 Kuishinbo Kamen in 2014. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Akinori Tsukioka (1975-08-19)August 19, 1975 (age 50) |
| Website | Official Twitter |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Akinori Tsukioka Super Robo K Kuishinbo Kamen |
| Billed height | 182 cm (6 ft 0 in) |
| Debut | 1999 |
Akinori Tsukioka (月岡 明則,Tsukioka Akinori; born August 19, 1975) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler better known asKuishinbo Kamen (くいしんぼう仮面,Kuishinbō Kamen), amaskedclown character. Kuishinbo Kamen is Japanese for "Gluttonous Mask". For a while he was forced to give up the Kuishinbo Kamen character, instead he worked as "Super Robo K", a futuristic Robot character, but returned to the Kuishinbo Kamen identity later on.
Tsukioka made his professional wrestling debut in 1999, working under his real name forInternational Wrestling Association of Japan for the first year of his career. When Tsukioka joinedOsaka Pro Wrestling he adopted a masked clown gimmick, the comedic character "Kuishinbo Kamen" who wore a clown suit and even had a hat with yellow pom-poms attached to the mask. He quickly developed a storyline feud with another comedic masked wrestler known asEbessan. Kamen defeated Ebessan to become the first ever holder of theOsaka Meibutsu Sekaiichi Championship (roughly translated into the "Osaka World's Best Attraction Championship").[1] On June 29, 2002 he became a double champion winning abattle royal to become theOsaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Champion).[2] A title he would hold for a month and a half before losing it in another battle royal.[2] February 2, 2003 Kurishinbo Kamen's feud with Ebessan hit its peak as Ebessan defeated Kurishinbo Kamen to win the Osaka Meibutsu Sekaiichi Championship, but more importantly the loss forced Tsukioka to give up the Kurishibo Kamen character.[1] He would return to the ring a week later as ""Super Robo K", arobot gimmick completed with a more mechanical wrestling style. The character change only lasted for a couple of months before Kurishinbo Kamen returned to the ring. He regained the Meibutso Sekaiichi Championship on February 21, 2004 almost a year to the day he lost it.[1] In March 2003 Kurishinbo Kamen and other Osaka Pro Wrestling representatives traveled to theUnited States of America, where they were part of the2004 World X-Cup inTNA Wrestling. Kuishinbo Kamen teamed up with rival Ebessan andNosawa, known as "Team Japan" losing toChris Sabin,Elix Skipper andSonjay Dutt who were part of "Team NWA". The group also worked a match for Revolution Pro Wrestling andPro Wrestling Guerrilla before returning to Japan. Kurishinbo Kamen would hold the Battle Royal and the Meibutsu Sekaiichi several times in subsequent years.[1][2] On June 6, 2010 Kamen teamed up with Ebessan III andKanjyuro Matsuyama to defeat the team of Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada and Takoyakida to win theUWA World Trios Championship, holding it for six days before losing it toTokyo Gurentai (Fujita,Mazada and Nosawa).[3]
