Masato Tanaka

Masato Tanaka (田中 正人, ring name: 田中 将斗) is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a one-time FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WEW World Heavyweight Champion and in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in the United States where he was a one-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion.

He is currently splitting his time wrestling for both Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) and Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1).

He is overall a ten-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions.

Originally a trainee for George and Shunji Takano's Pro Wrestling Crusaders (Crusaders), Tanaka transferred to Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he trained under Atsushi Onita.

Tanaka debuted on July 23, 1993, in Saga City, facing Ricky Fuji.

He quickly began moving up the card in FMW, widely regarded as the top hardcore professional wrestling promotion in Japan.

Wrestling in matches featuring explosions and barbed wire, Tanaka earned a variety of scars, and the nickname "Dangan", which he would often shout during his matches.

By 1996 he was one of the promotion's major stars, and had feuded with fellow wrestlers Mr. Pogo, Mr. Gannosuke, Terry Funk and Mike Awesome.

His feud with Awesome would eventually span ten years and two continents.

Tanaka debuted in ECW on March 1, 1998, at Living Dangerously, defeating Doug Furnas in a match that, compared to Tanaka's extremely well-received future matches, was very much hated by the fans in attendance, who greeted the unusually sloppy wrestlers with a chorus of boos throughout their fumbled offense.

In July 1998 he reprised his feud with Awesome, who he defeated at Heat Wave 1998.

Tanaka formed a short-lived tag team with Balls Mahoney, and at November to Remember on November 1, 1998, they defeated The Dudley Boyz to win the ECW World Tag Team Championships.

In doing so, he became the first person to ever kick out of the Dudleys' 3D finisher.

In December 1999, he left FMW for ECW, after he and Tetsuhiro Kuroda lost to H and Mr. Gannosuke.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) owner Paul Heyman became interested in Tanaka through ECW's working relationship with FMW, and eventually hired him.

The Dudley Boyz would regain the titles five days later, and Tanaka returned to Japan to attend the wedding of his friend Sabu in December and eventually returning to FMW in January 1999.

Tanaka returned to ECW in the summer of 1999, this time vying for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

On September 19 at Anarchy Rulz, Taz, about to leave ECW for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), defended the ECW World Heavyweight Championship against the returning Mike Awesome and Tanaka in a three-way dance.

After just two minutes Taz was eliminated by a combined assault at the hands of his opponents.

After a further eleven minutes of brawling, Awesome pinned Tanaka with a Kamikaze Awesome Bomb to become the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion.

Tanaka faced Awesome for the title at November to Remember on November 7, but was defeated once more.

He finally overcame Awesome on December 17, 1999, at an ECW on TNN TV Taping in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first ECW World Heavyweight Champion not to be an American citizen.

After the match, Awesome shook Tanaka's hand and fastened the belt around his waist in a show of respect, then attacked him as he left the ring and powerbombed him through a table.

Awesome would regain the title at the next weeks TV Taping in White Plains, New York, on December 23.

Continuing his rivalry with Awesome, Tanaka joined forces with Tommy Dreamer to face Raven and Awesome.

Dreamer and Tanaka defeated the Impact Players for the ECW World Tag Team Championship on February 26, 2000, in Cincinnati, but lost them to Mike Awesome and Raven on March 4, 2000, at The ECW Arena.

This led to a tag team three-way dance at Living Dangerously on March 12, with Tanaka and Dreamer facing ECW World Tag Team Champions Mike Awesome and Raven and the Impact Players.

Tanaka pinned Awesome, who had already defended his ECW World Heavyweight Title earlier that night beating Kid Kash, costing Awesome and Raven the tag team titles, but lost the match after Dreamer was pinned by the Impact Players.

Tanaka's feud with Awesome was brought to an abrupt end when Awesome left ECW for WCW in April 2000.

He faced Balls Mahoney in at ECW on TNN and at Hardcore Heaven 2000.

He remained with ECW until mid-2000 before returning to Japan.

Tanaka returned to FMW in the spring of 2000, briefly feuding with H, before joining forces with H (by now back under the Hayabusa persona) to feud with Team No Respect, until leaving in February 2001, allegedly as a result of animosity between him and the owner of FMW, Shoichi Arai, mostly over Kodo Fuyuki's role as booker.

Before departing FMW, Tanaka formed the "Complete Players" stable with former Fuyuki protégés Gedo and Jado, as well as real-life sweetheart Kaori Nakayama.

They would work on the Japanese independent circuit, making appearances for Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE (ZERO-ONE) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW).

Tanaka wrestled Shinya Hashimoto on the March 2 ZERO-ONE anniversary show, impressing ZERO-ONE officials and earning himself a job.

In January 2002 Tanaka formed a tag team named "Emblem" with Shinjiro Otani, with whom he twice won the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championships.

In February 2004, he turned heel and sided with the "Apache Army".

In September 2004 he formed his own stable, "Team Erotics", continuing his feud with Otani.

In late 2007, he was chosen to lead a new stable named "Sword Army", the name was chosen by fans in a contest.

Takao Omori was also given a stable named "Axe Army" to compete against Tanaka.