Hiroshi Tanahashi

Hiroshi Tanahashi (born November 13, 1976) is a Japanese professional wrestler who is currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
During his time in NJPW, he has become a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He shares the record for most reigns as IWGP Heavyweight Champion with Tatsumi Fujinami and also holds the record for most successful defenses with eleven during his fifth reign as champion.
Career.
Before becoming a professional wrestler, Tanahashi played baseball in high school and also started wrestling during his time attending Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. While he was wrestling, he was noticed by New Japan Pro Wrestling talent scouts and was invited to try out for the New Japan Dojo. His tryout was successful and he was brought in as a trainee.
Tanahashi made his debut in October 1999 in a match against Shinya Makabe. During that time, he was viewed as a big prospect and he earned wins over lucha libre legend Negro Casas in July 2000 and American Scott Hall in September 2001.
He would go on to team with Kenzo Suzuki with their tag team being called the Kings of the Hills. The team ended when a real life incident occurred in November 2002 with Tanahashi being stabbed in the back by Hitomi Hara (a TV Asahi news reporter that he had dated for a brief amount of time). He was hospitalized, but recovered.
He returned to in-ring competition this time as a singles wrestler on February 16, 2003 in a match against Manabu Nakanishi in front of a sold-out Tokyo crowd.
On January 4, 2014, Tanahashi was able to defeat Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. He had a rematch against Nakamura at The New Beginning in Hiroshima on February 9 where he was successful in defending his championship. When Nakamura won the 2014 New Japan Cup, Tanahashi had a second rematch against Nakamura at Invasion Attack 2014 on April 6. Nakamura defeated Tanahashi for the championship in the match.