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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1958-06-23)June 23, 1958 (age 67) |
| Family | Shunji Takano (brother) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | George Takano The Cobra Mr. X |
| Billed height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Billed weight | 115 kg (254 lb) |
| Billed from | Uganda (as The Cobra) |
| Trained by | Tokyo Joe[1] |
| Debut | February 10, 1977 |
| Retired | April 21, 2018 |
Joji Takano (高野 讓治,Takano Jōji), born June 23, 1958, is an American-Japanese retiredprofessional wrestler better known under thering nameGeorge Takano (ジョージ高野,Jōji Takano). He was also billed fromUganda under the aliasThe Cobra, amasked wrestlerpersona. He worked for variousJapanese andAmericanwrestling promotions from the late 1970s to early 1990s. He is the older brother ofShunji Takano.
Takano was born on June 23, 1958. His father was anAfrican American Marine who belonged to theIwakuni base, and has also become a promising boxer. However, his father returned to the United States and left his wife, a Japanese woman, and children inJapan. Takano grew up at home with his mother andbrother, and he was a mixed-blooded child. He was introduced at the age of 15 to the grand sumo room ofsumo wrestling, and set foot for the first time in adojo in March 1974, but in January 1976 the place becomes out of numbering and goes out of business.
Takano debuted in 1977 and worked forStampede Wrestling, winning itsBritish Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship in September 1983. A mere two months later, he defeatedDavey Boy Smith for the vacatedNWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Still working under the ringname "The Cobra", Takano performed in theWorld Wrestling Federation throughout the early and mid-1980s. In December 1984, he defeatedDynamite Kid for itsJunior Heavyweight Championship. The following title loss toHiro Saito was redeemed in July 1985, the same month that he lost and then won back the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title in the same night against the very same man, Saito. In October that year, his WWF title was vacated whenNew Japan Pro-Wrestling separated from WWF. He would lose the tournament final to determine the inauguralIWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion againstShiro Koshinaka in June 1986. It was during 1986, he removed the mask and began wrestling as "George Takano". He went on to win theIWGP Tag Team Championship withSuper Strong Machine in March 1989, before losing the titles toRiki Choshu andTakayuki Iizuka nearly four months later.
He would then join theSuper World of Sports in July 1990, which had a partnership contract with WWF. During their interpromotional events throughout 1991, he would face the likesRandy Savage,Rick Martel,Tito Santana, andLegion of Doom, and scored wins against WWF superstarBret Hart and, while teaming with his younger brother Shunji,The Rockers,Demolition, andThe Samoan Swat Team. His last major career highlight would come one year later when he won theSWS Tag Team titles with his younger brother Shunji, only to lose them the very next night toThe Natural Disasters of WWF fame. SWS folded in June 1992, with the Takano brothers venturing intoPro Wrestling Crusaders.
Despite quietly retiring from active competition in 2004, Takano maintains his place in professional wrestling today as he runs his own promotion,Fighting Spirit Wrestling (FSR), which is based inHokkaidō.
He came out of retirement in 2007, 2013 and most recently 2018.
