Shingo Takagi

Shin Takagi (鷹木 信), known by the ring name Shingo Takagi (鷹木信悟, Takagi Shingo), is a Japanese professional wrestler.

He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

He is a member of the Los Ingobernables de Japón stable and is a former three-time NEVER Openweight Champion.

Takagi is best known for his appearances in NJPW and Dragongate (then known as "Dragon Gate"), as well as Ring of Honor (ROH), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and the puroresu independent circuit.

Takagi first became known for his work with Dragongate, where he competed from his debut in 2004 up until 2018.

Known during his tenure as the "Pumping Hawk", he was recognized as the promotion's top heel for many years and incantations, and went on to become one of the most decorated wrestlers in the company's history, winning the Open the Dream Gate Championship, the top championship in the promotion, four times in eight years.

He was also known as the leader of the New Hazard, Real Hazard, KAMIKAZE, -akatsuki-, VerserK and ANTIAS stables in Dragongate, and for his long-lasting rivalry with BxB Hulk, with whom he faced off against in several prominent events.

Shingo Takagi debuted in October 2004 as the first graduate of the Dragon Gate dojo.

He was also trained by Animal Hamaguchi.

He was recognized and voted as the "Rookie of the Year" in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards in 2005.

In 2021, he notably placed 9th on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated "PWI 500" list, received the MVP Award at the Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards, and was ranked as the "Most Outstanding Wrestler" and Japanese wrestling's most valuable player by the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Takagi won the 2005 Wrestling Observer Rookie of the Year award.

In Dragon Gate, Takagi became a member of the Blood Generation stable.

During his time in Dragongate, he also spent an extended amount of time with American promotions such as Full Impact Pro, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor (ROH); In ROH, he became a ROH World Tag Team Champion alongside then-stablemate Naruki Doi in 2007.

On May 10, 2007, shortly after forming the stable New Hazard, Takagi – along with BxB Hulk and Cyber Kong – defeated the Typhoon team of Cima, Susumu Yokosuka, and Ryo Saito for the Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship.

They held the championship until July 13, 2007, when the team were forced to vacate the championship as BxB Hulk had sustained a jaw injury.

Takagi and Kong replaced Hulk with Jack Evans, and challenged for the vacant championship against the Muscle Outlaw'z team of Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Magnitude Kishiwada, but were unsuccessful.

On May 14, 2008, Takagi and Kong turned on Hulk shortly before a scheduled Open the Triangle Gate Championship defense against Genki Horiguchi, Gamma and Yamato of the Muscle Outlaw'z, citing Hulk as a weakling.

Takagi and Kong then joined up with Genki, Gamma, Yamato and Yasushi Kanda, ending both New Hazard and Muscle Outlaw'z and forming Real Hazard, a new faction.

Takagi then teamed with Gamma and Yamato to win the newly-vacant Open the Triangle Gate Championship, defeating Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino and Hulk.

On June 28, they lost the Open the Triangle Gate Championship to Kenichiro Arai, Taku Iwasa and Shinobu of the Tozawa-juku faction.

The following day, he fought BxB Hulk to a one-hour draw in a number one contender's match for Cima's Open the Dream Gate Championship.

They were immediately scheduled for a rematch on July 27, but this time the Open the Dream Gate Championship was on the line as Cima had to vacate the championship due to a neck injury.

On July 10, doubt was already cast over his standing in Real Hazard when he stopped them and Tokyo Gurentai members from trying to give Cima an unwanted haircut.

This caused tensions to stir between him and the others, especially with Kong.

On July 27, Takagi defeated BxB Hulk to win the Open the Dream Gate Championship.

After the match, Takagi apologized to Hulk and retracted his statement about him being weak.

Soon after, Kong attempted to attack Cima, who was at the announce table, but Takagi stopped him.

After a brief argument, Real Hazard attacked Takagi and kicked him out of the group for showing compassion towards Hulk and Cima, but he was saved by Typhoon.

Typhoon offered him membership in the faction, but he turned it down.

He later teamed with Dragon Kid, a Typhoon member, in the Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament, and the pair reached the final before they were beaten by Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino.

He had his last contracted Dragongate match on October 7, 2018, where he would lose to BxB Hulk.

On October 8, 2018, Takagi made his surprise debut in NJPW as the foreshadowed sixth member ("pareja") of the Los Ingobernables de Japón stable as "The Dragon" (not to be confused with fellow NJPW wrestler Tatsumi Fujinami, who was also known as "The Dragon").

Originally performing in the Junior Heavyweight division, he went on to be undefeated as a singles competitor and overall unpinned and unsubmitted until the BOSJ 2019 final.

He also held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship once with fellow Ingobernables member Bushi from January to March 2019.

Takagi moved to the Heavyweight division in June 2019, debuting at G1 Climax 29.

From February to August 2020, Takagi held both the NEVER Openweight Championship and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (with Bushi and Evil), making him the first person to hold both NEVER titles at the same time.

After losing the NEVER Title in August, he regained it in November for a second time.

By winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Dominion 6.6 in Osaka-Jo Hall in 2021, Takagi became the only wrestler that won the top championships in NJPW and Dragongate.

Takagi has been praised for his wrestling abilities in both NJPW and Dragongate, to which has garnered him numerous accolades.