Tetsuhiro Kuroda

Tetsuhiro Kuroda (黒田 哲広) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit.

He would remain a part of many factions throughout the late 1990s and began rising to the main event status, winning his first WEW Heavyweight Championship in 2000.

By the end of the year, the underdog Kuroda established himself as the company's top villain and formed his own group Team Kuroda to feud with the company's top fan favorite Hayabusa.

He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's closure in 2002.

He started his FMW career after being trained at the FMW Dojo in 1993 and initially worked in low-card matches as an enhancement talent during his initial years with the company until he joined Atsushi Onita's ZEN faction in 1997, earning his first title shot at the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship that December.

Kuroda began his professional wrestling career in January 1993, when he was trained by Pro Wrestling Crusaders (PWC) at their dojo and made his debut on March 18, 1993, against Hideki Hosaka.

PWC closed after a few months and Kuroda resumed his training at the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) dojo.

He made his FMW debut as a fan favorite with Masato Tanaka by losing to Dark Ranger and Masaru Toi in a tag team match on October 15.

Kuroda remained in the low card for many years in the company and was usually utilized in opening matches on the card and served as an enhancement talent against higher level opponents, winning against only lesser known talent.

He was often paired with fellow newcomer Tanaka in mid-card matches during the early years of his career and often wrestled Tanaka, Koji Nakagawa and Gosaku Goshogawara.

Kuroda's first main event match took place on November 26, 1994, when he teamed with Atsushi Onita, Katsutoshi Niiyama and Masato Tanaka to defeat Mr. Pogo, The Gladiator, Hideki Hosaka and Hisakatsu Oya in a no ropes barbed wire street fight deathmatch.

Kuroda would team with Onita, Niiyama and Tanaka in several street fights during late 1994 and early 1995.

In the summer of 1995, Kuroda was entered into the Young Spirit Tournament, a round robin tournament consisting of rising rookies of the company.

He would lose all of his matches in the tournament against W*ING Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka, Koji Nakagawa and Hido, while wrestling Masato Tanaka to a double knockout to gain one point in the tournament.

Kuroda received the first championship match of his career on May 19, 1996, by teaming with Masato Tanaka and Katsutoshi Niiyama against Super Leather and The Headhunters for the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship but were defeated.

The following month, on June 28, Kuroda and Tanaka won the title with Koji Nakagawa by defeating Super Leather and The Headhunters to give Kuroda, his first championship of his career.

They successfully defended the title against Hisakatsu Oya, Ricky Fuji and The Gladiator and Terry Funk, Horace Boulder and The Gladiator on September 20.

On November 16, Nakagawa, Tanaka and Kuroda were booked to drop the title to Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters.

Kuroda headlined the Year End Spectacular event on December 11 by teaming with Atsushi Onita, Mr. Pogo and Masato Tanaka to defeat Funk Masters of Wrestling members Terry Funk, Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters.

On September 23, 1997, Kuroda began receiving his first major push by last eliminating Mr. Pogo #2 to win a battle royal featuring major FMW wrestlers.

Five days later, at Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Kuroda won a royal rumble match by last eliminating Ricky Fuji to win a cheque of 10,000,000 yens.

On September 30, Kuroda turned into a villain by joining Atsushi Onita's faction ZEN to feud with FMW.

On October 14, Kuroda won his second World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship by teaming with Onita and Hido to defeat Hayabusa, Koji Nakagawa and Masato Tanaka.

On October 21, Kuroda pinned his friend Tanaka for the first time in his career in an eight-man tag team match, thus earning his very first title shot at the Double Championship (the unified Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship) held by Tanaka on December 5, where he lost.

On December 20, Onita, Hido and Kuroda lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hayabusa, Hisakatsu Oya and Masato Tanaka during the Super Extreme Wrestling War tour.

In 1998, ZEN turned into a fan favorite group after Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido turned on Onita and quit ZEN to form their new group Team No Respect.

On January 7, 1998, Onita, Nakagawa and Kuroda competed at ZEN's first promoted show and scored a win against Gannosuke, Kanemura and Hido to gain revenge.

On February 13, Onita, Nakagawa and Kuroda defeated Gannosuke, Kanemura and Jado to win the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

Kuroda played an important role in ZEN's rivalry with TNR.

In March, Kuroda participated in a #1 contender's tournament for the Double Championship, where he ended up losing to Jado in the opening round.

Kuroda and The Gladiator lost to TNR members Horace Boulder and Super Leather at the company's first pay-per-view event 9th Anniversary Show.

The following night, Kuroda debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) at the company's twenty-fifth anniversary show Showdown at the Egg by teaming with Gladiator and Hideki Hosaka against Akira Taue, Takao Omori and Masao Inoue in a losing effort.

On May 5, Onita, Nakagawa and Kuroda lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to TNR members Hido, Kodo Fuyuki and Yukihiro Kanemura.

After the title loss, Onita disbanded ZEN.

Kuroda and Nakagawa lost to Fuyuki and Kanemura on May 19.

Hideki Hosaka and Kuroda were forced to become TNR's slaves after losing matches to TNR on May 25 and May 26 respectively.

On June 13, Kuroda was forced to wrestle Hosaka in a match by TNR, which Kuroda won.

He headlined the company's flagship event FMW Anniversary Show in 2001.

Kuroda won several championships in his career including being a four-time WEW Heavyweight Champion.

He was a highly decorated tag team champion, winning the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship once, the WEW World Tag Team Championship ten times, the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship three times, the WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship four times, the All Asia Tag Team Championship two times and the WMG Tag Team Championship once.