Profile of Minoru Tanaka on Famous Like Me

Minoru Tanaka (田中稔, Tanaka Minoru) is a Japanese professional wrestler.

Career

Minoru Tanaka started his career in Fujiwara Gumi, trained by its owner, Yoshiaki Fujiwara. In late 1995 Tanaka and everyone else in the promotion abandoned Fujiwara and formed their own promotion, BattlARTS, led by Yuki Ishikawa. Despite being a simulated shoot style professional wrestling promotion, BattlARTS, like its predecessor, often cooperated with other federations and styles, such as RINGS, Kingdom, Michinoku Pro and Big Japan Pro Wrestling. Tanaka's first championship, the UWA World middleweight title (originally based in Mexico and introduced in Japan through Universal Lucha Libre and Michinoku), came in 1996. He later won FMW's Independent junior heavyweight title (which was outsourced to Battlarts after Hiromichi Fuyuki abolished all previous FMW titles and replaced them with WEW titles).

In 2000 Tanaka joined New Japan Pro Wrestling. His natural talent enabled him to immediately rise in the junior heavyweight ranks and win the IWGP junior tag team title in July with Koji Kanemoto, who used a similar but more ground-oriented style. The Kanemoto-Tanaka combination was reminescent of the old Akira Maeda-Nobuhiko Takada combination in 1987. In October, Tanaka won the IWGP junior heavyweight title - thus becoming the first man to hold both junior titles at the same time.

In 2002 Tanaka began wearing a mask and calling himself "HEAT" (ヒート) after a short-lived manga action hero. But like the comic, the HEAT character often floundered, and could only attain success after turning heel and joining Jushin Liger's new faction, Control Terrorism Unit (C. T. U.) Earlier in the year he married recently-retired female wrestler Yumi Fukawa.

In 2005, after losing his third IWGP junior heavyweight title to new rival Tiger Mask IV, HEAT unmasked but dropped his surname and began calling himself simply Minoru (稔). With new CTU recruit Hirooki Goto he won the IWGP junior tag team titles for a third time.

Whether a face or a heel, Minoru Tanaka is unbelievably talented and versatile, able to pull off highspots and other acrobatic maneuvers without straying from his shoot-style roots. He is thus one of the top stars in New Japan's junior heavyweight division and all the known world of puroresu.

Profile

• Height: 5'9"
• Weight: 198lbs
• Date of Birth: November 29, 1972
• Place of Birth: Komaki, Aichi
• Debut: January 24, 1994, vs. Mark Ashford (AKA Mark Starr in the U. S.)
• Past Identities: Minoru, Heat
• Finishing/signature moves: Wrist-Clutch Fisherman Buster, Minoru Special, Cross Kneelock

Championships/Accomplishments

• 1-time UWA World Middleweight Champion
• 1-time FMW World Junior Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champion
• 3-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (once with Koji Kanemoto, once with Jushin Liger and once with Hirooki Goto)
• 3-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Minoru Tanaka