 Morishima in 2008 during his WWE tryout | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1978-10-15)October 15, 1978 (age 47)[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Morishima Takeshi Morishima |
| Billed height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 130 kg (287 lb)[1] |
| Trained by | Akira Taue[2] All Japan Pro Wrestling[2] Mitsuharu Misawa[2] |
| Debut | March 22, 1998[1] |
| Retired | 2015[3] |
Takeshi Morishima (森嶋 猛,Morishima Takeshi) (born October 15, 1978) is a Japanese formerprofessional wrestler.
Morishima is best known for his work withPro Wrestling Noah, where he is a formerthree-timeGHC Heavyweight Champion. He has also performed forRing of Honor (ROH) in theUnited States in the past where he was aone-timeROH World Champion.
Morishima attendedUrayasu High School where he took part in judo. His instructor, Shoji Abe, was friends withMitsuharu Misawa, and managed to get Morishima a tryout withAll Japan Pro Wrestling, which he passed and shortly after began training with the promotion for a career in professional wrestling. Initially, Morishima was a protégé of Misawa, but afterNaomichi Marufuji joined the promotion and Misawa decided instead to focus solely on training Marufuji,Akira Taue took Morishima under his wing and trained him. Morishima debuted for All Japan in 1998, but left in 2000 to join the newly formedPro Wrestling Noah (founded by Misawa), where he became a mainstay.
In Noah, he frequently teamed withTakeshi Rikio as Wild II,[4] and the duo have previously held theGHC Tag Team Championship.[5]
On March 2, 2008, Morishima defeatedMitsuharu Misawa at the Budokan Hall Event of Pro Wrestling Noah's Second Navigation Tour to become the12thGHC Heavyweight Champion.[6] A veteran of AmericanRing of Honor promotion, Morishima has stated that while he plans on returning to ROH in the future, he has no intentions in regaining the ROH Championship, as he will be fully focused on Noah's heavyweight scene. On June 14, 2008, Morishima made his very first defense of the GHC Heavyweight Title againstTakashi Sugiura. Morishima prevailed after hitting abackdrop driver. Morishima's second defense happened on July 18, 2008 against former his tag team partnerTakeshi Rikio. After about 13 and a half minutes, Morishima defeated Rikio with a backdrop suplex. On September 6, 2008 at the Tokyo Nippon Budokan, Morishima lost toKensuke Sasaki, who gained a pin at the 22-minute mark with the Northern Lights Bomb. On December 7, 2008, Morishima facedJun Akiyama for the number one contender's spot for the GHC Heavyweight Championship; which he lost to Akiyama. On September 21, 2009 in Nagoya, Japan, Morishima and Sasaki defeatedAkitoshi Saito andBison Smith for the GHC Tag Titles.[7] However, on December 6, at the last show of Winter Navigation '09, Morishima and Sasaki lost the titles to Takeshi Rikio andMuhammad Yone.[7]
Morishima appeared on the TV Drama in Japan, "Hesitation I Come" during his time off due to a foot injury. However, on November 23, during (Noah Winter Navigation 2010 - Day 4), Morishima returned to Noah teaming with Kensuke Sasaki and defeating Shuhei Taniguchi and Takashi Sugiura. On January 22, 2012, Morishima defeated Go Shiozaki to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the second time.[8] Since this victory, Morishima has defended against Naomichi Marufuji, Maybach Taniguchi, Go Shiozaki, Akitoshi Saito, Kenta, Jun Akiyama, and Kohei Sato. After a year-long reign, Morishima lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Kenta on January 27, 2013.[9] On January 5, 2014, Morishima defeated Kenta to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the third time.[10] Post-match, Morishima quit Brave to form a new group withKenoh and Maybach Taniguchi, later namedChoukibou-gun,[11] turning heel in the process.[12] On January 25, Morishima and Taniguchi defeatedTMDK (Mikey Nicholls andShane Haste), with help from Kenoh and new stablemateHajime Ohara, to win the GHC Tag Team Championship.[11][13] On February 8, Morishima lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship toNew Japan Pro-Wrestling representativeYuji Nagata in his first title defense.[14] On May 31, Morishima and Taniguchi lost the GHC Tag Team Championship toMasato Tanaka and Takashi Sugiura.[15]
Morishima has also wrestled in the United States. He competed inHarley Race'sWorld League Wrestling promotion in 2003, defending the WLW Heavyweight Championship, which he had won fromRon Harris while Harris toured Japan.[16] Morishima returned to the United States in February 2007, wrestling four matches with Ring of Honor. He lost toSamoa Joe on February 16, 2007 before defeatingHomicide in a match for theROH World Championship on the subsequent evening, thus becoming the first non-American to hold the title.[6][17] On February 23, 2007, Morishima defeatedB. J. Whitmer in his first title defense, and on the next night he andNigel McGuinness defeated Samoa Joe and Homicide.[6] On March 4, 2007, he successfully defended the ROH Championship in Japan, defeatingKenta in theNippon Budokan inTokyo.[6] Morishima could not return to the United States until almost a month and a half later when he andChris Hero took on Nigel McGuinness andDoug Williams, and the next night when he successfully defended the belt against McGuinness for the first time.[6]
On April 21, 2007, Morishima was honored at the 42nd annual Cauliflower Alley Club banquet, being presented with the "Future Legend" award.[18][19] Back in ROH, Morishima went on a string of successful title defenses, defeating the likes ofAustin Aries,Shingo,Jay Briscoe, andRoderick Strong.[6] Morishima also competed twice on ROH's firstpay-per-viewRespect Is Earned, defeatingB. J. Whitmer to retain the ROH Championship, and later teaming withBryan Danielson to defeatNigel McGuinness andKenta.[6] At the second pay-per-view,Driven, Morishima again competed twice, retaining the title againstJimmy Rave and laterAdam Pearce.[6] On July 16, 2007, Morishima wrestled in the main event of Ring of Honor's debut show inJapan and defeatedNigel McGuinness to retain the ROH Championship.[20] Morishima lost the title to McGuinness atUndeniable on October 6.[6]
In August 2008 Morishima had adark match tryout againstCharlie Haas forWWE before a liveRaw in Chicago, defeating Haas in 3 minutes with a missile dropkick.[6] He then beatJamie Noble the following night in another dark match, this time forSmackDown.[6] Later in 2008, he traveled back to the United States to face Bryan Danielson for ROH'sFinal Battle 2008, which he lost.[6] This marked Morishima's last appearance in America.
Through Noah's working relationship withAAA, Morishima has made several trips to Mexico. On March 19, 2010, Morishima teamed up withTaiji Ishimori to defeatLa Hermandad 187 ("The Brotherhood of 187";Nicho el Millonario andJoe Líder) to win theAAA World Tag Team Championship, representing the AAA heel factionLa Legión Extranjera ("The Foreign Legion").[21] On May 23, 2010, Morishima and Ishimori lost the AAA World Tag Team Championship to the team ofAtsushi Aoki andGo Shiozaki during Pro Wrestling Noah's Navigation with Breeze show inNiigata, Niigata,Japan.[22]
In April 2015, Morishima was forced to pull out of the2015 Global Tag League due to an injury. On April 21, Noah announced that a blood test had revealed that Morishima had an abnormally highglycated hemoglobin, suggestingdiabetes. Following his doctor's recommendation, Morishima decided to immediately retire from professional wrestling.[3][23] On December 28, 2015, Noah canceled Morishima's retirement ceremony, announcing that his contract with the promotion would expire at the end of the year.[24] Later, Morishima recognized the diabetes wasn't the reason of his retirement, but a bad physical and mental state.[25]
On July 10, 2018, it was announced that Morishima was set to make his in-ring return in late 2018 at a show produced byRiki Choshu.[26][27] The show, initially named Genesis, was scheduled to take place on October 15, but was cancelled after Morishima announced he required emergency surgery for arthritis in his foot.[28]
On November 4, 2018, Morishima was arrested at 11:30pm local time inKabukichō, Tokyo after assaulting a taxi driver. Morishima allegedly refused to pay the 18,000 Yen the driver asked for and then punched him in the face, breaking both of his cheekbones. Morishima accepted the charges, saying "there is no doubt there was an argument".[29]
ROH World Title Match: Takeshi Morishima defeated Nigel McGuinness to retain the belt in his 12th title defense
,Internet Wrestling Database