Hiromu Takahashi

Hiromu Takahashi (高橋 広夢) (born December 4, 1989) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he is a member of the Los Ingobernables de Japón stable

Takahashi was born on December 4, 1989, in Hachiōji, a city in Tokyo.

At the age of 12 he became a fan of professional wrestling, especially Masahiro Chono, who inspired Takahashi to work hard in school to become a member of the track and field team.

Takahashi attended New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) annual open tryout test in May 2009.

He passed the test and was accepted into the NJPW Dojo, where he trained in the same class as King Fale and Kyosuke Mikami, who all made their in-ring debut around the same time.

Takahashi made his debut for NJPW on August 28, 2010, and worked as a "Young Lion" over the following three years.

Takahashi was the last of the three NJPW Dojo class of 2010 to debut for NJPW on August 24, 2010, at the NEVER.1 show.

He was defeated by Mikami in a short opening match.

Takahashi followed the traditions of NJPW's "Young Lions" (their term for rookies), wrestling in all black trunks and boots, usually losing the majority of their matches as part of their ongoing training regiment.

Takahashi would lose every match he competed in until February 6, 2011, when he teamed up with Tomoaki Honma to finally win a match, defeating Fale and Mikami.

Three weeks later, exactly six months after his debut, Takahashi finally won his first ever singles match as he defeated Kazuki Hirata of the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion at NEVER.5.

A few months later Takahashi was given an opportunity to compete for a spot in NJPW's annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament as he participated in the 2011 "Road to the Super Juniors" tournament, but was defeated in the first round by another DDT representative, Keisuke Ishii.

On October 10, 2011, Takahashi and Mikami teamed up to defeat King Fale and Takaaki Watanabe in the dark match of the Destruction '11 pay-per-view event.

In 2012 Black Tiger had originally qualified for the 2012 Best of Super Juniors, but was forced to withdraw from the tournament with Takahashi being named as his replacement.

During the tournament Takahashi lost to Alex Koslov, Daisuke Sasaki, Brian Kendrick, Jado, Low Ki, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Tiger Mask and only defeated Taka Michinoku.

He would later team up with fellow "Young Lions" Mikami & Takaaki Watanabe to compete in the "J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament".

The team lost to Madoka, Shinobu & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in their first round match.

On January 4, 2013, Takahashi competed in his first ever January 4 Dome Show, when he wrestled in a dark match of Wrestle Kingdom 7, teaming up with Jyushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask, losing to the team of Bushi, Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi.

During the summer of 2013 he was once again allowed to compete in the annual Best of Super Juniors, but lost all matches, taking pinfalls against Jyushin Thunder Liger, Prince Devitt, Titán, Taichi, Ricochet, Beretta, Rocky Romero, and Alex Shelley.

NJPW often sends their "Young Lions" on a learning excursion outside Japan, be it the United States of America, Europe or Mexico, and in the summer of 2013 it was Takahashi's turn.

Initially he traveled to the United Kingdom where he worked regularly for a number of local British independent wrestling promotions.

Like his former wrestling school partner Mikami before him, Takahashi then traveled to Mexico to work with NJPW's partner promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) for an extended stay.

During his stay in Mexico, he was given a new wrestling persona, a masked "heel" or rudo character called Kamaitachi, named after a Japanese supernatural monster, which his mask resembled.

Much like Mikami before him, Takahashi was teamed up with CMLL's resident Japanese worker Okumura as part of La Fiebre Amarilla ("The Yellow Fever").

La Fiebre Amarilla primarily worked on the lower half of the show and often in six-man tag team matches.

This marked his first NJPW appearance since May 2013.

In January 2014, Takahashi, renamed Kamaitachi (カマイタチ), was sent to the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion to further his wrestling training and gain international experience, a tradition with NJPW "Young Lions".

On July 13, 2014, Kamaitachi & Okumura challenged for the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by champions Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr.. In early 2015, Kamaitachi started a storyline rivalry with Dragon Lee.

The rivalry culminated on March 20 at Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, where Kamaitachi was defeated by Lee in a Mask vs. Mask Lucha de Apuestas.

As per stipulation, Kamaitachi unmasked following the loss, revealing himself as Hiromu Takahashi.

On May 1, Kamaitachi participated in the 2015 Reyes del Aire, where he and Dragon Lee eliminated each other via a double pin.

On May 15, Kamaitachi was eliminated by Místico in the first round torneo cibernetico of the 2015 Leyenda de Plata ("Silver Legend") tournament.

On July 13, Kamaitachi unsuccessfully challenged Dragon Lee for the CMLL World Lightweight Championship.

In January 2016, he won his first professional wrestling championship, the CMLL World Lightweight Championship.

After leaving CMLL he worked for the American Ring of Honor (ROH) until the fall of 2016, with Takahashi returning to NJPW in November 2016, once again working under his real name.

On January 23, 2016, Takahashi, billed as Kamaitachi, made a surprise return to NJPW during a CMLL and NJPW co-produced Fantastica Mania 2016 event, attacking Dragon Lee and challenging him to a title match.

At the following day's Fantastica Mania 2016 event, Kamaitachi defeated Dragon Lee to win his first professional wrestling title, the CMLL World Lightweight Championship.

Following the match, Kamaitachi stated that he was not yet returning to NJPW, but would travel back to CMLL.

On March 4, back in Mexico City, Kamaitachi lost the title back to Dragon Lee.

Since his return, Takahashi has become a five-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a record four-time Best of the Super Juniors tournament winner (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022).