Togi Makabe

Shinya Makabe (真壁 伸也), better known by his ring name Togi Makabe (真壁 刀義) is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, two-time NEVER Openweight Champion and one-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion.

Pursuing judo while enrolled in Tokyo's Teikyo University, Shinya Makabe passed an NJPW admission test in February 1996 and enrolled in the New Japan dojo in April of that year, training there for ten months.

He made his debut the following year, losing to Shinjiro Otani on February 15, 1997.

Makabe began wrestling in the undercard, obtaining his first victory 20 months after his debut by defeating Yutaka Yoshie on October 15, 1998.

Makabe continued to wrestle in lesser matches through 1999 against other young wrestlers such as Wataru Inoue and Katsuyori Shibata, and defeating future IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in his debut match on October 10, 1999.

In April 2000, Makabe entered the Super J-Cup, a 16-man single-elimination tournament held in Michinoku Pro, involving junior heavyweights from a number of different promotions; he was eliminated in the first round by Gran Hamada.

Later that month, Makabe also participated in NJPW's Young Lion Cup, a six-man round-robin tournament exclusive to young wrestlers; he finished in first place for the group stage, defeating all of his opponents (Kenzo Suzuki, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Wataru Inoue, Katsuyori Shibata and Masakazu Fukuda by forfeit), though he lost to second-place finisher Kenzo Suzuki in the final.

Shinya continued his tournament participation in May and June, entering New Japan's Best of the Super Juniors (BOSJ) round-robin tournament to decide the company's top junior heavyweight wrestler.

Makabe received the first title shot of his career on September 12, 2000, teaming with Jyushin Thunder Liger to unsuccessfully challenge Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

Makabe made his debut in the Tokyo Dome, one of the largest venues in Japan, during NJPW's annual event there on January 4, 2001, teaming with Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a loss to Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka.

For the following few months, Makabe began competing amongst heavyweights, even teaming with Riki Choshu to challenge Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP World Tag Team Championship, falling to a Kojima lariat.

However, he returned to the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June, finishing in fifth place out of six in his block, earning 4 points by defeating Katsuyori Shibata and AKIRA.

On June 8, 2001, as part of a series of interpromotional matches, Makabe and Yuji Nagata entered All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) to challenge for the vacant All Asia Tag Team Championship, losing to Masahito Kakihara and Mitsuya Nagai.

In August 2001, Makabe announced that he would be leaving Japan indefinitely to wrestle overseas in Canada, Great Britain and Puerto Rico.

He wrestled his farewell match on August 12, 2001, in a tag team loss with Yutaka Yoshie against Riki Choshu and Kenzo Suzuki.

Makabe wrestled in the aforementioned countries for the following 14 months, gaining a considerable amount of muscle.

Makabe returned to New Japan on October 14, 2002 in the Tokyo Dome as a heavyweight, teaming with Minoru Fujita to defeat Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroshi Tanahashi; he continued to team with Fujita and his fellow Kaientai Dojo member Taka Michinoku over the next few tours.

In January 2003, Makabe suspended his contract with NJPW, wrestling under his own terms.

Makabe once again wrestled at NJPW's annual Tokyo Dome event on January 4, 2003, competing in the four-man Young Generation Cup tournament, losing in the first round to Yutaka Yoshie.

Shinya once again teamed with Minoru Fujita in February 2003, competing in an 8-team tournament to decide the #1 contenders to the IWGP Tag Team Championship; they were eliminated in the first round by Tatsutoshi Goto and Hiro Saito.

Regardless, Makabe challenged for the belts with a different partner, Yoshihiro Takayama, on March 9, 2003, losing to champions Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.

Around the same time, Makabe participated in the G2 U-30 Climax, a round-robin tournament featuring only wrestlers under the age of 30 (although Makabe was already 31) to decide the first IWGP U-30 Openweight Champion.

Makabe finished in first place out of five in Block A, defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi, Masahito Kakihara and Dan Devine, and losing to Makai #2.

He would go on to defeat Blue Wolf in the semifinals before losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the final on April 23, 2003.

On July 1, 2003, Makabe travelled to Pro Wrestling Noah, teaming with Yoshihiro Takayama and NOAH's Takashi Sugiura to defeat Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Makoto Hashi.

He and Takayama would go on to challenge Kenta Kobashi and Tamon Honda for the GHC Tag Team Championship, Makabe getting pinned after a Kobashi lariat.

Makabe continued to wrestle mid- and uppercard wrestlers in NJPW throughout 2003 and much of 2004, before making his first appearance in New Japan's annual G1 Climax heavyweight tournament, changing his name to Togi Makabe and defeating Mitsuya Nagai on August 7, 2004 to gain entrance into the competition.

Makabe finished in seventh out of eight in his block with four points, defeating Osamu Nishimura by pinfall and Yoshihiro Takayama by forfeit.

Makabe again participated in the G1 Climax in August 2005, though he was in only two matches before tearing his achilles tendon in a match against Shinsuke Nakamura.

Makabe was forced to forfeit the rest of his matches due to the injury, finishing with zero points and taking him out of action for five months.

He returned on January 8, 2006, teaming with Toru Yano in a losing effort against Osamu Nishimura and Naofumi Yamamoto.

Makabe entered the second annual New Japan Cup in April 2006, defeating Tatsutoshi Goto in the first round before losing to Yuji Nagata in the quarterfinals.

On July 2, 2006, Makabe teamed with Shiro Koshinaka in a one-night tournament to crown the interim IWGP Tag Team Champions, after primary champions Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan became inactive.

The duo defeated the teams of Yuji Nagata and Naofumi Yamamoto and Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko to win the interim title; the reign would be short-lived however, as Koshinaka and Makabe would lose the title to Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori just 15 days later.

Makabe entered the 2006 G1 Climax in August, finishing with three points in his block with a win over Naofumi Yamamoto and a double count out against Yuji Nagata.

Debuting in 1997, Makabe originally wrestled under his birthname as a junior heavyweight (100 kg, before gaining several kilograms during a global excursion in 2001 and 2002. He changed his given name to "Togi" during the 2004 G1 Climax tournament. His status in New Japan rose significantly in 2007, making it to the finals of the New Japan Cup and the semifinals of the G1 Climax, and challenging Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. After a number of unsuccessful challenges at the title, Makabe finally won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on May 3, 2010, by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura.

Makabe's wrestling style and character is heavily influenced by the late Bruiser Brody.

Known as the "Unchained Gorilla", Makabe is known for his violent, bloody style of wrestling, often illegally employing steel chairs and chains into his offense, including a lariat with a chain wrapped around his arm (like Brody).

He also uses Brody's All Japan Pro Wrestling theme "Immigrant Song" (albeit a cover made by Tomoyasu Hotei) as his own.

Makabe finished in last place out of six in Block A, scoring two points by defeating Dr. Wagner, Jr. He later defeated Minoru Fujita, who finished in last place for Block B to determine the tournament's 11th-place finisher, leaving Fujita at #12.