Nobuhiko Takada (, ring name: ) (born April 12, 1962) is a Japanese former mixed martial artist, retired professional wrestler, actor, and writer. He competed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFI) in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming one of the highest figures of the "shoot-style" movement.
Takada later turned to mixed martial arts (MMA) where, despite his controversial match fixing ventures and lack of competitive success, he was credited with the existence and development of global MMA promotion Pride Fighting Championships, in which he worked as an executive after his retirement from active competition until its closure. He also founded and starred at the sports entertainment professional wrestling promotion Hustle from 2004 to 2009, and worked as an executive for the Rizin Fighting Federation from 2015 to 2023.
Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1981–1984) After training in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo under Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Takada made his professional wrestling debut in 1981 against Norio Honaga. As is customary for professional wrestling newcomers, Takada spent his first year as a jobber, though he scored occasional victories against other rookies. Among them, he feuded with Kazuo Yamazaki, and their matches were so well received that TV Asahi included one of them as part of the NJPW show, something unheard at the time. Takada was appointed Antonio Inoki's personal assistant. He was also Hulk Hogan's assistant for his Japanese tours, and during that time, he was nicknamed Seishun no Esperanza () due to his gutsy and hopeful rookie antics.Tatsuhito Kaneko, Nakimushi, Gentosha 2002
In August 1983, Takada accompanied Inoki to Canada for a special appearance in Stampede Wrestling. He replaced the retiring Satoru Sayama in the event, and had his first worldwide match, defeating Athol Foley. The victory granted a rank increase for Takada, and he was made part of the 1984 WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship league, facing wrestlers like Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, and Davey Boy Smith. He stayed with NJPW until April 1984, before switching over to the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) by Fujiwara's invitation, and in June he was officially part of the new promotion.
Universal Wrestling Federation (1985–1986) Takada's first matches in UWF were as a NJPW representative, but he soon joined full-time. He started with a successful singles run; he defeated foreign wrestlers and had fought Fujiwara and Akira Maeda. On 20 January 1985, he won against Super Tiger by referee stoppage. The tenure was short, as UWF folded shortly after, and Takada and other wrestlers returned to NJPW.
Return to NJPW (1986–1988) Upon their return, the former UWF wrestlers created a storyline of invading the promotion, with Takada and Maeda as the twin leaders. As a singles wrestler, Takada was involved in a heated feud with the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, Shiro Koshinaka, who had been Giant Baba's assistant like Takada was Inoki's. Takada defeated Koshinaka in their first match on May 19 to win the title after hitting a Tombstone Piledriver, and he retained it in two more matches against him, as well as challengers like Keiichi Yamada, Black Tiger, and Kazuo Yamazaki, before losing the title back to Koshinaka on September 19. At the peak of his popularity, Takada received the new nickname of Wagamamana Hikazoku (Egotistical Kneecap) for his hard, stiff kicking ability.Nobuhiko Takada, Nobuhiko Takada no Katachi, Toho 2002
In March 1987, Takada amplified the feud with Koshinaka to a tag team when he and Maeda defeated Koshinaka and Keiji Mutoh to capture the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship. They retained it for months until they lost it to Fujiwara and Yamazaki. Takada spent the rest of the year in tag team fights, except for a tenure in the Top of The Super Junior I and two challenges for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title before Kuniaki Kobayashi and Hiroshi Hase. In March 1988, Takada left NJPW with Maeda and most of the original UWF wrestlers to form the second incarnation of the UWF called UWF Newborn.
UWF Newborn (1988–1990) Takada debuted in UWF Newborn in an exhibition match with rookie Shigeo Miyato, but he soon climbed the rankings to become the promotion's top wrestler second only to Maeda, who he defeated by TKO in their second match. The promotion's run was highly successful, and they broke records on the professional wrestling/shoot-fighting event U-COSMOS, where he defeated Greco-Roman wrestling champion Duane Koslowski, twin brother of Olympic medalist Dennis Koslowski. After the event, Takada was almost unbeaten in singles matches until the promotion's closure in December 1990.
Union of Wrestling Forces International (1991–1996) After UWF Newborn shut down, Takada formed the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFI), using former UWF wrestlers, while Maeda formed Fighting Network Rings, and Fujiwara formed Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. Takada opened his run as the top star of the company beating Tatsuo Nakano, Yamazaki, and American wrestler Bob Backlund, whom he fought in a pair of publicized matches. The first of them was controversial, as Takada ended the bout in 1:15 when Backlund fell to a body kick, and it almost caused a riot in the stadium; it is believed that it was an accidental KO instead of a pre-planned match. They held a rematch after two months, with Takada winning by submission after 15 minutes.
Fight with Trevor Berbick Immediately after his affair with Backlund, Takada was put in a bout against former heavyweight champion boxer Trevor Berbick, the last man to fight Muhammad Ali. Sources disagree about whether it was meant to be a worked match or a real fight, or even whether Berbick himself knew it before the bout.
Takada landed a low kick to the left leg seconds into the match, to which Berbick immediately protested to the referee while signaling that kicking below the waist was not allowed. Berbick seemed to be under the impression that leg kicks were illegal in the match, even although he was wearing leg protectors in the first place. As the action was not stopped, Takada continued landing low kicks one after another, dominating an increasingly irate and panicked Berbick, who was doing nothing to defend against them other than complaining loudly with every kick. Eventually, Takada scored a roundhouse kick to the head when Berbick downed his hands to protect his legs, which he followed with more leg kicks. At that point, Berbick exited the ring and refused to return, granting Takada the victory by forfeit. The match had lasted less than one round end ended with the boxing champion failing to throw any punch.
After the bout, Berbick claimed he had been double crossed, accusing UWF-i of changing the rules to allow kicking to the legs in order to benefit their wrestler. For their part, UWF-i officials claimed they had tried repeatedly to explain the rules to Berbick, who would have refused to listen to the details. According to UWFI trainer Pat McCarthy, "no rules were ever changed. [Berbick] just never wanted to listen." Regardless of the truth, the image of the heavyweight champion walking out of the fight increased greatly Takada's popularity.
Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Takada also had feuds with Gary Albright and Super Vader. In 1992, Takada was awarded an old NWA World Heavyweight title belt by Lou Thesz after defeating Albright, and was proclaimed the "Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion". He defended the title until Thesz withdrew the belt in 1995, losing the title once to Super Vader. On December 5, 1993, he defeated Super Vader before 46,168 fans at Tokyo's Meiji-Jingu Stadium.
As champion, Takada fought against Kōji Kitao, who came back after a long hiatus, at the October 23, 1992, UWFI event. However, it was known that Kitao was no stranger to controversy and so discussions over the outcome of the match were difficult, which led to a draw. During the match, Takada shot on Kitao, throwing a roundhouse kick which legitimately knocked him out. Like the Berbick situation, it improved Takada's reputation with the audience, but also changed Kitao's professionalism to a better avail, as the two shook hands afterwards.
In 1995, Takada returned to NJPW as the key figure in the landmark New Japan vs. UWFI program. On October 9, 1995, Takada's match against Mutoh drew 67,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome, drawing the largest crowd and gate in Japanese wrestling history at the time. Three months later at Wrestling World, Takada defeated Mutoh in a rematch to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, becoming the only wrestler to have held all three major New Japan titles at the time, and the only one for over 20 years to hold both IWGP Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight titles in his career (succeeded by Kenny Omega in 2018). Takada dropped the title to Shinya Hashimoto at Battle Formation on April 29, 1996, drawing a crowd of 65,000 and a gate of $5.7 million.
On August 17, 1996, Takada defeated Yoji Anjo at Tokyo's Meiji-Jingu Stadium. UWFI would fold in December 1996.
Various Promotions (1996–1997, 2000) In July 1996, while still working for UWFI, Takada participated in a six-man tag team title tournament with Masahito Kakihara and Yuhi Sano where they won the vacated WAR World 6-Man Tag Team Championship defeating Gedo, Jado and Kodo Fuyuki. They dropped the titles to Bam Bam Bigelow, Kodo Fuyki, and Yoji Anjo. On October 8, 1996, he defeated Abdullah the Butcher at Tokyo Pro Wrestling.
In December 1996, the UWFI folded after the UWFI–WAR feud, and founded Kingdom Pro Wrestling in its place. Takada only participated in one of its events: an exhibition against Ryuki Ueyama on May 4, 1997, in a draw. He later left professional wrestling for mixed martial arts (MMA).
He returned for one night on New Year's Eve 2000 teaming with Keiji Muto defeating MMA fighters Don Frye and Ken Shamrock at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye in Osaka, Japan.
Hustle (2004–2009)
In 2004, Takada was made the president of the Hustle promotion in Japan, created by a coproduction between Dream Stage Entertainment and Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE. He firstly appeared in a press conference previous to the first Hustle event along with fellow DSE directive Nobuyuki Sakakibara, who badmouthed professional wrestling to praise MMA, which angered Naoya Ogawa, who flipped the table and confronted them. To solve things, the event featured a battle between Ogawa's professional wrestling loyalists and Takada's MMA allies, who were called the Takada Monster Army. The night ended with Ogawa being pinned by Monster Army member Bill Goldberg, giving the first victory to Takada. The next event, Takada expanded his army and debuted the gimmick of Generalissimo Takada, a larger-than-life military dictator endowed with supernatural powers, reminiscent of fictional villains Yasunori Katō and Lord Dessler. Generalissimo Takada presented himself not as Nobuhiko Takada, but an old friend of his, and proceeded to send his enforcers to beat up Naoya before his match against Matt Ghaffari. This marked the new view of Hustle, in which Takada and his evil forces battled Ogawa and his heroic Hustle Army.