Tetsuhiro Kuroda


Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's closure in 2002.
He started his FMW career after being trained at the FMW Dojo in 1993 and initially worked in low-card matches as an enhancement talent during his initial years with the company until he joined Atsushi Onita's ZEN faction in 1997, earning his first title shot at the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship that December. He would remain a part of many factions throughout the late 1990s and began rising to the main event status, winning his first WEW Heavyweight Championship in 2000. By the end of the year, the underdog Kuroda established himself as the company's top villain and formed his own group Team Kuroda to feud with the company's top fan favorite Hayabusa. He headlined the company's flagship event FMW Anniversary Show in 2001.
Kuroda won several championships in his career including being a four-time WEW Heavyweight Champion. He was a highly decorated tag team champion, winning the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship once, the WEW World Tag Team Championship ten times, the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship three times, the WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship four times, the All Asia Tag Team Championship two times and the WMG Tag Team Championship once.

Professional wrestling career

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling

Early years (1993–1996)

Kuroda began his professional wrestling career in January 1993, when he was trained by Pro Wrestling Crusaders at their dojo and made his debut on March 18, 1993, against Hideki Hosaka. PWC closed after a few months and Kuroda resumed his training at the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling dojo. He made his FMW debut as a fan favorite with Masato Tanaka by losing to Dark Ranger and Masaru Toi in a tag team match on October 15. Kuroda remained in the low card for many years in the company and was usually utilized in opening matches on the card and served as an enhancement talent against higher level opponents, winning against only lesser known talent. He was often paired with fellow newcomer Tanaka in mid-card matches during the early years of his career and often wrestled Tanaka, Koji Nakagawa and Gosaku Goshogawara. Kuroda's first main event match took place on November 26, 1994, when he teamed with Atsushi Onita, Katsutoshi Niiyama and Masato Tanaka to defeat Mr. Pogo, The Gladiator, Hideki Hosaka and Hisakatsu Oya in a no ropes barbed wire street fight deathmatch. Kuroda would team with Onita, Niiyama and Tanaka in several street fights during late 1994 and early 1995. In the summer of 1995, Kuroda was entered into the Young Spirit Tournament, a round robin tournament consisting of rising rookies of the company. He would lose all of his matches in the tournament against W*ING Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka, Koji Nakagawa and Hido, while wrestling Masato Tanaka to a double knockout to gain one point in the tournament.
Kuroda received the first championship match of his career on May 19, 1996, by teaming with Masato Tanaka and Katsutoshi Niiyama against Super Leather and The Headhunters for the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship but were defeated. The following month, on June 28, Kuroda and Tanaka won the title with Koji Nakagawa by defeating Super Leather and The Headhunters to give Kuroda, his first championship of his career. They successfully defended the title against Hisakatsu Oya, Ricky Fuji and The Gladiator and Terry Funk, Horace Boulder and The Gladiator on September 20. On November 16, Nakagawa, Tanaka and Kuroda were booked to drop the title to Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters. Kuroda headlined the Year End Spectacular event on December 11 by teaming with Atsushi Onita, Mr. Pogo and Masato Tanaka to defeat Funk Masters of Wrestling members Terry Funk, Hisakatsu Oya and The Headhunters.

Various alliances and initial main event push (1997–1999)

On September 23, 1997, Kuroda began receiving his first major push by last eliminating Mr. Pogo #2 to win a battle royal featuring major FMW wrestlers. Five days later, at Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Kuroda won a royal rumble match by last eliminating Ricky Fuji to win a cheque of 10,000,000 yens. On September 30, Kuroda turned into a villain by joining Atsushi Onita's faction ZEN to feud with FMW. On October 14, Kuroda won his second World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship by teaming with Onita and Hido to defeat Hayabusa, Koji Nakagawa and Masato Tanaka. On October 21, Kuroda pinned his friend Tanaka for the first time in his career in an eight-man tag team match, thus earning his very first title shot at the Double Championship held by Tanaka on December 5, where he lost. On December 20, Onita, Hido and Kuroda lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hayabusa, Hisakatsu Oya and Masato Tanaka during the Super Extreme Wrestling War tour.
In 1998, ZEN turned into a fan favorite group after Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido turned on Onita and quit ZEN to form their new group Team No Respect. On January 7, 1998, Onita, Nakagawa and Kuroda competed at ZEN's first promoted show and scored a win against Gannosuke, Kanemura and Hido to gain revenge. On February 13, Onita, Nakagawa and Kuroda defeated Gannosuke, Kanemura and Jado to win the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Kuroda played an important role in ZEN's rivalry with TNR. In March, Kuroda participated in a #1 contender's tournament for the Double Championship, where he ended up losing to Jado in the opening round. Kuroda and The Gladiator lost to TNR members Horace Boulder and Super Leather at the company's first pay-per-view event 9th Anniversary Show. The following night, Kuroda debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling at the company's twenty-fifth anniversary show Showdown at the Egg by teaming with Gladiator and Hideki Hosaka against Akira Taue, Takao Omori and Masao Inoue in a losing effort. On May 5, Onita, Nakagawa and Kuroda lost the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to TNR members Hido, Kodo Fuyuki and Yukihiro Kanemura. After the title loss, Onita disbanded ZEN. Kuroda and Nakagawa lost to Fuyuki and Kanemura on May 19.
Hideki Hosaka and Kuroda were forced to become TNR's slaves after losing matches to TNR on May 25 and May 26 respectively. On June 13, Kuroda was forced to wrestle Hosaka in a match by TNR, which Kuroda won. On June 19, Kuroda lost to Masato Tanaka in Tanaka's farewell match as he was departing the promotion for Extreme Championship Wrestling. TNR forced Kuroda and Hosaka to wrestle one another again on July 10 and Kuroda once again emerged victorious. On August 11, Kuroda lost to Hosaka in a rematch. Later in the night, Atsushi Onita, Shoichi Arai, Mr. Pogo and Yoshinori Sasaki defeated Go Ito, Kodo Fuyuki, Yukihiro Kanemura and Koji Nakagawa in a match to restore Arai's presidency over FMW and free Hosaka and Kuroda from TNR.
On August 21, Kuroda and Hosaka became the founding members of the new group Team Zero with Onita, Mr. Pogo and Yoshinori Sasaki and the group wore kilts. The duo would lose to Hayabusa and Hisakatsu Oya in their first match as members of Team Zero. On September 1, Team Zero fought TNR in a match with Team Zero's kilts and TNR's briefs on the line. Team Zero won to retain their kilts and rip off TNR's briefs. On September 4, Team Zero defeated TNR in a street fight. Kuroda lost to TNR member Koji Nakagawa in a singles match on September 8. Kuroda began rising as a singles star as he issued a challenge to the returning Mr. Gannosuke and defeated Gannosuke's TNR teammate Yukihiro Kanemura to get an upset victory on October 6. Kuroda lost to the returning Gannosuke in a hard-fought match on November 20. In December, Kuroda participated in an Over the Top Tournament to determine the #1 contender for the Double Championship by defeating Super Leather in the first round and Muhammad Yone in the quarter-final before losing to Hisakatsu Oya in the semi-final.
Kuroda began 1999 by competing in high-profile matches with Hayabusa and the returning Masato Tanaka. Kuroda formed a tag team with Tanaka as the two unsuccessfully challenged Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki for the All Asia Tag Team Championship on March 19. Tanaka and Kuroda participated in a round robin tournament for the vacant Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, in which they defeated Hido and Yukihiro Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka and Super Leather, Hisakatsu Oya and Mr. Gannosuke, and Armageddon. while fighting Hayabusa and Kodo Fuyuki and Daisuke Ikeda and Muhammad Yone to thirty-minute time limit draws and suffered their only loss against Gedo and Koji Nakagawa. On May 3, Tanaka and Kuroda defeated Gedo and Nakagawa in the playoff match and Hayabusa and Fuyuki in the final round to win the tournament and the tag team titles. On May 5, Tanaka and Kuroda defeated Darkside Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki in a non-title match after Kuroda pinned Hayabusa for the first time in his career to become the #1 contender for the Double Championship. He received his title match in the main event against Kodo Fuyuki and was defeated. Tanaka and Kuroda successfully defended the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship against Hido and Yukihiro Kanemura before losing the title to Gedo and Nakagawa in their second title defense on June 13.
Tanaka and Kuroda joined Hayabusa and FMW in their war with Team No Respect as the FMW team defeated TNR in a ten-man elimination tag team match on May 31. On June 15, the FMW team of Hayabusa, Tanaka and Kuroda defeated TNR members Hido, Mr. Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura in a ladder match with the stipulation that Kodo Fuyuki would be forced to eat dog food if TNR lost. On June 20, Team FMW defeated TNR in a three out of five falls match. Tanaka and Kuroda teamed with Hayabusa to participate in a round robin tournament for the new WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship, where the team lost to Kodo Fuyuki, Koji Nakagawa and Gedo in the final on July 31.
Kuroda teamed with new partner Hisakatsu Oya to defeat Gedo and Koji Nakagawa to win the WEW Tag Team Championship on August 23. On August 25, Kuroda, Oya and Yoshinori Sasaki unsuccessfully challenged Kodo Fuyuki, Koji Nakagawa and Gedo for the WEW 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Kuroda continued to side with Hayabusa, who had transformed into H to battle Fuyuki and his allies. On September 23, Kuroda, Oya and Masato Tanaka defeated Fuyuki, Nakagawa and Gedo to capture the six-man tag team title. Kuroda and Oya successfully defended the WEW Tag Team Championship against Raven and Tommy Dreamer at the 10th Anniversary Show. On December 1, Kuroda and Oya lost the title to H and Mr. Gannosuke and lost in a rematch for the title. On December 12, Kuroda and Masato Tanaka were defeated by H and Gannosuke in a tag team match. After the match, Kuroda shook hands with his opponents while Tanaka refused to do so as he was angry at H for forgiving Gannosuke so easily.