is a Japanese retired

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 ...

. He is also a former

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, ...

Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a former

GHC Heavyweight Champion The is the professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion CyberFight currently defended in the Pro Wrestling Noah brand division. It is one of CyberFight's two top men's world titles, alon ...

and has had fourteen 5 Star Matches as awarded by 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 We ...

Early life and sumo career

On the 8th of May, 1961 Akira Taue was born the eldest son of a construction worker, in

Saitama, Japan is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance. Being in the Greater Tokyo Area and lying 1 ...

. As a teenager and young adult in Kagemori Junior High School, Taue was quite active in various sports such as

shotput The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their r ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

. After graduating, Taue would work as a part time auto-mechanic, while attending the Saitama Prefectural Chichibu High School. There Taue was sent a recommendation for the high school's sumo club. He joined the club in his second year of high school, and he won the third place in the national sumo high school championship. Taue was then invited in the

Oshiogawa stable was a Heya (sumo), stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Nishonoseki group of stables. In its modern form it dates from March 1975 when it was founded by Daikirin Takayoshi, Daikirin, a former Nishonoseki stable (1911–2013), Nishonoseki stable wre ...

, and made his professional sumo debut, in January 1980. For the first six years of Taue's sumo career he went under his real name, until May 1986, when he was promoted to the rank of ''

jūryō Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. For ...

'', he was given the

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Edo period, where they were used as a means to attract customers and hide the identities of the ''rikishi''. Like standard Japanese names, a ''shikona'' co ...

of Tamakirin Yasumasa. He fought in the second highest ''jūryō'' division for seven tournaments before retiring from sumo in July 1987.

Professional wrestling career

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1988–2000)

After his debut, Taue would mostly wrestle in the tag team division of

AJPW (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, ...

. During this time he along with Shinichi Nakano would win the

All Asia Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). It was created on November 16, 1955, in the Japan Wrestling Association (JWA) when King Kong Czaya and Tiger Joginder Singh defeated JWA fou ...

belts on June 5, 1990. After many from All Japan's roster would leave for

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 his ...

's new promotion, the SWS, Taue would band with

Mitsuharu Misawa was a Japanese amateur and professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and also for forming the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside ...

Kenta Kobashi is a Japanese former professional wrestler. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1988, where he became one of the promotion's top stars, holding the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship three times, and winning the Champ ...

and

Toshiaki Kawada (born December 8, 1963) is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in 1982 up until 2008. In All Japan, he was a 5 time Triple Crown Heavyweight ...

to form the Super Generation Army. Soon after their formation, Taue would defect to Jumbo Tsuruta's stable, otherwise known as Tsuruta-gun. The ensuing rivalry between the Super Generation Army and Tsuruta-gun would produce all time tag team, and 6-man tag team classic matches. On September 30, 1990, the

would award Taue and Tsuruta versus Misawa and Kawada, 5 stars. However, he became better known for

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 ...

wrestling. He won his first championship, the

, with Shinichi Nakano on June 5, 1990. He won the

World Tag Team Championship The world tag team championship is the name usually given to the primary tag team championships in professional wrestling promotions. Nomenclature The name of the promotion is often preceded to the term "world tag team championship" as the ...

for the first time on March 4, 1992, teaming with

Jumbo Tsuruta , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyw ...

. He formed a tag team with

, called

The Holy Demon Army The Holy Demon Army (HDA) was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. The HDA competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s and is considered the most successful and dominant team in the history of Al ...

, a team which ended up holding the World Tag Team Championship 6 times. The team split when Taue left AJPW for

's new

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 the ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

in August 2000, while Kawada decided to stay.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2000–2017)

In Noah Taue continued tag team wrestling, teaming mostly with

Takuma Sano (born February 2, 1965) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist most notable for being the generational rival of legendary Japanese pro wrestler Jushin Liger. During the last years of his career he went by the ...

. On November 5, 2005, Taue was able to defeat

Takeshi Rikio Takeshi Inoue (born December 20, 1972) known by his stage name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, who worked for Pro Wrestling Noah. He is also a former sumo wrestler. Sumo career He made his sumo debut in March 1988, after leaving ...

with his Ore ga Taue finisher to capture the

GHC Heavyweight Championship The is the professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion CyberFight currently defended in the Pro Wrestling Noah brand division. It is one of CyberFight's two top men's world titles, alon ...

, which he held into the new year before losing it to

Jun Akiyama is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion. He is best known for his time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, representative director, co-he ...

on January 22, 2006. On June 27, 2009, following the June 13 death of Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue was appointed as the new president of Pro Wrestling Noah. On May 12, 2013, Taue announced that he would be officially retiring from the ring in December. On December 7, 2013, Taue wrestled his retirement match, where he,

Takeshi Morishima (born October 15, 1978) is a Japanese former professional wrestler. Morishima is best known for his work with Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former three-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. He has also performed for Ring of Honor (ROH) in the Uni ...

Takashi Sugiura is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Sugiura, an accomplished amateur wrestler, joined Noah's dojo in 2000, making his professional debut on December 23, 2000, and thus becoming the first wrestler ...

, and

Genba Hirayanagi , better known by his ring name , is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. He is best known for working for Pro Wrestling Noah. Career Hirayanagi was a competitor in amateur wrestling in high school. In June 2004 he entered the Pro Wrestling N ...

defeated

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. ...

, Masao Inoue, and

Kentaro Shiga is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer. He returned from a two-year hiatus due to injury in 2005. History All Japan Pro Wrestling (1994−2000) Shiga trained in the All Japan dojo and debuted in All Japan Pro Wr ...

, with Taue pinning Inoue for the final win of his career. Taue served as the Noah president until November 1, 2016, when the company was sold to IT development company Estbee, after which he was given the new role of an advisor. He would resign from his position in February 2017.

Retirement

In June 2017, after studying with

Mitsuhiro Matsunaga is a Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for his deathmatch wrestling style, having competed in memorable deathmatches in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and Wrestling International New Generati ...

, Taue opened his own steakhouse in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, called Steak Izakaya Champ, where he personally cuts and cooks the steak, as well as greeting customers. On August 22, 2018, Taue announced at a press conference that he was battling stomach cancer. The diagnosis came from when he was originally hospitalized from a fall at his home on March 2 that caused bleeding from the stomach, which required an emergency blood transfusion. He also revealed that on April 16, he underwent a

gastrectomy A gastrectomy is a partial or total surgical removal of the stomach. Indications Gastrectomies are performed to treat stomach cancer and perforations of the stomach wall. In severe duodenal ulcers it may be necessary to remove the lower portio ...

after discovering the cancer during an examination.

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time) – with Shinichi Nakano **

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. History The championship was established after the unification of its then-flagship title the PWF World Heavyweight Championsh ...

( 1 time) **

( 7 times) – with

(1) and

(6) **

Champion Carnival The is a professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The tournament is also known by the nickname and is sometimes abbreviated to CC. Created by AJPW founder Giant Baba, the tournament has been held annually since ...

(

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

) **

World's Strongest Tag Determination League __NOTOC__ The , more commonly known in the West as the Real World Tag League, is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling since 1977, usually, run on the first weeks of December. The first tournament was actually ...

(

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

) – with Toshiaki Kawada **January 2 Korakuen Hall Heavyweight Battle Royal (1992) **World Tag Team Championship Tournament (2000) – with Toshiaki Kawada *''

Nikkan Sports is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1946. It has a circulation of 1,661,000, and is an affiliate newspaper of the ''Asahi Shimbun''. Companies and regions ;Nikkan Sports News (Tokyo) :Tokyo HQ: 5-10, Tsukiji Sanc ...

'' **Fighting Spirit Award (2005) *

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 ...

**Ranked No. 33 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "

PWI Years ''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 1997 **Ranked No. 115 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the "PWI Years" in 2003 **Ranked No. 8 of the 100 best tag team of the "PWI Years" with Toshiaki Kawada *

( 1 time) *

Tokyo Sports is a Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1960. See also * Tokyo Sports Film Award * Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards The are Japanese professional wrestling, or ''puroresu'', awards that have been handed out by the ''Tokyo Sports'' mag ...

Fighting Spirit Award The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

(1992, 1996) **Lifetime Achievement Award (2014) ** Match of the Year (1995) – with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on June 9, 1995 ** Tag Team of the Year (1997) – with Toshiaki Kawada *

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards This is a list of both active and inactive ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' awards created by professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist Dave Meltzer. The first fourteen awards were created in 1980 as an informal poll between ...

** 5 Star Match (1990) with Jumbo Tsuruta and

Masanobu Fuchi is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is also a director and the co-head booker. Fuchi has exclusively worked for All Japan since his debut in 1974, and holds the record for the longest ...

vs.

, Toshiaki Kawada and

on October 19 **5 Star Match (1991) with Jumbo Tsuruta and Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi on April 20 **5 Star Match (1992) with Jumbo Tsuruta and Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi on May 22 **5 Star Match (1993) with Toshiaki Kawada and

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 ...

vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and

on July 2 **5 Star Match (1993) with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on December 3 **5 Star Match (1994) with Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi &

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 ...

on February 13 **5 Star Match (1994) with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi on May 21 **5 Star Match (1995) with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi on January 24 **5 Star Match (1995) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa on April 15 **5 Star Match (1995) with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on June 9 **5 Star Match (1995) with

Tamon Honda (born August 15, 1963) is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler and former Olympic amateur wrestler who is currently a freelancer. He most recently worked for Pro Wrestling Noah. He is a former tag team champion, winning the All Asia Ta ...

and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and

Satoru Asako is a retired Japanese professional wrestler who worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1991–2000) Asako made his debut in a tag team match with Richard Slinger, losin ...

on June 30 **5 Star Match (1996) with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama on May 23 **5 Star Match (1996) with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama on December 6 **5 Star Match (1997) with Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama on December 5 **

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of t ...

(Class of 2022) with Toshiaki Kawada

Sumo career record

References

External links

Profile at Online World of WrestlingProfile at Green DestinyCagematch profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taue, Akira 1961 births Japanese male professional wrestlers Japanese sumo wrestlers Living people Professional wrestling executives Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture GHC Heavyweight Champions All Asia Tag Team Champions World Tag Team Champions (AJPW) Triple Crown Heavyweight Champions