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If the AEW roster weren't aware of Minoru Suzuki before, they better get acquainted with him quickly. Suzuki is one of the most feared wrestlers in the whole world. His hard-hitting shoot and freestyle wrestling style have conquered many, leaving many in his wake.
Born in Yokohama, Minoru Suzuki began his professional wrestling career in 1988 at the New Japan Dojo. Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, and Kazuchika Okada have all learned their craft from the Dojo. Before his training, like many American stars, Suzuki was an amateur wrestler in high school.
He is also experienced in mixed martial arts, having had 49 professional fights and winning 30. He started his career in MMA in 1993, working for Japanese promotion Pancrase for ten years.
Suzuki became one of their most successful performers, defeating the likes of Ken Shamrock and even Jushin 'Thunder' Liger. He has adopted his MMA experience into his pro-wrestling matches.
He eventually returned to professional wrestling, working worldwide, before landing in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2010. He went on to develop his Suzuki Gun stable as its leader. The hard-hitter had a one-year tenure with Pro Wrestling NOAH before once again returning to NJPW in 2017.
Looking back on Minoru Suzuki's pro wrestling career, he's held multiple championships and received some incredible accolades. No doubt his finest accomplishment is being listed as the 14th best wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated in 2007.
His last championship reign was with the NEVER Openweight Title in NJPW, which he won for a second time.
Minoru Suzuki will face Jon Moxley on AEW Dynamite this week
His most recent and biggest feud came with Jon Moxley in NJPW in 2020, fighting over the IWGP United States Championship. Moxley told Uproxx that it was a dream working with Minoru Suzuki.
"Yeah, getting to work with Minoru Suzuki was a dream come true, just kind of a dream match that I was hoping for one day. I didn’t think our paths would ever cross, and it was like that would be a really cool, kind of bucket list opponent to check off. But you never know when you’re going to have your last match or you’re going to get hit by a bus or you’re going to break your neck or whatever. You never know when it’s your last day until your last day. So I thought before I retire, it would be really cool to get a chance to wrestle him once. And we did and it was an extremely physical and violent affair and it was exactly the kind of just in your face action we both like to bring and it was very cool," said Jon Moxley.
Minoru Suzuki made his All Elite Wrestling debut at All Out on September 5th, 2021. He appeared following Jon Moxley's victory over Satoshi Kojima.
Suzuki confronted and attacked Mox, reigniting their feud. It has now been confirmed that the two will go one-on-one on this week's AEW Dynamite in what will no doubt be another violent contest.
