| Takashi Sugiura | |
|---|---|
 Sugiura in 2023 | |
| Born | (1970-05-31)May 31, 1970 (age 54)[1] Nagoya, Aichi, Japan[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Santa Claus[2] Takashi Sugiura |
| Billed height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 89 kg (196 lb)[1] |
| Trained by | All Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo Yoshihiro Takayama Tamon Honda Akira Taue |
| Debut | December 23, 2000[1] |
Takashi Sugiura (杉浦 貴,Sugiura Takashi, born May 31, 1970) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, currently working forPro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Sugiura, an accomplishedamateur wrestler, joined Noah's dojo in 2000, making his professional debut on December 23, 2000, and thus becoming the first wrestler to make his pro wrestling debut in Noah. He has also competed inmixed martial arts with a notable victory overGiant Silva. Sugiura wrestled as ajunior heavyweight in his earlier pro career and is a formerGHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. Sugiuramoved up toheavyweight and became the second longest reigningGHC Heavyweight Champion, having held the title for 581 days between December 2009 and July 2011. As of September 2011, Sugiura is the chairman of Noah's Wrestler's Association and holds the concomitant position on the promotion'sboard of directors.[3]
Sugiura was an accomplishedjudoka in high school and narrowly missed the cut representing Japan at the1996 Summer Olympics. He then became a self-defense instructor and was recruited to theAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) Dojo byTamon Honda, who (along withYoshihiro Takayama) oversaw all of Sugiura's training.
Sugiura made his debut on December 23, 2000, when he partneredMasao Inoue andTakeshi Rikio in atag team match againstTakeshi Morishima,Yoshinobu Kanemaru andKentaro Shiga.[1] Initially a low-card wrestler, Sugiura's American-influenced style became popular with fans and eventually he formed a tag team with Kanemaru nicknamed "SugiKane". Within a few months the two defeatedNaomichi Marufuji andKenta for theGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ending the team's long & historic run. Sugiura owns the distinction of being the only wrestler in Pro Wrestling Noah to have been a double champion on two separate occasions. In recent years, he has made a name for himself in the heavyweight division receiving a title shot against thenGHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima in a highly regarded match and winning theGHC Tag Team Championship along with Naomichi Marufuji from the bigger & stronger team ofD'lo Brown andBull Buchanan. At NJPWWrestle Kingdom III he pushedNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) representativeShinsuke Nakamura to his limit in a cross promotional tag team match withMitsuharu Misawa andHirooki Goto as their respective partners, but came up short and tapped out to Nakamura's Cross Armbar finish. Nakamura then stated that there would be a singles match between them soon, as he felt he was embarrassed by a wrestler below his standards. The two met again later in the year in a cross-promotional match, this time Sugiura teamed with blue-chip prospectGo Shiozaki & Nakamura teamed with then-RISE stablemateMilano Collection AT, who was also returning from injury. Shiozaki/Sugiura picked up the win & Nakamura demanded a rematch against the duo withHirooki Goto as his tag team partner.
On July 20, he facedHiroshi Tanahashi in the first ever NJPW vs. NOAH match for theIWGP Heavyweight Championship. After 24 minutes and twoHigh Fly Flows, Tanahashi retained the Championship.
Sugiura also participated in the 2009G1 Climax. With his rival Nakamura in his block, a long anticipated singles match came to pass. Although he lost the match he still managed to finish second in his block & advanced to the semi-finals losing to the tournament eventual winnerTogi Makabe. On December 6, 2009, Sugiura pinned Go Shiozaki to win theGHC Heavyweight Championship. On January 4, 2010, atWrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome Sugiura successfully defended the title againstHirooki Goto. On 28 February, he retained his title against Togi Makabe and then on 10 July againstYoshihiro Takayama.[4] On October 1, 2010, Sugiura travelled toTamaulipas,Mexico to defend the GHC Heavyweight Championship, defeatingChessman atLucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA) eventHéroes Inmortales IV.[5] Sugiura returned to New Japan on January 4, 2011, atWrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, where he and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hirooki Goto andKazuchika Okada in a tag team match.[6][7] On May 15, 2011, Sugiura defeatedClaudio Castagnoli inOberhausen, Germany[8] to make his fourteenth successful GHC Heavyweight Championship defense, breaking the record for most defenses, set byKenta Kobashi. On July 10, Sugiura lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Go Shiozaki, ending his reign at 581 days. On January 4, 2012, Sugiura returned to New Japan atWrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where he was defeated by Hirooki Goto.[9]
In early 2014, Sugiura formed theDangan Yankies tag team withPro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1)'sMasato Tanaka. The duo worked in both Noah and Zero1, winning the GHC Tag Team andNWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championships in May 2014,[10][11] theFurinkazan tournament in December 2014,[12] and theGlobal Tag League in both 2014 and 2015.[13] In addition,Tokyo Sports named Dangan Yankies the 2014 tag team of the year.[14] On December 23, 2015, Sugiura turned on Noah and joined the villainousSuzuki-gun stable.[15] On January 31, 2016, Sugira defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the second time.[16] He lost the title to Go Shiozaki on May 28.[17] Sugiura regained the title from Shiozaki on July 30.[18] He lost the title toKatsuhiko Nakajima in his third defense on October 23.[19] On December 2, Sugiura turned on Suzuki-gun, after Minoru Suzuki had unsuccessfully challenged Nakajima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship.[20] In January 2017, Sugiura formed an alliance withKaito Kiyomiya, almost serving as a mentor. The two began regularly teaming together, and were eventually joined byKenoh, who turned on his tag team partnerMasa Kitamiya during a match against Sugiura and Kiyomiya, aligning himself with Sugiura in the process. On March 12, 2017, Sugiura and Kenoh defeatedMuhammad Yone and Kitamiya to win the vacant GHC Tag Team Championship.[21] They lost the titles to Naomichi Marufuji andMaybach Taniguchi on April 14.[22] In June, he went on hiatus so he could get open-heart surgery as he had irregular heartbeat for a long time, which was successful. He returned on October 28, where he teamed with Kenoh to defeat Leona and Katsuhiko Nakajima. On March 11, 2018, he defeated his tag team partner Kenoh to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time, making him the only man to have held the title four times. On April 29, he defeated Atsushi Kotoge to make his first successful defense and afterwards offered Naomichi Marufuji the next shot at the title, which he accepted. This led to a match exactly one month later on May 29, where he defeated Marufuji for his second successful defense. On June 26, he defeated Kenoh in a rematch to make his third successful defense. After the match, he issued a challenge to Go Shiozaki, who had pinned him in a tag match two weeks earlier, which he accepted. They would face off yet again on August 18 in Kawasaki, where he defeated Shiozaki to make his fourth successful defense and was afterwards challenged to a title match by Masa Kitamiya, who he would defeat on September 2 to make his fifth successful defense. Then on October 4, he defeated Kitamiya's tag team partner Katsuhiko Nakajima to make his sixth successful title defense. Sugiura then participated in the 2018 Global League, where he finished with a record of four wins and three losses, including one to eventual tournament winner Kaito Kiyomiya. This led to a match on December 16, where Sugiura lost the title to Kiyomiya in his seventh defense. Sugiura participated in the 2019 Global Tag League, teaming with Kazma Sakamoto where they went on to win the tournament. During the tournament, he formed a stable named "Sugiura-gun", withNosawa Rongai,Hideki Suzuki, Sakamoto andKinya Okada, while Sugiura was positioned as the leader of the stable. At the Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Shows, Sugiura first challenged Kaito Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on June 9, losing. Then, Sugiura challenged the team of Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima for the GHC Tag Team Championships on June 13, winning the titles for the fifth time with Kazma Sakamoto.
Sugiura also dabbled inmixed martial arts, given his amateur background. His first fight was against the Brazilian rookieDaniel Gracie, which saw Takashi giving a strong impression. The Japanese wrestler dropped Gracie with a right punch at the first round, defended aback mount for a long time and blocked all of Daniel's submissions. He eventually tossed Gracie to the ground with an amateur throw and held top position over theBrazilian jiu-jitsu specialist. At the end, however, after Gracie dominated the final round from his guard, he was given the split decision over Sugiura.
Takashi's second fight was against another pro wrestler,Giant Silva, who had a 160lbs weight advantage over him. However, Sugiura dominated the bout, taking him down and throwing knee strikes until the referee brought the stoppage. The fight featured a controversial moment afterwards when Sugiura cut a promo which moved Silva to try to attack him with a wood club, having to be restrained by a team of officials. The brawl is cut from the DVD version distributed in United States, and is believed to be a professional wrestlingangle or promotional stunt.
He also participated in thePancrase Heavyweight Championship Tournament but was eliminated by Ryuta Noji. Sugiura's final match was againstAlexandre Ribeiro inSengoku, being finished by strikes and stomps at the third round.
| 4 matches | 1 win | 3 losses |
| By knockout | 1 | 2 |
| By decision | 0 | 1 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1–3 | Alexandre Ribeiro | TKO (strikes) | World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 5 | September 28, 2008 | 3 | 4:18 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Loss | 1–2 | Ryuta Noji | KO (stomps) | Pancrase: Blow 3 | April 9, 2006 | 1 | 3:25 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 1–1 | Paulo Cesar Silva | TKO (punches) | PRIDE Bushido 4 | July 19, 2004 | 1 | 2:35 | Nagoya, Japan | |
| Loss | 0–1 | Daniel Gracie | Decision (split) | Pride 21 | June 23, 2002 | 3 | 5:00 | Saitama, Saitama, Japan |
