New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1991–2002) Kojima entered the
NJPW Dojo in February 1991. He debuted as a wrestler on July 16, 1991 in a match against future tag team partner
Hiroyoshi Yamamoto (later to be known as Hiroyoshi Tenzan) where Yamamoto won. In 1994 he defeated
Manabu Nakanishi in the Young Lions Cup finals, winning the tournament. In the end of that year he went to Europe, including a spell in
Orig Williams' British Wrestling Federation as face-painted Suzuki Karimoto (including appearances on Williams 's Welsh language TV wrestling show on
S4C,
Reslo and for Brian Dixon's
All Star Wrestling as heel Mean Machine, and returned to NJPW in January 1996. When he returned, he formed
The Bull Powers with Nakanishi, who had returned from WCW. In May 1997 he defeated
Riki Choshu and
Kensuke Sasaki with Nakanishi to become an IWGP Tag Team Champion for the first time. At the end of 1998 he joined
nWo Japan, by
Keiji Mutoh's leadership. Kojima and Tenzan (known together as
Tencozy, a
portmanteau of their last names) formed a tag team and ended up holding the IWGP Tag Team title together twice.
Major League Wrestling (2002–2003) On September 26, 2002, Kojima defeated
Jerry Lynn to win the vacant
MLW World Heavyweight Championship in New York. Kojima successfully defended the title five times in both MLW and
All Japan Pro Wrestling. Kojima held the championship for a then record 267 days, before losing the title to
Mike Awesome on June 20, 2003.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (2002–2010) In January 2002, in opposition to
Antonio Inoki focusing the IWGP title on unreliable
shoot style wrestlers such as
Kazuyuki Fujita and
Tadao Yasuda, as well as Inoki debuting his controversial "Inokiism" era where NJPW relied heavily on MMA shoot match crossovers, Kojima left NJPW with his mentor
Keiji Mutoh, and joined
All Japan Pro Wrestling where he was finally able to receive the push of a top star. One of Kojima's early feuds in AJPW was against
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams and
Mike Barton (Bart Gunn), who as AJPW loyalists didn't take kindly to Kojima's and Muto's "invasion" of the company. Kojima also fought against
Genichiro Tenryu at this time, who would also become an AJPW loyalist. In promos throughout 2002, Steve Williams often mentioned Satoshi Kojima as someone he would like to beat. Kojima and Williams would cross paths multiple times in tag-team matches, where on the March 23, 2002 edition of AJPW TV, Williams surprise attacked and suplexed Kojima when Kojima was cutting a promo on Tenryu. Kojima later turned babyface by December 2002, where on the December 6, 2002 pay-per-view Kojima and
Taiyo Kea won the Real World Tag League of that year. Williams would watch the celebration somewhat jealously while reluctantly shaking Kojima's hand, looking down at the title on his shoulder. On the January 2, 2003 edition of AJPW TV Williams aggressively slapped Kojima in the corner of the ring during the New Year's Battle Royal before being eliminated, which Kojima went on to win. In January 2003, Williams and his partner
Mike Rotunda defeated Kojima and his team three times in tag-team house show matches, but Williams ultimately left AJPW after its sale finalized. As a result a singles match between Williams and Kojima heading into 2003 never materialized. Kojima would later hold both of the company's tag team titles, the
World Tag Team Championship twice. On February 16, 2005, he won the
Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, AJPW's unified heavyweight championship from
Toshiaki Kawada. Only four days later he won NJPW's heavyweight championship, the
IWGP Heavyweight Championship, from his former tag team partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan in a cross-promotional double title match. The match had a unique finish designed to fool fans in attendance. The idea was to make it look like the match was going to end in a 60-minute time limit draw. However, with just seconds before the match would be declared a time limit draw, Tenzan, who was known to have a legitimate back injury, could not continue, resulting in Kojima being declared the winner and becoming the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. NJPW officials had come up with the finish, which was designed to look like a "mistake", having agreed with AJPW that it would be better if Kojima won the match, but not wanting the match to end in a standard pinfall or submission. On May 14, 2005, Tenzan won the IWGP title back, but not the Triple Crown. Upon joining AJPW, Kojima began to use the
Great Koji (copying The Great Muta) and
Great Kosuke (copying
The Great Sasuke) personas for special matches. On July 3, 2006, Kojima lost the Triple Crown to
Taiyō Kea. Three days later it was revealed that Kojima would return to New Japan to compete in the
2006 G1 Climax, where he would go to lose in the finals against former tag team partner and rival Hiroyoshi Tenzan. In October 2006 it was announced that Tencozy would reform for the upcoming
World's Strongest Tag Determination League tournament. On December 2, 2006, the reformed Tencozy won the
World's Strongest Tag Determination League defeating
Kohei Suwama and
RO'Z in the finals when Kojima used a lariat on RO'Z. The duo next faced
Masahiro Chono and
Keiji Mutoh at NJPW's
Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome. They lost when Chono forced Tenzan to submit. In July 2007, Kojima shocked the All-Japan Army when he betrayed them and joined the
Voodoo Murders, where he was quickly made the group's co-leader along with
TARU. Soon after joining, Kojima and TARU won the World Tag Team Championship from Toshiaki Kawada and Taiyō Kea. Kojima left the group in 2008 after returning from injury to side with his sworn friend
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and to feud with the alliance of
Great Bash Heel (Tenzan's former group) and the VooDoo Murders. In 2008, Tenzan and Kojima became the first tag team to ever win
G1 Tag League and World's Strongest Tag Determination League in the same year. Later he started his 1st stable named F4 (
Friend
Fight
Fan and
Future) with young proteges YAMATO and
KAI. A 4th member in Zodiac joined later in 2009. On September 26, 2009, a few days after his 39th birthday Kojima lifted the All-Japan Triple Crown off of
Yoshihiro Takayama, returning the titles to All-Japan and winning them for the 2nd time. He lost the title on March 21, 2010, to
Ryota Hama. Kojima's AJPW page was taken down soon before he agreed to compete in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's
20th annual G1 Climax. It is reported that he was plagued with an arm injury that required surgery and needed time off to heal. AJPW then refused to discuss re-signing Kojima until he was healthy. It has been reported Kojima was not pleased with this and began entertaining other possibilities.
Return to NJPW (2010–present) Kojima returned to New Japan in August 2010 to take part in the 2010 G1 Climax tournament. His return match took place on August 6, 2010, when he teamed up with
El Samurai in a tag team match, where they were defeated by
Hirooki Goto and
Ryusuke Taguchi. In the round robin stage of the tournament Kojima won five out his seven matches and won his block to advance to the finals, where, on August 15, he defeated
Hiroshi Tanahashi to win G1 Climax. On October 11 Kojima defeated
Togi Makabe to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the second time. On December 11 Kojima made his first successful defense of the title, defeating
Shinsuke Nakamura. On December 14 Kojima announced that he was starting his own stable, tentatively named Kojima Office, and named
Taichi, who had accompanied him to the ring for his Nakamura match, its first member. Kojima turned
heel on December 23, when he hit his number one contender Hiroshi Tanahashi with a lariat after a match, where he and
Kota Ibushi had defeated Tanahashi and
Prince Devitt. On January 4, 2011, at
Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, Kojima lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Tanahashi. On January 30 Kojima defeated Togi Makabe to earn a rematch with Tanahashi. Meanwhile, the newly renamed
Kojima-gun expanded to include
Taka Michinoku and
Nosawa Rongai, who in turn used his connections to get
MVP to also join the group. Kojima received his rematch for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on February 20 at
The New Beginning, but was again defeated by Tanahashi. After Kojima was defeated by Togi Makabe on May 3, Taichi and Taka Michinoku turned on him and named the returning
Minoru Suzuki as their new leader, while Kojima himself formed a new partnership with Makabe and MVP, who left the stable after Suzuki took over. 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. Kojima managed to win five more matches in the tournament, but a loss to former partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan on the final day eliminated him from the running for a spot in the finals. After the tournament Kojima was sidelined indefinitely with an eye injury suffered during the match with Tenzan. On September 19, it was announced that Kojima had signed a contract with New Japan to become an official member of the promotion's roster. Kojima then announced that he would make his return on October 10 at
Destruction '11 and challenged former partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan to be his opponent that day. Kojima would end up defeating Tenzan in his return match. In the
2011 G1 Tag League, Kojima teamed with Togi Makabe as the "Beast Combination". After picking up three wins and one loss in their first four matches, Kojima and Makabe were defeated by the Billion Powers (Hirooki Goto and Hiroshi Tanahashi) on November 4, causing them to narrowly miss advancing to the semi-finals of the tournament. Kojima and Tenzan faced each other yet again on November 12 in a match, which was won by Tenzan. Afterwards, the former tag team partners came together to fend off an attack from
CHAOS. Tencozy wrestled their return match as a tag team on December 4, defeating CHAOS members
Hideo Saito and
Takashi Iizuka. On January 4, 2012, at
Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Kojima and Tenzan defeated
Bad Intentions (
Giant Bernard and
Karl Anderson) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the third time. On May 3 at
Wrestling Dontaku 2012, Kojima and Tenzan lost the title to Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano in their third defense. On July 22, Kojima and Tenzan defeated Iizuka and Yano in a decision match to regain the newly vacated title. On October 8 at
King of Pro-Wrestling, Kojima and Tenzan lost the title to
K.E.S. (
Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and
Lance Archer). From November 20 to December 1, Tencozy took part in the round-robin portion of the
2012 World Tag League. The team finished with a record of four wins and two losses, winning their block and advancing to the semi-finals of the tournament. On December 2, Tencozy was eliminated from the tournament in their semi-final match by Sword & Guns (Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson). On December 9, Kojima made a rare appearance for
Pro Wrestling Noah, unsuccessfully challenging
Takeshi Morishima for the
GHC Heavyweight Championship. On April 7, 2013, Kojima unsuccessfully challenged visiting
Rob Conway for the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship at New Japan's
Invasion Attack event. On May 3, Tencozy regained the IWGP Tag Team Championship from K.E.S. in a four-way match, which also included Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano, and Manabu Nakanishi and
Strong Man, starting Kojima's sixth reign as champion. From August 1 to 11, Kojima took part in the
2013 G1 Climax. where he finished second to last in his block with a record of four wins and five losses. However, a victory over reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion
Kazuchika Okada on the final day of the tournament earned Kojima a shot at the title. The title match between the two took place on September 29 at
Destruction and saw Okada retain his title. Following the match, Kojima was sidelined with a dislocated shoulder and was expected to miss two months of in-ring action. Kojima returned to the ring on November 9 at
Power Struggle, where he and Tenzan lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to K.E.S. in a three-way match, which also included
The IronGodz (
Jax Dane and Rob Conway). In December, Tencozy made it to the finals of the
2013 World Tag League, defeating K.E.S. in the semi-finals, before losing to
Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. During the tournament, Kojima pinned Rob Conway, which led to him challenging him to a rematch for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On January 4, 2014, at
Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, Kojima defeated Conway to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. The following day, Tencozy unsuccessfully challenged The IronGodz for the
NWA World Tag Team Championship with Conway pinning Kojima following a low blow. On February 9 at
The New Beginning in Hiroshima, Kojima made his first successful defense of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Big Daddy Yum-Yum. Two days later at
The New Beginning in Osaka, Tencozy defeated Yum-Yum and
Michael Tarver to earn another shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship. On April 6 at
Invasion Attack 2014, Tencozy defeated The IronGodz to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Six days later, during New Japan's trip to
Taiwan, Kojima made his second successful defense of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Conway. The following day, Tencozy also successfully defended the NWA World Tag Team Championship against The IronGodz. On May 3 at
Wrestling Dontaku 2014, Kojima defeated
Wes Brisco for his third successful defense of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On May 25 at
Back to the Yokohama Arena, Tencozy successfully defended the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Brisco and Conway and K.E.S. in a three-way match. The following week, Kojima returned to the United States to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. After successful defenses against Jeremiah Plunkett, Damien Wayne and Houston Carson, Kojima lost the title back to Rob Conway on June 2 in
Las Vegas. Upon his return to Japan, Kojima and Tenzan successfully defended the NWA World Tag Team Championship against K.E.S. on June 21 at
Dominion 6.21. After four successful title defenses, they lost the title to K.E.S. in a rematch on October 13 at
King of Pro-Wrestling. The following month, Tencozy took part in the
2014 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. In late 2014, Kojima began making appearances for Pro Wrestling Noah, which culminated in him unsuccessfully challenging
Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on January 10, 2015. On March 21, Kojima unsuccessfully challenged Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. From July 23 to August 15, Kojima took part in the
2015 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of three wins and six losses. On March 19, 2016, Kojima unsuccessfully challenged
Katsuyori Shibata for the
NEVER Openweight Championship. On July 3, Kojima teamed up with
Matt Sydal and
Ricochet to defeat
The Elite (
Kenny Omega and
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)) for the
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Afterwards, Kojima backed out of the
2016 G1 Climax and gave his spot to Hiroyoshi Tenzan to give his longtime tag team partner one final chance to win the tournament. On August 14, Kojima unsuccessfully challenged
Jay Lethal for the
Ring of Honor (ROH)
World Championship. On September 25, Kojima, Ricochet and Sydal were stripped of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship due to Sydal failing to make a scheduled title defense at
Destruction in Kobe because of travel issues. That same day, Kojima and Ricochet, now teaming with
David Finlay, defeated
Adam Cole and The Young Bucks to regain the vacant title. They lost the title to
Los Ingobernables de Japón (
Bushi,
Evil and
Sanada) in a four-team
gauntlet match at
Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2017. On March 6, Tencozy defeated
Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the sixth time. They lost the title to
War Machine (
Hanson and
Raymond Rowe) on April 9 at
Sakura Genesis 2017. On August 27, 2017, Kojima made a one-night return to AJPW, wrestling his first match for the company in five years. He defeated Suwama in the match, but was left with a bad aftertaste due to the win coming as a result of a pre-match attack on Suwama by
Joe Doering. After sitting most of 2018 out with an ACL injury, Kojima returned and teamed with Tenzan in the 2018
World Tag League, earning 10 points. Kojima would then enter the 2019
New Japan Cup where he was eliminated in the first round by long time rival
Minoru Suzuki. Kojima and Tenzan entered the 2019
World Tag League and finished with 6 points, not making the finals. Kojima would enter the 2020
New Japan Cup, however was eliminated in the first round by eventual winner
EVIL. In December 2020, after
Juice Robinson sustained an eye injury, Kojima would replace him and challenge
KENTA for his
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Right to Challenge briefcase at
Wrestle Kingdom 15. At the event, Kojima lost. Kojima then began a feud with
Will Ospreay culminating in a No Disqualification Match at
The New Beginning in Nagoya, where Ospreay would defeat Kojima. Kojima entered the 2021
New Japan Cup, but was eliminated in the first round by
Jeff Cobb.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2017, 2024) On June 28, 2017, Mexican promotion
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) announced that Kojima would be making his debut for the promotion in the
2017 International Gran Prix. He was eliminated from the
torneo cibernetico on September 1 by
Último Guerrero. Kojima also took part in an event held by the Lucha Memes promotion on September 3, losing to
Hechicero. On May 24, 2024 he returned to the CMLL as part of the CozyMAX (Okumura) tag team, they lost against Los Depredadores (Magia Blanca & Rugido). On May 28, 2024 they made their first defense of the
MLW World Tag Team Championship against Los Depredadores (Magia Blanca & Rugido).
Impact Wrestling (2021) On the May 20, 2021, episode of
Impact!, a video package aired promoting Kojima arriving to
Impact Wrestling as part of a partnership between Impact and NJPW. On the following week's
Impact!, Kojima made his debut confronting
Violent by Design where he challenged VBD member
Joe Doering to a match at
Against All Odds. At the event, Kojima lost to Doering. On the June 24 episode of
Impact!, he teamed up with
Eddie Edwards to face VBD members Doering and
Deaner for the
Impact World Tag Team Championship, but failed to win. The following week on
Impact!, he teamed up with Jake Something to defeat
Brian Myers and Sam Beale, in what would be his final match in the company.
All Elite Wrestling (2021, 2023) (right) at
AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door in June 2023 On the August 25, 2021, episode of
Dynamite,
Jon Moxley announced a match against Kojima at
All Out. At the event on September 5, he lost to Moxley. On June 25, 2023 at
Forbidden Door, Kojima competed in the
Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament, losing to
CM Punk in the quarterfinals of the tournament. On October 1 at
WrestleDream Zero Hour, Kojima teamed with
Athena,
Billie Starkz, and
Keith Lee to defeat Shane Taylor Promotions (
Lee Moriarty and
Shane Taylor),
Diamanté, and
Mercedes Martinez.
Pro Wrestling Noah (2022–2023) On April 30 at Majestic 2022, Kojima was revealed to be
Naomichi Marufuji's mystery partner against Kinya Okada and
Yoshiki Inamura which Kojima and Marufuji won. Kojima then challenged
Go Shiozaki for the
GHC Heavyweight Championship after Shiozaki won the vacant title after defeating
Kaito Kiyomiya in the main event. At
CyberFight Festival 2022, Kojima defeated Shiozaki to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the first time and became the fourth Japanese wrestler to win all the major Heavyweight titles in Japan, having also won the IWGP Heavyweight and Triple Crown Heavyweight Championships in his career.
Return to MLW (2024–present) In January 2024, Kojima returned to MLW to challenge World Heavyweight Champion,
Alex Kane to a title match. At
SuperFight 2024, Kojima defeated Kane to win the MLW World Heavyweight Championship, 22 years after first winning the title. Kojima also became the first 2-time World Heavyweight Champion in the promotions history. At
Intimidation Games, Kojima successfully defended his title against
Minoru Suzuki. At
War Chamber, Kojima team up with The Second Gear Crew (
Matthew Justice and
1 Called Manders) and
Shigeo Okumura, as Team MLW. Together, they defeated World Titan Federation (
Tom Lawlor,
Davey Boy Smith Jr.,
Richard Holliday, and Josh Bishop) in a War Chamber match. At
War Chamber II, Kojima successfully defended his title against
Bad Dude Tito. At
Aztecha Lucha, Kojima teamed up with Shigeo Okumura, calling their team, CozyMax. Together, they defeated The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice and 1 Called Manders) to win the vacant
MLW World Tag Team Championship. Kojima also became a double champion in the process, the first to hold both the World Heavyweight and World Tag Team titles at the same time. He lost the title to Matt Riddle at Kings of Colisseum 2025. ==Other media==