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Hiroki Tanabe (田辺裕喜, Tanabe Hiroki) (born December 13, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the his ring name HI69. He is primarily working for Pro Wrestling Noah as a freelancer, where he is one half of the current GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions in his first reign. He is also known as Hiroki (stylized in all capital letters). He is currently working as a freelancer. Tanabe is best known for his work for Kaientai Dojo where he was the first Strongest-K Championship and also won two-times the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship, two-times the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, one-time UWA World Middleweight Championship and also won the 2014 Bo-so Golden Tag Tournament.

Tanabe also frequently worked for Tenryu Project, Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Apache Pro Wrestling Army, Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS, Guts World Pro Wrestling and Union Pro Wrestling. In the Japanese independent circuit Tanabe won the two-times WEW Tag Team Championship, the GWC Tag Team Championship one-time, the Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Championship, one-time Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and one-time the UWA World Tag Team Championship

Professional Wrestling Career

Kaientai Dojo (2002-2007)

Tanabe got his start in Puerto Rico and would a part of the first graduating class of Taka Michinoku’s Kaientai Dojo. He would make his debut as Hi69 (hi-ro-ki) in Puerto Rico against Yasu Urano. After he formed a short-lived unit Nudy Rave with PABLO and Ryoko. Eventually, he returned to Japan, where he became a regular in both Michinoku Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling during the first two years of his career. Throughout 2002 he took part in AJPW's Giant Baba Cup, finishing last in Block A with zero wins and zero points.[1]

On November 30, 2002 he would win his first singles championship by defeating Daigoro Kishiwa for the UWA World Middleweight Championship On March 28 Hi69 and MIKAMI defeated Ryota Chikuzen and Sambo Oishi to win the 2004 Kaientai Dojo Tag League. On May 24, 2003 he lost the UWA World Middleweight Championship to Yasu Urano in his second title defense. On July 3, 2004 Hi69 would win the first ever “STRONGEST-K TOUR FINAL” to become the first ever Champion of Strongest-K after he defeated Kengo Mashimo. On December 12, he teamed with Yuji Hino to unsuccessfully challenge Ryota Chikuzen and Taka Michinoku for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship.[2]

In February 2005, he and his now regular tag team partner Yuji Hino and made it to the semifinals of the Strongest-K Tag Team Tournament,[3] before unsuccessfully challenging Kengo Mashimo and Kazma for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship on April 3.[4] Later in 2005, Hi69 took part of the 2005 Strongest-K Tournament and he would lose at the first round to Mike Lee Jr. Throughout 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, he competed regularly in a large number of different promotions, including Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Apache Pro Wrestling, Muga, Real Japan Pro Wrestling, Hustle, and eventually became a regular on New Japan Pro Wrestling's Lock Up cards. On April 5, 2006 Hi69 would resign from Kaientai-Dojo to become a freelancer. Hi69 would then through 2006 and 2007 he would made sporadic appearances in Kaientai Dojo.

Freelancer (2006-Present)

Hi69 would then start primarily to compete in Kintaro Kanemura’s Apache Pro Wrestling Army promotion. He would begin working with Takashi Sasaki as well in the process. On December 25, 2006 Hi69 would take part of the Deathmatch Tournament but he would loose at the first round to Sasaki. On February 8, 2007 Hi69 and Gentaro would then compete in a tournament to crown the provisional WEW Tag Team Title Championship. Hi69 and Gentaro would make it to the semi finals until they lost to Takashi Sasaki and The Winger. On September 23 Hi69, Daisuke Sekimoto and Tetsuhiro Kuroda would unsucessfully challenged Dick Togo, Kintaro Kanemura and Masao Orihara for the Apex of Triangle Championship. On October 11, 2007, Hi69 was teaming with Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Mammoth Sasaki as Apache Army against GBH (Togi Makabe, Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii)[5] when Ishii countered a frankensteiner from Hi69 into a powerbomb which caused him to land awkwardly, suffering a fracture as well as a dislocation to his thoracic vertebrae. After the match, it was announced that the injury was possibly career threatening and that he would require surgery. After undergoing an expensive medical procedure Hi69 would begin recuperate and begin rehab.

Tanabe would make his official announcement of his return to the ring on February 14, 2010. He stated that he would look to compete in both Kaientai-Dojo and FREEDOMS going forward. He also stated that he would like to be known as and would now be wrestling as Hiroki (stylised in all capital letters), his birth name, instead of Hi69. His return match would be held on April 6 for K-Dojo when he teamed with Miyawake in a loss to his trainer Taka Michinoku and the man he made his debut against, Yasu Urano.[6] On May 26 at a Freedom show, Hiroki faced Ishii in a match billed as a "revenge match", with Ishii portraying the heel and claiming responsibility for Hiroki's serious injury. The match was won by Ishii.[7] On May 26, HIROKI would have a revenge match against Ishii, but would suffer defeat. On September 29, 2010 he defeated Tiger Shark won the International Junior Heavyweight Championship.[8] On December 14, he dropped the title to Ryuji Hijikata.[9] On September 28, 2011 Hiroki and Yusaku Obata defeated Kintaro Kanemura and Tetsuhiro Kuroda to win the WEW Tag Team Championship. On March 25, 2012 Hiroki and Obata lost the titles to Manjimaru and Takeshi Minamino. On January 6 at FREEDOMS Hiroki, Kamui and Takashi Sasaki defeated Captain Abnormal, Jun Kasai and Minoru Fujita to win the New Year Six Man Tag Tournament. On February 27 Hiroki took part in a tournament to crown the first King of FREEDOM World Championship. Hiroki would loose at the first round to Takashi Sasaki. On April 14 Hiroki and Masamune defeated Amigo Suzuki and CHANGO to win the GWC Tag Team Championship. On August 21 Hiroki participated in the Deathmatch Tournament where he lost at the first round to Violento Jack in a Freestyle Deathmatch. On October 6 Hiroki and Masamune lost the GWC Tag Team Champions to CHANGO and this time Jun Ogawachi. On Febuary 5, 2014 he won the UWA World Tag Team Championship with Yasu Urano. They would hold the tiles until April 27 when they lost the titles to Hiroshi Fukuda and Men's Teioh. On September 5 he return to his old ring name HI69. On January 3, 2015 Hi69 would take part of the One Day Tournament. He would make into to the semifinals of the tournament losing to Gentaro. On May 15, 2016 Hi69 and HASEGAWA won the WEW Tag Team Championship by defeating MIKAMI and Rion Mizuki. They would loose the titles to Kintaro Kanemura and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. On October 2 Hi69 unsucessfully challenged Koji Kanemoto for the WEW Heavyweight Championship.

Return to Kaientai Dojo (2010-Present)

In 2010 Hiroki would started to compete in Kaientai-Dojo more regulary. On June 24 Hiroki would compete at the 2010 Strongest-K Tournament. He would then lose at the first round to his former partner Yuji Hino. On August 15 Hi69 and Kengo Mashimo defeated Kaji Tomato and Taishi Takizawa to with the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship.[10] After 420 days Hi69 and Mashimo lost the titles to Ryuichi Sekine and Saburo Inematsu..[11] On November 6 Hrioki defeated Daigoro Kashiwa to win the Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship.[12] At the begininng of 2012 Hiroki and Gentaro participated at the Kaienatai Dojo Tag League 2012. The two made their way into the finals until they lost to Kengo Mashimo and TAKA Michinoku. On March 3 Hiroki and Isami Kodaka defeated Hiro Tonai and Yuki Sato to win the #1 Contendership for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. They would unsucessfully challenged Mashimo and Michinoku for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. On January 26 Hiroki lost the Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship to Ricky Fuji.[13] In the summer of 2013 HIROKI and Yuji Hino unsucessfully challenged this time Daigoro Kashiwa and Ricky Fuji for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. On February 16, Hiroki and Hino defeated Hiro Tonai and Yuki Sato in the finals to win the 2014 Bo-so Golden Tag Tournament.[14] This led to a match on March 2, where Hiroki and Hino defeated Kaji Tomato and Taka Michinoku to win the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship.[15] In September 2014, he once again began competing as Hi69. On November 3, Hi69 and Hino lost the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship to Kaji Tomato and Shiori Asahi.[16] Also in 2014 Hiroki formed HHHH with Yuji Hino, Hiro Tonai and Yoshihiro Horaguchi. On Febuary 22, 2015 he defeated Atsushi Maruyama to regain the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship. He would held the title until on April 12 when he lost to Isami Kodaka. On October 27 HHHH disband when Hino left Kaientai Dojo.On December 27 he formed stable with Ricky Fuji, Taka Michinoku and Men's Teioh named Team69Roll. They would be later joined by MIKAMI. On February 22 Hi69 and Michinoku would take part of the 2016 Bo-So Golden Tag Tournament. The duo would make into the semifinals until they lost to Magatsuki (Tank Nagai and Yuma). Later that year Hi69 and Diagoro Kashiwa would challenged Tank Nagai into a Champion of Strongest-K title match. Hi69 would then defeat Kashiwa to become the #1 Contender for the Champion of Strongest-K title match. This led to on April 17 Hi69 unsucessfully challenged Nagai for the Champion of Strongest-K.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2016-Present)

In December 2016 after the Suzuki-gun storyline with Pro Wrestling Noah the president of NOAH Masayuki Uchida announced that he would let freelancers to wrestle in NOAH. In December 2016, he competed in Pro Wrestling Noah for the first time since 2005, teaming with Ricky Fuji in a loss to Daisuke Harada and Akitoshi Saito.[17] After impressing new president Masayuki Uchida, he was offered a regular position with the promotion and began competing with them as a full-time roster member later that month. On Decembr 14 he would loose to Taiji Ishimori. After the match the two would form a team to compete for the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Later in January 2017 they would be defeated by HAYATA and YO-HEY which lead into a feud for the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The team squared off with the team of HAYATA and YO-HEY on February 18 for the vacated titles and defeated them to become the thirtieth champions. Following the win, the pair dubbed their team "XX" and accepted the challenge of their first challengers Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke for the March 12 'Great Voyage in Yokohama' show.[18] On March 12, Hi69 and Ishimori defeated RATEL'S Daisuke Harada and Tadaske to make their first successfull defense of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.[19]

In wrestling

  • Finishing moves
    • Trance Rave (Running Driving Low Knee)
    • Super Dance (Swan-dive Moonsault)
    • Super Dance II (Twisting Moonsault)
  • Signature moves
    • Maharaja (Jumping Death Valley Bomb)
    • Hirokick (Superkick)
    • Avalanche DDT 
    • Back Bodydrop sometimes into a Michinoku Driver
    • Phoenix Senton
    • Stuka Splash
  • With Taiji Ishimori
    • Double team finishing moves
      • Aided snap swinging neckbreaker
  • Entrance themes
    • "Super Dance" by Kaientai Dojo (2000-?)
    • "Red (Ksk)" by Kaientai Dojo (?-present)

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=19583
  2. 12月12日(日)Club-K Tour in Osaka(大阪・デルフィンアリーナ) (in Japanese). Kaientai Dojo. Retrieved on 2012-05-21.
  3. 2月26日(土)Club-K 3000(千葉BlueField) (in Japanese). Kaientai Dojo. Retrieved on 2012-05-21.
  4. 4月3日(日)Club-K Super ev.4(東京・後楽園ホール) (in Japanese). Kaientai Dojo. Retrieved on 2012-05-21.
  5. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=120714
  6. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=49556
  7. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=51719
  8. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=56245
  9. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=58559
  10. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=55102
  11. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=70612
  12. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=71427
  13. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=90790
  14. 14.0 14.1 2014年2月16日(日)Club-K Super in Blue Field(千葉・Blue Field) (in Japanese). Kaientai Dojo. Retrieved on 2014-02-16.
  15. 2014年3月2日(日)Club-K Super in Blue Field(千葉・Blue Field) (in Japanese). Kaientai Dojo. Retrieved on 2014-03-02.
  16. Club-K Super in 後楽園ホール (in Japanese). Kaientai Dojo. Retrieved on 2014-11-03.
  17. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=165859
  18. 「俺とHi69の持ってる可能性ならヘビーのタッグを狙うことだってできる。NOAH the REBORNって言ってるなら、全部を覆す!(石森)」2月18日(土)博多スターレーン大会 試合後コメント (in ja).
  19. ja:【試合結果速報致します】ザ・リーヴ presents「GREAT VOYAGE 2017 in YOKOHAMA」3月12日(日)横浜文化体育館大会 (in Japanese). Pro Wrestling Noah (2017-03-12). Retrieved on 2017-03-12.
  20. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
  21. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
  22. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
  23. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
  24. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
  25. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
  26. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=16
  27. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
  28. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3759&page=11
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