# Shunji Takano

Shunji Takano (高野 俊二 Takano Shunji) (born February 16, 1964) is a Japanese former professional wrestler and actor, whose artistic alias is Ken Takano.

## Early life

Takano was born on February 16, 1964. His father was a black American Marine who belonged to the Iwakuni base, and has also become a promising boxer. Takano grew up at home with his mother and brother after his father returned to the United States and leaving them behind, and he was a mixed-blooded child.

## Career
### New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1981–1982, 1984–1985)

Shunji Takano debuted for New 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, and Junji 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.

### North America (1983–1987)

In 1983, Takano went on an excursion to Canada, wrestling for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary. While there, he formed a tag team with Hiro Saito called the Calgary Hurricanes, which would later become a trio with Junji Hirata, who by then became known as the masked Super Strong Machine.
In October 1986, Takano went on an excursion to the United States. His first stop was for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association in Minneapolis, through Masa Saito's connections, where he wrestled under a mask and went by the name, the Super Ninja. Upon his debut, he was aligned with Larry Zbyszko. In January 1987, Takano had his first major title match against Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, in which he won by disqualification. In May 1987, he moved to Portland to wrestle for Don Owen's Pacific Northwest Wrestling, still wrestling under the Super Ninja persona. In July 1987, Takano won his first championship, the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship with Rip 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 to The Southern Rockers (Steve Doll and Scott Peterson).

### All Japan Pro Wrestling (1985–1987, 1988–1990)

After a brief return to Calgary, Shunji Takano went to All Japan Pro Wrestling in November 1985, originally as part of Riki Choshu's Japan 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 defeated Footloose (Samson Fuyuki and Toshiaki Kawada) to win the All 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 with John Tenta for the World's Strongest Tag Determination League, but ended up placing ninth place with four points. A year later, he tried again, this time with The Great Kabuki as his partner, but he ended up dead last with two points, in a tie with The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags).

### Super World of Sports (1990–1992)

After leaving AJPW in the summer of 1990, Shunji Takano joined Super 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 and Kendo 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 defeated Isao Takagi and Yoshiaki Yatsu in the semi-finals and Genichiro Tenryu and The Great Kabuki in the finals. On November 22, 1990, he took part in another one-night tag team tournament, this time with Naoki Sano as his partner. They defeated Takashi Ishikawa and The Great Kabuki in the semi-finals, but lost to Genichiro Tenryu and Koji 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 and Tito Santana in the first round, but lost to The Legion Of Doom in the semi-finals. On April 16, 1992, he and his older brother won the SWS Tag Team Championship, defeating King Haku and Yoshiaki Yatsu. Unfortunately, their reign didn't last long, as they lost the titles to The Natural Disasters the next day.

### Freelance (1992–1996, 1997-1998)

After SWS folded in June 1992, Shunji Takano joined his brother George in forming a new promotion called Pro Wrestling Crusaders. Also, Takano worked for Network Of Wrestling. Their trainees had included Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda, who both transferred to Frontier 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, and Michinoku 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.

## Personal life and other ventures

Takano also has started to play roles in numerous japanese movies such as Kentaro Amakusa in Sanshiro 1 and 2, Akira Aizen in Yakuza Sengoku Shi Fudo, Dick Head in The Defender and other features, being credited as Kenji "Ken" Takano, his "American" name. He also voiced characters in japanese such as Gary Daniels in Rage from 1995 and Fatman in Spriggan from 1998. He also released a single named Ultra Bazooka (his wrestling nickname) through King Records in 1999.

## Championships and accomplishments

* All Japan Pro Wrestling
** All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shinichi Nakano
** World's Strongest Tag Determination League Fine Play Award (1988) – with John Tenta
* Pacific Northwest Wrestling
** NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Rip Oliver (1) and Joey Jackson (1)
* Super World of Sports
** SWS Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with George Takano