Terumasa Ishihara (July 15, 1980), better known by his ring name BxB Hulk (pronounced as BB Hulk), is a Japanese professional wrestler.
Career[]
He was the second student from the Dragon Gate Dojo. He was brought into Dragon Gate by Magnum Tokyo, with Tokyo's influence evident in many aspects of his character, most notably his trademark pre-match dance routine. Magnum Tokyo had him placed in the Pos.Hearts unit he created ("Pos." representing the limitless possibilities he showed), with Anthony W. Mori and Super Shisa as the other members. The unit largely served as a launching pad to get his career off the ground. Pos.Hearts would have only one major success, winning the Open the Triangle Gate titles in December 2006 from Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino and Gamma, but they lost the titles in their first defense the following month back to them, and when they lost to them again the month after that, they were forced to dissolve the unit.
He would join up with CIMA's Typhoon stable, but a few months later, in the midst of Typhoon's feud with the faction Muscle Outlaw'z, he and MO'z member Cyber Kong both betrayed their stables to join together and form New Hazard, along with Shingo Takagi and Yamato. While in the group, he would hold the Triangle Gate titles twice, and most notably, he and Shingo would win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in January 2008.
In April, Yamato betrayed both New Hazard and an outside tag team partner and defected to Muscle Outlaw'z. A month later, Shingo and Kong turned on BxB Hulk before they were to defend the Triangle Gate titles against YAMATO, Genki Horiguchi and Gamma, citing him as a weakling, effectively vacating the titles and ending New Hazard. Then, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino — who had recently split from MO'z — came to his aid, and although the trio failed to win the vacant titles from Shingo, Yamato & Gamma of the newly formed Real Hazard, they formed a new unit with Naoki Tanisaki and m.c.KZ called World-1.
On June 12, BxB Hulk unveiled a persona that he had hinted at doing several months ago called "Killer Hulk" (later renamed Black Hulk), wearing black pants and black make-up and using a violent fight style. Under this persona, he dismantled Real Hazard's Yasushi Kanda, blowing off what was left of their feud that they had going on for the last few months. He then got into a feud with Shingo. They fought in a match on June 29 to determine the #1 contender for Cima's Open the Dream Gate Title, but the match ended in a one-hour draw. They were soon scheduled to do battle again on July 27, but this time it would be for the Open the Dream Gate Title itself, due to Cima vacating it because of a neck injury. Hulk lost that match, but his performance impressed Shingo enough that he retracted his statement about Hulk being weak and shook hands with him. He then got into a feud with Gamma, and he as Black Hulk fought Gamma as Gamma Daiou on November 16, which he won by count-out after putting Gamma through a table outside the ring with his E.V.O. finisher.
In March 2009, Yamato began provoking him, and even offered him membership into Real Hazard under his Black Hulk persona. He responded by randomly attacking members of Real Hazard as his Black Hulk character until Yamato and the rest of the group got the better of him on April 15. Yamato then challenged him to a match, and he didn't care whether he fought Hulk as Black Hulk or his normal self. He fought Yamato as Black Hulk and won by referee stoppage.
On June 7, he won the Triangle Gate titles with Masato Yoshino and PAC, and they held them for three months before losing them to Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Akebono. He challenged his stablemate Naruki Doi for the Open the Dream Gate Title on November 23, but was unsuccessful in capturing the title. However, five days later, he became the inaugural Open the Freedom Gate Champion of Dragon Gate USA by winning a 14-man tournament at DGUSA Freedom Fight. On July 11, 2010, BxB Hulk lost a Hair vs. Hair match against Shingo and was as a result shaved bald. On October 29, 2010 Hulk successfully retained his Open the Freedom Gate Championship by defeating Shingo in the main event of Dragon Gate USA's inaugural iPPV "Bushido: Code of the Warrior".
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- BxB Smash (Jumping straight jacket side slam twisted into a sitout side facebuster)
- BxB Star Press (Shooting star press)
- E.V.O. (Pumphandle sitout side powerslam)
- E.V.O.P. (Vertical suplex dropped into a sitout side powerslam)
- FTX – From Texas (Wrist–clutch sitout side powerslam)
- Signature moves
- Corkscrew 450° splash
- Mouse (Rolling wheel kick or a back flip kick to an oncoming opponent)
- Kurione (Running tornado DDT)
- Standing shooting star press
- Springboard spinning wheel kick
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Dragon Gate
- Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship (5 times) – with CIMA and Jack Evans (1), Anthony W. Mori and Super Shisa (1), Shingo Takagi and Cyber Kong (2), and Masato Yoshino and PAC (1)
- Open the Dream Gate Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling NOAH
- GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shingo Takagi
Lucha de Apuesta record[]
Wager | Winner(s) | Loser(s) | Location | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hair | Shingo Takagi | BxB Hulk | Kobe, Japan | July 11, 2010 |