Takashi Sugiura

Takashi Sugiura (杉浦 貴) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah).

Sugiura was an accomplished judoka in high school and narrowly missed the cut representing Japan at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

He then became a self-defense instructor and was recruited to the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) Dojo by Tamon Honda, who (along with Yoshihiro Takayama) oversaw all of Sugiura's training.

Sugiura, an accomplished amateur wrestler, joined Noah's dojo in 2000, making his professional debut on December 23, 2000, and thus becoming the first wrestler to make his pro wrestling debut in Noah.

He has also competed in mixed martial arts with a notable victory over Giant Silva.

Sugiura wrestled as a junior heavyweight in his earlier pro career and is a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Sugiura made his debut on December 23, 2000, when he partnered Masao Inoue and Takeshi Rikio in a tag team match against Takeshi Morishima, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Kentaro Shiga.

Initially a low-card wrestler, Sugiura's American-influenced style became popular with fans and eventually he formed a tag team with Kanemaru nicknamed "SugiKane".

Within a few months the two defeated Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ending the team's long & historic run.

Sugiura owns the distinction of being the only wrestler in Pro Wrestling Noah to have been a double champion on two separate occasions.

In recent years, he has made a name for himself in the heavyweight division receiving a title shot against then GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima in a highly regarded match and winning the GHC Tag Team Championship along with Naomichi Marufuji from the bigger & stronger team of D'Lo Brown and Bull Buchanan.

At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III he pushed New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) representative Shinsuke Nakamura to his limit in a cross promotional tag team match with Mitsuharu Misawa and Hirooki Goto as their respective partners, but came up short and tapped out to Nakamura's Cross Armbar finish.

Nakamura then stated that there would be a singles match between them soon, as he felt he was embarrassed by a wrestler below his standards.

The two met again later in the year in a cross-promotional match, this time Sugiura teamed with blue-chip prospect Go Shiozaki & Nakamura teamed with then-RISE stablemate Milano Collection AT, who was also returning from injury.

Shiozaki/Sugiura picked up the win & Nakamura demanded a rematch against the duo with Hirooki Goto as his tag team partner.

On July 20, he faced Hiroshi Tanahashi in the first ever NJPW vs. NOAH match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

After 24 minutes and two High Fly Flows, Tanahashi retained the Championship.

Sugiura moved up to heavyweight and became the second longest reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, having held the title for 581 days between December 2009 and July 2011.

Sugiura also participated in the 2009 G1 Climax.

With his rival Nakamura in his block, a long anticipated singles match came to pass.

Although he lost the match he still managed to finish second in his block & advanced to the semi-finals losing to the tournament eventual winner Togi Makabe.

On December 6, 2009, Sugiura pinned Go Shiozaki to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship.

On January 4, 2010, at Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome Sugiura successfully defended the title against Hirooki Goto.

On 28 February, he retained his title against Togi Makabe and then on 10 July against Yoshihiro Takayama.

On October 1, 2010, Sugiura travelled to Tamaulipas, Mexico to defend the GHC Heavyweight Championship, defeating Chessman at Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA) event Héroes Inmortales IV.

As of September 2011, Sugiura is the chairman of Noah's Wrestler's Association and holds the concomitant position on the promotion's board of directors.

Sugiura returned to New Japan on January 4, 2011, at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, where he and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada in a tag team match.

On May 15, 2011, Sugiura defeated Claudio Castagnoli in Oberhausen, Germany to make his fourteenth successful GHC Heavyweight Championship defense, breaking the record for most defenses, set by Kenta Kobashi.

On July 10, Sugiura lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Go Shiozaki, ending his reign at 581 days.

On January 4, 2012, Sugiura returned to New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where he was defeated by Hirooki Goto.

In early 2014, Sugiura formed the Dangan Yankies tag team with Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1)'s Masato Tanaka.

The duo worked in both Noah and Zero1, winning the GHC Tag Team and NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championships in May 2014, the Furinkazan tournament in December 2014, and the Global Tag League in both 2014 and 2015.

In addition, Tokyo Sports named Dangan Yankies the 2014 tag team of the year.

On December 23, 2015, Sugiura turned on Noah and joined the villainous Suzuki-gun stable.

On January 31, 2016, Sugira defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the second time.

He lost the title to Go Shiozaki on May 28.

Sugiura regained the title from Shiozaki on July 30.

He lost the title to Katsuhiko Nakajima in his third defense on October 23.

On December 2, Sugiura turned on Suzuki-gun, after Minoru Suzuki had unsuccessfully challenged Nakajima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship.

On November 2, 2019, Sugiura defeated Michael Elgin to become the inaugural GHC National Champion, becoming the only man to have achieved a "Grand Slam" by holding all of Noah's concurrent championships (before the reinstitution of the GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship in October 2023).