Minoru Suzuki was born on June 17,1968 and is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a freelancer.
71 Facts About Minoru Suzuki
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Minoru Suzuki returned to puroresu in 2003, when he has become a perennial top contender for all major Japanese heavyweight championships.
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Minoru Suzuki is known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is two-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and a former GHC Tag Team Champion along with Naomichi Marufuji.
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Minoru Suzuki trained in wrestling since high school, in part inspired by Antonio Inoki and other professional wrestlers, in part to paliate his own physical condition.
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Minoru Suzuki won a stateside wrestling championship in Kanagawa Prefecture, and finished second nationwide.
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In 1986, when they both were seniors, Minoru Suzuki beat Nagata first in a Tokyo high school tournament and again at the Japanese sectionals.
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Minoru Suzuki trained at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo and made his pro wrestling debut on June 23,1988, against Takayuki Iizuka, but soon after left with catch wrestling mentor Yoshiaki Fujiwara for the newborn Universal Wrestling Federation.
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Minoru Suzuki joined Fujiwara's Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi but then left the organization to form Pancrase, one of the first mixed martial arts organizations in the world, in 1993 with Masakatsu Funaki.
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Minoru Suzuki had his debut in professional fighting on the very first card of the company, facing Katsuomi Inagaki in a bout which showed Suzuki's top grappling prowess, with Minoru winning by rear naked choke in 3:25.
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Minoru Suzuki continued his beginnings with a victory over Lion's Den trainee Vernon White, in which Suzuki made him submit to a catch wrestling-inspired crooked headscissors.
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At the third Pancrase event in November 1993, Minoru Suzuki had his debut in kickboxing rules against American champion Maurice Smith, in a rematch of a "different style fight" celebrated back in UWF where Smith defeated Minoru Suzuki.
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Naturally outclassed, Minoru Suzuki was knocked down several times and finished shortly after.
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Minoru Suzuki had a third match with Smith in May 1994, this time under a special ruleset: the first and the third round would be fought wearing kickboxing gloves, the second and fourth without them and the fifth under a combination of the two.
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Minoru Suzuki finally got his revenge, submitting Smith at the third round with an armbar despite the disadvantage of the gloves.
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The Japanese fighter locked a heel hook, which Ken looked to reverse, but at that moment Minoru Suzuki transitioned it into a kneebar and extended his leg further.
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Minoru Suzuki did not lose a match until he lost to Bas Rutten via Liver shot KO due to a knee to the body.
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Minoru Suzuki twice defeated Shamrock and is the only man to hold two wins over Shamrock in the Pancrase era.
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Over time, Minoru Suzuki's body became damaged and worn down from various injuries and resulted in his skills diminishing.
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Minoru Suzuki then decided to focus on the business and training side of Pancrase.
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Minoru Suzuki collaborated with the Tekken series of fighting video games as a motion actor for the character King.
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Minoru Suzuki witnessed the transition Pancrase made from the so-called "hybrid wrestling" style to that of regular MMA and was instrumental in paving the way for mixed martial arts in Japan.
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Minoru Suzuki began competing for NJPW as a freelancer, where he aligned himself with Yoshihiro Takayama and won the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Osamu Nishimura on February 1,2004.
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In 2005, Minoru Suzuki began competing in Pro Wrestling Noah, and would receive a GHC Heavyweight Championship shot against then Champion Kenta Kobashi, but he was defeated.
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Nonetheless, Minoru Suzuki taught Marufuji some of what he knew and they clicked, winning the GHC Tag Team Championship from 2 Cold Scorpio and Doug Williams on June 18,2005.
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On March 10,2006, Minoru Suzuki made a surprise appearance in All Japan Pro Wrestling, attacking then Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima after he had just defended his title against The Great Muta.
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Minoru Suzuki participated in the 2006 Champion Carnival, and made it to the semifinals where he was eliminated by Taiyo Kea, the eventual winner.
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Minoru Suzuki went on to successfully defend the belts against RO'Z, Yuji Nagata, Kojima, Tajiri and Keiji Mutoh.
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At the All Japan Fan Appreciation Day on December 16,2007, the Mexico Amigos teamed with "Ray Minoru Suzuki" and defeated Ryuji Hijikata, Kikutaro, T28 and Ryuji Yamaguchi.
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On March 1,2008, Minoru Suzuki made an appearance at the Dory Funk Jr.
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Later in the year, Minoru Suzuki won the 2009 Champion Carnival beating Kaz Hayashi in the finals.
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On March 21,2010, Minoru Suzuki lost to long-time rival Masakatsu Funaki in All Japan's first cage match.
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Minoru Suzuki would go on to lose the title to Suwama on August 29,2010.
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On December 12,2010, Minoru Suzuki returned to NJPW, attacking old rival Yuji Nagata.
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On January 4,2011, at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, Minoru Suzuki faced Nagata in a losing effort.
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Minoru Suzuki made another return to New Japan on May 3,2011, when he took over the Kojima-gun, after its members Taichi and Taka Michinoku had turned on their leader Satoshi Kojima.
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Later that same month, during New Japan's tour of the United States, the newly renamed Minoru Suzuki-gun was joined by Lance Archer.
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Minoru Suzuki then went on a six match win streak, but losses to Strong Man and Shinsuke Nakamura on the last two days of the tournament, caused him to narrowly miss advancing to the finals.
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At the event on January 4,2012, Minoru Suzuki was unsuccessful in his title challenge.
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On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2012, Minoru Suzuki pinned Makabe in a tag team match, where he and Takayama faced Makabe and Yuji Nagata.
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From November 20 to December 1, Minoru Suzuki took part in the round-robin portion of the 2012 World Tag League, alongside Minoru Suzuki-gun's newest member Kengo Mashimo.
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On March 11, Minoru Suzuki entered the 2013 New Japan Cup, defeating Yuji Nagata in yet another match between the old rivals.
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Six days later, Minoru Suzuki was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Chaos member Toru Yano.
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On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Minoru Suzuki unsuccessfully challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
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Minoru Suzuki then got involved in a heated rivalry with Chaos member Tomohiro Ishii, which built to a singles match between the two on July 20 at the Kizuna Road 2013 pay-per-view, where Minoru Suzuki was victorious.
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From August 1 to 11, Minoru Suzuki took part in the 2013 G1 Climax.
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From November 24 to December 7, Minoru Suzuki teamed with Minoru Suzuki-gun's newest member, Shelton X Benjamin, in the 2013 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of three wins and three losses, with a loss against Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano on the final day costing them a spot in the semifinals.
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Minoru Suzuki finally got his win over Yano on March 15 in the first round of the 2014 New Japan Cup.
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Minoru Suzuki eventually made it to the semifinals of the tournament, before losing to Shinsuke Nakamura.
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From July 21 to August 8, Minoru Suzuki took part in the 2014 G1 Climax, where he finished fourth in his block with a record of five wins and five losses.
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On January 10,2015, Minoru Suzuki made a surprise return to Noah, leading his Minoru Suzuki-gun stable to attack GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji and GHC Tag Team Champions TMDK.
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On November 23,2016, Minoru Suzuki defeated Masa Kitamiya in the finals to win the 2016 Global League.
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Three days later, it was announced that Minoru Suzuki-gun was out of Noah, concluding the invasion storyline.
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The entire Minoru Suzuki-gun returned to NJPW on January 5,2017, attacking the Chaos stable with Minoru Suzuki laying out IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.
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At the following day's Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, Minoru Suzuki teamed with the Beer City Bruiser and Silas Young to unsuccessfully challenge The Hung Bucks for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
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On January 4,2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12, Minoru Suzuki lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Hirooki Goto in a Hair vs Hair match and had to have his head shaved bald as a result, choosing to shave his own hair in front of the live audience; his reign ended at 252 days with four successful defenses.
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Minoru Suzuki then competed in the 2018 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of five wins and four losses with an upset loss to Hangman Page costing him a chance to make it to the finals.
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Minoru Suzuki entered the 2019 New Japan Cup, where he defeated Satoshi Kojima in the first round, but was eliminated by Sanada in the second round.
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At Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5,2020, Minoru Suzuki confronted Jon Moxley who had just successfully retained the IWGP United States Championship against Juice Robinson and would incapacitate Moxley with the "Gotch-Style Piledriver".
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At Wrestle Kingdom 15 on January 4,2021, Minoru Suzuki competed in the New Japan Rambo, but failed to last til the final 4.
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In July at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, Minoru Suzuki competed for the Provisional KOPW 2021 trophy, in a 22 Man New Japan Rambo match, but the match was won by Chase Owens.
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On January 4,2022, on night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom 16, Minoru Suzuki competed in the New Japan Rambo, this time lasting till the final 4.
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On Night 2, Minoru Suzuki defeated Toru Yano, Chase Owens and Cima, to win the Provisional 2022 KOPW trophy.
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On Night 3, Minoru Suzuki-gun lost to Pro Wrestling Noah's Sugiura-gun and Toru Yano.
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In February during the NJPW New Years Golden Series, Minoru Suzuki lost the Provisional KOPW 2022 trophy to Toru Yano in a Dog Cage match.
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In November, Minoru Suzuki teamed with Lance Archer for the 2022 World Tag League, finishing with 8 points, failing to advance to the finals.
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At the World Tag League and Super Junior Tag League finals, Minoru Suzuki announced that Minoru Suzuki-gun will disband at the end of 2022.
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Minoru Suzuki reunited with his former tag team partner Lance Archer.
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Minoru Suzuki was set to return to face Orange Cassidy at their annual "Spring Break" event in 2020 until that was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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At Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor XV on April 1,2022, Minoru Suzuki won the ROH World Television Championship after defeating Rhett Titus, winning his first championship in the United States.
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Minoru Suzuki uses catch moves like headscissors, neck cranks and nelson hold variations to force openings, which he capitalized on with sharp submissions.
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Minoru Suzuki is known for his scowling face, which is usually used to strike kayfabe fear in the eyes of his opponents.