Taka Michinoku
| Taka Michinoku | |
|---|---|
 Michinoku in August 2010 |
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| Ring name(s) | Blue-K The Great Taka Pepe Michinoku Piza Michinoku Taka Taka Michinoku |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 187 lb (85 kg)[2] |
| Born | 26 October 1973 Morioka, Iwate, Japan |
| Resides | Yotsukaido, Chiba, Japan |
| Trained by | The Great Sasuke[2] |
| Debut | 1991[2] |
Takao Yoshida (吉田 貴男 Yoshida Takao) (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name TAKA Michinoku (Taka is written in all caps in Japanese script), is a professional wrestler who has wrestled all over the world[2] as well he was a former Mixed Martial Artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where he had the first ever WWF Light Heavyweight Championship reign recognized by the North-American promotion. Michinoku currently works as a freelancer in Japan, performing for promotions such as New Japan Pro Wrestling, Kaientai Dojo, Dragon Gate and Dramatic Dream Team.
Having held championship titles in Japan, North America, Mexico and Europe, Yoshida is known for his long title reigns. He held the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title for a combined duration of more than 15 months, the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a then record-setting 10 months and the WEW Six-Man Tag Team Title for almost a year. Yoshida has held the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title, Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Title and Kaientai Dojo Strongest-K Title simultaneously for almost 10 months. During his reign, he has defended his titles against both AJPW and independent circuit talent to increase his base of opponents, and thus has increased the reach of the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title which was closed off to outside competition in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
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[edit] Professional wrestling career
[edit] Early career
Taka Michinoku took his name as a sign of respect for his mentor The Great Sasuke, who was the owner of Michinoku Pro Wrestling and had been the first to use Michinoku as part of his ring name. He debuted Wrestling International New Generations and Michinoku Pro Wrestling joint event by teaming up with Great Sasuke, they lost to Super Delfin & Terry Boy. He would later move Federacion Universal De Lucha Libre and debuted by beating the team of Mongolian Yuga & Shiryu with Buffalo Chohe. Then he debuted for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in a six-man tag team match at FMW Summer Spectacular 1993. Michinoku would primary compete at MPW, UWF and FMW in his early carrer. [3]
His debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling came during Super J Cup 1994 and was eliminated from the competition in the first round by Black Tiger. He competed in Best of the Super Juniors 1994 and only gained two points therefore losing the tournament. Also had a J-Crown Title #1 Contendership match with Koji Kanemoto and lost. [4]
Michinoku's first title reign came in the form of the FMW Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship, which he won by defeating Koji Nakagawa on May 5th 1996. He would lose the title to El Satanico after holding the title for one year and one month and then regained it two months later. He would vacate the championship to focus on the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. [4]
He debuted in North America with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in a six-man tag team match at ECW's debut pay-per-view Barely Legal. [5]
[edit] World Wrestling Federation (1997-2001)
[edit] First WWF Light Heavyweight Champion (1997-1998)
He made his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut on July 6, 1997 at the WWF pay-per-view Canadian Stampede losing to The Great Sasuke but getting a huge reaction from the crowd. He lost a rematch to Sasuke the following night on Raw. He was entered in the WWF Light Heavyweight Title Tournament where the winner would become the first WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, he beat Devon Storm in the quarter final, Aguila in the semi final. On December 7, 1997, Michinoku defeated Brian Christopher at D-Generation X: In Your House to become the first WWF Light Heavyweight Champion recognized by the WWF.[6][7] Taka successfully defended the WWF Light Heavyweight Title at WWF In Your House 20: No Way Out Of Texas against Pantera, WrestleMania XIV against Aguila.[8] After holding the title for more than 10 months, Michinoku lost the title to Christian on October 18, 1998.[6]
[edit] Kai En Tai (1998-2001)
Taka was attacked by Kai En Tai for unknown reasons, and their alliance with Taka in Japan was not mentioned. Taka began a feud with Kai En Tai. With Kai En tai also feuding with Val Venis the pair teamed up to take on Togo and Funaki in a tag team match, Taka made a swerve, however, by turning against Venis, proclaiming that Mrs. Yamaguchi-San was his sister. Venis was dragged backstage by Kaientai to be castrated, though the audience did not see what happened next.
After Togo, Teioh and both Yamaguchis left the WWF, Michinoku and Funaki began wrestling as a tag team using the name Kaientai. They were primarily comedy jobbers, best known for their "Indeed!" skits in which voices in English were dubbed into their promos while they badly lip-synced.
Taka's biggest venture in WWF came when he challenged Triple H for the WWF Championship on the April 10, 2000 edition of Raw, coming up short despite interference on his behalf from Funaki and the Acolytes Protection Agency.
[edit] Return to Japan, Kaientai Dojo
After departing from the WWF (by now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment) in early 2002, Michinoku returned to Japan to rehabilitate a serious shoulder injury. He then began promoting his own promotion, Kaientai Dojo (often shortened to K-DOJO) in small venues around the Tokyo area and often appears in All Japan Pro Wrestling cards, where he and Taiyō Kea lead the foreign-oriented faction Roughly Obsess & Destroy.
[edit] Hawai'i
Michinoku made his Hawaii debut in 2004 when he appeared for Hawai'i Championship Wrestling defeating Nightmare.
[edit] All Japan Pro Wrestling
Pepe Michinoku (Taka Michinoku), El Nosawa Mendoza (Nosawa-Rongai), and Miguel Hayashi Jr (Kaz Hayashi) formed a team during the AJPW Champion's Carnival called Mexico Amigos. El Hijo del Araya Segundo (Nobutaka Araya) joined the team after Six-Man Action between Mexico Amigos and Araya/Fuchi/Hirai at the Carnival's final show. After multiple bouts against Minoru Suzuki, Nosawa (NOSAWA Rongai) offered Suzuki an invitation into Mexico Amigos, to which he declined. This resulted in the group changing multiple assets. Their name was changed to Mexico Amigos Black, the previous worn Mexican Flag attire became Black and Gold attire, and Nobutaka Araya was kicked out of the group. The groups is currently in a heated rivalry with Mazada's Samurai New Japan group, Minoru Suzuki, and Voodoo Murders.
At the AJPW's December 16, 2007 "Fan Appreciation Day" show, The Mexico Amigos teamed with "Ray Suzuki" and defeated Ryuji Hijikata, Kikutaro, T28 and Ryuji Yamaguchi. After the match, Ray Suzuki reveled himself as Minoru Suzuki and stated the starting next year he would throw his Amigos tights away and return to Nosawa Rongai, then kidnapped him to start early training. This led to Pepe and Miguel stating they would return to Mexico, but Kaz and Taka would return come the new year. After one last "Viva Mexico" Mexico Amigos disbanded.
[edit] DDT
TAKA, renamed Piza Michinoku, joined with Antonio Honda to form The Italian Four Horsemen in the Japan-based DDT promotion, competing in several comedic matches against opponents such as "The Gay Wrestler" Danshoku Dino and an inflatable "love doll" impersonating various iconic wrestlers named YOSHIHIKO.
[edit] Michinoku Pro
TAKA returned to Michinoku Pro and reformed Kai En Tai with Funaki. Their most recent match as a team was against Great Sasuke and Dick Togo on the 20th anniversary of Michinoku Pro. Kai En Tai would lose the match with Funaki taking the pin.
[edit] Legacy
Taka's signature moves such as the Michinoku driver still appear in current WWE video games, as part of create a wrestler movesets.
[edit] In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Michinoku driver[2][8]
- Michinoku Driver II, sometimes while using an inverted facelock for support — innovated [2][9]
- Just Facelock (Bridging crossface)
- Signature moves
- Back to back double underhook piledriver
- Dick Killer (Arm trap bridging cobra clutch)
- Death Valley driver
- Hurricanrana
- Multiple kick variations
- Bicycle[9]
- Drop, sometimes while springboarding[2]
- Double foot stomp, sometimes while doing a back flip from the top rope
- Low drop[2]
- Super[9]
- Multiple moonsault variations
- Diving
- Springboard
- Springboard corkscrew,[2] sometimes to an opponent outside the ring
- No–handed over the top rope suicide dive
- Overhead belly to belly suplex
- Over the shoulder back to belly piledriver
- Powerbomb
- Springboard into either a dropkick[2] or a knee drop
- Straight jacket sitout powerbomb pin
- Superkick
- Tornado DDT[2]
- Managers
- Yamaguchi-san
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- El Dorado Wrestling
- UWA World Trios Championship (1 time, current) - with Francis Togo and Antonio Honda
- Independent Wrestling World
- IWW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Kaientai Dojo
- FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with TOMO Michinoku[2]
- Strongest-K Championship (2 times)[2]
- Strongest-K Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Handsome Joe
- UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ryota Chikuzen[2]
- Strongest-K Tournament (2007)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #191 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
- Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
- Best Technical Wrestler (2005)
- World Entertainment Wrestling
- WEW Six Man Tag Team titles (1 time) - with Gosaku Goshogawara and Tetsuhiro Kuroda[2]
[edit] Mixed martial arts record
| Professional record breakdown | ||
| 1 match | 0 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 0 | 0 |
| By submission | 0 | 1 |
| By decision | 0 | 0 |
| By disqualification | 0 | 0 |
| Result | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0-1 |  Keiichiro Yamamiya |
Submission (Keylock) | Pancrase - Alive 4 | April 27, 1997 | 1 | 7:36 | Tokyo, Japan |
[edit] References
- ^ "Taka Michinoku at Online Wold of Wrestling". http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/t/taka-michinoku.html.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Taka Michinoku profile". OWOW. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/t/taka-michinoku.html. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
- ^ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=517&page=4&s=1500
- ^ a b http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=517&page=4&s=1400
- ^ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=517&page=4&s=1300
- ^ a b c "Taka Michinoku's reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/lightheavyweight/357106. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
- ^ Powell, John (December 8, 1997). "A Hart's Revenge". SLAM! Wrestling. http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/dec8_dx.html. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
- ^ a b Powell, John (March 30, 1998). "Austin wins WWF World Title at WrestleMania". SLAM! Wrestling. http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/mar29_wrestlemania.html. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
- ^ a b c "Taka Michinoku at Cagematch". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=517.
[edit] External links
- Profile at The Accelerator's Wrestling Rollercoaster
- Professional MMA Record
- Profile at Jujigatame Puroresu
- Online World of Wrestling Profile
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