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Shingo Takagi
Shingo Takagi
Ring name(s)	Shingo Takagi; Shingo
Billed height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Billed weight	211 lb (96 kg; 15.1 st)
Born	November 21, 1982 (age 27); Yamanashi, Japan
Trained by	Dragon Gate Dojo; Animal Hamaguchi
Debut	October 2004

Shingo Takagi (鷹木信悟, born November 21, 1982)^[1] is a former Japanese bodybuilder, turned professional wrestler. Shingo is currently competing for the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate, where he is the leader of the Kamikaze stable and one-half of the Open the Twin Gate Champions. He also competes for Dragon Gate USA. He spent an extended run with the American promotions Ring of Honor and Full Impact Pro.

[edit] Career

[edit] Dragon Gate

Shingo debuted in October 2004 as the first graduate of the Dragon Gate Dojo.^[2] He was also trained by Animal Hamaguchi. Shingo won the 2005 Wrestling Observer Rookie of the Year award.^[1]^[2]

In Dragon Gate, Shingo became a member of the Blood Generation stable.

On May 10, 2007, shortly after forming the stable New Hazard, Takagi - along with BxB Hulk and Cyber Kong - defeated the Typhoon team of Cima, Susumu Yokosuka, and Ryo Saito for the Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship. They held the championship until July 13, 2007, when the team were forced to vacate the championship as BxB Hulk had sustained a jaw injury. Takagi and Kong replaced Hulk with Jack Evans, and challenged for the vacant championship against the Muscle Outlaw'z team of Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Magnitude Kishiwada, but were unsuccessful. On May 14, 2008, Shingo and Kong turned on Hulk shortly before a scheduled Open the Triangle Gate Championship defense against Genki Horiguchi, Gamma and Yamato of the Muscle Outlaw'z, citing Hulk as a weakling.

Shingo and Kong then joined up with Genki, Gamma, Yamato and Yasushi Kanda, ending both New Hazard and Muscle Outlaw'z and forming Real Hazard, a new faction. Shingo then teamed with Gamma and Yamato to win the newly-vacant Open the Triangle Gate Championship, defeating Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino and Hulk. On June 28, they lost the Open the Triangle Gate Championship to Keni'chiro Arai, Taku Iwasa and Shinobu of the Tozawa-juku faction. The following day, he fought BxB Hulk to a one-hour draw in a number one contender's match for CIMA's Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Championship. They were immediately scheduled for a rematch on July 27, but this time the Open the Dream Gate Championship was on the line as CIMA had to vacate the championship due to a neck injury. On July 10, doubt was already cast over his standing in Real Hazard when he stopped them and Tokyo Gurentai members from trying to give Cima an unwanted haircut. This caused tensions to stir between him and the others, especially with Kong. On July 27, Shingo defeated BxB Hulk to win the Open the Dream Gate Championship. After the match, Shingo apologized to Hulk and retracted his statement about him being weak. Soon after, Kong attempted to attack CIMA, who was at the announce table, but Shingo stopped him. After a brief argument, Real Hazard attacked Shingo and kicked him out of the group for showing compassion towards Hulk and Cima, but he was saved by Typhoon.

Typhoon offered him membership in the faction, but he turned it down. He later teamed with Dragon Kid, a Typhoon member, in the Summer Adventure Tag League Tournamenth and the pair reached the finals before they were beaten by Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino. Following this, Shingo changed his mind and joined Typhoon. Shingo's membership caused tension within the faction, and led to Susumu Yokosuka challenging Shingo to a match on November 16 for the Open the Dream Gate Championship. Shingo retained, and then tried to banish Susumu from Typhoon as punishment. Ryo Saito tried to stop him, and then CIMA was called out. Shingo gave him a lariat before he could say anything, resulting in his banishment from Typhoon. After that, Shingo announced that he would not be participating in the annual King of the Gate Tournament.

Shingo began teaming with Akira Tozawa and Taku Iwasa after the faction they had been members of, Tozawa-juku, had disbanded, with the trio officially forming a new faction on December 19. On December 28, Shingo lost the Open the Dream Gate Championship to Naruki Doi, who had won the King of the Gate Tournament. On January 11, 2009, Dragon Kid joined the new faction, with Shingo called the faction Kamikaze. On February 15, Shingo, Iwasa and Dragon Kid won the Open the Triangle Gate Championship, but lost the championship to CIMA, Gamma and Kagetora on April 15. When YAMATO left Real Hazard, he joined Kamikaze, reforming his team with Shingo. The duo won the annual Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament in August, and then the Open the Twin Gate Championship the following month.

[edit] Ring of Honor

Shortly after becoming a member of Blood Generation, Shingo began wrestling for Ring of Honor (ROH) in the United States. He made several ROH appearances before becoming a regular wrestler in ROH in late 2006. He became one half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions alongside Naruki Doi on March 3, 2007, by beating the Briscoe Brothers in Liverpool, England. The two lost the championship back to the Briscoes at All Star Extravaganza III on March 30.

Shingo had his final official ROH match at "Good Times, Great Memories" on April 28, 2007, unsuccessfully challenging Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Championship. He challenged the Briscoe Brothers for ROH World Tag Team Championship unsuccessfully at ROH's Live in Osaka show with his partner Susumu Yokosuka on July 17.

[edit] Other promotions

Throughout 2006 and 2007 Shingo appeared in several American promotions, including Full Impact Pro and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.^[1] On February 27, 2007, Shingo won the Southern Thunder Pro Wrestling Texas Heavyweight Championship by defeating Texas Renegade.^[1] On September 5, 2007 he made his Hawaii debut for Action Zone Wrestling (AZW) teaming with Sabaki in a losing effort to AZW Tag Team Champions Devilshock. On March 8, 2009, he won his first wrestling tournament in Germany by emerging triumphant at wXw's annual 16 Carat Gold Tournament.

In 2009, he began wrestling for Dragon Gate USA.