke developed no Caucasian attributes. By the age of 14, Kensuke had become one of the youngest ring boys from Yoshi's Dojo. During the mid-1980s, as a ring boy, he scurried around ringside, assisting wrestlers during Puro shows; and was allowed to study the Puro Resu art form at the Dojo.
At a 1989 Euro-Asian Wrestling Conference card at Boudokan Hall, the opening match was almost canceled due to a Dojo injury, which left one of the participants unable to compete. Yoshi gave the spot to the 17-year-old Kensuke, who promptly proved that he was ready to begin his career toward becoming a Puro Resu star. For four years, however, Yoshi relegated Kensuke to opening matches, never allowing him to perform any higher than in mid-card tag team matches. But Kensuke longed for more. Within the realm of the Dojo, he'd been developing another personality -- "The Flying Shadow" -- which he believed adequately reflected who he really was. Kensuke knew, however, that Yoshi and his relatively conservative EAWC would probably not be the place for The Shadow to be brought to life. Kensuke also knew that if he left EAWC on bad terms, he could probably never return to one of the most successful Puro Resu promotions of all time. Feeling boxed in with a promotion that only gradually elevated talent over the course of many years, Kensuke severed his ties with Yoshi and EAWC, taking his act to the fledgling Rising Sun Wrestling. In RSW, in 1993, Halcon Shadow appeared for the first time. The RSW was far less conservative than EAWC, and Shadow quickly rose in popularity. Unfortunately, he was only very popular with a smaller audience. While EAWC could easily sell out the sterile Tokyo Dome with a card packed with Puro Resu strong-style matches, RSW was barely making ends meet by not quite selling out small halls to see a mixture of strong-style and extreme Puro Resu. From 1993 to 1999, Halcon Shadow became a RSW mainstay, recognized for his trademark mask, high-flying, martial arts, and willingness to compete in insane matches that involved barbed wire and explosives -- during this time, his scars also became a mainstay and as much a part of his trademark. In 1999, while competing in a hair vs. mask match (with his mask on the line) in RSW, wrestling fans across the Land of the Rising Sun were stunned to see Shadow lose his mask. After being defeated by Shinjiro Red, Shadow willingly unmasked and, in a tearful announcement, kneeled in the middle of the ring and proclaimed he was shamefully leaving Japan, never to return. Shortly thereafter, Shadow departed for Mexico's Aztec Libre Wrestling, where he again donned his trademark mask and spent six months infusing various aspects of Lucha Libre into his Puro Resu style. Only six months after one of RSW's few icons had said he would never return, he did just that -- wearing his mask -- to the disgust of the fans who had once cheered him. He'd blatantly lied and they hated him for that very reason. Deep inside, Shadow loved the jeers, hatred and antipathy the fans had for him, and he thrived on it, becoming RSW's biggest star. He still took occasional three-month tours with ALW, each time returning to RSW with more heat. |
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| Gimmick | Shadow doesn't speak; his unique non-stop, non-hesitant wrestling style speaks for him. He has nothing short of contempt for his opponents, as displayed through his actions. All the respect he learned at Yoshi's Dojo no longer exists. EAWC fans applauded his efforts, as they were typically from Japan's upper-middle class. RSW fans laughed at mistakes and often booed wrestlers without cause, as these fans were usually the working class of Japan. The RSW fans drove Shadow to a style where he willingly risked his own body to do harm to as many others as possible or even seemingly impossible. Even his tag team partners are not safe. | ||