Takuya Sugi

Takuya Sugi (杉卓也) is a Japanese professional wrestler from Shizuoka.

He currently works in Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) as Sugi (stylized in all capital letters), but he has used many aliases, most commonly Yoshitsune and Sugi, through his career in many Japanese promotions.

He is mainly known for his high-flying abilities.

Immediately after graduating in the 11th Toryumon school class term, Sugi debuted in 2003 in Toryumon Mexico, moving to the Toryumon X brand shortly after.

He went under the gimmick of Mini Cima (ミニCIMA), a lighter version of the popular Toryumon wrestler Cima, who was a part of the Mini Crazy Max stable along with Suwacito and Small Dandy Fuji.

Aligning themselves as tweeners, they got into a feud with Babyface faction Sailor Boys (Taiji Ishimori, Kei Sato and Shu Sato), having several matches against them, sometimes accompanied by senior members of the actual Crazy Max.

In December 2003, Mini Cima and his team competed in the Young Dragons Cup 2003 scramble match, but none of them grabbed the prize, being Takeshi Minamino the eventual tournament winner.

On September 9, 2003 the group competed in an elimination match for the UWA World Welterweight Championship, eliminating the team of Los Carros Exóticos (Gallardo, Lambo Miura and Murcielago) before falling short to Los Salseros Japoneses (Minamino, Pineapple Hanai and Mango Fukuda).

This was the Toryumon X final event, with the promotion folding shortly after.

Mini Crazy Max had its last reunion in the special event Dragon Fire The Final Challenge on October 14, where they competed in another special challenge match.

They would be more successful at the Yamaha Cup 2004 tag team tournament, with Mini Cima and Suwacito defeating Manabu Murakami and Naoki Tanizaki in the first round and the Sailor Boys in the second to crown themselves as winners.

In September 2004, although still based on Toryumon, Sugi and his partners started wrestling for the Hustle promotion.

They appeared as the Hustle Kamen Rangers, a Power Rangers-inspired super sentai stable that worked as a special division of the Hustle Army led by top Babyface Naoya Ogawa.

Sugi himself played Hustle Kamen Red (ハッスル仮面レッド) (a role formerly played by Masaki Okimoto), and teamed up with Hustle Kamen Blue and Hustle Kamen Yellow as a power trio.

They competed in the undercard of events against villainous characters from the heel Takada Monster Army commanded by Generalissimo Takada; their usual opponents were Devil Pierroth I and Devil Pierroth II, whom they defeated in many occasions.

Sugi started wrestling for Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro) in October 2004.

He debuted during the Futaritabi Tag Team Tournament 2004 under the gimmick of Michinoku Ranger Gold (MICHINOKU レンジャー金), a super sentai character similar to the one he played in Hustle.

Teaming up with Michinoku Ranger Silver, Sugi got important victories over Jinsei Shinzaki and Shinjitsu Nohashi and Los Salseros Japoneses, but they did not win the league.

They kept their gimmicks until December, when Sugi adopted the gimmick of Shanao (遮那王), a masked Buddhist monk inspired on the youth of the historical Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

Shanao would come to the ring carrying a katana and saying prayers, and drew popularity among the audience for his high-risk, aerial style of wrestling.

In the event Hustle House Vol.10, held on October 27, 2005, Hustle Kamen Rangers were defeated by Demon Spider Blue, Demon Spider Yellow and Riser Glen, being the latter a character come from the TV tokusatsu series Phantom Star God Justirisers, only brainwashed to serve the Monster Army.

In order to counter him, Hustle Kamen Rangers introduced another character from said series, Liosazer, who helped them to defeat the heel stable at the Hustlemania 2005 event and turn Riser again to good.

The rangers would still competing for Hustle, being later opposed by an itako wrestler named Kyou Itako.

In 2005, Shanao joined forces with the Sailor Boys (now composed solely by Kei and Shu Sato) to participate in the Michinoku Trios League, being unsuccessful.

The final night of the tournament, from which they had been eliminated by points, Shanao teamed up with his master, The Tiger II, to defeat Kagetora and Shinjitsu Nohashi.

The alliance with the Sailor Boys lasted until mid-year, when Shanao formed a tag team with Rasse.

He also had a brief tenure in the Tetsujin Tournament, but he was forced to forfeit most of his matches due to an injury.

Shanao returned on September 10 in a losing effort to Takeshi Minamino, but he got his revenge the same night, defeating Minamino and Los Salseros Japoneses along with Kagetora, Gaina and Hayato Fujita.

Kagetora and he eventually kept their alliance and participated in the Futaritabi Tag Team Tournament 2005, which they won after beating Los Salseros Japoneses again, but Kagetora suddenly turned heel and attacked Shanao, going to form the villainous stable Stoned.

Now back with Rasse, Shanao and his partner had a shot for the Tohoku Tag Team Championship held by The Great Sasuke and Dick Togo, but despite their effort, they were beaten.

Days after, Shanao announced he was going to perform a genpuku ceremony in order to advance in his career, which was officiated by Jinsei Shinzaki.

Shanao then changed his name to Yoshitsune (義経), openly showing his identity, and changed his outfit to a samurai-like attire in purple, red and golden, product of a coproduction between M-Pro and FromSoftware to promote their videogame Yoshitsune Eiyuden Shura.

Yoshitsune had his first match teaming up with Shinzaki, who came out dressed as Saitō Musashibō Benkei, defeating Rasse and Garuda with his new Shura finishing maneuver.

The next year, Yoshitsune's fame granted him a title match for the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taka Michinoku, falling short in his challenge.

On February 10, 2006, the Monster Army introduced a cadre of evil clones of the Hustle Kamen Rangers, called the Monster Kamen Rangers.

They consistently defeated Sugi and his team, forcing them to introduce a new member, Hustle Kamen Orange, in order to get the first win against the villains.

The win was short-lived, however, as the Monster Kamen Rangers defeated them again, and this time they kidnapped Hustle Kamen Yellow in order to brainwash him.

Now with Yellow as an enemy, Red and new member Hustle Kamen Green attempted to reason with him, but they were beaten when Yellow pinned Red.

The storyline continued until Hustlemania 2006, where they finally managed to bring Yellow back and defeat the Monster Kamen Rangers for good.

The team then announced they would travel to the stars in order to defend the peace and justice beyond Hustle, ceasing their appearances on the promotion.