Yujiro Takahashi | |
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Ring name(s) | Yujiro Takahashi Yujiro |
Billed height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] |
Billed weight | 105 kg (230 lb)[1] |
Born | January 13, 1981 [1] Niigata, Niigata, Japan[1] |
Trained by | NJPW Dojo[1] |
Debut | June 26, 2004[1] |
Yujiro Takahashi (高橋 裕二郎 Takahashi Yujiro , born January 13, 1981),[1] also known by his shortened ring name Yujiro (裕次郎 ) is a Japanese professional wrestler trained by and currently performing for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former IWGP Tag Team and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with former partner Tetsuya Naitō, with whom he teamed as No Limit.
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.
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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.[2] Takahashi shortened his ring name to simply "Yujiro" shortly thereafter, debuting the name in a match against Akiya Anzawa on September 2, 2004.[2] Yujiro later entered the 7-man, single-elimination Young Lion Toukon Tournament on October 31, 2004, losing to Hirooki Goto in the first round.[3] 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.[4] On November 4, 2005, Yujiro defeated former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Masayuki Naruse, pinning him with an inside cradle.[5] 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,[6] 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.[7] Yujiro continued to wrestle in the undercard for the remainder of the year.
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,[8] and Inoue defeated Yujiro, defeating Devitt in the final as well.[9] On March 18, 2007, Yujiro joined a new mini-faction started by El Samurai called Samurai Gym, along with Ryusuke Taguchi.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] Shortly afterward, Yujiro formed a tag team with fellow rookie Tetsuya Naitō 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.[14] 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 Ōmori and Osamu Namiguchi in the latter.[15]
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.[16] A special sixth match in the series took place in ZERO1 on May 29, 2008, Yujiro and Naito defeated ZERO1's Osamu Namiguchi and Shito Ueda.[17] In June 2008, Yujiro entered the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, going winless in his first four matches before defeating Minoru in his final bout to finish with two points.[18] The following month, Yujiro participated in a single-elimination tournament to decide the new holder of the recently vacated IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. He defeated Tetsuya Naito in the first round, before falling to Prince Devitt in the quarterfinals.[19] On October 13, 2008, at Destruction '08 Yujiro and Naito defeated Devitt and Minoru to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On January 4, 2009, at Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome The Motor City Machine Guns of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin defeated them to win the tag team titles.[20]
Shortly after losing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Yujiro and Naito traveled to North America for a "developmental tour", something often done with young Japanese wrestlers to expose them to other styles of wrestling and help them develop into better wrestlers. No Limit worked mainly for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), while also making an appearance for both Team 3D's wrestling academy and Jersey All Pro Wrestling, although Naito wasn't able to wrestle in JAPW due to an injury and was replaced by the team's TNA ally Sheik Abdul Bashir.[21] Yujiro and Naito worked for TNA approximately two months, receiving unsuccessful shots at both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship held by Team 3D.[22] No Limit's final appearance for TNA was a handicap match on the May 14, 2009, edition of Impact! against Kevin Nash, which the team lost.[23]
No Limit made their debut for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico City, Mexico on May 29, 2009 teaming with Dos Caras, Jr. to defeat Héctor Garza, La Sombra and Volador, Jr.. No Limit were presented as "Anti-Mexican" heels ("bad guys") and soon began teaming with Okumura under the name La Ola Amarilla (Spanish for "The Yellow Wave") in matches against Mexicans. On July 10, 2009 No Limit teamed with Black Warrior to defeat the team of Héctor Garza, Toscano and El Sagrado, After the match Black Warrior made a challenge on behalf of Yujiro (as Yujiro does not speak Spanish) for a "hair vs. hair" match with Garza.[24] This led to all men being involved in a 15-man steel cage Luchas de Apuestas match at Infierno en el Ring that Naito won by pinning Toscano, forcing him to have his hair shaved off.[25] Following the match No Limit's focus was on Black Warrior, who had turned on them during the cage match. When Jushin Liger toured Mexico in September, 2009 he joined the "Anti-Mexico" faction, teaming with No Limit and Okumura to defeat Team Mexico (Último Guerrero, Atlantis, Black Warrior and Héctor Garza) at the CMLL 76th Anniversary Show on September 18, 2009.[26] The following week Yujio teamed with Okumura to win the 2009 Gran Alternativa tournament, defeating Toscano and Rouge in the first round, Héctor Garza and Ángel de Plata in the second round and Místico and Ángel de Oro in the finals.[27] The storyline feud between No Limit and Black Warrior reached its conclusion on October 16, 2009 as Black Warrior faced Yujiro in a Lucha de Apuesta, hair vs. hair match that Yujiro won two falls to one, forcing Black Warrior to have his hair shaved off after the match.[28] After the storyline with Black Warrior ended No Limit began working with the team of El Texano, Jr. and El Terrible in a feud that led to a Lucha de Apuesta hair vs. hair match between the two teams that was the main event of CMLL's Sin Salida show on December 4, 2009. After being successful throughout the summer and fall No Limit finally lost to Texano, Jr. and Terrible at Sin Salida and were both shaved completely bald after the match per Lucha Libre traditions.[29]
On December 5, 2009, NJPW announced that Yujiro and Naito were returning to Japan as part of their annual January 4 Tokyo Dome show called Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome.[30] At the event Yujiro and Naito defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) and Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) in a three-way hardcore match to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[31] No Limit had their first title defense on February 14, 2010, defeating El Texano, Jr. and El Terrible to retain the title.[32] He began using his full name again in February 2010 to signal his progress.[33] On April 4 at New Dimension No Limit joined New Japan's top heel stable CHAOS, led by the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura.[34] On May 3, 2010, at Wrestling Dontaku 2010 Takahashi and Naito lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue of the Blue Justice Army in a three-way match, which also included Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson).[35] On October 24 No Limit entered the 2010 G1 Climax Tag League.[36] After three wins and two losses, they finished first in their block and advanced to the semifinals.[37] On November 7, after defeating Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man in the semifinals, No Limit was defeated in the finals of the tournament by Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue.[38] On December 11, 2010, No Limit picked up a major win by defeating the TNA World Tag Team Champions, The Motor City Machine Guns, in a non–title match.[39] On May 3, 2011, No Limit failed in their attempt to regain the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Bad Intentions. After the match Takahashi walked out on Naito.[40][41] In May 2011 Takahashi took part in New Japan's first tour of the United States. On May 13 in Rahway, New Jersey, he entered the tournament to determine the first ever IWGP Intercontinental Champion, defeating Hideo Saito in his first round match.[42] The following day in New York City, Takahashi was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinal stage by his CHAOS stablemate Toru Yano.[43] Upon their return to Japan, Takahashi turned on Naito on May 26, effectively dissolving No Limit.[44] On June 18 at Dominion 6.18, Takahashi defeated Naito in the first match between the former members of No Limit.[45] The two had a rematch on August 1 during the first day of the 2011 G1 Climax, where Takahashi was once again victorious.[46] Despite his strong start in the tournament, Takahashi only managed to win two more out of his eight remaining matches, finishing second to last in his block, whereas his former partner made it all the way to the finals.[47] On September 19, Naito defeated Takahashi in the third singles match between the two.[48] In the 2011 G1 Climax Tag League, Takahashi teamed with Masato Tanaka with the team picking up three wins in their five group stage matches, including a win over the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions, Bad Intentions, on October 30.[49] However, a loss to Tetsuya Naito and Tomoaki Honma on October 4, with Naito again pinning Takahashi, meant that Takahashi and Tanaka narrowly missed advancing to the semifinals of the tournament.[50] Takahashi then got involved in Tanaka's IWGP Intercontinental Championship rivalry with MVP, which built to a tag team match on January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where Takahashi and Tanaka were defeated by MVP and Shelton Benjamin.[51]
Wager | Winner | Loser | Location | Date | Notes |
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Hair | Naito | Toscano | Mexico City, Mexico | July 31, 2009 | This was a 15-man steel cage elimination match, also including Yujiro, Shocker, Héctor Garza, Negro Casas, Black Warrior, El Terrible, El Texano, Jr., Shigeo Okumura, Blue Panther, Máximo, Ray Mendoza Jr., Heavy Metal and Mictlán, held at the 2009 Infierno en el Ring show.[25] |
Hair | Yujiro | Black Warrior | Mexico City, Mexico | October 16, 2009 | At the 2009 Gran Alternativa show.[28] |
Hair | El Texano, Jr. and El Terrible | No Limit (Yujiro and Naito) | Mexico City, Mexico | December 4, 2009 | Main event of CMLL's Sin Salida show.[29] |
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