Toshiaki Kawada Toshiaki Kawada ( December 8 , 1963 ) is a Japanese professional wrestler who is most known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling . In 2005 , he started freelancing in other promotions . His matches against Mitsuharu Misawa , Jun Akiyama , and Kenta Kobashi in the 1990s are argued by many fans and experts in the industry as some of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time . He is widely known for his extremely stiff wrestling style , and has the distinction of having competed in 17 matches that were given a 5 - Star Rating by Wrestling Observer Newsletter writer Dave Meltzer ; he is third behind long - time rivals Kobashi ( 23 ) and Misawa ( 24 ) . Professional wrestling career . All Japan Pro Wrestling ( 1982 – 2005 ) . Early years ( 1982 – 1987 ) . Kawada was very active during his high school years in amateur wrestling , becoming a national champion in his senior year after defeating Keiichi Yamada ( who later became Jushin " Thunder " Liger in professional wrestling ) in the finals . He made his professional wrestling debut at the age of 18 on October 4 , 1982 for All Japan Pro Wrestling , competing against ( future partner ) Hiromichi Fuyuki . Kawada was then sent to North America for a year in November 1985 , where he gained experience as a pro wrestler in Fred Behrend ' s Texas All - Star Wrestling ( San Antonio , Texas ) , Stu Hart ' s Stampede Wrestling ( in Calgary ) and Frank Valois ' International Wrestling ( in Montreal ) ; Kawada was billed as " Kio Kawada from Seoul , South Korea " in Stampede Wrestling for a very short time around June 1986 . He was under adverse circumstances , and rarely has he talked about his days in American / Canadian wrestling . Rise to Superstardom ( 1987 – 1995 ) . His first major break came in 1987 when he joined his mentor Genichiro Tenryu ' s " Revolution " group . Kawada often teamed with Fuyuki under the name " Footloose " , and the duo held the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship on three occasions between March 9 , 1988 and October 20 , 1989 ; their standout rivalries were against Shunji Takano and Shinichi Nakano , as well as against the Can - Am Express ( Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas ) . When Revolution stable mate Ashura Hara was expelled from All Japan in 1988 for gambling debts , Kawada teamed with Tenryu in that year ' s Real World Tag League , losing a memorable final match to Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy . In the summer of 1990 , after Tenryu and a number of All Japan wrestlers jumped to Tenryu ' s newly formed Super World of Sports promotion , Kawada became Mitsuharu Misawa ' s main partner in the Jumbo Tsuruta & Co . vs . Misawa & Co . feud . As part of the feud , Kawada had very heated rivalry with Tsuruta ' s main partner , Akira Taue . Misawa and Kawada would win the Unified World Tag Team Championship twice , as well as the 1992 Real World Tag League . He gained his first Triple Crown shot on October 24 , 1991 challenging Tsuruta , and was also turned back in the following year in Triple Crown challenges to Stan Hansen ( June 5 , 1992 ) and Misawa ( October 21 , 1992 ) ; the match with Hansen was named Match of the Year by Tokyo Sports , and finished second behind the Misawa match in Weekly Pro Wrestling ' s year end fan poll for Match of the Year . In early 1993 , after it became apparent that Tsuruta ' s days as a competitive wrestler were over , AJPW promoter Giant Baba asked Kawada to team with his rival Taue , thereby leaving Misawa ' s group . Kawada and Taue went to a draw in the 1993 Champion ' s Carnival and ended their feud with a handshake . In their first title match as a team , Kawada & Taue defeated Unified World Tag Team Champions Terry Gordy & Steve Williams . Immediately afterwards , they successfully defended the titles against Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on June 1 , 1993 in a match that Baba ( at the time ) regarded as the greatest match he ' d ever seen ; it was the first of nine legendary matches between the sides , and Kawada would hold the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championships with Taue six times . Kawada won the 1994 Champion ' s Carnival by defeating Steve Williams on April 16 , 1994 . Kawada followed by dropping his third straight Triple Crown challenge against Misawa in the June 3 , 1994 " Singles Match of Decade " ; in a 36 - minute showstopper , Kawada & Misawa displayed some of the stiffest wrestling ever seen . After Williams lifted the Triple Crown from Misawa , Kawada defeated Williams on October 22 , 1994 ; his title reign lasted one successful defense , as he went to a one - hour draw with Kenta Kobashi in Osaka on January 19 ; it has been called the greatest one hour match in pro wrestling history by Wrestling Observer ' s Dave Meltzer . Stan Hansen ended Kawada ' s Triple Crown reign on March 4 , 1995 . Kawada pinned Misawa for the first time on June 9 , 1995 , when he teamed with Taue to face Misawa and Kobashi , but Misawa and Kobashi came back to defeat them in the Tag League Final in the last straight tag meeting of the two teams . All - Japan Ace ( 1996 – 2005 ) . Kawada spent much of 1996 in Giant Baba ' s doghouse for publicly questioning All Japan ' s isolationist promotional policy at a time when rival New Japan drew record business running interpromotional matches ; he watched Taue and Kobashi win the Triple Crown in the place of what looked to be the time for " his push " . Kawada worked one interpromotional match on a major UWFi show , but All Japan chose not to follow - up on either a promotional feud with UWFi nor on the sudden attention Kawada drew . He was allowed out of the doghouse in time for Kawada & Taue to break through in 1996 to win the Real World Tag League for the first time , beating Misawa and Jun Akiyama . Kawada pinned Misawa for the first time in a singles match in the 1997 Carnival Finals mini - round robin , then followed up to pin Kobashi the same night to win the Canival championship for the second time ; neither win had quite the impact one would expect given the results . Kawada and Taue would take their second straight World Tag League championship to close out year that saw both spend much of it in the shadows of Misawa and Kobashi . The crowning moment of Kawada ' s career came on May 1 , 1998 , as he pinned Misawa for the second time to win the Triple Crown at All Japan ' s first Tokyo Dome show . However , he was promptly defeated by Kobashi on June 12 , 1998 in his first title defense . After receiving little singles push over the last half of 1998 , Kawada was given ( with no build up ) a Triple Crown match against Misawa on January 22 , 1999 ; in something of a surprise , Kawada took his second straight Triple Crown match against Misawa to win with title for the third time . However , he broke his arm during the match and vacated the title the following day . He also inadvertently invented what many call the most dangerous finisher in wrestling history - the ganso Bomb . Kawada was attempting a powerbomb on Misawa but couldn ' t lift him high enough because of his broken arm and dropped him on his head . Kawada returned in May 1999 , but would revert to the sidelines due to an eye injury in August . He didn ' t return until January 2000 , but suffered high profile losses to Kobashi , Vader and Misawa . In June 2000 , Kawada and Taue won the Unified World Tag Team Championships for the sixth time , breaking a record they shared with not only Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu , but Terry Gordy and Steve Williams as well . Following the June 2000 series , Misawa and all but two native talent in All Japan resigned from their positions and defected to the newly formed Pro Wrestling Noah promotion ; Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi were the only two native talent to stay with All Japan Pro Wrestling . With the promotion gutted of top talent , Kawada ' s old mentor Genichiro Tenryu was brought back and an interpromotional agreement was struck with New Japan ; the first key match against New Japan saw Kawada defeat IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki on October 9 , 2000 in a non - title match . On September 6 , 2003 , he won the Triple Crown for the fifth time in a tournament final against Shinjiro Ohtani . This time , however , Kawada embarked on a magnificent reign with 10 successful title defenses against the likes of Genichiro Tenryu , Shinya Hashimoto , Jamal , Taiyō Kea , Kensuke Sasaki and Hiroyoshi Tenzan ; as a result , Kawada broke Misawa ' s record of 8 defenses during Misawa ' s third reign . In addition , 2004 became only the second year when the Triple Crown did not change hands ( the first was 1993 , during Misawa ' s first reign ) , which included a successful defense against Mick Foley in the HUSTLE promotion . in Misawa ' s era , the title was not defended during the Champion ' s Carnival and World ' s Strongest Tag League tours , which were dedicated to their namesake tournaments . Kawada ' s reign restored dignity to the Triple Crown at the expense of the said tournaments . Freelance ( 2005 – present ) . After losing the titles to Satoshi Kojima on February 16 , 2005 , Kawada signed a contract with Dream Stage Entertainment , the parent company of PRIDE Fighting Championships . Kawada made the sports entertainment based HUSTLE promotion his new home , and immediately turned heel in 2005 ; he turned his back on his young student Taichi Ishikari and friends Shinjiro Ohtani & Naoya Ogawa of the HUSTLE Army to join the dastardly Monster Army , led by Nobuhiko Takada & swimsuit model Yinling the Erotic Terrorist . Due to the way Kawada ' s contract with DSE was structured , he was free to work where he pleased ( including New Japan Pro Wrestling , Pro Wrestling Noah , and other various independent groups ) . However , when All Japan reopened relations with FEG to begin running WRESTLE - 1 shows again in 2005 with the parent company of PRIDE ' s biggest competitor in Japan ( that being the K - 1 fighting group , ran by FEG ) , DSE requested that Kawada not work for All Japan any longer because of the conflict of interest . On July 18 , 2005 at the Tokyo Dome , Kawada wrestled one final 27 - minute classic against his old rival Mitsuharu Misawa . In July 2006 , All Japan officially ended their relationship with FEG . Kawada immediately expressed interest to work in his home promotion once again , and finally made his long - awaited return on July 30 , 2006 defeating D ' Lo Brown . Following his win of the Triple Crown on 3 July 2006 , Taiyo Kea named Kawada as the first challenger for the title , and the match was held at the inaugural PRO WRESTLING LOVE in RYOGOKU event on 27 August . However , Kawada was unsuccessful , falling to his own finishing maneuver ( the Powerbomb ) . Kawada continued to compete in both All - Japan and HUSTLE , as well as defeating Shinsuke Nakamura at the All - Japan / New Japan " Wrestle Kingdom " supershow on January 4 , 2007 with a running kick to the face . At PRO WRESTLING LOVE in RYOGOKU , Vol . 2 ( on February 17 , 2007 ) , Toshiaki Kawada and Taiyo Kea defeated RO ' Z and Suwama for the Unified World Tag Team Championship ; this win gives Kawada his 9th reign with the championship , as well as Kea ' s 5th reign . From March 26 – 30 , 2007 , Toshiaki Kawada competed in the year ' s Champion ' s Carnival tournament , going all the way to the finals where he fell to Keiji Mutoh ; Kawada finished the tournament with 5 points ( 2 wins , 2 losses and 1 draw ) . During the Hold Out Tour on April 22 , 2007 , Toshiaki Kawada lost to Vampiro , after the Great Muta had interfered and sprayed mist in Kawada ' s eyes . Muta and Vampiro later challenged Kea and Kawada for the Unified World Tag Team Championships at PRO WRESTLING LOVE in NAGOYA ' 07 ( on April 30 ) , but Kawada and Kea were successful in their defense of the belts . On June 24 , 2007 , Satoshi Kojima turned his back on All - Japan Pro Wrestling and aligned himself with All - Japan ' s nemesis , the VooDoo Murders group ; this angered Kawada , who had left All - Japan for Kojima to lead when he lost the Triple Crown in 2005 . On August 26 , 2007 at PRO WRESTLING LOVE in Ryogoku , Vol . 3 , Kawada and Kea lost the Unified World Tag Team Championship to Satoshi Kojima and TARU . On September 16 , following the conclusion of the opening show for the 2007 Flashing Tour , Kawada issued a challenge to Kensuke Sasaki for the Triple Crown Championship ; Sasaki accepted , and Kawada will challenge for the title at All - Japan ' s 35th Anniversary " PRO - WRESTLING LOVE in YOYOGI " show on October 18 , 2007 . Kawada will also team with Ryuji Hijikata to challenge Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima on September 29 , 2007 at the final show of the Flashing Tour . On October 3 , 2009 , at the Misawa Mitsuhara memorial show , Kawada and Akira Taue reunited the Holy Demon Army for one night and defeated Jun Akiyama and KENTA . Three weeks later , he defeated Masato Tanaka to win the Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship . Kawada would return to NOAH on February 28 beating Takeshi Morishima in 10 minutes . Two weeks Later , Kawada would then be announced as a part of NOAH ' s Inaugural " Global League " tournament .