Jiro Kuroshio

Sōjirō Higuchi (樋口 壮士朗) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jiro "Ikemen" Kuroshio (黒潮"イケメン"二郎).

Using the ring name Jiro Kuroshio, Higuchi made his professional wrestling debut on December 30, 2011, against fellow camp attendee Koji Doi at the "Smash 24" event.

He adopted the name "Kuroshio" from the name of the nabemono restaurant operated by his parents, "Nabeya Kuroshio".

The Smash promotion folded in March 2012 and on April 5, 2012, Kuroshio, along with Tajiri and all other wrestlers, referees and trainees, moved to the spin-off Wrestling New Classic promotion.

At WNC Before the Dawn, Kuroshio wrestled the very first match for Wrestling New Classic, losing to Josh O'Brien.

At an event at Korakuen Hall on August 30, 2012, after defeating Koji Doi, Kuroshio announced he had become an apprentice of Hajime Ohara and joined Ohara's unit "DQN".

On July 16, Kuroshio, Lin Byron and Tsubasa defeated The Bodyguard, Mio Shirai and Takuya Kito in the finals of a one night six person tournament to win the 2012 Kito Cup, with Byron pinning the tournament's creator Kito for the win.

He also participated in 2012's Dave Finlay Cup, losing to Koji Doi in the semi-final.

In 2013 he changed his ring name to "Jiro Ikemen Kuroshiro" and adopted an "ikemen" character.

Like the year before, he participated in the Dave Finlay Cup, losing to Kaji Tomato.

On July 1, 2014, Kuroshio moved to the Wrestle-1.

Making his Wrestle-1 debut in April 2014, Kuroshio became an official member of the roster on July 1, when Kuroshio along with Tajiri, Akira, Yusuke Kodama, Koji Doi and Rionne Fujiwara left WNC.

Kuroshio quickly formed the stable Novus with fellow WNC alumni Kodama, Doi and Fujiwara.

In August, he defeated Andy Wu in a qualification bout, earning the right to enter the inaugural Wrestle-1 Championship tournament, he would go on to lose to Masayuki Kono in the first round.

In November, he formed the "Ikemen Samurai" tag-team partnership with Masakatsu Funaki and competed in the inaugural Wrestle-1 Tag-Team Championship tournament.

With Kuroshio teaming with Funaki and Doi joining Desperado, Novus quietly disbanded.

On May 30, 2015, Kuroshio would win the "Road to Keiji Mutoh Tournament" earning the right to face Keiji Mutoh in a one-on-one match, he would lose to Mutoh on June 18.

Also in June, Ikemen Samurai would come to an end with Funaki leaving the promotion.

Kuroshio would make it to the semi-finals of the 2015 Wrestle-1 Grand Prix before losing to the eventual winner Manabu Soya but gained impressive wins over his former mentor Tajiri and former Wrestle-1 Champion Kai.

Following the tournament, Kuroshio formed the stable Jackets with Yasufumi Nakanoue and Seiki Yoshioka.

On October 9, the trio defeated New Wild Order (Akira, Jun Kasai and Kumagoro) to win the vacant UWA World Trios Championship.

On November 3, they lost the titles to Real Desperado (Kazma Sakamoto, Koji Doi and Nosawa Rongai) but would regain the belts on November 27.

On January 7, 2016, Jackets would vacate the titles due to Yoshioka being sidelined following cecum surgery and being unable to attend a title defense set for January 10.

On January 31, Jackets lost to Kaz Hayashi, Minoru Tanaka and Tajiri for the vacant title.

In mid 2016 Jackets disbanded when Nakanoue left Wrestle-1.

On November 27, 2016, Kuroshio defeated Yohei Nakajima for the Gaora TV Championship, his first singles title reign.

On December 7 Kuroshio, Andy Wu, Daiki Inaba, Yusuke Kodama, Seiki Yoshioka, Koji Doi, Kumagoro and Kohei Fujimura formed a stable named New Era.

Kuroshio suffered a posterior cruciate ligament injury during a match against Shotaro Ashino on January 8, 2017, forcing him to vacate the Gaora TV Championship in February as he was unable to make the mandatory title defense.

He is best known for his work in the Wrestle-1 promotion, where he was a former Wrestle-1 Result Champion and Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champion before leaving the promotion in January 2019.

He worked for WWE from 2019 to 2023, performing for the NXT brand under the ring name Ikemen Jiro.

He was released in 2023.

Higuchi portrays an ikemen character, reflected in his ring name, ring attire and mannerisms.

Higuchi was born in Adachi, Tokyo.

When he was young, he often attended professional wrestling events with his father, who was a fan.

His father became friends with the elder brother of Yoshihiro Tajiri, which in turn led to a friendship with Tajiri himself.

He started training with Tajiri's Hustle promotion when he was 14.

However, without a definite plan towards making a professional debut plus other commitments beyond wrestling such as school, Higuchi's interest in wrestling waned and at one time he moved away from the sport.

He eventually returned to wrestling by joining the Smash promotion's training camp.

On March 23, 2019, Kuroshio announced his departure from Wrestle-1, with his last match under contract scheduled to take place on April 3 in Korakuen Hall.

Kuroshio made his American debut a month later on April 5, at an independent event in New York City, defeating Rich Swann.