TORA Wanizame

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 215 lbs.

Age: 21

Hometown/Nation: Oita, Japan

Theme Music: "Tora Tora Tora" by MAX

Alignment: Heel

Appearance:

TORA is a young, rather fair-skinned Asian with an athletic build... he's not overly lean, nor is he a bodybuilder by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, he's built more for endurance and stamina, though he has recently gained a few pounds in the way of muscle in an attempt to become more credible as a power wrestler.

As he wears a mask, not much of TORA's face is visible, other than his dark, dark brown (nearly black) eyes and his mouth, which is... well... a mouth (and often contorted into a toothy, vaguely shark-like grin). Out of the top of the mask flows TORA's hair, longish and center-parted, which is black and streaked with one of various other colors, usually silver or blonde.

Ring Attire:

TORA's ring attire consists of a pair of full-length tights with lightning bolts running down the legs, kickboxing style boots, and his trademark mask. His mask is somewhat shark-like in its angularity and covered in tiger stripes. The top of the mask is left open, allowing TORA's hair to billow out. Also, the mouth is left open as well. A shark jaws design encircles the mask's open mouth. Generally speaking, his attire is a black and orange motif, but TORA may change colors on occasion.

Description of the Wrestler's Personality, Behavior, and Attitude:

Kinda hard to pinpoint, TORA is a punk, a pervert, and a self-professed hero, amongst other things. He has a tendency to be a goofball, but he also has a mean streak a mile wide and cunning reminiscent of his namesake, the tiger shark. Complex and mildly disturbing.

Background Information on Wrestler:

Growing up, Kentaro Yamada idolized such men as Jushin "Thunder" Lyger and the original Tiger Mask. A major wrestling fan and big heavy metal freak, he also competed in amateur wrestling and martial arts. At the young age of 19, Kentaro got his start in pro wrestling in the International Elite Wrestling Association in the summer of 1998, wrestling under the name Kabuki Master. His IEWA stint was considerably less-than-stellar as he was unable to score a single win, so he headed back home to compete in the newly formed Gunryo Pro. This proved to be a huge step in his career.

Early on, Kabuki hooked up with his IEWA friend The Banshee as well as rookie Ozeki Shumasita to form Hiryuu Batsu (Flying Dragon Clan). The alliance was short-lived, however, as Kabuki was discovered to have been conspiring with Zokugun Sangai (Rebel Army Havoc), the top heel stable in G-Pro, after he threw a name vs. name match against The Kabuki Kid and revealed himself to be TORA Wanizame of ZS. As TORA, Yamada was revitalized and would go on to great heights.

ZS dominated G-Pro as the undisputed top heel group, feuding with the promotion's top faces, Wanizame's former Hiryuu Batsu allies. TORA found a nemesis in The Banshee in particular, and the two had a fierce rivalry which culminated in their first single meeting, a sixty-minute Iron Man Match for Banshee's G-Pro International Super-Middleweight Title. In a grueling battle, Wanizame managed to come out victorious (with a little help from his ZS cohorts) and captured the belt. During the match, Banshee suffered a serious shoulder injury which would prompt him to announce his retirement shortly thereafter.

TORA's success in G-Pro garnered him a lot of attention outside of G-Pro, leading to stints in other promotions in America, Japan, and Mexico, including Pro Japan Wrestling, Campeones Locos del Lucha Libre, and the prestigious Extreme Mail Wrestling Council. G-Pro, however, remained his true home until its closure just after its first anniversary.

Titles Held:

· G-Pro Trios Title (9/9/98 - 10/3/98)
· G-Pro Combative Tag Team Title (11/15/98 - 12/13/98)
· 2 x G-Pro International Super-Middleweight Title (11/21/98 - 11/21/98; 2/10/99 - 7/5/99)
· G-Pro International Trios Title (1/24/99 - 5/2/99)
· EMWC World Tag Team Title (3/14/99 - 4/7/99)
· PJW All-Asian 6-Man Tag Team Title (4/25/99 - present)
· 1999 EMWC Pacific Tournament winner

Three Strengths/Talents of the wrestler:

1) Extremely well-rounded - TORA employs high-impact puroresu-style drivers, bombs, and suplexes, manic and dazzling high-flying maneuvers (though he doesn't rely as heavily on flying as he once did), technical and mat wrestling, martial arts, and even some shoot-esque submissions, takedowns, and strikes, not to mention his tendency to blatantly cheat. With such a multi-dimensional arsenal, he is often able to get - and keep - his opponents off-balance.

2) Youth _and_ experience - At only 21, TORA already has faced and beaten some of the best in the sport (including "Diamondback" Chris Myers, "Madfox" Jeff Matthews, and Christopher Stonebreaker, amongst others). Barring serious injury, he likely has a long career ahead of him yet, but even now he shows the savvy of a seasoned veteran.

3) Fighting spirit - Despite being a heel, TORA has been known to bounce back from fierce beatings and perservere in the face of adversity. Just because he's a scumbag doesn't mean he doesn't have heart. :-)

Three Weaknesses/Flaws of the wrestler:

1) Power... or rather, lack thereof - Though he's added on some muscle recently, TORA can still be rather easily overpowered by bigger foes, and he can almost _always_ be outbrawled (in a fair fight, anyway) except by the smallest wrestlers.

2) Reputation - During his young career, TORA has already established a name for himself as both an extremely accomplished, talented athlete as well as a devious, arrogant bad dude. That, along with his penchant to find himself with far more enemies than friends, leaves him with the proverbial target painted on him.

3) Goofiness - Though he is extremely talented, some of the things TORA does in the ring... well... serve no purpose whatsoever. It's just pointless and goofy as hell. If you've seen lucha comedy spots, you probably have a good idea of what I mean.

Finishing Maneuvers:

1. Wanizame Bomb '98: a Death Valley Driver dropped into a Northern Lights Bomb (variation: the Wanizame Bomb `98-B - an inverted suplex into the Wanizame Bomb '98)

2. Wanizame Bomb '99: a pumphandle Northern Lights Bomb delivered with killer velocity

3. Wanizame Special: a Victory Star Drop (top-rope reverse hurricanrana) with a Delfin-style shoulder spin, followed up by La Majistral cradle for the pin

4. Denki Sakura (Electric Cherry Blossom): a super Orange Crush (brainbuster turned powerbomb)

5. Fuzzy Pickles Press: a shooting star press overshot into a senton bomb

6. Zokugun Bomb (Z-Bomb): a belly-to-back suplex spun into a Lygerbomb

Setup Maneuver: None

Signature Maneuvers:

1. Series of sentons: hits a senton, rolls over to the other side of his opponent, hits another, etc. Usually hits four to five sentons.

2. Springboard dropkick to the back of the head (sometimes while opponent is seated) - *BRUTAL*!

3. Hebiimetaru No Eruboo ("Heavy Metal Elbow"): With his opponent laying prone on the mat, TORA steps up onto the second rope and begins to walk sideways along it (so that he's facing his opponent), continuously crotch chopping at his intended victim as he does so until he finally comes off of the second rope with an elbowdrop for the pin attempt.

4. Hurricane Fury Crusher: a move picked up from Frazer Fury, TORA grabs his opponent's head, runs into the ropes, springs off the second rope, and spins into an Ace Crusher.

5. TORAhacker Bomb: a running Towerhacker Bomb (torture rack dropped into a Lyger Bomb)

6. A released German suplex _into_ the turnbuckle... tends to screw up people's necks really, really bad.

7. A tendency to do moves from the apron to the floor; especially the Ace Crusher, cobra clutch suplex, and Michinoku Driver II.

Other commonly used moves:

1. rapid-fire kicks (especially to the kidneys)

2. knife-edge chops (especially to the throat)

3. Falcon Arrow: vertical suplex dropped into a Michinoku Driver II

4. powerbomb and variations (Lygerbombs, Pyramid Drivers, tiger drivers, Kamikaze Bombs, Asian powerbombs, etc.),

5. backdrop driver

6. rolling German suplexes (usually in sets of 3 or 4)

7. missile dropkick

8. cobra clutch suplex

9. series of "roaring" (rolling) elbows

10. inverted STF

11. Romero chinlocks (and variations)

12. kouppo abise giri

13. low blow (countless variations)

14. ankle-lock submission

15. series of shouda (open-handed palm blows)

16. somersault plancha

17. senton bomb