| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1964-03-09)March 9, 1964 (age 61)[1][2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Koki Kitahara Tatsumi Kitahara Sumo Hara |
| Billed height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 110 kg (240 lb)[1][2] |
| Trained by | Genichiro Tenryu Satoru Sayama |
| Debut | April 8, 1988 |
| Retired | June 11, 2018 |
Tatsumi Kitahara (北原辰巳,Kitahara Tatsumi)[3] (born March 9, 1964) is a Japanese retiredprofessional wrestler better known by hisring nameKoki Kitahara (北原光騎,Kitahara Kōki).
Kitahara trained insoccer andkarate during high school, particularly the latter due to his penchant forstreet fighting. After graduating and moving toTokyo, he started trainingmixed martial arts atSatoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym and eventually became an instructor. Three years later, he developed an interest inprofessional wrestling and decided to become a wrestler.
Kitahara began as a trainee forJapan Pro-Wrestling in 1987. After the promotion dissolved, he transferred toAll Japan Pro Wrestling and trained underGenichiro Tenryu. He made his debut on April 8, 1988, againstMitsuo Momota. He was part of Tenryu'sRevolution stable. After spending nearly a year floundering in the opening and mid-card matches, Kitahara left for Canada in March 1989.
When he arrived in Canada, he joinedStu Hart'sStampede Wrestling in Calgary, where he used thering name Sumo Hara. On July 4, Kitahara was involved in a car accident near Jasper, Alberta, while riding in a car withRoss Hart,Davey Boy Smith,Jason the Terrible andChris Benoit, which he escaped with a minor shoulder injury. In August 1989, Kitahara won his first championship, theStampede International Tag Team Championship with fellow Japanese wrestlerKensuke Sasaki. The two held the championship for more than a month before losing them toThe Blackhearts. After Stampede shut down in December 1989, he returned to Japan in February 1990.
Upon returning to AJPW, Kitahara was finally finding his niche, but was cut short the summer of 1990, when Kitahara joined his mentor Tenryu andMegane Super. After leaving AJPW, Kitahara would make a brief return to Canada to wrestle for the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance as Sumo Hara, before returning to Japan for the new promotion.
Kitahara wrestled forSuper World of Sports in 1990. As expected, he was part of Tenryu's group, Revolution. In December 1990, Kitahara took part in the original four-man tournament for the SWS Light Heavyweight Championship, but lost toNaoki Sano in the semi-finals when a doctor called a stop to the match.[4] After a year in mid-card tag team matches, Kitahara teamed withShinichi Nakano for a tournament to determine the SWS Tag Team Champions, but lost to his Revolution stablemates, Tenryu andAshura Hara.[5] In June 1992, SWS folded.
Upon SWS's folding, Kitahara joined Tenryu in formingWAR. Now known as Koki Kitahara, in the early years of WAR, Kitahara would be Tenryu's main tag team partner in battles againstNew Japan Pro-Wrestling, but in later years, he teamed withKoji Kitao. In September 1994, Kitahara toured Mexico forConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. In April 1995, Kitahara won his first championship in Japan, theWAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, with Tenryu andAnimal Hamaguchi. He won two more, withArashi,Nobutaka Araya, andLance Storm as his partners. In 1999, WAR folded.
In 1997, still as a WAR member, Kitahara formed his own mixed martial artsdojo, Capture International. It initially developed into ashoot-style professional wrestling promotion, which held its first card in 1998.[6][unreliable source?] He later expanded it into anon-profitprivate security company named Japan Blue Blazer.
After WAR folded, Kitahara focused primarily on Capture International, while taking select shows and tours of various promotions, including a brief return to AJPW in 2001, where he won theAll Asia Tag Team Championship with Arashi, and also withTenryu Project.
On April 2, 2018, Kitahara announced his retirement to take place at a June 11 card promoted by AJPW dojo classmateKenta Kobashi, which will also be his 30th anniversary. In a tag team match, Kitahara andMitsuya Nagai lost toNaomichi Marufuji andSuper Tiger II.