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 Title History:
IWGP Heavyweight Title (2):
IWGP Tag Team Title (2):
IWGP U-30 Openweight Title (2):
GHC Tag Team Title (1):
Tournament History:
- G2 U-30 Climax (2003): Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Shinya Makabe (12:44) with a Dragon suplex hold.
Signature Moves:
- Dragon screw leg whip
Profile: Hiroshi Tanahashi pursued baseball during his high school days, before entering amaresu competitions while at Ritsumeikan University. He played an active part in the 85kg class, with good results, and always yearned to be a professional wrestler. Growing up, his favourite wrestler was Kenta Kobashi, and his dream to wrestle became a reality when in April, 1999, he joined New Japan. He debuted in October, 1999, against Shinya Makabe, and aimed to be a Japanese-made Dynamite Kid early in his career. With a great physique that most young wrestlers take a long time to develop, Tanahashi was viewed as a big prospect in his early days by both fans and New Japan management. A victory over Mexican great, Negro Casas, in July, 2000, indicated that he was making progress. His most surprising victory came in September, 2001, when Tanahashi caught an overconfident Scott Hall with a cradle for a singles win over the nWo co-founder. In the 2002 G1 Climax, Tanahashi advertised his potential to the world by pinning brief mentor, Kensuke Sasaki, in just 100 seconds! Tanahashi formed a new generation team with fellow young lion, Kenzo Suzuki, and the two made the difficult, but rewarding climb up the ladder together. They struggled for victories, but by the middle of 2002, were making great progress. Tanahashi was always the more skillful and vibrant of the two, but in terms of success, was a step behind Kenzo. When Kenzo left New Japan in 2003, Tanahashi had the chance to break out at last. Progress was quick from 2003 and beyond, Tanahashi quickly starting to capture titles and tournaments, including his self-proposed U-30 Openweight Title (for wrestlers under 30), with which he passed ten defenses. In August, 2004, he won all but one match en route to his first G1 Climax final, where he lost a close, epic match to Tenzan. In January, 2005, he and Nakamura headlined the Tokyo Dome against each other, a historic match that showed the future of New Japan in the boldest fashion. A long and difficult ascent culminated with Tanahashi outsurviving five big superstars in July, 2006, defeating Giant Bernard to win a tournament for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Title, to finally live out his dream. A disciple of Tatsumi Fujinami and his "Dragon" system, Tanahashi has developed from a promising young star into one of Japan's top professional wrestlers, already well decorated by titles and tournaments.
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