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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 16, 1964[1][2] Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Shunji Takano GiantDos Caras Great Zebra Super Ninja Gulliver X |
| Billed height | 201 cm (6 ft 7 in)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 130 kg (287 lb)[1][2] |
| Debut | December 8, 1981[1][2] |
Shunji Takano (高野 俊二Takano Shunji) (born February 16, 1964) is a Japanese former professional wrestler and actor, whose artistic alias isKen Takano.[citation needed]
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Takano was born on February 16, 1964. His father was a blackAmerican Marine who belonged to theIwakuni base, and has also become a promising boxer. Takano grew up at home with his mother andbrother after his father returned to theUnited States and leaving them behind, and he was a mixed-blooded child.
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Shunji Takano debuted forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling on December 8, 1981, defeating Fumihiro Niikura. In his early years, he stayed within the undercard and the lower mid-card area, wrestling the likes of Niikura,Shinichi Nakano,Shunji Kosugi,Norio Honaga,Nobuhiko Takada,Masanobu Kurisu, andJunji Hirata. Upon his return to NJPW in October 1984, Takano began moving up the card slowly, but his unhappiness with the company caused him to leave NJPW in September 1985.
In 1983, Takano went on an excursion to Canada, wrestling forStu Hart'sStampede Wrestling in Calgary. While there, he formed a tag team withHiro Saito called theCalgary Hurricanes, which would later become a trio withJunji Hirata, who by then became known as the maskedSuper Strong Machine.
In October 1986, Takano went on an excursion to the United States. His first stop was forVerne Gagne'sAmerican Wrestling Association in Minneapolis, throughMasa Saito's connections, where he wrestled under a mask and went by the name, theSuper Ninja. Upon his debut, he was aligned withLarry Zbyszko. In January 1987, Takano had his first major title match againstNick Bockwinkel for theAWA World Heavyweight Championship, in which he won by disqualification. In May 1987, he moved to Portland to wrestle forDon Owen'sPacific Northwest Wrestling, still wrestling under the Super Ninja persona. In July 1987, Takano won his first championship, theNWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship withRip Oliver, with whom he held the titles for nearly two months, before Oliver left the territory, and was replaced by Joey Jackson, who Takano held the titles for nearly two months with, before finally losing them toThe Southern Rockers (Steve Doll and Scott Peterson).
After a brief return to Calgary, Shunji Takano went toAll Japan Pro Wrestling in November 1985, originally as part ofRiki Choshu'sJapan Pro-Wrestling group. Takano teamed with fellow Calgary Hurricanes Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine on a short JPW tour in November. The Calgary Hurricanes became regular performers in April 1986, constituting a third Japanese faction along with the All Japan faction led by Jumbo Tsuruta and the Ishin Gundan faction led by Riki Choshu. Veteran Killer Khan defected from Ishin Gundan to give the Calgary Hurricanes, who were all relatively young and inexperienced, a senior member. The Calgary Hurricanes continued to feud with the other groups through September 1986, with Takano mostly appearing in tag team and six man tag matches with fellow Hurricanes members.
Takano returned to AJPW in February 1988 touring in North America, and by that time, his stock was beginning to rise. That summer, Takano began teaming up with Shinichi Nakano. On September 9, 1988, Takano and Nakano defeatedFootloose (Samson Fuyuki andToshiaki Kawada) to win theAll Asia Tag Team Championship, ending their reign after exactly six months, although Footloose would win back the titles six days later. In the tail end of 1988, he teamed withJohn Tenta for theWorld's Strongest Tag Determination League, but ended up placing ninth place with four points. A year later, he tried again, this time withThe Great Kabuki as his partner, but he ended up dead last with two points, in a tie withThe Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs andJerry Sags).
After leaving AJPW in the summer of 1990, Shunji Takano joinedSuper World of Sports, in which he joined the stable, Palestra, led by his older brother, George. On SWS's pre-launch show on September 29, 1990, a one-night singles tournament took place, in which Shunji defeated Fumihiro Niikura andKendo Nagasaki, before losing to his older brother George in the semi-finals. When SWS officially launched the promotion on October 18, 1990, Shunji teamed with his brother George for the one-night tag team tournament, in which they defeatedIsao Takagi andYoshiaki Yatsu in the semi-finals andGenichiro Tenryu and The Great Kabuki in the finals. On November 22, 1990, he took part in another one-night tag team tournament, this time withNaoki Sano as his partner. They defeatedTakashi Ishikawa and The Great Kabuki in the semi-finals, but lost to Genichiro Tenryu andKoji Kitao in the finals. On August 9, 1991, he teamed up with his older brother for another one-night tag team tournament. They defeated The Great Kabuki andTito Santana in the first round, but lost toThe Legion Of Doom in the semi-finals. On April 16, 1992, he and his older brother won the SWS Tag Team Championship, defeatingKing Haku andYoshiaki Yatsu. Unfortunately, their reign didn't last long, as they lost the titles toThe Natural Disasters the next day.
After SWS folded in June 1992, Shunji Takano joined his brother George in forming a new promotion calledPro Wrestling Crusaders. Also, Takano worked forNetwork Of Wrestling. Their trainees had includedMasato Tanaka andTetsuhiro Kuroda, who both transferred toFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. Aside from running PWC, he would also wrestle for other promotions including Network Of Wrestling, Social Progress Wrestling Federation,Wrestling International New Generations,International Wrestling Association of Japan, andMichinoku Pro Wrestling. PWC folded in 1994.
At an event held at Kitazawa Town Hall in 1996, the place was so packed with fans that the police had to be mobilized to get in.
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Takano also has started to play roles in numerous japanese movies such as Kentaro Amakusa inSanshiro 1 and 2, Akira Aizen inYakuza Sengoku Shi Fudo, Dick Head inThe Defender and other features, being credited asKenji "Ken" Takano, his "American" name. He also voiced characters in japanese such asGary Daniels inRage from 1995 and Fatman inSpriggan from 1998. He also released a single namedUltra Bazooka (his wrestling nickname) throughKing Records in 1999.