Nobuhiko Takada

Nobuhiko Takada (高田伸彦, ring name: ) (born April 12, 1962) is a Japanese former mixed martial artist, retired professional wrestler, actor, and writer.

He competed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFI) in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming one of the highest figures of the "shoot-style" movement.

Takada later turned to mixed martial arts (MMA) where, despite his controversial match fixing ventures and lack of competitive success, he was credited with the existence and development of global MMA promotion Pride Fighting Championships, in which he worked as an executive after his retirement from active competition until its closure.

After training in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo under Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Takada made his professional wrestling debut in 1981 against Norio Honaga.

As is customary for professional wrestling newcomers, Takada spent his first year as a jobber, though he scored occasional victories against other rookies.

Among them, he feuded with Kazuo Yamazaki, and their matches were so well received that TV Asahi included one of them as part of the NJPW show, something unheard at the time.

Takada was appointed Antonio Inoki's personal assistant.

He was also Hulk Hogan's assistant for his Japanese tours, and during that time, he was nicknamed Seishun no Esperanza due to his gutsy and hopeful rookie antics.

In August 1983, Takada accompanied Inoki to Canada for a special appearance in Stampede Wrestling.

He replaced the retiring Satoru Sayama in the event, and had his first worldwide match, defeating Athol Foley.

The victory granted a rank increase for Takada, and he was made part of the 1984 WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship league, facing wrestlers like Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, and Davey Boy Smith.

He stayed with NJPW until April 1984, before switching over to the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) by Fujiwara's invitation, and in June he was officially part of the new promotion.

Takada's first matches in UWF were as a NJPW representative, but he soon joined full-time.

He started with a successful singles run; he defeated foreign wrestlers and had fought Fujiwara and Akira Maeda.

On 20 January 1985, he won against Super Tiger by referee stoppage.

The tenure was short, as UWF folded shortly after, and Takada and other wrestlers returned to NJPW.

Upon their return, the former UWF wrestlers created a storyline of invading the promotion, with Takada and Maeda as the twin leaders.

As a singles wrestler, Takada was involved in a heated feud with the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, Shiro Koshinaka, who had been Giant Baba's assistant like Takada was Inoki's. Takada defeated Koshinaka in their first match on May 19 to win the title after hitting a Tombstone Piledriver, and he retained it in two more matches against him, as well as challengers like Keiichi Yamada, Black Tiger, and Kazuo Yamazaki, before losing the title back to Koshinaka on September 19.

At the peak of his popularity, Takada received the new nickname of Wagamamana Hikazoku (Egotistical Kneecap) for his hard, stiff kicking ability.

In March 1987, Takada amplified the feud with Koshinaka to a tag team when he and Maeda defeated Koshinaka and Keiji Mutoh to capture the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship.

They retained it for months until they lost it to Fujiwara and Yamazaki.

Takada spent the rest of the year in tag team fights, except for a tenure in the Top of The Super Junior I and two challenges for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title before Kuniaki Kobayashi and Hiroshi Hase.

In March 1988, Takada left NJPW with Maeda and most of the original UWF wrestlers to form the second incarnation of the UWF called UWF Newborn.

Takada debuted in UWF Newborn in an exhibition match with rookie Shigeo Nakano, but he soon climbed the rankings to become the promotion's top wrestler second only to Maeda, who he defeated by TKO in their second match.

The promotion's run was highly successful, and they broke records on the professional wrestling/shoot-fighting event U-COSMOS, where he defeated Greco-Roman wrestling champion Duane Koslowski, twin brother of Olympic medalist Dennis Koslowski.

After the event, Takada was almost unbeaten in singles matches until the promotion's closure in December 1990.

After UWF Newborn shut down, Takada formed the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFI), using former UWF wrestlers, while Maeda formed Fighting Network Rings, and Fujiwara formed Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi.

Takada opened his run as the top star of the company beating Tatsuo Nakano, Yamazaki, and American wrestler Bob Backlund, whom he fought in a pair of publicized matches.

The first of them was controversial, as Takada ended the bout in 1:15 when Backlund fell to a body kick, and it almost caused a riot in the stadium; it is believed that it was an accidental KO instead of a pre-planned match.

They held a rematch after two months, with Takada winning by submission after 15 minutes.

Immediately after his affair with Backlund, Takada was put in a fight against boxing champion Trevor Berbick.

The nature of the bout as a worked match or a shoot fight is unknown.

Early in the match, after receiving some low kicks from Takada to his left leg, Berbick immediately protested, believing that kicking under the waist was illegal.

Although the referee seemed to clear the situation, it happened again and Berbick protested every time Takada landed a low kick; at the end, when Takada scored a head kick, Berbick left the ring and walked out of the arena.

According to UWFI trainer Pat McCarthy, "no rules were ever changed. [Berbick] just never wanted to listen."

The win increased Takada's popularity.

Takada also had feuds with Gary Albright and Super Vader.

In 1992, Takada was awarded an old NWA World Heavyweight title belt by Lou Thesz after defeating Albright, and was proclaimed the "Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion".

He defended the title until Thesz withdrew the belt in 1995, losing the title once to Super Vader.

He also founded and starred at the sports entertainment professional wrestling promotion Hustle from 2004 to 2008, and currently works as an executive for the Rizin Fighting Federation.