Tadashi Takagi (高木 規, Takagi Tadashi, born January 13, 1970 in
Toyonaka,
Japan), better known by his
ring nameSanshiro Takagi (高木 三四郎, Takagi Sanshirō), is a Japanese
professional wrestler and promoter, currently working for Japanese wrestling promotions
Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH), where he serves as the president, and
DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is the founder. Takagi's gimmick is that he is
Stone Cold Steve Austin.
He is known in
Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and around the micro-indy scene for his hilarious
promos and natural charisma as well as his extensive use of
comedy in his matches. He is the president of DDT and has also worked as the
chief executive officer of
Wrestle-1. He became the new president of Pro Wrestling Noah when
CyberAgent purchased the company.
Career
Takagi was trained by
Goro Tsurumi and started at his
International Pro Wrestling revival promotion, IWA Kakuto Shijuku. Soon, however, Takagi broke off, seeing that IWAKS's limited exposure would only limit him to be an independent wrestler, in 1997 he formed DDT (Dramatic Dream Team), which not only would promote in
Tokyo (as opposed to Tsurumi's
Chigasaki, Kanagawa base), but also be based on the entertainment wrestling kingpin of the day,
World Wrestling Entertainment. Since then Takagi's show has acquired a cult following as a good version of American-style entertainment wrestling. Takagi has also made appearances in
All Japan Pro Wrestling, but prefers to remain his own man and his own promoter.
On May 5, 2015, Takagi was announced as the new
chief executive officer (CEO) of
Wrestle-1. He also continued serving as the president of DDT, while being involved with Wrestle-1's management.[5] Starting on April 1, 2017, Takagi served in the role of an advisor to new president
Kaz Hayashi.[6] In March 2017, Wrestle-1 underwent a change in management, which led to Takagi assuming the new role of an advisor,[7] from which he resigned the following September.[8]
On September 1, 2017, DDT was sold to the
CyberAgent company. Takagi retained his position as the company's president.[9]
On July 15, 2019, at
Wrestle Peter Pan 2019, Takagi won the inaugural
O-40 Championship by defeating Super Sasadango Machine. On September 29, at Who's Gonna TOP? 2019, he lost the title to Gorgeous Matsuno.
On January 30, 2020 Takagi became new president of
Pro Wrestling Noah and commented that
Mitsuharu Misawa once saved DDT when he gave chances to DDT wrestlers to perform at Noah events and he wanted to rise both DDT and Noah as world class promotions.
Personal life
His wife is Kayako Takagi, who actually helped him out backstage and on-screen in DDT storylines in 2004.