16 Facts About Ikuto Hidaka

Ikuto Hidaka was born on August 5,1972 and is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently performing for Pro Wrestling Noah.

Ikuto Hidaka debuted for the Battlarts shoot style promotion in 1997 after training in the Animal Hamaguchi Dojo.

Ikuto Hidaka spent his rookie year venturing to promotions like Michinoku Pro Wrestling and Kingdom Pro Wrestling, sharing rings with names like Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, Minoru Tanaka and Yoshihiro Tajiri.

In November 1999, after several months wrestling for Battlarts alone, Ikuto Hidaka was sent to America as a Battlarts representative for a learning excursion in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Ikuto Hidaka competed mainly in cruiserweight matches against Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy, as well as Super Calo.

Ikuto Hidaka's tenure was notable for commentator Joel Gertner constantly making racist remarks about Hidaka during his matches and nicknamed him "Pokemon" after the popular children's animated series.

In 2000, Ikuto Hidaka returned to Japan, now somewhat higher on the scale, and wrestled numerous matches for Battlarts with Mitsuya Nagai as his tag team partner.

Ikuto Hidaka wrestled for the promotion until its very end in late 2001.

Ikuto Hidaka entered Michinoku Pro Wrestling and won a tournament for the vacant FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, upsetting New Japan Pro-Wrestling star El Samurai in the final - his first great solo victory.

In 2001, Ikuto Hidaka entered Pro Wrestling Zero1 and began to battle the active junior heavyweight roster.

Ikuto Hidaka lost the title to Mochizuki on January 23,2008.

In 2002, Ikuto Hidaka had his mixed martial arts debut for Deep as a Zero1 representative, pitted against his close friend Takafumi Ito.

The slightly heavier and much more experienced Ito dominated the grappling exchanges, but Ikuto Hidaka survived until the second round and held his own with some ankle lock attempts before losing by rear naked choke.

Ikuto Hidaka once appeared with Togo and Christopher Daniels in a Major League Wrestling match in the United States in 2002, one of his rare appearances abroad.

On March 13,2010, Ikuto Hidaka made his debut for American professional wrestling promotion Evolve Wrestling at Evolve 2: Hero vs Ikuto Hidaka, defeating Chris Hero in the main event of the evening.

Ikuto Hidaka owns and works at a fitness center called FLENJI.