Koki Kitahara
Koki Kitahara | |
---|---|
Born | (1964-03-09) March 9, 1964 (age 60)[1][2] Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan[1][2] |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Koki Kitahara Tatsumi Kitahara Sumo Hara |
Billed height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1][2] |
Billed weight | 110 kg (240 lb)[1][2] |
Trained by | Genichiro Tenryu Satoru Sayama |
Debut | April 8, 1988 |
Retired | June 11, 2018 |
Tatsumi Kitahara (北原辰巳, Kitahara Tatsumi)[3] (born March 9, 1964) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Koki Kitahara (北原光騎, Kitahara Kōki).
Career
Kitahara trained in soccer and karate during high school, particularly the latter due to his penchant for street fighting. After graduating and moving to Tokyo, he started training mixed martial arts at Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym and eventually became an instructor. Three years later, he developed an interest in professional wrestling and decided to become a wrestler.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1988–1990)
Kitahara began as a trainee for Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1987. After the promotion dissolved, he transferred to All Japan Pro Wrestling and trained under Genichiro Tenryu. He made his debut on April 8, 1988, against Mitsuo Momota. He was part of Tenryu's Revolution stable. After spending nearly a year floundering in the opening and mid-card matches, Kitahara left for Canada in March 1989.
When he arrived in Canada, he joined Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, where he used the ring name Sumo Hara. On July 4, Kitahara was involved in a car accident near Jasper, Alberta, while riding in a car with Ross Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Jason the Terrible and Chris Benoit, which he escaped with a minor shoulder injury. In August 1989, Kitahara won his first championship, the Stampede International Tag Team Championship with fellow Japanese wrestler Kensuke Sasaki. The two held the championship for more than a month before losing them to The Blackhearts. After Stampede shut down in December 1989, he returned to Japan in February 1990.
Upon returning to AJPW, Kitahara was finally finding his niche, but was cut short the summer of 1990, when Kitahara joined his mentor Tenryu and Megane Super. After leaving AJPW, Kitahara would make a brief return to Canada to wrestle for the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance as Sumo Hara, before returning to Japan for the new promotion.
Super World Sports (1990–1992)
Kitahara wrestled for Super World of Sports in 1990. As expected, he was part of Tenryu's group, Revolution. In December 1990, Kitahara took part in the original four-man tournament for the SWS Light Heavyweight Championship, but lost to Naoki Sano in the semi-finals when a doctor called a stop to the match.[4] After a year in mid-card tag team matches, Kitahara teamed with Shinichi Nakano for a tournament to determine the SWS Tag Team Champions, but lost to his Revolution stablemates, Tenryu and Ashura Hara.[5] In June 1992, SWS folded.
WAR (1992–2000)
Upon SWS's folding, Kitahara joined Tenryu in forming WAR. Now known as Koki Kitahara, in the early years of WAR, Kitahara would be Tenryu's main tag team partner in battles against New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but in later years, he teamed with Koji Kitao. In September 1994, Kitahara toured Mexico for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. In April 1995, Kitahara won his first championship in Japan, the WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, with Tenryu and Animal Hamaguchi. He won two more, with Arashi, Nobutaka Araya, and Lance Storm as his partners. In 1999, WAR folded.
Freelance (1999–2018)
In 1997, still as a WAR member, Kitahara formed his own mixed martial arts dojo, Capture International. It initially developed into a shoot-style professional wrestling promotion, which held its first card in 1998.[6][unreliable source?] He later expanded it into a non-profit private security company named Japan Blue Blazer.
After WAR folded, Kitahara focused primarily on Capture International, while taking select shows and tours of various promotions, including a brief return to AJPW in 2001, where he won the All Asia Tag Team Championship with Arashi, and also with Tenryu Project.
On April 2, 2018, Kitahara announced his retirement to take place at a June 11 card promoted by AJPW dojo classmate Kenta Kobashi, which will also be his 30th anniversary. In a tag team match, Kitahara and Mitsuya Nagai lost to Naomichi Marufuji and Super Tiger II.
Championships and accomplishments
- All Japan Pro Wrestling
- All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Arashi
- Stampede Wrestling
- Wrestle And Romance / Wrestle Association "R"
- WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Animal Hamaguchi and Genichiro Tenryu (1), Nobutaka Araya and Arashi (1) and Nobutaka Araya and Lance Storm (1)
References
- v
- t
- e
- King Kong Czaya and Tiger Joginder Singh
- Dan Miller and Frank Valois
- Rikidōzan and Toyonobori
- Luther Lindsay and Ricky Waldo
- Buddy Austin and Mike Sharpe
- Toyonobori and Michiaki Yoshimura
- Caripus Hurricane and Gene Kiniski
- Giant Baba and Toyonobori
- The Destroyer and Billy Red Lyons
- Joe Carrolo and Killer Karl Kox
- Hiro Matsuda and Michiaki Yoshimura
- Eddie Graham and Killer Karl Kox
- Giant Baba and Michiaki Yoshimura
- Kintarō Ōki and Michiaki Yoshimura
- Antonio Inoki and Michiaki Yoshimura
- Klondike Bill and Skull Murphy
- Antonio Inoki and Kintarō Ōki
- Seiji Sakaguchi and Michiaki Yoshimura
- Great Kojika and Gentetsu Matsuoka
- Great Kojika and Motoshi Okuma
- Jerry and Ted Oates
- Samson Kutsuwada and Akihisa Takachiho
- Animal Hamaguchi and Mighty Inoue
- David Von Erich and Kevin Von Erich
- Takashi Ishikawa and Akio Sato
- Ashura Hara and Mighty Inoue
- Ashura Hara and Takashi Ishikawa
- Animal Hamaguchi and Isamu Teranishi
- Norio Honaga and Isamu Teranishi
- Mighty Inoue and Takashi Ishikawa
- Ashura Hara and Super Strong Machine
- Footloose (Samson Fuyuki and Toshiaki Kawada)
- Shinichi Nakano and Shunji Takano
- Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat
- Kenta Kobashi and Tiger Mask II
- Shinichi Nagano and Akira Taue
- Johnny Ace and Kenta Kobashi
- British Bruisers (Dynamite Kid and Johnny Smith)
- Billy Black and Joel Deaton
- Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Kenta Kobashi
- The Eagle and The Patriot
- Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori
- Wolf Hawkfield and Johnny Smith
- Tamon Honda and Jun Izumida
- Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki
- No Fear (Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama)
- Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa
- Tamon Honda and Masao Inoue
- Masahito Kakihara and Mitsuya Nagai
- Arashi and Koki Kitahara
- Arashi and Nobutaka Araya
- Kohei Sato and Hirotaka Yokoi
- Kintaro Kanemura and Tetsuhiro Kuroda
- Mr. Gannosuke and Tetsuhiro Kuroda
- The Great Kosuke and Shiryu
- Masanobu Fuchi and Genichiro Tenryu
- Mitsuya Nagai and Masayuki Naruse
- RO&D (Buchanan and Rico Constantino)
- Shuji Kondo and "brother" Yasshi
- Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kensuke Sasaki
- Minoru Suzuki and Nosawa Rongai
- S.M.O.P. (Akebono and Ryota Hama)
- Voodoo Murders (TARU and Big Daddy Voodoo)
- Manabu Soya and Seiya Sanada
- Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi
- Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka
- Hikaru Sato and Hiroshi Yamato
- Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki
- Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Team Dream Futures (Keisuke Ishii and Shigehiro Irie)
- Xceed (Kotaro Suzuki and Kento Miyahara)
- Mitsuya Nagai and Takeshi Minamino
- Último Dragón and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Yankii Nichokenju (Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto)
- Evolution (Atsushi Aoki and Hikaru Sato)
- Atsushi Onita and Masanobu Fuchi
- Black Tiger VII and Taka Michinoku
- Nextream (Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi)
- Jun Akiyama and Yuji Nagata
- Sweeper (Jake Lee and Koji Iwamoto)
- Ryuichi Kawakami and Kazumi Kikuta
- Purple Haze (Zeus and Izanagi)
- StrongHearts (El Lindaman and T-Hawk)
- Total Eclipse (Yusuke Kodama and Hokuto Omori)
- Voodoo Murders (Minoru and Toshizo)
- Evolution (Dan Tamura and Hikaru Sato)
- Tajiri and Yoshitatsu
- Gungnir of Anarchy (Masao Hanahata and Yusuke Kodama)
- Masao Inoue and Takao Omori
- Kendo Kashin and Nosawa Rongai
- Atsushi Onita and Yoshitatsu
- Burning (Jun Akiyama and Kotaro Suzuki)
- Eruption (Hideki Okatani and Yukio Sakaguchi)
- Atsushi Onita and Toy Kojima
- Musashi and Seiki Yoshioka (current)
Other recognized champions | |
---|---|
Champions recognized by New Japan Pro-Wrestling |