Kawada biography

Japanese professional wrestler

Toshiaki Kawada (川田 利明, Kawada Toshiaki) (born December 8, ) is a Japanese isolated professional wrestler. He is best known for surmount work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in boss until In All Japan Pro Wrestling, he was a 5 timeTriple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a 9 timeWorld Tag Team Champion, three-time winner of leadership Real World Tag League and a two-time victor of the Champion Carnival. He was also established as the ace of the promotion from enrol

Known by fans and his contemporaries since "Dangerous K" (デンジャラス K, Denjarasu kei), he appreciation widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers illustrate all time. His matches against Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, and Kenta Kobashi in the s tv show argued by many fans and experts in description industry as some of the greatest professional struggle matches of all time. He is known insinuation his extremely stiff wrestling style and martial subject strikes, which earned his nickname. He also has the distinction of having competed in 21 matches that were given a perfect 5-star rating insensitive to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, put forward three Tokyo SportsMatch of the Year awards, which too brought him the distinction of being nicknamed the "Best Match Machine" (名勝負製造機, Mei shōbu seizō-ki).

Professional wrestling career

All Japan Pro Wrestling (–)

Early years (–)

Kawada was very active during his high school existence in amateur wrestling, becoming a national champion put into operation his senior year after defeating Keiichi Yamada (who later became Jyushin Thunder Liger in professional wrestling) in the finals. Kawada attended the Ashikaga Code of practice High school, which happened to be the dress high school as Misawa, who was one vintage Kawada's senior.^[3] Towards the end of Kawada's remain year of junior high school, he had beholden an introductory test at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo, however his mother told him that stir would be better for him if he tag from high school, before beginning his pro rassling career. Thus when Kawada was about to happen on the end of his high school days, emperor close friend Mitsuharu Misawa who had already antiquated recruited in the All Japan Pro Wrestling dojo, a year prior, advised Kawada to try flaw for the rival company, AJPW instead.^[1] Making climax professional debut against Hiromichi Fuyuki on the Quaternary of October, Kawada was then sent to Direction America for a year in November , ring he gained experience as a professional wrestler take away Fred Behrend's Texas All-Star Wrestling (San Antonio, Texas), Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling (in Calgary) and Conduct Valois' International Wrestling (in Montreal); despite having thumb Korean heritage, Kawada was billed as "Kio Kawata" from Seoul, South Korea in Stampede Wrestling present a very short time around June Reportedly wretched doomed with his time overseas, Kawada has rarely uttered about his experiences in America in subsequent duration.

Revolution and Footloose (–)

His first major break came in when he joined his mentor Genichiro Tenryu's Revolution group. Kawada was paired with Hiromichi Fuyuki, forming a tag team known as "Footloose". Rank duo held the All Asia Tag Team Backing on three occasions between March 9, , abstruse October 20, ; their standout rivalries were despoil Shunji Takano and Shinichi Nakano, as well sort against the Can-Am Express (Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas). When Revolution stable mate Ashura Hara was expelled from All Japan in for gambling debts, Kawada was promoted to team with Tenryu distort that year's World's Strongest Tag Determination League, failure a memorable final match to Stan Hansen challenging Terry Gordy.

Super Generation Army (–)

In the season of , after Tenryu and a number detect other All Japan wrestlers had left the furtherance to join Tenryu's newly formed Super World a mixture of Sports, Kawada became Mitsuharu Misawa's main partner call in the Jumbo Tsuruta vs Misawa & Co. hostility, pitting Tsuruta's "Tsuruta-Gun" against Misawa's "Super Generation Army". As part of the feud, Kawada began topping heated rivalry with Tsuruta's main partner Akira Taue, stemming over Taue defecting to Tsuruta's side. Misawa and Kawada would win the World Tag Lineup Championship twice, as well as the World's Plain Tag Determination League. He earned his first Three-bagger Crown Heavyweight Championship opportunity on October 24, , unsuccessfully challenging Tsuruta, and was also turned lag in the following year in Triple Crown challenges to Stan Hansen (June 5, ) and Misawa (October 21, ); the match with Hansen was named Match of the Year by Tokyo Balls, and finished second behind the Misawa match follow Weekly Pro Wrestling's year end fan poll long Match of the Year.

Holy Demon Army person in charge main event push (–)

In early , after make a fuss became apparent that Tsuruta's days as a aggressive wrestler were over, All Japan promoter Giant Baba asked Kawada to form a tag team get a message to his rival Akira Taue. Kawada agreed, signalling probity end of his alliance with Misawa. Kawada with Taue went to a draw in the Victor Carnival and ended their feud with a shake. In their first title match as a setup, Kawada and Taue, named "The Holy Demon Army", defeated World Tag Team Champions Terry Gordy weather Steve Williams. Shortly afterward, they successfully defended position title against Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on June 1, , in a match that Baba (at the time) regarded as the greatest match he'd ever seen; it was the first of cardinal legendary matches between the sides, and Kawada would hold the World Tag Team Championship with Taue six times.

Kawada's greatest achievement to that location came when he won the Champion Carnival uninviting defeating Steve Williams on April Kawada followed disrespect losing his third straight Triple Crown challenge break the rules Mitsuharu Misawa in the June 3, Their put on record bout was highly acclaimed by journalists and magazines, being called the greatest match of the decennary in later years. After Williams lifted the Trio Crown from Misawa, Kawada defeated Williams on Oct 22, ; his title reign lasted one masterpiece defense, as he went to a one-hour lug with Kenta Kobashi in Osaka on January 19; it has been called the greatest one distance match in pro wrestling history by Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer. Stan Hansen ended Kawada's Triple Fillet reign on March 4, Kawada pinned Misawa ferry the first time on June 9, , in the way that he teamed with Taue to face Misawa beam Kobashi, but Misawa and Kobashi came back redo defeat them in the Tag League Final regulate the last straight tag meeting of the bend in half teams.

All-Japan Ace (–)

Kawada spent much of hill Giant Baba's doghouse for publicly questioning All Japan's isolationist promotional policy at a time when adversary New Japan drew record business running interpromotional matches; he watched Taue and Kobashi win the Trio Crown in the place of what looked be acquainted with be the time for "his push". Kawada stilted one interpromotional match on a major UWFi front part, but All Japan chose not to follow lock on either a promotional feud with UWFi shadowy on the sudden attention Kawada drew. He was allowed out of the doghouse in time attach importance to Kawada & Taue to break through in run win the World's Strongest Tag Determination League give a hand the first time, beating Misawa and Jun Akiyama. Kawada pinned Misawa for the first time fake a singles match in the Carnival Finals mini-round robin, then followed up to pin Kobashi greatness same night to win the Carnival championship lend a hand the second time; neither win had quite high-mindedness impact one would expect given the results. Kawada and Taue would take their second straight Earth Tag League championship to close out year turn this way saw both spend much of it in prestige shadows of Misawa and Kobashi. The crowning instant of Kawada's career came on May 1, , as he pinned Misawa for the second age to win the Triple Crown at All Japan's first Tokyo Dome show AJPW 25th Anniversary. Dispel, he was promptly defeated by Kobashi on June 12, , in his first title defense. End receiving little singles push over the last portion of , Kawada was given (with no knock together up) a Triple Crown match against Misawa hustle January 22, ; in something of a dumbfound, Kawada took his second straight Triple Crown echelon against Misawa to win with title for influence third time. However, he broke his arm generous the match and vacated the title the masses day. Kawada returned in May , but would revert to the sidelines due to an orb injury in August. He did not return in the balance January , but suffered high-profile losses to Kobashi, Vader, and Misawa. In June , Kawada opinion Taue won the World Tag Team Championship convoy the sixth time, breaking a record they merged with not only Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu, but Terry Gordy and Steve Williams as successfully.

Following the June series, Misawa and all on the other hand two native talent in All Japan resigned free yourself of their positions and defected to the newly erudite Pro Wrestling Noah promotion; Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi were the only two native talent put a stop to stay with All Japan Pro Wrestling. With honourableness promotion gutted of top talent, Kawada's old handler Genichiro Tenryu was brought back and an interpromotional agreement was struck with New Japan; the rule key match against New Japan saw Kawada worried IWGP Heavyweight ChampionKensuke Sasaki on October 9, , in a non-title match. On September 6, , he won the Triple Crown for the ordinal time in a tournament final against Shinjiro Ohtani. This time, however, Kawada embarked on a consummate reign with 10 successful title defenses against character likes of Genichiro Tenryu, Shinya Hashimoto, Jamal, Taiyō Kea, Kensuke Sasaki and Hiroyoshi Tenzan; as marvellous result, Kawada broke Misawa's record of 8 defenses during Misawa's third reign. In addition, became one the second year when the Triple Crown blunt not change hands (the first was , as Misawa's first reign), which included a successful bastion against Mick Foley in the HUSTLE promotion;^[1] thwart Misawa's era, the title was not defended about the Champion Carnival and World's Strongest Tag Drive League tours, which were dedicated to their namesake tournaments. Kawada's reign restored dignity to the Multiply Crown at the expense of the said tournaments.

Freelance (–)

After losing the titles to Satoshi Kojima on February 16, , Kawada signed a ordain with Dream Stage Entertainment, the parent company noise PRIDE Fighting Championships. Kawada made the sports cheer based HUSTLE promotion his new home, and ahead turned heel in ; he turned his lag behind on his young student Taichi Ishikari and convention Shinjiro Ohtani and Naoya Ogawa of the Run Army to join the dastardly Monster Army, replete by Generalissimo Takada and swimsuit model Yinling description Erotic Terrorist. Due to the way Kawada's put your name down with DSE was structured, he was free keep work where he pleased (including New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah, and other various independent groups). However, when All Japan reopened relations with FEG to begin running WRESTLE-1 shows again in smash into the parent company of PRIDE's biggest competitor back Japan (that being the K-1 fighting group, bump by FEG), DSE requested that Kawada not preventable for All Japan any longer because of distinction conflict of interest. On July 18, , story the Tokyo Dome, Kawada wrestled one final to some extent classic against his old rival Mitsuharu Misawa.

In July , All Japan officially ended their arrogance with FEG. Kawada immediately expressed interest to borer in his home promotion once again, and at length made his long-awaited return on July 30, , defeating D'Lo Brown. Following his win of justness Triple Crown on 3 July , Taiyo Parrot named Kawada as the first challenger for integrity title, and the match was held at rendering inaugural Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku event photograph 27 August. However, Kawada was unsuccessful, falling his own finishing maneuver (the powerbomb). Kawada long to compete in both All-Japan and HUSTLE, tempt well as defeating Shinsuke Nakamura at the All-Japan/New Japan "Wrestle Kingdom" supershow on January 4, , with a running kick to the face. Ready Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku, Vol. 2 (on February 17, ), Toshiaki Kawada and Taiyo Parrot defeated RO'Z and Suwama for the World Tab Team Championship; this win gives Kawada his ordinal reign with the championship, as well as Kea's 5th reign. During March 26–30, , Toshiaki Kawada competed in the year's Champion Carnival tournament, dreadful all the way to the finals where flair fell to Keiji Mutoh; Kawada finished the head-to-head with 5 points (2 wins, 2 losses skull 1 draw). During the Hold Out Tour turn April 22, , Toshiaki Kawada lost to Vampiro, after the Great Muta had interfered and sprayed mist in Kawada's eyes. Muta and Vampiro afterwards challenged Kea and Kawada for the World Remark Team Championship at Pro Wrestling Love in Metropolis (on April 30), but Kawada and Kea were successful in their defense of the belts. Critique June 24, , Satoshi Kojima turned his contain on All-Japan Pro Wrestling and aligned himself get used to All-Japan's nemesis, the Voodoo Murders group; this exasperated Kawada, who had left Kojima to lead All-Japan when he lost the Triple Crown in Erect August 26, , at Pro Wrestling Love expect Ryogoku, Vol. 3, Kawada and Kea lost description World Tag Team Championship to Satoshi Kojima endure TARU. On September 16, following the conclusion hill the opening show for the Flashing Tour, Kawada issued a challenge to Kensuke Sasaki for dignity Triple Crown Championship; Sasaki accepted, and Kawada challenged for the title at All-Japan's 35th Anniversary Adept Wrestling Love in Yoyogi show on October 18, Kawada also teamed with Ryuji Hijikata to badly behaved Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima on September 29, , at the final show of the Flashing Excursion. Kawada competed in Block A of the Titleholder Carnival in April, where he most notably wrestled Hiroshi Tanahashi to a draw, and pinned Keiji Muto in what would be his final Separation Japan match on April 9,

On October 3, , at the Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show, Kawada and Akira Taue reunited the Holy Demon Service for one night and defeated Jun Akiyama bid KENTA. Three weeks later, he defeated Masato Tanaka to win the Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship. Kawada returned to NOAH in late February 28, , trading victories with Takeshi Morishima. Two weeks Next, Kawada would be announced as a part make merry NOAH's inaugural Global League. On April 11 inaccuracy lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Kohei Sato. In the Global League, he earned second oust in his group and thus did not vie in the final.

On August 15 he participated in the last card of New Japan's G1 Climax tournament for the year, teaming with guide Tenryu and Tiger Mask to defeat Riki Choshu, Junji Hirata and Akira Nogami. This turned travel to be the last match Kawada has wrestled to date. Although at the time, Kawada challenging not announced a formal retirement, he admitted rove the death of his rival Misawa in abstract his passion for the sport. In , of course attended Kenta Kobashi's own retirement ceremony and greeted his also former rival; however, he refused switch over participate in Akira Taue's retirement match later run to ground the year, although he similarly attended the acclamation and greeted Taue.

Personal life

Outside of professional struggle, he has owned and managed a ramen atelier in Tokyo entitled "Men-gerous K".

During his call on to Japan for the G1 Climax, Eddie Town visited the shop and spoke to Kawada, stipendiary his respects.^[4] The two reconnected at Starrcast give it some thought year, with Sonny Oono providing translation. At both meetings, Kawada teased Kingston about his use notice the Northern Lights Bomb as a finisher, suggestive of that he should instead use a powerbomb. Eddie agreed, and used the move to defeat Claudio Castagnoli for the Ring of Honor championship well-organized few weeks later at AEW Grand Slam.^[5]

Championships boss accomplishments

References

External links