Eiji Ezaki (江崎 英治, Ezaki Eiji; November 29, 1968 – March 3, 2016), better known as Hayabusa (ハヤブサ, Hayabusa; "Falcon"), was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter, stage actor, and musician. He was best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily wrestled throughout his career and was the ace of the company between 1995 and 2001.
Ezaki initially competed for FMW as a low-carder between 1991 and 1993 before travelling to Mexico where he developed the "Hayabusa" character and his signature wrestling style during his time with lucha libre organizations. He returned to Japan in 1994 at the inaugural Super J-Cup tournament, and received a significant push in FMW as the face of the company; he won his first Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship later that year. He spent much of 1996 on the sidelines due to injury and lost the majority of his high-profile matches upon his return. He started gaining popularity and championship success in 1997 and won the Double Championship in 1998 and held the title for most of the year. He developed alter egos such as "The Darkside of Hayabusa" in 1996 and the unmasked "H" in 1999. His career ended in late 2001 after a botched moonsault left him paralysed during a match with Mammoth Sasaki.
He was a five-time world champion in FMW as he won the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship three times, Independent Heavyweight Championship one time and the WEW Heavyweight Championship one time. He also became a two time Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champion, a two time WEW World Tag Team Champion, a two time World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Champion and a two time WEW 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He also won All Japan Pro Wrestling's All Asia Tag Team Championship once.
He headlined many pay-per-view events for FMW including the company's premier show Anniversary Show a record six times, consecutively for four years between the 9th and 12th editions of the event. In his post-retirement years, Ezaki promoted the Wrestlings Marvelous Future (WMF) promotion, which spun off from FMW, but the promotion was a failure and closed in 2008.
Trained by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) star and sumo wrestler Takashi Ishikawa, Eiji Ezaki made his wrestling debut while in college on a student wrestling event on November 2, 1987, teaming with Masashi Honda against three upper classmen. He and Honda would continue to perform on student wrestling events and for small independent promotions before joining Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW)'s dojo, headed by another former AJPW alumnus Tarzan Goto.
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991–2001)
After graduating from the FMW dojo, Ezaki made his FMW debut on May 5, 1991, where he teamed up with Amigo Ultra to defeat El Pandita and Yukihide Ueno in a tag team match. As is customary for rookies to lose matches in professional wrestling, especially puroresu, Ezaki lost the majority of his matches throughout the year. Ezaki got his first win in FMW against fellow rookie (and his former college compatriot) Masashi Honda on June 29. The two competed in many matches including the opening match of FMW's 2nd Anniversary Show on September 23, which Ezaki won. His next major show appearance was at a FMW and World Wrestling Association co-promoted interpromotional event on May 16, 1992, where Ezaki represented FMW with Mr. Gannosuke and Ultra Taro against WWA's Los Mercenarios Americanos (Mercenario I, Mercenario II and Mercenario III) in a six-man tag team match, which Ezaki lost after being pinned by Spicolli. At September's 3rd Anniversary Show, Ezaki and Gannosuke lost to Chris Jericho and Kevin Faule. Ezaki participated in the company's 4th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1993, where he defeated Koji Nakagawa in the opening match. In September 1993, Ezaki participated in a tournament for the inaugural Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, where he lost both matches in his block against Koji Nakagawa and Battle Ranger Z. His last match in FMW during this tenure was a win against Masato Tanaka on September 27, before Atsushi Onita sent Ezaki overseas to learn the lucha libre style in Mexico.
North American excursion (1993–1995)
Ezaki adopted the Hayabusa character in December 1993 while in Mexico. While there, he learned the lucha libre style from wrestling instructor Rey Misterio, Sr. Ezaki wrestled for the World Wrestling Association, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) during his time in Mexico. He then returned to Japan to participate in the 1994 Super J-Cup tournament for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he competed as Hayabusa in Japan for the first time to test how the crowd reacted to his character in Japan. He faced Jushin Liger in a losing effort in a well received first round match of the tournament. The following month, Hayabusa debuted for CMLL on May 17 by teaming with Ringo Mendoza and La Sombra to defeat Javier Cruz, Panico and Tornado Negro in a two out of three falls match. He teamed with Super Astro in the number one contender's tournament for the vacated World Tag Team Championship, where the duo lost to El Dandy and Negro Casas in the opening round. During his time in Mexico, Víctor Quiñones would offer Ezaki a contract to defect to IWA Japan, but declined, showing loyalty to FMW. He appeared as Hayabusa in FMW for the first time at Summer Spectacular on August 28, 1994, by defeating Sabu. He then returned to CMLL to team with fellow Japanese wrestler Último Dragón in the 1994 Copa de Oro on October 25 in a loss to eventual winners Apolo Dantés and El Dandy in the quarter-final. The following month, Hayabusa and Dragon participated in the number two contender's tournament for the World Tag Team Championship, where they defeated El Felino and Mano Negra in the first round before losing to El Satánico and Emilio Charles Jr. in the quarter-final. He would remain in Mexico until December 1994.
Between January 1995 and April 1995, Ezaki wrestled in the United States, mainly in the Florida area. During this time, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was interested in Ezaki and offered a tryout, but he declined and remained with FMW.
Initial push and injuries (1995–1996)
Ezaki was scheduled to make his full-time return to FMW as Hayabusa at the company's 6th Anniversary Show against The Gladiator on May 5, 1995. However, he was chosen by FMW's new owner Shoichi Arai to fill the spot as Atsushi Onita's opponent in Onita's retirement match at the event as Onita wanted his final opponent to succeed him as the promotion's ace after Onita's originally supposed opponent Tarzan Goto left FMW and there was no main event star left to be Onita's opponent. Hayabusa returned to FMW at the 6th Anniversary Show, where he unsuccessfully challenged Onita for the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship in an exploding cage barbed wire deathmatch. During the match, Ezaki managed to kick out of Onita's Thunder Fire Powerbomb and gave a huge fight. He was rushed to the hospital on a stretcher due to severe burns but became Onita's successor as the ace of FMW. Hayabusa returned to the company on May 17 by teaming with Katsutoshi Niiyama against Lethal Weapon members The Gladiator and Horace Boulder in a losing effort to begin his first rivalry in the company with Lethal Weapon. He was the leader of the new generation of FMW wrestlers including Niiyama, Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Koji Nakagawa. He wrestled the group's members in several tag matches for the next one month after Lethal Weapon questioned his ability to become the ace of FMW and vowed to take over the company. He initially struggled to gain a fanbase after Onita's loyal fans refused to accept him but Hayabusa got to impress the Japanese fans by debuting the Phoenix Splash against Lethal Weapon member Ricky Fuji during a match on May 28. Hayabusa's team lost but the Phoenix Splash was heavily promoted by the Japanese media, which helped FMW in regaining the fanbase and Ezaki started becoming popular due to his high-flying skills.