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|
 Suzuki in 2005 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1974-07-25)July 25, 1974 (age 51)[2][3] |
Spouse | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Kenso[1] Kenzo Suzuki[1] |
| Billed height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2][1] |
| Billed weight | 118 kg (260 lb)[2][1] |
| Billed from | The Land of the Rising Sun Tokyo, Japan |
| Trained by | Kensuke Sasaki[1] Seiji Sakaguchi[1] |
| Debut | January 4, 2000[2][1] |
Kenzo Suzuki (鈴木 健三,Suzuki Kenzō; born July 25, 1974) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), in Mexico withAsistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and in the United States withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was aone-timeWWE Tag Team Champion in the latter company. He currently performs forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) under the ring nameKenso, where he is a one-timeWorld Tag Team Champion and a one-timeGaora TV Champion.
Suzuki was arugby union player, playing at the international level forJapan prior to his professional debut as a wrestler in January 2000.[4]
Suzuki debuted on January 4, 2000, atNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'sWrestling World 2000 event at theTokyo Dome, losing toManabu Nakanishi.[1] Later that year, Suzuki won NJPW's Young Lion Cup tournament, defeatingShinya Makabe. He also won Rookie of the Year honors from NJPW in the same year. Following this, he would go on to win the Young Lion Tournament after defeatingHiroshi Tanahashi in the finals,[5] later forming a tag team with Tanahashi known as The Kings of the Hills.
In 2003, Suzuki resigned from NJPW, choosing to follow his mentor and trainer,Riki Choshu, to Choshu'sWorld Japan promotion. Later in the year, he left to wrestle in theUnited States. It is speculated that he was forced to resign because a wrestler he was helping to train,Giant Ochiai, died while training on his watch.[6][7] As a result, this led to Suzuki venturing to theUnited States'independent circuit, where he worked for theMajor League Wrestling (MLW) andTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotions during 2003 before ultimately quitting World Japan, citing a lack of competition within the latter promotion.
In 2004, Suzuki signed a developmental contract withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to theirdevelopmental territoryOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in February.[8] Originally, Suzuki was scheduled to debut on theRawbrand in May under the ring nameHirohito.[9] He was to be presented as the grandson ofEmperor Michi Hirohito, who ruled Japan duringWorld War II. He would portray aJapanesepatriot, holdinganti-American views and wanting revenge on America for theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, the gimmick wasdropped after the first vignette aired on the April 19, 2004 edition ofRaw. Suzuki and his wife,Hiroko, reportedly told Vince McMahon directly that it would be extremely offensive in Japan and cause big problems for the company doing future business there. Suzuki also told Bruce Prichard that Emperor Hirohito was not as beloved in Japan as they thought.[10]
Suzuki and Hiroko were instead moved to theSmackDown! brand. Suzuki used his given name and Hiroko was used as hisgeishavalet.[11] Their real-life marriage was not mentioned on television. Together, they made their television debut on the June 10 episode ofSmackDown!, where Suzuki defeatedScotty 2 Hotty.[12] Suzuki then began a shortfeud withBilly Gunn, which ended with Suzuki defeating Gunn atThe Great American Bash. On the July 15 episode ofSmackDown!, Suzuki,René Duprée, andBooker T defeatedJohn Cena in a 3-on-1 elimination match. on the July 29 episode ofSmackDown!, Suzuki competed in an 8-man elimination match for the vacantUnited States Championship, which was won by Booker T. On the September 2 episode ofSmackDown!, Suzuki, Duprée and Booker T lost to Cena,Rob Van Dam andRey Mysterio.
On the September 9 episode ofSmackDown!, Suzuki and Duprée defeatedPaul London andBilly Kidman to win theWWE Tag Team Championship. During the title reign, Suzuki adopted a comedicpro-Americangimmick that saw him poorly sing popular songs.[13][14] AtNo Mercy, Suzuki and Duprée successfully defended their titles against Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio. After continued weeks of feuding, Suzuki and Duprée lost the titles to Van Dam and Mysterio on the December 9 episode ofSmackDown!. They failed to regain the titles in a rematch atArmageddon.[15]
Suzuki entered a feud with John Cena over the United States Championship. On the January 6, 2005, episode ofSmackDown!, Suzuki challenged United States Champion John Cena to abattle rap.[16] He then challenged Cena for the championship on the January 13 and January 27 episodes ofSmackDown!, but was unsuccessful in both attempts.[17]
Suzuki entered theRoyal Rumble match as the sixth entrant, but was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. His final WWE match came on the February 26 episode ofVelocity where he lost to Booker T. In the following months, Suzuki suffered a collapsed lung. He returned to Ohio Valley Wrestling to continue his recovery. Suzuki and Hiroko were traded toRaw during the2005 Draft Lottery. However, the pair were released from their contracts on July 6, 2005, before ever making an appearance on the brand.[18]
After leaving WWE, Suzuki returned to Japan, where he began performing for Hustle and wrestled in a number of humorous matches against the likes ofLiosazer andRazor Ramon HG. In addition to Hustle, Suzuki also began performing forConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) alongside fellow WWE alumnusMark Jindrak, who began performing as Marco Corleone. Together, they were put into a feud withShocker andUniverso 2000, which led to Suzuki and Corleone losing ahair vs. hair match on June 12 and thus being forced to have their heads shaved. Following this, Suzuki was used sparingly before eventually leaving CMLL.
On March 13, Suzuki was seen onAAA after jumping from the rival CMLL. He is a part of the Legion Extranjera withKonnan as the ring leader. On July 7, Suzuki lost his hair in the main event of AAA'sTriplemanía XV.Sean Waltman was also in the match with his fiancee,Alicia Webb. Suzuki has been an active member of Konnan's Legion Extranjera since his debut and he had an opportunity for theAAA Mega Championship againstCibernético. He has teamed up with the returningElectroshock who is also a member of the Legion Extranjera. They have feuded withLa Parka andOctagón. As ofTriplemania XVI he has received a mini who accompanied him to the ring for a six-man tag match teaming with Electroshock andBobby Lashley to take onChessman, La Parka, and the returningSilver King. Suzuki's team won in the end. Suzuki was part of the2009 Rey de Reyes, losing to La Parka on March 15.
AfterTriplemania XVII, Konnan's Legion Extranjera lost control of AAA; Konnan was suspended from Mexican wrestling for an indefinite time. At this time Legion Extranjera was dissolved leaving only Electroshock, Chessman, and Suzuki. Suzuki made an alliance with El Oriental and they formed their own team withSugi San getting victories in their debut. They would lose to the Psycho Circus atVerano de Escandalo. In December 2009, Suzuki re-joined La Legión Extranjera before leaving the promotion in mid-2010.
Suzuki returned to AAA on May 24, 2015, when he,Masamune andTiger Mask III formed a trio for theLucha Libre World Cup. They were defeated in the first round of the tournament by Team MexLeyendas (Blue Demon Jr.,Dr. Wagner Jr. andEl Solar).[19]
On November 7, 2007, Suzuki made his debut inDragon Gate as the surprise member of theMuscle Outlaw'z unit. He came out toAnthony W. Mori's entrance theme to trick the Typhoon unit into believing one of their own betrayed them. Suzuki competed in a six-man tag team match with new teammatesGenki Horiguchi andYasushi Kanda againstCima,Dragon Kid, andRyo Saito that resulted in a disqualification loss for his team after assaulting the referee. Afterward, he and the rest of the MO'z assaulted Dragon Kid and removed the ring ropes to be used against him. This set up a match between Suzuki and Dragon Kid at the big November 25 show in Osaka. He faced on November 18Kenichiro Arai in Fukuoka in his first match for the promotion.
On July 25, 2010, Suzuki, disguised under a La Parka mask, made his debut forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), helping theVoodoo Murders putKeiji Mutoh through a table. Afterwards, Suzuki unmasked himself, adopted the ring name Kenso and joined the heel group, which also included his former tag team partner René Duprée. On November 20, 2010, Kenso entered theWorld's Strongest Tag Determination League, teaming with fellow Voodoo Murders memberKono. After winning six out of their eight round robin stage matches, Kenso and Kono finished first in the group and on December 7 defeatedRyota Hama andSuwama in the finals to win the 2010 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. Kenso and Kono received their shot at theWorld Tag Team Championship on January 3, 2011, but were defeated by the defending champions,Akebono andTaiyō Kea. Shortly afterwards Kenso left the Voodoo Murders, turning face and on February 13, 2011, defeated Kono and Akebono in a three-way match to become the number one contender to theTriple Crown Heavyweight Championship, held bySuwama.[20] On March 21 Kenso failed in his challenge for the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. On June 19, Kenso and The Great Muta defeated Akebono and Ryota Hama to win the vacant World Tag Team Championship.[21] After losing the title toDark Cuervo andDark Ozz on October 23, Muta turned on Kenso.[22] The turn was part of a storyline, where other AJPW wrestlers did not take Kenso seriously and refused to team with him as part of his Kenso Kakumei ("Kenso Revolution") stable.[2] After failed attempts to form new partnerships withKaz Hayashi andGreat Sasuke,[2] Kenso announced on November 18, 2013, that he had decided to joinGo Shiozaki's newXceed stable.[23] However, in the two's first match together three days later, Kenso turned on Shiozaki and announced he was forming a new heel stable namedDark Kingdom (DK) with foreignersBambi Killer andD'Lo Brown.[24][25] On April 23, 2014, Kenso introduced AJPW outsidersBear Fukuda,Kengo Mashimo,Kenichiro Arai,Mitsuya Nagai andTakeshi Minamino as the newest members of DK, proclaiming this the "real beginning" of the stable.[26] On December 14, Kenso won his first singles title in AJPW, when he defeatedKotaro Suzuki for theGaora TV Championship.[27] He lost the title toSushi in his fourth defense on June 4, 2015.[28] On July 31, it was announced that Kenso would begin freelancing following the expiration of his AJPW contract. He would, however, continue working for AJPW as a freelancer.[29]
Suzuki marriedHiroko Suzuki in 2003,[11] who acted as his valet during their time inWWE.
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shocker andUniverso 2000 (hair) | Marco Corleone and Kenzo Suzuki (hair) | Mexico City,Mexico | Sin Piedad | December 15, 2006 | [41] |
| Cibernético (hair) | Kenzo Suzuki (hair) | Mexico City,Mexico State | Triplemanía XV | July 15, 2007 | [42][Note 1] |
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