Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Kushida

Kushida

Born:
05/12/1983
,
Ōta, Tokyo
Birthname:
Yujiro Kushida
Height & Weight:
5'9"
,
187 Ib

Titles Won:

  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Alex Shelley
  • Best of the Super Juniors (2015, 2017)
  • Super J-Cup (2016)
  • Super Jr. Tag Tournament (2012) – with Alex Shelley
  • AJPW U-30 Tag Team Tournament (2008) – with T28
  • WWE Cruiserweight Championship

He is best known for his tenure in NJPW, where he is a former six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (with Time Splitters teammate Alex Shelley). He was the winner of the 2015 and 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournaments, the 2016 Super J-Cup, and the 2017 Pro Wrestling World Cup, a tournament co-promoted by NJPW with What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) and Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro).

Kushida previously made appearances for NJPW’s American partner Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a former ROH World Television Champion. In 2019, Kushida signed with WWE, who assigned him to perform on the 205 Live and NXT brands. In WWE, he is a former one-time NXT Cruiserweight Champion.

Kushida began training for a mixed martial arts (MMA) career at Nobuhiko Takada’s Takada Dojo while in junior high school. He made his professional MMA debut in 2003 for the ZST promotion, winning the following year’s ZST Genesis Lightweight Tournament. In 2005, he retired from MMA, ending his career with an undefeated record.