Takayuki Yagi
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Takayuki Yagi is a referee and former wrestler for Dragon Gate.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Wrestler
Yagi joined the Toryumon system as a part of the T2P class. His initial gimmick was Pescatore Yagi, an Italian fisherman. He would join the Italian Connection as a heel.
When the ItaCon was forced to admit they were all Japanese and not Italian as per a match stipulation, Yagi admitted that he was not a fisherman, but instead a baker. Stable leader Milano Collection A.T. then (kayfabe) banished him to his father's bakery to learn his trade.
He would make his return as Bakery Yagi. At this point, the Italian Connection was full of internal strife as to whether the stable was to be face or heel. As Bakery, he came down on the heel side. He began carrying loaves of bread to the ring, and using them as weapons in matches. When the ItaCon split, Yagi sided with the heels.
Yagi's in-ring career would end as part of the unnamed ItaCon breakaway faction. He, group leader Shuji Kondo, and brother YASSHI, were in the ring, when Kondo ordered him to the back to get some bread he baked. While he was backstage, Torou Owashi entered the ring. He made the statement that "sumos don't eat bread", and the three men attacked Yagi, shoving his bread down his throat.
[edit] Referee
Yagi returned to Dragon Gate, but as a referee rather than a wrestler. It is presumed that he stepped down because of injury.
His first role as a referee was that of a face referee who was continually bothered by the antics of the Frolida Brothers. He would eventually join the Floridas, however, as a partial referee. He wore an American flag motif shirt instead of a referee's jersey, and wore oversized celebrity sunglasses, without which he couldn't see.
He also performed with the Floridas as the masked Johnson Florida. Even though the Floridas Brothers have ended, he still performs as Johnson on occasion. He and Jackson Florida make up the Florida Express.
When the Florida Bros ended, Yagi returned to being the face referee. On a few occasions, he attacked Kinta Tomoaka, the partial heel referee for the Muscle Outlaw'z.
