Kengo Kimura

Seiei Kimura (木村 聖裔, Kimura Seiei, born September 4, 1953) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Kengo Kimura (木村 健悟, Kimura Kengo) and for his many years working for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in Japan.

Kengo Kimura
Kimura in December 2015
Birth name	Seiei Kumura
Born	September 4, 1953[1] Niihama, Ehime, Japan[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Takashi Kimura Pak Choo Kengo Kimura Kendo Kimura
Billed height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Billed weight	107 kg (236 lb)
Trained by	Antonio Inoki[1] NJPW Dojo[1] Seiji Sakaguchi[1]
Debut	August 2, 1972[1]
Retired	April 18, 2003

Professional wrestling career

Japan Wrestling Association (1972-1973)

Kimura made his professional wrestling debut on August 2, 1972 on a Japan Pro Wrestling (JPW) card where he faced Akio Sato.[1] In 1973, JWA folded.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1973-1977)

After JWA folded, Kimura joined New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in 1973 as a junior heavyweight. He mainly worked on the undercard during this tenure, until he was sent to North America on a learning excursion.

Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, Universal Wrestling Association and World Wrestling Council (1977-1980)

In the late 1970s Kengo Kimura travelled to North America for a "training tour" mainly working in Mexico for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) and Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) and in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In WWC Kimura defeated Carlos Colón to win the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship.[2] He would also hold the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship with Kengo Arakawa.[3] He also held the WWC World Tag Team Championship along with Hiro Sasaki.[4] On December 8, 1978 Kimura, while wrestling as "Pak Choo" won the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship from El Faraón. He held the title until April 30, 1979 when Alfonso Dantés defeated him for the title.[5]

Return to NJPW (1980-2003)

In 1980 Kimura returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling. He quickly won the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating Bret Hart in a match for the vacant title. Kimura held the title until October 3, 1980 when he lost the belt to Chavo Guerrero.[6]

In the mid-1980s Kimura began teaming with Tatsumi Fujinami on a regular basis. The team won the revived WWF International Tag Team Championship in 1985 when they defeated Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis. The title was vacated a few months later when NJPW decided to create their own Tag Team title, the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[7] Kimura and Fujinami won the tournament to crown the first ever IWGP Tag Team title defeating Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi in the finals of the tournament, with Fujinami upsetting Inoki by pinning him with his trademark Dragon Suplex.[8] On August 5, 1986 Kimura and Fujinami were defeated by Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido to win the title.[8] The duo regained the title only 49 days later, but vacated the belts in February, 1987 when the team split up.[8]

In December 1986, Kimura graduated to the heavyweight division. Fujinami focused on winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship while Kimura teamed with various partners in unsuccessful attempts at winning the tag team titles back. On January 18, 1988 Kimura and Fujinami reunited to win the IWGP Tag Team titles from Kazuo Yamazaki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara.[8] The team's third reign ended on June 10, 1988 at the hands of Riki Choshu and Masa Saito, with the two not winning the title again until approximately nine years later when they defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono on January 4, 1997.[8] Later that year Kimura teamed up with Takashi Ishikawa to capture Big Japan Pro Wrestling's inaugural BJW Tag Team Championship.[9]

In the 1990s, he was part of Shiro Koshinaka's Heisei Ishingun faction, alongside Kuniaki Kobayashi, Akitoshi Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto, Akira Nogami, and Michiyoshi Ohara.

In early 2003 Kengo Kimura announced that he would retire at the end of the "Kengo Kimura Inazuma Countdown Tour". Kimura's retirement match took place on March 23, 2003 where he wrestled Osamu Nishimura to a time limit draw.[10] Since his official retirement Kimura has only made one or two "special appearances" in the wrestling ring.

Championships and accomplishments

• Big Japan Pro Wrestling

• BJW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Takashi Ishikawa[9]

• Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre

• NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[5]

• New Japan Pro Wrestling

• IWGP Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Tatsumi Fujinami[8][11]
• NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[6]
• WWF International Tag Team Championship (1 time, final) – with Tatsumi Fujinami[7]

• NWA Hollywood

• NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Mr. Ito (1), Roddy Piper (1)[12]

• Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
  • Best Tag Team (1993)- with Shiro Koshinaka, Masashi Aoyagi, and Akitoshi Saito[13]
  • Outstanding Performance Award (1985)[13]
  • Outstanding Performance Award (1987)- with Tatsumi Fujinami[13]
  • Technique Award (1980)[13]
• World Wrestling Promotions

• WWP Caribbean Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kengo Arakawa[3]

• World Wrestling Council

• WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[2]
• WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hiro Sasaki[4]

Lucha de Apuesta record

Winner (wager)	Loser (wager)	Location	Event	Date	Notes
Halcón Ortiz (mask)	Pak Choo (hair)	Mexico City, Mexico	Live event	March 2, 1979	[14]

References

1. "Kengo Kimura (b. 1953)". Puroresu Dojo. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
2. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 328–329. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
3. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "WWC Caribbean Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 325. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
4. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "WWC World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 324–325. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
5. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
6. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 376. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
7. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "WWF International Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
8. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "New Japan IWGP Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 373. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
9. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Big Japan Pro Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 388. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
10. "NJPW Strong Energy 2003 - Tag 1" (in German). CageMatch.net. April 18, 2003. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
11. Hoops, Brian (January 18, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/18): Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino for WWWF title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
12. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "NWA Americas Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 296–297. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2012-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
14. Centinela, Teddy (March 2, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1979: Halcón Ortiz vs. Pak Choo, por las cabelleras… Mil Máscaras vs. Gran Markus". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.