Shingo Takagi

Shingo Takagi (鷹木信悟, born November 21, 1982) is a former Japanese bodybuilder, turned professional wrestler. Shingo is currently working for the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. He spent an extended run with the American promotions Ring of Honor and Full Impact Pro.

Dragon Gate
Shingo Takagi debuted in October 2004 as the first graduate of the Dragon Gate Dojo. He was also trained by Animal Hamaguchi. Takagi won the 2005 Wrestling Observer Rookie of the Year award.

In Dragon Gate, Takagi became a member of the Blood Generation stable. On May 10, 2007, shortly after forming the stable New Hazard, Takagi along with BxB Hulk and Cyber Kong - defeated the Typhoon team of CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka, and Ryo Saito for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. They held the championship until July 13, 2007, when the team were forced to vacate the championship as BxB Hulk had sustained a jaw injury. Takagi and Kong replaced Hulk with Jack Evans, and challenged for the vacant championship against the Muscle Outlaw'z team of Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Magnitude Kishiwada, but were unsuccessful.

On May 14, 2008, Takagi and Kong turned on Hulk shortly before a scheduled Open The Triangle Gate Championship defense against Genki Horiguchi, Gamma and YAMATO of the Muscle Outlaw'z, citing Hulk as a weakling. Takagi and Kong then joined up with Genki, Gamma, YAMATO and Yasushi Kanda, ending both New Hazard and Muscle Outlaw'z and forming Real Hazard, a new faction. Takagi then teamed with Gamma and YAMATO to win the newly-vacant Open The Triangle Gate Championship, defeating Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino and Hulk. On June 28, they lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Keni'chiro Arai, Taku Iwasa and Shinobu of the Tozawa-juku faction.

The following day, he fought BxB Hulk to a one-hour draw in a number one contender's match for CIMA's Open The Dream Gate Championship. They were immediately scheduled for a rematch on July 27, but this time the Open The Dream Gate Championship was on the line as CIMA had to vacate the championship due to a neck injury. On July 10, doubt was already cast over his standing in Real Hazard when he stopped them and Tokyo Gurentai members from trying to give CIMA an unwanted haircut. This caused tensions to stir between him and the others, especially with Kong. On July 27, Takagi defeated BxB Hulk to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship. After the match, Takagi apologized to Hulk and retracted his statement about him being weak. Soon after, Kong attempted to attack CIMA, who was at the announce table, but Takagi stopped him. After a brief argument, Real Hazard attacked Takagi and kicked him out of the group for showing compassion towards Hulk and CIMA, but he was saved by Typhoon.

Typhoon offered him membership in the faction, but he turned it down. He later teamed with Dragon Kid, a Typhoon member, in the Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament, and the pair reached the finals before they were beaten by Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino. Following this, Takagi changed his mind and joined Typhoon. Takagi's membership caused tension within the faction, and led to Susumu Yokosuka challenging Takagi to a match on November 16 for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Takagi retained, and then tried to banish Yokosuka from Typhoon as punishment. Ryo Saito tried to stop him, and then CIMA was called out. Takagi gave him a lariat before he could say anything, resulting in his banishment from Typhoon. After that, Takagi announced that he would not be participating in the annual King of Gate Tournament.

Takagi began teaming with Akira Tozawa and Taku Iwasa after the faction they had been members of, Tozawa-juku, had disbanded, with the trio officially forming a new faction on December 19. On December 28, Takagi lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Naruki Doi, who had won the King of the Gate Tournament. On January 11, 2009, Dragon Kid joined the new faction, with Takagi called the faction KAMIKAZE. On February 15, Takagi, Iwasa and Dragon Kid won the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, but lost the championship to CIMA, Gamma and KAGETORA on April 15. When YAMATO left Real Hazard, he joined KAMIKAZE, reforming his team with Takagi. The duo won the annual Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament in August, and then the Open The Twin Gate Championship the following month. They held the titles until December 27, when they lost them to CIMA & Gamma. On March 22, 2010, Takagi and Cyber Kong defeated CIMA and Gamma to regain the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Takagi participated in the 2010 King of Gate tournament and beat Dragon Kid in the finals on April 14, 2010. This allowed him to contest Open The Dream Gate Championship match against his stablemate and champion YAMATO at the Dead or Alive PPV on May 5, 2010, but YAMATO retained the title by making Takagi submit. Takagi and Kong would lose their Twin Gate title to K-ness and Susumu Yokosuka on May 13, 2010. Takagi then renewed his old feud with former tag partner BxB Hulk, leading to a Hair vs Hair match at the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2010 on July 11. Takagi won the match and shaved off Hulk's hair.

After returning from an injury, Takagi disbanded KAMIKAZE on May 13, 2011 and the following day joined forces with Masaaki Mochizuki's new stable, Junction Three, to battle CIMA's Blood Warriors. After Junction Three was disbanded in February 2012, Takagi, alongside YAMATO, joined up with Dragon Gate NEX Member Chihiro Tominaga, and the debuting Super Shenlong III and formed -akatsuki- on April 19, 2012. On July 22, 2012, Takagi and YAMATO defeated Jimmy KAGETORA and Jimmy Susumu to become the 22nd Open The Twin Gate Champions. They lost the title to Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki on September 23, 2012. Takagi and YAMATO won the title for their third time together on May 5, 2013, by defeating BxB Hulk and Uhaa Nation. They lost the title to Akira Tozawa and BxB Hulk on June 15, when YAMATO turned on Takagi. On July 21, Takagi defeated CIMA to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship for the second time. On August 1, -akatsuki- was forced to disband, after losing to Mad Blankey in a five-on-four tag team match. On August 23, Takagi lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to YAMATO in his first defense. In order to continue his battle with Mad Blankey, Takagi formed a new stable named Monster Express with Akira Tozawa, Masato Yoshino, Ricochet, Shachihoko BOY and Uhaa Nation. On December 22, Takagi and Tozawa defeated Naruki Doi and Yamato to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. They lost the title to Eita and T-Hawk on July 20, 2014. On August 31, Shingo, Tozawa and Uhaa Nation unsuccessfully challenged for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against Cyber Kong, Naruki Doi and Kzy with Shingo getting pinned after Kong hit him with the Cyber Bomb. Shingo and Tozawa lost in the Summer Adventure Tag League semi-finals against T-Hawk and Eita. On December 28, Shingo unsuccessfully challenged for the Open The Dream Gate title against BxB Hulk. On August 16, 2015, Takagi defeated Masato Yoshino to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship for the third time. Shortly afterwards, Takagi was kicked out of Monster Express after turning on his then-stablemates Yoshino and Shachihoko BOY. Takagi would then form a new heel unit with the remnants of Mad Blankey, becoming the co-leader of the unit alongside Naruki Doi. On September 23, 2015, the new unit was named VerserK. On February 14, Takagi lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Jimmy Susumu in his fourth defense. He would regain the title from Susumu on March 6, becoming the first four-time champion. On January 18, 2017 Takagi, T-Hawk and Lindaman participated at the New Years Unit War 6 Man Tag Team Tournament. Takagi, T-Hawk and Lindaman defeated Ben-K, Kotoka and Masato Yoshino at the finals to win the New Years Unit War 6 Man Tag Team Tournament. On March 4 Takagi, T-Hawk and Kong defeated Jimmy Susumu, Jimmy Kanda and Ryo "Jimmy" Saito to win the Open The Triangle Gate Champions. However the titles were vancated after Kong was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Ring of Honor
Shortly after becoming a member of Blood Generation, Shingo began wrestling for Ring of Honor (ROH) in the United States. He made several ROH appearances before becoming a regular wrestler in ROH in late 2006. He became one half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions alongside Naruki Doi on March 3, 2007, by beating The Briscoe Brothers in Liverpool, England. The two lost the championship back to the Briscoes at All Star Extravaganza III on March 30.

Shingo had his final official ROH match at "Good Times, Great Memories" on April 28, 2007, unsuccessfully challenging Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Championship. He challenged The Briscoe Brothers for ROH World Tag Team Championship unsuccessfully at ROH's Live in Osaka show with his partner Susumu Yokosuka on July 17. At Wrestlemania weekend in 2008 at "Dragon Gate Challenge II" and "Supercard of Honor III", he and BxB Hulk wrestled The Age of the Fall (Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs), and El Generico and Kevin Steen respectively in his last two ROH appearances.

Other promotions
Throughout 2006 and 2007 Shingo appeared in several American promotions, including Full Impact Pro and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. On February 27, 2007, Shingo won the Southern Thunder Pro Wrestling Texas Heavyweight Championship by defeating Texas Renegade. On September 5, 2007 he made his Hawaii debut for Action Zone Wrestling (AZW) teaming with Sabaki in a losing effort to AZW Tag Team Champions Devilshock. On March 8, 2009, he won his first wrestling tournament in Germany by emerging triumphant at wXw's annual 16 Carat Gold Tournament. In 2009, he began wrestling for Dragon Gate USA.

Factions

 * Crazy MAX (2004)
 * Waku Waku Fuji Land (2004)
 * Blood Generation (2005–2006)
 * New Hazard (2007–2008)
 * Real Hazard (2008)
 * Typhoon (2008)
 * Kamikaze (2008–2011)
 * Junction Three (2011–2012)
 * -akatsuki- (2012–2013)
 * Monster Express (2013–2015)
 * VerserK (2015–present)

In wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * Last Falconry (Wrist-clutch fisherman driver)
 * MADE IN JAPAN (Pumphandle half nelson driver)
 * Pumping Bomber (Lariat)
 * STAY DREAM (Super wrist-clutch Olympic slam)
 * Signature moves
 * Blood Fall (Backbreaker rack dropped into a sitout facebuster)
 * Corner clothesline
 * DDT
 * Death Valley driver
 * Fireman's carry cutter
 * Fist drop
 * Gallon Throw (Reverse powerbomb)
 * Gutbuster
 * High-angle belly-to-back suplex
 * Knee drop
 * MANKIRI (Arm trap anaconda vice)
 * Mongolian chop
 * Legend Falconry (Wrist-clutch Death Valley driver)
 * Original Falconry (Wrist-clutch Olympic slam)
 * Powerbomb
 * Reverse STO
 * Senton
 * Vertical suplex
 * YO Throw! (Gutwrench toss)
 * Nicknames
 * "Pumping Hawk"
 * "Going My Own Way"
 * "Mr. Selfish"
 * Entrance themes
 * "Legend Falconry" by Hiroaki Sano"

Championships and accomplishments

 * Dragon Gate
 * Open The Dream Gate Championship (4 times)
 * Open The Triangle Gate Championship (5 times) – with BxB Hulk and Cyber Kong (2), Gamma and YAMATO (1), and Taku Iwasa and Dragon Kid (1) and T-Hawk and Cyber Kong (1)
 * Open The Twin Gate Championship (5 times) – with YAMATO (3), Cyber Kong (1) and Akira Tozawa (1)
 * King of Gate (2010)
 * Provisional Open The Triangle Gate Championship (1 time) – with CIMA and Naruki Doi
 * Planning Jumbo Six Man Scramble One Night Tag Tournament (2008) with YAMATO and Cyber Kong
 * New Years Unit War 6 Man Tag Team Tournament (2016) - with El Lindaman and T-Hawk
 * Summer Adventure Tag League (2009) – with YAMATO
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him #86 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2011
 * PWI ranked him #43 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
 * Pro Wrestling Noah
 * GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with BxB Hulk
 * Ring of Honor
 * ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Naruki Doi
 * Southern Thunder Pro Wrestling
 * STPW Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * westside Xtreme wrestling
 * 16 Carat Gold Tournament (2009)
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Rookie of the Year (2005)