is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Pro Wrestling Heat Up where he is the owner of the company and the current Heat Up Universal Champion. Tamura also works for

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba ...

(AJPW) where he is a former Gaora TV Champion. Tamura his also known for the time at Style-E Pro Wrestling, holding the Style-E Openweight Championship three times and won the E-1 Climax 2010.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Tamura started training both professional wrestling and

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

in the U-File Camp Dojo founded by

Kiyoshi Tamura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Once a student of legendary professional wrestlers Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz and Akira Maeda, Tamura was known for his skills in catch wrestling and is considered to be one of ...

(no relation). After Minoru Tanaka's marriage with Yumi Fukawa, he started to focus on wrestling under their guidance and would later train under

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Champion. He is also part of the All Japan Board of Directors. He ...

. He would later make his debut in Pro Wrestling Crusaders on September 17, 2003 and would then move to Style-E, a promotion organized by U-File Camp, later in the year.

Style-E Pro Wrestling (2004–2012)

On March 21, 2004, Tamura made his Style-E debut by defeating Masato Saeki. On September 23, Tamura defeated Hajime Moriyama in the first round of the E-1 Climax. On October 10, Tamura defeated Hidehisa Matsuda in the semi final but fell to Kyosuke Sasaki in the finals, missing out on becoming the first Style-E Openweight Champion. In 2005, Tamura would once again reach the E-1 Climax final but lost to Takashi Echigo. In August 2006, Tamura entered a tournament to name the number one contender to the Style-E Openweight Championship but lost Chon Shiryu in the first round. On April 21, 2007, Tamura won his first professional wrestling championship by defeating Isami for the Style-E Openweight Championship. Tamura made three successful title defences before losing the title to

Masa Takanashi is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . Takanashi was trained by Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and has worked for the promotion since his debut in September 2003, becoming a one-time KO-D Openweight Champion, a two-time ...

on July 19, 2008. On February 21, 2009, Tamura regained the Style-E Openweight Championship from Takanashi. After two successful title defences, on December 19, he lost the Championship to Kenjiro Ohka. On August 24, 2010, Tamura made his

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV ...

debut teaming up with fellow debutante Yusuke Kodama and were defeated by

Ryusuke Taguchi is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a former two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, seven-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and three-time NEVER ...

and

Taichi Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. T ...

at '' Never.1.'' From October 16 to December 18, Tamura participated in the 2010 E-1 Climax. Unlike previous years, the E-1 Climax used a round robin format with two blocks of four wrestlers; Tamura was in the B block. On December 5, Tamura defeated Takaku Fuke to tie the B block and defeated him a second time in a finalist decision match. on December 18, Tamura won the E-1 Climax by defeating Mitaro Fujita. On April 7, 2011, Tamura entered New Japan's Road to the Super Jr. 2Days Tournament B at Never.6, with the winner earning a spot in NJPW's

Best of the Super Juniors The Best of the Super Juniors (often abbreviated BOSJ) is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), typically in May or June. Originally known as Top of the Super Juniors, the first tournament was held in ...

. Tamura defeated Marines Mask II but lost to

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (born November 21, 1964) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH. Kikuchi idolized and patterned his style after the Dynamite Kid. Professional wrestling career All Ja ...

in the semi final. On April 10, at Guts World, Tamura defeated Daisuke to win the GWC but would lose the title back to Daisuke on October 16. On October 1, Tamura unsuccessfully challenged

Masashi Takeda is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, primarily working for Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Deathmatch division. Takeda also competes as a freelancer for Freedoms and occasionally, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). E ...

for the Style-E Openweight Championship. From October 15 to December 17, Tamura teamed with Gentaro to participate in the SE Tag Tournament to crown the first Style-E Tag Team Champions but they lost in the semifinals to Ganbee Takanashi and Kenjiro Ohka. On December 3, following an injury to Daisuke, Tamura won the vacant GWC Championship by defeating

Tatsuhiko Yoshino is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name , currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong J division, where he is a former BJW Junior Heavyweight Champion. He was trained by Guts Ishijima and debuted f ...

; he would lose the title to Guts Ishijima on May 12, 2012. On December 15, 2012, at the final Style-E event, Tamura defeated

Kenichiro Arai is a Japanese wrestler for Dragon Gate. Biography Kenichiro Arai, also known as AraKen, is a second term graduate of Último Dragón's Toryumon Japan group, and has been a mainstay on the roster ever since. He participated in FMW before joini ...

for his third and last Style-E Openweight Championship reign.

Pro Wrestling Heat Up (2013–present)

Following the closure of Style-E, Tamura announced the creation of his own promotion called Pro Wrestling Heat Up. The promotions first event took place on January 31, 2013, and saw in the main event Tamura teaming with Kenichiro Arai in a losing effort to

Isami Kodaka is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro-Wrestling Basara (Basara). He originally started his career in the Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo) promotion in July 2002, but later left the promotion to become a freelancer, before signing wi ...

and

Yuko Miyamoto is a Japanese professional wrestler. He originally started his career in Wrestling Marvelous Future in August 2003, but later left the promotion and in 2004, signed with Dark Pro-Wrestling 666 (666). Miyamoto has since appeared in Big Japan Pro W ...

. On April 25, 2015, Tamura and Amigo Suzuki won the first Powerful Tag Tournament. On January 7, 2016, Tamura defeated Kenichiro Arai to become the first Heat Up Universal Championship. On March 19, Tamura and

Mineo Fujita Mineo Fujita (born November 28, 1979) is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He currently works for Pro Wrestling Zero1, where he is a former International Junior Heavyweight Championship (Zero1), International Junior Heavyw ...

won the second Powerful Tag Tournament. On May 1, at Gatoh Move, Tamura and Kotori won the 4th Go-Go Green Curry Koppun Cup. On October 31, at Heat Up's biggest event ever at the

Todoroki Arena Todoroki Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the Todoroki Park in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 6,500 and was opened in 1995. The arena is the playing ground for the Kawasaki Brave Thunders. See also * Todorok ...

, Tamura lost to

Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

pioneer

Minoru Suzuki (born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer. In NJPW, Suzuki has held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice hol ...

.On February 18, 2017, Tamura teamed with Fuminori Abe in the Powerful Tag Tournament, losing to Daisuke Kanehira and Hiroshi Kondo in the semi finals. On May 5, at Gatoh Move, Tamura and Kotori won the 5th Go-Go Green Curry Koppun Cup. On August 12, at Heat Up's first event at Korakuen Hall, Tamura made his sixth successful Heat Up Universal Championship defence against Daisuke Kanehira. On November 25, Tamura lost the Heat Up Universal Championship to Nori da Funky Shibiresasu. On March 10, 2018, Tamura reached the Powerful Tag Tournament with Mineo Fujita but lost to Daichi Kazato and Hiroshi Kondo. On June 23, Tamura teamed with New Japan legend and

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Tatsumi Fujinami (born December 28, 1953) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. ...

to win the Heat Up Universal Tag Team Championships from Hide Kubota and Kenichiro Arai. On October 31, at Heat Up's biannual Todoroki Arena event, Tamura and Fujinami made their second successful title defence against Joji Otani and

The Great Sasuke , born July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and politician, currently wrestling for Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW) under the ring name . Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly ...

. In 2018, Heat Up formed working relationships with Portuguese promotion Centro De Treinos De Wrestling and Britain's Pro Wrestling Live; this saw numerous foreign wrestlers coming to Heat Up and visa-versa. Tamura went on his first international tour in early December, winning the CTW Heavyweight Championship from Leo Rossi. Back in Japan, on December 26, Tamura lost the Burning King tournament to

Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's cl ...

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2016–present)

On January 2, 2016 he made his debut in AJPW teaming with Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto defeating Keiichi Sato, Yohei Nakajima and

Yuma Aoyagi is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is part of the stable Nextream. He is a two time AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion, as well as a AJPW World Tag Team Champion. He is also the older brother ...

. On May 18, he formed the Axe Bombers with Takao Omori. Four days later, they were joined by Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto. On June 9, Tamura defeated Yohei Nakajima to win the

Gaora TV Championship The is a professional wrestling championship owned by the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) promotion. On August 28, 2012, AJPW and Gaora TV announced that AJPW would introduce a new championship called the Gaora TV Championship. A tournament for t ...

but he lost it back to Nakajima on June 15. In November, Tamura and Daichi Kazato (the newest member of Axe Bombers) finished the 2016 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory with 4 points.

Championships and accomplishments

(1 time) *Centro de Treinos de Wrestling **CTW Championship (1 time) *Daiwa Entertainment Pro Wrestling **DEP Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Yusaki Ito *Freelance Team Oita **FTO Independent Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Naoshi Sano *Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling **Go-Go Green Curry Koppun Cup (2016, 2017) – with Kotori *Guts World Pro Wrestling **GWC Championship (2 times) *Pro Wrestling Live **PWL World Championship (1 time, current) *Pro Wrestling Heat Up **Heat Up Universal Championship (1 time) **Heat Up Universal Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

**Powerful Tag Tournament (2015) – with Amigo Suzuki **Powerful Tag Tournament (2016) – with

* ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' ** Ranked No. 418 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' in 2019 *Style-E Pro Wrestling **Style-E Openweight Championship (3 times) **E-1 Climax (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamura, Kazuhiro 1980 births Japanese male professional wrestlers Living people Gaora TV Champions 21st-century professional wrestlers