Early career (1988–1993) Suzuki trained at the
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo and made his pro wrestling debut on June 23, 1988, losing to
Takayuki Iizuka, At the third Pancrase event in November 1993, Suzuki had his debut in
kickboxing rules against American champion
Maurice Smith, in a rematch of a "different style fight" celebrated back in UWF where Smith defeated Suzuki. Naturally outclassed, Minoru was knocked down several times and finished shortly after. He had a third match with Smith in May 1994, this time under a special ruleset: the first and the third round would be fought wearing kickboxing gloves, the second and fourth without them and the fifth under a combination of the two. Suzuki finally got his revenge, submitting Smith at the third round with an armbar despite the disadvantage of the gloves. Suzuki did not lose a match until he lost to
Bas Rutten via
Liver shot KO due to a knee to the body. In 1995, he won the
King of Pancrase (now KOP Open-Weight) title to become the second ever King of Pancrase. Suzuki twice defeated Shamrock and is the only man to hold two wins over Shamrock in the Pancrase era. Over time, Suzuki's body became damaged and worn down from various injuries and resulted in his skills diminishing. He then decided to focus on the business and training side of Pancrase. He collaborated with the
Tekken series of
fighting video games as a motion
actor for the character
King. His last non-worked fight for Pancrase was against a professional wrestler,
Jushin Thunder Liger (who replaced his original opponent,
Kensuke Sasaki, due to injury), whom Suzuki had known under his real name Keiichi Yamada in his first NJPW stint. At the time he competed in grappling matches almost exclusively. Suzuki witnessed the transition Pancrase made from the so-called "hybrid wrestling" style to that of regular MMA and was instrumental in paving the way for
mixed martial arts in Japan.
Freelancing (2003–present) (left) at a
Hustle show In 2003, Suzuki and
Yusuke Fuke announced their plan to return to
puroresu and invade promotions under the stable name Pancrase Mission. Suzuki began competing for NJPW as a freelancer, where he aligned himself with
Yoshihiro Takayama and won the
IWGP Tag Team Championship from
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and
Osamu Nishimura on February 1, 2004. They were stripped of the title later in the year, following Takayama's mounting injuries. In 2005, Suzuki began competing in
Pro Wrestling Noah, and would receive a
GHC Heavyweight Championship shot against then Champion
Kenta Kobashi, but he was defeated. After this, he found an unlikely ally in
Naomichi Marufuji, whose style was
Lucha Libre (rather than shoot-style). Nonetheless, Suzuki taught Marufuji some of what he knew and they clicked, winning the
GHC Tag Team Championship from
2 Cold Scorpio and
Doug Williams on June 18, 2005. After losing the belts to Muhammad Yone and Takeshi Morishima in October, Suzuki challenged for the
GHC Heavyweight Championship shot against champion
Jun Akiyama on March 5, 2006, but he was once again unsuccessful.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (2006–2010) On March 10, 2006, Suzuki made a surprise appearance in
All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), attacking then
Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima after he had just defended his title against
The Great Muta. Suzuki participated in the 2006
Champion Carnival, and made it to the semifinals where he was eliminated by
Taiyō Kea, the eventual winner. On September 3, Suzuki defeated Kea, who had won the Triple Crown from Kojima in July to become the new Triple Crown Champion. Suzuki went on to successfully defend the belts against
RO'Z, Yuji Nagata, Kojima,
Tajiri and
Keiji Mutoh. After holding the Triple Crown for just short of a year, he lost the title to
Kensuke Sasaki on August 26, 2007, at AJPW's Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku. At the All Japan Fan Appreciation Day on December 16, 2007, the Mexico Amigos teamed with "Ray Suzuki" and defeated Ryuji Hijikata, Kikutaro,
T28 and Ryuji Yamaguchi. After the match, Ray Suzuki revealed himself as Minoru Suzuki and vowed that El Nosawa Mendoza would throw his Amigos tights away and return as
Nosawa Rongai, and then kidnapped him to start early training. On March 1, 2008, Minoru Suzuki made an appearance at the
Dory Funk Jr. retirement show, providing commentary for the Triple Crown Championship main event (between Kensuke Sasaki and Satoshi Kojima), as well as pledging to participate in the upcoming Champion Carnival. From April 5 to 9, Suzuki competed in Block B of All Japan's annual Champion Carnival, finishing the league with 2 wins (over Kensuke Sasaki and
Suwama) and 2 losses (to
Osamu Nishimura and
Joe Doering), as well as teaming with Takemura to defeat
Toshiaki Kawada and Nobutaka Araya on Day 2 (April 6) of the Carnival. During the Hold Out tour, Suzuki confronted a Taiyo Kea, who was on a losing streak at the time, about joining Suzuki's stable Gurentai (alongside Nosawa, Mazada and Takemura), which resulted in Kea joining and focusing on winning the tag titles with Suzuki. On June 28, 2008, Suzuki and Kea won the
World Tag Team Championship from Joe Doering and Keiji Mutoh. On September 28, 2008, he attacked The Great Muta after Muta had successfully defeated Suwama for the Triple Crown Championship, setting up a match between the two in which he lost on November 3, 2008. On January 3, 2009, Suzuki and stablemate Nosawa Rongai won the restored
All Asia Tag Team Championship, over the course of a two-day tournament. Later in the year, Suzuki won the 2009 Champion Carnival beating
Kaz Hayashi in the finals. He would end up challenging the then Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, Yoshihiro Takayama, on May 30, 2009, albeit in a losing effort. On September 23, 2009, Suzuki and NOSAWA lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship at the hands of
Akebono and Ryota Hama. On January 3, 2010, Suzuki and Kea lost the World Tag Team Championship at the hands of
Masakatsu Funaki and Keiji Mutoh. On March 21, 2010, Suzuki lost to long-time rival Masakatsu Funaki in All Japan's first cage match. Suzuki then entered the Champion Carnival and won it for the second straight year, being the third man to do so by beating Funaki in the final – weeks removed from their cage match. After the final, Suzuki buried the hatchet with Funaki by shaking his hand, thus ending the decade-long rivalry. Suzuki then declared his Gurentai stable on hiatus. As a result of his Champion Carnival victory, Suzuki earned a Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship match versus
Ryota Hama on May 2. In the match, Suzuki defeated Hama to claim his second Triple Crown championship. He would go on to lose the title to Suwama on August 29, 2010.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2007) In May 2007, he embarked on his first tour of
Mexico with
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) along with Takayama.
Return to NJPW (2010–2015) in February 2012 On December 12, 2010, Suzuki returned to NJPW, attacking old rival Yuji Nagata. On January 4, 2011, at
Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, Suzuki faced Nagata in a losing effort. Suzuki made another return to New Japan on May 3, 2011, when he took over the
Kojima-gun, after its members
Taichi and
Taka Michinoku had turned on their leader Satoshi Kojima. Later that same month, during New Japan's tour of the United States, the newly renamed
Suzuki-gun was joined by
Lance Archer. On July 18, Suzuki defeated Kojima in a singles match. The two had a rematch on August 1 during the first day of the
2011 G1 Climax, where Kojima managed to pick up the win. Suzuki then went on a six match win streak, but losses to
Strong Man and
Shinsuke Nakamura on the last two days of the tournament, caused him to narrowly miss advancing to the finals. On October 10 at
Destruction '11, Suzuki defeated Kojima's number one ally,
Togi Makabe, in a grudge match. In the
2011 G1 Tag League, Suzuki teamed with Lance Archer and, after four wins and one loss, the team finished second in their block, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On November 6, Suzuki and Archer first defeated the
Chaos Top Team (Shinsuke Nakamura and
Toru Yano) in the semifinals and then IWGP Tag Team Champions
Bad Intentions (
Giant Bernard and
Karl Anderson) in the finals to win the 2011 G1 Tag League. On November 12 at
Power Struggle, Suzuki and Archer failed in their attempt to capture the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Bad Intentions. After defeating Giant Bernard in a singles match on December 4, Suzuki challenged
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi to a title match at
Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome. At the event on January 4, 2012, Suzuki was unsuccessful in his title challenge. On February 12 at
The New Beginning, Suzuki led Lance Archer, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Yoshihiro Takayama of the Suzuki-gun to a dominant 5–1 win over
Kushida,
Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe,
Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata in a ten-man elimination tag team match. On May 3 at
Wrestling Dontaku 2012, Suzuki pinned Makabe in a tag team match, where he and Takayama faced Makabe and Yuji Nagata. The feud between Suzuki and Makabe ended on June 16 at
Dominion 6.16, where Suzuki was defeated in a singles match. In August, Suzuki took part in the
2012 G1 Climax tournament, where he picked up big wins over IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and former tag team partner Naomichi Marufuji, but was eliminated after losing to Yuji Nagata in his final round-robin match on August 12. On October 8 at
King of Pro-Wrestling, Suzuki received a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by Tanahashi. The match received rave reviews, including a five-star rating from
Wrestling Observer Newsletter's
Dave Meltzer. From November 20 to December 1, Suzuki took part in the
round-robin portion of the
2012 World Tag League, alongside Suzuki-gun's newest member
Kengo Mashimo. The team finished with a record of three wins and three losses, failing to advance from their block. On January 4, 2013, at
Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Suzuki and Yuji Nagata once again reignited their old rivalry in a singles match, where Nagata was victorious. Afterwards, Suzuki led Suzuki-gun to a war with New Japan's other
villainous stable, Chaos, which built to a singles match on February 10 at
The New Beginning, where he defeated
Kazuchika Okada. On March 11, Suzuki entered the
2013 New Japan Cup, defeating Yuji Nagata in yet another match between the old rivals. Six days later, Suzuki was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Chaos member Toru Yano. Suzuki avenged his loss to Yano by defeating him in a rematch on April 7 at
Invasion Attack and, later that same event, confronted new IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, accepting a title shot offered to him by Okada's mouthpiece,
Gedo. On May 3 at
Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Suzuki unsuccessfully challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Suzuki then got involved in a heated rivalry with Chaos member
Tomohiro Ishii, which built to a singles match between the two on July 20 at the Kizuna Road 2013
pay-per-view, where Suzuki was victorious. From August 1 to 11, Suzuki took part in the
2013 G1 Climax. After five wins and three losses, Suzuki went into the final day leading his block, but a loss to Toru Yano cost him a spot in the finals of the tournament. This led to a feud between Suzuki and Yano, however, Suzuki's attempt to avenge the loss led to another defeat on September 29, when he was counted out after being handcuffed to a ringside guard rail by Yano. Suzuki finally gained his revenge on Yano by defeating him on October 14 at
King of Pro-Wrestling. Afterwards, Suzuki set his sights on the
IWGP Intercontinental Championship, while also trying to convince champion Shinsuke Nakamura to leave Chaos and join Suzuki-gun. The match between Suzuki and Nakamura took place on November 9 at
Power Struggle and saw Nakamura retain his title. From November 24 to December 7, Suzuki teamed with Suzuki-gun's newest member,
Shelton X Benjamin, in the
2013 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of three wins and three losses, with a loss against Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano on the final day costing them a spot in the semifinals. The rivalry between Suzuki and Yano led to a match on January 4, 2014, at
Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where Suzuki and Benjamin were defeated by Yano and The Great Muta, with Yano pinning Suzuki, after he was blinded by a
green mist from Muta. Suzuki finally got his win over Yano on March 15 in the first round of the
2014 New Japan Cup. Suzuki eventually made it to the semifinals of the tournament, before losing to Shinsuke Nakamura. On May 25 at
Back to the Yokohama Arena, Suzuki got another win over Yano, when Takashi Iizuka turned on him during a tag team match and joined Suzuki-gun. From July 21 to August 8, Suzuki took part in the
2014 G1 Climax, where he finished fourth in his block with a record of five wins and five losses. Following the tournament, Suzuki transitioned into a new rivalry with
Kazushi Sakuraba, who had come to Yano's aid after Iizuka had turned on him. The rivalry culminated in a match on January 4, 2015, at
Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where Suzuki defeated Sakuraba.
Return to Noah (2015–2016) On January 10, 2015, Suzuki made a surprise return to Noah, leading his Suzuki-gun stable to attack GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji and GHC Tag Team Champions
TMDK (
Mikey Nicholls and
Shane Haste). On March 15, Suzuki defeated Marufuji to become the new GHC Heavyweight Champion. Over the next months, Suzuki successfully defended the title against Marufuji,
Maybach Taniguchi, Yoshihiro Takayama, and
Takashi Sugiura. On December 23, Suzuki lost the title back to Marufuji. On November 23, 2016, Suzuki defeated
Masa Kitamiya in the finals to win the
2016 Global League. On December 2, Suzuki unsuccessfully challenged
Katsuhiko Nakajima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Three days later, it was announced that Suzuki-gun was out of Noah, concluding the invasion storyline.
Second return to NJPW (2017–2023) The entire Suzuki-gun returned to NJPW on January 5, 2017, attacking the
Chaos stable with Suzuki laying out IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. In his return match on January 27, Suzuki, Michinoku and Taichi defeated Okada,
Rocky Romero and
Beretta. On February 5 at
The New Beginning in Sapporo, Suzuki unsuccessfully challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On April 27, Suzuki defeated
Hirooki Goto to win the
NEVER Openweight Championship for the first time, winning his first ever singles title in NJPW. During the following summer, Suzuki took part in the
2017 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of four wins, four losses and one draw, wrestled against IWGP Heavyweight Champion Okada. Through a partnership between NJPW and the American
Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion, Suzuki made his first appearance in the United States for 25 years on September 22, 2017, when he unsuccessfully challenged
Cody for the
ROH World Championship at
Death Before Dishonor XV. At the following day's
Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, Suzuki teamed with the Beer City Bruiser and
Silas Young to unsuccessfully challenge
The Hung Bucks (
Hangman Page,
Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. On January 4, 2018, at
Wrestle Kingdom 12, Suzuki lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Hirooki Goto in a
Hair vs. Hair match and had to have his head shaved bald as a result, choosing to shave his own hair in front of the live audience; his reign ended at 252 days with four successful defenses. Suzuki would quickly rebound from the loss, defeating
Hiroshi Tanahashi at the New Beginning in Sapporo on January 27 to win the
IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On April 29, at Wrestling Hi no Kuni in Kumamoto, Suzuki would lose the Intercontinental Championship to
Tetsuya Naito. Suzuki then competed in the 2018 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of five wins and four losses with an upset loss to
Hangman Page costing him a chance to make it to the finals. between November and December 2018, Suzuki and
Takashi Iizuka entered the 2018
World Tag League, where they finished with a record of 5 wins and 8 losses, failing to advance to the finals. On January 5, 2019, Suzuki and
Suzuki-Gun Stablemate
Zack Sabre Jr challenged newly crowned IWGP tag team champions
Evil and
Sanada to a match for their titles at New Beginning in Sapporo, which they were unsuccessful in doing so. Suzuki entered the 2019 New Japan Cup, where he defeated
Satoshi Kojima in the first round, but was eliminated by Sanada in the second round. On August 31, 2019, Suzuki faced
Kazuchika Okada at New Japan's
Royal Quest event, where he lost in the main event. Suzuki and IWGP United States Champion
Lance Archer entered the 2019 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of 9 wins and 6 losses, failing to advance to the finals. At
Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5, 2020, Suzuki confronted
Jon Moxley who had just successfully retained the
IWGP United States Championship against
Juice Robinson and would incapacitate Moxley with the "Gotch-Style Piledriver". On January 7, a match was arranged for the United States Championship between Suzuki and Moxley at
The New Beginning in Osaka on February 9, where Suzuki lost. On August 29, 2020, at
Summer Struggle in Jingu, Suzuki defeated
Shingo Takagi to win the
NEVER Openweight Championship for a second time. From September 19 until October 13, Suzuki took part in the
G1 Climax 30, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins and six losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. On November 7 at
Power Struggle (2020), Suzuki lost the NEVER Openweight Championship back to
Shingo Takagi. At
Wrestle Kingdom 15 on January 4, 2021, Suzuki competed in the
New Japan Rambo, but failed to last til the final 4. In March, Suzuki competed in the
New Japan Cup, defeating
Tomoaki Honma in the first round, but was eliminated by
Kenta in round 2. In July at
Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, Suzuki competed for the
Provisional KOPW 2021 trophy, in a
22 Man New Japan Rambo match, but the match was won by
Chase Owens. On September 25, Suzuki made his debut for NJPW's American show,
NJPW Strong, defeating
Fred Rosser. The following month on NJPW Strong, Suzuki reunited with Lance Archer to defeat the team of Jon Moxley and
Eddie Kingston in a
Philadelphia street fight. In November, Suzuki reunited with Taka Michinoku to team for the
World Tag League, although the team finished bottom of the block with 0 points, failing to win a single match. On January 4, 2022, on night 1 of
Wrestle Kingdom 16, Suzuki once again competed in the
New Japan Rambo, this time lasting till the final 4. On Night 2, Suzuki defeated
Toru Yano, Chase Owens and
Cima, to win the
Provisional 2022 KOPW trophy. On Night 3, Suzuki-gun lost to
Pro Wrestling Noah's Sugiura-gun (
Takashi Sugiura and
Kazushi Sakuraba) and Toru Yano. In February during the NJPW New Years Golden Series, Suzuki lost the Provisional KOPW 2022 trophy to Toru Yano in a
Dog Cage match. The following month, Suzuki competed in the
New Japan Cup, receiving a
bye to the second round, but lost to
Hiromu Takahashi. On April 1 at
Lonestar Shootout, Suzuki defeated
Killer Kross. In April at
Windy City Riot, Suzuki faced Tomohiro Ishii in a losing effort. The following month at
Capital Collision, Suzuki lost to
Brody King. In June at
AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, Suzuki teamed with
Jericho Appreciation Society members,
Chris Jericho and
Sammy Guevara to defeat the team of
Wheeler Yuta,
Shota Umino and Eddie Kingston. In November, Suzuki teamed with Lance Archer for the 2022
World Tag League, finishing with 8 points, failing to advance to the finals. At the World Tag League and
Super Junior Tag League finals, Suzuki announced that Suzuki-gun will disband at the end of 2022. The factions final match took place on December 23, where the team of Douki, Kanemaru, Sabre, and Taichi defeated Archer, Desperado, Michinoku, and Suzuki. After the match, all members spoke about their memories as a part of the group and thanked Suzuki. The night ended with all members posing with the Suzuki-gun flag, only to be interrupted by former member Takashi Iizuka, causing all 9 men to pose in the ring, behind the Suzuki-gun flag.
All Elite Wrestling (2021–2024) Starting in September 2021, Suzuki spent one month in the United States, working most notably for
All Elite Wrestling and
Impact Wrestling. On September 5, at AEW's
All Out pay-per-view event, Suzuki made his debut by confronting and attacking
Jon Moxley. Both face each other in the September 8 episode of
AEW Dynamite, where Suzuki was defeated. He also reunited with his former tag team partner
Lance Archer. On October 15, Suzuki lost to
Bryan Danielson on the
AEW Rampage Buy-In pre-show.
Impact Wrestling (2021) On the October 14, 2021 episode of
Impact!, a
vignette aired promoting Suzuki arriving to
Impact Wrestling as part of a partnership between Impact and NJPW. Suzuki made his debut on the October 28 episode of
Impact!, brawling with
Josh Alexander before security pulled them apart. The following week on
Impact!, Suzuki made his in-ring debut, teaming with
Moose and
W. Morrissey to defeat Alexander,
Eddie Edwards, and
Matt Cardona. Suzuki then defeated
Kaleb with a K on the November 11 episode of
Impact!, but lost to Alexander the following week on
Impact!, in what would be his final match in the company.
Game Changer Wrestling (2018–present) On April 5, Suzuki made his debut at
Game Changer Wrestling GCW Bloodsport, defeating
Matt Riddle. He would return to Bloodsport the following year to face off with
Josh Barnett. Suzuki was set to return to face
Orange Cassidy at their annual "Spring Break" event in 2020 until that was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Suzuki would return to GCW in 2021 having matches with
Jonathan Gresham,
Homicide,
Joey Janela,
Chris Dickinson and
Nick Gage. Suzuki returned to GCW in 2022, taking on Dickinson in a rematch at Bloodsport. This time losing the match by referee stoppage, his first loss in the promotion. He would return to GCW with victories over
Effy,
Blake Christian,
Mike Bailey and
2 Cold Scorpio.
Ring of Honor (2022) At
Ring of Honor's
Supercard of Honor XV on April 1, 2022, Suzuki won the
ROH World Television Championship after defeating
Rhett Titus, winning his first championship in the United States. On the April 13, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite, Suzuki's reign ended after he lost the title to
Samoa Joe.
Major League Wrestling (2023–2025) On October 14, 2023, at
Slaughterhouse, Suzuki made his
Major League Wrestling debut, in a winning effort against
Jacob Fatu. On February 29, 2024, at
Intimidation Games, Suzuki unsuccessfully challenged
Satoshi Kojima for the
MLW World Heavyweight Championship. On June 1, 2024, at
Battle Riot VI, Suzuki joined the
Contra Unit teaming with
Mads Krule Krügger and Ikuro Kwon to defeat
Satoshi Kojima,
Matt Riddle, and
Akira in a
six-man tag team match. Suzuki and Kwon would then defeat CozyMax to win the
MLW World Tag Team Championships at
Summer of the Beasts on August 29. At
One Shot on December 5, Kwon and Suzuki lost the MLW World Tag Team Championship back to CozyMax. == Fighting style ==