Jun Akiyama Jun Akiyama ( October 9 , 1969 ) is an Japan ese professional wrestler who currently works for Pro Wrestling NOAH . Akiyama is known for his serious style and outstanding , time - tested work as a tag team wrestler . He also gained notoriety for his innovation of the Blue Thunder Driver and the wrist – clutch exploder suplex . Before wrestling . In junior high school , Akiyama practiced swimming and in senior high school he did freestyle amateur wrestling and judo . After high school he went to Senshu University in Tokyo . There he joined an amateur wrestling team that produced other professional wrestlers Riki Chōshū , Hiroshi Hase and Manabu Nakanishi . Professional wrestling career . All Japan Pro Wrestling ( 1992 – 2000 ) . Akiyama had great success as an amateur wrestler and was eventually scouted by All Japan Pro Wrestling . He made his professional wrestling debut in September 1992 in a match against Kenta Kobashi , which he lost . He gradually rose in rank , earning a trial series in January 1993 . Afterwards , Akiyama started competition in tag teams . The tag team division soon became his specialty , teaming with Takao Ōmori against Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa . On more than one occasion , Dave Meltzer rated the matches they had together five stars . In 1995 , he split with Taue , and was selected to be Misawa ' s partner after he split with Kobashi . The two teamed together successfully and won the AJPW Tag Team Titles during 1996 . Akiyama and Misawa also competed in the Real World Tag League tournaments in 1996 and 1997 , but lost in successive years to the team of Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue . Akiyama then began closing in on the Triple Crown Championship , first challenging Misawa in September 1997 , again challenging Misawa in January 1998 , Kobashi in July 1998 and Vader in January 2000 . He was unsuccessful on all occasions , and never managed to capture the championship . After teaming with Misawa , Akiyama began teaming with Kenta Kobashi to form ' Burning ' . The team won numerous tag team titles and competed against the teams of Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa , Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue , Yoshihiro Takayama and Takao Ōmori and others . Burning also won the Real World Tag League tournament in 1998 by defeating the team of Stan Hansen and Vader , and again in 1999 by defeating Akira Taue and Stan Hansen . Akiyama ' s last major victory in All Japan Pro Wrestling was on February 27 , 2000 , when he defeated former tag team partner Mitsuharu Misawa by pinfall in a heated and highly acclaimed contest . Pro Wrestling Noah ( 2000 – 2010 ) . After a controversy in AJPW over the direction and management , he left the company with Mitsuharu Misawa , and half the roster , for Misawa ' s newly created Pro Wrestling NOAH in mid - 2000 . Like many other members who made the jump , Akiyama gave himself a makeover , dropping his trademark blue and white trimmed boots and blue trunks for white boots and trunks and dyed his hair brown . He was quickly established as a top star of the company , winning both falls in the Main Event of NOAH ' s first show , choking out Kenta Kobashi in the second Noah show , and becoming the second GHC Heavyweight Champion , He had stellar title defenses in New Japan Pro Wrestling against Yuji Nagata and Hiroshi Tanahashi . But a lack of worthy contenders eventually forced Noah to abandon his push , using Yoshinari Ogawa to transition the title back to Misawa . He continued work in Noah as a tag team competitor again to critical acclaim , winning the GHC Tag Team Championship with Akitoshi Saito . In April 2004 , he created the GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship to get back into singles competitions , and adapting an attitude manifested by wearing trunks that were odd colors for him . These motives helped put him back into contention for the GHC title against Kenta Kobashi , which was voted as Match of the Year . Late 2004 and much of 2005 were highlighted by his feud with protégé Makoto Hashi where Akiyama used " tough love " to toughen up young Hashi . On January 22 , 2006 , Akiyama defeated Akira Taue to become the GHC Heavyweight Champion for the second time , defending the title against Minoru Suzuki on March 5 and Masao Inoue on April 24 . Akiyama was defeated by Naomichi Marufuji on Noah ' s September 9 Nippon Budokan show in his third defense of the GHC Heavyweight Title . Following his title loss to Naomichi Marufuji , Akiyama made good his promise to Tsuyoshi Kikuchi , going back to wearing blue trunks , and wrestling mainly in the undercard . He successfully redeemed himself by defeating Kikuchi and once again wore white trunks following that match . This put him back in line for success , which had him winning the tag titles a second time with Takeshi Rikio . However , due to an injury to Rikio , they were forced to vacate the titles . Akiyama competed at New Japan Pro Wrestling ' s third Annual " Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome " show , defeating Manabu Nakanishi . On March 1 , 2009 Akiyama defeated Kensuke Sasaki for the GHC Heavyweight Championship . On June 14 , 2009 he was forced to vacate the title due to injury , in which left him out of action for the rest of the tour . After making his return later that year , Akiyama continued to wrestle sporadically whilst struggling with back injuries and the burden of post traumatic stress syndrome . Retirement ( 2010 ) . At the beginning of 2010 , Akiyama announced that he would retire from professional wrestling if he did not win the upcoming Global League Tournament . Akiyama performed well during the tournament , achieving a total of eight points with four wins and just one loss . As the Block B winner , he faced Block A winner Yoshihiro Takayama in the final match on May 2 . Takayama pinned Akiyama with an everest style German suplex , thus ending Akiyama ' s career . It is not known at this point if Akiyama ' s retirement is legitimate or kayfabe . Given his serious back injuries and alleged issues with post traumatic stress syndrome , it is not known if Akiyama will compete again . After this , Akiyama competed on a Kensuke Office show , and was announced for all the Navigation with Breeze 2010 cards , showing he is not retired , at least not yet .