Ultimo Dragon's Run with WWE
For the burgeoning young, intelligent fan during the days of the Monday Night Wars, there were few more prominent standouts in the WCW Cruiserweight division than the man known as Ultimo Dragon. The man who created the iconic Asai Moonsault (so named after his real name of Yoshihiro Asai) was one of the first Japanese wrestlers to meld the style of his homeland with the Lucha Libre style popularized in Mexico. Before even entering the American market and earning exposure on WCW television, he had amassed a heavy amount of hype by competing in various promotions in both Mexico and Japan.
During his WCW tenure, where he was erroneously declared “The Ultimate Dragon” for a year of his time in the Atlanta-based promotion, Ultimo made his skills known to a much larger audience, capturing both the Cruiserweight Championship and the Television Championship. A masked marvel similar to many of the luchadors on the roster like Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis, Ultimo Dragon could fly with the best of them. Still, he could also slow it down and wrestle a strong technical mat match. This was no better exemplified than when he would have matches with William Regal or Dean Malenko. This time would also cement him with a record that still stands to this day. When he won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, he was also the J-Crown (consisting of 8 different titles) and the NWA World Middleweight Champion, giving him ten titles at once. Ultimo Dragon was the original belt collector.
Unfortunately, an arm injury would derail his career when the operation to repair the damage was botched, leaving Dragon with nerve damage thought to be career-ending. It was a big blow for Asai, as he had yet to conquer two of his dreams regarding his wrestling career, which was to wrestle at Madison Square Garden and WrestleMania. Then news came out in 2003 that WWE had signed Ultimo Dragon, likely based on the massive popularity of Rey Mysterio at the time.
In fairness to the company, they did hype up his arrival with weeks of vignettes before he made his SmackDown debut, defeating Shannon Moore. It seemed like he was set for big things, especially given that the Cruiserweight division at the time was stacked with talent, from the eternally underrated Jamie Noble, the aforementioned Shannon Moore and Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, Tajiri and even Matt Hardy during his Mattitude run. Unfortunately, Dragon soon fell off the map, usually competing on the likes of Velocity with the rare SmackDown appearance. By the time WrestleMania XX came around in March of 2004, the bloom was so far off the rose that it may have been in a different time zone. Ultimo Dragon would be allowed to realize his dream, however, competing in the 10-man Cruiserweight Open at Mania, emanating from Madison Square Garden's hallowed grounds. Unfortunately for Dragon, the match was a quick, nearly pointless affair, primarily remembered for him slipping on his cape (which has been edited from the WWE Network edition of the show). Soon after, Dragon was gone from the WWE and returned to Japan, wrestling again for various promotions, still competing to this day.
So what went wrong? Well, first and foremost, WWE had no idea what they had in Ultimo Dragon. Likely expecting a talent similar to Rey Mysterio, they didn’t understand the other aspects of the Ultimo Dragon character that worked and made him the special superstar he is. Years later, in a 2021 appearance on the Perched On The Top Rope podcast, Dragon would speak, through his translator, a longtime friend and former on-screen manager Sonny Onoo, that WWE wanted him to unmask since they felt having Rey Mysterio was all the masked luchador they needed.
“The way they (WWE) look at it, they were similar characters. Both masked guys, smaller, cruiserweights, but I didn’t understand at the time. That’s true, but I didn’t realize until afterwards.”
Through Onoo, Dragon revealed it was one of the reasons he left the promotion after only one year. This seems especially ironic given the litany of WWE talking heads and productions that mock the decision WCW made years earlier to unmask Rey Mysterio when they essentially wanted to do the same thing with another superstar, albeit one not entirely on the same popularity level.
What could WWE have done with Ultimo Dragon that would have worked? While this is not one of our Reimagined articles, a quick rundown of the Cruiserweight division could easily see Ultimo Dragon come in following WrestleMania XIX and immediately put his sights on the title, at the time held by Matt Hardy following his win over Mysterio at Mania. A months-long chase could ensue, with Dragon winning a small tournament to become the number one contender. Still, Matt Hardy’s Number One MFer Shannon Moore (the same man that Dragon defeated in his debut) consistently causing a DQ to keep the title around Hardy’s waist.
Finally, come SummerSlam, there could be a Mask vs. Hair match, but Hardy, ever the heel puts up Moore’s hair in the contest. Dragon emerges victorious, causing Shannon Moore to have his head shaved and allowing Dragon to go on to represent the Cruiserweight Championship with honor and valor.
After defeating all challengers, this would eventually lead to a match at WrestleMania XX that would replace the horrible Cruiserweight Open, seeing Ultimo Dragon and Rey Mysterio, arguably the two most popular and excellent Cruiserweights in the world at the time, compete for the Championship on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Most would likely put the strap on Mysterio at the time, but it could quickly go either way and allow them to continue feuding. Not only would the match easily be a banger, but it would give Ultimo Dragon the true moment in the sun he deserved in attaining both his dreams of wrestling at Madison Square Garden and WrestleMania.
Of course, now all we can do is look back and wonder what could have been. Unfortunately, the time frame that Ultimo Dragon competed in WWE was not favorable to his size and in-ring style. Imagine if he had been able to compete in WWE over a decade later when the stylings of many wrestlers, whom he no doubt had been an inspiration for, what could have been.
What would you have done had the booking pencil been in your hand during Ultimo Dragon’s WWE tenure? Could he have been similar to Mysterio and transcended the Cruiserweight division? Would you have brought in Sonny Onoo or someone else to be his mouthpiece, giving additional layers to his character? All we can do is wonder.
