is a Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, best known for his appearances with

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fir ...

(FMW) in Japan where he was a one-time FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WEW World Heavyweight Champion and in

Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...

(ECW) in the United States where he was a one-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion. He is currently splitting his time wrestling for both Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) and

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 ...

(Zero1). He is overall a ten-time world champion in major

professional wrestling promotions A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

Professional wrestling career

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1993–1999)

Originally a trainee for George and Shunji Takano's Pro Wrestling Crusaders (Crusaders), Tanaka transferred to

(FMW), where he trained under

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing the hardcore wrestling, deathmatch style of professional wrestling t ...

. Tanaka debuted on July 23, 1993, in Saga City, facing Ricky Fuji. He quickly began moving up the card in FMW, widely regarded as the top hardcore

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

in Japan. Wrestling in matches featuring

explosions An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generate ...

and

barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

, Tanaka earned a variety of scars, and the nickname " Dangan", which he would often shout during his matches. By 1996 he was one of the promotion's major stars, and had feuded with fellow wrestlers Mr. Pogo, Mr. Gannosuke,

Terry Funk Terrance Dee Funk (June 30, 1944 – August 23, 2023) was an American professional wrestler and actor. Widely considered one of the most influential and greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Funk was known for the longevity of his car ...

and

Mike Awesome Michael Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with the American professional wrestling promotions Extreme Championship Wrestling ...

. His feud with Awesome would eventually span ten years and two continents. In December 1999, he left FMW for ECW, after he and Tetsuhiro Kuroda lost to H and Mr. Gannosuke.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Teaming with Balls Mahoney (1998)

(ECW) owner

Paul Heyman Paul Heyman (born September 11, 1965) is an American professional wrestling manager, former executive, promoter, and commentator. He is signed to WWE as the on-screen manager of Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed, and is widely regard ...

became interested in Tanaka through ECW's working relationship with FMW, and eventually hired him. Tanaka debuted in ECW on March 1, 1998, at Living Dangerously, defeating Doug Furnas in a match that, compared to Tanaka's extremely well-received future matches, was very much hated by the fans in attendance, who greeted the unusually sloppy wrestlers with a chorus of boos throughout their fumbled offense. In July 1998 he reprised his feud with Awesome, who he defeated at

Heat Wave 1998 Heat Wave (1998) was the fifth Heat Wave professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The event took place on August 2, 1998 from the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio. This was the first edition of ...

. Tanaka formed a short-lived

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...

with Balls Mahoney, and at

November to Remember November to Remember (commonly abbreviated to N2R) was a professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was held during the month of November from 1993 to 2000. Starting with the 1997 edition the event was broadc ...

on November 1, 1998, they defeated

The Dudley Boyz The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team who consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley. The team was also joined by various Dudley Brothers, Dudley family members, notably ...

to win the ECW World Tag Team Championships. In doing so, he became the first person to ever kick out of the Dudleys' ''3D'' finisher. The Dudley Boyz would regain the titles five days later, and Tanaka returned to Japan to attend the wedding of his friend Sabu in December and eventually returning to FMW in January 1999.

World Heavyweight Champion (1999–2000)

Tanaka returned to ECW in the summer of 1999, this time vying for the

ECW World Heavyweight Championship The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, WWE, World Wrestling Ent ...

. On September 19 at Anarchy Rulz, Taz, about to leave ECW for the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

(WWF), defended the ECW World Heavyweight Championship against the returning Mike Awesome and Tanaka in a three-way dance. After just two minutes Taz was eliminated by a combined assault at the hands of his opponents. After a further eleven minutes of brawling, Awesome pinned Tanaka with a Kamikaze Awesome Bomb to become the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Tanaka faced Awesome for the title at November to Remember on November 7, but was defeated once more. He finally overcame Awesome on December 17, 1999, at an '' ECW on TNN'' TV Taping in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, becoming the first ECW World Heavyweight Champion not to be an American citizen. After the match, Awesome shook Tanaka's hand and fastened the belt around his waist in a show of respect, then attacked him as he left the ring and

powerbomb A powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted (usually so that they are sitting on the wrestler's shoulders) and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a s ...

ed him through a

table Table may refer to: * Table (database), how the table data arrangement is used within the databases * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and column ...

. Awesome would regain the title at the next weeks TV Taping in

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

, on December 23. Continuing his rivalry with Awesome, Tanaka joined forces with Tommy Dreamer to face

Raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

and Awesome. Dreamer and Tanaka defeated the Impact Players for the ECW World Tag Team Championship on February 26, 2000, in Cincinnati, but lost them to Mike Awesome and Raven on March 4, 2000, at The ECW Arena. This led to a tag team three-way dance at Living Dangerously on March 12, with Tanaka and Dreamer facing ECW World Tag Team Champions Mike Awesome and Raven and the Impact Players. Tanaka pinned Awesome, who had already defended his ECW World Heavyweight Title earlier that night beating Kid Kash, costing Awesome and Raven the tag team titles, but lost the match after Dreamer was pinned by the Impact Players. Tanaka's feud with Awesome was brought to an abrupt end when Awesome left ECW for WCW in April 2000. He faced Balls Mahoney in at ECW on TNN and at Hardcore Heaven 2000. He remained with ECW until mid-2000 before returning to Japan.

Return to Japan (2000–present)

Tanaka returned to FMW in the spring of 2000, briefly feuding with H, before joining forces with H (by now back under the Hayabusa persona) to feud with Team No Respect, until leaving in February 2001, allegedly as a result of animosity between him and the owner of FMW, Shoichi Arai, mostly over Kodo Fuyuki's role as booker. Before departing FMW, Tanaka formed the "Complete Players" stable with former Fuyuki protégés

Gedo Gedo (, , , or ''Ghedu'') is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in Jubaland, southern Somalia. Its regional capital is Garbahaarreey. The region was formed during 1974 and is bordered by the Ogaden in Ethiopia, the North Eastern Province ...

and

Jado (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler, manager and booker better known by the ring name . He is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as part of a tag team with his partner Gedo. Jado and Gedo's care ...

, as well as real-life sweetheart Kaori Nakayama. They would work on the Japanese

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

, making appearances for

Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE , 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 Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001 ...

(ZERO-ONE) 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 ...

(AJPW). Tanaka wrestled Shinya Hashimoto on the March 2 ZERO-ONE anniversary show, impressing ZERO-ONE officials and earning himself a job. In January 2002 Tanaka formed a tag team named "Emblem" with

Shinjiro Otani is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury sustained in April 2022. A product of the Ne ...

, with whom he twice won the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championships. In February 2004, he turned

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

and sided with the "Apache Army". In September 2004 he formed his own

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

, "Team Erotics", continuing his feud with Otani. In late 2007, he was chosen to lead a new stable named "Sword Army", the name was chosen by fans in a contest.

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler, working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Championship ( ...

was also given a stable named "Axe Army" to compete against Tanaka. In mid-2009 Tanaka returned to

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 ...

(NJPW) as an outsider. He reformed the Complete Players with Jado and Gedo, and he participated in the 2009 G1 Climax tournament, although he failed to advance past the block stages. In New Japan, he's an ally of the stable,

Chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Science, technology, and astronomy * '' Chaos: Making a New Science'', a 1987 book by James Gleick * Chaos (company), a Bulgarian rendering and simulation software company * ''Chaos'' (genus), a genus of amoebae * ...

, especially Jado, Gedo and

Yujiro Takahashi , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of House of Torture and a former member of Bullet Club. He is one-third of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions with Ren Narit ...

. On October 10, 2011, at Destruction '11, Tanaka defeated

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

to win the

IWGP Intercontinental Championship The was a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was officially announced on January 5, 2011, and the Inaugural Champion MVP wa ...

, becoming only the second champion in the title's history. He would make his first successful title defense on November 12 at

Power Struggle A power struggle is situation where two or more people or groups fight to gain dominance over each other. The term is most commonly used in a political context, when parties contend for power or leadership positions, but can also be applied to a ...

against Hirooki Goto. On December 4, Tanaka defeated MVP in a rematch, with help from Yujiro Takahashi, to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where Tanaka and Takahashi were defeated by MVP and Shelton Benjamin in a tag team match. On February 12 at The New Beginning, Tanaka lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Hirooki Goto in his fourth defense. On November 15, 2012, Tanaka entered a tournament to determine the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. After wins over Kushida,

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 ...

and Tomohiro Ishii, Tanaka defeated

Karl Anderson Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980) known by the ring name Karl Anderson , is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is primarily performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is also known for his time in WWE. Ander ...

in the finals of the tournament on November 19 to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. Tanaka made his first successful title defense on January 4, 2013, at

Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2013. It was the 22nd January 4 Tokyo ...

, where he defeated Shelton Benjamin. Tanaka's second successful title defense took place on February 3, when he defeated Chaos stablemate Tomohiro Ishii. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Tanaka made his third successful title defense against

Tomoaki Honma is a Japanese people, Japanese professional wrestler primarily working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a former List of IWGP Tag Team Champions, one-time IWGP Tag Team Championship, IWGP Tag Team Champion and a two-time G1 Ta ...

. On July 20, Tanaka made his fourth successful title defense against

Tetsuya Naito is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his 20-year run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he served as the leader of the ''Los Ingobernables de Japon'' stable, and was a multi-time world champion. ...

. On September 29 at

Destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kin ...

, Tanaka lost the NEVER Openweight Championship in a rematch with Naito, ending his reign at 314 days. After forming the Dangan Yankies stable in Zero1, Tanaka began working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) in early 2014, teaming with stablemate Takashi Sugiura. On April 27, the two defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima and Naomichi Marufuji to win the 2014 Global Tag League. On May 6, Tanaka and Sugiura won the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship. On May 31, Tanaka and Sugiura became double champions, when they defeated Maybach Taniguchi and Takeshi Morishima for Noah's

GHC Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team Championship (professional wrestling), title in Japanese Professional wrestling promotion, promotion Pro Wrestling Noah. It was created on October 19, 2001, when Big Van Vader, Vader and 2 Cold Scorpio, Sc ...

. They lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to TMDK ( Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) on January 10, 2015. On May 4, Tanaka and Sugiura won their second Global Tag League in a row. In June 2017, he competed for the theater-based promotion MAKAI in the "iZANAGI" series, where he took up the ring name "SWORD". He faced Jun Kasai, who was under the ring name of X1112. On January 1, 2021, Tanaka won his 5th Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship. By late 2021, Tanaka was wrestling regularly for Pro Wrestling Noah. In 2022, Tanaka would begin to achieve significant success in the promotion. He challenged for the GHC Heavyweight Title against Kazuyuki Fujita and participated in the N1 Victory League singles tournament. In this round robin tournament, Tanaka pinned then-GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenoh among a star studded list of opponents.

Return to the United States (2002–present)

On November 9, 2002, Tanaka debuted for

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011; the promotion was subs ...

(ROH), wrestling on ROH's ''All Star Extravaganza'' show, where he teamed with Shinjiro Otani to defeat Steve Corino and

Low Ki Brandon Silvestry (born September 6, 1979) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Low Ki. He is known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, TNA Wrestling, Ring of Honor and Major ...

. On June 12. 2005 Tanaka revived his feud with

at the

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

(WWE) produced ECW One Night Stand 2005 reunion PPV. He was defeated after Awesome delivered a running Awesome Bomb through a table outside the ring and followed up with an Awesome Splash. He returned to WWE one year later at ECW One Night Stand 2006, losing to Balls Mahoney. On October 26, 2007, Tanaka beat Takao Omori for the

AWA World Heavyweight Championship The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight C ...

. On January 23, 2010, Tanaka made his debut for

Jersey All Pro Wrestling Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) was an independent wrestling promotion based in New Jersey, United States. History 1997 Jersey All Pro Wrestling was an independent wrestling promotion that was founded by "Fat" Frank Iadeavia and Angel Surit ...

(JAPW) at the promotion's 12th Anniversary Show, where he was defeated by

Homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

. On April 4, 2014, Tanaka returned to the United States, he performed at his first WrestleCon defeating Kevin Steen. Later in the night he defeated Chris Hero at a

Dragon Gate USA Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA) is an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2009 as an international expansion of the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. Gabe Sapolsky, former head booker of Ring of Honor, served as the promotion's Vice Presi ...

event. In December 2018 Tanaka made another return to the United States. He would face PCO in a match for the Game Changer Wrestling Extreme Title at GCW's The Dynasty event. On September 15–16, 2023, Tanaka competed in local Cleveland Promotion Absolute Intense Wrestlings 10th JT Lightning Invitational Tournament making it to the Semi-finals. On November 12, 2023, Tanaka made his debut for Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW), wrestling on DPW's ''World's Strongest'' event, where he teamed with Bryan Keith and Calvin Tankman to defeat Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson, and Royce Isaacs. He would return the next year at the promotion's ''No Pressure'' event where he was defeated by Colby Corino, son of his former rival Steve Corino, in a no disqualification match. On January 9, 2024, Tanaka made his debut for Wrestling Revolver at the ''Vybe Check'' event in Dayton Ohio. On October 13, 2024, Tanaka challenged pro wrestler Adam Priest for the DPW National Championship at DPW's ''Super Battle,'' but failed to take the title.On October 17 at Timebomb Pro Forever Masato wrestled Jordan for vacant Timebomb Title, but was unsuccessful. Later, on October 18, Tanaka faced Mike Santana in the House of Glory World Championship, with Santana pinning Tanaka to win the fight after 15 minutes.

Championships and accomplishments

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the p ...

** KO-D Openweight Championship ( 1 time) ** D-Oh Grand Prix (

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

) *

( 1 time) **

ECW World Tag Team Championship The ECW World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was introduced in National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate and ECW precursor, Eastern Championship Wrestli ...

( 2 times) – with Balls Mahoney (1) and

Tommy Dreamer Thomas James Laughlin (born February 13, 1971) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and professional wrestling promotion, promoter better known by the ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestli ...

(1) * Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling ** FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship ( 2 times) – with

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...

(1) and

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 c ...

(1) ** FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship ( 2 times) ** FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship ( 4 times) – with Hayabusa and Hisakatsu Ōya (1), Hayabusa and Kōji Nakagawa (1), Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Kōji Nakagawa (1), and

and Hideki Hosaka (1) **

WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship The WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship was a championship in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and later in World Entertainment Wrestling. It was active from July 1999 until February 2002 as a substitute for the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team C ...

( 1 time) – with Gedo and Jado ** WEW Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) **

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 ( ...

( 1 time) – with Gedō ** Young Spirit Tournament (1995) ** FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship Tournament (1999) – with Tetsuhiro Kuroda *Greektown Pro Wrestling **Greektown Wrestling Championship (1 time) *Guts World Pro Wrestling **GWC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Daisuke **GWC Tag Team Championship Tournament (2009) – with Daisuke * Hustle ** Hustle Hardcore Hero Championship ( 1 time, inaugural) ** Hustle King Memorial Six-Man Tag Tournament (2006) – with Tadao Yasuda and Shinjiro Otani *

( 1 time) ** NEVER Openweight Championship ( 1 time, inaugural) ** NEVER Openweight Championship Tournament (2012) *''

Nikkan Sports is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background ...

'' **Best Tag Team Award (2014) with Takashi Sugiura **Technique Award (2011) *Premier Wrestling Federation **PWF Universal Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

**Match of the Year (2003, 2004) **PWF MVP (2004) **Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (2004) *Pro Wrestling Expo **Continent Confrontation Tag Team League (2008) – with

Daisuke Sekimoto (born February 9, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. He is also known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He is a three-time BJW World Strong Hea ...

* Pro Wrestling Noah **

( 1 time) – with Takashi Sugiura ** GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship ( 1 time) **

Global Tag League The Global Tag League is a professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held by Pro Wrestling Noah. It was created in 2008. The Global Tag League is held under a points system, with two points for a win, one for a time limit draw and n ...

(

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 ...

) – with Takashi Sugiura **Global League Tournament Technique Award (2014) *''

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. 21 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 2000 **Ranked No. 285 of the 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003 *Pro Wrestling World-1 **World-1 Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

( 1 time) ** NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship ( 8 times) – with Shinjiro Otani (2),

Wataru Sakata is a Japanese people, Japanese retired mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. A professional MMA competitor from 1994 until 2016, Sakata fought for Fighting Network RINGS, Pride FC, Deep (mixed martial arts), Deep a ...

(1),

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

(1), Takashi Sugiura (1),

James Raideen Dylan James (born 25 May 1991) is a New Zealand Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Land's End. He is best known for w ...

(1),

Yuji Hino , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted p ...

(1) and

Takuya Sugawara is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently wrestling for Pro Wrestling Zero1. Career Toryumon/Dragon Gate (2001–2004) He debuted in the 9th term of Toryumon 2000 Project as Henry III Sugawara, an English prince character. He joined wit ...

(1) ** NWA United National Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)¹ ** World Heavyweight Championship ( 6 times, inaugural) **Estasi Cup (2012) – with Paul Tracey and Ryouji Sai ** Fire Festival (

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

) ** Furinkazan ***(

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 Fujita Hayato ***(

) – with Takashi Sugiura ***(

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 Yoshikazu Yokoyama ** Tenkaichi Junior (2007) **Five-Man Tag Team Tournament (2015) – with

Kohei Sato is a Japanese professional wrestler contracted with Pro Wrestling Zero1. Sato is also a former mixed martial artist. Career A former judoka and amateur wrestler, Sato made his transition to mixed martial arts after meeting Kazunari Murakami and ...

, Yusaku Obata and Hideki Suzuki **MVP (2007, 2008)Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max Results: 2008
at purolove.com retrieve October 7, 2018 **Best Bout (2008) vs.

Manabu Nakanishi is a Japanese retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler, who was primarily associated with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, one-time G1 Climax winner and three-t ...

on April 6 **Best Bout (2011) vs.

on August 7 *Super Fireworks Pro Wrestling **Blast King Championship (1 time) **Blast King Tag Team Championship (2 times, final) – with Taru (1), Hide Kubota (1) *''

Tokyo Sports is a Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1960. See also * Tokyo Sports Film Award * Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards References External links

* http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp Official website 1960 establishments in Japan Da ...

'' ** Fighting Spirit Award (2008) ** Best Newcomer Award (1995) ** Best Tag Team Award (2014) – with Takashi Sugiura *

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 ...

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 ...

( 1 time) – with

Jiro Kuroshio , best known as and known as , is a Japanese professional wrestler and internet personality. Kuroshio is known for his work in the Wrestle-1 promotion, where he was a former Wrestle-1 Result Champion and Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champion before l ...

¹This title is not to be confused with the NWA United National Championship, an NWA singles title that has been integrated into and is now part of the

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. The current champion is Jun Saito, who is in his first reign. Title history The championship was established after the unifica ...

References

External links

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Zero1 profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Masato 1973 births Chaos (professional wrestling) members ECW Heavyweight Champions/ECW World Heavyweight Champions Japanese male professional wrestlers Living people People from Wakayama (city) ECW World Tag Team Champions IWGP Intercontinental champions NEVER Openweight champions Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate professional wrestlers GHC Tag Team Champions KO-D Openweight Champions Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champions FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champions FMW Independent Heavyweight Champions FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Champions WEW 6-Man Tag Team Champions WEW Heavyweight Champions Global Tag League winners Zero1 World Heavyweight Champions Zero1 United National Heavyweight Champions Zero1 Intercontinental Tag Team Champions Fire Festival winners 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century Japanese professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers