| No Fear | |
|---|---|
| Tag team | |
| Members | Takao Omori Yoshihiro Takayama Hiroshi Hase Masanobu Fuchi Satoru Asako Takeshi Morishima |
| Name(s) | No Fear Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama[1] |
| Billed heights | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)- Omori[2] 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)- Takayama[3] |
| Combined billed weight | 235 kg (518 lb) |
| Hometown | Tokyo,Japan |
| Debut | 1998[1] |
| Disbanded | 2002[1] |
No Fear was aprofessional wrestling tag team turned into a stable that initially consisted ofTakao Omori andYoshihiro Takayama, but soon, the duo brought along more members to increase their numbers. During their history, the team competed inAll Japan Pro Wrestling andPro Wrestling Noah.
No Fear formed inAll Japan Pro Wrestling in the fall of 1998 as a subset of the "Triangle of Power" stable led byGary Albright. The first highlight for the team was participating in the 1998World's Strongest Tag Determination League but they ended up finishing in last place with 2 points by only beating Albright and Giant Kimala.[4] A few months later they teamed withHiroshi Hase in a one night six-man tag team tournament where they made it to the semi-finals before losing toMitsuharu Misawa,Yoshinari Ogawa, andMasahito Kakihara.[5] After Albright left them, Omori and Takayama began slowly moving up the ranks over the next few months, along with having back up from veteransMasanobu Fuchi andHiroshi Hase, also from AJPW regularSatoru Asako and a young up and comingTakeshi Morishima. No Fear won their first title on June 4, 1999, when they defeatedHayabusa andJinsei Shinzaki to win theAll Asia Tag Team Championship.[6][7] One month later, on July 23, No Fear defeatedJohnny Ace andBart Gunn to win theWorld Tag Team Championship[8][9] thus giving the team a monopoly on the All Japan tag team division. On August 25, No Fear lost both tag titles toTriple Crown Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa andWorld Junior Heavyweight Championship Yoshinari Ogawa.[9]
Three months later, on October 30, No Fear challengedKenta Kobashi andJun Akiyama for the World Tag Team Championship but lost.[10] After that, they entered the 1999 World's Strongest Tag Determination League where they finished in 6th place with 4 points, by beating the team ofVader andJohnny Smith and the team of Gary Albright andWolf Hawkfield.[4] On June 9, 2000, No Fear entered a tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship. They defeated Misawa and Ogawa in the semi-finals but lost toThe Holy Demon Army in the finals.[11] Shortly afterwards, Misawa left All Japan to formPro Wrestling Noah with No Fear (along with the majority of the native roster) following Misawa to Noah.
No Fear debuted at Noah's first show on August 5, 2000, as they teamed withSatoru Asako, who was the only member to stay on the team as both Fuchi and Hase remained in AJPW, and Morishima joined forces withTakeshi Rikio, in a six-man tag losing to Yoshinari Ogawa,Masahito Kakihara, &Daisuke Ikeda.[11] No Fear would also take part in the debut show forPro Wrestling Zero1 on March 2, 2001, defeatingTatsuhito Takaiwa andAlexander Otsuka.[12] In 2001, Noah eventually started a tag team division and on December 9, No Fear defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa to win theGHC Tag Team Championship.[13][14] The team would hold the titles for 2 months before losing them to Morishima and Rikio on February 17, 2002.[13] No Fear eventually broke up in 2002 with their last match ending in a no contest against Jun Akiyama andYoshinobu Kanemaru on May 9 after Omori brutally hit Takayama with an Axe Bomber, betraying him.[15]
No Fear reunited the first time in nine years on August 27, 2011, at the New Japan, All Japan, Noah co-promoted show All Together losing to Jun Akiyama andKensuke Sasaki. They reunited a second time on May 11, 2013, at Kenta Kobashi's retirement show Final Burning in Budokan where they defeatedMinoru Suzuki andNaomichi Marufuji. On August 21, 2016, No Fear teamed for the final time at an All Japan/Land's End show defeatingSuwama and Rikiya Fudo.[16]
On May 4, 2017, Takayama suffered a career ending spinal cord injury during a match which left him paralyzed from the shoulders down, leaving Omori as the only former No Fear member still in active competition.