          AJPW PPV, 4/13/02 (Tenryu vs. Muto)
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Title History:
British Commonwealth International Heavyweight Title (1):
Tournament History: None won.
Signature Moves: - Rolling German suplexes
Notes: Initiated into New Japan in April, 1996 ... Spent the first few years of his career gaining experience in opening matches, establishing a rivalry with fellow young lion, Yutaka Yoshie ... Got his first major break in early 2000 when he was nominated to represent New Japan at the 2000 Super J Cup ... Gained big momentum going into the J Cup, pinning top junior, Shinjiro Otani, in a six man tag match on 3/16/00 ... Performed well at the J Cup, but lost to legend, Gran Hamada, in the first round ... Got a big win over one of New Japan's top heavyweight prospects, Kenzo Suzuki, in the 2000 Young Lions Cup ... Was unable to follow up on that victory though, losing to Suzuki in the 2000 Young Lions Cup final on 5/5/00 at the Fukuoka Dome ... Scored a big win over Dr. Wagner Jr. in the 2000 Best of the Super Jr., pinning the luchadore in a group match ... Only managed 11th (out of 12) place in the BOSJ, defeating Michinoku Pro's Minoru Fujita on the final day to prevent himself from finishing at the bottom ... Continued his slow ascent as a junior, scoring an upset pin over Minoru Tanaka during a six man tag match on 9/10/00 ... Teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger on 9/12/00 to challenge Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title ... Although the challenge failed and he was forced to submit by Tanaka, they took the champions over 20 minutes before losing ... In 2001, began splitting his time between the junior division and heavyweight division, as his size allowed him to be a heavyweight ... In the biggest match of his career, he team with legend, Riki Choshu, on New Japan's 2/18/00 PPV ... The two lost to IWGP Tag Team Champions, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima on the show. Choshu was pinned, but Makabe was destroyed and KO'd by Kojima during the match ... He and Choshu challenged Tenzan & Kojima for the IWGP Tag Team Title on 3/20/01, but weren't even able to last 10 minutes this time, Kojima lariating him at 9:37 for the victory ... Lost to former opening match rival, Yutaka Yoshie, at the Osaka Dome on 4/9/01 ... Teamed and fought with young lions on the 5/5/01 Fukuoka Dome show and 6/6/01 Nippon Budokan PPV, scoring the pinfall in both tag matches ... Teamed with Yuji Nagata on All Japan's 6/8/01 show, losing to AJPW's Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai in a match for the vacant All Asia Tag Team Title, when he was pinned by Nagai ... Teamed with fellow youngsters, Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroshi Tanahashi, at the Sapporo Dome on 7/20/01, taking legends Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido past 10 minutes before losing ... After teaming with Yutaka Yoshie and losing to Riki Choshu & Kenzo Suzuki on 8/12/01, he announced he would be leaving on a learning excursion to Canada, Europe and Puerto Rico ... During his time in England, he won the British Commonwealth International Heavyweight Title, his first gold ... Having bulked up to 105kg, he is expected to return as a heavyweight.
A New Japan Young Lion
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