Early career (1992–1997) Yoshida was trained by
The Great Sasuke and
Gran Hamada. He adopted the
ring name Taka Michinoku out of respect for The Great Sasuke, who was the owner of
Michinoku Pro Wrestling and had also used "Michinoku" as part of his ring name. He debuted at a Wrestling International New Generations and Michinoku Pro Wrestling joint event on September 4, 1992, His debut for
New Japan Pro-Wrestling came during
Super J-Cup 1994 and was eliminated from the competition in the first round by
Black Tiger. He competed in
Best of the Super Juniors 1994 and only gained two points therefore losing the tournament. He also went up against
Super Delfin for the
CMLL World Welterweight Championship and had a J-Crown Title #1 Contendership match with
Koji Kanemoto, both of which he lost.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1997, 1999) Michinoku made his ECW and American debut on February 14, 1997, in a match where he teamed with
Dick Togo & Terry Boy to defeat
Gran Hamada,
Gran Naniwa &
The Great Sasuke. This three on three feud lasted until
ECW Barely Legal 1997 Gran Hamada,
Masato Yakushiji &
The Great Sasuke would defeat the trio. This was also Michinoku's first
pay per view appearance. After this Michinoku left the company to join
the World Wrestling Federation. Taka successfully defended the WWF Light Heavyweight Title at
No Way Out of Texas: In Your House against
Pantera, at
WrestleMania XIV against
Aguila and against multiple different opponents on Raw is War and
Shotgun Saturday Night. After holding the title for more than 10 months, Michinoku lost the title to
Christian at
Judgment Day: In Your House on October 18.
Kaientai (1998–2001) Taka started to become "Americanised" and on Raw, he teamed with Bradshaw and segments where shown of Taka and Bradshaw doing generalised and stereotyped American activities. He was attacked by Kai En Tai for unknown reasons, and their alliance with Taka in Japan was not mentioned. Taka began feuding with
Kai En Tai. Michinoku would team up with
Bradshaw to take on
Dick Togo,
Mens Teioh &
Shoichi Funaki at
Over the Edge: In Your House only to be defeated.
Kaientai Dojo (2002–2019) After departing from the WWF in late 2001 Michinoku returned to Japan to rehabilitate a serious shoulder injury. On May 19, 2002, Michinoku debuted for
Kaientai Dojo at K-Dojo New Talent Presentation where Michinoku had several matches with four new K-Dojo talents and won all four matches. In June, Michinoku took part in CLUB-K Super Take tournament and would be knocked out by
Daigoro Kashiwa. In March 2003, Michinoku teamed up with Mr. X5 to take part in
UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship number one contendership tournament and were eliminated in the second round by
MIYAWAKI and Ofune. On January 10, 2005, Michinoku defeated
Kaz Hayashi for the
Strongest-K Championship, the highest honor one can achieve in Kaientai Dojo. Michinoku started a feud with
Kazma, which led to several championship matches between the two where Michinoku would come out on top. He would go on to beat Bambi in the finals of Strongest-K 2005. Michinoku would bounce back from this defeat by teaming up with JOE and defeated
Kengo Mashimo and Madoka to become the
Strongest-K Tag Team Champions in November. Handsome would take part in K-DOJO Tag Team League 2009 but didn't progress further. Michinoku won Strongest-K next challenger tournament and went on to beat Kengo Mashimo to become a two time Strongest-K Champion. Michinoku finally lost the championship to his longtime rival Kazma on October 10, 2009. Michinoku and Quiet Storm took on Ryuichi Sekine & Saburo Inematsu in a match for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship and lost. On April 14, 2013, Michinoku defeated
Yuki Sato to win the
UWA World Middleweight Championship for the first time. On May 11, he defeated Nanjyo Hayato in a title vs. title match to also win the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the third time. Michinoku lost the UWA title to Ryuichi Sekine on August 11. On November 10, he once again became a double champion, when he and Kaji Tomato defeated Kazma Sakamoto and Kengo Mashimo for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. They, however, lost the title to Hiroshi Fukuda and Shiori Asahi just six days later. Michinoku and Tomato regained the title from Fukuda and Asahi on January 26, 2014. On March 2, Michinoku and Tomato lost the title to Hiroki and Yuji Hino. On September 6, Michinoku lost the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship to
Teppei in his seventeenth title defense. On July 12, 2015, Michinoku won the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship alongside Men's Teioh. In November 2018, it was revealed Michinoku had maintained an extramarital relationship with a woman for eight years, prompting K-Dojo to fire him and enforce a one-year payment suspension. On January 22, 2019, he left the promotion to work as a freelancer.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (2003–2010, 2017) Michinoku debuted for
All Japan Pro Wrestling in August 2003. `He would quickly join the stable called
Roughly Obsess and Destroy (RO&D). He would regularly team up with
The Gladiator and
Gigantes, which led to Michinoku and Gigantes gaining a shot at the
World Tag Team Champions Arashi and
Keiji Muto on September 6 at AJPW Summer Action Series II. With this win and many more successes, RO&D would dominate AJPW, which led to an AJPW vs RO&D best of three falls match, which RO&D won. Michinoku gained only four points in the
AJPW Junior League 2006 and therefore didn't progress. El Hijo del Araya Segundo (Nobutaka Araya) joined the team after Six-Man Action between Mexico Amigos and Araya/Fuchi/Hirai at the Carnival's final show. After multiple bouts against
Minoru Suzuki, Nosawa (NOSAWA Rongai) offered Suzuki an invitation into Mexico Amigos, to which he declined. This resulted in the group changing multiple assets. Their name was changed to Mexico Amigos Black, the previous worn Mexican Flag attire became Black and Gold attire, and Nobutaka Araya was kicked out of the group. On May 2, 2007, Michinoku and Togo would beat tag team legends
Gedo and Jado to become the new
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The pairing would defend the championships on both New Japan events but also Kaientai events too. On February 20, 2011, at
The New Beginning, Michinoku took on Prince Devitt for the
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, which Devitt retained. Michinoku teamed up with Taichi to take on Devitt and
Ryusuke Taguchi for the
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and lost. After Satoshi Kojima lost the
IWGP Heavyweight Championship to
Hiroshi Tanahashi at
Wrestle Kingdom V, Kojima suffered another big loss against longtime rival Togi Makabe on May 3 and following the match, Michinoku and Taichi entered the ring and attacked Kojima, who quickly took care of both of them. This led to the surprise return of freelancer Minoru Suzuki, who appeared behind Kojima and locked him in a sleeper hold, before leaving the ringside area with Michinoku and Taichi, who proclaimed Suzuki as their new leader and renamed the stable "Suzuki-gun". Michinoku participated in
Best Of The Super Juniors XVIII and gained eight points but not enough to progress to the semifinal. Michinoku and Taichi became a tag team in New Japan's junior heavyweight tag team division. On September 11, 2011, the pair would take on
Apollo 55 for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and for the second time running lost. At
Power Struggle, Michinoku for the second time took on Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and for the second time lost. At
Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Michinoku and Taichi teamed up with
Atlantis and
Valiente to lose to
Jyushin Thunder Liger,
Kushida,
Máscara Dorada and
Tiger Mask. Both Michinoku and Taichi participated in
Best of the Super Juniors XIX, however, neither progressed to the semifinal. After their elimination from the tournament, Michinoku and Taichi had set their sights on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were, on June 16 at
Dominion 6.16, defeated by Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask in a match for the vacant championship. In August, Michinoku and Taichi began blaming each other for their recent losses, which led to the two agreeing to a match, where the loser would be expelled from Suzuki-gun. The match took place on August 22 at Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo promotion, but ended without a winner as Minoru Suzuki interrupted the match and got the two men to make peace with each other. Taka and Taichi participated in
Super Junior Tag Tournament 2012 and made it to the semifinal before losing to the
Time Splitters (
Alex Shelley and Kushida). From late May to early June 2013, Michinoku took part in the
2013 Best of the Super Juniors. After originally failing to advance from his block, Michinoku was given a spot in the semifinals, after original block winner Ryusuke Taguchi suffered a hip injury. He was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals on June 9 by Alex Shelley. On July 20, Michinoku and Taichi received another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by the defending champions, the
Forever Hooligans (
Alex Koslov and
Rocky Romero). On September 29 at
Destruction, Michinoku and Taichi failed to earn another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, when they were defeated in a number one contender's match by Time Splitters. However, when Alex Shelley was sidelined with an injury, Michinoku and Taichi were given the title shot and, on October 14 at
King of Pro-Wrestling, defeated the Forever Hooligans to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Michinoku and Taichi made their first successful title defense on November 1, defeating Gedo and Jado at their self-produced independent event. After a reign of 26 days, Michinoku and Taichi lost the title to
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) on November 9 at
Power Struggle. banner in March 2014 In January 2015, Suzuki-gun entered a storyline, where the entire stable invaded the
Pro Wrestling Noah promotion. Michinoku and
El Desperado won the
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on March 15 by defeating
Choukibou-gun (
Hajime Ohara and
Kenoh) and No Mercy (
Daisuke Harada and
Genba Hirayanagi) in a three-way match. They lost the title to
Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada in their fifth defense on October 4. Suzuki-gun's Noah invasion storyline concluded in December 2016, which led to the stable's return to NJPW on January 5, 2017. In May, Michinoku took part in the
2017 Best of the Super Juniors, where he finished second to last in his block with a record of two wins and five losses. From March 2018 until May 2019, he was the manager and occasional tag team partner of
Zack Sabre Jr. In May 2019, Michinoku participated in the
2019 Best of the Super Juniors. Going winless in his first 5 matches, he injured his ankle during his 6th match against
Shingo Takagi. He would then forfeit his remaining matches, finishing the tournament with 0 wins and 9 losses. Michinoku would disappear shortly after to focus on starting his new promotion, Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out. In November 2021, through the NJPW website, it was announced that Michinoku would return after 2 years and 6 months away to participate into the
World Tag League tournament, with his partner being his "boss" and teammate Minoru Suzuki. The duo finished their Tag League campaign at the bottom of the block with 0 points, failing to win a single match. On January 4, 2022, at night one of
Wrestle Kingdom 16, Michinoku competed in the
New Japan Rambo but failed to last till the final 4. In March, Michinoku competed in the
New Japan Cup, losing to
Cima in the first round. Michinoku continued to team with his Suzuki-gun stablemates for the remainder of the year in mainly tag-team matches. In December 2022, at the
World Tag League &
Best of the Super Juniors finals, Minoru Suzuki announced the disbandment of Suzuki-gun by the end of the year. The final match between the faction took place on December 23, where the team of Taichi, Sabre Jr, Kanemaru and Douki defeated Suzuki, Archer, Desperado and Michinoku. After the match, each of the Suzuki-gun members spoke about their memories as a part of the group and thanked leader 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, which was raised by Michinoku.
Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out (2019-present) On April 12, 2019, Michinoku announced that he would be creating a new promotion called
Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out (JTO). It held its first show at Korakuen Hall on July 8, 2019, where Michinoku was defeated by Minoru Suzuki. Although the second and later rounds were delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Michinoku won the Only Give Up Tournament by defeating
Hayato Tamura on August 14, 2020. ==Championships and accomplishments==