Minoru Suzuki

Minoru Suzuki (鈴木 実) (born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer.

In NJPW, he has held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice holding the NEVER Openweight Championship.

Suzuki was the co-founder of Pancrase, one of the first mixed martial arts organizations in the world.

In 1986, when they both were seniors, Suzuki beat Nagata first in a Tokyo high school tournament and again at the Japanese sectionals.

Suzuki trained at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo and made his pro wrestling debut on June 23, 1988, against Takayuki Iizuka, but soon after left with catch wrestling mentor Yoshiaki Fujiwara for the newborn Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF).

During the 1990s, he was widely considered one of the best fighters in the world and was the second King of Pancrase world champion.

He joined Fujiwara's Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi but then left the organization to form Pancrase, one of the first mixed martial arts organizations in the world, in 1993 with Masakatsu Funaki.

Suzuki's career in MMA originated after his departure from the Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi promotion along with Masakatsu Funaki and other wrestlers to found the Pancrase promotion.

He had his debut in professional fighting on the very first card of the company, facing Katsuomi Inagaki in a bout which showed Suzuki's top grappling prowess, with Minoru winning by rear naked choke in 3:25.

He continued his beginnings with a victory over Lion's Den trainee Vernon White, in which Suzuki made him submit to a catch wrestling-inspired crooked headscissors.

At the third Pancrase event in November 1993, Suzuki had his debut in kickboxing rules against American champion Maurice Smith, in a rematch of a "different style fight" celebrated back in UWF where Smith defeated Suzuki.

Naturally outclassed, Minoru was knocked down several times and finished shortly after.

He had a third match with Smith in May 1994, this time under a special ruleset: the first and the third round would be fought wearing kickboxing gloves, the second and fourth without them and the fifth under a combination of the two.

Suzuki finally got his revenge, submitting Smith at the third round with an armbar despite the disadvantage of the gloves.

Despite his significant size disadvantage against most competitors, Suzuki became one of the most successful fighters in Pancrase.

He amassed a 7-0 winning streak, including a huge upset win over Pancrase's top fighter Ken Shamrock, who had already defeated Masakatsu Funaki in the first main event of the company.

During the match, celebrated in January 1994, the two fighters traded positions, with Suzuki getting overpowered by the stronger Shamrock, but he was able to turn Ken over and initiate a leglock attack.

The Japanese fighter locked a heel hook, which Ken looked to reverse, but at that moment Suzuki transitioned it into a kneebar and extended his leg further.

Shamrock reached for a rope escape as the Pancrase ruleset stipulated, but he was gravely injured by the hold and couldn't continue, thus losing the match.

However, the bout was not without controversy.

Ken Shamrock would claim years after that he had been asked not to injure Suzuki during the match, as he was already affected by a back injury, and that he had accepted only to find himself deliberately injured himself by Suzuki in return.

Suzuki did not lose a match until he lost to Bas Rutten via Liver shot KO due to a knee to the body.

In 1995, he won the King of Pancrase (now KOP Open-Weight) title to become the second ever King of Pancrase.

Suzuki twice defeated Shamrock and is the only man to hold two wins over Shamrock in the Pancrase era.

Over time, Suzuki's body became damaged and worn down from various injuries and resulted in his skills diminishing.

He then decided to focus on the business and training side of Pancrase.

He collaborated with the Tekken series of fighting video games as a motion actor for the character King.

His last non-worked fight for Pancrase was against a professional wrestler, Jushin Thunder Liger (who replaced his original opponent, Kensuke Sasaki, due to injury), whom Suzuki had known under his real name Keiichi Yamada in his first NJPW stint.

At the time he competed in grappling matches almost exclusively.

Suzuki witnessed the transition Pancrase made from the so-called "hybrid wrestling" style to that of regular MMA and was instrumental in paving the way for mixed martial arts in Japan.

Suzuki returned to puroresu in 2003, when he has become a perennial top contender for all major Japanese heavyweight championships.

He is also known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is two-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and a former GHC Tag Team Champion along with Naomichi Marufuji.

A mixed martial arts pioneer, Suzuki is well noted for his excellence in catch wrestling, and has been praised many times by elite fighters such as Josh Barnett, Bas Rutten, and Ken Shamrock for his outstanding grappling and submission skills.

Suzuki trained in wrestling since high school, in part inspired by Antonio Inoki and other professional wrestlers, in part to paliate his own physical condition.

He won a stateside wrestling championship in Kanagawa Prefecture, and also finished second nationwide.

He has a background in kendo as well.

As an amateur wrestler, Suzuki first met future professional wrestling rival Yuji Nagata.

In 2003, Suzuki and Yusuke Fuke announced their plan to return to puroresu and invade promotions under the stable name Pancrase Mission.

Suzuki began competing for NJPW as a freelancer, where he aligned himself with Yoshihiro Takayama and won the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Osamu Nishimura on February 1, 2004.

They were stripped of the title later in the year, following Takayama's mounting injuries.