Gentaro

Gentaro Takahashi (高橋 元太郎) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Gentaro (stylized in all capital letters).

Though officially affiliated with the Pro Wrestling Freedoms promotion, Gentaro also works for several other independent promotions, including DDT Pro-Wrestling, Kaientai Dojo and women's wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon, where he works mainly as the lead play-by-play announcer.

Takahashi also makes sporadic appearances as the masked character Benten (also stylized in all capital letters).

Trained by the Wrestle Dream Factory (WDF) promotion, Takahashi made his professional wrestling debut on May 8, 1999, at a WDF event in Tokorozawa, Saitama.

On November 30, 2000, Gentaro made his debut for Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), teaming with Takashi Sasaki in a tag team match, where they defeated Kengo Takai and Yuki Nishino.

While also making appearances for Kageki Pro as the masked character Nasty Black Panther, Takahashi remained with WDF for two years, before becoming a freelancer in 2001.

Gentaro began working regularly for the promotion in October 2001, when he started a storyline rivalry with Mikami.

On November 1, Gentaro won his first title in DDT, when he and Yoshiya defeated Mikami and Thanomsak Toba to win the vacant KO-D Tag Team Championship.

Gentaro and Yoshiya made their first successful defense on November 30, defeating Mikami and Toba in a rematch, with Gentaro pinning his rival for the win.

However, on December 12, Mikami came back and pinned Gentaro to make himself and Gentaro's former partner Takashi Sasaki the new KO-D Tag Team Champions.

On June 6, 2002, Gentaro received his first shot at DDT's top singles title, the KO-D Openweight Championship, when he unsuccessfully challenged Kintaro Kanemura.

In July, Gentaro reunited with Takashi Sasaki, under the team name Akarangers, to take part in the 2002 KO-D Tag League, where they would finish third.

On October 24, the Akarangers defeated Mikami and Thanomsak Toba in a Championship vs. Championship match to retain the WEW World Tag Team Championship and win the KO-D Tag Team Championship.

On November 14, Gentaro defeated Sasaki and Tomohiko Hashimoto in a three-way match to become the number one contender to the KO-D Openweight Championship.

On November 29, Gentaro defeated Sanshiro Takagi to also become the new KO-D Openweight Champion.

However, his reign would last less than a month, as he was defeated by his rival Mikami on December 22, in a four-way match, which also included Sanshiro Takagi and Tomohiko Hashimoto.

In 2002, Gentaro began working for the newly founded World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW), teaming with Takashi Sasaki on August 23 to defeat Hi68 and Taka Michinoku and become the first WEW-promoted World Tag Team Champions.

On January 4, 2003, Gentaro made his first appearance as the kabuki mask wearing Benten, taking part in a battle royal for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship.

Benten has since also made appearances for Kaientai Dojo, Apache Pro-Wrestling Army, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Union Pro Wrestling.

On January 31, 2003, Gentaro and Sasaki lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Sanshiro Takagi and Tomohiko Hashimoto.

Shortly afterwards, Gentaro left DDT for the remainder of the year, returning in early 2004, when he reunited with Sasaki, with the two defeating Hero! and Kudo on February 11 to regain the KO-D Tag Team Championship.

After three successful defenses, they lost the title to Ryuji Ito and Sanshiro Takagi on July 1.

On September 30, Gentaro won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship two times during a ten-minute battle royal, but was unable to leave the match with the title.

From October 2004 to December 2009, Gentaro only made fifteen appearances for DDT, but still managed to win the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship for the third time on April 9, 2008, and losing it two days later.

Gentaro finally returned full-time on January 10, 2010, when he defeated longtime rival Mikami for the DDT Extreme Championship.

After a four-month reign, he lost the title to Danshoku Dino on May 5.

In October 2010, Gentaro formed a new stable named Granma with Dick Togo and Yasu Urano.

After Gentaro and Urano unsuccessfully challenged Antonio Honda and Daisuke Sasaki for the KO-D Tag Team Championship on November 28, Gentaro also faced Honda in a losing effort for the interim KO-D Openweight Championship on December 26.

On February 20, 2011, Gentaro and Urano defeated Honda and Sasaki in a rematch to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship, Gentaro's third time winning the title.

On March 27, Gentaro entered the annual Anytime and Anywhere battle royal, a match combining elements of a regular battle royal and a ladder match, where he managed to grab the "Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere" contract to earn the right to challenge for the KO-D Openweight Championship at a time of his own choosing.

After three successful title defenses, Gentaro and Urano lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Munenori Sawa and Shigehiro Irie on June 4.

On June 19, Gentaro cashed in his "Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere" contract, but was defeated in his KO-D Openweight Championship match by the defending champion, Shuji Ishikawa.

Granma folded shortly afterwards, following the retirement of Dick Togo on June 30, and Gentaro and Urano failing to recapture the KO-D Tag Team Championship on July 24.

Gentaro returned to DDT on June 3, 2012, when Tomomitsu Matsunaga chose him as his tag team partner, after earning the right to challenge for the KO-D Tag Team Championship.

In their title match, Gentaro and Matsunaga were defeated by the defending champions, Yasu Urano and Yuji Hino.

On July 30, Gentaro returned to referee a four-way tag team match, after which he surprised one of the competitors, Mio Shirai, and pinned her to become the new Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.

However, his reign ended later that same event, when he was pinned by Michael Mamezawa.

Gentaro returned to DDT on July 20, 2014, when he teamed with Yasu Urano in a tag team match, where they faced Mikami and Tomomitsu Matsunaga.

After submitting Mikami for the win, Gentaro entered a storyline, where he took his "unmotivated" opponent under his wing to help him out of his recent slump.

This led to a match on August 17 at DDT's biggest event of the year, Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2014, where Gentaro and Mikami defeated Akito and Yasu Urano.