 Yoshie in 2020 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1974-01-05)January 5, 1974[3][4][5] |
| Died | March 10, 2024(2024-03-10) (aged 50) Takasaki, Gunma, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | 4L Blazer[1] Great Kabuki[1] Pink Strong Machine[2] Y2P 150kg[1] Y2P–160kg[1] Yoshie–chan[1] Yutaka Yoshie[1] |
| Billed height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[3][4][5] |
| Billed weight | 150 kg (331 lb)[3] |
| Trained by | Animal Hamaguchi[1] |
| Debut | December 9, 1994[3][4][5] |
Yutaka Yoshie (Japanese:吉江 豊,Hepburn:Yoshie Yutaka; January 5, 1974 – March 10, 2024) was a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, who worked as afreelancer in Japan, performing most notably forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was a formerWorld Tag Team Champion. He had previously worked for promotions such asNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a formerIWGP Tag Team Champion,Pro Wrestling Noah andPro Wrestling Zero1.
Yoshie was born inMaebashi,Gunma Prefecture, Japan on January 5, 1974.[3][5] He had a background injudo before joiningNew Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW)dojo in February 1994. He made his professional wrestling debut on December 9, 1994, in a match againstSatoshi Kojima.[5] In his second match, Yoshie broke his leg and was sidelined until December 1995.[5] After spending years on the undercards of NJPW events, Yoshie wrestled his first major match on January 4, 1998, atFinal Power Hall in Tokyo Dome, where he was one of the five men selected to faceRiki Choshu in hisRiki Road Final Message 5 series, set to end his retirement tour.[5] The following year, Yoshie picked up major victories over wrestlers such asTatsuhito Takaiwa andEl Samurai, before leaving for a learning excursion toGermany in August to compete forCatch Wrestling Association (CWA).[5] While in Europe, Yoshie gained weight, and when he returned to Japan in March 2000, he was a completely different wrestler, basing his new style onsumo wrestling, and was quickly recruited byYuji Nagata into his stable, Fighting Club G-EGGS.[5] Later that year, Yoshie defeated formerIWGP Heavyweight ChampionsHiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in singles matches.[5] However, Yoshie's climb was cut short when Nagata disbanded Fighting Club G-EGGS in June 2001, sending him back down the card.[5] On June 13, 2003, Yoshie won his only title in NJPW, when he teamed withHiroshi Tanahashi to defeat Hiroyoshi Tenzan andMasahiro Chono for theIWGP Tag Team Championship.[4] They held the title for six months before losing it to Tenzan andOsamu Nishimura.[4] After years of being unable to break through into the main fold of NJPW, Yoshie decided not to resign with the promotion in January 2006, and instead became afreelancer.[4][5]
After leaving NJPW, Yoshie made his debut forPro Wrestling Zero1, where he, under the ring name Y2P–160 kg, formed a tag team called the P–Force Men withSteve Corino.[6] On February 25, 2006, Yoshie and Corino defeated Skull and Bones (Ikuto Hidaka andMinoru Fujita) to win theNWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship.[6] They held the title for four months before losing it toKohei Sato andRyouji Sai on June 20, 2006.[6] Yoshie spent most of the rest of 2006 working forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where in April he participated in his firstChampion Carnival.[4] In late 2006, Yoshie also made his debut for Tatsumi Fujinami's and Osamu Nishimura'sMuga World Pro Wrestling, for which he wrestled most of 2007.[4] On December 13, 2007, Yoshie defeated Fujinami in the finals of a tournament to win Muga's Dragon Cup.[7] On January 4, 2008, Yoshie returned to NJPW atWrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, where he,Masato Tanaka,Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Katsushi Takemura defeatedTakashi Iizuka,Koji Kanemoto,Tiger Mask andRyusuke Taguchi in an eight-man tag team match, when Yoshie pinned Taguchi.[8] Later that year, Yoshie teamed withManabu Nakanishi to take part in NJPW'sG1 Tag League, where the team, named Big Mountain, reached the semifinals before losing to the eventual winners of the tournament, TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima).[9] On December 6, 2008, Yoshie and Nakanishi unsuccessfully challenged The Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe andToru Yano) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[10]
On February 6, 2010, Yoshie debuted forPro Wrestling Noah in a match where he defeatedShuhei Taniguchi.[11] In June, Yoshie made another return to NJPW to compete in the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament, where, under a mask and the ring name Pink Strong Machine, he teamed withSuper Strong Machine andTonga Strong Machine. The team was eliminated in the second round byPrince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi andHirooki Goto.[2] In April 2012, Yoshie entered AJPW's 2012 Champion Carnival, but an ankle fracture on April 23 forced him to pull out of the tournament.[3][12] Yoshie returned to the ring at an AJPW event on January 20, 2013, when he teamed withKenso to defeat Mazada andSushi in a tag team match.[13] The following month, Yoshie formed the Momokuro-gun tag team withBlack Tiger V.[14] On February 24, Yoshie returned to Pro Wrestling Noah, defeatingMasao Inoue in a singles match.[15] On January 26, 2014, Yoshie formed a super heavyweight tag team withTriple Crown Heavyweight ChampionAkebono.[16] The team won AJPW'sWorld Tag Team Championship on March 22, 2015, by defeatingJun Akiyama andTakao Omori.[17] They lost the title toGo Shiozaki andKento Miyahara on May 6.[18]
On November 23, 2017, Yoshie andShogun Okamoto won Zero1's2017 Furinkazan Tag Tournament, defeatingYuko Miyamoto and Yusaku Obata in the finals.[19][20] On January 1, 2018, Yoshie and Okamoto defeatedHideki Suzuki and Kohei Sato to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship.[21]
On March 10, 2024, Yoshie wrestled in a show for All Japan Pro Wrestling at the Gunma Convention Center inTakasaki. He teamed up withRyo Inoue in a loss to the team ofHokuto Omori andRyoji Sai. After the match, he went backstage to be interviewed by the press. After the interview, he went back to the locker room, where he suddenly collapsed. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital in Takasaki, where he was declared dead at the age of 50.[22][23][24] The following day,Suwama and Yoshie's family confirmed that Yoshie's death was due toarteriosclerosis.[25]
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