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| Shuji Ishikawa | |
|---|---|
 Ishikawa in August 2023 | |
| Born | (1975-09-25)September 25, 1975 (age 49)[1] Iwata, Shizuoka,Japan[2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Big Shoe Giant Giant Bashoku Giant Hero Giant Marines Hiroko Mangrove J. Ace Jaiant Hebi Ishikawa Jaiko Ishikawa Koo The Mummy Pitarri Tokeidai Otoko Shuji Ishikawa[2] |
| Billed height | 196 cm (6 ft 5 in)[2] |
| Billed weight | 130 kg (287 lb)[2] |
| Trained by | Dramatic Dream Team[2] |
| Debut | May 8, 2003[3] |
Shuji Ishikawa (石川 修司,Ishikawa Shūji, born September 25, 1975)[1] is aJapaneseprofessional wrestler, currently signed toAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a formerTriple Crown Heavyweight Champion,World Tag Team Champion and the winner of the2017 Champion Carnival. and he is a Winner 2 timeWorld's Strongest Tag Determination League (2017,2019) with Tag Team PartnerSuwama. He also performs forPro Wrestling Noah where he is the currentGHC Openweight Hardcore Champion, in his first reign.
Ishikawa is also known for his work inDDT Pro-Wrestling andBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), as well as numerous other independent promotions. He is a formerKO-D Openweight Champion,BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion andBJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion.
Ishikawa was friends with fellow future professional wrestlerTakashi Sasaki as a teenager, whom he met throughjudo.[1]
After meetingSanshiro Takagi, Ishikawa was invited to a tryout forDDT Pro Wrestling in 2002. Despite failing the tryout, Ishikawa was invited to work for the company anyway and served as an accountant and receptionist for DDT between 2002 and 2003, while occasionally training as a wrestler. When DDT moved intoJWP's dojo in 2003, Ishikawa began training more regularly. As the DDT roster was running short due to older wrestlers retiring and others sustaining injuries, Takagi bought Ishikawa up to the main roster with limited training in May 2003. He made his debut at the age of 27 in a loss to Seiya Morohashi.[4] Early in his career and due to his size Ishikawa wore red trunks, red knee pads and black boots as an homageGiant Baba. In 2004, Ishikawa was paired up withPoison Sawada Julie, joining his Serpent Council stable. After achieving little success in his early career, Ishikawa began competing more sporadically in DDT, instead becoming a regular in DDT's sister promotion Union Pro Wrestling, where he gained considerable popularity due to his size. In 2007, Ishikawa officially became recognised as the ace of UPW after Poison Sawada Julie left the promotion. Ishikawa competed in high-profile feuds with Style-E's Kyosuke Sasaki andPro Wrestling Zero1's Yoshihito Sasaki, as well as regularly competing in DDT once again under a mask as Koo in the Hawaii Army stable. On June 3, 2007, Ishikawa defeatedHarashima to capture the KO-D Openweight Championship for the first time.[5] He held on to the belt until October, where he was defeated by Harashima in a rematch.[6] Ishikawa began his second reign in late 2009, defeating Kota Ibushi on November 29,[7] holding it until February 2010, when he was defeated byDaisuke Sekimoto at a Union Pro event.[8]
On March 27, 2011, at DDT's 14 Anniversary Show, Ishikawa won a battle royal, giving him the right to a KO-D Openweight Championship match in the future.[9] Ishikawa captured the championship for a third time on May 4, 2011, defeating Dick Togo.[1][10] Ishikawa held the championship until July, when he was defeated byKudo at Ryogoku Peter Pan.[11] In 2016, Ishikawa won the KO-D Tag Team Championship for the first time in his career, teaming withDaisuke Sasaki to defeatKonosuke Takeshita andTetsuya Endo on March 21.[12] On July 3, Ishikawa and Sasaki lost the title to Ken Ohka andKai.[13] In May 2016, Ishikawa formed theDamnation stable along with Sasaki,Mad Paulie and later Tetsuya Endo. Ishikawa captured the KO-D Openweight Championship for a fourth time in August 2016, defeating Konosuke Takeshita at Peter Pan.[14] Ishikawa held on to the belt until December, when he was defeated by Harashima at Osaka Octopus.[15] Beginning in 2017, Ishikawa's appearances in DDT began to decrease due to his commitments withAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), however, he continues to make sporadic appearances.
Ishikawa competed in his first ever deathmatch on January 2, 2009, teaming withRyuji Ito to take on childhood friend Takashi Sasaki and Yuko Miyamoto.[16] Ishikawa would go on to become a mainstay in BJW, capturing his first championship in the company on May 4, 2012, teaming withShigehiro Irie to defeatShinobu and Yoshihito Sasaki to win theBJW World Tag Team Championship.[17] Irie and Ishikawa held the title until July of that year, when they were defeated by Shinobu andYuji Okabayashi.[18] Ishikawa defeated longtime rivalAbdullah Kobayashi to become theBJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion on January 2, 2013, four years after competing in his first ever deathmatch.[19] Ishikawa would go on to hold the championship for 11 months, until he was defeated byIsami Kodaka. After the loss to Kodaka, Ishikawa announced that he would no longer be competing in deathmatches, and would instead be focusing on the strong division. In 2014, Ishikawa achieved his first major success in BJW's strong division, defeating Daisuke Sekimoto to win the Ikkitosen Strong Climb tournament.[20] Later that year, Ishikawa began teaming withKohei Sato as the "Twin Towers" with much success, defeating the team of Yuko Miyamoto and Isami Kodaka on May 31, 2014, to win the BJW Tag Team Championships.[21] Ishikawa and Sato successfully retained the championships for 516 days, until they were defeated by Yuji Okabayashi and Daisuke Sekimoto on October 29, 2015.[22] In 2016, Ishikawa won the Ikkitosen Strong Climb Tournament for a second time, defeatingDaichi Hashimoto and Hideyoshi Kamitani in the semi-final and final respectively on the same night to win. Ishikawa and Sato once again captured the BJW World Tag Team Championships on May 30, 2016, defeating Hideyoshi Kamitani andRyota Hama.[23]
Ishikawa debuted forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 2015, and in September of that year, took part in theŌdō Tournament, making it to the semi-final where he was eliminated byAkebono.[24] In December, he teamed withHoshitango in theReal World Tag League, finishing with six points but failing to advance past the group stages.[25] On March 27, 2016, Ishikawa and Hoshitango unsuccessfully challengedZeus andThe Bodyguard for theWorld Tag Team Championship.[26] In April 2017, Ishikawa took part in his firstChampion Carnival, finishing first in his block and highest of anybody in the tournament with 9 points. On April 30, 2017, he defeatedJoe Doering to win the tournament. On May 21, he defeated Miyahara to win theTriple Crown Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. He lost the title back to Miyahara on August 27. He began to form an alliance withSuwama in late 2017. Calling themselves "Violence Giant", the two entered theWorld's Strongest Tag Determination League in December, where they defeatedDaichi Hashimoto and Hideyoshi Kamitani in the finals to win the tournament. On January 3, they won the World Tag Team Championship by defeatingWild Burning (Takao Omori andJun Akiyama). They dropped the belts to Kento Miyahara andYoshi Tatsu on February 3. They won the belts back on June 30, beatingRyoji Sai andDylan James.[27] They once again entered the World Tag League in December 2018, making it to the final where they lost to Dylan James and Joe Doering, however, they managed to retain the championships in the rematch. They dropped the belts toDaisuke Sekimoto andYuji Okabayashi at a BJW show on January 13, but regained them on March 19 in Korakuen Hall.[28]
