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Nobuhiko Oshima, (November 15, 1977) better known by his ring name CIMA (pronounced Shima), is a Japanese professional wrestler.

Professional wrestling career[]

Nobuhiko Oshima, otherwise known as CIMA, graduated from the first class of Último Dragón's Toryumon dojo. He quickly became the Toryumon wrestling promotion's biggest star. He first wrestled as Shiima Nobunaga (making a few appearances in WCW under that name), then as SHIIMA, until finally shortening his stage name to CIMA, under which he still wrestles today. He was one of the founders of the Crazy Max stable, and had a years long feud with Magnum Tokyo, another first class graduate. He began as a high flyer, utilizing the Mad Splash as his finisher. This, however, took toll on his body and especially his knees. After returning from knee surgery he changed his style and started using the Schwein as his finisher. He wrestled in Toryumon Japan until 2004, when the promotion separated itself from Último Dragón's dojo, and changed its name to Dragon Gate. He still wrestles in Dragon Gate today. He created the Blood Generation stable in 2005, which had its final match in January 2007.

CIMA also made his first appearance in a North American wrestling promotion in about seven years in August 2005, appearing in Ring of Honor in a match against A.J. Styles, who Cima defeated.

CIMA would return to North America for a three-day tour with Ring of Honor. On March 30, 2006, in Detroit, Michigan, CIMA teamed with fellow Blood Generation members Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino to defeat Ring of Honor faction Generation Next, represented by Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans.

On March 31, 2006, in Chicago, Illinois, CIMA would once again team with fellow Blood Generation members Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino in Ring of Honor, this time losing a match to another stable from Dragon Gate, Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Genki Horiguchi). Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer gave the match the coveted 5 star rating.

On April 1, 2006, once again in Chicago, Illinois, at the third and final Ring of Honor show, CIMA teamed with Naruki Doi in a losing attempt to win the Ring of Honor Tag Titles from champions Generation Next (Austin Aries and Roderick Strong).

In September 2006 during the Labor Day Weekend, Cima participated in the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) Battle of Los Angeles super tournament. He was able to advance all the way to the finals where he lost to Davey Richards.

CIMA's next return to Ring of Honor happened in late December 2006. CIMA teamed with Shingo on December 22 in Hartford, Connecticut to challenge Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal for the ROH World Tag Team Titles, but the Japanese stars came up short in the match. The next night, in Manhattan, New York, Cima and Shingo teamed with Matt Sydal to take on the team of Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Delirious. This time, they were successful in their outing, when Cima pinned Delirious. After the match, Cima proclaimed "Thank you US, thank you ROH, see you in 2007".

On January 6, 2007, CIMA traveled to Australia and competed in the Australasian Wrestling Federation. In the main event, he wrestled the AWF Champion Steve Ravenous and TNT in a three-way elimination match, which CIMA won to become the AWF Champion. The next night in Newcastle, TNT defeated CIMA for the AWF Title.

On July 1, 2007, CIMA won Dragon Gate's main title, the Open the Dream Gate Championship, from Jushin Liger in Kobe, Japan. Cima thus became the first wrestler to hold this title on two occasions.

On September 2, 2007, CIMA won Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's Battle of Los Angeles tournament, defeating Human Tornado, Shingo and Pac on his way to the finals where he eliminated both El Generico and Roderick Strong.

On September 5, 2007, Cima made his debut in Hawaii (along with Dragon Kid, Susumu Yokosuka and Shingo Takagi) for Action Zone Wrestling, losing to AZW Heavyweight Champion Kris Kavanaugh. After the match, Cima thanked the fans and asked if Hawaii enjoyed Dragon Gate, to which the crowd started a loud Dragon Gate chant. He promised Dragon Gate would be back in Hawaii, and in AZW. He returned to AZW on January 7, 2008 at Battleclash III to defeat "Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney. On September 8, 2008, Cima appeared in a non-wrestling role at Dragon Gate's event Dragon Gate Hawaii at the Waikiki Shell, although he got involved in one match accidentally, hitting Stalker Ichikawa with a steel chair.

Some time in May 2008, CIMA developed a neck injury. He tried to recuperate from it early as best as he could, but by the end of June, it was becoming obvious that he would need to take considerable time off to rest and heal up properly. On June 29, he vacated the Dream Gate title, just a day shy of a one-year reign as champion. CIMA would return to the ring on December 28, 2008, when he teamed with Jushin Liger in a losing effort to capture the Open the Twin Gate Championship. It was also on this day that his Typhoon unit was brought to an end, after Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Susumu Yokosuka lost in a Unit Split Survival Three-Way Six-Man Tag Match to teams from World-1 and Real Hazard. After that, nothing more was heard from him for over a month.

The silence was broken when, on February 9, 2009, before WWE Friday Night SmackDown, he wrestled in a dark match against Jamie Noble in a losing effort. He also wrestled for WPW in California on February 15 in a tag match. On March 1, he made his return to Dragon Gate, and announced the formation of the Warriors-5 stable along with Susumu Yokosuka, Gamma, and Kagetora. The fifth member, Ryoma, was added on the 20th.

Two days later, he defeated Masato Yoshino to become the new Open the Brave Gate Champion. On April 15, he, Gamma, and Kagetora won the Open the Triangle Gate Titles from Shingo Takagi, Taku Iwasa, and Dragon Kid. They would eventually lose the belts to Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk and Pac. He also challenged Open the Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi to a Title vs. Title Match on July 19, and despite putting up a valiant effort, he lost the Brave Gate to Doi.

He and Gamma then participated in the 2009 Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament, but they performed very poorly, only winning one match out of eight and finishing in last place. On December 29, they won the Open the Twin Gate Titles from Shingo Takagi and Yamato, but they immediately handed them back, declaring themselves only tentative champions, and desired to face a strong team to determine the actual champions. On February 10, Cima and Gamma defeated Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino, officially becoming the Open the Twin Gate Champions. This win made CIMA the first man to win every title in Dragon Gate. On March 22, Cima and Gamma lost the titles to Takagi and Cyber Kong. On May 13, 2010, CIMA, Gamma and Genki Horiguchi defeated Don Fujii, Masaaki Mochizuki and Akebono to win the Open the Triangle Gate Championship. On October 25, 2010, Cima, Gamma and Horiguchi lost the Open the Triangle Gate Championship to Naoki Tanisaki, Yasushi Kanda and Takuya Sugawara. Cima would regain the title on December 26, 2010, teaming with Dragon Kid and Ricochet.

On January 14, 2011, CIMA and Warriors turned heel, revealing themselves as the masked men who had been interfering in matches, and attacking Masato Yoshino and the World–1 group, before joining forces with Naruki Doi's group. On January 18 the new group was named Blood Warriors, a combination of the names of Cima's two previous stables, Blood Generation and Warriors. On May 15, the rest of Blood Warriors turned on Dragon Kid and kicked him out of the group, despite the fact that he still held the Open the Triangle Gate Championship with Cima and Ricochet, and replaced him with Cyber Kong and Tomahawk T.T. As a result, the title was declared vacant. On July 17, CIMA and Ricochet defeated Dragon Kid and Pac of rival group Junction Three to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship. On September 11 at Way of the Ronin 2011, CIMA and Ricochet defeated Masato Yoshino and Pac in a title vs. title match to win Dragon Gate USA's Open the United Gate Championship. After their third successful defense of the Open the Twin Gate Championship on November 30, CIMA and Ricochet vacated the title in order for Ricochet to concentrate on defending the Open the Brave Gate Championship and CIMA to concentrate on chasing the Open the Dream Gate Championship. On December 25 at Final Gate 2011, CIMA defeated Masaaki Mochizuki to win the Open the Dream Gate Championship for the third time. On January 19, 2012, BxB Hulk and Akira Tozawa turned on Cima, causing him to lose a ten-man "Loser Leaves Unit" tag team match; as a result, Cima was kicked out of Blood Warriors.

On January 29, 2012, CIMA returned to PWG, teaming with Ricochet in a match, where they were defeated by the RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma). On March 30, CIMA and Ricochet were forced to vacate the Open the United Gate Championship, after CIMA was sidelined with a neck injury. On July 29 at Enter the Dragon 2012, Dragon Gate USA's third anniversary event, CIMA and AR Fox defeated Rich Swann and Ricochet to win the vacant Open the United Gate Championship. They lost the title to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) on April 6, 2013. After fifteen successful defenses and a reign of 574 days, CIMA lost the Open the Dream Gate Championship to Shingo Takagi on July 21, 2013.

All Elite Wrestling[]

On May 25, 2019, CIMA and his Strong Hearts stablemates T-Hawk and El Lindaman lost to SoCal Uncensored in a 6-Man Tag match on AEW Double or Nothing.

Personal life[]

Oshima is married to television personality Eleni Masuda. The pair met in 2003 during a baseball game in Fukuoka, where he threw out the first pitch. He proposed to her in 2005 during a vacation in Greece and they finally wed in June 2009.

In wrestling[]

Championships and accomplishments[]

  • Toryumon Japan
    • NWA International Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    • Último Dragón Gym Championship (2 times)
    • UWA World Trios Championship (4 times) – with SUWA and Big/Don Fujii (3), and Big Fuji and TARU (1)
    • El Numero Uno League (2003)
    • One Night Tag Tournament (2002) - with SUWA
    • UDG Championship Tournament (2004)
  • 5 Star Match (2006) with Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito (ROH Supercard of Honor, March 31
  • Match of the Year (2006) with Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito (ROH Supercard of Honor, March 31

Lucha de Apuesta record[]


Wager Winner(s) Loser(s) Location Date Notes
Hair Cima Masaaki Mochizuki Tokyo, Japan 02001-12-10December 10, 2001 Lumberjack match.
Hair Gamma CIMA Osaka, Japan 02006-11-23November 23, 2006
Hair Cima Yasushi Kanda Aichi, Japan 02008-05-05May 5, 2008 Six-way Steel Cage match, which also included BxB Hulk, Dragon Kid, Masato Yoshino and Yamato.
Mask Cima Mondai Ryu Tokyo, Japan 02012-07-06July 6, 2012 Two-on-one handicap Falls Count Anywhere Passport vs. Mask match, where Cima faced Ryu and Akira Tozawa.

External links[]

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