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| Kenzo Suzuki | |
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| Ring name(s) | Kenzo Suzuki Kenzo Suzuky |
| Billed height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Billed weight | 118 kg (260 lb) |
| Born | July 25, 1974
Hekinan, Aichi |
| Trained by | New Japan Dojo Riki Choshu |
| Debut | January 4, 2000 |
Kenzo Suzuki (鈴木 健想) (born July 25, 1974) is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with New Japan Pro Wrestling and in the United States with World Wrestling Entertainment He is currently wrestling in the AAA promotion in Mexico, where he was part of a heel stable known as "La Legion Extranjera" (The Foreign Legion).
Suzuki was a rugby union player playing at the international level for Japan prior to his professional debut as a wrestler in January 2000.[1]
Suzuki debuted at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestling World 2000 event at the Tokyo Dome, replacing Bill Goldberg and losing to Manabu Nakanishi. Later that year, Suzuki won New Japan's Young Lions Cup tournament, defeating Shinya Makabe. He also won Rookie of the Year honors from New Japan in the same year. In his years in New Japan, he was teamed with fellow rookie Hiroshi Tanahashi, who had debuted only four months before him. Their combination was known as The Kings of the Hills.
In 2003, Suzuki resigned from New Japan, choosing to follow his mentor and trainer, Riki Chōshū, to Chōshū's World Japan promotion. Later in the year, he left to wrestle in the United States. It is speculated that he was forced to resign because a wrestler he was helping to train, Giant Ochiai, died while training on his watch.[2][3] The World Japan promotion had been embroiled in controversy up to that point and this news was something that the promotion did not need. This led to him being blackballed, thus venturing to wrestle in the United States. Suzuki wrestled for the Major League Wrestling (MLW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotions in the United States during 2003. Nevertheless, citing lack of competition in the World Japan roster, he quit.
In 2004, Suzuki debuted for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s SmackDown! brand, along with his geisha valet (and real-life wife) Hiroko, whose trademark phrase was "You cheer Kenzo Suzuki on to the victory!" (pronounced vic-to-wee). Dan Madigan created a Hirohito gimmick for his WWE debut, but the idea was dropped and he debuted under his real name. He made his WWE TV debut on the June 10 episode of SmackDown!. His first opponent was Scotty 2 Hotty, followed by Spike Dudley and a short feud with Billy Gunn which ended with a match at the Great American Bash, which Suzuki won. Generally, he worked as a heel with two humorous gimmicks. One was convincing fans he was pro-American by poorly singing popular songs; the other was an obsession with busty wrestling divas such as Torrie Wilson (often earning Hiroko's great ire). Often at house shows and television tapings, the crowd would chant "USA! USA!", while Kenzo covered his ears and got down on one knee.
On the episode of SmackDown! airing September 9, Kenzo, along with Rene Dupree won the WWE Tag Team Championship, defeating Billy Kidman and Paul London. They lost the titles to Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio on the December 9 airing of SmackDown!. Van Dam and Mysterio retained the titles in a rematch at Armageddon. In singles action, he briefly feuded with John Cena for the WWE United States Championship, getting into a battle rap with him at one point.
He was soon injured with a collapsed lung and was moved over to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) immediately after his recovery, where he continued his training until he was ready to return to the main roster. Suzuki and Hiroko were traded to Raw on June 30, 2005 at the end of the Draft Lottery. On July 6, 2005, Kenzo was released from his WWE contract along with his wife Hiroko, before debuting on Raw.
Kenzo and his wife have since returned to Japan, where he now competes for the off-beat Hustle promotion. In a match on December 25, 2005 both Kenzo and Hiroko were defeated by the team of Liosazer & Riser Glen. In one of his more humorous matches, he was defeated by Razor Ramon HG when he was pantsed during a Sunset Flip maneuver.
After leaving the WWE, Suzuki got booked in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) along with Mark Jindrak who went under the name of Marco Corleone who was doing an Italian gimmick. Instantly they were put in a feud with Shocker and Universo 2000. This led to a hairs match on June 12 which Corleone and Suzuki lost to the CMLL veterans. Suzuki was then used sparingly and eventually parted ways with the company.
On March 13, Kenzo was seen on Asistencia Asesoría y Administración after jumping from the rival CMLL. He is a part of the Legion Extranjera with Konnan as the ring leader. On July 7, Suzuki lost his hair in the main event of AAA's TripleMania XV. Sean Waltman was also in the match with his fiancee, Alicia Webb. Kenzo has been an active member of Konnan's Legion Extranjera since his debut and he had an opportunity for the AAA World Heavyweight Championship against Cibernético. He has teamed up with the returning Electroshock who is also a member of the Legion Extranjera. They have feuded with La Parka and Octagón. As of Triplemania XVI he has received a mini who accompanied him to the ring for a six-man tag match teaming with Electroshock and Bobby Lashley to take on Chessman, La Parka, and the returning Silver King. Kenzo's team won in the end. Kenzo was part of the Rey de Reyes 2009 losing to La Parka on March 15.
After Triplemania XVII, Konnan's Legion Extranjera lost control of AAA; Konnan was suspended from Mexican wrestling for an indefinite time. At this time Legion Extranjera was dissolved leaving only Electroshock, Chessman, & Kenzo. Kenzo made an alliance with El Oriental and they formed their own team with Sugi San getting victories in their debut. They would lose to the Psycho Circus at Verano de Escandalo 2009.
On November 7, 2007, Kenzo made his debut in Dragon Gate as the surprise member of the Muscle Outlaw'z unit. He came out to Anthony W. Mori's entrance theme to trick the Typhoon unit into believing one of their own betrayed them. Kenzo competed in a six-man tag team match with new teammates Genki Horiguchi and Yasushi Kanda against CIMA, Dragon Kid, and Ryo Saito that resulted in a disqualification loss for his team after assaulting the referee. Afterward, he and the rest of the MO'z assaulted Dragon Kid and removed the ring ropes to be used against him. This set up a match between Kenzo and Dragon Kid at the big November 25 show in Osaka. His first official singles match in Dragon Gate is scheduled for November 18 against Keni'chiro Arai in Fukuoka.
He is the real life husband of Hiroko Suzuki.
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   | Deceased Superstars - Giant Ochiai - Deceased Superstars - Giant Ochiai |
| | Online World Of Wrestling Profile - Online World of Wrestling |
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