Mammoth Sasaki

Yoshinori Sasaki (佐々木 嘉則) is a Japanese professional wrestler and retired sumo wrestler and mixed martial artist, currently working for Pro Wrestling Freedoms under the ring name Mammoth Sasaki (マンモス佐々木), where he is a former King of Freedom Tag Team Champion, becoming the longest reigning champion during his second reign with the title.

Sasaki was a third-rank junior champion of sumo wrestling in his high school and began training to compete for a professional sumo career in 1990.

He made his sumo debut in January 1993 under the ring name (shikona) Wakasasaki (若佐々木) and rose to the rank of sandanme in 1995.

In March, he changed his name to Naniwa (浪速).

Later that year, he injured his right ligament and retired from sumo in November 1996 to train for a professional wrestling career.

His overall career record of sumo was 57-52-31.

He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he competed between 1997 until the promotion's closure in 2002.

After training at the FMW Dojo, Sasaki made his debut in December 1997 under his given name and competed as an enhancement talent through the early years of his career.

Sasaki began training for a professional wrestling career at the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) dojo in April 1997, where he was trained by Katsutoshi Niiyama.

Sasaki earned the nickname of "Mammoth" by his peers due to his size and strength.

Sasaki made his wrestling debut by defeating Nobuyaso Anesaki in an exhibition match on November 15, 1997.

Sasaki debuted in FMW on December 8 by losing to Koji Nakagawa.

His first push came when he became a member of Atsushi Onita's faction Team Zero in 1998.

Sasaki began teaming with his dojo teammate Naohiko Yamazaki by losing to Mr. Pogo #2 and Flying Kid Ichihara on February 6, 1998 and got the first win of his FMW career against Yamazaki on February 9.

Sasaki was used as an enhancement talent, being used to put over the established stars of FMW during the early matches of his career.

On May 19, Sasaki made his pay-per-view debut by teaming with Yamazaki in a loss to Ichihara and Pogo.

On July 10, Sasaki and Pogo #2 were present with FMW President Shoichi Arai when Arai made the decision to move FMW to sports entertainment.

Team No Respect leader Kodo Fuyuki attacked the trio to begin Sasaki's first program in FMW.

At Atsushi Onita Presents Liar, Liar, Sasaki competed in the first main event of his career by teaming with Atsushi Onita, Pogo #2 and Arai against Fuyuki, Yukihiro Kanemura, Koji Nakagawa and Go Ito in a weapon deathmatch in a winning effort to retain Arai's presidency and release Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hideki Hosaka from TNR's slavery.

On August 21, Sasaki became a founding member of Onita's Team Zero faction, with Pogo #2, Kuroda and Hosaka.

Team Zero feuded with TNR during the fall of 1998 before the group disbanded when Onita quit FMW on November 20.

On January 5, 1999, Hideki Hosaka turned on Sasaki and Gosaku Goshogawara during a match against Nanjyo Hayato, Flying Kid Ichihara, and Naohiko Yamazaki, causing Sasaki to lose the match.

Sasaki faced Hosaka to gain revenge on March 29, but lost the match.

Sasaki resumed teaming with Yamazaki and continued to compete as a jobber to the stars throughout 1999.

He received his first championship match at Goodbye Hayabusa II: Last Match, by teaming with Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hisakatsu Oya against Kodo Fuyuki, Koji Nakagawa and Gedo for the WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship in a losing effort.

On September 24, Sasaki participated in his first pay-per-view main event by teaming with H, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Flying Kid Ichihara to defeat "Hayabusa", Koji Nakagawa, Gedo and Chocoball Mukai.

After years on the low-card, Sasaki won his first title, the WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship with Hideki Hosaka in 2000 and changed his ring name to Mammoth Sasaki in the fall of the year and became a main eventer during the fall of 2001.

Sasaki and Yamazaki teamed with Hideki Hosaka against Team No Respect's Koji Nakagawa, Jado and Gedo in a losing effort on January 5, 2000.

As a result, Sasaki began teaming with Hosaka as the duo competed against Nakagawa and Gedo, Jado and Kintaro Kanemura and Hisakatsu Oya and Naohiko Yamazaki in a #1 contender's four corners elimination match for the WEW World Tag Team Championship.

On March 27, Sasaki, Yamazaki and H unsuccessfully challenged Team No Respect for the 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

At Night in Shibuya Backdraft Eve, Sasaki won the first title of his career as he and Hosaka defeated Kintaro Kanemura and Hido to become the inaugural WEW Hardcore Tag Team Champions.

Sasaki and Yamazaki would lose to Terry Funk and Dory Funk, Jr. at the 10th Anniversary Show in their first high-profile match.

They successfully defended the title against The Samoans (Matty Smalls and Fatu) in their first title defense at 11th Anniversary Show.

After retaining the title in their second title defense against Michael Shane and Reuben Cruise on May 28, Sasaki and Hosaka became villains by turning on H and Tetsuhiro Kuroda to join Kodo Fuyuki in his new Shin Fuyuki-gun group.

On June 21, Sasaki and Hosaka lost the Hardcore Tag Team Championship to Samoans.

After failing in a rematch on July 14, Hosaka and Sasaki regained the title by defeating Samoans on July 28.

They successfully defended the title against Jado and Gedo on August 28.

On September 15, Sasaki's ring name was changed to his former FMW dojo name "Mammoth Sasaki" to avoid confusion with newcomer Yoshihito Sasaki.

Sasaki competed in a series of three matches titled Mammoth Sasaki Renaming Commemoration Trial Series, losing all of the matches against Masato Tanaka, Hayabusa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda.

On September 21, Sasaki and Hosaka lost the Hardcore Tag Team Championship to Jado and Gedo in a three-way match, also involving Kintaro Kanemura and Ryuji Yamakawa.