Koki Kitahara
| Koki Kitahara | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 9, 1964 Fukuoka, Fukuoka |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Koki Kitahara Tatsumi Kitahara Sumo Hara |
| Billed height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Billed weight | 110 kg (240 lb) |
| Trained by |
Genichiro Tenryu Satoru Sayama |
| Debut | April 8, 1988 |
Tatsumi Kitahara (北原 辰巳 Kitahara Tatsumi) is a Japanese professional wrestler who goes by the name Koki Kitahara (北原光騎 Kitahara Kōki).
Specialist in karate and further trained in martial arts by Satoru Sayama, 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. 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.
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. 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. In June 1992, SWS folded.
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