is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by his ring name Hi69 (pronounced as Hiroki). He is currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. Since debuting in 2000, Tanabe has frequently worked for Kaientai Dojo, Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Apache Pro Wrestling and Freedoms.

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career

Tanabe originally trained in Puerto Rico and was a member of the first graduating class of Taka Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo). He made his debut on November 19, 2000 under the ring name Hi69. Eventually, he returned to Japan, where he became a regular in both Michinoku Pro Wrestling and

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

during the first two years of his career. Throughout 2002 he took part in AJPW's Giant Baba Cup, finishing last in Block A with zero wins and zero points. Whilst also competing in AJPW, he debuted in Kaientai Dojo where he would become a mainstay for the majority of his career, winning the UWA World Middleweight Championship in October. Throughout 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, he competed regularly in a large number of different promotions, including Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Apache Pro Wrestling, Muga, Real Japan Pro Wrestling, Hustle, and eventually became a regular on

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

's Lock Up cards. After resigning from K-Dojo in April 2006, he primarily competed in Apache Pro Wrestling. On October 11, 2007, Hi69 was teaming with Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Mammoth Sasaki as Apache Army against GBH ( Togi Makabe, Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii) when Ishii countered a frankensteiner from Hi69 into a powerbomb which caused him to land awkwardly, suffering a fracture as well as a dislocation to his

thoracic vertebrae In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebra (anatomy), vertebrae of intermediate size between the ce ...

. After the match, it was announced that the injury was possibly career threatening and that he would require surgery.

Return (2010–present)

After over two years of surgery, rehabilitation and medical procedures, Hi69 announced his return to the ring in February 2010, stating that he would be splitting his time between K-Dojo and Pro Wrestling Freedoms, and would now be wrestling as Hiroki (stylised in all capital letters), his birth name. In his return match, he teamed with Miyawaki in a loss to his trainer Taka Michinoku and the man he made his debut against, Yasu Urano. On May 26 at a Freedoms show, Hiroki faced Tomohiro Ishii in a match billed as a "revenge match", with Ishii portraying the heel and claiming responsibility for Hiroki's serious injury. The match was won by Ishii. On August 15, Hiroki and Kengo Mashimo captured the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship, defeating Kaji Tomato and

Taishi Takizawa is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler better known by the ring name . Trained by Taka Michinoku, Takizawa has spent most of his career working for his Kaientai Dojo Professional wrestling promotion, promotion. From December ...

. On September 29, Hiroki defeated

Tiger Shark The tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') is a species of ground shark, and the only extant member of the genus '' Galeocerdo'' and family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large apex predator, with females capable of attaining a length of over . Popula ...

to win the Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Championship. On December 14, he dropped the title to Ryuji Hijikata. In early 2011, he teamed with Ricky Fuji in the 2011 Kaientai Dojo Tag League, finishing in Block A with 2 points and failing to advance to the next round. On October 9, after holding them for over a year, Hiroki and Mashimo lost the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship to Ryuichi Sekine and Saburo Inematsu. On November 6, he defeated Daigoro Kashiwa to capture the

Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship that is being defended in various independent promotions in Japan. The title was originally created in 1993 by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. There have been a ...

. Hiroki held the championship for over a year before losing it to Ricky Fuji in January 2013. On March 2, 2014, Hiroki won the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship once again, teaming with Yuji Hino to defeat Kaji Tomato and Taka Michinoku. In September 2014, he once again began competing as Hi69. In December 2016, he competed in Pro Wrestling Noah for the first time since 2005, teaming with Ricky Fuji in a loss to Daisuke Harada and Akitoshi Saito. After impressing new president Masayuki Uchida, he was offered a regular position with the promotion and began competing with them as a full-time roster member later that month. In January, he began teaming with

Taiji Ishimori is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and its List of Bullet Club members#War Dogs, War Dogs sub-group. Ishimori is a three-time IWGP Junio ...

, dubbing themselves "XX". The duo captured the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on February 18, defeating Hayata and Yo-Hey to win the vacant championship. On July 4, Noah officially announced that Hi69 had signed with the promotion. On August 26, XX lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Hayata and Yo-Hey. On January 27, 2018, regained the tag team titles. However, they lost the titles once again against Yoshinari Ogawa and Minoru Tanaka on March 11, 2018. Ogawa and Tanaka vacated the titles after Ishimori announced his departure from the promotion. On April 15, 2018, Hi69 and Minoru Tanaka defeated Hayata and Yo-Hey to win the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to

Hajime Ohara is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Ohara worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico for several years as part of his training, mixing the ''lucha libre'' style of Mexico with the Japanese Puroresu style ...

and Hitoshi Kumano on December 16. On December 12, 2019, Hi69 and Junta Miyawaki lost to former partner Minoru Tanaka and Naomichi Marufuji. Two days later, Hi69 was repackaged as and teamed with Haoh to defeat Hajime Ohara and Kinya Okada. The team has appeared in Noah on a regular basis but were unable to win the GHC junior tag team title, and they turned on each other on January 16, 2022 during a tag team match. On April 29, Haoh defeated Nioh in a "loser must change his name" match.

Championships and accomplishments

* Apache Pro Wrestling :*

WEW World Tag Team Championship The WEW (World Entertainment Wrestling) World Tag Team Championship is a tag team professional wrestling championship formerly contested in the Japanese promotions Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion ( ...

(2 times) – with Yusuke Obata (1) and Hasegawa (1) *Guts World Pro Wrestling :*GWC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

Masamune was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the Japanese sword#Classification by School, ''Sōshū'' school. However, many ...

* Kaientai Dojo :* Strongest-K Championship (1 time) :* Strongest-K Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kengo Mashimo (1) and Yuji Hino (1) :* UWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Yasu Urano :* UWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time) :*

(2 times) :*Bo-So Golden Tag Tournament (2014) * Pro Wrestling Freedoms :*New Year Six Man Tag Tournament (2013) *''

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

'' :* Ranked No. 340 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the '' PWI 500'' in 2019 * Pro Wrestling Noah :* GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with

(2) and Minoru Tanaka (1) * Tenryu Project :* Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) :* Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Masao Orihara

References

{{Portal bar, Biography, Japan 1981 births Living people Japanese male professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions UWA World Tag Team Champions Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champions Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions WEW World Tag Team Champions Strongest-K Tag Team Champions UWA World Middleweight Champions Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League winners