Takuho Kato (加藤拓歩, Kato Takuho) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for his tenure with Japanese promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling where he is a former Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Champion.[3]

Takuho Kato
Kato in February 2018
Born (1998-01-02) 2 January 1998 (age 26)[1]
Sapporo, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)
  • Takuho Kato
Billed height173 cm (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Billed weight95 kg (209 lb)
Debut2018
Retired2023

Professional wrestling career

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Big Japan Pro Wrestling (2018–2023)

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Kato made his professional wrestling debut in Big Japan Pro Wrestling at BJW New Year 2018 on January 2, where he teamed up with Takuya Nomura in a losing effort against Masaki Morihio and Yuya Aoki in tag team competition.[4]

During his five-year tenure with the promotion, Kato chased for various championships owned by it. He won only one title in his career, the Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Championship on October 3, 2019, at a house show alongside Daisuke Sekimoto and Akira Hyodo by defeating Abdullah Kobayashi, Kankuro Hoshino, and Yuko Miyamoto for the vacant titles.[5] Their reign lasted for 450 days with a total of five successful defenses.[2] At a house show from September 8, 2019, Kato teamed up with Yuji Okabayashi to unsuccessfully challenge Daisuke Sekimoto and The Bodyguard for the BJW Tag Team Championship.[6] At BJW Weekday Premium on October 1, 2021, Kato teamed up with Hiroyuki Suzuki to unsuccessfully challenge Astronauts (Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura) for the Iron Fist Tag Team Championship, titles promoted by Pro-Wrestling Basara.[7]

Kato competed in several signature events of the promotion. As for the Ikkitousen Strong Climb, he made his only appearance at the 2022 edition in which he competed in the A Block against Yasufumi Nakanoue, Hideyoshi Kamitani, Yuji Okabayashi, Takuya Nomura and Kota Sekifuda, scoring a total of two points.[8] In the Saikyo Tag League, Kato made his first appearance at the 2019 edition of the tournament in which he teamed up with Akira Hyodo in the A Block where they failed to score any points after competing against the teams of Shigehiro Irie and Yuji Okabayashi, Okami (Daichi Hashimoto and Hideyoshi Kamitani), Kazumi Kikuta and Ryuichi Kawakami, Daisuke Sekimoto and The Bodyguard, Ryota Hama and Yasufumi Nakanoue, StrongHearts (El Lindaman and T-Hawk), and Astronauts (Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura).[9] He marked his last appearance at the 2022 edition in which he teamed up with Hiroyuki Suzuki and scored a total of ten points in the A Block which was enough to qualify them into the semifinals. In the Block A, they fought against the teams of Astronauts (Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura), Yasufumi Nakanoue and Andy Wu, Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto), Kohei Sato and Kazumi Kikuta, Kota Sekifuda and Tomato Kaji, Masaya Takahashi and Masked GO!GOGO, Ryuji Ito and Jaki Numazawa, and Daisuke Sekimoto and Kazumasa Yoshida. In the semifinals, Kato and Suzuki fell short to Abdullah Kobayashi and Daiju Wakamatsu.[10]

Kaientai Dojo (2018)

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Due to BJW holding multiple business partnerships with various promotions from the Japanese independent circuit, Kato often made external appearances as a developmental talent.[2] In Kaientai Dojo, he competed in the 2018 edition of the K-Metal League in which he defeated Tatsuya Hanami, Marines Mask, Shinichiro Wakita and Kelly Sixx to make it to the finals where he fell short to Marines Mask.[11]

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2019, 2022)

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Kato also competed several times for All Japan Pro Wrestling. At AJPW Summer Explosion Series 2019 on September 3, he teamed up with Akira Hyodo and Yuki Ishikawa in a losing effort against Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura and Yusuke Okada.[12] Kato briefly returned to the promotion three years later and competed at AJPW Excite Series 2022 on February 23, where he teamed up with Kazumasa Yoshida in a losing effort against Dan Tamura and Ryuji Hijikata.[13]

Retirement (2023)

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Kato retired from professional wrestling on September 28, 2023.[14]

Championships and accomplishments

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References

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  1. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Takuho Kato • General Information". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Takuho Kato/Career Data". cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  3. ^ Internet Wrestling Database (IWD). "Takuho Kato Profile & Match Listing". profightdb.com. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  4. ^ Dark Angelita (8 January 2018). "BJW: Resultados "New Year 2018" y «Death Match King Death» Defensa de los títulos individuales". Superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  5. ^ Big Japan Pro Wrestling (3 October 2019). 北海道・旭川東地区体育センター大会. bjw.co.jp. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  6. ^ Big Japan Pro Wrestling (8 September 2019). アクロス福岡大会 2019年09月08日(日). bjw.co.jp. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  7. ^ Dark Angelita (8 October 2021). "BJW: "Weekday Premium" Defensa del cetro de parejas de BASARA". Superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  8. ^ Dark Angelita (28 February 2022). "BJW: "Ikkitousen Strong Climb 2022" Grand Final, Daisuke Sekimoto the winner". Superluchas.com. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  9. ^ Dark Angelita (5 September 2019). "BJW: Participants and schedule of the «Saikyou Tag League 2019»". Superluchas.com. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  10. ^ Dark Angelita (24 February 2023). "BJW:«Saikyou Tag League 2022» Gran Final". Superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  11. ^ Dark Angelita (9 May 2018). "K-Dojo: Torneo "K-Metal League 2018"". Superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  12. ^ "AJPW Summer Explosion Series 2019 (September 3) Results & Review". voicesofwrestling.com. Voices of Wrestling. 5 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  13. ^ Di Trolio, Gerard (23 February 2022). "AJPW Excite Series 2022 (February 23) Results & Review". voicesofwrestling.com. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  14. ^ Thompson, Andrew (12 September 2023). "Big Japan's Takuho Kato to retire from in-ring competition". POSTWrestling. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
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