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Akitoshi Saito
is a Japanese retired professional wrestler primarily known for his tenures with Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) where he is a former five-time GHC Tag Team Champion and a former two-time Global Tag League winner in 2008 and 2011. Saito is also known for a seven-year stint with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). Early life Prior to his professional wrestling career, Saito was trained in karate by Masashi Aoyagi. Saito seconded Aoyagi in his matches against Atsushi Onita in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in 1989. He was trained for pro wrestling by Aoyagi and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Professional wrestling career Early career (1990–1991) Saito made his pro wrestling debut in Pioneer Senshi and spent much of his early career in W*ING, a small promotion where he enjoyed moderate success. New Japan Pro Wrestling (1991–1998) He joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling in December 1991, along with his mentor Masashi Aoyagi, feuding with Shiro Koshinaka and Kuniaki Kobayashi. In 1992, the four ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sendai, Miyagi
is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the twelfth most populated city in Japan. The modern city was founded in 1600 by the ''daimyō'' Date Masamune. It is nicknamed the ; there are Japanese zelkova trees lining many of the main thoroughfares such as and . In the summer, the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the largest Tanabata festival in Japan, is held. In winter, the trees are decorated with thousands of lights for the , lasting through most of December. The city is also home to Tohoku University, one of the former Imperial Universities. On 11 March 2011, coastal areas of the city suffered catastrophic damage from a magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake,] which triggered a destructive tsunami. History Edo period Although the Sendai area was inhabited as early as 20,000 years ago, the history of Sendai as a city begins from 1600, when the ''daimyō'' Date Mas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heisei Ishingun
Heisei Ishingun was a Japanese professional wrestling stable led by Shiro Koshinaka during the 1990s, primarily in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. History After an intense feud with each other early from 1988, Shiro Koshinaka and Kuniaki Kobayashi formed a tag team, and feuded with many other teams from 1988 to 1992. Between those rivalries, they feuded with Masashi Aoyagi and Akitoshi Saito who were karate fighters, to prove which sport was the best. After defeating them many times, Kobayashi, Koshinaka, Saito and Aoyagi formed a stable. Kengo Kimura and the Great Kabuki from WAR soon joined the group. In 1993, they were initially called Han-Senshukai Dōmei (Anti-Wrestlers Alliance) referring to WAR and Genichiro Tenryu. After this feud was over, they changed their name to Heisei Ishingun, after Riki Choshu's Shōwa period Ishin Gundan stable. In 1993, Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto joined the group and helped Koshinaka against main eventers. In 1994, Aoyagi left to retur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takeshi Morishima
(born October 15, 1978) is a Japanese former professional wrestler. Morishima is best known for his work with Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former three-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. He has also performed for Ring of Honor (ROH) in the United States in the past where he was a one-time ROH World Champion. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–2000) Morishima attended Urayasu High School where he took part in judo. His instructor, Shoji Abe, was friends with Mitsuharu Misawa, and managed to get Morishima a tryout with All Japan Pro Wrestling, which he passed and shortly after began training with the promotion for a career in professional wrestling. Initially, Morishima was a protégé of Misawa, but after Naomichi Marufuji joined the promotion and Misawa decided instead to focus solely on training Marufuji, Akira Taue took Morishima under his wing and trained him. Morishima debuted for All Japan in 1998, but left in 2000 to join the newly form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akira Taue
is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his runs in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he worked for all of his career in both promotions. A former sumo wrestler who went under the name , he retired from sumo to make his debut in pro-wrestling, where he went under his real name. He is a former Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and has had fifteen 5 Star Matches as awarded by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He is one-half of the , alongside Toshiaki Kawada, where they won six World Tag Team Championships and two World's Strongest Tag Determination Leagues. In 1993, he was officially dubbed as one of the members of the of AJPW, alongside Kawada, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Kenta Kobashi. Early life and sumo career On the 8th of May, 1961 Akira Taue was born the eldest son of a construction worker, in Saitama, Japan. As a teenager and young adult in Kagemori Junior High School, Taue was quite a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jun Akiyama
(born October 9, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion. He is best known for his time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, representative director, co-head booker, and an in-ring performer. In AJPW, he is a former two-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, while also being a six-time overall professional wrestling world champion. Akiyama is noted for his serious in-ring style and demeanor, innovating the '' Blue Thunder Driver'' and the wrist–clutch exploder suplex maneuvers. Considered an outstanding tag team wrestler, Akiyama is a three-time winner of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' Tag Team of the Year award. Personal life In junior high school, Akiyama participated in swimming and in senior high school he competed in freestyle amateur wrestling and judo. After high school, he attended Senshu University in Tokyo, where he joined an amateur wre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naomichi Marufuji
(born September 26, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. Marufuji is a four-time GHC Heavyweight Champion, as well as the first of two men to win Junior Heavyweight Championships in all three major Japanese promotions ( Minoru Tanaka is the other). In 2020, he was appointed to the position of Executive Vice President of CyberFight, the parent company of Noah. He also makes occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ring of Honor (ROH), and Impact Wrestling. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–1999) Marufuji pursued amateur wrestling and basketball during his high school days before joining All Japan Pro Wrestling, and trained in Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym. His debut match came on August 28, 1998, against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. For the first two years of his career, under Giant Baba and Mitsuharu Misawa's isolati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoshinari Ogawa
(born November 2, 1966) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. He earned the nickname of "Rat Boy" from the English-speaking ''Puroresu'' fanbase due to his sneaky, clever in-ring tactics and baiting his opponents into quick pins, as well as the dishevelled, greasy appearance he cultivated during the late-1990s. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1985–2000) Yoshinari Ogawa debuted in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1985, working on the undercard, until joining Genichiro Tenryu's group Revolution, which helped him elevate higher on the card. He remained in the group until it disbanded in 1990 upon Tenryu's abrupt departure from AJPW. After Tenryu left, Ogawa became one of the top stars in AJPW's junior heavyweight division in the 1990s, winning the junior heavyweight championship three times. He also reigned as tag team champion with his mentor, Mitsuharu Misawa. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitsuharu Misawa
was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for spending 18 years with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and subsequently leading the 2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus, which culminated in him forming Pro Wrestling Noah. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside friend and tag team partner Kenta Kobashi, as well as rivals Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue, who came to be nicknamed AJPW's . Their matches developed the '' ōdō'' (, "King's Road") style of puroresu, and received significant critical acclaim. Despite never working in the United States during the 1990s, Misawa had a significant stylistic influence upon independent wrestling through the popularity of his work among tape-traders as wide-reaching as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Debuting in 1981, Misawa became the second wrestler to assume the Tiger Mask persona in 1984, which he maintained until the end of the decade. After the departure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bison Smith
Mark Thomas Smith (September 24, 1970 – November 22, 2011) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Bison Smith. He was best known for his appearances with Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan; and World Wrestling Council and International Wrestling Association in Puerto Rico. In January 2009, he joined the American promotion Ring of Honor. After being trained by Donovan Morgan and Michael Modest, Smith began wrestling on the independent circuit. He began competing for the International Wrestling Association in Puerto Rico in 2003, and held the IWA World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions, the IWA World Tag Team Championship once, the IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship once, and the IWA Hardcore Championship one time. He also wrestled for Pro Wrestling Noah, and on May 23, 2008, he won the GHC Tag Team Championship with Akitoshi Saito and again on April 14, 2010, with Keith Walker. He also won the Global Tag League tournament with S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takeshi Rikio
Takeshi Inoue (born December 20, 1972) known by his stage name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, who worked for Pro Wrestling Noah. He is also a former sumo wrestler. Sumo career He made his sumo debut in March 1988, after leaving junior high school. He joined at the same time as future ''yokozuna'' Takanohana and Wakanohana. He initially trained at the same stable as these two, Futagoyama-beya, but when former ''yokozuna'' Takanosato branched off to set up Naruto-beya in March 1989, Inoue was one of the young recruits to follow him to the new stable. He also changed his ''shikona'', or fighting name, from Futagozakura to Rikio. In July 1993 he was promoted to the second highest ''jūryō'' division, becoming the first wrestler from Naruto stable to reach elite '' sekitori'' status. He was demoted from that division after just one tournament, but returned to ''jūryō'' in May 1994 and was promoted to the top ''makuuchi'' division in July 1996 after winning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masao Inoue (wrestler)
is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for Pro Wrestling Noah as a freelancer. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1991, before jumping to Pro Wrestling Noah during a mass exodus in 2000. Inoue spent the next 12 years with Noah before returning to AJPW in 2012. Since then, he has competed regularly for both promotions as a freelancer. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1991-2000) Masao Inoue debuted in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1991. He served as an underling for Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. He found little success until he started a regular tag team with Tamon Honda near the end of his All Japan stay. The tandem won the All Asia Tag Team Championship in 1999. Pro Wrestling Noah (2000-present) In mid-2000 Masao Inoue left All Japan Pro Wrestling along with all but two All Japan native workers to join Mitsuharu Misawa's newly formed Pro Wrestling Noah. Inoue and Honda were still the All Asia Tag Team champions an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takashi Sugiura
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Sugiura, an accomplished amateur wrestler, joined Noah's dojo in 2000, making his professional debut on December 23, 2000, and thus becoming the first wrestler to make his pro wrestling debut in Noah. He has also competed in mixed martial arts with a notable victory over Giant Silva. Sugiura wrestled as a junior heavyweight in his earlier pro career and is a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. Sugiura moved up to heavyweight and became the second longest reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, having held the title for 581 days between December 2009 and July 2011. Early life Sugiura was an accomplished judoka in high school and narrowly missed the cut representing Japan at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He then became a self-defense instructor and was recruited to the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) Dojo by Tamon Honda, who (along with Yoshihiro Takayama) oversaw all of Sugiura's training. P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
