is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by his ring name Hi69 (pronounced as Hiroki). He is currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. Since debuting in 2000, Tanabe has frequently worked for Kaientai Dojo, Michinoku Pro Wrestling,

Apache Pro Wrestling was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion operating from 2004 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2016. History Following the closure of Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in 2002, Hiromichi Fuyuki formed his own promotion, which ran under the names ...

and Freedoms.

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career

Tanabe originally trained in Puerto Rico and was a member of the first graduating class of Taka Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo). He made his debut on November 19, 2000 under the ring name Hi69. Eventually, he returned to Japan, where he became a regular in both Michinoku Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling during the first two years of his career. Throughout 2002 he took part in AJPW's

Giant Baba , best known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota ...

Cup, finishing last in Block A with zero wins and zero points. Whilst also competing in AJPW, he debuted in Kaientai Dojo where he would become a mainstay for the majority of his career, winning the

UWA World Middleweight Championship The UWA World Middleweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial de Peso Medio UWA'' in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship originally created and sanctioned by the Mexican lucha libre promotion Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) fro ...

in October. Throughout 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, he competed regularly in a large number of different promotions, including Big Japan Pro Wrestling,

Muga Muga or MUGA may refer to: * Assam silk * Bodegas Muga, a Rioja winery * MUGA scan * Muga, Nepal, village * Muga (river), Spain * Muga River (Ethiopia) * Multi-use games area * MUGA World Pro Wrestling Dradition Pro-Wrestling (Dradition) is an i ...

Real Japan Pro Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling and martial arts promotion founded in 2005 by Satoru Sayama as , before being renamed in 2019. It runs shows every two or three months, and feature both pro wrestling activities and a variety of martial arts ...

Hustle Hustle or The Hustle may refer to: Film * ''Hustle'' (1975 film), an American crime film starring Burt Reynolds * ''Hustle'' (2004 film), an American television film about Pete Rose * ''Hustle'' (2008 film), a film starring Bai Ling * ''The H ...

, and eventually became a regular on New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Lock Up cards. After resigning from K-Dojo in April 2006, he primarily competed in Apache Pro Wrestling. On October 11, 2007, Hi69 was teaming with Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Mammoth Sasaki as Apache Army against GBH ( Togi Makabe, Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii) when Ishii countered a

frankensteiner Professional wrestling throws are the application of professional wrestling techniques that involve lifting the opponent up and throwing or slamming them down. They are sometimes also called "power" maneuvers, as they are meant to emphasize a wrest ...

from Hi69 into a powerbomb which caused him to land awkwardly, suffering a fracture as well as a dislocation to his thoracic vertebrae. After the match, it was announced that the injury was possibly career threatening and that he would require surgery.

Return (2010–present)

After over two years of surgery, rehabilitation and medical procedures, Hi69 announced his return to the ring in February 2010, stating that he would be splitting his time between K-Dojo and

Pro Wrestling Freedoms often stylized in capital letters as FREEDOMS is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Chigasaki, Kanagawa. Founded by Takashi Sasaki in 2009, the promotion lets wrestlers choose their own fighting style, having the "freedom" of ch ...

, and would now be wrestling as Hiroki (stylised in all capital letters), his birth name. In his return match, he teamed with

Miyawaki Miyawaki (stylized in all capital letters, born June 28, 1977) is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his work in the Kaientai Dojo and Osaka Pro Wrestling promotions. He has also wrestled in the United States for Chikara and Pro W ...

in a loss to his trainer Taka Michinoku and the man he made his debut against, Yasu Urano. On May 26 at a Freedoms show, Hiroki faced Tomohiro Ishii in a match billed as a "revenge match", with Ishii portraying the heel and claiming responsibility for Hiroki's serious injury. The match was won by Ishii. On August 15, Hiroki and Kengo Mashimo captured the

Strongest-K Tag Team Championship The Strongest-K Tag Team Championship is a tag team championship in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion, Kaientai Dojo. It has existed since 2005, and it is currently inactive. Reigns There are a total of 41 reigns and 3 vacancies, sha ...

, defeating Kaji Tomato and Taishi Takizawa. On September 29, Hiroki defeated Tiger Shark to win the Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Championship. On December 14, he dropped the title to Ryuji Hijikata. In early 2011, he teamed with Ricky Fuji in the 2011 Kaientai Dojo Tag League, finishing in Block A with 2 points and failing to advance to the next round. On October 9, after holding them for over a year, Hiroki and Mashimo lost the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship to Ryuichi Sekine and Saburo Inematsu. On November 6, he defeated Daigoro Kashiwa to capture the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Hiroki held the championship for over a year before losing it to Ricky Fuji in January 2013. On March 2, 2014, Hiroki won the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship once again, teaming with Yuji Hino to defeat Kaji Tomato and Taka Michinoku. In September 2014, he once again began competing as Hi69. In December 2016, he competed in Pro Wrestling Noah for the first time since 2005, teaming with Ricky Fuji in a loss to Daisuke Harada and

Akitoshi Saito is a Japanese professional wrestler who is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Early life Before pro wrestling, Akitoshi Saito was trained in karate by Masashi Aoyagi. Saito seconded Aoyagi i ...

. After impressing new president Masayuki Uchida, he was offered a regular position with the promotion and began competing with them as a full-time roster member later that month. In January, he began teaming with Taiji Ishimori, dubbing themselves "XX". The duo captured the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on February 18, defeating Hayata and Yo-Hey to win the vacant championship. On July 4, Noah officially announced that Hi69 had signed with the promotion. On August 26, XX lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Hayata and Yo-Hey. On January 27, 2018, regained the tag team titles. However, they lost the titles once again against

Yoshinari Ogawa (born November 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for Pro Wrestling Noah. He has earned the nickname of "Rat Boy" from the English-speaking Puroresu fanbase due to his sneaky, clever in-ring tactics and baiting his ...

and Minoru Tanaka on March 11, 2018. Ogawa and Tanaka vacated the titles after Ishimori announced his departure from the promotion. On April 15, 2018, Hi69 and Minoru Tanaka defeated Hayata and Yo-Hey to win the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Hajime Ohara and

Hitoshi Kumano is a Japanese professional wrestler trained by and signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. Early life Kumano first became interested in professional wrestling while still in elementary school after playing ''King of Colloseum 2'' on the PlayStation 2. ...

on December 16. On December 12, 2019, Hi69 and Junta Miyawaki lost to former partner Minoru Tanaka and Naomichi Marufuji. Two days later, Hi69 was repackaged as and teamed with Haoh to defeat Hajime Ohara and Kinya Okada. The team has appeared in Noah on a regular basis but were unable to win the GHC junior tag team title, and they turned on each other on January 16, 2022 during a tag team match. On April 29, Haoh defeated Nioh in a "loser must change his name" match.

Championships and accomplishments

:* WEW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Yusuke Obata (1) and Hasegawa (1) *Guts World Pro Wrestling :*GWC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

Masamune , was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the ''Sōshū'' school. However, many of his forged ''tachi'' were made into ...

* Kaientai Dojo :* Strongest-K Championship (1 time) :*

(2 times) – with Kengo Mashimo (1) and Yuji Hino (1) :* UWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Yasu Urano :*

(1 time) :* Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) :*Bo-So Golden Tag Tournament (2014) *

:*New Year Six Man Tag Tournament (2013) *'' Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' :* Ranked No. 340 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the '' PWI 500'' in 2019 * Pro Wrestling Noah :* GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with Taiji Ishimori (2) and Minoru Tanaka (1) * Tenryu Project :* Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) :* Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

Masao Orihara (born June 16, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler. Orihara is known by his career in numerous Japanese promotions such as Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Wrestle Association R, Battlarts and Dramatic Dream Team. Professional wrestling career O ...

References

{{Navboxes, , list1= {{GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship {{Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship {{International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship {{Strongest-K Championship {{Strongest-K Tag Team Championship {{UWA World Middleweight Championship {{UWA World Tag Team Championship {{WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship {{WEW World Tag Team Championship 1981 births Living people Japanese male professional wrestlers GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions UWA World Tag Team Champions 21st-century professional wrestlers Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champions International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions WEW World Tag Team Champions Strongest-K Tag Team Champions UWA World Middleweight Champions