Yujiro Takahashi

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Yujiro Takahashi
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Yujiro Takahashi Yujiro
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	99 kg (220 lb)
Born	January 13, 1981 (1981-01-13) (age 27) Niigata, Niigata
Trained by	NJPW Dojo
Debut	July 26, 2004 vs. Naofumi Yamamoto

Yujiro Takahashi (高橋裕二郎, Takahashi Yujiro^?, born January 13, 1981), better known by his shortened ring name Yujiro (裕次郎, Yujiro^?) is a Japanese junior heavyweight professional wrestler trained by and currently performing for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he teams with Tetsuya Naito as part of the NO LIMIT tag team.

Takahashi entered New Japan in November 2003 with an extensive amateur background, advancing through the dojo and debuting on July 26, 2004 under his full name.^[1] He shortened his name to Yujiro shortly afterwards. From 2007 to 2008 he was a member of the stable Samurai Gym with El Samurai and Ryusuke Taguchi, which ended when Samurai left the company.

1 Career
- 1.1 2004-2006
- 1.2 2007-2008
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Career

**Finishing and signature moves**^[2]^[3]
Move name	Description
Spear
Diving headbutt
Suisha Otoshi	Over the shoulder back to belly slam
Karelin lift
Belly to belly suplex
Crab hold
German suplex
Trapping suplex

[edit] 2004-2006

Yujiro Takahashi, an esteemed amateur wrestler in college^[1] passed the NJPW dojo entry test in November 2003,^[1] making his debut on July 26, 2004 in a loss to Naofumi Yamamoto at Korakuen Hall.^[4] Takahashi shortened his ring name to simply "Yujiro" shortly thereafter, debuting the name in a match against Akiya Anzawa on September 2, 2004.^[4] Yujiro later entered the 7-man, single-elimination Young Lion Toukon Tournament on October 31, 2004, losing to Hirooki Goto in the first round.^[5] Yujiro continued to wrestle other young lions such as Anzawa, Goto, Yamamoto and Ryusuke Taguchi through 2004 and early 2005, before entering the Young Lion Cup in March 2005; he finished sixth place out of seven with four points, defeating Akiya Anzawa and Tommy Williams during the group stage.^[6]

On November 4, 2005, Yujiro defeated former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Masayuki Naruse, pinning him with an inside cradle.^[7] During the match, Naruse hit several stiff slaps and kicks to the face, breaking Yujiro's jaw and causing him to bleed from the mouth,^[8] forcing him out of action for the rest of the year. Yujiro returned from injury on March 4, 2006, defeating fellow young lion Mitsuhide Hirasawa in the opening match.^[9] Yujiro continued to wrestle in the undercard for the remainder of the year.

[edit] 2007-2008

On January 27, 2007, Yujiro participated in a one-night tournament to decide the #1 contender to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, also including Wataru Inoue, Ryusuke Taguchi and Prince Devitt; Devitt received a bye to the finals due to Taguchi suffering a right eye injury,^[10] and Inoue defeated Yujiro, defeating Devitt in the final as well.^[11] On March 18, 2007, Yujiro joined a new mini-faction started by El Samurai called Samurai Gym, along with Ryusuke Taguchi.^[12] Yujiro received an opportunity at the junior title by traditional means a few months later, unsuccessfully challenging champion Minoru on May 22, 2007 in his first title shot in New Japan.^[13] After nearly three years with the company, Yujiro entered his first Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June 2007, earning 4 points in the group stage by defeating Prince Devitt by forfeit and eventual winner Milano Collection AT by pinfall.^[14] Yujiro finished in sixth place out of seven in his block.

On February 1, 2008, it was announced that El Samurai would be leaving NJPW due to his contract expiring, effectively ending Samurai Gym.^[15] Shortly afterward, Yujiro formed a tag team with fellow rookie Tetsuya Naito called NO LIMIT. In March, the two went to fifteen-minute time limit draws with former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship teams such as Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue, and Minoru and Prince Devitt, and Yujiro pinned veteran Super Strong Machine in a trios match.^[16] All of this led to a junior tag title challenge for the duo, facing Machine's Legend stablemates Jushin Liger and AKIRA, in which NO LIMIT came up short when AKIRA pinned Naito. Yujiro would then participate in the ongoing feud between New Japan and Pro Wrestling ZERO1, teaming with Koji Kanemoto and Manabu Nakanishi in two separate tag team matches, losing to ZERO1's Masato Tanaka and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in the former, and defeating Takao Omori and Osamu Namiguchi in the latter.^[17]

In May 2008, Yujiro and Naito underwent a five-match series with some of New Japan's top tag teams, dubbed "NO LIMIT GENERATION SMASH", held in the various Zepp clubs across Japan. The teams included Jado and Gedo, Togi Makabe and Toru Yano, Wataru Inoue and Koji Kanemoto, Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto, and Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi. NO LIMIT lost all five matches.^[18] A special sixth match in the series took place in ZERO1 on May 29, 2008, Yujiro and Naito defeating ZERO1's Osamu Namiguchi and Shito Ueda.^[19]