Taka Michinoku

(born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (stylized as TAKA Michinoku), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He primarily appears for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is a member of the Just 5 Guys stable. From 2011, he was a member of Suzuki-gun, until the faction's disbandment in 2022. Michinoku also is the founder and regularly appears for Just Tap Out (JTO), which was founded in 2019.

Michinoku is also known in North America for his work for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) where he had the first WWF Light Heavyweight Championship reign recognized by the promotion. Michinoku is the founder and former promoter of Kaientai Dojo (now Active Advance Pro Wrestling), where he also primarily wrestled until 2019.

Having held championship titles in Japan, North America, Mexico and Europe, Yoshida is known for his long title reigns. He held the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title for a combined duration of more than 15 months, the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a then record-setting 10 months and the WEW Six-Man Tag Team Title for almost a year. Yoshida has held the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship and Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo) Strongest-K Championship simultaneously for almost 10 months. During his reign, he has defended his titles against both AJPW and independent circuit talent to increase his base of opponents, and thus has increased the reach of the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, which was closed off to outside competition in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Provided by Wikipedia