(born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese

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 o ...

, better known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or project ...

. He is best known for his work in

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority sha ...

(NJPW) as part of a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

with his partner

Gedo Gedo ( so, Gedo, Maay: ''Gethy'', ar, جيذو, it, Ghedo or ''Ghedu'') is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in Jubaland, southern Somalia. Its regional capital is Garbahaarreey. It was created in 1974 and is bordered by the Ogaden in E ...

. Jado and Gedo's careers have largely paralleled each other, except for a brief period Jado spent in Universal Lucha Libre in 1993, a stint in

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 ...

(FMW) in 1997 where they were on opposing sides, and Jado not having emulated Gedo's tour of North America with

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

. The World Class Tag team has held numerous championships in wrestling, including NJPW's

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on August 8, 1998, at an NJPW live event. The IWGP Juni ...

, the Universal Wrestling Association's UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Title, and Dragon Gate's International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, as well as having won NJPW's Super J Tag League once. Jado and Gedo are co-head bookers of NJPW.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Under his real name, Akiyoshi debuted for

, losing to Masanobu Kurisu. He joined

(NJPW) as part of the '' Takeshi Puroresu Gundan'' (TPG) stable (NJPW's parody of the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

's "Rock 'n Wrestling" era). After TPG disbanded, Akiyoshi and TPG comrade Keiji Takayama left NJPW.

Touring Mexico (1991–1993)

Akiyoshi and Takayama wrestled for the

Universal Wrestling Association The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican ''Lucha Libre'' or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, as Punish and Crush, respectively. On November 8, 1991, they won their first championship, defeating Silver King and

El Texano Juan Conrado Aguilar Jáuregui (November 26, 1958 – January 15, 2006), better known by his ring name El Texano, was a Mexican '' Luchador'', or professional wrestler. From the early 1970s to the early 2000s, he wrestled under masked and unmask ...

for the

UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship The UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship was a tag team championship created from the working relationship between the Mexican Universal Wrestling Association and the Japanese Universal Lucha Libre (also called Universal Wrestling Fed ...

. After holding the championship for over 200 days, they lost it to Shu El Guerrero and Scorpio, Jr., and regained it six days later. On June 21, 1992, they split up and vacated the championship. After leaving UWA, they joined

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

for a few months, wrestling mostly in six or eight-man tag team matches.

Wrestling International New Generations (1993–1994)

Akiyoshi and Takayama debuted for Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) on July 11, 1993 (as Jado and Gedo), teaming with Freddie Krueger to defeat Miguelito Perez, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and Yukihiro Kanemura in a

WarGames match WarGames is a specialized steel cage match in professional wrestling. The match usually involves two teams of either four, five, or more wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompasses two rings placed side by side. The cage may or may not ...

. On September 26, Jado won his first singles championship by defeating Yukihiro Kanemura for the

WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship The WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship is a secondary title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising an ...

. While champion, he and Gedo defeated The Headhunters to win the vacant W*NG World Tag Team Championship, but lost it back to them days later. Jado then unsuccessfully challenged W*NG Heavyweight Champion, Crypt Keeper. In their final month at W*ING, they faced The Headhunters again, and lost. When they left, Jado vacated the Caribbean Heavyweight Championship.

Wrestle Association R (1994–1996)

Jado and Gedo debuted for Wrestle Association R (WAR) in 1994, and became a top tag team. They teamed with

Hiromichi Fuyuki (May 11, 1960 – March 19, 2003) was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter better known by his ring name best known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), ...

in the WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship tournament, defeating

Genichiro Tenryu , better known as is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was hi ...

, Animal Hamaguchi and Koki Kitahara in the final to win the title, on June 6, 1994. On August 26, the trio lost the championship to

Bob Backlund Robert Louis Backlund (born August 14, 1949) is an American retired amateur and professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/ World Wrestling Federation from 1976 to 1984 and in the 1990s, whe ...

Scott Putski James Scott Bednarski (born May 22, 1966), best known by the ring name Scott Putski, is an American professional wrestler. He is a second generation wrestler, being the son of his trainer Ivan Putski, alongside whom he has wrestled on several occ ...

and

Warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

, and regained it a month later. They won this championship three more times, in 1995 and 1996.

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1997–2001)

Jado and Gedo left WAR, for

, one of Japan's top independent promotions. Jado, Gedo, and Fuyuki (now called "Kodo" Fuyuki) won the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, defeating The Headhunters and Hisakatsu Oya on March 21, 1997. They vacated it on July 8. On January 16, 1998, Jado won the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship with

Mr. Gannosuke is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) under the ring name . Honda was quickly pushed as "Mr. Gannosuke" due to his resemblance to the actor Ashiya Gannosuke and he be ...

and Yukihiro Kanemura, and lost it to Atsushi Onita, Koji Nakagawa and Tetsuhiro Kuroda a month later. Jado participated in the FMW Double Championship number one contender tournament, losing in the semifinals to

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C fo ...

. He began teaming with Gedo again in the spring of 1998. They unsuccessfully challenged Hayabusa &

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a one-time FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WEW World Heavyweight Champion and in Ex ...

for the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship. On December 11, 1999, Jado and Gedo teamed with Koji Nakagawa to win the WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship. In April 2000, they lost it to Kodo Fuyuki, Kyoko Inoue and Chocoball Mukai, regained it a month later, then lost it back again 20 days later. On July 14, 2000, Jado and Gedo defeated H and Tetsuhiro Kuroda for the WEW World Tag Team Championship, losing it to Masao Inoue &

Yoshinobu Kanemaru is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he also works as a backstage producer. Kanemaru is best known for his work in Pro Wrestling Noah, where he holds the records for the most reigns with the GHC ...

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2001–present)

Jado left FMW in 2001, along with Masato Tanaka, Gedo, Hideki Hosaka, and Kaori Nakayama. The group became freelancers and Jado and Gedo eventually returned to

. They became IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions by defeating Jyushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai on July 20, 2001. In the G1 Junior Tag League 2001, they reached the final before losing to Liger and Samurai. In the Teisen Hall Cup Tag Team Tournament, they teamed with

Koji Kanemoto (born Kim Il-Sung (김일성); October 31, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler of Zainichi Korean descent. He has previously worked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling. He is currently a freelancer. Professional wres ...

and lost to Liger, Osamu Nishimura and

Tatsumi Fujinami (born December 28, 1953) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. ...

. Liger once again got the better of Jado and Gedo when he and Minoru Tanaka beat them for the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Jado participated in the Best of the Super Juniors IX with little success, winning only one match and therefore not progressing. He bounced back quickly by teaming with Gedo and Koji Kanemoto to win the Junior Triathlon Survivor tournament. On October 13, 2003 at Ultimate Crush II Jado won an eleven-man battle royal for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. During his time as champion, he and Gedo regained the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, on November 29. Jado soon lost the Junior Heavyweight Championship to

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

, and lost the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to American Dragon and

Curry Man Daniel Christopher Covell (born March 24, 1970), better known by the ring name Christopher Daniels, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is the Head of Talent Relations. He is best know ...

. On June 5, 2004, Jado and Gedo won the tag title for a third time, and held it for over nine months and through five defenses. They lost the title to Kanemoto and

Wataru Inoue is a Japanese retired professional wrestler currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Professional wrestling career Inoue made his debut on New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1999. He aligned himself with New Japan Junior Seikigun, a fac ...

on March 4, 2005. During their third reign, Jado and Gedo joined Jyushin Thunder Liger's stable, CTU (Control Terrorism Unit). On July 8, 2006, they won the tag title for a fourth time by defeating El Samurai and

Ryusuke Taguchi is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a former two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, seven-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and three-time NEVER ...

. They held the title for ten months, before losing it to

Taka Michinoku (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (with his first name usually stylized in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for ...

and Dick Togo on May 2, 2007. Following the championship loss, Jado and Gedo left CTU just before it broke up, and joined GBH (Great Bash Heel). In the next few years, Jado and Gedo named their team

The World Class Tag Team were a professional wrestling tag team that currently work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where they are also the head bookers. One of the most accomplished tag teams in puroresu, the team has won numerous tag team titles and six-man tag te ...

. They joined GBH's splinter faction, Chaos, in 2009. They then suffered several setbacks; Gedo spent most of 2009 out with injuries, and a few months after Gedo's return, Jado was injured in early 2010 and wouldn't return until September 3. On November 13, 2010, Jado and Gedo returned to tag team contention by defeating CHAOS stablemates,

Davey Richards Wesley David Richards (born March 1, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), under the ring name Davey Richards, and is the current MLW National Openweight Champion in his first reign. ...

and

Rocky Romero John R. Rivera (born October 28, 1982) is a Puerto Rican-American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is currently signed non-exclusively to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), better known by his ring name Rocky Romero (ロッ ...

, in the finals of a five-day-long tournament to win the 2010 Super J Tag League. As a result, they received a match for the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at a Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) event on December 26, where they were defeated by the defending champions, the Golden☆Lovers (

Kenny Omega Tyson Smith (born October 16, 1983), better known by the ring name Kenny Omega, is a Canadian-born professional wrestler. Omega is an executive vice president of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), in which he also performs. Omega is a former one-ti ...

and Kota Ibushi). At the end of 2011, the

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four W ...

named Gedo and Jado the "Bookers of the Year", for the first of four consecutive years. On November 1, 2013, Jado and Gedo received their first shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in three years, but were defeated by the defending champions, Suzuki-gun ( Taichi and

). In early 2015, Jado took over as the booker of

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left th ...

, leaving the booking of New Japan primarily to Gedo, while also starting to work for the promotion under a mask as "Captain Noah", a comedy character similar to

Captain New Japan is a Japanese former professional wrestler. He is best known for his two stints with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and a brief stint with World Wrestling Council (WWC). Hirasawa wrestled as a fall guy, under the mask superhero, .

. On January 4, 2016, Jado returned to NJPW unmasked to take part in the New Japan Rumble on the Wrestle Kingdom 10 pre-show. Entering as the last of 18 participants, he eliminated

Shiro Koshinaka is a Japanese professional wrestler who has competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Wrestle Association "R" (WAR) during the 1980s and 1990s. He was also the first IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Career ...

and Ryusuke Taguchi to win the match. On June 12, 2016, Jado reunited with Gedo to unsuccessfully challenge Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada for Noah's GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Taichi and Taka Michinoku. On October 8, Jado and Gedo defeated Kotoge and Harada to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title back to Kotoge and Harada on December 24. On October 8, 2018, at

King of Pro-Wrestling King of Pro-Wrestling is an annual professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event has been held every October since 2012 and aired domestically as a pay-per-view (PPV). The event also aired internationally ...

, Jado defected from Chaos and aligned himself with the Bullet Club OG's, alongside Jay White and Gedo.

Championships and accomplishments

* Big Japan Pro Wrestling ** BJW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with

* Dragon Gate ** Dragon Gate I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Gedo * Dramatic Dream Team ** Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship ( 1 time) *

** WEW World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Gedo **

WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship The FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship was a tag team hardcore wrestling championship contested in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling from April 2000 until FMW closed in February 2002. The title was picked up by Big Japan Pro Wrestling that same ...

( 1 time) – with Gedo ** FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) – with Gedo and

(1) and Mr. Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura (1) ** WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship ( 4 times) – with Gedo and Koji Nakagawa (2), Gedo and Kaori Nakayama (1) and Gedo and

(1) *

** IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) **

( 4 times) – with Gedo ** New Japan Rumble (

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

) **Super J Tag League (2010) – with Gedo *''

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 Publi ...

'' **PWI ranked him #150 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2014 *

** GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Gedo *'' Tokyo Sports'' ** Best Tag Team Award (2001) – with Gedo *

Toryumon X Toryumon or Tōryūmon may refer to: *Toryumon (Último Dragón) is a professional wrestling promotion that operated in Japan until 2004 and in Mexico, where it's called Toryumon Mexico. The promotion is owned and operated by Yoshihiro Asai, who ...

** UWA World Trios Championship ( 1 time) – with Gedo and

Katsushi Takemura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mostly known for his ring name Takemura (written in all capitals). Having worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling for most of his career, he was an occasional member of the renowned stable Tokyo Gurentai ...

* Universal Wrestling Federation **

( 2 time) – with Crush * Wrestle Association "R" ** WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship ( 5 times, inaugural) – with Gedo and Hiromichi Fuyuki ** WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament (1994) - with Hiromichi Fuyuki and Gedo *

Wrestling International New Generations 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" Ibara ...

( 1 time) *''

'' ** Best Booker (2011–2014) – with Gedo

References

External links