Kenzo Suzuki

Kenzo Suzuki (鈴木 健三) is a Japanese professional wrestler.

He is perhaps best known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and in the United States with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion in the latter company.

He currently performs for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) under the ring name Kenso, where he is a one-time World Tag Team Champion and a one-time Gaora TV Champion.

Suzuki was a rugby union player, playing at the international level for Japan prior to his professional debut as a wrestler in January 2000.

Suzuki debuted on January 4, 2000, at New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'s Wrestling World 2000 event at the Tokyo Dome, losing to Manabu Nakanishi.

Later that year, Suzuki won NJPW's Young Lion Cup tournament, defeating Shinya Makabe.

He also won Rookie of the Year honors from NJPW in the same year.

Following this, he would go on to win the Young Lion Tournament after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals, later forming a tag team with Tanahashi known as The Kings of the Hills.

Together, they were put into a feud with Shocker and Universo 2000, which led to Suzuki and Corleone losing a hair vs. hair match on June 12 and thus being forced to have their heads shaved.

Following this, Suzuki was used sparingly before eventually leaving CMLL.

In 2003, Suzuki resigned from NJPW, choosing to follow his mentor and trainer, Riki Choshu, to Choshu's World Japan promotion.

Later in the year, he left to wrestle in the United States.

It is speculated that he was forced to resign because a wrestler he was helping to train, Giant Ochiai, died while training on his watch.

As a result, this led to Suzuki venturing to the United States' independent circuit, where he worked for the Major League Wrestling (MLW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotions during 2003 before ultimately quitting World Japan, citing a lack of competition within the latter promotion.

In 2004, Suzuki signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in February.

Originally, Suzuki was scheduled to debut on the Raw brand in May under the ring name Hirohito.

He was to be presented as the grandson of Emperor Michi Hirohito, who ruled Japan during World War II, and a Japanese patriot who held anti-American views who wanted revenge on America for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

However, the gimmick was dropped after the first vignette aired on the April 19, 2004 edition of Monday Night Raw after Suzuki and his wife, Hiroko, reportedly told Vince McMahon directly that it would be extremely offensive in Japan and cause big problems for the company doing future business there.

Suzuki also told Bruce Prichard that Emperor Hirohito was not as beloved in Japan as they thought.

Suzuki and Hiroko were instead moved to the SmackDown! brand.

Suzuki used his given name and Hiroko was used as his valet.

Together, they made their television debut on the June 10 episode of SmackDown!, where Suzuki defeated Scotty 2 Hotty.

Suzuki then began a short feud with Billy Gunn, which ended with Suzuki defeating Gunn at The Great American Bash.

On the July 15 episode of SmackDown!, Suzuki, René Duprée, and Booker T defeated John Cena in a 3-on-1 elimination match.

on the July 29 episode of SmackDown!, Suzuki competed in an 8-man elimination match for the vacant United States Championship, which was won by Booker T. On the September 2 episode of SmackDown!, Suzuki, Duprée and Booker T lost to Cena, Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio.

On the September 9 episode of SmackDown!, Suzuki and Duprée defeated Paul London and Billy Kidman to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.

During the title reign, Suzuki adopted a comedic pro-American gimmick that saw him poorly sing popular songs.

At No Mercy, Suzuki and Duprée successfully defended their titles against Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio.

After continued weeks of feuding, Suzuki and Duprée lost the titles to Van Dam and Mysterio on the December 9 episode of SmackDown!.

They failed to regain the titles in a rematch at Armageddon.

Suzuki entered a feud with John Cena over the United States Championship.

On the January 6, 2005, episode of SmackDown!, Suzuki challenged United States Champion John Cena to a battle rap.

He then challenged Cena for the championship on the January 13 and January 27 episodes of SmackDown!, but was unsuccessful in both attempts.

Suzuki entered the Royal Rumble match as the sixth entrant, but was eliminated by Rey Mysterio.

His final WWE match came on the February 26 episode of Velocity where he lost to Booker T. In the following months, Suzuki suffered a collapsed lung.

He returned to Ohio Valley Wrestling to continue his recovery.

Suzuki and Hiroko were traded to Raw during the 2005 Draft Lottery.

However, the pair were released from their contracts on July 6, 2005, before ever making an appearance on the brand.

After leaving WWE, Suzuki returned to Japan, where he began performing for Hustle and wrestled in a number of humorous matches against the likes of Liosazer and Razor Ramon HG.

In addition to Hustle, Suzuki also began performing for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) alongside fellow WWE alumnus Mark Jindrak, who began performing as Marco Corleone.