48 Facts About Tomohiro Ishii

Tomohiro Ishii is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is one-third of the current NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions in his third reign.

Tomohiro Ishii makes additional appearances for All Elite Wrestling.

Tomohiro Ishii is known for his work with the independent Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, where he worked backstage as the chairman.

Tomohiro Ishii went on to capture the IWGP Tag Team Championship on one occasion, and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship three times.

Tomohiro Ishii made his professional wrestling debut at the age of twenty on November 2,1996, facing Choden Senshi Battle Ranger Z at an event held by Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestle Association "R" promotion in Kushiro, Hokkaido.

In 2004, Tomohiro Ishii made appearances for Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max, where he and Tatsuhito Takaiwa won the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship.

Tomohiro Ishii made sporadic appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2004 and 2005, but only began working regularly for the promotion in 2006, while still representing Riki Pro.

In June of that year, Tomohiro Ishii formed the "Heisei no Gokudo Combi" tag team with Toru Yano and together the two took part in the 2006 G1 Tag League.

In October 2009, Tomohiro Ishii received some exposure in North America, when he was featured in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Global Impact 2 program on Spike TV, working in an eight-man tag team main event, where he, Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson and Takashi Iizuka were defeated by Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, Masahiro Chono and Riki Choshu.

On January 4,2010, Tomohiro Ishii was involved in another big eight-man tag team match at Wrestle Kingdom IV, where he, Takashi Iizuka, Toru Yano and Abdullah the Butcher were defeated by Manabu Nakanishi, Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Terry Funk.

In late 2010, Tomohiro Ishii started a storyline rivalry with masked wrestler Tiger Mask, going after his mask on several occasions.

In June 2011, Tomohiro Ishii took part in the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament, where he and Chaos stablemates Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano made it to the semifinals, before losing to Giant Bernard, Jyushin Thunder Liger and Karl Anderson.

In January 2013, Tomohiro Ishii took part in the third Fantastica Mania weekend, winning a twelve-man torneo cibernetico on January 20.

On March 11, Tomohiro Ishii picked up his biggest singles win in his NJPW career, when he defeated multi-time IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Tag Team Champion Satoshi Kojima in the first round of the 2013 New Japan Cup.

Six days later, Tomohiro Ishii was defeated in his second round match in the tournament by Hirooki Goto.

In early 2013, Tomohiro Ishii became involved in Chaos' rivalry with Suzuki-gun, NJPW's other major villainous stable, leading to Chaos and Tomohiro Ishii being positioned in a more sympathetic role than usual.

Tomohiro Ishii then got involved in a heated rivalry with Suzuki-gun leader Minoru Suzuki, which built to a singles match between the two on July 20 at the Kizuna Road 2013 pay-per-view, where Suzuki was victorious.

Tomohiro Ishii main evented the second night of the tournament in Korakuen Hall, where he picked up a major win over six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.

On January 5,2014, Tomohiro Ishii started a new storyline rivalry with Tetsuya Naito, announcing his intention of becoming the next NEVER Openweight Champion.

On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2014, Tomohiro Ishii made his third successful title defense against Tomoaki Honma and was afterwards challenged by IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kota Ibushi, with whom he had had sporadic heated encounters since the past year's G1 Climax.

From July 21 to August 8, Tomohiro Ishii took part in the 2014 G1 Climax, where he finished tied fifth in his block with a record of five wins and five losses, working his two final matches with a separated shoulder.

From November 23 to December 5, Tomohiro Ishii took part in the 2014 World Tag League, alongside Shinsuke Nakamura.

On January 4,2015, at Wrestle Kingdom, Tomohiro Ishii lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Togi Makabe in his second defense.

From July 23 to August 15, Tomohiro Ishii took part in the 2015 G1 Climax, where he finished in the middle of his block with a record of five wins and four losses.

Tomohiro Ishii's reign ended in his next defense, when he was defeated by Katsuyori Shibata on January 4,2016, at Wrestle Kingdom.

On February 19, Tomohiro Ishii took part in the NJPW and Ring of Honor co-produced Honor Rising: Japan 2016 event, defeating Roderick Strong for the ROH World Television Championship in the main event.

At the following day's Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, Tomohiro Ishii successfully defended the title against Cedric Alexander to return to Japan as the reigning champion.

Tomohiro Ishii received his title shot on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016, but was defeated by Naito.

Five days later, Tomohiro Ishii lost the ROH World Television Championship to Bobby Fish at the NJPW and ROH co-produced Global Wars show.

From July 18 to August 12, Tomohiro Ishii took part in the 2016 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of four wins and five losses.

One of Tomohiro Ishii's wins was over Chaos stablemate and reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.

Later that month, Tomohiro Ishii made it to the semifinals of the 2017 New Japan Cup, before losing to Katsuyori Shibata.

Later that month, Tomohiro Ishii entered the 2017 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of four wins and five losses.

Later that July, Tomohiro Ishii entered the 2018 G1 Climax, where he was sorted into the B block.

Tomohiro Ishii placed fifth in the block, with a record of five wins and four losses, and scored victories over NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson, and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega.

Tomohiro Ishii won a rematch with Suzuki the following month at Power Struggle.

On January 4,2019, at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Tomohiro Ishii lost the British Heavyweight Championship to Zack Sabre Jr.

At the G1 Supercard the following month, Tomohiro Ishii entered the pre-show Honor Rumble, a 30-man battle royale for a ROH World Championship title match, which was ultimately won by Kenny King.

On January 5,2020, during the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14, Tomohiro Ishii unsuccessfully competed in a four-team gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship with Yoshi-Hashi and Robbie Eagles.

In June 2020, Tomohiro Ishii competed in the 2020 New Japan Cup, but was eliminated by Hiromu Takahashi in the quarter-finals.

On January 4,2022, during the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 16, Tomohiro Ishii was defeated by Evil, ending his reign at 52 days.

Tomohiro Ishii was announced as a part of the NJPW bracket to qualify for a chance to advance to AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door to compete in a four-way match for the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Championship.

Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the first qualifier and Clark Connors in the final qualifier, to qualify for the match at the PPV.

However, it was later reported that Tomohiro Ishii had suffered a left knee injury and was not medically cleared to compete at Forbidden Door, therefore Connors took his place in the four-way match, but failed to win.

Tomohiro Ishii finished the tournament with 4 points and failed to advance to the semi-finals.

On November 13,2021, at Full Gear, it was announced that Tomohiro Ishii would make a guest appearance on the following week's Dynamite, therefore making his All Elite Wrestling debut.

On November 23rd 2022 edition of Dynamite, Tomohiro Ishii faced Chris Jericho, for the ROH World Championship, but was defeated.

In 2016, Tomohiro Ishii starred in the music video for "Darling" by May's, the same artist that produced his ring theme song, "Stone Pitbull".