Minoru Suzuki Minoru Suzuki ( June 17 , 1968 ) is a Japan ese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist . Suzuki was the co - founder of Pancrase , one of the first mixed martial arts organizations in the world . During the 1990s he was known as one of the best fighters in the Pancrase promotion and was the second King of Pancrase world champion . Suzuki returned to regular " puroresu " in 2003 , where he has become a perennial top contender for all major Japanese heavyweight championships . He is currently performing mainly for New Japan Pro Wrestling , and he is a former two - time AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion . Suzuki is well noted for his excellence in freestyle wrestling and catch wrestling . He was an Olympic alternate freestyle wrestler for Japan and former Japanese freestyle wrestling national champion . As good as his wrestling credentials are , Suzuki is even more respected for his excellence in the art of catch wrestling and submissions . Suzuki has been praised many times by elite fighters such as Josh Barnett , Bas Rutten and Ken Shamrock for his outstanding grappling and submission skills . Career . Pancrase . Suzuki trained at the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo and made his pro wrestling debut in 1988 , but soon after left with catch wrestling mentor Yoshiaki Fujiwara for the newborn UWF . He joined Fujiwara ' s Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi but then left the organization to form Pancrase , one of the first mixed martial arts organizations in the world , in 1993 with Masakatsu Funaki . Despite his significant size disadvantage against most competitors , Suzuki became one of the most successful fighters in Pancrase with his amazing submission skills and top wrestling ability . Suzuki began his MMA career going 7 - 0 , including a huge upset win over Pancrase ' s # 1 fighter Ken Shamrock in early 1994 . He did not lose a match until he lost to Bas Rutten via Liver shot KO due to a knee to the body . In 1995 , he won the King of Pancrase ( now KOP Open - Weight ) title to become the second ever King of Pancrase . Suzuki twice defeated Ken Shamrock and is the only man to hold two wins over Shamrock in the Pancrase era . Over time , Suzuki ' s body became damaged and worn down from various injuries and resulted in his skills diminishing . He then decided to focus on the business and training side of Pancrase . He collaborated with the Tekken series of fighting video games as a motion actor . His last non - worked fight for Pancrase was against a professional wrestler , Jushin Liger , whom Suzuki had known as Keiichi Yamada in his first NJPW stint . At the time he competed in grappling matches almost exclusively . Suzuki witnessed the transition Pancrase made from the so - called " hybrid wrestling " style to that of regular MMA and was instrumental in paving the way for mixed martial arts in Japan . Suzuki is also erroneously credited on his mixed martial arts record by various MMA websites with a loss to Maurice Smith on the event Pancrase - Yes , We are Hybrid Wrestlers 3 . Suzuki did lose the bout with Smith , but the bout was a kickboxing match with kickboxing rules and kickboxing gloves and was not a mixed martial arts match . Return to professional wrestling . In 2003 , Suzuki and Yusuke Fuke announced their plan to return to puroresu and invade promotions under the stable name Pancrase MISSION . Suzuki began competing for New Japan Pro Wrestling as a freelancer , where he aligned himself with Yoshihiro Takayama and won the IWGP Tag Team Titles from Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Osamu Nishimura on February 1 , 2004 . They were stripped of the titles later in the year , following Takayama ' s mounting injuries . In 2005 , Suzuki began competing in Pro Wrestling Noah , and would receive a GHC Heavyweight Championship shot against then Champion Kenta Kobashi , but he was defeated . After this , he found an unlikely ally in Naomichi Marufuji , whose style was Lucha Libre ( rather than shoot - style ) . Nonetheless , Suzuki taught Marufuji some of what he knew and they clicked , winning the GHC Tag Team Titles from 2 Cold Scorpio and Doug Williams on June 18 , 2005 . After losing the belts to Muhammad Yone and Takeshi Morishima in October , Suzuki challenged for the GHC Heavyweight Championship shot against champion Jun Akiyama on March 5 , 2006 , but he was once again unsuccessful . All Japan Pro Wrestling . On March 10 , 2006 , Suzuki made a surprise appearance in All Japan Pro Wrestling , attacking then Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima after he had just defended his title against The Great Muta . Pundits at once considered Suzuki to have issued a challenge for the Triple Crown . Suzuki participated in the 2006 Champion ' s Carnival , and made it to the semifinals before being defeated by Taiyō Kea . On September 3 , Suzuki challenged Kea , who had won the Triple Crown from Kojima in July . He was successful in his bid to become the new Triple Crown Champion , and will end up having successful defenses against RO ' Z , Yuji Nagata , Kojima , Tajiri and Keiji Mutoh . Suzuki has formed a grouping called " " Minoru Gundan " " consisting of himself , Nosawa Rongai , and MAZADA . In May 2007 he went on a tour of Mexico ' s CMLL with Takayama and experienced Lucha Libre battles . He lost the Triple Crown Championship to Kensuke Sasaki on August 26 , 2007 at AJPW ' s PRO WRESTLING LOVE in RYOGOKU pay - per - view event . At the All Japan FAN APPRECIATION DAY event on December 16 , 2007 , the Mexico Amigos teamed with " Ray Suzuki " and defeated Ryuji Hijikata , Kikutaro , T28 & Ryuji Yamaguchi . After the match , Ray Suzuki reveled himself as Minoru Suzuki and vowed that El NOSAWA Mendoza would throw his Amigos tights away and return as NOSAWA Rongai , and then kidnapped him to start early training . On March 1 , 2008 , Minoru Suzuki made an appearance at the Dory Funk , Jr . retirement show , providing commentary for the Triple Crown Championship main event ( between Kensuke Sasaki and Satoshi Kojima ) , as well as pledging to participate in the upcoming Champion ' s Carnival . From April 5 to 9 , Suzuki competed in Block B of All Japan ' s annual Champion ' s Carnival , finishing the league with 2 wins ( over Kensuke Sasaki and Suwama ) and 2 losses ( to Osamu Nishimura and Joe Doering ) , as well as teaming with TAKEMURA to defeat Toshiaki Kawada and Nobutaka Araya on Day 2 ( April 6 ) of the Carnival . During the Hold Out tour , Suzuki confronted a losing - streak Taiyō Kea about joining the stable GURENTAI ( alongside NOSAWA , MAZADA and TAKEMURA ) , which resulted in Kea joining and focusing on winning the tag titles with Suzuki . On June 28 , 2008 , Suzuki and Kea won the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship from Joe Doering and Keiji Mutoh . On September 28 , 2008 he attacked The Great Muta after Muta had successfully defeated Suwama for the Triple Crown Championship , setting up a match between the two in which he lost on November 3 , 2008 . On January 3 , 2009 , Suzuki and stable mate NOSAWA Rongai won the restored AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship , over the course of a 2 - day tournament . Later in the year , Suzuki won the 2009 Champion ' s Carnival beating Kaz Hayashi in the Finals . He would end up challenging the then Triple Crown Champion , Yoshihiro Takayama , on May 30 , 2009 , albeit in a losing effort . On September 23 , 2009 , Suzuki and NOSAWA lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship at the hands of Akebono and Ryota Hama . On January 3 , 2010 , Suzuki and Kea lost the Unified World Tag Team Championship at the hands of Masakatsu Funaki and Keiji Mutoh . On March 21 , 2010 , Suzuki lost to long - time rival Masakatsu Funaki in All Japan ' s First Cage Match . Suzuki then entered the Champion Carnival and won it for the second straight year , being the third man to do so by beating Funaki in the Final - weeks removed from their Cage Match . After the final , Suzuki buried the hatchet with Funaki by shaking his hand , thus ending the decade - long rivalry . Suzuki then declared his GURENTAI stable on hiatus . As a result of his Champion Carnival victory , Suzuki earned a Triple Crown championship match versus Ryota Hama on May 2 . In the match , Suzuki defeated Hama to claim his second Triple Crown championship . He would go on to lose the title to Suwama on August 29 , 2010 . On December 12 , 2010 , Suzuki returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling , attacking old rival Yuji Nagata . On January 4 , 2011 , at " Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome " , Suzuki faced Nagata in a losing effort .