Kenji Asano is a second generation star, his father being one half of the “Hunters” tag-team in the old AAPW (All-Asia Pro-Wrestling). Henry Asano, Kenji’s father, was Hunter #1, and in fact the AAPW’s promoter.
Always a stellar student, Kenji graduated high school at fourteen, and decided to travel abroad for college. He settled on the University of Southern California. He graduated second in his class and won the NCAA National Wrestling Championship at 149lbs. With a degree in Broadcast Production and his National Title in hand, Kenji returned to Japan, ready to turn AAPW into an international powerhouse.
It was not to be. Kenji's father was killed in a tragic automobile accident in Sapporo. Kenji was devastated. AAPW was never the same, and the promotion was quickly swallowed up by rival feds.
Despite this, Kenji would not be deterred. His father had been one of the majority owners of the Nagasaki/Asano Metal Works, a company that manufactured half of the worlds turnbuckles. Using his paternal fortune, Kenji traveled across Japan, his fathers mask stored safely away, Kenji wrestled in disguise. The disguise of Kenji Asano. He wrestled for free, willing to participate in any form of match, face any opponent, and he was punished for it. He was blown up, put through tables, tossed into barbed wire; but worse, he was twisted into positions he never knew existed, until his tendons groaned. After his dues had been paid in a certain fed, he would begin to learn from the vets, the hardcore brawlers, the high-fliers, and the jujitsu mat-technicians.
Then?
He would go to a new fed. And he would do it again.
In 2005 Kenji returned, making headlines. He had been out of the public eyes for nearly four years. He showed up on national TV, declaring himself “Hunter Zero” in honor of his fathers long-lost tag-team. His face was everywhere for a time, the returning son of the great Henry Asano, everywhere in fact, but the wrestling ring.
In the ring he was Hunter Zero.
And he wore his fathers masks.
The meteoric rise of Hunter Zero is well known, as he tore across Japan, defeating some of the best wrestlers in the world; he dominated the Australian Regional Independents, and defeated the South Korean National Champion, Lei Pak Jai in a still talked about 2-out-of-3-falls classic.
At one point in 2008, Hunter Zero held over ten individual titles, in near as many feds, simultaneously. He is as well known for his business savvy as for his split-legged moonsault, both of which are excellent of course.
