Ring name(s) Ikuto Hidaka Name Ikuto Hidaka Billed height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) Height 1.70 m | Billed weight 85 kg (187 lb) Weight 85 kg Debut January 21, 1997 | |
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Trained by Heigo Hamaguchi, Shoichi Funaki | ||
Ikuto hidaka vs damian slater wrestle rampage
Ikuto Hidaka (日高郁人, Hidaka Ikuto) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently performing for Pro Wrestling Zero1. Hidaka was the regular partner of Minoru Fujita, with whom he has held the Zero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team and Intercontinental Tag Team Titles, making them the only team to do so. He has also worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Contents
- Ikuto hidaka vs damian slater wrestle rampage
- Battlarts 1997 2001
- Michinoku Pro Wrestling 2001
- Pro Wrestling Zero OneZero1 2001 present
- Other promotions
- In wrestling
- Championships and accomplishments
- References
Battlarts (1997-2001)
Hidaka debuted for the Battlarts shoot style promotion in 1997 after training in the Animal Hamaguchi Dojo. He spent his rookie year venturing to promotions like Michinoku Pro Wrestling and Kingdom Pro Wrestling, sharing rings with names like Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, Minoru Tanaka and Yoshihiro Tajiri. In 1998, he challenged for the vacated UWA World Middleweight Championship, but was defeated by Willow. Shortly after, he formed a tag team with Minoru Fujita, who was based in Big Japan Pro Wrestling, and they competed at the Tag League 98, where they managed to snatch a significant win over Masao Orihara and Takeshi Ono. They would team extensively in several promotions, but over time, conflicting schedules from competing for separate promotions limited their activity as a team.
In November 1999, after several months wrestling for Battlarts alone, Hidaka was sent to America as a Battlarts representative for a learning excursion in Extreme Championship Wrestling. He competed mainly in cruiserweight matches against Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy, as well as Super Calo. His tenure was notable for commentator Joel Gertner constantly making racist remarks about Hidaka during his matches and nicknamed him "Pokémon" after the popular children's animated series. In 2000, Hidaka returned to Japan, now somewhat higher on the scale, and wrestled numerous matches for Battlarts with Mitsuya Nagai as his tag team partner. He wrestled for the promotion until its very end in late 2001.
Michinoku Pro Wrestling (2001)
After Battlarts collapsed, Hidaka wandered in the Japanese independent circuit. He entered Michinoku Pro Wrestling and won a tournament for the vacant FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, upsetting New Japan Pro Wrestling star El Samurai in the final - his first great solo victory. He made an alliance with Dick Togo, styling himself as Togo's disciple and joining him in the Far East Connection stable. As Togo and Michinoku Pro owner The Great Sasuke bickered over problems that had once caused Togo to leave the promotion before, the team left the promotion for Pro Wrestling Zero-One
Pro Wrestling Zero-One/Zero1 (2001-present)
entered Pro Wrestling Zero1 and began to battle the active junior heavyweight roster. For a while they were successful, winning the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team title once, but as Togo wanted to keep on wrestling other independents, their team broke up just in time as Fujita was returning from an overseas excursion, which freed him to do independent dates.
The combination, known as Skull and Bones, became prominent in the ZERO-1MAX/independent scene, and they even won Pro Wrestling Noah's GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Following a crucial loss to Minoru Tanaka and Masaaki Mochizuki, another team long "defunct before it even started" due to scheduling conflicts, Hidaka and Fujita turned on each other. On January 19, Hidaka beat Fujita to win the AWA World Junior Heavyweight title for a second time. He lost the title to Mochizuki on January 23, 2008.
Other promotions
Hidaka once appeared with Togo and Christopher Daniels in a Major League Wrestling match in the United States in 2002, one of his rare appearances abroad.
On March 13, 2010, Hidaka made his debut for American professional wrestling promotion Evolve Wrestling at Evolve 2: Hero vs. Hidaka, defeating Chris Hero in the main event of the evening.