Masaya Takahashi

Masaya Takahashi (高橋 匡哉 Takahashi Masaya, born October 14, 1986) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling in the deathmatch division. He is a former two-time BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion and nine-time Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He also won the 2017 Ikkitousen Deathmatch Survivor. Professional wrestling career Early career Masaya Takahashi was trained by former WWE wrestler Tajiri and was due to debut for Smash in May 2012 but the promotion closed down in March due to financial issues. He followed Tajiri to his new promotion Wrestling New Classic and participated in an exhibition bout at WNC's first show on April 26. Prior to his official debut, he claimed to be abducted by aliens and changed his name to Hishito Takahashi (高橋 星座 Takahashi Hoshito). On May 24, he defeated 15 year veteran Takuya Kito with assistance from referee Soft Imai. He went on to win 12 consecutive singles matches whilst seemingly being possessed by an alien. On August 30, Takahashi suffered his first singles loss after being defeated by Veneno and woke up from his possession. Since then, he has reverted to his real name Masaya Takahashi. Takahashi remained with WNC until its closure on June 26, 2014. Takahashi and several other former WNC wrestlers would form phoenix promotion Asuka Project and held their first show on April 23 which saw Takahashi lose to Hikaru Sato. He participated in the Asuka Project section of the 24 Hours Pro-Wrestling event at Shunjuku Face held on July 25 and 26; he unsuccessfully challenged Isami Kodaka for the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship. He left the promotion in August 2017 to sign full time with Big Japan Pro Wrestling.