Kaz Hayashi

Kazuhiro Hayashi (林 和広) is a Japanese professional wrestler known simply as Kaz Hayashi (カズ・ハヤシ).

He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where in addition to being a wrestler for the promotion, he also served as the head booker for the company's junior heavyweight division.

In June 1997, he left Michinoku Pro for the Mexican Promo Azteca promotion, before joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the United States in October of that year.

After unmasking, Hayashi joined WCW in 1998.

Early on, he was relegated to a jobber and comedy character.

He would be taken under the management of Sonny Onoo and even come to inherit Glacier's ceremonial armor and light show for a time.

In late 1999, Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara began booking WCW programs and Hayashi was paired with La Parka.

During interviews, the two would speak in their native languages which would be humorously dubbed over by charismatic English speakers, calling him names such as "The Kaz Master" and "Kazanova".

This ended shortly when La Parka became upset and tossed the microphone down as Ferrera was speaking.

In mid-2000, Hayashi formed the stable The Jung Dragons along with Jamie-San and Yang.

Primarily feuding with 3 Count, the Jung Dragons consisted of high-flying cruiserweight talent and gained considerable popularity until the group's demise the following year.

During this time, he became friends with Keiji Mutoh, who was appearing in his final run with the promotion under his Great Muta guise.

Hayashi's contract was bought by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) following their purchase of WCW in early 2001.

He was first sent to WWF's developmental territory the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) before being moved to the main roster.

Hayashi made his WWF main roster debut during the Invasion storyline as a member of The Alliance faction but only made one appearance before returning to HWA and ultimately heading back to Japan.

After returning to Japan, Hayashi eventually decided to join All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) due to his friendship with Keiji Mutoh and established himself as one of their top stars, winning the World Junior Heavyweight Championship and both the World Tag Team Championship and the All Asia Tag Team Championship with Satoshi Kojima.

In 2006, Hayashi won the AJPW Junior League tournament.

Now under the name Miguel Hayashi Jr., Hayashi, PEPE Michinoku, and El NOSAWA Mendoza formed a team during the AJPW Champion Carnival called Mexico Amigos.

Nobutaka Araya joined the team after six-man Action between Mexico Amigos and Araya/Fuchi/Hirai at the Carnival's final show.

After multiple bouts against Minoru Suzuki, Nosawa offered Suzuki an invitation into Mexico Amigos, which he declined.

This resulted in the group changing multiple assets.

Their name was changed to Mexico Amigos Black, the previous worn Mexican Flag attire became Black and Gold attire, and Nobutaka Araya was kicked out of the group.

The groups is currently in a heated rivalry with Mazada's Samurai New Japan group, Minoru Suzuki, and Voodoo Murders.

At AJPW's "Fan Appreciation Day" show, The Mexico Amigos teamed with Ray Suzuki and defeated Ryuji Hijikata, Kikutaro, T28 and Ryuji Yamaguchi.

After the match, Ray Suzuki revealed himself as Minoru Suzuki and stated that starting next year he would throw his Amigos tights away and return to Nosawa Rongai, then kidnapped him to start early training.

This led to Pepe and Miguel stating they would return to Mexico, but Kaz and Taka would return come the new year.

After one last "Viva Mexico", the Mexico Amigos disbanded.

On February 6, 2009, Hayashi defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win the World Junior Heavyweight Championship for a second time.

During Hayashi's 23-month reign, he successfully defended the title a record–breaking seventeen times.

He would lose the title to Minoru on January 2, 2011.

After leaving AJPW in 2013, Hayashi competed for Wrestle-1, where he also worked as a trainer.

In June 2013, Hayashi announced his resignation from All Japan in the aftermath of Nobuo Shiraishi taking over as the president and Keiji Mutoh leaving the promotion.

Hayashi's final match for the promotion took place on June 30 and saw him and his longtime tag team partner Shuji Kondo, who was also leaving All Japan, unsuccessfully challenge Burning (Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki) for the All Asia Tag Team Championship.

On July 10, 2013, Hayashi was announced as part of Keiji Mutoh's new Wrestle-1 promotion.

During the promotion's inaugural event on September 8, Hayashi teamed with Shuji Kondo in a tag team match, where they were defeated by the Big Japan Pro Wrestling team of Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi.

As part of a working relationship between Wrestle-1 and American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Hayashi and Kondo earned a shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship by defeating Desperado (Kazma Sakamoto and Masayuki Kono) on February 15, 2014.

In April 2017, Hayashi took over as the new president of Wrestle-1, remaining in the position until the promotion's closure in 2020; he was also the promotion's final champion of the Wrestle-1 Championship.

In August 2020, Hayashi joined Gleat as both an in-ring wrestler and the promotion's Chief Technical Officer.

For much of his early career, Hayashi wrestled in Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro/MPW) under a mask, using the ring name Shiryu (Growing Dragon in Japanese).

As Shiryu, he was part of the memorable rudo group, Kaientai Deluxe, which waged war with Michinoku Pro's Sekigun for many years, producing some classic matches.