, better known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

, is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to

Gleat Gleat (stylized as GLEAT and pronounced as "great") is a Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2020 by former Pro Wrestling Noah parent company Lidet Entertainment after the acquisition of Noah and DDT Pr ...

. He is best known for working for the Pro Wrestling Noah 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 ...

promotions, where he was a four-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion for Noah and a one-time World Junior Heavyweight Champion for AJPW.

Career

Pro Wrestling Noah (2001–2013)

Suzuki was the last person remaining of a grueling thirty person training class in Pro Wrestling Noah's dojo. He debuted on Noah's 2001 Christmas show, and started wrestling under his real name of Yasuhiro Suzuki, but quickly changed it to Kotaro Suzuki. He challenged twice for the

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), title in Japanese Professional wrestling promotion, promotion Pro Wrestling Noah, contested exclusively among Cruiserweight (professional wrestling), junior heavyweight (<100 ...

in 2004, and was unsuccessful in both attempts. In 2005, he ended up adopting the guise of Mushiking Terry, a gimmick tying into the card/arcade game '' Mushiking: King of the Beetles'', defeating " Mushiking Joker" in his debut at DESTINY 2005 on July 18, 2005 at the Tokyo Dome, but his challenge for KENTA's GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship on October 28, 2005 was unsuccessful after KENTA started performing heel actions such as faking a low blow as well as mockingly joining in a Terry chant while applying a camel clutch. At the January 21, 2007 Budokan Hall show, he pinned Mark Briscoe to take the GHC Jr. Tag title for himself and Ricky Marvin. At the April 28, 2007 show, he defeated

Tatsuhito Takaiwa is a Koreans in Japan, Zainichi-Korean professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is one of the more well-traveled junior heavyweights in Japan, having wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Pro Wrestling Zero1, as well as makin ...

to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (as Mushiking Terry). At Noah's ''Budokan show! Autumn Navigation '07'', Suzuki (As Mushiking Terry) lost his GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yoshinobu Kanemaru. He later betrayed Marvin by joining with Yoshinobu Kanemaru in tag team, which ended with them winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. Suzuki and Kanemaru joined with Genba Hirayanagi, and later joined the stable Disobey with Takeshi Rikio and Muhammad Yone. When Mitsuharu Misawa died, Suzuki (who was one of his students) adopted not just a green attire resembling the green tights of his mentor but started to use some moves like elbows and the Tiger Driver to pay him tribute and became a face again. He was later expulsed from Disobey and started a rivalry with his former partner Kanemaru. Suzuki would regain the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title from Kanemaru on December 5, 2010, ending his long title run. On July 30, 2011, Suzuki and Atsushi Aoki defeated Kenta and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the 2011 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League, making both of them two-time winners of the tournament. On September 23, 2011, Suzuki lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Katsuhiko Nakajima. On October 16, 2011, Suzuki and Aoki defeated KENTA and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Ricky Marvin and

Super Crazy Francisco Islas Rueda (born December 3, 1973), better known by his ring name Super Crazy, is a Mexican '' luchador'' (or professional wrestler). In Mexico, Islas has worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and made appearances ...

on July 22, 2012. On December 19, 2012, Noah announced that Suzuki would be leaving the promotion, after refusing to re-sign after

Kenta Kobashi (born, March 27, 1967) is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired wrestler. Broadly referred to by the nickname , he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He is best known for his two run ...

was fired. On December 24, Suzuki defeated Genba Hirayanagi in his final Noah match.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2013–2015)

On January 26, 2013, Suzuki, Atsushi Aoki, Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, all of whom had quit Noah at the same time, announced that they had joined

, forming the "

Burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combust ...

" stable. Suzuki and Aoki received their first shot at the All Asia Tag Team Championship on March 17, but were defeated by the defending champions, Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka. On April 7, Suzuki and Aoki defeated Hikaru Sato and Hiroshi Yamato to win the 2013 Junior Hyper Tag League and earn another shot at Kanemoto and Tanaka. On April 25, Suzuki and Aoki defeated Kanemoto and Tanaka in a rematch to become the new All Asia Tag Team Champions. On May 11, Suzuki made a one night return to Noah to take part in Kenta Kobashi's retirement event, Final Burning in Budokan, during which he and Aoki defeated Kentaro Shiga and Tamon Honda in a tag team match. On July 5, following a mass exodus led by

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestling executive, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his work under his real name and as his alter ego in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as well as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and duri ...

, it was announced that Suzuki, along with the rest of Burning, had signed an exclusive contract with All Japan. On October 29, Suzuki quit Burning in order to challenge Kanemaru for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. On November 21, Suzuki and Aoki, along with Kento Miyahara, joined Go Shiozaki's new Xceed stable. On January 26, 2014, Suzuki and Aoki lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to former Burning stablemates Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. On February 5, Suzuki's longtime partnership with Aoki came to an end, when Aoki quit Xceed to go solo. Immediately afterwards, Suzuki went on a win streak, which culminated with him defeating Masaaki Mochizuki on February 16 to win the 2014 Jr. Battle of Glory. As a result, Suzuki received a shot at the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion,

Último Dragón , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to Dragon Gate (wrestling), Dragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, ...

, on February 23. On May 17, Suzuki defeated

Sushi is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...

to win the Gaora TV Championship. On August 16, Suzuki and Kento Miyahara defeated Keisuke Ishii and Shigehiro Irie to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship. On December 14, Suzuki lost the Gaora TV Championship to Kenso. On January 3, 2015, Suzuki and Miyahara lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to Mitsuya Nagai and Takeshi Minamino. On February 20, Suzuki won his second Jr. Battle of Glory in a row, defeating reigning World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsushi Aoki in the finals. This led to a rematch on March 27, where Suzuki defeated Aoki to become the new World Junior Heavyweight Champion. On November 16, while he was still the World Junior Heavyweight Champion, Suzuki announced he would be leaving All Japan on November 30. He had signed a new one-year contract the previous July, but when the contract was afterwards changed twice, he decided to instead leave the promotion. Following the announcement, the World Junior Heavyweight Championship was vacated and Xceed disbanded.

Freelancer (2016–2024)

On January 10 at Wrestle-1 Sunshine Tour after Hiroshi Yamato's title celebration Suzuki appeared and he set his sights on the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship belt. On January 22, he made an appearance in

Pro Wrestling Zero1 , often referred to simply as Zero1 and sometimes referred to as Pro Wrestling Zero1 Catch as Catch Can (stylized as ZERO1 and PRO WRESTLING ZERO1 CATCH AS CATCH CAN, respectively), is a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wre ...

by attacking Shinjiro Otani after his match and made a statement that he wants his belt and he makes alliance with Mineo Fujita. On February 10, he defeated Andy Wu on his

Wrestle-1 was a Japanese ''puroresu'' or professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion, founded in July 2013 by Keiji Mutoh following his resignation from All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The core of the promotion's roster was formed b ...

debut. On February 22, Suzuki appeared on FMW in a tag team match when he and Masato Tanaka defeated Tomohiko Hashimoto and Buffalo. On March 12, Suzuki defeated Minoru Tanaka in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship. Suzuki would be the first man to defend the championship outside of Japan, defending the belt on two occasions, one at 4 Front Wrestling against Mark Haskins, and secondly at

Pro Wrestling Pride ''Pro Wrestling Pride'' (Sometimes referred to as ''Pride Promotions'', or simply PWP) was a pro wrestling company based in the South West of England, established in 2012 by professional wrestler Darren 'Saviour' Ferguson. Since its inception in 20 ...

against Ultimo Tiger. After six successful defenses, Suzuki lost the title to Yusuke Kodama on August 11. On September 18, Suzuki and Kaz Hayashi won the vacant

Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship The was a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the Wrestle-1 (W-1) promotion. The title was announced on September 22, 2014, in conjunction with the start of a tournament to crown the first Wrestle-1 Champion. In Japanese th ...

. On February 3, 2017, Suzuki defeated Shinjiro Otani to win Zero1's International Junior Heavyweight and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championships. On March 20, Suzuki and Hayashi lost the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship to Koji Doi and Kumagoro. On October 26, Suzuki lost his Zero1 titles to Sean Guinness. On September 1, 2018, Suzuki returned to Noah at Naomichi Marufuji's 20th anniversary show, where he teamed with

HI69 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, Ap ...

and Minoru Tanaka to defeat Seiya Morohashi, Hitoshi Kumano and

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 afterwards brawled with them. This led to him competing in the 2018 Global Junior Heavyweight League, where he finished with a record of four wins and one loss, including a win over reigning GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daisuke Harada and defeated

Yo-Hey , better known by his ring name Yo-Hey (stylised in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he is a member of the Ratel's (professional wrestling), Ratel's Stable (professio ...

in the finals. This led to a match on October 30, where Suzuki defeated Harada to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship for the third time. He later won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Yoshinari Ogawa and formed a stable named Stinger later joined by Atsushi Kotoge and Chris Ridgeway.

Gleat (2024–present)

On September 22, 2024, it was announced that Suzuki had joined

as part of the Black Generation International stable.

Championships and accomplishments

** All Asia Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with Atsushi Aoki (1), Kento Miyahara (1) and Jun Akiyama (1) ** Gaora TV Championship ( 1 time) ** World Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** Jr. Battle of Glory (

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

) ** Junior Hyper Tag League (

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

) – with Atsushi Aoki ** Jr. Tag Battle of Glory (

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

) – with Kaito Ishida * DDT Pro-Wrestling ** KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship ( 1 time, current) – with Tetsuya Endo and Yusuke Okada * Dragon Gate ** Open the Triangle Gate Championship ( 2 times) – with

Nosawa Rongai , better known by his ring names Nosawa and , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in All Japan Pro Wrestling and various independent promotions. Career Early career (19952004) Nosawa spent most of his ea ...

and Eita *

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 ...

**Tag Team Best Bout (2003) with Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jyushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto on June 10 *''

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. 113 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''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 ...

'' in 2007 * Pro Wrestling Noah **

( 4 times) ** GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( 5 times) – with Ricky Marvin (1), Yoshinobu Kanemaru (1), Atsushi Aoki (1), Yoshinari Ogawa (1), and Atsushi Kotoge (1) ** Global Junior Heavyweight League (

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

) ** Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League (

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

) – with Yoshinobu Kanemaru ** NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

) – with Atsushi Aoki ** Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League (

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

) – with Yoshinari Ogawa **One Day Jr. Heavyweight Six Man Tag Tournament (2008) – with Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Genba Hirayanagi *

** International Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *

** Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship ( 1 time) **

( 1 time) – with Kaz Hayashi **Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Fourth Generation Champion Tournament (2016)

Luchas de Apuestas record

References

External links

All Japan Pro Wrestling profile

Pro Wrestling Noah profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Kotaro 1978 births 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers Japanese male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestlers from Saitama Prefecture GHC Junior Heavyweight Champions GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions All Asia Tag Team Champions World Junior Heavyweight Champions (AJPW) Gaora TV Champions Open the Triangle Gate Champions Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Champions Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champions Global Junior Heavyweight League/Jr. Rumble winners Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League winners NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champions (Zero1)