Takashi Sugiura

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Takashi Sugiura
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Santa Claus[2]
Takashi Sugiura
Billed height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Billed weight89 kg (196 lb)[1]
Trained byAll Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo
Yoshihiro Takayama
Tamon Honda
Akira Taue
DebutDecember 23, 2000[1]

Takashi Sugiura (杉浦 貴, Sugiura Takashi, born May 31, 1970) 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 to make his pro wrestling debut in Noah. He has also competed in mixed martial arts with a notable victory over Giant Silva. Sugiura wrestled as a junior heavyweight in his earlier pro career and is a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. Sugiura moved up to heavyweight and became the second longest reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, having held the title for 581 days between December 2009 and July 2011. As of September 2011, Sugiura is the chairman of Noah's Wrestler's Association and holds the concomitant position on the promotion's board of directors.[3]

Early life

Sugiura was an accomplished

judoka in high school and narrowly missed the cut representing Japan at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He then became a self-defense instructor and was recruited to the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) Dojo by Tamon Honda, who (along with Yoshihiro Takayama
) oversaw all of Sugiura's training.

Professional wrestling career

Sugiura made his debut on December 23, 2000, when he partnered

Milano Collection AT, who was also returning from injury. Shiozaki/Sugiura picked up the win & Nakamura demanded a rematch against the duo with Hirooki Goto
as his tag team partner.

On July 20, he faced Hiroshi Tanahashi in the first ever NJPW vs. NOAH match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. After 24 minutes and two High Fly Flows, Tanahashi retained the Championship.

Sugiura also participated in the 2009

Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where he was defeated by Hirooki Goto.[9]

Sugiura at a Pro Wrestling Zero1 show in May 2023

In early 2014, Sugiura formed the

Kenoh, who turned on his tag team partner Masa Kitamiya during a match against Sugiura and Kiyomiya, aligning himself with Sugiura in the process. On March 12, 2017, Sugiura and Kenoh defeated Muhammad Yone and Kitamiya to win the vacant GHC Tag Team Championship.[21] They lost the titles to Naomichi Marufuji and Maybach Taniguchi on April 14.[22] In June, he went on hiatus so he could get open-heart surgery as he had irregular heartbeat for a long time, which was successful. He returned on October 28, where he teamed with Kenoh to defeat Leona and Katsuhiko Nakajima. On March 11, 2018, he defeated his tag team partner Kenoh to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time, making him the only man to have held the title four times. On April 29, he defeated Atsushi Kotoge to make his first successful defense and afterwards offered Naomichi Marufuji the next shot at the title, which he accepted. This led to a match exactly one month later on May 29, where he defeated Marufuji for his second successful defense. On June 26, he defeated Kenoh in a rematch to make his third successful defense. After the match, he issued a challenge to Go Shiozaki, who had pinned him in a tag match two weeks earlier, which he accepted. They would face off yet again on August 18 in Kawasaki, where he defeated Shiozaki to make his fourth successful defense and was afterwards challenged to a title match by Masa Kitamiya, who he would defeat on September 2 to make his fifth successful defense. Then on October 4, he defeated Kitamiya's tag team partner Katsuhiko Nakajima to make his sixth successful title defense. Sugiura then participated in the 2018 Global League, where he finished with a record of four wins and three losses, including one to eventual tournament winner Kaito Kiyomiya. This led to a match on December 16, where Sugiura lost the title to Kiyomiya in his seventh defense. Sugiura participated in the 2019 Global Tag League, teaming with Kazma Sakamoto where they went on to win the tournament. During the tournament, he formed a stable named "Sugiura-gun", with Nosawa Rongai, Hideki Suzuki, Sakamoto and Kinya Okada
, while Sugiura was positioned as the leader of the stable. At the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Shows, Sugiura first challenged Kaito Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on June 9, losing. Then, Sugiura challenged the team of Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima for the GHC Tag Team Championships on June 13, winning the titles for the fifth time with Kazma Sakamoto.

Mixed martial arts career

Sugiura also dabbled in mixed martial arts, given his amateur background. His first fight was against the Brazilian rookie Daniel Gracie, which saw Takashi giving a strong impression. The Japanese wrestler dropped Gracie with a right punch at the first round, defended a back mount for a long time and blocked all of Daniel's submissions. He eventually tossed Gracie to the ground with an amateur throw and held top position over the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist. At the end, however, after Gracie dominated the final round from his guard, he was given the split decision over Sugiura.

Takashi's second fight was against another pro wrestler,

angle
or promotional stunt.

He also participated in the

Sengoku
, being finished by strikes and stomps at the third round.

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
4 matches 1 win 3 losses
By knockout 1 2
By decision 0 1
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 1–3 Alexandre Ribeiro TKO (strikes) World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 5 September 28, 2008 3 4:18 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 1–2 Ryuta Noji KO (stomps) Pancrase: Blow 3 April 9, 2006 1 3:25 Tokyo, Japan
Win 1–1
Paulo Cesar Silva
TKO (punches)
PRIDE Bushido 4
July 19, 2004 1 2:35 Nagoya, Japan
Loss 0–1 Daniel Gracie Decision (split)
Pride 21
June 23, 2002 3 5:00
Saitama, Saitama
, Japan

[23]

Championships and accomplishments

GHC Heavyweight Champion

References

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External links