Kotaro Suzuki

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Kotaro Suzuki bigraphy, stories - Japanese professional wrestler

Kotaro Suzuki : biography

June 18, 1978 –

Kotaro Suzuki (鈴木鼓太郎; Suzuki Kotarō), born June 18, 1978 in Warabi, Saitama is a professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is one half of the reigning All Asia Tag Team Champions.

In wrestling

  • As Kotaro Suzuki
    • Finishing moves
      • Blue Destiny (Gory neckbreaker)
      • Excalibur (Spinning belly to belly piledriver)
      • Myst Crash (Three-quarter nelson suplex)
      • Requiem (Electric chair driver)
      • Tiger Driver (Double underhook lifted sitout sheerdrop powerbomb) – In tribute to Mitsuharu Misawa
    • Signature moves
      • 450° splash
      • Akushizu (Flipping release belly to back suplex)
      • Bit Blaster (Handspring back elbow smash)
      • Colony Drop (Inverted frankensteiner)
      • Funnel Blaster (Tiger feint kick)
      • Incom (Tilt–a–whirl headscissors armbar)
      • Rolling elbow – in tribute to Mitsuharu Misawa
      • Zero System (Diving hurricanrana)
  • As Mushiking Terry
    • Finishing moves
      • Genesis (Sitout double underhook powerbomb)
    • Signature moves
      • Death valley driver
      • Leg trap sunset flip powerbomb
      • Teradrive (Super sitout hip toss)
  • As Tiger Emperor
    • Finishing moves
      • Tiger Driver ’05 (Double underhook package piledriver sitout pin)
      • Tiger Suplex ’04 (Bridging leg hook tiger suplex)
  • Entrance themes
  • Blue of Fear (Noah)

Career

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, but quickly changed it to Kotaro. He challenged twice for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship 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 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 they winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. Suzuki and Kanemaru joined with Genba Hirayanagi, and later joined the stable Disobey with Takeshi Rikio and Mohammed 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 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 was fired. On December 24, Suzuki defeated Genba Hirayanagi in his final Noah match.

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 All Japan Pro Wrestling, forming the "Burning" stable. Suzuki and Aoki received their first shot at the AJPW 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, during which he and Aoki defeated Kentaro Shiga and Tamon Honda in a tag team match.

Championships and accomplishments

  • All Japan Pro Wrestling
    • AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Atsushi Aoki
    • Junior Hyper Tag League (2013) – with Atsushi Aoki
  • New Japan Pro Wrestling
    • Tag Team Best Bout (2003) with Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jushin Liger and Koji Kanemoto on June 10
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • PWI ranked him #148 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011
  • Pro Wrestling Noah
    • GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
    • GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Ricky Marvin (1), Yoshinobu Kanemaru (1) and Atsushi Aoki (1)
    • Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League (2009) – with Yoshinobu Kanemaru
    • NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (2011) – with Atsushi Aoki