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Yasuhiro Suzuki (鈴木 康弘, Suzuki Yasuhiro, born June 18, 1978) is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name Kotaro Suzuki (鈴木 鼓太郎, Suzuki Kotarō), where is currently working as a freelancer.[1][2]

Suzuki started his career in Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he would become a two-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, with the first reign being associated to his Mushking Terry persona, and a three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and also won 2009 Junior Heavyweight League, 2009 Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League and the 2011 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League. He also established as one of the prominent figures of NOAH's junior Heavyweight divison, before resigning from the promotion in 2012.

In January 2013, Suzuki joined All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he held the All Asia Tag Team and World Junior Heavyweight Championships, as well as the Gaora TV Championship once, while also winning the 2013 Junior Hyper Tag League and the 2014 and 2015's Jr. Battle of Glory before resigning from the promotion in November 2015. Afterwards, he began working mostly for Wrestle-1 and Pro Wrestling Zero-1, where he held the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division and Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championships and Zero1's International Junior Heavyweight and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championships before returning to Noah in the fall of 2018, signing with the promotion full-time.

In his return to Noah, Suzuki won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship and the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice, while also winning the 2018 Global Junior League and the 2019 Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League, as part of the Stinger stable. After being kicked out of Stinger in 2021, Suzuki became one of the fouding members of the Los Perros del Mal de Japón, but the stable disbanded in November 2022 and days later Suzuki would leave Noah again to become a freelancer.

Professional wrestling 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, 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 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 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.[3][4][5] On December 24, Suzuki defeated Genba Hirayanagi in his final NOAH match.[6][7]

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 All Japan Pro Wrestling, forming the "Burning" stable.[8] 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 andMinoru Tanaka.[9] 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.[10] On April 25, Suzuki and Aoki defeated Kanemoto and Tanaka in a rematch to become the new All Asia Tag Team Champions.[11] 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.[12] On July 5, following a mass exodus led by Keiji Mutoh, it was announced that Suzuki, along with the rest of Burning, had signed an exclusive contract with All Japan.[13] On October 29, Suzuki quit Burning in order to challenge Kanemaru for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship.[14] On November 21, Suzuki and Aoki, along with Kento Miyahara, joined Go Shiozaki's new Xceed stable.[15] On January 26, 2014, Suzuki and Aoki lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to former Burning stablemates Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.[16] On February 5, Suzuki's longtime partnership with Aoki came to an end, when Aoki quit Xceed to go solo.[17] 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.[18] As a result, Suzuki received a shot at the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Último Dragón, on February 23.[19] On May 17, Suzuki defeated SUSHI to win the Gaora TV Championship.[20] 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.[21] On January 3, 2015, Suzuki and Miyahara lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to Mitsuya Nagai and Takeshi Minamino.[22] 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.[23] This led to a rematch on March 27, where Suzuki defeated Aoki to become the new World Junior Heavyweight Champion.[24] 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.[25] Following the announcement, the World Junior Heavyweight Championship was vacated and Xceed disbanded.[26]

Freelancer (2016–present)[]

Independent circuit (2016–2018)[]

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.[27] On January 22 he made an appearance in Pro Wrestling ZERO1 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 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.[28] After five successful defenses, Suzuki lost the title to Yusuke Kodama on August 11.[29] On September 18, Suzuki and Kaz Hayashi won the vacant Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship. On September 20 Suzuki participated at Pro Wrestling ZERO1's annual Tenkaichi Jr. tournament. On September 29 Suzuki made it into the finals but he was defeated by the eventual winner Takuya Sugawara.[30] On February 3, 2017, Suzuki defeated Shinjiro Otani to win Zero1's International Junior Heavyweight and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championships. He lost the titles to Sean Guinness on October 26.

Return to Pro Wrestling NOAH (2018–2022)[]

On September 1, 2018, at Naomichi Marufuji 20th Anniversary Show, Suzuki announced his intentions of returning to Pro Wrestling Noah to take part in the Global Junior League. Later that month, Suzuki would win his block, after defeating reigning GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daisuke Harada in his last round-robin match, finishing with a record of four wins and one loss, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On October 4, Suzuki defeated YO-HEY in the finals to win the 2018 Global Junior League. On October 30, Suzuki defeated Harada in a rematch to win GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship for the third time. He lost the title back to Harada in his third title defense on December 16 at Great Voyage in Yokohama vol.2. During his feud with Harada, Suzuki formed an alliance with Yoshinari Ogawa and YO-HEY, who turned on Harada afterwards. On February 24, 2019, Suzuki and Ogawa defeated Hajime Ohara and Hitoshi Kumano to win GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. From May to June, Ogawa and Suzuki took part in the 2019 Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League. They would finish the tournament with six wins and one loss and one draw advancing to the finals. In the finals, they defeated HAYATA and YO-HEY to win the tournament. From June until July, Suzuki took part in the 2019 Global Junior League, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins, one loss, and one draw against HAYATA, leading the two to face each other in a rematch, which HAYATA won. Suzuki and Ogawa lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke on November 2 at Noah the Best 2019. On November 26, Suzuki and Atsushi Kotoge defeated Harada and Tadasuke to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. In January 2020, Suzuki took part in the 2020 Global Junior League, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and two losses, same as block winner Dick Togo, but failed to advance to the finals due to losing to Togo in their head-to-head match. On March 29, Suzuki and Kotoge lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to RATEL'S members HAYATA and YO-HEY. Later that night, Suzuki turned on Ogawa challenging him to a match for his GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. Later in a post-match interview, due to Suzuki's actions, Ogawa announced the disbanding of Stinger. On April 19, Suzuki defeated Ogawa to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time. Afterwards, Suzuki asked to team with him, in order to challenge for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, which Ogawa accepted. On May 9, during the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championshionship, HAYATA turned on YO-HEY, joining Suzuki and Ogawa to reform Stinger. On October 22, Stinger were defeated by KONGOH (Haoh, Nioh, and Tadasuke), with Suzuki being pinned by Tadasuke. Afterwards, HAYATA and Ogawa turned on Suzuki, turning Stinger to a tag team.

On November 8, Suzuki lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Daisuke Harada in his sixth titile defense. On November 21 at NOAH The Chronicle Vol. 4, Suzuki was joined by a new partner Selvaje de Oriente. Later that night, after Ogawa and HAYATA defeated Momo no Seishun (Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada) to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, Suzuki and Oriente challenged Ogawa and HAYATA to a title match. On December 1, HAYATA and Ogawa faced Oriente and Suzuki in a six-man tag team match, with Suzuki getting the win for his team. Afterwards, Stinger attacked Oriente and Suzuki. Nosawa Rongai came to the ring with a mystery partner to form an alliance with Stinger and Oriente and Suzuki, leading both sides to reject them. On December 6 at Noah the Best, Suzuki and Oriente faced Ogawa and HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. During the match, Oriente turned on Suzuki, revealing himself to be Yuya Susumu, joining Stinger in the process. Afterwards, Nosawa Rongai and a mystery partner decided to allign with Suzuki. That mystery partner was later revealed to be Ikuto Hidaka, who along with Suzuki, on February 12, 2021, at Destination, unsucessfully challenged Ogawa and HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On June 27, at Muta The World, the group was revealed to be the Los Perros del Mal de Japon, afterwards Eita along with Nosawa and YO-HEY defeated Stinger (Yoshinari Ogawa, Seiki Yoshioka and Yuya Susumu). Afterwards the group started a brawl between the two stables with Suzuki and Ikuto Hidaka coming to help, outnumbering Stinger and getting the upper hand on them. In September, Suzuki took part in the 2021 N-1 Victory, finishing the tournament with a record of one win and two losses, failling to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.

In April 2022, a trio Metal Warriors appeared in Dragon Gate, kidnapping Gold Class' Minorita, leading to a match between Minorita and one of the three Metal Warriors. On April 25, one of the three Metal Warriors faced Minorita in a winning effort. After the match, the trio was revealed to be Suzuki, Suzuki, Eita and Nosawa Rongai, who challenged Gold Class (Naruki Doi, Kaito Ishida and Kota Minoura) to a title match for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On May 5 at Dead or Alive, Suzuki, Eita and Rongai defeated Doi, Ishida and Kota Minoura to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Following the match, Suzuki and Rongai confirmed that they had left NOAH permanently for Dragon Gate. However, later that month, Suzuki and Los Perros del Mal de Japon made their shockingly return to NOAH, attacking Stinger members Chris Ridgeway, Yoshinari Ogawa, Seiki Yoshioka and Yuya Susumu, during a title match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, before nominating them as their next challengers to the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On June 7, Suzuki, Eita, and Rongai lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Stinger's Seiki Yoshioka, Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu, before regaining the titles after defeating Atsushi Kotoge, Extreme Tiger, and YO-HEY on June 23. They lost the titles to M3K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Junior and Susumu Mochizuki) on July 30 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival. On November 23 at Noah the Best, after concluding their feud with Stinger's Yoshinari Ogawa, Nosawa Rongai decided to disband Los Perros del Mal de Japón, due to his eminent retirement from professional wrestling on February 21, 2023. It was later revealed on November 29 that Suzuki would leave NOAH after his contract with the promotion expired.

Personal life[]

On May 23, 2021, Suzuki tested positive for COVID-19 amid its pandemic in Japan.

In wrestling[]

  • As Kotaro Suzuki
    • Finishing moves
      • Blue Destiny (Gory neckbreaker)[1][2]
      • Endless Waltz (Rolling arm wrench inside cradle)[10]
      • Excalibur (Spinning belly-to-belly piledriver)[31]
      • Mass Driver (Belly-to-back suplex flipped into a spike DDT)
      • Myst Crash (Three-quarter nelson suplex)[31]
      • Requiem (Electric chair driver)[1][2]
      • Tiger Driver (Sitout double underhook powerbomb)[31] – adopted from Mitsuharu Misawa
    • Signature moves
      • 450° splash
      • Axis (Flipping release belly-to-back suplex)
      • Bit Blaster (Handspring back elbow smash)
      • Colony Drop (Inverted frankensteiner)
      • Death Scythe (Arm wrench takedown transitioned into an elbow smash to the head of an opponent)
      • Funnel Blaster (Tiger feint kick)
      • Incom (Tilt-a-whirl headscissors armbar)
      • Javelin (Elbow smash to the opponent's chin)
      • Rolling elbow – used as a 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 into a sitout pin)
      • Tiger Suplex '04 (Bridging leg hook tiger suplex)
  • As Kevin Mask
    • Finishing moves
      • Big Ben Edge (Belly to back suplex lift dropped into a modified Samoan driver)
    • Signature moves
      • Avalanche victory roll driver
      • Paro Special (Piggyback double chickenwing)
  • Entrance themes
    • "Blue of Fear"[1]

Championships and accomplishments[]

Luchas de Apuestas record[]

Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
Tiger Emperor (mask) Ricky Marvin (hair) Tokyo, Japan Encountering Navigation 2005 April 2, 2005  

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 ja:鈴木 鼓太郎 (in Japanese). Pro Wrestling Noah. Retrieved on 2012-02-04.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 ja:鈴木 鼓太郎 (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2013-09-27.
  3. ja:ノア激震!小橋解雇、秋山ら退団 (in Japanese). Tokyo Sports (2012-12-04). Retrieved on 2012-12-19.
  4. ノ小橋、9日両国大会でフリー宣言へ!秋山ら5選手もノア退団申し入れ . Sports Navi. Yahoo!language=Japanese (2012-12-05). Retrieved on 2012-12-19.
  5. ja:秋山らノア退団正式決定 (in Japanese). Nikkan Sports (2012-12-19). Retrieved on 2012-12-19.
  6. ~Noahful Gift in Differ 2012 vol.2~ (in Japanese). Pro Wrestling Noah. Retrieved on 2012-12-24.
  7. Meltzer, Dave 2012-12-24. Mon. update: Raw tonight, wrestlers bid farewell to Noah, Leben talks his issues . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2012-12-25.
  8. ja:秋山、潮崎らノア退団5選手が全日本プロレスに参戦 (in Japanese). Sports Navi. Yahoo! (2013-01-27). Retrieved on 2013-01-26.
  9. 2013 プロレスLove in 両国~Basic&Dynamic~ (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2013-04-07.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 2013 Junior Hyper Tag League (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2013-04-07.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Gaora Special 2013 チャンピオン・カーニバル (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2013-04-25.
  12. ja:2013年5月11日(土) (in Japanese). Pro Wrestling Noah. Retrieved on 2013-05-11.
  13. ja:秋山13年ぶり!電撃"王道"復帰「全日本の名前の下に頑張りたい」 (in Japanese). Sports Navi. Yahoo! (2013-07-06). Retrieved on 2013-07-14.
  14. ja:鼓太郎がバーニング正式脱退で金丸に挑戦 (in Japanese). Tokyo Sports (2013-10-29). Retrieved on 2013-11-18.
  15. Xcced初陣でKensoがいきなり潮崎を裏切り、全日本に反旗!前哨戦で三冠王者と世界ジュニア王者が揃って挑戦者に完敗! (in Japanese). Battle News (2013-11-22). Retrieved on 2013-11-21.
  16. ニューイヤープレゼント in 神戸 (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.
  17. Takagi, Hiromi 2014-02-06. ja:ドラゲー望月が金丸撃破で全勝優勝宣言 潮崎が曙の巨体を持ち上げ前哨戦制す (in Japanese). Sports Navi. Yahoo!. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
  18. 18.0 18.1 ja:2014エキサイトシリーズ【最終戦】 福岡・アクロス福岡 (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2014-02-16.
  19. エールクリエイトpresents 2014 沖縄Impact vol.1 (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2014-02-23.
  20. 20.0 20.1 2014 スーパーパワーシリーズ 神奈川・横浜ラジアントホール (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2014-05-17.
  21. ja:全日本12.14後楽園大会 和田京平レフェリー40周年&還暦記念大会、全試合を京平レフェリーがプロデュース (in Japanese). Battle News (2014-12-15). Retrieved on 2014-12-14.
  22. 全日本1.3後楽園大会 ドーリングvs.潮崎の三冠戦、鼓太郎&宮原vs.DKのアジアタッグ、Kensovs.土方のGaora TV王座戦 (in Japanese). Battle News (2015-01-04). Retrieved on 2015-01-03.
  23. 23.0 23.1 ja:全日本プロレス「2015エキサイト・シリーズ」 (in Japanese). Sports Navi. Yahoo! (2015-02-20). Retrieved on 2015-02-20.
  24. 24.0 24.1 ja:【3.27】 2015 ドリームパワーシリーズ 最終戦・後楽園大会 (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling (2015-03-27). Retrieved on 2015-03-28.
  25. ja:世界ジュニア王者・鈴木鼓太郎が全日退団「契約変更」に不信感 (in Japanese). Tokyo Sports (2015-11-16). Retrieved on 2015-11-16.
  26. ja:鈴木鼓太郎選手退団について (in Japanese). All Japan Pro Wrestling (2015-11-16). Retrieved on 2015-11-20.
  27. Puroresu Spirit 2016-01-10. WRESTLE-1 results for January 10, 2016 .
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 「Wrestle-1 Tour 2016 Trans Magic」 (in Japanese). Wrestle-1 (2016-03-13). Retrieved on 2016-03-13.
  29. ja:「プロレスLove in Yokohama」 (in Japanese). Wrestle-1 (2016-08-11). Retrieved on 2016-08-11.
  30. 30.0 30.1 「Wrestle-1 Tour 2016 3rd Anniversary」 (in Japanese). Wrestle-1 (2016-09-18). Retrieved on 2016-09-18.
  31. 31.0 31.1 31.2 Profile at Puroresu Central . Puroresu Central. Retrieved on 2016-02-05.
  32. 2003 New Japan Awards . Strong Style Spirit. Retrieved on 2011-04-28.
  33. "PWI 500": 101–200 . Pro Wrestling Illustrated (2011-08-08). Retrieved on 2011-08-08.
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