 Tatsu in 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Naofumi Yamamoto[5] (1977-08-01)August 1, 1977 (age 48)[3] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring names | |
| Billed height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[3] |
| Billed weight | 102 kg (225 lb)[3] |
| Billed from | Tokyo, Japan |
| Trained by | |
| Debut | October 12, 2002[3][6] |
Naofumi Yamamoto (山本 尚史,Yamamoto Naofumi; born August 1, 1977) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, better known by thering nameYoshi Tatsu.
Yamamoto started his professional wrestling career under his real name in October 2002 withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he remained until 2007, when he signed withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2009, Yamamoto left WWE'sdevelopmental territory to join thepromotion's main roster under the ring name Yoshi Tatsu (ヨシ・タツ,Yoshi Tatsu). After his release from WWE in June 2014, Yamamoto returned to NJPW the following October, performing under the tweaked ring nameYoshitatsu (ヨシタツ,Yoshitatsu). Following his departure from NJPW in late 2017, Yamamoto became afreelancer, and started working most notably forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), who he signed full time for between 2020 and 2023.
With a sports background inboxing andjujutsu, Yamamoto passed an audition held byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in September 2001 and began trainingprofessional wrestling at the promotion'sdojo the following March.[5] During his training, Yamamoto also travelled to Los Angeles to train at the local NJPW dojo.[5] Yamamoto made his in-ring debut on October 12, 2002, facingWataru Inoue inKorakuen Hall.[5][6]
Initially Yamamoto worked low card matches for NJPW, normally on the losing side to gain ring experience. On December 27, 2003, Yamamoto lost toRyusuke Taguchi in a chance at a match on NJPW's most prestigious show, theJanuary 4 Dome ShowWrestling World.[7] Yamamoto participated in the 2004Young Lion Cup where he defeatedHirooki Goto,Akiya Anzawa, andHiroshi Nagao to earn a total of six points, not enough to qualify for the finals.[8][9][10] Yamamoto also participated in the 2005Young Lion Cup where he only won one match, defeatingYujiro.[11] In 2006, Yamamoto participated in his firstG1 Climax tournament, losing all four matches.[12] Yamamototeamed up withManabu Nakanishi to compete in the 2006G1 Tag League, defeatingGiant Bernard andTravis Tomko to earn their sole victory in the tournament.[13] On January 8, 2006, Yamamoto andOsamu Nishimura defeatedToru Yano and a returningTogi Makabe.[14] Over the summer of 2007 Yamamoto began teaming regularly withHiroshi Tanahashi forming a team called "New Japan Dragons", earning a match for theIWGP Tag Team Championship against the then champions, Bernard and Tomko, albeit in a losing effort.[15] For the 2007G1 Tag League Yamamoto teamed up withTakashi Ilzuka, while they defeated three teams (Hirooki Goto andMilano Collection A.T., Togi Makabe and Toru Yano, and Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko); the team ended up in last place.[16] On November 2, 2007 Yamamoto wrestled his last match for NJPW, teaming with his mentorYuji Nagata in a losing effort againstTomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano.[17]
In late 2007, Yamamoto was signed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to a full-time contract, which meant that he had to relocate to the United States. He immediately was assigned to WWE's developmental territoryFlorida Championship Wrestling (FCW), to undergo assessment and training in the "WWE style" of wrestling. Initially he wrestled as Mr. Yamamoto, then simply as Yamamoto.[18] He briefly teamed withSheamus O'Shaunessy under the team name The Movers and the Shakers.[19] Later on, he changed his ring name to Yoshitatsu, before tweaking the spelling to Yoshi Tatsu.[18] Yoshitatsu is Yamamoto's father's given name.[20]
On June 30, 2009, Yamamoto joined theECWbrand under the ring name Yoshi Tatsu. He had his first match that night, defeatingShelton Benjamin, although he lost a rematch to Benjamin on the July 9 episode ofECW.[21][22] On the October 20 episode ofECW, Tatsu defeatedZack Ryder to become number one contender for theECW Championship, although he failed to win thechampionship the following week againstChristian.[23] On the December 22 episode ofECW, Yoshi Tatsu defeatedJack Swagger to earn a spot in the ECW Homecomingbattle royal, the winner of which would challenge Christian for the ECW title at theRoyal Rumble.[24] On the January 12 episode ofECW, however, Tatsu was not able to win the battle royal when he was eliminated by Kane. At the Royal Rumble, Tatsu competed in his firstRoyal Rumble match, but was eliminated byJohn Cena.[25] Tatsu then formed a tag team withGoldust[26] and the duo became the number one contenders for the UnifiedWWE Tag Team Championship[27] but failed in capturing the titles on the final episode ofECW.
After the ECW brand was discontinued, Tatsu made his debut on theRaw brand on the February 22, 2010 episode ofRaw, where he teamed up withEvan Bourne andKofi Kingston to defeatThe Legacy (Randy Orton,Ted DiBiase, andCody Rhodes), after Orton turned on his partners.[28] Tatsu won a 26-man battle royal in thedark match to openWrestleMania XXVI by last eliminating Zack Ryder. In July 2010, Tatsu had a few backstage brawls withThe Nexus, trying to help John Cena get rid of them, which he did not.
After months off WWE television, Tatsu returned on the November 11 episode ofSuperstars, defeating Zack Ryder. On the November 29 episode ofRaw, Tatsu teamed withMark Henry to defeat WWE Tag Team ChampionsJustin Gabriel andHeath Slater, after a distraction by John Cena. The following week onRaw, Tatsu and Henry received a shot at the titles in afatal four-way elimination tag team match, which also includedThe Usos andSantino Marella andVladimir Kozlov. They were the first team eliminated. On the February 14 episode ofRaw,Maryse and Ted DiBiase were about tokiss, but Maryse instead kissed Tatsu. On the February 24 episode ofSuperstars, during the match betweenDaniel Bryan and DiBiase, Tatsu came out and gave Maryse flowers, which Maryse hit DiBiase with, allowing Bryan to defeat DiBiase. Tatsu failed at a chance to earn aWorld Heavyweight Championship shot in a 20-man number one contenders battle royal.[29]
On April 26, Tatsu wasdrafted to theSmackDown brand as part of the2011 supplemental draft.[30] He only had two matches onSmackDown in 2011; a number one contenders battle royal for the World Heavyweight Championship and an "All I Want for Christmas" battle royal, the winner of which would receive one wish.[29]
Tatsu was a WWE Pro for the fifth season ofNXT, also known asNXT Redemption, and his Rookie wasByron Saxton. On the April 26 episode ofNXT, Tatsu was attacked by Saxton after Tatsu cost his match againstLucky Cannon. This caused tension between the two until the May 17 episode ofNXT, when Tatsu defeated Saxton. On the May 31 episode ofNXT, Saxton was the second rookie eliminated.
Tatsu then began afeud with fellow NXT ProTyson Kidd, whose rookie was also eliminated, when Kidd broke Tatsu's toy figurine of himself and stole one of its legs.[31] They traded wins during their feud,[31][32] and Tatsu reclaimed the leg by winning aNecklace on a Pole match on the July 26 episode ofNXT.[33] After the match, Kidd assaulted Tatsu's right leg, taking him offNXT for over a month. However, over the next few weeks, theKanji word for "pride" appeared on theTitanTron to distract Kidd during his matches – a message from Tatsu. He returned on the September 6 episode ofNXT, where he debuted black tights emblazoned with Kanji characters and the Japanese flag, his small lock of blond hair dyed red and half his face painted. He defeated Kidd on that episode to end the feud.[34] Tatsu later explained that his new look and wrestling style were because he wanted to better portrayJapanese culture, Japanese pride and the aggressive style ofJapanese wrestling. He said hisface paint was a tribute toThe Great Muta.[35] Tatsu stopped wearing his face paint to the ring by October 2011.[36] From December 2011, Tatsu formed an alliance withTrent Barreta to feud withCurt Hawkins andTyler Reks.[37] Both teams played pranks on each other; Tatsu was locked in a closet and Reks' hands weresuperglued to anXbox controller.[38] The feud ended when Hawkins and Reks defeated Barreta and Tatsu on the January 18 episode ofNXT.[39]
On the February 9, 2012 episode ofSuperstars, Tatsu defeatedJohnny Curtis.[40] This would be his last televised victory in WWE, as he lost the rest of his televised matches in 2012 and 2013, even onNXT,[41] which in August 2012 had become WWE's re-branded developmental territory.[42] On the January 23, 2013 episode ofNXT, Tatsu andPercy Watson entered theNXT Tag Team Championship Tournament to crown the inaugural champions, but were defeated byThe Wyatt Family (Luke HarperandErick Rowan) in the first round.[43] Tatsu continued sporadically wrestling onNXT throughout the rest of 2013 and 2014, but lost all his matches. In his final WWE pay-per-view appearance, Tatsu unsuccessfully competed in theAndre the Giant Memorial battle royal atWrestleMania XXX in April 2014.[44] On June 12, 2014, Yamamoto was released from his WWE contract, along with ten other talents.[45]
On July 29, 2014, Yamamoto made his first post-WWE match at BELIEVE 77.[46] At BELIEVE 79, Yamamoto defeated Aaron Epic to win the SCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, his first professional wrestling title (which hevacated on March 28, 2015 due to hisneck injury). On September 20, 2014, Yamamoto made his debut forChikara, losing toAshley Remington viadisqualification, following outside interference from Juan Francisco de Coronado.[47]
On October 13, 2014, atKing of Pro-Wrestling, Yamamoto, billed as Yoshitatsu, returned to New Japan, attackingJeff Jarrett when he interfered in the main event match and, in doing so, helped Hiroshi Tanahashi defeatA.J. Styles for theIWGP Heavyweight Championship.[48][49] Yamamoto did not return to working under his real name due to being known better under the name Yoshi Tatsu, but he also could not continue working under his WWE name because of trademark issues, which led to the name's tweaked spelling.[20] He was given the newgimmick of a "Bullet Club hunter", which saw him state that he had grown sick of seeing WWE and NXT employees wearing Bullet Club shirts and was now looking to eliminate the villainous stable from professional wrestling, starting with A.J. Styles.[20] Yoshitatsu wrestled his return match on November 8 atPower Struggle, where he was defeated by Styles, following outside interference from Jarrett. Styles won after performing with his signature finisher, theStyles Clash. While performing the move, Yoshi Tatsu moved his head down before the point of impact with the mat. Instead of having his face slammed into the mat he took his weight, Styles' weight, and all of the force onto his neck. After the match, Jarrett hit Yoshitatsu with a guitar.[50] On November 14, Yoshitatsu and Hiroshi Tanahashi announced they were forming a new tag team named "The World".[51] The World was scheduled to take part in the2014 World Tag League, but after their opening match on November 22, Yoshitatsu was forced to pull out of the tournament with a neck injury.[52] On November 25, Yamamoto announced he had two broken bones in his neck, suffered presumably in his match with Styles when he botched theStyles Clash.[53] Yamamoto had ahalo installed in his skull, which he wore for the next three months.[54] In May 2015, Yamamoto started training for a comeback at the Team Vision Gym in Orlando, Florida.[55]
On January 4, 2016, Yoshitatsu returned as part of the English announcing team atWrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome.[56] On March 22, NJPW announced that Yoshitatsu would wrestle his NJPW return match on April 10 atInvasion Attack 2016,[57] where he, Hiroshi Tanahashi andMichael Elgin defeated Bullet Club'sThe Elite (Kenny Omega andThe Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)) to win theNEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.[58] Afterwards, Yoshitatsu announced he was forming a new stable named "Hunter Club" to oppose Bullet Club. However, neither Elgin nor Tanahashi accepted Yoshitatsu's invitation to join the stable, which led toCaptain New Japan stepping up as the first member of the new group.[59][60] Yoshitatsu then debuted a new gimmick, where he began mimickingTriple H,[61] which included him adopting thePedigree as his finishing move.[60][62] Yoshitatsu, Elgin and Tanahashi made their first successful title defense on April 23 against the Bullet Club trio ofBad Luck Fale, Kenny Omega andYujiro Takahashi.[63] On May 3 atWrestling Dontaku 2016, they lost the title back to Omega and The Young Bucks.[64] On September 12, Yoshitatsu, upset with Captain New Japan's poor performances, announced a Twitter poll that would decide whether he would get to stay in Hunter Club.[65] On September 25 atDestruction in Kobe, Yoshitatsu revealed the result of the poll and agreed to remove Captain New Japan from Hunter Club. This led to Captain attacking Yoshitatsu and aligning himself with Bullet Club.[66] After starting a feud with Captain New Japan, now renamed "Bone Soldier", Yoshitatsu announced on November 5 that he had recruitedBilly Gunn as his new Hunter Club partner for the2016 World Tag League.[67] Yoshitatsu and Gunn finished the tournament on December 8 with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance from their block, though Yoshitatsu managed to pin Bone Soldier in their final round-robin match.[68] In April 2017, Yoshitatsu joined theTaguchi Japan stable.[69]
In February 2017, NJPW sent Yoshitatsu to their Mexican partner promotionConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) for a tour.[70] He debuted for the promotion on February 17.[71]
On September 12, 2017, Yoshitatsu made his debut forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), entering the annualŌdō Tournament and defeatingTajiri in his first round match.[72] Six days later, he was eliminated from the tournament in the second round byTriple Crown Heavyweight ChampionKento Miyahara.[73] On November 9, Yoshitatsu unsuccessfully challengedJoe Doering for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.[74] He entered the2017 Real World Tag League with Miyahara and had a good showing, winning five matches, but was one short of a finals berth. On February 3, 2018, Yoshitatsu and Miyahara defeatedShuji Ishikawa andSuwama to win theWorld Tag Team Championship. Calling themselves Yoshiken, their reign lasted only 22 days, as they lost the belts toThe Big Guns on February 25. In April, he entered his firstChampion Carnival, posting three wins to finish fifth in block B. Challenging Ishikawa and Suwama for the World Tag Team Championship for a second time, Yoshiken were defeated on August 18.[75]
On May 27, 2019, Yoshitatsu defeated Tajiri to win theGaora TV Championship.[76] Tatsu signed full time with All Japan on January 1, 2020, with the contract being announced at their first show of the year on January 2.[77] After nine successful title defences and a record breaking 587 days as champion, Yoshitatsu lost the Gaora TV Championship toJun Kasai in atables, ladders and chairs match on January 3, 2021.[78] Yoshitatsu would compete in a series "Different Style Fights", innovated byAntonio Inoki, these worked matches pit professional wrestlers against martial artists and have a focus on a more realistic style of pro-wrestling. His most notable match came on June 26 where he defeated formerOriental and Pacific Boxing Federation champion boxer turned mixed martial artistYōsuke Nishijima.[79] On July 22, he won theAJPW TV Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Carbell Ito and Seigo Tachibana from Tajiri,Yusuke Kodama andHokuto Omori.[80] They were forced to vacate the title after Carbell Ito suffered a fractured wrist on September 28[81] but Yoshitatsu and Tachibana would regain the titles on October 16 withTakayuki Ueki.[82]
On December 31, 2023, at #ajpwMANIAx2023, he announced he was leaving AJPW.[83]
On January 3, 2024, Yoshi Tatsu made an appearance at the start of theD-Oh Grand Prix 2023 Final event where it was announced he would tour withDDT Pro-Wrestling starting January 5.[84]
Yoshitatsu debuted on Noah on September 30 under a mask and weeks later created the stableTeam 2000X with Jack Morris and Daga.[85][86]
As Tatsu, Yamamoto is featured as a playable superstar for theWWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011,WWE '12 andWWE '13 (asDLC) video games. He was previously featured inKing of Colosseum II andWrestle Kingdom 2 under his real name.
Yamamoto is a graduate fromKokushikan University with a degree inpolitical science.[87] Yamamoto is also married and has a child.[1]
| 1 match | 0 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 0 | 0 |
| By submission | 0 | 1 |
| By decision | 0 | 0 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0–1 | Hiroyuki Ota | Submission (armbar) | TFC – Titan Fighting Championship 3 | April 30, 2001 | 1 | 3:44 | Tokyo, Japan | [93] |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The Gymini (Jake & Jesse) besiegen The Movers And Shakers (Mr. Yamamoto & Sheamus)
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