Masao Inoue
Taniguchi joined the Pro Wrestling Noah dojo on May 5, 2005, and spent many months training. He finally debuted along with Atsushi Aoki, Ippei Ota, and Akihiko Ito on December 24, 2005, as part of Noah's annual Christmas Eve Noahful Gift in Differ show. Taniguchi's team for his match actually won, making him the first and, to date, only rookie to not lose his debut match in Noah. On February 26, 2006, in just his fourth match, Shuhei Taniguchi picked up his first direct win, pinning fellow rookie Atsushi Aoki with a German suplex hold. Aoki himself had just pinned Ota the day before. It was clear that Taniguchi was seen as the ace of his dojo class, most likely because of his background and heavyweight status. On March 20 Noah announced an eight-man single-elimination tournament to determine the number contender for Jun Akiyama's GHC Heavyweight Championship. Shuhei was one of the eight wrestlers chosen, but lost in the first round to eventual winner Masao Inoue.