The Blow Off: Shinja (1995)

Brian Damage

In pro wrestling, the end to a feud, angle or character is what is known as a “blow off.” Back in the day, the easiest way to have a wrestler leave a territory was have one wrestler beat another wrestler in a loser leaves town match. As wrestling grew and evolved, bookers and writers came up with more creative ways to blow off a character. This series will just focus on the specific characters who were given the blow off and more often than not…were never used or seen again. Some were obviously more creative than others.

Shinja

Shinja aka Akio Sato was the manager of Hakushi in the WWF back in the mid 1990’s. After Hakushi’s feud with Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, the way they ended the feud and the character of Shinja…was have him attack Bret Hart after a match on Monday Night Raw. Bret would gain control and start beating up Shinja…thus ending the character’s run by piledriving him in the middle of the ring.

The reason for blowing off the character was Akio Sato’s desire to return to Japan. Sato’s own wrestling career was winding down and wanted to use his final years as a wrestler in his home nation. The WWF also had plans to alter Hakushi’s character therefore allowing Sato to walk away.