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Kozo Urita (born October 30, 1974) is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He was associated with Real Japan Pro Wrestling's team Seikendo.[1]
Urita wrestled more famously under the name of Tiger Shark, and worked in promotions like Battlarts, Dradition Pro Wrestling, Tenryu Project and Riki Choshu's Legend The Pro Wrestling. Currently, he wrestles in Kazuki Okubo's Ganko Pro Wrestling as Blue Shark.
Career
After several years training judo, Urita joined mixed martial arts organization Kingdom Ehrgeiz, where he was put under Hidetada Irie. Later, he moved to Satoru Sayama's Seikendo promotion, and in 2003 he had his MMA debut, submitting David Davitashvili. Thanks to a work agreement between Seikendo and Pancrase, Urita went to compete in the latter, fighting Keiichiro Yamamiya and Izuru Takeuchi to decision and knocking out Riki Fukuda. He also competed in a seikendo-rules MMA tournament in Sayama's Real Japan Pro Wrestling, wnning the contest after three matches.
Real Japan Pro Wrestling (2007-2013)
In 2005, Urita started doing professional wrestling for Real Japan Pro Wrestling. He received the gimmick of Tiger Shark, a masked character with heel mannerisms conceipt as Super Tiger II's dark counterpart, in a similar way to the historical Black Tiger and Tiger Mask.[2] Tiger Shark wrestled under a blue mask with a shark design, contrasting with Super Tiger's silver and purple Tiger Mask attire, and had his first match teaming up with Masao Orihara against him and Hi69. Tiger Shark and Super Tiger wrestled each other in tag team matches during the next events, with Urita often teaming up with Orihara. However, he ended settling down in a tag team with Black Shadow, a similar character played by Makoto "Max" Miyazawa. They feuded with a coalition composed by Gran Hamada, Sammy Lee, Jr. and Kendo Nagasaki, as well as All Japan Pro Wrestling's Minoru.
In 2010, Shark broke his alliance with Masao Orihara, wrestling in a match in which Urita was defeated. After seldom apparitions in RJPW, Tiger Shark teamed again with Black Shadow to win the vacant RJPW Tag Team Championship, defeating Yujiro Yamamoto and Yuki Ishikawa. However, they had no defenses of the title, and they spent the next years feuding with Orihara. He also had a high-level match against New Japan Pro Wrestling's Tiger Mask IV, being beaten. In September 2013, Tiger Shark had his last apparition in RJPW, teaming up with Tatsumi Fujinami to get a win over Super Tiger II and Riki Choshu.
Battlarts (2009-2011)
Tiger Shark started wrestling for shoot-style promotion Battlarts in 2009 as a RJPW representative. He participated in the B1 Climax 2009 Block A, facing star Yuki Ishikawa and Yuta Yoshikawa in losing efforts, though getting victories over Keita Yano and Ryuji Walter. As a result, he did not qualify. He continued appearing in Battlarts, teaming up with his long time rival Super Tiger II in a special tag team to feud with Ishikawa, as well as Bison Tagai. In 2010, the team broke up and Shark went free, staying with the promotion until its demise in 2011.
Tenryu Project and Legend The Pro Wrestling (2010-2013)
Always working as a RJPW representative, Tiger Shark had his debut in Tenryu Project with his biggest career win, beating Dragon Gate top player Masaaki Mochizuki to win the Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Championship. He retained it successfully against Hiroki, Dokuroman and Hikaru Sato, until he dropped it to Hiroki in a rematch. Around that time, Tiger moved to Riki Choshu's Legend The Pro Wrestling, where he teamed with a variety of Tiger-related characters, among them Super Tiger II, Original Tiger Mask and Black Tiger V. He also wrestled alongside Yoshiaki Fujiwara. In 2013, Tiger Shark and his allies entered in a feud with Atsushi Onita and his entourage, as part of the enmity between Onita and Original Tiger Mask from RJPW. Shark faced personally Onita's henchman Ichiro Yaguchi, with Urita coming victorious in a single match, his last apparition in the promotion.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Rear naked choke[2]
- Shark Death By Lock (Modified crossface chickenwing)[3]
- Shark Death By Lock II (Arm trap scissored armbar)[4]
- Shooting star press[3]
- Signature moves
- Diving headbutt[3]
- Moonsault,[3] sometimes while standing[2]
- Plancha[2]
- Roundhouse kick to the opponent's head[5]
Championships and accomplishments
- Real Japan Pro Wrestling
- Real Japan Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Black Shadow
- Tenryu Project
- Tenryu Proyect International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)