Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the promotion in the 1990s.

In July 1992, he replaced an injured Akira Nogami to team with Hiroshi Hase to participate in the NWA World Tag Team Championship tournament held by World Championship Wrestling and they defeated The Fabulous Freebirds in the quarterfinals, before losing to Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the semi-finals.

Hashimoto reigned as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion for over a year, losing the belt to Mutoh only two days after celebrating the milestone.

On August 31, 1997, Hashimoto lost the title to Kensuke Sasaki, after reigning as a champion for a record-breaking 489 days (the record has since been broken by Kazuchika Okada in 2017).

Due to his success at this field, Hashimoto was scouted by K-1 executive Kazuyoshi Ishii to compete in their '93 GP tournament, but he declined.

[4] Hashimoto registered the Pro Wrestling Zero-One name on November 13, 2000, after being fired from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and the promotion had its first show on March 2, 2001.

In December 2001, Hashimoto faced off against Corino and Gary Steele in a Triple Threat Match, winning the vacated NWA World Heavyweight Title.

In October 2002, Hashimoto teamed with his old rival, Naoya Ogawa, to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag-Team Title (which were usually defended in Zero-One) from John Heidenreich and Nathan Jones.

[2] Hashimoto and Ogawa won back the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Title from Ghaffari and Howard in April 2003.

Despite the build-up of several injuries, Hashimoto continued to wrestle on and off in Zero-One, including teaming with Yoshiaki Fujiwara to get the NWA Intercontinental Tag-Team Titles for a third time, defeating Takao Omori and Shiro Koshinaka in June 2004.

Hashimoto's doctor claimed that high blood pressure was the most likely cause for his brain hemorrhage and proposed that other stress over the years led to these problems.

At PRIDE Shockwave 2005, Naoya Ogawa wore Hashimoto's signature headband and came out to Bakusho Sengen for his fight against Hidehiko Yoshida.

[7] At Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2007, Chono and Mutoh paid tribute after defeating Tencozy as they wore Hashimoto's headbands while his theme song played.