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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1972-08-05)August 5, 1972 (age 53) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Ikuto Hidaka[1][2] |
| Billed height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Billed weight | 85 kg (187 lb) |
| Trained by | Animal Hamaguchi Shoichi Funaki |
| Debut | January 21, 1997 |
Ikuto Hidaka (日高郁人,Hidaka Ikuto)[1][2] (born August 5, 1972) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, currently performing forPro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Hidaka was the regular partner ofMinoru Fujita, with whom he has held theZero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team andIntercontinental Tag Team Titles, making them the only team to do so. He has also worked forExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).
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Hidaka debuted for theBattlartsshoot style promotion in 1997 after training in theAnimal Hamaguchi Dojo.[citation needed] He spent his rookie year venturing to promotions likeMichinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro) andKingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW), sharing rings with names like Yuki Ishikawa,Daisuke Ikeda,Minoru Tanaka andYoshihiro Tajiri.[citation needed] In 1998, he challenged for the vacated UWA World Middleweight Championship, but was defeated byWillow.[citation needed] Shortly after, he formed a tag team withMinoru Fujita, who was based inBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), and they competed at theTag League 98, where they managed to snatch a significant win overMasao Orihara and Takeshi Ono.[citation needed] They would team extensively in several promotions, but over time, conflicting schedules from competing for separate promotions limited their activity as a team.[citation needed]
In November 1999, after several months wrestling for Battlarts alone, Hidaka was sent to America as a Battlarts representative for a learning excursion inExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).[citation needed] He competed mainly in cruiserweight matches against Yoshihiro Tajiri andSuper Crazy, as well as Super Calo.[citation needed] His tenure was notable for commentatorJoel Gertner constantly making racist remarks about Hidaka during his matches and nicknamed him "Pokémon" after the popular children's animated series. In 2000, Hidaka returned to Japan, now somewhat higher on the scale, and wrestled numerous matches for Battlarts withMitsuya Nagai as his tag team partner. He wrestled for the promotion until its very end in late 2001.
After Battlarts collapsed, Hidaka wandered in the Japanese independent circuit. He enteredMichinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro) and won a tournament for the vacantFMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, upsettingNew Japan Pro-Wrestling starEl Samurai in the final - his first great solo victory. He made an alliance withDick Togo, styling himself as Togo's disciple and joining him in theFar East Connection stable. As Togo and Michinoku Pro ownerThe Great Sasuke bickered over problems that had once caused Togo to leave the promotion before, the team left the promotion forPro Wrestling Zero-One (Zero-One).
In 2001, Hidaka enteredPro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) and began to battle the active junior heavyweight roster. For a while they were successful, winning the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team title once, but as Togo wanted to keep on wrestling other independents, their team broke up just in time asMinoru Fujita was returning from an overseas excursion. Hidaka and Fujita formed a team known as Skull and Bones and became prominent in the ZERO-1MAX/independent scene, even winningPro Wrestling Noah (Noah)'sGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Following a crucial loss to Minoru Tanaka andMasaaki Mochizuki, another team long "defunct before it even started" due to scheduling conflicts, Hidaka and Fujita turned on each other. On January 19, Hidaka beat Fujita to win the AWA World Junior Heavyweight title for a second time. He lost the title to Mochizuki on January 23, 2008.
In 2002, Hidaka had hismixed martial arts debut forDeep as a Zero1 representative, pitted against his close friend Takafumi Ito. Although he lacked formal MMA training, he had some experience inshoot wrestling thanks to his time in Battlarts and routinely trainedkickboxing underSatoshi Kobayashi and Naoyuki Taira, who cornered him for the fight. The slightly heavier and much more experienced Ito dominated the grappling exchanges, but Hidaka survived until the second round and held his own with some ankle lock attempts before losing byrear naked choke.[3]
Hidaka once appeared with Togo andChristopher Daniels in aMajor League Wrestling (MLW) match in the United States in 2002, one of his rare appearances abroad.
On March 13, 2010, Hidaka made his debut for American professional wrestling promotionEvolve Wrestling atEvolve 2: Hero vs. Hidaka, defeatingChris Hero in the main event of the evening.[4]
Hidaka owns and works at a fitness center called FLENJI.[5] The gym is located in theSuginami ward of Tokyo and employs fellow pro-wrestlersMunenori Sawa,Fuminori Abe andTowa Iwasaki.[6]
| 1 match | 0 wins | 1 loss |
| By submission | 0 | 1 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0-1 | Takafumi Ito | Submission (rear naked choke) | DEEP - 5th Impact | June 9, 2002 | 2 | 1:54 | Tokyo,Japan | [9] |
,Internet Wrestling Database
