Osamu Nishimura

Osamu Nishimura (西村修, Nishimura Osamu; September 23, 1971 – February 28, 2025) was a Japanese professional wrestler. Nishimura was best known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and MUGA World Pro Wrestling (MUGA). Outside of pro wrestling, he was also a politician, having served as a member of the Tokyo Bunkyo Ward Assembly as a food education instructor.

Nishimura joined the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo in April 1990, while a senior in high school. After a year of training, he debuted for NJPW in April 1991, losing to Takayuki Iizuka. In August 1993, he went overseas to Florida for an extensive training excursion under B. Brian Blair, Hiro Matsuda and Don Jardine. In March 1994, he wrestled a match for Yoshiaki Yatsu's Social Pro Wrestling Federation, before returning to the States to start his overseas excursion.

In April 1994, he embarked on his first overseas tour of the United States, wrestling for various National Wrestling Alliance territories. On August 26, 1994, he went to the Global Wrestling Federation and defeated Alex Porteau to win the GWF Light Heavyweight Championship; he would be its final champion before the promotion folded a month later. A day later, he went to the NWA's biggest territory at the time, Eastern Championship Wrestling, and take part in the NWA World Title Tournament to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion; he lost to Dean Malenko in the first round. The next day, he unsuccessfully challenged Shane Douglas for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. He would be brought back to NJPW for one match in October 1994, before Nishimura returned to the States to resume his excursion. In November 1994, he would receive another chance at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with another tournament, this time co-promoted by Smoky Mountain Wrestling; he and Lou Perez went to a time limit draw in the first round, eliminating both men. In March 1995, he had a couple shots at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, now held by Dan Severn, but lost both times. In May 1995, he moved to the Netherlands to train in Chris Dolman's dojo for a month, before moving to the United Kingdom to train in The Snake Pit under Roy Wood. It was in the Snake Pit, where Tatsumi Fujinami saw Nishimura's progress and was so impressed that Nishimura was to return to NJPW, after the NJPW vs. UWFi show.

In May 1997, he underwent another overseas excursion. First, he went to Canada to train under Tokyo Joe Daigo for a month, before going to Europe for Catch Wrestling Association. In September 1997, he defeated Robbie Brookside to win the CWA Submission Shootfighting Championship. He would vacate the title in January 1998, due to his return to NJPW.

In 2001, he went to the United States again to polish his skills at the Funking Conservatory in Florida, under the eye of Dory Funk, Jr. (whom Nishimura admired from watching matches of New Japan's founder Antonio Inoki). He would wrestle on and off with them until 2019. In May 2002, he wrestled a couple of matches for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico. In June 2003, he wrestled for another Florida promotion, Independent Pro Wrestling, before moving to Germany three months later to wrestle for European Wrestling Promotion. In February 2006, he and old MUGA comrade Katsushi Takemura took part in Chikara's 2006 Tag World Grand Prix, where they made it to the semi-finals, before being defeated by Milano Collection A. T. and Skayde. In December 2006, he wrestled a show for Full Impact Pro. In June 2007, he wrestled a show for NWA Bluegrass, taking part in another tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but lost to Brent Albright in the first round. In May 2008, he wrestled in South Korea for New Korea Pro Wrestling Association, winning the NKPWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time, defeating Riki Bassan and Kurt Angle in a three-way match. He would lose the title in March 2009 to Yun Kang Chul. In May 2017, he returned to Florida and won the BANG! TV World Heavyweight Championship. In September 2017, Nishmura regained the NKPWA World Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He would hold onto the title for nearly a year, before losing it back to Yun Kang Chul. He would regain the title nearly a year later for a third time.

Nishimura returned to New Japan in October 1995. He was immediately paired with Keiji Muto for the annual Super Grade Tag League; they tied for third with the team of Shiro Koshinaka and Tatsutoshi Goto. In November 1995, he lost a high-profile match to Ric Flair. In October 1996, he won the Catch of Lancashire tournament.

After a European excursion, Nishimura returned in January 1998 and teamed with Shinya Hashimoto in the struggle against NWO Japan's Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono, who held the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but they were unsuccessful. Nishimura also failed to unseat IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki, before Nishimura was diagnosed with a cancerous retroperitoneal tumor in August. He made his triumphant return in June 2000, despite losing to Tatsumi Fujinami on his first match back. Nishimura's star was bright enough to warrant an earnest push, and he won the IWGP tag team titles with Fujinami. Nonetheless, the bi-promotional duo of Mutoh and All Japan Pro Wrestling's Taiyō Kea were on the rise, and the two teams clashed over both the IWGP title and AJPW's World Tag Team Championship, both of which ended up around the waists of Mutoh and Kea.

In 2002 he teamed with Manabu Nakanishi under the name Gotch-ism, but they failed to win the titles. As Nakanishi began teaming more with Yutaka Yoshie, Nishimura engaged in a feud with the returning Minoru Suzuki, with whom he had a MUGA-style feud that showcased the traditional, scientific skills of both wrestlers. He later began teaming with Hiroyoshi Tenzan, with whom he won another IWGP tag team title in late 2003. They held the belts until February 2004 when they were defeated by Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama. As Tenzan focused on the IWGP Heavyweight title, Nishimura aimlessly was relegated to the mid-card. In January 2006, Nishimura opted not to renew his NJPW contract and left the company altogether.