is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Gentaro (stylized as GENTARO). Though officially affiliated with the Pro Wrestling Freedoms promotion, Gentaro also works for several other independent promotions, including DDT Pro-Wrestling, Kaientai Dojo and women's wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon, where he works mainly as the lead play-by-play announcer. Takahashi also makes sporadic appearances as the masked character Benten (also stylized in all capital letters).
Professional wrestling career Trained by the Wrestle Dream Factory (WDF) promotion, Takahashi made his professional wrestling debut on May 8, 1999, at a WDF event in Tokorozawa, Saitama. While also making appearances for Kageki Pro as the masked character Nasty Black Panther, Takahashi remained with WDF for two years, before becoming a freelancer in 2001.
Dramatic Dream Team / DDT Pro-Wrestling (2000–2012, 2014) On November 30, 2000, Gentaro made his debut for Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), teaming with Takashi Sasaki in a tag team match, where they defeated Kengo Takai and Yuki Nishino. Gentaro began working regularly for the promotion in October 2001, when he started a storyline rivalry with Mikami. On November 1, Gentaro won his first title in DDT, when he and Yoshiya defeated Mikami and Thanomsak Toba to win the vacant KO-D Tag Team Championship. Gentaro and Yoshiya made their first successful defense on November 30, defeating Mikami and Toba in a rematch, with Gentaro pinning his rival for the win. However, on December 12, Mikami came back and pinned Gentaro to make himself and Gentaro's former partner Takashi Sasaki the new KO-D Tag Team Champions. On June 6, 2002, Gentaro received his first shot at DDT's top singles title, the KO-D Openweight Championship, when he unsuccessfully challenged Kintaro Kanemura. In July, Gentaro reunited with Takashi Sasaki, under the team name Akarangers, to take part in the 2002 KO-D Tag League, where they would finish third. On October 24, the Akarangers defeated Mikami and Thanomsak Toba in a Championship vs. Championship match to retain the WEW World Tag Team Championship and win the KO-D Tag Team Championship. On November 14, Gentaro defeated Sasaki and Tomohiko Hashimoto in a three-way match to become the number one contender to the KO-D Openweight Championship. On November 29, Gentaro defeated Sanshiro Takagi to also become the new KO-D Openweight Champion. However, his reign would last less than a month, as he was defeated by his rival Mikami on December 22, in a four-way match, which also included Sanshiro Takagi and Tomohiko Hashimoto. On January 4, 2003, Gentaro made his first appearance as the kabuki mask wearing Benten, taking part in a battle royal for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. Benten has since also made appearances for Kaientai Dojo, Apache Pro-Wrestling Army, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Union Pro Wrestling. On January 31, 2003, Gentaro and Sasaki lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Sanshiro Takagi and Tomohiko Hashimoto. Shortly afterwards, Gentaro left DDT for the remainder of the year, returning in early 2004, when he reunited with Sasaki, with the two defeating Hero! and Kudo on February 11 to regain the KO-D Tag Team Championship. After three successful defenses, they lost the title to Ryuji Ito and Sanshiro Takagi on July 1. On September 30, Gentaro won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship two times during a ten-minute battle royal, but was unable to leave the match with the title. From October 2004 to December 2009, Gentaro only made fifteen appearances for DDT, but still managed to win the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship for the third time on April 9, 2008, and losing it two days later.
Gentaro finally returned full-time on January 10, 2010, when he defeated longtime rival Mikami for the DDT Extreme Championship. After a four-month reign, he lost the title to Danshoku Dino on May 5. In October 2010, Gentaro formed a new stable named Granma with Dick Togo and Yasu Urano. After Gentaro and Urano unsuccessfully challenged Antonio Honda and Daisuke Sasaki for the KO-D Tag Team Championship on November 28, Gentaro also faced Honda in a losing effort for the interim KO-D Openweight Championship on December 26. On February 20, 2011, Gentaro and Urano defeated Honda and Sasaki in a rematch to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship, Gentaro's third time winning the title. On March 27, Gentaro entered the annual Anytime and Anywhere battle royal, a match combining elements of a regular battle royal and a ladder match, where he managed to grab the "Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere" contract to earn the right to challenge for the KO-D Openweight Championship at a time of his own choosing. After three successful title defenses, Gentaro and Urano lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Munenori Sawa and Shigehiro Irie on June 4. On June 19, Gentaro cashed in his "Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere" contract, but was defeated in his KO-D Openweight Championship match by the defending champion, Shuji Ishikawa. Granma folded shortly afterwards, following the retirement of Dick Togo on June 30, and Gentaro and Urano failing to recapture the KO-D Tag Team Championship on July 24. Gentaro returned to DDT on June 3, 2012, when Tomomitsu Matsunaga chose him as his tag team partner, after earning the right to challenge for the KO-D Tag Team Championship. In their title match, Gentaro and Matsunaga were defeated by the defending champions, Yasu Urano and Yuji Hino. On July 30, Gentaro returned to referee a four-way tag team match, after which he surprised one of the competitors, Mio Shirai, and pinned her to become the new Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion. However, his reign ended later that same event, when he was pinned by Michael Mamezawa.
Gentaro returned to DDT on July 20, 2014, when he teamed with Yasu Urano in a tag team match, where they faced Mikami and Tomomitsu Matsunaga. After submitting Mikami for the win, Gentaro entered a storyline, where he took his "unmotivated" opponent under his wing to help him out of his recent slump. This led to a match on August 17 at DDT's biggest event of the year, Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2014, where Gentaro and Mikami defeated Akito and Yasu Urano.
WEW and Apache Pro-Wrestling Army (2002–2009) In 2002, Gentaro began working for the newly founded World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW), teaming with Takashi Sasaki on August 23 to defeat Hi68 and Taka Michinoku and become the first WEW-promoted World Tag Team Champions. After a seven-month reign, Gentaro and Sasaki lost the title to Kintaro Kanemura and Tetsuhiro Kuroda on March 11, 2003. The following year, WEW folded and was replaced by Apache Pro-Wrestling Army, with Gentaro jumping to the new promotion, where he would join the Apache Army. As a member of the Apache Army, Gentaro formed a regular partnership with The Winger and adopted a new character, opposing all hardcore wrestling. On September 23, 2007, Gentaro and The Winger defeated Jun Kasai and Jaki Numazawa to win the WEW World Tag Team Championship, starting Gentaro's second reign with the title. They would lose the title to Tokyo Gurentai (Mazada and Nosawa Rongai) on April 17, 2008. The following year, Apache Pro-Wrestling Army folded.
Kaientai Dojo (2003–present) On August 16, 2003, Gentaro made his debut for Kaientai Dojo, teaming with Hi69 to defeat Kengo Mashimo and Kunio Toshima in a tag team match. During the following months, Gentaro formed a regular trio with Hi69 and Kazma. In December 2003, Gentaro, Daigoro Kashiwa, Hi69, Kazma, Psycho and Teppei Ishizaka made it to the finals of the Survivor-K tournament, before being defeated by Kengo Mashimo, Kunio Toshima, Mike Lee Jr., Miyawaki, Super-X and Yuu Yamagata. On July 3, 2004, Gentaro won his first championship in Kaientai Dojo, when he teamed with Yoshiya to defeat Daigoro Kashiwa and Teppei Ishizaka for the UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship. After a four-month reign, Gentaro and Yoshiya lost the title to Taka Michinoku and Ryota Chikuzen on October 30. Gentaro became a champion again on February 12, 2005, when he defeated Onryo for the UWA World Middleweight Championship. However, his reign ended just seven days later, when he was defeated by Boso Boy Raito. Afterwards, Gentaro took a four-month break from Kaientai Dojo to concentrate on his work in Apache Pro-Wrestling Army, defeating Psycho in his return match on June 11. The following month, he entered the Strongest-K tournament, defeating female wrestler Tomoka Nakagawa and Kunio Toshima to advance to the semifinals of the tournament, where, on August 6, he was defeated by Psycho. During the next four years, Gentaro only made three more appearances for Kaientai Dojo.
After the folding of Apache Pro-Wrestling Army, Gentaro returned to Kaientai Dojo on May 5, 2009, reuniting with Yoshiya. On August 9, Gentaro and Yoshiya unsuccessfully challenged Makoto Oishi and Shiori Asahi for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. On September 23, Gentaro defeated Oishi to win the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, Gentaro began spending more time in his new home promotion, Pro Wrestling Freedoms, but returned on April 2, 2010, to lose the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Marines Mask II. Gentaro's next Kaientai Dojo appearance took place on December 16, 2011, when he wrestled in Kengo Mashimo's tenth anniversary match, where Mashimo, Hiroki and Yasu Urano defeated Gentaro, Taka Michinoku and Yoshiya. On January 9, 2012, Gentaro and Hiroki entered the Kaientai Dojo Tag League, where they made it to the finals, before losing to Kengo Mashimo and Taka Michinoku on January 28. On February 4, Gentaro and Hiroki defeated Mashimo and Ryuichi Sekine in a tag team match, with Gentaro pinning Mashimo for the win. As a result, Gentaro was named the number one contender to Mashimo's Strongest-K Championship, but was defeated in the title match on February 26.
Gentaro returned to Kaientai Dojo on July 17, 2014, unsuccessfully challenging Taka Michinoku for the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Ice Ribbon (2008–present)