Piza Michinoku
Michinoku in February 2017
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| Birth name | Takao Yoshida |
|---|---|
| Born |
26 October 1973 Morioka, Iwate, Japan |
| Residence | Yotsukaidō, Chiba, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Blue-K The Great Taka Pepe Michinoku Piza Michinoku Taka Taka Michinoku TAKA Michinoku Takako Michinoku |
| Billed height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Billed weight | 85 kg (187 lb) |
| Trained by | The Great Sasuke |
| Debut | 1992 |
Takao Yoshida (吉田 貴男? Yoshida Takao) (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name Taka Michinoku (with his first name usually stylized in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where he had the first ever WWF Light Heavyweight Championship reign recognized by the North-American promotion. Michinoku is the founder and promoter of Kaientai Dojo, where he also wrestles. He is also a regular for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Having held championship titles in Japan, North America, Mexico and Europe, Yoshida is known for his long title reigns. He held the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title for a combined duration of more than 15 months, the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a then record-setting 10 months and the WEW Six-Man Tag Team Title for almost a year. Yoshida has held the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship and Kaientai Dojo Strongest-K Championship simultaneously for almost 10 months. During his reign, he has defended his titles against both AJPW and independent circuit talent to increase his base of opponents, and thus has increased the reach of the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, which was closed off to outside competition in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
Taka Michinoku took his name as a sign of respect for his mentor The Great Sasuke, who was the owner of Michinoku Pro Wrestling and had been the first to use Michinoku as part of his ring name. He debuted Wrestling International New Generations and Michinoku Pro Wrestling joint event by teaming up with Great Sasuke, they lost to Super Delfin & Terry Boy. He would later move Federacion Universal De Lucha Libre and debuted by beating the team of Mongolian Yuga & Shiryu with Buffalo Chohe. Then he debuted for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in a six-man tag team match at FMW Summer Spectacular 1993. Michinoku would primary compete at MPW, UWF and FMW in his early career.
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