(born November 17, 1976), better known as his wrestling persona and formerly , is a freelance

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. Though best known for wrestling under a

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practic ...

, he also regularly works unmasked under the ring name Kikuzawa (stylized in all capital letters), representing

Tokyo Gurentai is a professional wrestling stable, currently made up of Fujita, Kikuzawa, Mazada, and Nosawa Rongai. The group was formed in 2000 by Kikuzawa, Mazada and Nosawa and has since appeared for Japan's four biggest promotions; All Japan Pro Wrest ...

. Kikuzawa has also made appearances in North America, competing in promotions such as Chikara,

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Los Angeles, California. It is owned and operated by wrestlers themselves, having been created by Disco Machine, Excalibur, Scott Lost, Joey Ryan, Super Drago ...

(PWG),

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

(ROH) and

Impact Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promot ...

Career

Kikuzawa started his wrestling career in 1994, wrestling under his birth name for Japanese hardcore wrestling promotions including

FMW Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their ...

and

W*ING Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion specialized in deathmatches. History After leaving Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in the summer of 1991, Kazuyoshi Osako and Kiyoshi "Mickey" Ibarag ...

, he eventually signed with

Osaka Pro Wrestling Osaka Pro Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 1998 by Super Delfin. The promotion held a major flagship event called the Osaka Hurricane each year from 2003 to 2012 and also hosted the fourth edition of the Sup ...

and

Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bo ...

(DDT), where he continued to use his real name while competing for DDT. While wrestling for Osaka Pro, he began wearing a mask as a character named Ebessan based on Ebisu, the Japanese god of good fortune. Using comedic spots to get over with the crowd, Ebessan was immediately accepted by the Osaka Pro crowd. He moved up the ranks quickly and soon made Osaka Pro his full-time home in 2001. Ebessan became particularly well known for his rivalry with

Kuishinbo Kamen is a Japanese professional wrestler better known as , a masked clown character. Kuishinbo Kamen is Japanese for "Gluttonous Mask". For a while he was forced to give up the Kuishinbo Kamen character, instead he worked as "Super Robo K", a futuri ...

, the two having many fun and comedic matches. They even worked as a tag team from time to time. As Ebessan was OPW's registered trademark, Kikuzawa was forced to give away his Ebessan character to before leaving the company in 2005. Kikuzawa modified his character and used the name Ebetaro, but he would end up settling down for a new, original gimmick. He became Kikutaro, a masked, exaggerated self-parodic

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

who behaved both goofy and self-important, wearing always colored tracksuits and baseball caps. He kept most of his comedic spots and impersonations, however, as well as his feud with Kuishinbo Kamen, adding now the new Ebessan to the enmity. In 2006, he began competing for

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

, where he continued to work through the years. He often wrestled in the opening match, but also offered himself as an ally to

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion. He is best known for his work as in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and N ...

in his feud against

Voodoo Murders Voodoo-Murders (stylised in all capital letters), or more simply as VDM, is a professional wrestling stable and the main heel group in All Japan Pro Wrestling between 2005 and 2011. In 2013, the group was reformed in Diamond Ring. They perform ...

and other factions. In December 2016, Kikutaro moved from Japan to the United States. He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tributes

Kikuzawa has been known to do tributes to many wrestlers throughout his career, either through subtle imitations or by doing full imitations of their gimmick. He typically includes a tribute to

in his matches by performing Mutoh's signature elbow drop and Shining Wizard, as well as using Mutoh's "love" pose. Kikuzawa has also done many tributes to wrestlers in "borrowing" their gimmicks by dressing in similar attire and performing their signature moves. Kikuzawa has famously imitated

Stan Hansen John Stanley Hansen II (born August 29, 1949) is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Hansen is known for his Glossary of professional wrestling terms#S, stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to his poor eyesigh ...

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling ma ...

Jyushin Thunder Liger , better known as and later , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having wrestled for the company since h ...

, Keiji Mutoh,

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling backgr ...

, Cactus Jack,

Bill Goldberg William Scott Goldberg (born December 27, 1966), often known mononymously as Goldberg, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and former professional football player. He is best known for his tenures in WCW and WWE. One of the most ...

Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler, Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, Olympic gold medalist in American freestyle wrestling, and former Collegiate wrestling, ...

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanni ...

and

Yuji Nagata is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). A two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, World Heavyweight Champion and a GHC Heavyweight Champion, making him a four-time world champion in major professio ...

Championships and accomplishments

*Compound Pro Wrestling :*Oklahoma X Division Championship (1 time) * Dragon Gate :*

Open the Owarai Gate Championship The Open the Owarai Gate Championship was a professional wrestling title in Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. The word ''owarai'' in the title's name is the Japanese word for ''comedy''. The championship was first conceived during Stalker Ichika ...

(2 times) :*Open the Owarai Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – with

Don Fujii (born July 6, 1970), better known by his ring name Don Fujii, is a Japanese wrestler who currently works for Dragon Gate. He was one-half of the inaugural Open the Owarai Twin Gate Champions and is also a former two-time Open the Twin Gate Champ ...

Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship The is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion CyberFight in its DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) brand. Open to anyone, regardless of gender or DDT employment status, the championship is defended " 24/7", as i ...

( 8 times) *

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their ...

:*Barbed Wire Street Fight Six Man Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing Japan to the deathmatch style of professional wrestling. He founded ...

and Okumura (1), and Atsushi Onita and Exciting Yoshida (1) *

:* Gravy Train Turkey Trot (

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) – with KM, Alisha Edwards,

Fallah Bahh Francis Flores (born August 12, 1985) is an American professional wrestler best known for his time with Impact Wrestling, where he performed under the ring name Fallah Bahh. He began his wrestling career on New Jersey's independent circuit, wre ...

Dezmond Xavier Deveon Everhart Aikens (born November 2, 1988) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Wes Lee, and is the current NXT North American Champion in his first rei ...

*Mobius :*El Mejor de Máscara Championship (1 time) * Nosawa Bom-Ba-Ye :*NGF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

Osaka Meibutsu Sekaiichi Championship The Osaka Meibutsu Sekaiichi Championship (Osaka World's Best Attraction Championship) was a secondary professional wrestling title contested in the Japanese pro wrestling promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. The title was established in 2001 when K ...

(3 times) :*

Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Championship The Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Championship is a title contested in the Japanese pro wrestling promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. The title is won and lost in Battle Royals. The title was established in 2001 when Miracle Man won an 11-Man Ba ...

(6 times) :*

Osaka Pro Wrestling Owarai Championship The is a secondary title contested in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. It was established in 2008 as the Osaka Pro Wrestling Owarai Championship (before being renamed in 2019) when Kanjyuro Matsuyama declared ...

(1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

'' :*PWI ranked him #185 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

in 2006 *

Tokyo Intercontinental Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Stable, stable, currently made up of Minoru Fujita, Fujita, Mitsunobu Kikuzawa, Kikuzawa, Kazuhiko Masada, Mazada, and Kazushige Nosawa, Nosawa Rongai. The group was formed in ...

(1 time) – with Stalker Ichikawa *Ultimate Superstars Action :*USA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hulk Puchihogan

References

External links

*
Online World of Wrestling profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kikutaro 1977 births Japanese male professional wrestlers Living people Masked wrestlers 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions Open the Owarai Gate Champions