Championship History

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
WEW Heavyweight Championship


Major Tournaments Won

None
Real Name: Toru Yano
Birth: May 18th, 1978
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 255 lbs.
Background: New Japan Dojo
Debut: May 18th, 2002
Other Identities: None
Alliances: None
Promotion History: New Japan (2002 to present)

Awards and Recognition

Tokyo Sports Grand Prix:
Tag Team of the Year (2007)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated:
Highest Rank was #212 in 2010

Puroresu Central Awards:
3rd Place Tag Team of the Year (2008)

Wrestling Observer Awards:
None

Notable Matches

July 19th, 2004 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
June 18th, 2005 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
October 18th, 2006 with Ishii vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Naofumi Yamamoto
July 19th, 2007 vs. Kintaro Kanemura
February 17th, 2008 with Makabe vs. Tomko and Giant Bernard

Other Pictures

A reverse chinlock by Yano
Yano hits a German Suplex
Yano chokes Honma

Wrestling Moves Videos Reviewed Matches on Puroresu Central
Canadian backbreaker
Front Suplex
Oni Koroshi
Uragasumi
  October 24th, 2004 - Yano and Goto vs. Super Love Machine and Love Machine Arashi
November 13th, 2004 - Yano and Makabe vs. Nagai and Naruse
December 11th, 2004 - Yano and Makabe vs. Tenryu and Nakajima
January 4th, 2006 - 12 Man Tag featuring Toru Yano
January 4th, 2007 - Yano, Makabe, and Ishii vs. Brown, Buchanan, and Tomko
January 4th, 2008 - Toru Yano and Togi Makabe vs. Team 3D
April 27th, 2008 - Yano and Makabe vs. Tenzan and Iizuka
October 13th, 2008 - Yano, Makabe, and Ishii vs. Kojima, KAI, and Yamato
January 4th, 2010 - Eight Man Legends Tag featuring Yano

For the first part of 2005, Yano was one of the biggest rule breakers in New Japan, constantly using foreign objects (such as a sandal or umbrella) in his matches.  After an excursion in America, Chono tried to reel Yano in, but had limited success.  In late 2005, after a trip to Europe, Yano came back a changed man.  No longer with dyed hair, he finally began wrestling a serious style and as a heavyweight expects to climb higher up the ladder soon.

Yano continued trying to work his way up the card in 2006 with limited success. After briefly becoming a more honest and law-abiding wrestler, he soon went back to his cheating ways to pick up a few key wins. Yano lost to Giant Bernard in the first round of the New Japan Cup and he did not take part in the G1 Climax. Towards the second half of the year he began teaming with Ishii, and the pair would join Tenzan's Great Bash Heel group in December as the Tag Team portion of the faction. Yano had a few pinfall victories over the mid-card New Japan Sekigun wrestlers (such as Taguchi), but he lost in his singles match against Nakamura on December 7th.

Yano continued to have moderate success in 2007, participating in all the major tournaments and picking up a few notable victories. In the New Japan Cup, Yano lost in the first round to Nakamura. In the G1 Climax, Yano defeated Nakanishi and Koshinaka and also went to a double countout with Tanahashi, but he missed reaching the semi-finals by one point. Throughout the year he teamed at first with Ishii and later with Makabe, and he also also invaded Apache Pro. This lead to Yano winning the WEW Heavyweight Championship, his first championship in Japan. In the G1 Tag League, Yano teamed with Makabe and together they reached the semi-finals before losing to Giant Bernard and Tomko. On December 9th he had a singles match against Goto, but Goto would come up victorious, showing that Yano still has a bit more growing to do before he is breaks into the main event picture.

2008 started poorly for Yano, as he and Makabe lost to Brother Ray and Brother Devon at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th. They quickly turned things around however, as on February 17th they defeated Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They would have four successful defenses for the rest of the year, defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Takashi Iizuka, Giant Bernard & Rick Fuller, Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto, and Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie. At the New Japan Cup, Yano defeated Milano Collection AT and Rhino before falling to Giant Bernard in the semi-finals. In the G1 Climax, Yano would defeat Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Nakamura but failed to reach the finals. Yano would team with Makabe in the G1 Tag League, and they would reach the finals before losing to Tenzan and Kojima. At the end of the year Yano was still the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and as a solid number three in GBH.

After starting the year in GBH, after he and Togi Makabe lost in their title challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in the spring, Yano turned on his friend and joined a new group called CHAOS. In CHAOS, Yano was sometimes lost in the mix as it was a large faction of eight wrestlers but he still made sure to harass Makabe whenever possible. In the New Japan Cup, Yano lost in the first round to Milano Collection AT. On June 20th, in a big singles match against Togi Makabe, Yano defeated his former partner with the Oni Koroshi. Yano did very respectable in the G1 Climax, including a win over Giant Bernard, but he failed to reach the Semi Finals. In the G1 Tag League, Yano teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura, and the pair won their block but were upset in the Semi Finals by Ryusuke Taguchi and Prince Devitt.