page_title: Togi Makabe
section_title: 2007–2008
hierarchical_section_title: Togi Makabe / Professional wrestling career / New Japan Pro-Wrestling / 2007–2008
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 2008年8月15日 大阪大会 「G1CLIMAX」 真壁刀義
context_page_description: Shinya Makabe, better known by his ring name Togi Makabe is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, two-time NEVER Openweight Champion and one-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion.
  Debuting in 1997, Makabe originally wrestled under his birthname as a junior heavyweight, before gaining several kilograms during a global excursion in 2001 and 2002. He changed his given name to "Togi" during the 2004 G1 Climax tournament. His status in New Japan rose significantly in 2007, making it to the finals of the New Japan Cup and the semifinals of the G1 Climax, and challenging Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. After a number of unsuccessful challenges at the title, Makabe finally won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on May 3, 2010, by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura.
  Makabe's wrestling style and character is heavily influenced by the late Bruiser Brody.
context_section_description: Makabe teamed with GBH allies Yano and Ishii on January 4, 2007, at Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome, defeating Travis Tomko and AJPW's D'Lo Brown and Buchanan. Four days later, Makabe retained the WEW title against Tetsuhiro Kuroda at an event co-produced by Apache Pro and Takashi Sasaki; he would defend the championship for a third time on February 4, 2007 at LOCK UP's first show in Korakuen Hall, defeating Mammoth Sasaki in a cage death match. On February 18, 2007, Makabe faced and lost to Shinsuke Nakamura in a match pitting GBH against Nakamura and Masahiro Chono's BLACK faction, subtitled "SANCTIONS". Makabe again entered the New Japan Cup in March 2007, making it to the finals with victories over Travis Tomko and Takashi Iizuka by pinfall and Hiroyoshi Tenzan by disqualification, before losing to Yuji Nagata in the final. On April 8, 2007, Makabe faced Nakamura in a rematch of their February contest, defeating Shinsuke in a chain death match. Makabe made his fourth defense of the WEW title on April 15, 2007 in Apache Pro, again defeating Mammoth Sasaki. Makabe battled Nakamura for a third time on May 3, 2007 in a match dubbed "Reality or Revenge", winning once more.
  On May 20, 2007, GBH battled a BLACK and NJPW seikigun alliance of Yuji Nagata, Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Shinsuke Nakamura and Naofumi Yamamoto; Makabe and Hiroyoshi Tenzan survived, Makabe last eliminating IWGP Heavyweight champion Nagata by pinfall. On June 24, 2007, Makabe lost the WEW Heavyweight Championship in Apache Pro to Kintaro Kanemura in their third meeting. Makabe followed up his pinfall over Nagata in May with a challenge to Nagata's title, his first singles title shot in New Japan, on July 6, 2007 in front of a sold out Korakuen Hall; Nagata won with a backdrop in just under 20 minutes.
  Makabe had his strongest showing to date in the G1 Climax in August, finishing first place in his block with six points with pinfall victories over Giant Bernard, Yuji Nagata, and Masahiro Chono before losing in the semifinals to eventual winner Hiroshi Tanahashi. Makabe also made it to the semifinals in the G1 Tag League in November, scoring 8 points with Toru Yano in the tournament's single block by defeating  the teams of Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi, Akebono and Masahiro Chono, and Gedo and Jado, as well as Giant Bernard in a handicap match when his partner Travis Tomko no-showed the event; Bernard and Tomko, the eventual winners, would defeat Makabe and Yano in the semifinals. On December 9, 2007, Makabe and Shinsuke Nakamura faced off in their fourth and final match of the year, this time with the winner receiving a shot at Hiroshi Tanahashi's IWGP Heavyweight title at the Tokyo Dome in January; Nakamura was victorious, tying their series at 2-2.
  On January 4, 2008, at Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, fresh off of winning Tokyo Sports' Tag Team of the Year award for 2007, Makabe and Toru Yano were defeated by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) as part of an interpromotional card between TNA and NJPW. Makabe and Yano would later defeat Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko for the IWGP Tag Team Championship on February 17, 2008. Earlier in the night, GBH leader Hiroyoshi Tenzan was betrayed and attacked by fellow GBH members Tomohiro Ishii, Jado and Gedo, kicking him out of the faction.
  Makabe and Yano made their first title defense on March 9, 2008, retaining over Giant Bernard and Shinsuke Nakamura when interference from both teams' respective factions led to a no contest; as a result the match was stricken from the record, and is not considered an official defense. Later that month, Makabe participated in the New Japan Cup for the third straight year, defeating Takashi Iizuka and ousted GBH leader Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the first two rounds, before falling to eventual winner Hiroshi Tanahashi in the semifinal. Makabe and Tenzan battled the following week in a non-title tag team match, Tenzan and Takashi Iizuka defeating Makabe and Yano when Tenzan pinned Makabe. The two teams battled again, this time for the
caption: Makabe in August 2008
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon IXY DIGITAL 25 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:08:15 18:54:36", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "188", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4430", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:08:15 18:54:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:08:15 18:54:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3648", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2736", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3648", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2736", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3206", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3648000/241", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2736000/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4"}