Taiyō Kea

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Maunakea Mossman
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Maunakea Mossman Taiyō Kea
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	234 lb (106 kg)
Born	November 18, 1975 (1975-11-18) (age 32) Honolulu, Hawaii
Resides	Japan
Trained by	AJPW Dojo
Debut	November 26, 1994

Maunakea Mossman is an American professional wrestler, better known under his stage name Taiyō Kea (太陽ケア). Although he was born in Hawaii, he has spent nearly his entire career as a member of the Japan-based All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. He is the only wrestler to have held the AJPW Triple Crown Championship, the AJPW Double Cup Tag Team Championship and the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

1 Career
2 In wrestling
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

Mossman was a Hawaiian state amateur champion, and was scouted by Giant Baba during a trip to the islands. Debuting in 1994 as a junior heavyweight, Mossman was pushed immediately, winning the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title in 1997. He vacated the title in 1998, as he graduated up to the heavyweight division. Following Baba's death in 1999, Misawa inherited the role as the booker and chose to postpone Mossman's push. With the massive exodus of Misawa and all but two native talent to form Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2000, Mossman was one of the few who chose to remain in All Japan Pro Wrestling, aiding in the rebuilding process along with Toshiaki Kawada, Masanobu Fuchi, Hiroshi Hase, Stan Hansen, the returning Genichiro Tenryu, Nobutaka Araya and Shigeo Okumura. In order to identify him more with the audience, Mossman was given the semi-Japanese name "Taiyō Kea" (from taiyo, sun, and the Polynesian word kea). Kea was pushed as a strong loyalist and won the AJPW World Tag Team Titles with Johnny Smith.

In October 2001, Kea and new partner Keiji Mutoh made history twice in one week by winning both AJPW's Double Cup and New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Tag Team Titles, which made them the first team to not only win both titles, but also the first to hold them simultaneously. On June 16, 2002, Kea competed in the tournament to crown the first MLW World Heavyweight Champion, where he defeated The Wall in the Quarter-Finals, wrestled Vampiro to a draw in the Semi-Finals and lost in the Final to Shane Douglas in a 3-Way Dance (which also featured Vampiro). Kea would compete for Major League Wrestling again on September 26, 2002, where he defeated Sabu in a #1 Contender's Match for the MLW title, but Kea never returned to the promotion to claim his title shot.

In 2003, Kea joined Taka Michinoku's RO&D stable as second-in-command, and proceeded to win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles for a fourth time with Jamal. On April 20, 2006, Kea won AJPW's Champion Carnival, defeating Minoru Suzuki in the semifinals and Suwama in the finals. On July 3, 2006, he won the Triple Crown Championship by defeating Satoshi Kojima. He would only hold the championship for 2 months, as he lost to mixed martial artist/freelancer Minoru Suzuki on September 3. He participated in the Real World Tag League 2006 with Taka Michinoku as his partner, finishing fourth in the bracket with 5 points (two wins, two losses, one draw).

Taiyō Kea competed in what is considered to be his biggest match to date when he challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at NJPW's January 4, 2007 Tokyo Dome show. Kea fell to Tanahashi's High Fly Flow. On February 17, Kea and Kawada defeated Suwama and RO'Z to claim the vacant Double Cup. On March 26 - March 30, Kea competed in Block A of the 2007 Champion's Carnival, finishing with 4 points (one win, one loss, two draws).