Naomichi Marufuji

Naomichi Marufuji (丸藤正道) (born September 26, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler who competes for Pro Wrestling Noah, with occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ring of Honor (ROH), and Impact Wrestling.

Marufuji is a four-time GHC Heavyweight Champion, as well as the first of two men to win Junior Heavyweight Championships in all three major Japanese promotions (Minoru Tanaka is the other).

His debut match came on August 28, 1998 against Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

For the first two years of his career, under Giant Baba and Mitsuharu Misawa's isolationist policy, he was a jobber; one of the few rare interpromotional matches he worked was in Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1999, a lucha libre six-man tag match, gave him a chance to shine.

After the Noah secession, he joined the upstart promotion and became an integral part of its Junior Heavyweight division, impressing many with his high-flying style and charisma.

He would go on to form a successful tag team with KENTA and win the 2004 Super J-Cup.

In early and mid-2005, Marufuji toured through Germany and Austria, competing for Westside Xtreme Wrestling and Rings of Europe.

Along with Minoru Suzuki, they were the first talent delegation that was sent over that began the Noah/European Talent Trade Partnership.

On March 5, 2006, Marufuji pinned former Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and former GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue.

On September 9, 2006, Naomichi defeated Jun Akiyama for the GHC Heavyweight Championship at the Budokan Hall, utilizing the Perfect Inside Cradle.

In doing so, he became the first wrestler to win all five GHC titles in Noah and became the lightest GHC Heavyweight Champion of all time.

A little over a month later, Marufuji's successfully defended the title against his tag team partner Kenta on October 29, 2006.

The match received critical acclaim, and Tokyo Sports named the match the 2006 Match of the Year.

On December 10, 2006, Marufuji lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Mitsuharu Misawa in his third defense.

In 2009, he was appointed to the position of Vice President of Pro Wrestling Noah, and has retained the position since, being reappointed in September 2011.

Marufuji pursued amateur wrestling and basketball during his high school days before joining All Japan Pro Wrestling, and trained in Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym.

On July 5, 2009, Marufuji was appointed to the position of Noah's Vice President alongside Kenta Kobashi by Noah's current President, Akira Taue, in the wake of Misawa's death.

On July 5, 2014, Marufuji won the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the second time, defeating Yuji Nagata.

That same month he defended the championship against BRAVE stablemate Katsuhiko Nakajima on July 21.

He then defeated Takeshi Morishima on August 24 in his second title defense at Korakuen Hall.

That same night, Maybach Taniguchi won a number one contenders match over Nakajima and the two men squared off on September 23 at the 'Great Voyage in Niigata' show where Marufuji successfully retained his championship.

Shortly after, he retained the championship for a fourth time by defeating Daisuke Sekimoto of Big Japan Pro Wrestling at the 'Great Voyage in Yokohama' show on October 23.

Marufuji then, still as champion, took part in the 2014 Global League.

Marufuji finished with eight points and a four-win, three-loss record, including losses to Nakajima, Morishima, and Satoshi Kojima.

Marufuji defeated the Global League winner Takashi Sugiura on December 6 at the 'Great Voyage in Tokyo vol.3' show.

Following Marufuji's appearance on Wrestle Kingdom 9, the New Japan stable Suzuki-gun made their debut in Noah invading the company and on March 15, 2015, Marufuji lost his title to the stable's leader Minoru Suzuki.

Marufuji took part in the 2015 Global Tag League with Katsuhiko Nakajima as his partner.

The pair finished with six points and a disappointing fourth-place finish in the six-team block.

However, at 'Great Voyage in Yokohama' on May 10, Marufuji received a rematch with Suzuki for the championship.

Marufuji, however, ultimately came up short in his attempt to dethrone the Suzuki-gun leader.

Marufuji continued the year outside of the title picture taking part in tag team matches squaring off with Suzuki-gun foes, however at the September 19 'Great Voyage in Osaka' show Marufuji defeated BRAVE stablemate Atsushi Kotoge.

Marufuji then took part in the 2015 Global League.

Marufuji began the tournament with four straight victories, however a loss to Masato Tanaka on October 29 and a subsequent loss to Satoshi Kojima at the next show on November 3 put Marufuji in a four-way tie on points at the top of his block.

On the final group stage day, paired with a loss by Tanaka, Marufuji beat fellow co-first place contender Chris Hero to win the block and advance to the final on November 8.

In the final, Marufuji defeated fellow Suzuki-gun member Shelton Benjamin who had finished his block without a single loss to go on and receive a championship opportunity.

Marufuji received his title match at the DESTINY 2015 show and he regained the title from Suzuki on December 23, 2015.

However, immediately following the match as his Noah roster members celebrated with him, Takashi Sugiura turned on Marufuji to join forces with Suzuki-gun.

On January 31, 2016, Marufuji faltered in his first defense of his newly won championship as he lost the title to Takashi Sugiura.

The next month, on February 19, Marufuji took part in a ten-man tag team match that pitted Suzuki-gun members against Noah roster members.

Marufuji was the second to last person eliminated being pinned by Sugiura.