Hideki Suzuki

Professional wrestling career

With a background in judo and soccer, Suzuki was trained in professional wrestling at the U.W.F. Snake Pit Japan dojo. After four years of training under British wrestler Billy Robinson, he made his debut for the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) promotion on November 24, 2008, losing to Hiromitsu Kanehara. For the next three years, Suzuki worked undercards of IGF events. His status finally began to rise in 2012 following a match with Peter Aerts. On May 26, 2013, Suzuki won the second Inoki Genome tournament, defeating Akira Joh in the finals. As a result, he received his first shot at the IGF Championship on October 26, but was defeated by the defending champion, Kazuyuki Fujita. The following March, Suzuki left IGF to become a freelancer.

Suzuki then began working regularly for Pro Wrestling Zero1, while also making appearances for promotions such as All Japan Pro Wrestling, DDT Pro-Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Noah. Suzuki quickly received a shot at Zero1's World Heavyweight Championship, though losing to defending champion, Kohei Sato, on May 6. On August 3, 2014, Suzuki finally won his first professional wrestling championship in Zero1, defeating Tama Williams for the NWA United National Heavyweight Championship. In November, Suzuki took part in special week, where Zero1 co-produced three events with the Wrestle-1 promotion.

Through the continued relationship between Zero1 and Wrestle-1, Suzuki began also making appearances for the latter promotion, where he found himself a rival in Kai. On March 8, 2015, after Kai had captured the Wrestle-1 Championship, Suzuki immediately confronted the new champion and challenged him to a title match. The match took place on April 1 and saw Suzuki defeat Kai in just seven minutes to become the new Wrestle-1 Champion. On May 5, Suzuki put both of his championships on the line at separate Zero1 and Wrestle-1 shows, losing the NWA United National Heavyweight Championship to Kamikaze and retaining the Wrestle-1 Championship against Ryota Hama. On June 27, Suzuki returned to IGF for the first time since his departure from the promotion, first defeating Wang Bin in the opening round and then Daichi Hashimoto in the finals to win the Genome-1 2015 Nagoya tournament. Following the win, Suzuki formed an "anti-IGF" stable with foreigners Erik Hammer, Kevin Kross and Knux. On July 12, Suzuki lost the Wrestle-1 Championship back to Kai in his third defense. On November 1, Suzuki defeated Kohei Sato to win Pro Wrestling Zero1's World Heavyweight Championship. On February 26, 2016, Suzuki returned to IGF, when he was appointed the leader of a new stable named Hagure IGF Gundan ("Rogue IGF Corps"), which also included Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Kashin and Shogun Okamoto. On March 27, Suzuki lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Kohei Sato. On March 5, 2017, Suzuki challenged Daisuke Sekimoto for the Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) World Strong Heavyweight Championship. After wrestling to a thirty-minute time limit draw, Suzuki and Sekimoto agreed to a rematch on March 30. Suzuki went on to win the rematch to become the new World Strong Heavyweight Champion. On September 14, Suzuki and Kohei Sato defeated Shogun Okamoto and Yutaka Yoshie to win the vacant NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship.

Other media

Suzuki's first book, entitled Biru Robinson Den Kyatchi Azu Kyatchi Kyan Nyūmon (ビル・ロビンソン伝　キャッチ　アズ　キャッチ　キャン入門, "Billy Robinson: Catch as Catch Can Primer"), was released on January 19, 2017. The book is about wrestling techniques taught to Suzuki by Billy Robinson.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments